Not (Just) A Mage Lord Isekai
Chapter 162 - I Believe I Can Fly

The robe was little better than rags. It'd been soaked through with the most foul substance I'd ever smelled. It was worse than tar on a tin roof in triple digit weather.

Despite the stench, I couldn't help but laugh. Then I cast Water Breathing, which effectively prevented the stench from reaching my face.

"What in the Front is that smell?" Nexxa asked, her nose wrinkling as she looked over at me. "What did you…"

"I told you. Pegasus," I replied, shaking my head while holding my arms out to the side. There was one trait that defined the Pegasus tier more than any other. It was what it was named for. Like the mythical winged horses, every ensouled in the Pegasus tier had flight. The nature of flight could vary, but everyone had it.

For me, it felt as though I had grown a new muscle group. As I stretched that new muscle, I found myself pushed above the diagnostic room's floor, hovering there. It wasn’t as simple as I’d hoped, but it wasn’t too challenging. To hover anyway.

My first attempt to actually move around the room resulted in me flipping myself upside down instead.

"You did not just…" Nexxa's strode over, pushing me to the side with a wave of her hand while ensuring she didn’t make skin contact. She wasn’t looking at me, she was inspecting the displays behind me. Displays which still showed the last change I’d needed to make. "You really did ascend to Pegasus. In less than a year. This is so not fair."

"It's really not," I agreed, holding out my arm and attempting to right myself by exerting pressure through it. It partially worked, though it set me to doing a full spin that quickly got disorienting.

Nexxa only seemed to register my actions on a subconscious level, stepping out of the way whenever my flailing got near her, but never turning away from the screens as she pulled out her journal and started taking notes.

I could’ve asked Nexxa for some tips, but figuring out my flight by myself felt… important. Like it was the minimum I could do, after having the last step through Astral essentially handed to me.

It was also fun.

There seemed to be several groups of control that I could press on or flex, and depending on how I did so, my movements would respond.

After a few minutes, I was able to slowly circle the room. It was more complicated than using Soaring Wolf but I couldn’t throw Soaring Wolf into a sudden stop or reverse.

With my flight figured out, I contemplated taking the time to set one of my third Order spells into the newly available slot, but decided that could wait until after I was clean. I held my arm out to inspect the damage to my robe. It was… intense. Yet not a single drop of the sticky tar-like substance had fallen throughout my experiments. Which was good for keeping the room clean, but didn't bode well for scrubing it off.

"This is big Perry. Really big," Nexxa said, interrupting my thoughts, her voice heavy. She’d put away her journal, and had her hand on her chin as she inspected me, floating in front of her.

Her demeanor stole away a bit of my mirth, as I nodded, letting my feet settle against the ground. "Yeah. I know. You're the only one who knows what's actually down here. The others know its a better scanner, but other than that…"

"Good. We need to keep it that way, at least for now," Nexxa said, striding back to the screens she'd been looking over. "I actually have this," she said, bringing up the display of the lightning dragon's horns. "But I don’t love what it'll do to me."

I moved closer, careful not to brush up against her, squinting at a little spinning image of Nexxa next to the dragon horns. "Is that you, but with horns?"

"Yep," Nexxa said, perkily, enlarging it. "If that was all, I wouldn't mind. Those horns would be easy to work around. Not keen on the tail though."

"Ah," I said as the model spun, showing the thin tail. It seemed to be prehensile, based on the way it was picking up several different tools in the display. "That would be a little awkward but at least it seems useful. Not the worst Hydra mutation."

"It's a tail, Perry! A tail! Did you see a tail on any of the other Magus’s at Althon’s party? Cause I sure didn’t," Nexxa declared, waving one hand at the display while holding the other to her head.

“Pretty sure none of them were hydra,” I pointed out, which only got her to throw her hands in the air as she turned away.

At which point, her gaze landed on the display for my recent advancement. “This’ll change things, Perry. If we can use this, bring up ensouled who’re loyal, who actually want to help…”

A smile pushed its way onto my face.

“Yeah. It’s big,” I agreed, standing next to her. “Like, bigger than me hitting Pegasus in under a year big. It’s not the only big news I’ve got for you.”

“Not sure I can take much more, not on this level,” Nexxa muttered, shaking her head before crossing her arms and meeting my gaze. “Okay, hit me. What else you got?”

“Pretty sure we can help people become ensouled,” I said.

To my surprise, instead of being shocked, Nexxa simply frowned, glancing over to the screens again. “Soul magic?”

“Not… exactly. I mean… it doesn’t require anything other than manipulation of the ensouled’s own soul,” I said, frowning as I thought about it. “We don’t have to summon another soul, as far as I can tell. I haven’t started testing it yet cause I don’t feel like I’ve got enough data to do so safely. But we’re getting close.”

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At which point, I went on to explain what we were doing with the scanners. The scans were working. Sure, we were missing the components to build the full analysis machine for the moment, but that could be addressed once the Howling season was over.

“That’s… I’m pretty sure there are a couple kingdoms who must have something similar,” Nexxa said, her gaze distant. “The Pelthani have a really high rate of mage-ranked ensouled, if I remember correctly. But they’re always getting killed in their border disputes. I remember the Gardeners thinking they were using some sort of method, but it turns out it was hard for them to infiltrate a nation where even the guards were mages.”

“Huh. Maybe we should visit,” I said, tapping my chin. “Could maybe stop by somewhere to pick up the materials we need for a proper analysis machine while we’re at it. I did just hit Pegasus. It’ll be a lot easier to travel with third Order spells.”

“Even with the storm, it’d take me a week to get around the Front. And the storm’s pretty weak after it hits the Front,” Nexxa said, even as went back to fiddling with the options, spending a lot more time looking at the images instead of the 'optimum' choices.

