The Arcane Emperor

Chapter 180: The Worth of a Mage's Life

Waking up while others were in [Sleep Learning] wouldn’t exactly feel like an interruption. After all, they were asleep. Only when he reinvited them would anyone really understand what had just happened. Unless they had woken up on their own in the meantime. Only Gunthar and Theodore would really notice the sudden ejection given they hadn’t been sleeping at all.

Given that he absolutely wouldn’t send his real body to help someone of distant and slightly hostile relations, there was no reason to move from his spot in between Kara and Luna. With a [Void Seer] he took a peek at just why someone might need his help.

There was no clear answer. Just the Flameborne Guildmaster, what seemed like an aide, and several other Mages, including the one with his [Soul Mark], speaking with an Elf. It was only after a few seconds that Rainer realized just how tense the Mages were and a few seconds after that he noticed that the Elf was not just an Elf. It was undoubtedly a High Elf. That assumption was more based on his manner of dress rather than his appearance.

Some sort of far seeing spell or skill was basically required for safe teleportation. Rainer being an unknown exception. So the Flameborne Guildmaster should have known full well he could see the scene. Which meant it was highly unlikely to be a trap. Not to mention his ‘secret’ of having life-like Avatars was no longer a secret after actions taken in the Dungeon and otherwise. There was little point in getting him to lose an Avatar. At least, even if they thought they were difficult to make, it wouldn’t be worth it to make him an enemy over a fake body.

Carefully removing any Enchanted items on one of his Avatars in the City of Wealth, he Void-walked through time and space. The moment he landed quite a bit outside of the room he shifted into [Void Suppression]. A few tests with Locklar and his fellow 3rd Tiers showed that only the two of the stronger ones could sense him of the five 3rd Tiers. Which meant it was highly unlikely for this High Elf to notice him given the specificities in Soul of the other Nature Elf who had beaten a true 3rd Trial.

His entry went unnoticed and he slowly crept towards the room. If he truly needed and, more importantly, thought it was worth it, he could use a full power Avatar to take away the Flameborne and then he could always send another one. The constant increases in his Void Affinity and the use of [Soul Presence] on [Void-walking] decreased the cost of world-traveling significantly after all. Only the number of [Blade of the Void]s he could use, to tear open space, really was preventive to his world-traveling, even if their efficacy improved with [Soul Presence].

“And that’s all we have to offer you?”

Rainer heard the undoubtedly sarcastic voice of the Flameborne Guildmaster as he walked unnoticed into the room. [Void Suppression] was truly an amazing thing. A few level ups with [Soul Consolidation] and the strength he kept in this form might move his role from Void-infused thief to assassin.

“Don’t overvalue yourself, barbarian. Our offer is more than fair. All you need to do is provide enough powerful 2nd Tiers for our exploration of your so-called Forbidden Lands.”

“And why would you need the help of ‘barbarians’ like us in the first place?”

“Our methods for suppressing the curse aren’t as effective on 3rd Tiers.”

The unspoken question of why they didn’t just bring more 2nd Tiers went unanswered. While it may be cost prohibitive to bring more 3rd Tiers, Rainer supposed teleporting 2nd Tiers wasn’t cheap. Not to mention powerful 2nd Tiers weren’t likely easy things to find or reallocate from other places. Especially for something as dangerous as exploring the Forbidden Lands, curse protection or not.

“Well I-”

“Enough. Either you agree or you perish. It isn’t complicated. I’ll return within three days,” the High Elf said before vanishing. Rather than teleportation it looked more like the passive spell using Mage just moved at an incredible speed. The sign of breaking the sound barrier confirmed it.

A few quiet seconds passed before Rainer’s main body felt a ping from the [Soul Mark] again.

“Well, did you hear it?” The Flameborne Guildmaster said to no one in particular. It looked like he not only knew that Rainer likely had a far seeing spell, but that he counted on it. At least that confirmed he wasn’t being called into a trap. Unless of course the whole thing was a strange play to get him to lower his guard.

“I did,” Rainer said, appearing in the center of the room from thin-air. Unfortunately, his ability of quietly teleporting meant their first assumption wouldn’t be that he had been in the room the whole time. A shame. But it never hurt to keep certain cards hidden no matter how much his ego ‘demanded’ seeing their shock and awe over him being a breath away the whole time.

“And, what are your thoughts?” he asked impatiently.

Rainer ran a hand through his hair as he thought it over. He already knew the Ling Dynasty was here for the ‘Cursed Lands’ as they dubbed them. That the Zan were also interested in them was hardly a surprise. Having a method for defending against the curse meant he had some thievery to do. How useful it was to have such powerful and resourceful people as an enemy.

“Sounds like a personal problem,” Rainer said, uncaring. He didn’t even think any of the 3rd Tiers were any match for the Unicorn he met in his 2nd Tier Trial, let alone a group of 2nd Tiers. With this new information, they were no longer the same threat; their exploration of the Forbidden Lands might only be of benefit to him. Not to mention his issues with the Flameborne and their slave trade.

