Chapter 130: Life Shield Cube.
Inside a spacious and bright room, there was an enormous full-length mirror.
It was taller than an average person and had an extravagant frame, crafted from White Birch wood. Small and large colorful gems were embedded all along the edges, reflecting the light from the lamps and scattering small points of light throughout the room.
I stopped in front of that mirror.
Behind me, several maids were finishing adjusting my outfit.
— Lord George, allow me to adjust this part...
I remained silent as one of them corrected the fold of my coat. Another checked the sleeves, while a third took care of the collar.
I merely observed my reflection.
When they finished, I raised one hand.
— That’s good. You may leave.
The maids immediately bowed.
— Yes, my lord.
I waited until they had all left the room.
When the door closed, I was finally alone.
My gaze returned to the mirror.
My body had a decent height and a relatively slender build. My black hair fell carefully over my forehead, while my face had a slightly protruding jaw, giving me a more masculine appearance rather than a delicate one.
But there was something that no clothing could hide.
My eyes.
There was too much intelligence in them.
Perhaps even too much ambition.
After all, two years had already passed since I arrived in this world.
When I thought about it, a strange sensation took hold of me.
Time.
It was, without a doubt, the most incisive weapon that existed.
It turned babies into the elderly.
It turned cities into ruins.
Mountains into dust.
Seas into dry deserts.
It didn’t matter how powerful someone was.
Time continued moving forward.
Even Mages capable of surpassing the limits of ordinary human beings could only prolong their lives for a longer period.
Perhaps they could live for hundreds of years.
Perhaps thousands.
But, in the end...
They would still be facing the same thing.
The slow and inevitable corrosion of time.
I clenched my fingers.
No!
I don’t accept this.
I need to fight against this eternal curse called time.
I need to find immortality.
Only then will I be able to say that I was truly worthy of the destiny that brought me to this world.
At that moment, a voice came from the other side of the door.
— Master! The lord of the city’s carriage has arrived!
It was Jane.
I blinked a few times and let out a sigh.
— Let him wait a little. I’ll be there shortly.
— Yes, Master!
I looked at the mirror again.
Before leaving, I checked my clothes one more time.
I adjusted the supports attached to the outfit and ran my fingers over the sleeve, making sure everything was in place.
Then I picked up my short black cane.
It wasn’t merely an accessory, I had placed some discreet mechanisms inside it.
It never hurt to have a hidden card.
I opened the door and left the room.
.
.
.
.
.
Clang! Clang!
The sound of hooves echoed through the street.
The carriage advanced rapidly along the city’s avenues.
As soon as the citizens noticed the insignias of the lord’s castle, they began to clear the way.
Inside the cabin, there was only me.
Sitting comfortably on a goose-feather cushion, I leaned my body against the backrest and let the carriage carry me.
My hand rested beside my body.
In it was a small silver cube.
I observed it.
A satisfied expression appeared on my face.
The cube seemed simple at first glance.
But I knew exactly what was inside it.
According to the biochip’s calculations, using the Crystal Erk as the central piece and the support of the various precious alloys I had obtained during my travels...
The prototype of the magical artifact had been successfully constructed.
I had created it.
It had all started approximately one year ago.
At that time, I managed to buy a worn-out page from Karn’s diary.
To anyone else, that page would probably have looked like trash.
But I had the biochip.
The first parts of the page were relatively simple.
They mainly dealt with knowledge suitable for acolytes, in addition to recording travels, experiences, and adventures, but that wasn’t all.
After finishing the decoding, the biochip finally found something interesting.
A construction technique.
A method for creating a defensive magical artifact.
The name was clearly recorded.
Life Shield Cube.
Although it was classified as a low-grade artifact, its defensive function was extremely rare.
Offensive artifacts were relatively more common.
After all, destroying something was much simpler than creating something capable of preventing destruction.
This artifact, capable of automatically protecting its user, possessed a much greater value.
Even a pseudo-mage at the peak of the third level might be interested in something like this.
I knew this better than anyone.
Acolytes had enormous destructive capabilities.
But their defense was another story.
It was one of the greatest problems on the magical path.
The Distant Wind Forest had taught me this lesson in a particularly cruel way.
The acolytes who had entered that forest with me had offensive spells.
But they did not possess adequate defenses.
When they faced the Great Brown Serpent...
They all died.
All of them, except Lurdot.
And Lurdot was only alive because I had saved him.
That was precisely why I had started working on the Life Shield Cube.
Combined with my own Light Shield spell, my defense could reach a completely different level.
Perhaps it was still far from the true defense of an Official Mage.
But it would already be enough to give me a chance to survive attacks that would normally be fatal, with these two layers of defense. Now that I thought about it... My armor no longer had much use.
Obviously, excluding the explosive fire crystal launcher.
After all, the cube’s force field had another advantage.
It was automatic.
It didn’t require me to react consciously.
If an attack did not surpass the cube’s defensive limit, the force field would absorb the impact.
As long as there was still enough energy...
I would remain protected.
It was like possessing an invisible shell.
A shell similar to that of an extremely resilient turtle.
Fortunately, there was a magical market near the City of Distant Wind.
If that market didn’t exist, it would probably have taken me much longer to gather the ingredients.
Some of the materials were extremely difficult to find.
Others were simply expensive.
In the end, I had practically consumed all of my disposable resources.
And, according to the Teachings of Karn, the current cube was still only an incomplete product.
The core of the Life Shield Cube was already ready.
The main structure was complete.
The runes had been engraved.
The crystals had been positioned.
Only one step remained: refining the vengeful spirit, the one I had previously captured, and placing it inside the Life Shield Cube.
I stored the artifact against my body again.
Then another thought emerged.
The Forest Soul Mana Potion...
My expression became somewhat dejected.
That ancient formula was simply absurd.
I had analyzed spiritual bodies, collected large amounts of data, conducted cruel experiments.
But nothing.
No matter how many times I analyzed it.
I couldn’t completely understand the principle behind that potion.
Could my initial hypothesis be wrong?
What if this formula had absolutely nothing to do with spiritual bodies?
The possibility made me uncomfortable.
I hated it when a theory didn’t work.
Just as I was about to continue thinking...
The carriage swayed and stopped abruptly.
Clang!
— Lord George!
— The lord of the city’s castle is just ahead.
I let out a sigh.
— Understood.
I stored all those thoughts in my mind.
I stood up.
I picked up my black cane.
I opened the carriage door and stepped down.
...
1306 Words