03 - Spirit Construction (Patreon)

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The old wooden door shot open too fast to even begin to creek. The first to step into the room was a young elven woman, followed by a hulking figure of an orc that ducked slightly as he entered through the doorway.

As the two entered, they saw Ryan sitting at his desk, carefully working on something. Taken aback, Silvia stepped closer to him, "Seriously? You've got the nerves to work on a model right now?"

Ryan turned around, looking at his friends with a broad, awkward grin on his face. The kind that Ryan wasn't able to stop himself from showing in weird or uncomfortable situations, "Yeah, so, this whole thing is part of it, actually..."

"Part of what?" Silvia raised a brow, looking onto the desk. Spread out there were just some regular pieces of one of the models that Ryan would build all the time. It didn't look any different from the ones that were set up on the shelves, or the ones that Silvia had painted together with Ryan at some point. However, what did stick out to her was something else entirely. The tools that Ryan was holding, the small clippers and the metal file he was using to clean up the edges of the individual pieces, were letting off a faint glow.

"Holy shit, is that magic?" Silvia asked excitedly, and Ryan looked up with a smug nod, "I think so, yeah. It lets me actually cut out the parts of the model."

"...What?"

In the background, Modak had squatted down after stepping onto a small piece that had been thrown through the room. There were a lot that were scattered around, but the one he was now holding in his hand was different. It was the face of the one the model was depicting, the green plastic being just a couple shades darker than Modak's own skin.

"I'm gonna try not to get offended at this being on the ground," he sighed loudly, standing back up before walking over to Ryan's desk to get a look at everything himself.

Ryan, seeing that his friends were both watching, quickly picked up the single frame that was still laying on the desk, and it had just a single piece that was attached in a single spot, "I'll explain in a second, but the activation period for the skill is over soon, so I'm going to show it to you first, since... honestly, I thought I was going crazy earlier, so I wouldn't blame you if you-"

"Oh just do what you were gonna do already," Silvia slightly slapped Ryan's back to prompt him to keep going. With a quiet grumble, Ryan picked up the clippers and put them up against the single last connection, and with a single quick motion, the last piece fell onto the cutting mat underneath. But the moment that the last connection was gone, the frame that Ryan was holding simply fell apart into that same red light that formed the box earlier to begin with, scattering away into nothingness before everyone's eyes.

The plastic orc head that Modak was still holding in his hand until now quickly fell to the ground as he stared at Ryan's desk. And then at Silvia, and then at Ryan himself, and then back at the desk.

"Your class is related to model-building?" Modak asked, as Ryan turned around on his chair. He could feel the magic that had been gathered at his fingertips slowly disappear as the skill was deactivated and the one-hour cooldown started. And at the same time, another translucent window appeared in front of his eyes.

***

[The -Spirit Construction- Skill has levelled up]

***

With a curious expression, Ryan focused on the name of his skill, and its information window quickly appeared.

***

[Spirit Construction]

[Level - 2] [Proficiency – 3%]

[Allows the user to construct the Spirits’ physical bodies]

[Effect – Spirit Construction for 21 Minutes]

[Cost – 10.5 MP] [Cooldown – 1 Hour]  

***

Ryan took mental note of the changes to the skill. It was going to be active for one more minute, but at the same time, the skill now cost half a point more Mana . At some point, the cooldown would probably start increasing as well, but for now those were the only changes. The skill would be on cooldown for another 40 minutes; cooldowns started once the skill was first used, not when it ended. And Ryan could subconsciously feel exactly how much time was left until he could use it again, down to the exact second.

Whichever was the case, Ryan now had the time that he needed to properly explain what had happened to his friends. He started right where he needed to; opening the box that his mom had sent him, saying it was his dad's old stuff. That he then found that glowing red gemstone at the bottom, which his mom had apparently overlooked. And of course, that Ryan awakened the moment he held that gem in his hand.

Once Ryan was done telling them his story, the three all stayed silent for a while. Ryan was nervous and felt the awkward silent press down on his body, making his heart beat faster and faster. And that was exactly when Modak broke through that silence.

With an almost childlike curiosity that stood in stark contrast to his usual demeanour, not even mentioning his sheer size, Modak leaned forward, "How does it feel?" he asked, his deep black eyes practically radiating toward Ryan.

"I..." he replied slowly, looking down at his hands, "I don't really feel any different, I guess? It's weird, I thought I would be overcome with this strength, this immense power, but I just... I don't know, I feel like I always do."

