Mash was studying with Aifell, her lecture had ended a while ago and he was just practicing engraving their version of enchantments on his gear. It was called Glyphs and was a combination of written letters and simple pictures. If he made the items while in his treant form then they would be able to produce their own mana, and he didn’t need to try and control his mana like she did. Instead, he faked it letting his wood expel its mana into the symbols. He wasn’t trying anything complicated, just trying to make it harder.

  The symbols used for making weapons were annoyingly complex. He had to make them during the item’s creation too, and that was a problem. It didn’t help that he couldn’t actually read the symbols and was just doing it based on what he was able to copy from Aifell. She had written down some of the most basic weapon glyphs for him to work with, but he couldn’t get it perfect. Trying to add the engravings to his weapons as he made them was difficult. His energy control wasn’t so precise that he could manage something that delicate.

  [You can’t but I can.]

  Priscilla’s message echoed hollowly in his mind, as it had been for the past hour now. She had been insisting that he just let her do it, but it had become a matter of pride. He kept at it, constantly making small mistakes and getting nothing done.

  [Listen to me. You don’t need to learn things I can do.]

  That got Mash to stop. She was ultimately right, and his repetition wasn’t getting him anywhere. There was no reason for him to get so worked up. Sighing, he passed the duty off to Priscilla. Well, there wasn’t a real passing, he just followed the outlines she had made a while ago. Only a few seconds later, he was graced with a staff that had perfectly engraved symbols on it. He really should’ve done this earlier. The past hour had been a complete waste of time.

  “I see you’ve figured something out.”

  He had noticed Aifell walking over with his domain and showed her the staff as she spoke. She looked over it before nodding in approval.

  “It’s perfect, now you can move on to the next one.”

  She planned on showing him things one at a time, but he didn’t need to go that slowly anymore. Priscilla could recreate any of them now that she figured out how to make one.

  “I don’t think we need to go one at a time. I should be able to recreate anything now. Let’s just say that I can copy what I see.”

  He didn’t sound particularly proud when admitting the fact. Still, it would be a waste of time to continue to practice it at the moment. Maybe he could work on it later, but he didn’t need to learn it at the moment. Aifell didn’t bother testing him, trusting him implicitly. She had been like that the whole time, probably because he was a “lord.” Also, he had offered to help her with the monsters without any issue. Although, she changed once night fell and was growing accustomed to treating him normally. Kirk already dropped many of the honorifics, and Mash was grateful for that.

  “Here is a book with most of the basic glyphs, I made sure to include descriptions in your language. If you have any questions, please ask. There are a few examples of complex ones near the end, but most complex magic items are made through intuition and combining the simple glyphs.”

  She sounded like she expected him to get it, and the book was evidence enough for that. As he took the book, he couldn’t help but wonder when she had the time to make it. She was the only one who could write in his language among their people, so no one else could have made it.

  “Thank you. I’ll read through it now, but do you have any recommendations for a staff?”

  He would look through the whole book eventually, but it was thick. There were hundreds of pages inside and he didn’t plan on reading them all now. Aifell shrugged her shoulders.

  “Try putting glyphs for things you can’t do without. They are categorized by the type of magic so you should find things you can’t normally do.”

  As she spoke, she took the book from him and began flipping through it. Stopping on a page, she turned it to face him. Even before she spoke, he saw that it had something to do with gravity magic, but her explanation was appreciated.

  “This one will turn your… speed? Force? I don’t know how to word it exactly, but it will add the strength of your swing to the weight of the weapon at impact. We use it to drop things on monsters. If we, do it from high enough the power is incredible.”

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  She sounded proud of the design, and he wondered if she had constructed it. Either way, it was impressive, and he understood that she meant momentum. It didn't seem like they had a perfect word to describe it, but he got the gist. It would work quite well with his fighting style too, and he wondered if she knew more than she was letting on. He decided that it was probably because of the staff he was carrying around now, but it still surprised him. Momentum was the basis of his fighting style, and the best way to make use of infinite energy in a fight.

