Chapter 114 – The assassin tries out his new divine treasure
Chapter 114 - The assassin tries out his new divine treasure
Translator: VALIANT
My trial was over.
Even if I was acquitted, they could’ve held me in custody until the evidence I presented could be verified, but it was decided that I would be released without a hitch.
This was due to Marquis Kalonarai making a terrible impression, and the persuasiveness of the documents I had prepared.
After completing the paperwork, I was finally free.
Life in a prison cell wasn’t really comfortable.
However, a prison of this level was pretty easy to enter and escape, and I didn’t have such a bad time in it since I got to devote myself to magical studies for the first time in a while.
And most of all…
[Agateram. The nerve of him to hide something like this.] (Lugh)
After making sure that no one was around, I took out the divine treasure I had snatched from Marquis Kalonarai’s treasure room.
It looked like a silver prosthetic arm.
Artificial arms themselves weren’t that uncommon.
However, Agateram’s characteristics were that it was the perfect artificial arm, and the fact that it had a built-in reactor core.
When I say perfect, I do mean literally perfect, meaning that whoever wore it could make it function as perfectly as an actual arm without any discomfort.
The level of motion, flexibility, and sense of touch were reproduced to the same degree as those of real flesh.
On top of that, it was extremely powerful, and legend had it that it could withstand even a blow from Setanta’s own divine treasure Gae Bolg.
Moreover, mana was constantly flowing from its reactor core. When I observed it with my Tuatha Dé eyes, I found that the amount of mana that it perpetually produced was almost the same as the amount of mana produced by Dia. In other words, it was equal to what the greatest sorcerer in all of humanity could produce.
What was even more surprising was that when the owner came in contact with that mana, it transformed to match their own mana. Meaning that you could handle it like your own mana.
This thing is way too practical.
It almost makes me want to cut off my own right arm and replace it.
[…But that would probably make Dia and Tarte sad.] (Lugh)
For the moment, I had no intention of replacing my arm just for more efficiency.
Even if it made me stronger, the girls wouldn’t be happy about me having a magic tool for an arm.
Besides, I would miss holding them in my own arms.
No, wait a second.
There’s no rule saying that I can only have two arms, or that I have to wear the prosthesis at all times.
Theactivation condition for Agateram was to have a neural connection with it.
In that case, there were other ways to use it than as a substitute arm.
I should take my time and study it.
Before leaving the courthouse, I snuck into a private room and used a disguising tool I carried in my Leather Crane Bag to disguise myself as someone else.
This case was attracting a lot of attention, so I was sure that if I walked out of the building dressed as Lugh Tuatha Dé, I would be bombarded with questions.
When I left the courthouse, there was still a crowd of people looking for me.
I walked out through the crowd, with no one realizing it was me.
Nevan was nowhere to be seen. The moment this case was closed, she smiled at me and left.
She didn’t come because she was worried about me. She probably came to see how far I could go.
And surely she was satisfied with my performance.
I handed a letter to one of my agents standing in the crowd.
He wasn’t able to see through my disguise either, but I established a protocol for making contact, so he could tell from my gestures that it was me.
The content of the letter was a message to Maha.
Words of thanks for everything she had done for me this time, and additional requests.
And the following day, I would be on my way to see her.
I had been giving her so much to do, and I hadn’t thanked her enough for that. Maha was the one I was the most worried about with this case. I had put her through so many heartaches.
As the manager of my information network, she had a full view on this entire case. Which gave her a lot to be concerned about.
[It’s windy today.] (Lugh)
A storm was approaching. Judging by the movement of the clouds, the humidity on my skin and the temperature, it was likely to hit in the evening and pass by morning.
Flying in the storm would be difficult.
It was feasible, but it would be terribly draining.
Hang gliders used the wind to fly, so the fact that I couldn’t use my【Windscreen】spell, which nullified the wind, would make things tough for me, and flying under the heavy rain was a grueling task.
I decided to spend the night in an inn somewhere and play with my new toy until the storm passed, and then head for Milteu afterwards.
With this in mind, I started looking for a place to stay in the royal capital.
For the past while, rain and wind had been pounding on the inn’s windows.
Just as I anticipated, a storm came over the royal capital.
Staying put was the right call.
There was no way I was going to fly in those conditions.
[…I knew it, this is how it works.] (Lugh)
I was at the inn, analyzing my new divine treasure Agateram, and I found out a few things about it.
The connection between Agateram and the user’s body could be physical, but it was only secondary, as the main connection happened via spiritual paths.
This wasn’t science, this was the occult - the realm of magic.
If so, then it was most likely possible for me to use it without having to cut off my arm.