"Tired, bored, and with an underlying sense of anxiety?"

Ryan looked over at Silvia and narrowed his gaze, "I told you that in confidence."

"No, guys, I... I mean..." Modak stuttered, "How does it feel to use... magic?"

A bit surprised, Ryan raised a brow, "Well, it's not like I cast a spell or anything, and the skill only cost me 10MP, so it really was nothing special or anything. It was just like warm water running down my arms, washing away the gunk and stuff that's been covering my fingers until now. If that makes any sense."

Modak seemed only somewhat satisfied with that answer. Ryan could tell that he had a lot more things he wanted to ask, but it wasn't like Ryan knew anything in particular about magic. Not more than anyone else, at least, and he awakened not even an hour ago, so he didn't have the time to collect his thoughts yet either. Rather, maybe Silvia would be able to explain things a bit better. Elves generally tended to have a slightly better connection to magic than orcs and humans. Though, then again, Silvia never showed any particular interest in it either.

"But seriously... you of all people got a Magical Class? I'd have thought you'd be, I don't know, a Brawler or something?" Silvia pointed out with a somewhat puzzled expression, and Ryan could do nothing but shrug in response.

"It's not like I expected this either. I know they're not really accurate or anything, but literally every single quiz I'd take online said I'd get a physical class if I awakened," Ryan sighed, "Though, it's not like I awakened under normal circumstances either. I'm pretty sure most people don't awaken by touching a glowing gem."

"Right," Silvia started, leaning back as she raised a brow, "Does that mean your father was also a 'Spirit Keeper'? If that was in his stuff, then he must've been, right?"

Ryan looked back at Silvia with a scoff, "Dude, my dad was an accountant. My mom said he was a massive history buff, though, and got really into model building too. He probably just bought that stuff somewhere and didn't have a chance to take a closer look at it."

Both Silvia and Modak looked at Ryan with deep stares, until their friend quickly buckled, "Fucking- fine, I'll talk to Runar about him later. Happy?"

"Yup," Silvia replied immediately, glancing down at the gemstone that Ryan was once more clutching in his hand, "So... that's a Spirit Core, then?"

"A spirit core?" Ryan repeated. It wasn't the first time he heard about it, but since he never looked into it all that much, he thought it was more of a metaphorical thing. Not that it was an actual physical object.

"Right, of course! A spirit core is basically a spirit's heart, the thing that their magic and essence is focused into. It pushed their magic around like blood, basically," Modak quickly explained, "If you had the predisposition to become a 'Spirit Keeper', actually making contact with a spirit could make that happen, right?"

Ryan looked down at the gemstone, and carefully placed it onto his desk, "Uhm... sorry about that, Maximus, I didn't know that I was holding your heart."

"Maximus?" Silvia laughed quietly, "What kinda name is that supposed to be?"

"I didn't come up with it!" Ryan retorted defensively, "That's the name it said on the quest. If I'm building a body for a spirit, and this gem is that spirit, then this gem is Maximus... right?"

"Speaking of," Silvia stood up from the ground and walked over to Ryan's desk, looking over at the sorting-box set onto its centre, "That's a lot more pieces than normal, right? And you don't have a guide or anything?"

"About two, or three times as many, I guess? But they're also a lot smaller, so it's probably gonna be the regular 1/10th scale?" Ryan suggested, "And I guess it would've been too easy if there had been a guide... but at least my 'Spirit Construction' skill makes it a bit easier, still."

Ryan picked up a small metal piece. Or rather, a section that had already been built. Something like a deep crack was on its surface, separating two pieces, "I was wondering how to put it together, cause they didn't have things I could just click together like with regular models, but if I push two pieces against each other with that skill active, they just fuse into each other."

He held the piece up to the others, "I think the crack here means that it's wrong, telling me I need to put something else there. Because the other section here is actually also two pieces, and not one, but they just fit together perfectly. So I think that part happened to be right."

Silvia and Modak came to take a closer look. Just as Ryan said, there wasn't a slightest hint of another piece having been fitted onto it, like they had always been just a single piece. But of course, that wasn't the case with that other, extra part. It very obviously didn't fit there, and that wasn't just because of the crack that made it seem like you could separate the parts just by holding them wrong, it was very obviously not the right piece.

"So it's a puzzle, then?"

"I guess so," Ryan replied, turning back toward the box with those dozens and dozens of pieces with an annoyed expression, "Except this is going to take forever at this rate... I can only work 20 minutes at a time, and then have to wait another 40 minutes until I can keep going."

