Chapter 12 | The Assassin Tests a New Divine Treasure
After successfully absolving myself, I was set free after completing a bit of paperwork.
Prison life was too cramped for my liking. Admittedly, though, I could break in and out of a cell of that caliber at will, and it was actually nice to have free time to devote to magic development.
But more importantly…
“Airgetlam… Certainly never expected him to be hiding a divine treasure.”
After checking to make sure that no one was around, I took out the divine treasure that I’d pilfered from Marquis Carnalie’s vault.
It looked like a silver artificial arm. False limbs weren’t all that rare, actually. Airgetlam was special because it was a perfect one that contained a reactor core.
The device was perfect in every sense; it could be attached to anyone’s body and function flawlessly as an arm with no sense of discomfort. It reproduced the exact same mobility, flexibility, and sense of touch possessed by a flesh-and-blood arm.
It was also extremely durable, and according to legend, it could even endure a blow from Gáe Bolg, the spear that Setanta had wielded.
The advantages didn’t stop there. Mana constantly flowed from the reactor core. I watched it closely with my Tuatha Dé eyes and saw that the amount of magical energy it outputted rivaled Dia’s. In other words, it was on par with the pinnacle of human mages.
I was also surprised to see that Airgetlam’s mana changed to match that of its owner’s upon contact. That meant its power could be used as your own.
This divine treasure was ridiculously convenient. So much so that I was tempted to cut off one of my own arms and attach it in its place.
“…That would probably make Dia and Tarte sad, though.”
I could swap out my right arm for the divine treasure, but I didn’t intend to at the moment. I didn’t think either of the girls would be happy about me having a magical tool for a limb, even if it did make me stronger. I also wanted to be able to embrace them with my own two hands.
Actually, wait. There were no rules that said I needed to have just two arms or that the artificial arm needed to be attached to my body at all times.
Airgetlam was activated by attaching it to nerves. That meant it could be used in ways beyond a mere arm replacement.
This warranted further investigation.
Before leaving the courthouse, I sneaked into a private room and radically changed my appearance using tools for disguise that I carried around in my Leather Crane Bag.
This case had drawn a tremendous amount of attention, and I would have been bombarded with questions if I left the building as Lugh Tuatha Dé.
Just as I expected, I left the courthouse to find a crowd searching for me. I cut through the throng and emerged on the other side without anyone realizing who I was.
Nevan wasn’t there. She’d smiled at me and left as soon as the trial was resolved. I doubt she came because she was concerned. She likely came to see what I was capable of. I was sure my performance satisfied her.
I handed a letter to an intelligence agent in the crowd. The operative hadn’t seen through my disguise, either, but we had agreed on a gesture I could use to show him it was me.
The message was for Maha. I’d written it to thank her for all the help she gave me with this case and to give her an additional request. It also stated that I intended to meet her tomorrow.
She’d been taking on a lot for my sake, and I hadn’t given her the proper appreciation. Maha had carried the largest burden during this latest challenge and had undoubtedly worried the most about me.
Maha was the manager of my information network and could see everything that was going on with the case. She couldn’t help but speculate as a result.
“It’s windy,” I said to myself.
A storm was approaching. Judging from the movement of the clouds, the humidity, and the temperature, it would hit in the evening and pass before morning.
Flying during inclement weather would be tough. It wasn’t impossible, but it would be exhausting. I wouldn’t be able to use Windbreak to nullify the gale because the hang glider required it to fly, and being pelted by the heavy rain would be miserable.
I decided that I would stay at an inn and play with my new toy, then head for Milteu as soon as the storm passed.
Thus, I began to look for an inn in the capital.
The rain had been beating against my window at the inn all night. Just as I predicted, a storm had hit the capital.
I was glad I had decided to wait. I did not want to fly in that storm.
“…It works just as I thought it would.”
I analyzed Airgetlam, my new divine treasure, in my room at the inn and learned a few things.
Airgetlam did connect to the body physically, but that was only secondary to the connection via the spiritual path, which concerned the mystical and magical realm rather than science. Given that, I believed it was possible to use it without cutting off an arm.
I attached the arm to a knife and then stabbed it into my shoulder. The blade gouged into my flesh so that I couldn’t remove it, and I felt tremendous pain.
Airgetlam’s power healed the wound and closed it, and then the arm connected to me physically.
