The Chronicles of a Scalebound Sage: Wandmaker Vol.2

WM [81] System User

When Tanisha and Fuyumi returned to the boys, they found them both still fast asleep. She considered attempting to open the next door, given how easily the previous one had yielded. However, she hesitated. The entrance to the ruin had been deceptively simple to unlock, yet it had led to an ambush. There was no telling what might await beyond the core room's door. Deciding it was wiser to wait until everyone was rested, she let the thought pass.

Her mind drifted to what Signe had mentioned about enchanters crafting lock spellforms, some elegantly simple, others intricate and layered. Perhaps this door was locked with a spellform far more complex than the others, which were merely shut. It wouldn't hurt to be cautious.

The two women settled down and she placed the unusual golem arm on the ground beside her. It was too heavy to fit in her personal inventory space, already packed with supplies. Removing her armor with a practiced hand, she took a moment to inspect the areas where the strange golems had shot her. The faintest scratches marred the surface, cosmetic damage, nothing more. Her armor, designed to resonate with her aura and enhanced by the Chain Breaker's Mantle, grew tougher the more she channeled her power. It had held up well, as expected.

Still, the attacks intrigued her. The projectiles relied purely on kinetic force, which would be less effective against magic casters. For those who were magically dense, like herself, mundane weapons will continue to pose less and less threat. In time even a magicless arrow would bounce off their skin, perhaps causing minor irritation but little more. On the other hand, place that same weapon in the hands of a mage or wizard and their aura alone would make it far more effective and potentially dangerous.

Tanisha wasn't sure if she was at the level to be shot by these things without her armor and not get hurt but she wouldn't fight them without her armor anyway. Her gaze returned to the odd weapon, integrated into the golem's arm. It lacked a traditional mechanism for her to fire it; the design suggested it was built solely for the golem's use.

She managed to pull out one of the projectiles from it and looked over the tiny piece of pointed metal wrapped in a casing. It looked hard to make but completely useless on its own.

"A loud, primitive crossbow with smaller projectiles," she mused aloud, turning it over in her hands. "The bolts are so small it would be hard to put any mana in them."

Its design, while ingenious, seemed surprisingly mundane in function, relying entirely on mechanical force rather than magic. After fiddling around with it a little she decided she would show it to Bjorn when he woke up before taking it apart forcefully. With the weapon set aside, Tanisha decided to check her status, not expecting much. The enemies they had faced were, after all, little more than animated dolls.

Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw her level had jumped by two. Her mind was already racing with possibilities for how to allocate her new points.

"Well, that's unexpected," she murmured.

Unassigned Cultivation Points Distribution

You have leveled up 2 time(s) before assigning your UCP.
You have 20 UCP

You have not appeased your heritage no additional benefits

Please assign all UCP within 6 day(s) or UCP will be automatically assigned.
Assign [yes/no]

She didn't understand why she gained new levels. The golems didn't use magic and from what she understood that was the requirement for her gaining the energy necessary to increase her level. Did they have magic and she just didn't sense it or does her cultivation work differently than she had originally thought. She was never trained in cultivation and wasn't sure how it worked. It was a good thing she was with Fuyumi and Aurelius as both should be knowledgeable since one came from a clan with cultivators and the other was one.