"Then maybe we can try and arrange them first." Modak suggested, "That way you can put it together faster when the skill cools down."

"Huh. I guess so. Ah, hold on," Ryan quickly got up and left his room. But he returned just a few moments later with two more chairs in tow that he had grabbed from the dining table, quickly placing them down in front of his desk next to his own.

"If you guys are up for it, let's just get started."

Silvia and Modak didn't hesitate for a moment, as they sat down on the chairs. Of course, Silvia took the comfortable, well-cushioned office chair that Ryan was sitting in earlier.

"Only because you're doing me a favour here," Ryan clicked his tongue with a playful glare, sitting down on one of the hard wooden chairs, while Modak looked at the two of them with an awkward sigh.

"And what do I get, then?"

Ryan looked up at his friend and thought for a moment, "Hm... my undying love and appreciation?"

Modak contemplated it for a few seconds, and then nodded while sitting down, "I can live with that."

And without further ado, the three got started. They sorted through the different pieces, that Ryan had already divided up as best as he could. Of course, it wasn't all too easy to get every part of it figured out, though some areas were easier than others. The hands and feet, and of course the helmet; these were parts of the model that were more obvious. Parts of the metal had been dyed red, seemingly being some sort of details. Since there were less of them and they had complex, thin shapes, they simply put them aside for now and would have Ryan test them out later. If they at least had the art on the box to reference, this wouldn't be as big an issue, but the moment that Ryan had started taking the first pieces out of the frames, it fell apart into that magical red light as well.

The parts that were rather simple were actually the leather and cloth parts. Silvia quickly recognized different sections to be the same shape as what regular clothes were sewn from, so she could reference what she knew about that already and had them sorted out quickly.

Out of everything, though, the pieces that surprised and confused Ryan, Modak and Silvia the most were the thin, curved pieces of wood. These in particular were as thin as twigs, seeming to be roots that were supposed to grow all over the final armour, above and under the different plates, as though holding it all together.

Of course, the moment that Ryan's skill cooled down, he would immediately activate it again. At least his Mana recovery was only a little lower than 10MP every hour, so he was able to activate it multiple times in a row without waiting for his Mana to recover above 10 points. Of course, the skill levelled up one more time too, so things became a little more annoying, but since the amount of time he could work in a row increased a little as well, he couldn't complain. And then, once the skill was active again, Ryan would simply push the pieces against each other, and they would fuse together as if they were always a single part in the first place. If something was wrong, he simply had to tug at it and could pull it off, like removing a chunk of soft clay.

But even with the three of them working together, though mostly because of the limited amount of time that Ryan's skill was active at a time, it took until 11pm for the final model to finally be completed. The last thing that Ryan now had to do was take the red gemstone and place it into the chest-cavity of the model armour. Those thin roots that were growing all over the armour, stretching onto its limbs and climbing in between the metal plates, formed a solid bed for the gem to fit into perfectly.

Modak and Silvia silently watched on as Ryan pushed the gem inside, the small roots almost wrapping themselves around it, trying to pull it into their embrace the moment it came close. As the gem's soft, dim red light began to shine out from its centre, the roots practically absorbed it, making the magical essence pulse through to the roots' tips. Somewhat nervously, Ryan hurried to place the front of the chest-plate, which he had removed to allow him to put the gem inside, back onto the rest of the armour. And then, he just sat there, his hands pulled away from the small model armour to make sure he didn't accidentally break anything. The room was silent, and the light flowing out to the ends of the roots dyed Ryan's whole desk in a deep red.

"How long is it supposed to-" Silvia asked, glancing over at Ryan. In the middle of her sentence, the armour twitched. Like a wave of spasms and cramps flowing through the spirit's new body. The leather gloves making up its fingers bent in a way that made Ryan fear he put it together wrong, as the metal let out creaks that you would rather expect from a large construct settling into place. And then, all at once... the armour went limp. Not the stiffness that it had when it was first put together, but completely limp, like someone was now within the armour's formerly hollow interior, sleeping.

And then, that someone woke up. The small model carefully sat up on the cutting mat, pushing itself up. For a few moments, its seemed unstable on its new legs, but before anyone would have been able to even realize, it moved more confidently.

The Knight looked around for a few moments, as if getting used to the ability to actually see things again, and before long, its sight landed on Ryan. Without a moment's hesitation, the Knight dropped onto its knee, lowering its head.

***

[You have completed the Quest -Maximus' Request-]

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