(Thursday, 29/10/1058, inside the manor)
(Henryk's PoV)
After telling Shira where I was going, and what I wanted to do, I began my Grand Search for Lady Riveria. My so-called Grand Search ended before it could even start properly. I found her in the lounge at the entrance, tending to the preparations for the upcoming expedition with some other familia members, and approached her.
"Excuse me, Lady Riveria" I called her name and waited. I saw how her ears twitched and her features were about to sharpen just a bit.
She raised her hand, a clear sign of acknowledging my presence but telling me to wait. I complied. After talking some more, she finally turned to me.
"Good morning, Henryk" She said with a practiced smile. It was not a real smile.
'Did I do something wrong now?' I thought to myself. I observed her facial features a fraction of a second more. She was simply too focused on the preparations to give me that much welcome.
"I wanted to know if you have some free time right now. I may do something that requires your healing magic as a failsafe" I said. I didn't elaborate, letting her fill in the blanks. She knew about me thinking about altering my body outwardly, which I already started doing with the tail. Now, I was telling her that I was gonna do something much more extreme, and that I needed her help to avoid a potential death.
She closed her eyes and thought about the meaning of my words. When she opened her eyes, she was already taking a step away. "Follow me. We'll go somewhere isolated" She said.
On our way, I told one of the familia members to call for Loki to come where we were going.
I followed Lady Riveria to a corner of the manor where no one visits, not beside the cleaning staff that is. As it happens, they were done cleaning this side of the manor for today. It was empty. We went into what looked like a conference room, locking the doors behind us.
"What idea warranted my healing magic?" She glared at me, her eyes alone a question of why I'd wanna do something this dangerous to begin with.
"I'll attempt to create what equates a magic stone, adapted to human physiology, inside my chest" I said nonchalantly. Hearing my words, her eyes widened in shock and horror.
"Don't" Lady Riveria's word was curt and assertive. It was an order.
"I don't think I can listen to you on matters of growing stronger, Lady Riveria" I said, laying a bag of magic stones on the ground and unfastening a holster holding 6 mind potions in it. "I'm not eating them" I gave her no time to misunderstand my intentions. "What I'll do is use my magic to create my own version of a magic stone, and those will be the fuel, if things went as planned"
Lady Riveria's features darkened. She was conflicted, her thoughts torn between going through with this endeavour or not. She was clearly thinking of how much responsibility this brings, and if the results were worth the risk. After some long moments, her face finally displayed acceptance.
"At the slightest possibility that you'd turn into a monster or something similar happening, I hope you understand my position" She said, holding the elbow of one arm with the other, a sign of remembering a traumatic memory.
'Has she seen someone eat one of these shinies before? Or did they face off against creatures earlier in this timeline?' I thought with a raised eyebrow. I then shook my head, dismissing the thoughts. Right now, the important thing's to start the experiments I planned for today.
As we were about to start, Lady Riveria stiffened. A sudden, devastating thought crept its way into her mind. It was devastating in that it concerned our situation, which could be very easily misunderstood by Shira, had she not been informed already.
"Does your wife know about this?" She started sweating nervously. It seems that, no matter how strong, she feels mortified at the thought of being alone with a married man without his wife knowing. Being a homewrecker was such a grave thing to her, it seems.
"She does. She said that she knows neither of us will do anything" I said, reassuring her that Shira was fine with this. 'Well, while the thought seemingly didn't cross Shira's mind, she'd probably smell whatever happened here when I go to her later'
"Let us start, then" Lady Riveria said with closed eyes, sighing in relief.
We agreed that Lady Riveria'd start chanting first, holding off the spell until something went wrong. She said she could hold the spell for approximately 15 minutes. That should suffice for our purposes.
(AN: I couldn't find any sort of chant for Riveria's healing magic, not a single one of the three levels of it. I'll leave it as chanted off-screen)
I then started chanting.
{I ask thee, thou who oversees the fate of every living being, thee who directs the flow of things. Answer my prayer and grant my humble wish} {Alteration: Make it so my magic gradually consumes mind over a moment that feels instant}
I banked on the fact that I had all of my parameters unrestrained, including and especially MAG. Even then, it seems like a rank S999 MAG wasn't enough yet to achieve what I wanted.
"Well? Was this just a preparatory step?" Lady Riveria asked curiously.
"Pretty much, yeah" I grumbled with clear dissatisfaction. "Regardless, it still could work"
{I ask thee, thou who oversees the fate of every living being, thee who directs the flow of things. Answer my prayer and grant my humble wish} {Alteration: Break the first level's S999 limit on all parameters, sacrificing my high-quality excellia if necessary}
That one seemed to work. I spurted out blood, for starters. I also had a splitting headache. The world felt like it was starting to mesh together in weird ways as my vision became wavy and I swayed. Then came the pain.
I... I don't remember the pain. However, from what I was told minutes after the fact, I was clutching my chest while screaming as if I was dying with a hole drilling through my heart, blood oozing from every visible orifice in my body. I checked after taking cover from her, and confirmed that it did include every orifice, everything, including my sweating pores. I was caked in blood from head to toe.
