Augmented Aspects: Chapter 94 A Horse With Gno Name (Patreon)

Chapter 94

A Horse With Gno Name

I could already feel the start of a headache forming. I had already been pushing myself for quite a while and now I was dealing with not one but two entitled elves. It didn’t help that like the stereotype these two elves were both gorgeous. They were twins if I had to take a guess, that or I am just racist towards elves and assume that all blond, well not true blond. In fact, given my sight I couldn’t see what color their hair was. For all I could tell their hair might have been a weird shade of imperial violet, but the magic that their bodies held, the magic that was flowing through their bodies and being accentuated in their hair, that was blond.

The male was riding some type of golden magical horse, a horse that also radiated the same golden energy. I felt that I should know this type of energy, as it was likely divine in nature, possibly from worshipping the world tree Yggdraspirit that also seemed to glow with the same form of energy far off in the distance. Though again I was by no means an expert, or maybe I was technically an expert due to my exposure? I mean I was working towards a master’s degree in Magic, that should make it so I could say I was trying to become an expert, right?

Shaking my head to dismiss the thought, I decided to focus on the present, where the haughty male elf on the horse was still charging forward, while the female ran quickly behind him. For a second I thought chivalry was officially dead in elven culture, until I realized a spirit horse next to the elf. But then I realized it wasn’t a horse, not by a long shot, unless horses have horns and wings that was no horse. Then looking at the spirit horse I realized not only was the spirit Pegasus-Unicorn, a Pegicorn? Following the female elf, but I could still see the spiritual bond that bound the two beings, even in death.

While I was lost in my own little world, Mallory stepped forward to divert the charging male rider, who I realized was riding his own Pegasus, no wait there was a small golden horn on this horse’s head as well, did that make it so this creature was also a Pegicorn? Just smaller horn on top due to it being a male Pegicorn? I didn’t know, all I could do was try to puzzle that out for later.

“Whoa there.” The male elf screamed out, apparently trying to stop the pegicorn he was riding, but to no effect as the horse kept charging forward, all while he charged directly into Mallory’s outstretched arm. Yeah, you know that old saying about the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object, well all motion will invariably come to a complete stop after enough time has passed, and Mallory proved it.

“OOOFF!” The male elf let out what could be a battle cry, a pain filled battle cry that spoke of better battles to be fought elsewhere. Before he was even on the ground, Mallory was summoning her magical death scythe and had its tip placed at the male elf’s throat, while her foot slammed into the sternum of the elf, forcefully pinning him to the ground.

To say I was in awe of the killing intent that was now radiating off Mallory would be an understatement. In one motion, she took out someone that was clearly a leader of the elven forces and the entire battlefield froze. Well almost entirely, as there were still two people that were moving, well two and a half, technically. The male pegicorn made their way quickly to me, and I almost thought of defending myself, but decided against it at the last moment. While the pegicorn was huge, and still charging quickly, I didn’t sense any malice from the creature. Instead, all I saw and felt was hope radiating from the powerful creature.

The creature came to almost a complete stop within two and a half paces of me, and then stretching its neck, reached out to me and put its head in my lap.

“Well, hello there.” I said, quickly petting the pegicorn who had apparently dismounted its former rider in exchange for scratches behind the ears.

“What?”

A chorus of odd cries came out from around me. I figured most of this attention from the pegicorn came from my Title Nature’s Friend (VII), which made it so I was automatically neutral with nature-based animals, given that this creature was also a spirit pegicorn, I could only think that my last name of Spiritlight should also be at play, making it so this little guy was just putty in my hands.

“Galadral, what are you doing? Get back, she is the enemy…Gah!” The male elf cried out from the ground, but his cries were quickly cut off from a quick application of force to his chest by Mallory’s heel.

“Whose an enemy, it certainly isn’t you.” I say, still cooing at the creature who all but radiated golden light and energy. The more I pet, the more his little nub for a horn began to glow golden light. On an impulse I reached out to touch the horn, as it was just too pretty and the pegicorn just looked too happy to see me.

“There, now you will see…” The male elf cried out, as he saw me reaching for the horn, but his words trailed off when I actually touched the horn. “Wait, you’re a maiden who is pure of heart?”

I was about to laugh at that, comment, even going so far as to look away from the pegicorn in my lap and look at the elf. I almost wanted to comment that I was the last thing from being pure of heart, that right now I was manipulating the great system that we were in by laundering millions of gold coins and getting both experience and a crazy OP title that made it so I could steal pegicorns from their rightful owners just by sitting around. That I was doing all of this, while having my own Simulacrum and Familiar laboring away at not only getting rid of all evidence of my crimes, but also keeping up a cover while I go out and explore the world. I wanted to say all of that, and I did in the best way possible.

“HAHAHAHA! Oh man, you are a riot.” I say, and then continue petting the pegicorn.

