“I told you I didn’t need a bandage,” Jaeger said for the third time. “Small wounds like this seal up real quick for me.”
Lorcan finished tying the bandage around his hand. “It is not for you. I do not want your blood to affect any other objects in my forge. I’m going to have to check over the stiletto and the bucket. I’d prefer not to have to worry about anything else.”
“My blood isn’t that bad.”
“Maybe or maybe not. You have power inside you, and I can’t be sure what, if any, effect that will have on objects. As they say, blood is power.”
“My blood was, at least in Beseria, contaminated against manipulation.” At the smith’s confused look, Jaeger went into more detail. “I served in Beseria’s war against Lowrian; they were known for their blood contortionists, mutators, and witch doctors.”
“I have no idea what a blood contortionist or a mutator is, but I do know of witch doctors; my clan had close ties with a few. That does not clear up what you meant by contaminated against manipulation.”
Jaeger flexed his hand and stood up, having finished binding the arm chain.
“It means that my blood was protected against anyone using it. I’ve never seen the result, but the cc’s had nasty smiles when they said there’d be consequences if someone used it.” He was about to leave before he thought for a moment. “That being said, you don’t have to worry about it getting on stuff, as long as someone doesn’t try to use it, the blood is fine.”
A quiet hissing sound came from the bucket containing the bloody dagger, as a hazy, disquieting smoke rose from it. Jaeger opened the door to the forge and left the blacksmith cursing his name.
As he moved across the guild, towards the stables, he dug out the bracelets that he had looted, which felt like months ago. Holding them, he noted that most of them were similar in style, being a simple bangle of silver, each containing a different colored gem. The only exception was One Step, which was made entirely of a single piece of almost luminescent green stone and covered in carvings depicting clouds and some kind of long reptile.
As he was looking over them, he tried to recall what Lisette told him each spell could do. Fireball and entrapment were straightforward, although she did warn that entrapment’s form differed based on the user.
Xenia’s Protection was odd and was described as a safe harbor ritual. He’d have to use it to fully understand, but Lisette did say he’d need fire, food, and some kind of shelter for it to work.
Disintegration was interesting, having a beam that could just disappear anything he shot was both useful and incredibly dangerous; then again, so were his guns, so he wasn’t intimidated.
That just left the two more esoteric spells, Void’s hunger and one step. Of all his bracelet spells, Void’s hunger was the most dangerous, surpassing even disintegration, because it opened a small hole into the void and allowed something to reach out and eat. Lisette said whatever came through wasn’t really here, but it did take back whatever it ate. It also rarely took the same form, so he’d have to worry about that.
One step, thankfully, was much simpler and vague. Lisette said it wasn’t from this continent's magic and instead came from far off. It was a passive spell and closer to a skill than any of the others. It allowed the user to ‘move with the lightness and celerity of a crane.’
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As Jaeger attached each one to the arm chain, he felt something inside himself, as though a new sense were awakening. It was almost like a release of tension in his body, until he attached the final bracelet.
The moment it was attached he felt a wave of tension and weight deep inside himself and almost tripped with the sensation. He stopped, leaning against a nearby tree, and caught his breath. He both did and didn’t feel any different. It was an irritating feeling, and as he continued walking, the feeling didn’t go away.
“Well, lad, your face is fit to collapse in on itself with the way you're frowning.” A gruff voice said, snapping Jaeger from his irritated daze.
“Nothing.” He snapped.
The one who’d spoken was Stablemaster Bastion, and judging from his expression, the stout badger beastkin didn’t believe him.
“Oh, aye? So you always walk around with your mana all junked up?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I haven’t done anything to my mana, I barely know what that is.”
The badgerkin cocked his head as he examined the bounty hunter, his eyes roamed across the man’s body and stopped on the freshly adorned arm chain. He whistled loudly and absentmindedly waved towards the stable. Two stable boys lounging nearby snapped to their feet and rushed inside. Stablemaster Bastion, on the other hand, walked towards Jaeger.
“I can tell, most people don’t bind, what is that five? Bracelets together at once.”
“Six.” Jaeger tried to draw in the irritation he was feeling as he muttered.
“Well done then, my son, you’ve gone and attached six magical bracelets to yourself in no time flat. Didn’t no one tell you different?” The badgerkin held up a hand, stopping Jaeger from responding. “I know no one told you, so I will.”
He pulled out a wooden pipe and placed it in his mouth, unlit.
“You’re only supposed to have one bracelet per arm. The use of arm chains allows more, but the magic that governs what we all do requires a price in return. The first is having an arm chain or something, the second is what Sages call magical weight. Each additional bracelet, past the base one, adds a weight to your mana pool or your soul or something; I don’t know, ask Lisette. I just know that each additional bracelet needs to be added one at a time, or you run into your situation.”
He gestured towards Jaeger, who was trying his best not to yell at the stablemaster to hurry up.
“So what if I take off the bracelets, I’ll be fine?”
“Nah, damage is done. The only thing you can do now is meditate and focus. The fact that you added six at once and aren’t a raving lunatic speaks highly of not just your Will but also your self-control. Normally, I’d say take some downtime and get used to the weight; the normal idea is one week per bracelet. Should be that six weeks from now you’ll be right as rain.”
“I’m leaving on a mission.”
The stablemaster nodded and turned around towards the stables where Ventress was being led out.
“I thought that was the case, wait here then.”
The badgerkin turned around and wandered into the stables. Jaeger walked up to Ventress as he waited.
“You two can go.” He said to the stable boys before turning his attention to his horse. “Enjoy your downtime?”
She whinnied and stomped her feet before nudging Jaeger with her head. He cracked a smile.
“I’m mostly fine, got a bit of a magical issue, but I should be fine.”
As he spoke with his horse, he felt a bit of the irritation and tension in him loosen.
“Here, lad, take this.” From behind him, Stablemaster Bastion’s gruff voice called out.
Turning towards the man Jaeger saw him holding out a worn black leather pouch, it seemed similar to something he’d once seen. Taking it he opened the pouch, revealing the contents: dark dried leaves. It looked similar to what he rolled into his cigarettes but it smelled more medicinal.
“Dried yago leaf. Mages use it when they get mana burn. I use it to help some of the more magical steeds when we have to do operations on them. Toss some in your campfire at night or smoke a bit in the day, and it should help speed up your recovery.”
Jaeger held the pouch in his hands and nodded.
“Are there any side effects I should worry about?” He’d seen enough sepho addicts to know that things like this weren’t side-effect free.
“You have to be careful of the amount you take, like a potion, it's got a toxicity limit. The system will warn you, though. Also, its taste.” The stablemaster grimaced. “It’s very medicinal, like tasting every herb you’ve ever had, each inhale.”
Jaeger shrugged, as side effects go, those weren’t bad. He pocketed the pouch and mounted Ventress.
“Thanks. I appreciate this.”
The badgerkin waves one hand dismissively.
“I just didn’t want to watch a promising Adventurer leave worse than he came. Plus, a mana recovery potion would do the same; this is just cheaper.”