However, it still remained motionless. The reason for that was simple—the spiritual path from my shoulder to my hand was currently only linked to my arm. Airgetlam’s connection to the spiritual path was being blocked.
However, I did see it try to link with my Tuatha Dé eyes. By observing the movement of mana, I formed a rough estimation of the formula.
Even now, Airgetlam was searching for a connection to the spiritual path. That made it extremely easy to analyze.
“This looks doable.”
I had come across similar formulas during my time researching spells. There were a surprisingly large number of them that utilized the spiritual path. For example, one circulated fire mana through the spiritual path to temporarily cover the body in flame for a powerful, life-risking attack.
A line to the spiritual path could not be secured without cutting off an arm… But I could fix that by creating a new line.
I decided to fashion a spell that would form a branch from the path that traveled from my shoulder to my arm. As I wrote, I couldn’t help but think about how much better Dia’s version would have been. She was far superior to me where the intricacies of magic were concerned. When I got home, I would have to show her this.
For now, my goal was to get Airgetlam to a usable state. I would be satisfied if I could just get it to move.
I devoted myself fully to magic development. It was rough going, but I felt like I was making gradual progress.
When I finished the spell I desired, I lifted my head to see that morning had come, and the storm had passed. I had been immersed in my work for hours.
“Okay, I’ll go ahead and chant it… Marionette.”
That was the name I had chosen for this new bit of magic. The spell activated, and just as I hoped, the spiritual path from my shoulder branched off. Then Airgetlam, which was still stabbed into my body, found the connection it was searching for. I extended the path and linked to it.
For a moment, I nearly blacked out.
An intense discomfort overcame me. The information load Airgetlam poured into me was enormous, and it was a ceaseless burden on my brain. I was able to handle it because I employed the skill Limitless Growth to increase my mental capacity, but it would have fried anyone else immediately.
Arms contained an enormous amount of information. A human arm had many movable parts, including the fingers, the wrist, the elbow, and the shoulder, and each muscle had to be controlled as well.
Normally, Airgetlam cut into the resources the owner used on their severed natural arm, but because I had forcibly added it on to my shoulder, the data required to move that arm flooded into my brain all at once.
Humans were designed to function with two arms. Controlling three was unnatural, and it was inevitable that there would be complications as my body attempted to process it. It felt wrong and intensely uncomfortable.
Despite that, my strengthened brain somehow adapted.
“…It’s connected. Hmm, I could get used to this.”
After Airgetlam linked to the spiritual path, the mana created in its reactor core flowed into me. The arm also possessed the ability to strengthen my self-healing and rejuvenate my body.
What’s more, I sensed that I could use Airgetlam as a medium through which to release magical power. I could combine it with the power I outputted from my body to double my instantaneous mana discharge.
My instantaneous mana discharge had always been my biggest weakness. Despite my capacity being off the charts, the portion of it that I could release in one go didn’t even exceed what an ordinary mage could achieve. This would do a lot to overcome that weakness.
Also…
“I have perfect control over its movement.”
I was successfully able to use the artificial arm to draw a concealed knife from an interior pocket and swing it. The movement was smooth and exactly as I intended.
The problem was that I couldn’t move my new silver limb without making a conscious effort. For the moment, I wasn’t able to influence it on reflex.
Okay, let’s figure this out.
Still, there were already many uses for Airgetlam. Hiding it under loose clothing made it perfect for surprise attacks.
For example, I could use it to break through my clothes without warning during a sword fight and swing a blade. No one would be able to react to that. After all, it would never occur to anyone that a person had a third arm.
There were plenty of other fun applications as well. This new divine treasure was a massive advantage that significantly bolstered my capabilities.
“That’s good enough for now.”
I withdrew the artificial arm from my shoulder. Blood spurted from the deep wound, but it was quickly healed by the effects of Rapid Recovery.
All right, I succeeded in using this divine treasure.
Later, I intended to study it further to deduce how else I might use its technology. Its control was so precise that it could be used as an arm. There was plenty I could learn from it.
“Guess I should get going. It’s already morning, and I’m sure Maha is excited to see me.”
The sun was rising, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.
It was a much better time for flying.
I was sure Maha would be angry with me initially for going so long without visiting, but that would quickly turn to joy at seeing me again.
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