Only once the dead pegicorn came up, and  had her head appear on my other side did the still semi-living male pegicorn raise up, nod its head, and then proceed to bow to me.

Now I was left with a pile of pegicorn hair on my glove covered hands, while the still ghost spirit pegicorn bowed in acquiescence to me, while the clearly deceased pegicorn stared at me.

“Oh, I see what it is, you wanted to butter me up, so I would bring back your sister.” I say, leaning over to talk to the still kneeling brother. It is odd to see horses, or rather pegicorns that do that odd bow thing, but seeing the creature clearly prostrate itself to me, caused a silence to come over the battlefield.

“What is she talking about?”

A few people began talking amongst themselves, but no one dared move closer to me. Elves and orcs alike were stunned by the display.

Even the female elf that had been following behind on foot just stood back by Mallory looking over her shoulder and just staring at me.

I realized now that only Mallory and I could see the creature. Well remembering earlier, Mallory couldn’t see it, but she could coat her hands with that weird energy that allowed her to interact with ghosts. Only then could she feel the deceased spirits, or spirits who were double-dead, is that a thing?

“Would you like to live again?” I asked the pegicorn.

“What? Who is she talking to?”

“Quiet.”

People still kept talking from both sides, but everyone that had been around me earlier seemed to just stare on in belief, knowing that I would do something strange, and they were likely right.

“Whinny.” The pegicorn both nodded its head and gave off a whinny that not only I, but everyone around could hear.

“Artalla?” The female elf asked, before collapsing to the ground. As it happened she was only kneeling next to her brother, or the person I assumed was the brother, maybe identical husband? Who knew, anyways, once the female elf collapsed everyone fell silent.

As for me, I already got my consent to operate from the patient. At least I will take the head bob and the whinny as a sign of confirmation. That’s when I began channeling energy into my hand to make it glow, once again I started off weak, at around sixty percent.

Tickle-laugh Whinny.

The horse once again whinnied, but this time it clearly sounded like it was laughing.

“Sorry about that.” I say, increasing the energy frequency to sixty-five percent, before touching the pegicorn. That still wasn’t correct, but I knew this creature was different than the elf I brought back. By seventy percent the horse could sit still without jerking away in laugh filled cries.

Laughter.

Everyone around started to laugh. I almost felt like I needed to defend myself, as this was not that easy of a task, but I decided against that. Instead, I just kept slowly ramping up the frequency, until I was at 80% of what I would use to interact with one of the spirit entities that were around me.

“Phew.” I say, giving out a mock sigh as I swipe away nonexistent sweat from my forehead. With that done, I begin talking to my patient. Well I am really talking to the whole battlefield at this point who is just staring at me with wide eyed disbelief. “All right, I am going to heal you. Part of my decree is that once you are back to life, you will abstain from all combat for a week. Normally this also goes to the rest of your group, but I don’t really care what they have to say.”

Angry Whinny.

The pegicorn that had been kneeling the entire time cried out indignantly. Hearing the cry, I lean over and look down at the creature, though the act is merely for everyone else, as I can clearly see the creature from where I am sitting.

“Okay, if you swear to abstain from combat for a week, I will heal your friend, does that work?” I ask.

Approving Whinny.

“Okay, I accept your word, and I will begin.” I say.

“What, you can’t just…” The male elf cried out indignantly, but his cries were cut off by an angry snort from the pegicorn.

Huffle!

With that the male elf just quieted down, especially as the huff was delivered with a death glare from the noble creature. Somewhere during this whole thing, Mallory let the male elf to get into a sitting position. Mallory was still standing in between me and the others, Bronicus, the orc general, was also standing between me and any would be hero orcs that might try to get a free swipe in on me, or more likely the two elven royalty members who were just sitting on the ground in wide eyed shock as their one remaining pegicorn seemed to not only be talking to me, but also seemed to want my help, even going so far as to offer a non-aggression pact for a week.

“Well then, the accord is set.” I say, talking to the still living pegicorn, and then turn back to the female pegicorn that I can finally touch without causing her to be tickled with my energy.

Taking a deep breath, I focus my mind and let the rest of the world slip away, as I begin bringing back to life a pegicorn. A giant pegicorn that easily comes to the top of my mobile throne chair that I had been given for this operation. The same throne that likely caused this whole altercation to begin with, fortunately animals are sometimes smarter than their owners and we were able to avoid any altercations. Well other than Mallory putting her foot down, literally, but for Mallory that is a non-aggressive stance.

I began by channeling energy into the frame of the great pegicorn, using my natural energy to first create a translucent shell that would serve as the cage for the soul.

“Ohh!”

Everyone, orc and elf alike cried out as they say the pegicorn come to life before their eyes.