Rather, if it wasn’t for another world invading he would have made his originally planned home a far nicer place to live. Slavery wasn’t good for a society’s progress. He had 3rd Tiers on his side after all, not to mention Rainer was quite sure there were few if any who could fight the current him in the 2nd Tier. Let alone four of him. Perhaps only a fully 2nd Tiered and leveled up Kara. Even then, no matter how powerful she became, she was one mistake away from disappearing in a [Void Call]. And killing Rainer was a difficult problem given his escaping abilities Kara had no answer to. Hypothetically speaking of course.

However, there was a problem. Rainer hadn’t been so obtuse to not notice the connection between the passive spells of the Farseers, titled ‘Zan’, and the name of the Empire which invaded. Which meant they might eventually figure out the people who ran away from their Empire with a prize like the Mana-Well ended up here. If they hadn’t already. It was an irritating coincidence.

Until he experienced the full scope of their strength he couldn’t take them lightly. Nor anyone else that would be coming here. More importantly, the Mage Guilds were the biggest clue. Their mighty Group Spells were an easy sign of their origins now that Rainer considered it. If they wanted his help running away he’d send them as far away as possible.

“Name your price.” Given their experiences in the Dungeon, the Flameborne Guildmaster quickly assumed the Magus in front of him wanted something with his mercenary ways. A man who overlooked past grievances and future problems for resources was easy to deal with. He did not discriminate in helping groups in the Dungeon. The Fire Magus even had a distant thought that if they would have accepted his help he would have offered it to those Mage-haters as well. For the right price.

“Why would you want to reject their offer anyways?” Rainer asked.

“As if they have a good ending planned for any of the ‘helpers’. We will be treated as no different than a scouting force. And the first thing that 3rd Tier did was take a drop of blood from every strong member of the Mage Guilds. He had done it quickly and quietly, going about each and every Guild. I imagine a normal escape isn’t in the cards for us.”

“So you want me to help you leave?” Rainer said. He hadn’t been shy in explaining his power and the Mages that randomly appeared in his Guild. Even if the original explanation was that he came from beyond the Forbidden Lands. With the appearance of an otherworldly force, many assumed other things.

“Yes.”

“I want every single spell you and anyone else I help has. If I feel you are holding back, the deal will be off.”

“You still haven’t said the how,” the man responded after a few long moments, though it was clear he didn’t agree to the trade just yet. And the request had clearly angered him.

While Rainer might take less from the more likeable of the Mage Guilds, he wouldn’t budge for the Flameborne. It was just a matter of time till the Zan learned of their heritage being here. If they didn’t know already. So even if that motivated him slightly, it wasn’t enough for him to be open to negotiation of any sort. He wanted their group spells and all other sorts. Given that there were several more Mages in the room beyond just the Guildmaster, the information would spread one way or another. Even if the Guildmaster rejected him.

“Have you ever heard of the City of Wealth?”

With the Flameborne Guildmaster handling the gathering of everyone who wished to leave, Rainer’s Avatar went north. Only one of the Flameborne still kept the [Soul Mark] from when Rainer helped them in the Dungeons, among the Mage Guilds at least. While he was happy to trade their safety for Magic, Rainer had no interest inviting snakes into his home. They’d go their own way after they reached the City of Wealth.

While some places were restricted to only those who came from them, there were plenty of planes they could go to. Not to mention that if a planet or plane was singularly owned, or majorly, the Empire or otherwise that ruled it was free to recruit people. A part of the attraction of the City of Wealth. And he doubted the Zan could reasonably transport a 3rd Tier to a Plane a great distance away, which meant it would be safe.

The 3rd Tier had given the Flameborne Guildmaster a location for their base camp. Whatever they were using to suppress the curse, assuming it was a thing, would be there. And far be it for him to miss an opportunity to learn from or steal from a multi-planet Empire.

A combination of the information given and [Soul Detection] and rapid [Void-Traveling] along the edge of the Forbidden Lands lead to him finding them within short order.

He slipped into another [Void Suppression] as he came to it. In what was likely done with magical assistance, the ‘base camp’ looked less like a camp, and more like a comfy palace. In fact, he was quite sure those weak Souls he sensed were servants scurrying around.

Even their ‘farm-raised’ as Zan-Lan had called them likely had decent status. And living in such an empire they were probably used to a certain level of comfort. But transporting a building like this was another thing entirely.

There even seemed to be a persistent spell making the weather temperate that doubled as a detection or defensive spell. A small paradise in the frozen cold of the north. Though it was more like the detection spell was there just to give an excuse for the temperate one. It wasn’t particularly strong.

But above all else it spoke of a level of permanence that Rainer wasn’t happy with. Unfortunately, or fortunately, he wasn’t at a point where he’d write off the losses of the normal innocent people in the palace to consider leveling it, and much of its people, with a spell.

Not knowing where to start, he just walked in plainly, gawking at the fact the palace already seemed decorated. Did they teleport the whole thing over? Or did they have a Spatial Ring massive enough to contain this thing?

Now that he thought about it, was his [Dimensional Ring] big enough to contain a two-story palace of moderate size? And what exactly was the limit in terms of mass for his [Void-walking]?