With my arm still attached, I tried inserting the connecting blade into my flesh, and upon doing so, the blade dug into it and spread itself out so it couldn’t be pulled out, causing me excruciating pain.
My wound was healed by the power of Agateram, then when it closed up, the physical connection was established.
However, it was only stuck to my shoulder and didn’t even move an inch.
The reason for that was simple: the spiritual path going from my shoulder to my arm was currently connected to my arm only.
Because the path starting from Agateram was blocked, the spiritual connection couldn’t happen.
But through my Tuatha Dé eyes, I saw how it behaved when I tried to make that connection.
Thus, I could roughly imagine how it worked based on its mana flow.
Moreover, as I kept observing, Agateram continued to search for a connection to my spiritual path. It was exceedingly easy to analyze.
[In that case, I should be able to make it work.] (Lugh)
I found formulas similar to those of the spells I had analyzed so far.
There was a surprisingly large number of spells that made use of spiritual paths. A typical example was the disembodiment spell, which consisted in being temporarily clothed in flames by circulating fire mana through the paths.
…Right now, the reason why the prosthetic arm didn’t move despite the connection was because there was only one line connecting my shoulder and my arm.
And the spell I was creating was simply to create a bifurcation in the line running from my shoulder to my arm.
As I wrote down the formula, I thought to myself that Dia would surely make it better.
Subtle spells were her forte.
When I get back, I’ll show her my work and ask her to improve it.
For now, my goal today is to make Agateram usable.
It would be great if I could just make it move.
And so, I got engrossed in my magic development.
It was quite the challenge, but I had a feeling that I was making progress little by little.
When I raised my eyes after completing the spell I desired, I realized that dawn had broken, and the storm had passed.
Looks like I’ve been absorbed in it for hours.
[Well then, let’s give this spell a try…【Marionette】] (Lugh)
I named this spell【Marionette】.
I activated it, and analyzed the spiritual path from my shoulder as I desired.
After that, Agateram, which was still stuck in my body, finally found the spiritual path I wanted, extended its own path and connected it to mine.
For a moment, I almost blacked out.
I was overwhelmed with extreme discomfort.
The amount of information coming from Agateram was huge.
If it weren’t for me constantly putting a load on my brain and developing it with【Limitless Growth】, I might’ve suffered a cerebral burnout.
The amount of information required for a single arm was tremendous: I had to control the fingers, wrist, elbow, shoulder, multiple moveable parts, and even every single muscle.
Normally, Agateram would’ve cut into the owner’s mental resources used for his own arms, but because I forcibly added that extra arm to myself, all the information needed to run it as a new arm came flooding in.
Humans were designed to have only two arms. They weren’t designed to be capable of operating three, so it was no wonder that their processing ability would burst.
Still, I withstood it.
[…It’s connected. I see… This is great.] (Lugh)
The connection of our spiritual paths allowed the mana created by the reactor core of Agateram to flow in.
Moreover, it had the power to strengthen my self-healing abilities and revitalize my body.
No, that wasn’t all. I realized that I could use Agatera as a medium to release mana.
The instantaneous mana output was twice as much as the amount I could release from my own body.
My greatest disadvantage was that although my mana capacity was completely off the charts, my instantaneous mana output didn’t exceed the human limit, but this device was more than enough to compensate for it.
Also…
[I can make it work just the way I imagined it.] (Lugh)
I was able to pull out the knife I had hidden in my inside pocket and wield it with my prosthetic arm stuck into my shoulder. And smoothly too, just as I had intended.
The problem was that I had to consciously move it, as it was currently impossible for me to move it unconsciously by reflex.
Oh boy, I’d better figure this one out.
At the moment, this artificial arm was plenty useful.
Since I could conceal it under loose clothing, it was ideal for surprise attacks.
For example, if, in the middle of a sword fight, my third arm suddenly appeared through my clothes and swung a blade, no one would be able to react to it.
After all, no one would expect anyone to have a third arm.
Even if it didn’t use it for surprise attacks, I could still do many interesting tricks with three arms.
[I think that’ll be enough.] (Lugh)
I pulled out the artificial arm, which was deeply embedded in my flesh, from my shoulder.
Blood spurted out, and I used【Rapid Recovery】to heal my wound.
…Okay, I managed to use this device.
Next time, I’ll study it some more and see if I can reuse it for other techniques.
If I can control it as precisely as my actual arms, I’ll be able to learn a lot from it.
[Well, now that it’s morning, I should get going. Maha’s waiting for me.] (Lugh)
The sun was rising.
The sky was cloudless.
In that case, I could fly to Maha.
I’m sure that at first, she’ll be sulking and angry that I haven’t come to see her in so long. But she’ll probably smile and be happy to see me again right away.