Seeing that the shell was complete, I began using two different magical sources at once. With Omni-Heal I began filling the body with surges of energy. With my regular energy pool, I began tethering the spirit to the shell I had created, forever linking the two. Then once the tethering was completed, I focused on inserting Omni-Heal energy into multiple places all at once, going for the head and rear of the pegicorn, then once those two were done, I worked again on the wings, working my way from the tips of the wings inward, connecting to the spine, then working from the spine down to the legs, then I made sure to go around filling in every portion of the body that made sense to me. Then finally, the last piece was the part I was frightened of most about messing up, the horn. Unlike the nub of a horn the male had, this one was large and imposing, it was a natural conduit for magic to cycle outward, and if I lost my concentration, I was certain that a lot of my magical energy would be dispersed like water from a whale’s blowhole if I wasn’t careful. With that image in mind, I almost thought about doing just that, letting the energy fly out in a way that covered everything, but I stopped myself. This was serious, super serious, fun could come later. The last thing I wanted was for there to be a slight mistake, or perceived mistake by my want to see what healing energy being jettisoned out of a natural magical conduit would look like.

With that, I finished the horn, and gave one last cursory glance around the female pegicorn, and was surprised that I didn’t mess it up. Not that horses or animals, are tougher to heal than humanoids, just they have different part, and the pegicorn double, or maybe triply so, as they apparently have a secondary magical sac in their body that is used to funnel energy into the horn. Honestly, I felt I learned so much about how natural magic works. The pegicorn itself didn’t have any meridians, instead, the sac in the body and the horn itself act as the pegicorn’s natural meridians, or maybe a meridian substitute. This was amazing as it meant that while mages had evolved to have natural magical conduits in their meridians, anyone could potentially access their internal magical reservoirs, so long as they had a suitable conduit.

My mind was flooding with different theories to test, and ways that we could prove or disprove this, this also meant that meridians were not the only source of power for a mage, a suitable focus that also helped channel magic in addition to the meridians could also be helpful.

Happy Whinny!

The pegicorn that I just healed cried out happily.

With that the crowd of people who had been looking on in amazement all began to talk and chatter amongst themselves. I was still a little dizzy from having used so much energy, Perfect Resurrection was a lot tougher to pull off than normal, and while there were not many parts I improved upon, there were still some. For instance, I increased the strength of the tendons that connected the wings to the pegicorn’s back, making it so they would be able to theoretically carry more weight, or fly longer without losing any mobility. There was also a few other items I increased the durability of, like its heart, and a few muscle groups that had previous scar tissue, those were healed to be as good as new. The one thing I did not have the guts to mess with was the horn, namely because I had no clue how a natural conduit of specialized bone could channel mana more efficiently, I knew it had something to do with the internal hollow chambers, and the rate at which the chambers twisted in on each other and then merged, but I had no clue, that was well outside of my comfort zone, so I left it as is. Maybe later I could come back and get more information from this pegicorn, information that might help me be able to replicate or increase the magical capabilities of some animals, but that was likely a task for Dr. Spiritlight, as for now I was just trying to keep my head above water.

“Gno, you are alive.” The female elf said, crying out from slightly closer to the pegicorn that I had just healed.

Whinny.

Flash.

I was so tired from the complete focus it took to resurrect a dead horse with a magical horn on its head, that I missed the moment when said horse turned and pointed its now glowing golden horn at me and thwacked me in the head.

Smack!

“Ow.” I said as I instinctively reached my hand up to massage the ailing spot. To the pegicorn’s defense, I don’t think it meant to thump me with its horn, it just happened to be lowering its head, while I turned to face the creature in sudden confusion. I am fairly certain that this was the case, as I was met with a blessing from the creature, while I also received an update.

Blessing Bestowed: Pegicorn Blessing: You have been blessed by the last pegicorn and are now officially recognized as a legendary healer of nature and spirit creatures alike. You are 25% more resistant to the blight and 25% more capable of healing the blight.

Hidden Quest Complete: Revival of the Pegicorns: You have managed to bring back to life the legendary Pegicorn race, one of the last creatures known to fight back the blight. Once the pegicorns disappeared, the world grew slightly darker in their absence, with their reemergence you have ushered in a new wave of hope to a world that was slowly rotting away. Rewards: Experience, New Blessing (Already Bestowed), new quest chain.

Experience Gained: 1,000/1,000

I was momentarily confused by the quest prompt, when the female elf who had moved to the foot of my throne prostrated herself before me, before saying. “Oh great healer, please forgive my brother and me. We were foolish to doubt you.”

So the where brother and sister after all, I am not that racist, maybe. Oh right, she is still talking.

“Would you, along with the pegicorns, help up to heal the great spirit tree Yggdraspirit?”

There was a deafening silence that covered the area. Even Mallory seemed to be momentarily quieted by how serious the air suddenly became. For there it was, the quest to end all other quests, working with two crazy looking horses, I was going to save the floor and likely more by healing a tree.

Then I answered the only way that truly fit such a dramatic moment, “yeah sure, I’ve got some time.”