“Right. So, closer objectives then, either Spellford or the City on the Water. Best to go while the Howl’s still blowing, make use of the mana to make it quick,” I said, nodding to myself.

“I’ll think about it. Wouldn’t want to get stuck,” Nexxa said, frowning as she brought the display back to the dragon fangs and the model with a tail.

I nodded. Either way, once we had the scans working, it meant that people wouldn't get stuck at Astral. And I'd already learned enough to know how to get people through Mage. If I could bring Lady Guniveer from the Aranor family library to Cape Aeternia, I could probably help her ascend. She'd never have to deal with being called a half-cast again.

I paused at the thought, and realized something else had happened during the ascension. Perth's memories weren't separate anymore. They were quieter, less dominant, but… they were fully part of me.

The desire to retrieve Lady Guniveer was important, I realized. It was one of the few feelings Perth had left me that weren't my own. Sure, I liked her well enough, but I hadn’t felt any level of affection for her other than a bit of quiet appreciation and respect.

Perth had loved her like an eccentric aunt, and now it seemed I was feeling a bit of that too.

Unfortunately, that was a bit out of reach. As Nexxa had pointed out, even if she had the mana to get there, it’d take her a week while skirting dangerously close to the Front the entire time to do so. And if she made it, she wouldn't be able to bring Lady Guni back.

On the other hand, if I got the scanner working, Nexxa could probably take it to Lady Guniveer and help her ascend while she was there. There were a lot of things Nexxa could pick up if she were to make such a trip, especially if we could send her with extra spatial storage.

The more I thought about it, the more the idea grew on me.

I glanced over at her, about to mention it. And then I remembered why she didn’t want to make the trip. She couldn’t afford to be gone that long. Every couple days she had to go out to hold back the apocalypse.

That was fine. Just meant I had to get strong enough to make the trip myself or to take her place.

Looking back at the display, I couldn't help but glance at the relevant part of my diagnostic.

Soul: Tier 3 (Pegasus)

Progress: 1/5 Third Order Impressions, 8 Point Foundational Structure, Steel, Sparks and Sky Astral Form, 0% Soul Hardening.

Steel, Sparks and Sky, huh?

That felt surprisingly satisfying to see.

Focusing on soul hardening showed a breakdown of several different ways to progress through Pegasus soul.

The most common was combat. According to the display, only methods that had really strong meaning to folk would work. Usually, folk wanted to stay alive, so combat was a consistent method for increasing Soul Hardening.

There were a lot of other things indicated that could help too. Building unique devices or exploring new places. Even spending time with family.

As long as they meant something, they'd contribute. Getting through Pegasus soul was about living life. And feeling it as you did so.

"Hey Nexxa, look at this," I said, waving at the screen.

"What… okay, seriously Perry, we should go. You don't want that stuff seeping into your skin," Nexxa said, holding her hand to her nose as if she hadn’t used a spell to banish the spell. "It's even getting through my shield."

"Fair," I said, even though Water Breathing had been keeping the worst of the smell from bothering me, it would be nice to get clean.

I got her to read the display first, which was almost enough to distract her, but she waved me onward with her nose still held.

When we appeared in the gazebo, the golden light falling away, I was disappointed to note that it hadn't stripped away the tar. Thought that maybe, since it was a place specifically meant to help with ascending, it might also have some way to deal with the mess.

If it did, it wasn't an automatic part of the teleport.

"You know," Nexxa said, a dangerous tilt in her voice. "There's an awful lot of water to help you get clean, right there."

"Thanks, never would've thought of-" The rest of my sentence was cut off as Nexxa let out a loud cackle, thrusting me out past the invisible barrier holding the water back.

Thankfully, Water Breathing was still running.

Waving at me, Nexxa swam past. I returned her kind gesture with a less polite gesture of my own.

Still, I was already in the ocean, so I started scrubbing myself clean.

Despite the abundance of water, the robes were a write-off. Absolutely couldn't be saved. Especially that little fold around the neck.

That was my story, and I was sticking to it.

Not to worry though, I had a spare set of clothes in the storage pendant.

With most of the tar removed, and the unflappable robes with it, Nexxa and I returned triumphant to Tetherfall. I didn’t fly in under my own power for two reasons. One, I wasn’t ready to broadcast my recent ascension to Pegasus. Second, there was no reason to leave Soaring Wolf behind when it was jam-packed with Forgehearts and useful enchanting materials.

Even if I kept using it, we could salvage a lot of those for other projects and adjust Soaring Wolf to work with my new innate flight.

As we ascended, a bright flash of light filled the sky, managing to outshine even the constant lightning.

“What was that?” I yelled to Nexxa.

Both of us looked around, but neither of us had a decent response.

A few minutes later, the wind reversed direction, almost knocking me out of the air as the clouds were blown away.

"Okay, the hell is going on?" I yelled to Nexxa once more.

“Not sure, but I doubt it’s good,” Nexxa replied, squinting into the distance with a frown.

As we came in, I couldn't help but notice a new line of broken trees in Mistvale, a short distance away. I almost veered off to investigate, but figured I could just take the Waygate. Did point it out to Nexxa though, whose frown deepened.

Whatever it was, it'd be good to have more heartwood.

That positive note quickly soured as we landed and I saw the number of Tethered running towards the Waygate with nets and cloth.

"Perry," Esbee said, stepping out of where the tunnel met her tavern. "They're going to need you at the ship, fast as you can get there."

"What ship? What's going on?" I asked, looking past her as though I'd be able to spot the truth on my own through the mass of huddled bodies.

"Not sure of the details," Esbee said, turning around as well. "But the Howling Defier crashed."