The answers to those questions were left for [Sleep Learning] as he followed a rushing servant. He figured someone that panicked and rushed could only be serving someone equal to those feelings. Unfortunately, even the low leveled servant still had greater physical strength than a Void Suppressed Rainer. Especially since his Avatar wasn’t something he could use [Soul Consolidation] on for a significant length of time.

It wasn’t long before Rainer lost sight of him, but the route he took was easy enough to follow. And it wasn’t long after he found a single 3rd Tier lounging around with a few other High Elves. He glanced around and listened in, but even after his Void Will started reaching dangerous levels, he still didn’t find out anything useful. Without the ability to use [Arcane Revelation] while stealthed he had no way to really inspect the place either. It looked like he needed to delay it.

Given the time before he was supposed to meet the gathered Mages, Rainer left his Avatar on Alvra while heading back to sleep. Once he developed a way to cleanly get rid of his Avatar and detached Soul without chance of capture—that the Ling had at least some non-magical mastery of Soul and the Zan clearly took blood for a nefarious purpose—he would revisit.

Back in [Sleep Learning], Rainer temporarily put off his night’s mental training. [Soul Consolidation] and [Soul Presence] took care of the Soul part. In fact, he had to be careful not to use up his Avatar’s Soul when using those two skills.

He started using [Arcane Awakening: Final Arcanum] with the goal of failing. A few experiments and he realized that it was easier said than done. The Runes were mostly set apart from smaller adjustments when he used the skill. Having it backfire on him in a strong enough way to truly obliterate any magically usable traces wasn’t an easy task. Especially considering his Constitution.

His eyes widened as he thought of an idea. Sacrificial magic didn’t have to be Soul deep. Just sacrificing flesh contained power, if far less than the more permanent version that damaged one’s Soul in such a way that regrowing the sacrificed part was considered impossible. Amer’s missing arm being an example in question.

With an idea in mind, he quickly made an Avatar and sent it off to discuss things with Amer or Art, whoever was free. With that set, he begrudgingly went to find his other grandfather for training his mind.

An hour later, and feeling a tiredness that extended beyond what [Sleep Learning] could heal, he set his mind on leveling his manipulation skills. Given his recent progress in teaching Runes, he opted to focus on [Mana Manipulation] and [Arcane-Wind Manipulation].

Instead of the usual attacking himself, Rainer decided to go for a flight. With [Arcane-Wind Manipulation] propelling him forward and upwards, with a flying Avatar using [Eldritch Flight] to try and slow him, he slowly but surely made progress leveling the skill. Both used [Soul Presence] and [Soul Consolidation] as much as their Souls and [Arcane Invigoration] would allow.

Unlike the more dangerous and pain inducing methods, this one, other than a few painful stumbles to the ground, was far less motivating. Towards the end of [Sleep Learning], Rainer had only managed to level the spell several times.

[Arcane-Wind Manipulation has reached level 6]

“Talvara?” Rainer called out, seeing if the Void-being would be showing up tonight. To his surprise, a few moments later what was likely an Avatar of hers came into [Sleep Learning]. The intrusion reminded him he was far too close to the limit of allowed people in here. With a promise to focus on increasing the strength of his Soul with some further abuse of it, he glanced over to the new arrival.

“Rainer?” she asked.

“I’m surprised you answered.”

“So you bothered me for your entertainment?”

“Yes,” he answered, earning an eye roll. “But I do also have something important to mention,” he said before bringing up [Soul Lift] and the results so far.

“Ignoring the fact that it may not be enough for my Soul, even in its worst state far exceeding your befriended 3rd Tiers, you have only tested it against a single Divinity. And not with those more talented or specialized in Divine sight?”

Rainer sighed. Not an entirely unexpected answer but it was still disappointing to have his—and subsequently her—hopes dashed. Not to mention her latter point did give him something new to worry over.

“If there’s nothing else, I need my full attention on Aurora.” Talvara abruptly left.

Apart from the actual uses of such spells, exploring further in this type of Soul enhancement had its benefits. And given how much her being so curt bothered him, it looked like Francis’, and therefore his, feelings for her hadn’t changed in the slightest.

“Thank you.”

A distant voice said before her presence vanished again. Rainer found himself waking up just a few moments later.

The next morning, Rainer checked the [Soul Mark] on the Flameborne, but they didn’t seem to be ready yet. Joining the rest of the Guild’s enchanters, he spent most of the day on enchanting Trial sets. Though any time his own Mana ran low he focused on strengthening his body with Arcane and Void. He wasn’t far from the next Affinity.

And he felt he’d likely be stuck there until he strengthened the Human part of himself. With no further messages from the Guildmaster other than that they were getting ready, the day passed with no changes on Alvra.

With one Avatar learning sacrificial magic from Amer, another from Art, Rainer and his last Avatar continued his manipulation training. While his raw brute force approach to fly would never compare to even [Arcane-Wind’s Ascent], let alone [Eldritch Flight], he wondered if he could add what he learned to the flight spells.

Either way it was towards the end of this night he finally reached level 9 of [Arcane-Wind Manipulation].

[Arcane-Wind Manipulation has reached level 9]

And it wasn’t long after that he finally got another call from the Flameborne.