  He nodded to her and talked a little more about some of the other options, before going and testing some of them. She had shown him one to make light or to change the properties of the item so that it could work better with some of his magic. One of which involved making the weapon better at conducting and holding lightning, though they had a different name for it. They called it electricity and they were working on some strange uses for it. He didn’t really care about that though as it didn’t seem particularly useful. Although, making his lightning magic more potent sounded useful.

  Deciding that it probably wasn’t a good idea to test his items in that room, he went outside. He didn’t go particularly far and ran into the others before he could work on the items. Telling them about the monsters that she wanted him to kill, he pulled out the map to show them the location. It would take a day or so to get to the monsters, and that was assuming that they flew the whole time. If they wanted to go on foot, it would take over twice that much time.

  They agreed to leave at night. While these people hated doing work at night, they didn’t have the same beliefs. None of them needed to sleep for a particularly long time to feel rested, and Luke’s healing could wash away any fatigue. He told them about the book and what he was going to try. They decided to go check the shops out instead as there was still a little daylight left. Parting ways, Mash descended to the forest floor below. He went a short distance from the passageway and found a small clearing to test the enchantments.

  First he tried making the gravity glyph that Aifell had suggested. He turned into his treant form, making the wood naturally stronger and letting it hold more mana. The glyphs immediately started giving out a faint blue light, and he knew that it was working. Excited by his first real success, he swung the weapon in a practice motion, striking a nearby tree as he did so. When the staff made contact with the tree, it became noticeably heavier, and it broke the other tree easily. It smashed the wood as if he had struck it with a large hammer, breaking the tree as if it were made of brittle stone. Instantly, he created wood to hold the tree in place, realizing that it would cause problems if a tree of this size collapsed.

  He would avoid striking the trees again. The tests didn’t end there, and he made some wooden dummies to test on. It was a lot of additional power, and it would only get stronger if he used one of his other transformations. Both his dragon and cat forms would be able to swing the staff with a lot more speed. There were a few more things he wanted to try, and he moved on to another glyph.

  The lightning one seemed perfect for a ranged weapon, and he added it to a javelin as he made it. He practiced with it, channeling lightning through it as he tested it. It shot forward in a single path, traveling almost perfectly straight from the javelin's tip. It looked like it helped focus his lightning so that it traveled straight for longer distances. It didn’t branch apart like it normally did, and he already saw the use of it. There was one more use he found, that seemed even better. He could stay somewhat connected to the object if he kept a constant stream of lightning going through it. It didn't let him move it freely but made it so that he could continuously pour lightning through it regardless of the distance. It would enable him to continuously strike an enemy so long as he could get a single javelin stuck in them. It would act as a connection for his magic, and he could easily channel lightning through it, even from a distance.

  He didn’t have much time left after that and spent it recovering with some meditation. He made a few staffs and javelins, storing them away for later use. He left with only a quarterstaff in hand. The only glyphs on it were the ones for the gravity trick and another for hardness. He didn’t want to let it break too easily. He was able to put a lot of force behind his swings now and didn’t know if the wood was able to take the pressure. It didn’t matter too much as he could make more, but he wanted to be confident in using the weapon when fighting without his magic. Most of this preparation was to deal with fights where his skills were sealed after all.

  As night started to fall, he went back to the others. He ended up being the first to return and told Aifell that they would be gone for a few days. Also, they would deal with the monsters before coming back. While that was the main reason for the trip, there were a few other monsters that they wanted to fight too. Whatever the reason might be, the class system was being generous with its levels, and they wanted to take advantage of that. When he talked with the others about it, they agreed immediately, saying that they should kill monsters quickly. Honestly, they could probably all get to level 100 easily. Mash at least would be there pretty soon.

  They planned out their path to run over several packs of monsters one of which was another pack of those wolves. They hadn’t been all that dangerous for how many levels they had gained, and they planned on taking advantage of them. Hopefully, they would all be able to get to that level before Aifell finished the item. They could leave after getting the item and advance their classes soon after. The item was the main reason he wanted to stick around. If it actually worked, then communicating while in other worlds would become a lot easier. Who knew where his next dungeon would leave him? He wanted to be able to talk with the people there. With all the preparation he had done, he felt prepared to handle any situation. Even running into Safa or somebody with skills like her.

