Shadow Clone Sorcery
Chapter 46: Quest Complete (2)

Lukas felt the clones perish one at a time. He felt their determination, focus, and pain. There was also fear and concern, not for themselves but for him. He was amazed at how the three of them pushed their minds, bodies, and magic to the limits, creating Shadowsteel pikes and barriers. He doubted his ability to do the same without passing out.

Then, there was Elvis. The clone kept going until the end, doing the persona justice. He wasn’t yet sure whether to kill him off altogether. Lukas enjoyed the little creations from the smithy. However, they had, at most, two to three weeks left in Iskander. It was best spent preparing for the job and their departure, not trying to learn new techniques. However, he hated how hard the owner and foreman pushed the staff and the treatment they suffered. It was tempting to rob them on the way out.

I don’t need Elvis for that. We have the ins and outs.

Silverspine had other quests in the area, but if they were urgent, the journal would tell him. There was also the risk of the journal detecting an interest, deeming the state of things urgent, and pushing him towards them. The sooner he moved on, the better.

The roar of collapsing stones faded into the distance as Bass left the tunnel behind. He raced through the low cavern, up several narrow passages, and it wasn’t long before they found the waterways. The giant lion hobbled the last of the way up the familiar tunnel where it had all started and spread his wings as soon as he was clear. Two monstrous flaps were all he needed to take off, and then they were speeding to safety. It seemed he didn’t want to bother with the narrow passages connecting to the elevator and intended to fly all the way to the top.

Lukas took the opportunity to check the journal’s remaining offerings.

You have gained two charges for empowering the journal.

Please pick from the following:

Inspector’s Compendium II: Gained the power to inspect people, gaging awakened pillars, general ranks, and overall power level. You need contact for the inspection and be wary of anti-scrying and divination wards. They might warn the target of inspection attempts.

Seeker’s Library: Copy any book, text, or scroll into the journal and call them forth as and when needed. The target must remain in contact with the journal for duplication. The longer and more complex the text, the longer the process will take.

Cost: 1 Charge

Hidden Compartment: The journal gains a one-foot by one-foot storage space. Nothing bigger than the journal may enter the hidden compartment, and everything within is hidden from divination and scrying. Anything stored within the space can be carried through portals without concern.

Cost: 1 Charge

Deceptive Facade: Ward yourself against all who wish to study, understand, or investigate you using spells or shard abilities. Note how you wish to be perceived in the journal. Their analysis will often prove faulty and provide inconsistent or pre-determined results.

Cost: 1 Charge.

Escape Portal: Gain the power to open a portal to a random city or settlement once every lunar cycle, escaping to somewhere without conflict. You may sacrifice an essence sphere to have the portal take you somewhere you’ve been before.

Cost: 2 Charges

No Wizard’s Spellbook? Is it because I picked the sorcerer’s path?

Spellweaver is incompatible with Wizard’s Spellbook. The possibility of disastrous consequences for you and myself has compelled me to remove it from the pool of choices.

That explains why Deceptive Facade is there.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Although the next rank of Inspector’s Compendium seemed useful, Lukas didn’t want to lose out on the possibilities the other gifts offered. Escape Portal was tempting, but he didn’t trust Silverspine not to manipulate destinations and drop him off in a location or situation where he would be compelled to serve her interests.

Of the remaining three, he knew he wanted Hidden Compartment straight away. Lukas had always wanted some sort of spatial storage, but spells related to them were beyond his capabilities in his old life. The Hidden Compartment didn’t offer much space. However, it was enough to store shards, essences, money, and valuables. He especially liked that it would allow him to carry magical objects around without detection and through portals. He’d been too injured and tired to care about everything they lost during their journey to Iskander but he refused to let the same happen again.

That’s a steal for just one charge.

Even though Lukas liked the idea of Deceptive Facade, he decided against it. Half-truths and lies would suffice going forward. Initially, he had underestimated the rarity and potency of identification abilities. Now, he had better lies in store regarding his abilities, and he had no plans of opening an identification business.

Seeker’s Library was ambiguous about the time demands of copying things, but he still preferred it. There was far too much about Fracture, the pillars, shards, essences, and magic that he didn’t know and needed to understand. His knowledge and memorization abilities were also far from perfect. He liked the idea of calling forth any information he needed for a reminder. He would’ve loved an option that allowed the clones to summon the journal and use it without him nearby, but that wasn’t yet a possibility. However, that didn’t mean they couldn’t study the library’s contents while he slept. The knowledge would come to him once they were dispelled.

A new page appeared.

Journal Abilities:

• Inspector’s Compendium I

• Hidden Compartment I

• Seeker’s Library I

Lukas planned to visit magical stores and the research center and perhaps even break into one of the academies to copy their valuable secret texts and scrolls. If the library could copy and store spellforms, his life would be considerably easier going forward.

When he thought of Hidden Compartment, both open pages darkened, and his hand easily passed through the opening. He dropped the ritual leather roll and his essences through the hole. He held onto what little money he had left on his person. It wasn’t much and would come in useful soon. The sacks his clones had gathered from the Elder Wyrmkin settlement contained several valuables, but he left them alone for now. Penelope would want to go through them, and he hadn’t yet decided how much to share with her.

A neat list appeared afterward, detailing all of the contents. When he thought about it, the adjacent page was also filled with all of the arcane words he knew and used.

Frar: Haste

Skina: Shine

Bryna: Sharpen

Laeknir: Heal

Skugga: Shadow

Well, that's useful.

Delvers and guards cleared out of the way when Bass reached the uppermost level. They watched him and his passengers with wide eyes, mostly studying the unconscious pair. Greedy eyes also eyed the giant lion’s bloody hind leg. Lukas wasn't sure why.

Is it the magic-charged blood?

“Is that the Cold Fire Sorcerer?” Someone asked out loud.

“Can't be,” another said. “One doesn't simply take down a member of the—”

“Forget her! Is that a bloody Wyrmkin?”

“Why are there Wyrmkin in the bloody undercity?” A concerned murmur washed over the crowd.

“Did they foil a raid?”

“Wait until the union hears about this.”

No one got in the way when they exited the undercity. They skipped all inspections and questioning. The healer's post just outside offered to help, but they backed off as soon as Bass growled at them.

“Keep your incompetent paws off Penny!”

“Look at those burns,” the woman protested. “We just need to ensure she's stable.”

“And not infectious or carrying anything dangerous. What if—”

“Watch your tongue, you filthy excuse for a mage,” Bass snapped. “Or I'll tear it out for the rats to gnaw.”

The woman flinched, going pale and backpedalling. When Bass took a step forward, she turned on her heel and ran, screaming at the top of her lungs. He followed for half a dozen feet but took to the air as soon as they were out in the open and had no obstacles overhead. The familiar. flew to Esther's, not needing any direction or instructions.