I put everything back on and went back to Lady Riveria. I only then noticed Loki, who was sitting down properly for once, very calm and dignified. It was so unlike her usual personality.
"I believe we are done for the day" Lady Riveria said, not waiting for me to give my answer.
"Not quite yet" Her steps came to a sudden, sharp halt. The mechanical way her head turned, and the sternest expression on it yet. It was honestly intimidating. "I still wish to try something else"
"He-" "No, I didn't achieve my main goal of this experiment. I didn't form a purified mind crystal" I cut her off. Loki's eyes twitched as she leaned forward, cupping her chin.
Lady Riveria shook her head. Her expression spook of her desire to tell me to rest before trying anything else.
"You have bled enough for one day" She said disapprovingly.
"Well" I said with a shit-eating grin. I then chanted for my blood to regenerate fully, which the mind potion I was fed helped to happen. "Can we try it now? I don't know when another chance might present itself" I looked at Loki, a signal she understood.
"From what Riveria told me, you wanted to alter the very nature of magic and mind drainage, failing, then resorting to the extreme method of somehow BREAKING THE PARAMETER LIMIT!" She exploded in that last part. Her eyes bulged out, threatening to fall out of their sockets. She stomped her way to me as threateningly as she could. "As awesome and extraordinary as that is, you should prioritize your probability to remain alive" She jabbed an accusing finger at my chest. It didn't feel particularly attention-grabbing.
"Breaking the limit, creating a secondary mind storage inside my own body, and many more things to come, all I do is in preparation for an uncertain future, a future that could devolve into a monster horde on the surface at a random time" I said. I knew they'd start to suspect some things about what I said, but I could also play it as I said it. It absolutely was an uncertain future that I knew only a single possibility of.
Lady Riveria's expression morphed from disapproval into a pale one, drained of colour for how much pain I'm willing to withstand for my goals.
"Have you no fear for your life?" She asked, exasperated that I subjected myself to this kind of pain and still wanted to do something that's potentially more painful.
"That's why your healing magic is necessary for this to work safely" I said as I sat back down on the ground, right where all the blood was.
"You won't do this behind our backs if we disapproved it, right?" She asked while looking at my expression, analysing it closely. When I didn't answer and looked away instead, she facepalmed, sighing audibly. "Great" I heard a tired, indignant voice coming from her. "Just great. I need to help another one out of the dumps, chasing strength while disregarding their own safety"
I assumed she was talking about me, comparing me to a younger Ais.
"Tell me I won't be responsible for what happens next" She asked, almost pleadingly.
"You never responsible for this, no need to be worried" I reassured her. "As for you," I turned to Loki. "I called you because I wanted my update now, if you'd allow it"
Loki sighed, giving me a look that promised a hell of an earful once this was done. She relented and updated my falna.
(Line Break)
STR: S999 → SS1087
STA: S999 → SS1054
DEF: S999 → SS1058
AGI: S999 → SS1099
MAG: S999 → SS1157
(Line Break)
Lady Riveria started chanting again.
I attempted my first chant again, allowing the sacrifice of my sight, temporarily, in exchange. I won't forget the disbelief in their eyes before the world went dark, and the way Lady Riveria had to fight to keep herself from losing focus and exploding. It was funny in its own morbid way.
It drained me of nearly all of my reserves and took away my sight, signaling that my magic now was a gradual drain instead of an instant cost.
Drinking another potion, I chanted for my body to gradually purify mind from inanimate sources in contact with it, adding it to my reserves when there is room. It didn't work.
After adding the condition of losing either taste or touch, or both, it worked, temporary as they may be. I now feel my body draining mind from the magic stones, although it needed some refinement. A few mind potions and some chanting later, it was at a satisfactory enough speed for now.
{Alteration: Formation of a smooth, purified mind sphere close to my heart. If necessary, keep me awake and aware of the pain, a trial to withstand the pain until the effects take place before I allow myself to pass out} I chanted after she did and asked my wish of whatever power is hearing it.
I felt my body getting weaker as soon as I finished my chant. It seems that my magic power simply wasn't enough. Good that I chose to attempt a trial since that worked. A trial my body would've denied right out of the gate if it was left to its own devices. Under any other circumstances, my brain would've elected to pass out. Not this time.
I had the honor of experiencing deathbed kinds of pain, or what I believed is closest to it. I felt my chest getting crushed as the breath was taken away from me, my lungs emptied forcefully. It was as if the weight of the entirety of the mortal realm's skies fell on me at that very moment. I felt my heart slowing down as I felt my extremities getting colder. They were certainly getting paler and more bluish by the second. I felt a hot, boiling liquid spill out from my eyes and nose, my blood no doubt. I hope Lady Riveria is capable of stabilizing me.
Amongst the pain and agony I put myself through, some parts of my brain remained somewhat functional enough to let me know that I wasn't morphing into an abomination of abstract shape.
Now, I bid the world farewell for a short while. I didn't wake up for the remainder of that day.