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  Chapter 164: Spider Crabs

  Name: Mash Stellumbra ????????Class: Draconic Thunder-wood Imitation

  Level: 86 → 92

  Health: 1547 / 2100

  Energy: 1109 / 3560

  Fortitude: 209 → 210

  Endurance: 136

  Strength: 171

  Agility: 171 → 173

  Intelligence: 220

  Wisdom: 102

  Charisma: 96

  Free Stats: 15 → 45

  Skills: Hunt, Thunder-wood Creation, Inhuman Hibernation, Monstrous Transformation, Thunder-wood Imitation, Draconic Domain, Adaptable Monster Core, Monstrous Humanity, Wooden Body, Mimic’s Avarice, Golden Body

  Hunt: You have gone beyond your limits when fighting enemies and devouring their power. Go beyond your limits. Continue current fight even after depleting energy. Stats improve while at 0 stamina. Continues until either you or your enemies are dead.

  Current Bonus: +100% stats

  Inhuman Hibernation: You have stolen the techniques of mages and monks to form an artificial technique, your inhuman body morphing it to fit your corrupted nature. Hibernating will increase the rate at which your body recovers, healing most wounds.

  Current Rate: +200% recovery

  Thunder-wood Creation: You know how deadly sticks can be. Forge your mana into wooden creations. Lightning has tempered your wood, and it thrums with the power of thunder.

  Wooden Body: You can connect with the wood that you are touching. By expending your energy, you bring your creations to life as another one of your limbs.

  Monstrous Transformation: Transform your body taking on aspects of those which you have consumed.

  Thunder-wood Imitation: Form imitations of creatures you have consumed, imitating some of their bodily functions through your wood.

  Draconic Domain (Passive): Your eyes just weren’t enough. Sense the changes in the mana around you. Connect to the mana in your space and inherently understand the nature of the mana. Your presence suffuses the space, weakens the magic of enemies beneath you.

  Current Range: 23 feet

  Adaptable Monster Core (Passive): An unnatural mana core has fundamentally altered your body, fusion with a monster has given you access to its potential. Stamina and Mana combine to become energy. Your monstrous body is better able to handle the changes to your core.

  Current Bonus: +75% efficiency

  Monstrous Humanity (Passive): Giving up your humanity has improved your body, improving your physical control, natural defenses, animalistic intuition, and mana control. Now, a human in appearance only, you further empower yourself through your monstrous side.

  Mimic’s Avarice (Passive): Devour your enemy in battle to temporarily raise your stats. The fresher the victim the stronger the bonus. Gain full benefits even when consuming through your magic. Absorbs some properties of those you devour alive. Removes the negative effects of things you consume.

  Golden Body (Passive): Having stolen the techniques of another world, your body evolves beyond its old limitations. However, even this transformation is incomplete. Seek out the next Step and truly make this power your own.

  Trial of the True Body: 1 / 100

  Priscilla Form: Improved Mana Control and control of wooden creations, Better Lightning Resistance and Power: Thin dark blue and green scales that match Priscilla's cover his body

  Dragon Form: Raw Power and a lot of it: Thicker black scales that would look more like armor cover his skin and his body bulks up a bit and he grows claws on his hands and feet. Armor like scales, and large shield-like wings. A dangerous tail that could easily double as a weapon.

  Winged Cat Form (Sphynx Form): Improved Reflexives and Agility, Something he hasn't realized yet, and flight: Fur grows over his skin, and wings sprout from his back. A lion-like mane, and white fur to match his hair. Paws instead of normal limbs.

  nvisible Lizard Form: Has mentioned it but hasn't used it yet, so far you know that it grants him the ability to become somewhat invisible

  Demon Form: black fire affinity

  Treant Form: Improved Wood affinity, living wood creations