Another five days went by before Helo finally realized what he was doing wrong. It took an embarrassingly long time for him to realize the issue. While he was studying the book in the library, Helo had the sacrificial knife out. He was casually flipping it while studying.
Due to a loud noise, he accidently nicked himself and the blade immediately started to drain his vitality from the bloody wound. It was at that moment that Helo realized his issue. He directly copied the runes from the dagger, and it wasn’t a vitality dagger. But a blood dagger. Looking at the book on the table, he covers his face and groans. “It says it right there. ‘Blood Sacrifice’. I’m an idiot.”
His first issue was that he forgot the distinction between physical energy and vitality. But he did the same thing again, this time he forgot the difference between blood and vitality. Blood is the storage unit for vitality to flow in the body. The rune doesn’t convert vitality, it uses blood.
Helo isn’t sure why the distinction is important, but he quickly jumps to his feet. Almost knocking over his drink, he slows down just a little. Helo puts all his books away and leaves the library. Heading right for his house, he goes directly into his room.
After that he takes out all his crafting supplies and starts to redraw his ring concept. He doesn’t need a rune to gather vitality, but a rune to gather blood. The dagger is stabbed into the individual, so the blood is in direct contact with it. Helo needs to do something similar. But he doesn’t want to have to cut himself each time he wants to use the ring.
Thinking through the problem, he has a few options, the ring could make some kind of mana blade. But that would be too mana intensive for the inefficient ring. He could cut himself, but that isn’t something he wants to do. In the end he makes the control rune more complicated and adds a small needle to the ring. It slides into a small sheath on the inside and with a nudge of mental energy it will poke out. Directly under the needle is the blood gathering and conversion rune.
Looking at his finished project, Helo is excited to get to work. He thinks that this is the one. Looking around in excitement he realizes that it is almost nighttime. He has to enter his ritual array to cultivate and have dinner.
With a sigh Helo goes downstairs to eat with his party. “Look who finally decided to grace us with his presence. Did you finally remember us?” Alli says as Helo enters the kitchen.
Scratching the back of his head he isn’t sure what to say. About to open his mouth and answer, Hinata beats him to it. “I’m sure he has a reason for being here.” Tilting her head in a cute way, that happens to expose her neck, she catches Helo accidentally staring.
Smiling at him she says. “No, I bet our little guy is hungry. It has been a while since he ate.” Alli, Luna and Aiko understand the deeper meaning of her words. But the rest of the group just nod their heads.
“Yes! A healing warrior must eat plenty to sustain himself.” Carl says with a serious nod. “Helo hasn’t eaten since this morning. He needs to partake in Mistress Aiko’s delicious cooking.”
Hinata laughs and covers her mouth, with a giggle she agrees with Carl. Turning back to Helo she asks. “So did you figure it out?”
Catching her eyes with a big grin, Helo gives her a thumbs up. “Oh yeah. I already created my initial draft of the enchantment.”
“You were having issues with the vitality thingy, right?” Alli asks with a finger to her chin. She stares off to the side in consideration. “What did you find out?”
“I needed blood, not vitality.” He shrugs at his words. “I don’t really know why the distinction is important. But I believe it should work.”
Everyone stops to think about it but surprisingly it is Gabi that answers. “My father used to talk about something similar. The main skill of the Lopez family is similar. My father would mention that it is just as symbolic as it is practical.”
Helo tilts his head and his mind starts turning. “So, is there power in sacrifice, beyond what is there? Or is it the blood, maybe both?” Now he is curious. He decides that he is going to check the books, maybe they will have an answer.
After that dinner goes well for the party. Everyone is happy about their relatively relaxing days. Most agree that the best part is the amount of resources that are going into their cultivation. As they all finish with their food, they all go to the location where their individual rituals are set up.
Helo, Alli and Hinata go to the third floor together. Thankfully, a few weeks in and Helo is now able to move around. He still can’t push himself. But when it comes to walking or even slowly jogging, he is good to go.
As they reach the third floor everyone enters their own rooms to get changed. Coming out a few minutes later they are all wearing comfy clothes and are ready to cultivate. Alli’s ritual is a mix of blue and silver. Most of the ritual is the blue of pure mana, which is the affinity of her runic attunement. But the small threads of silver are part of her fate attunement. As the weeks have gone by, she has increased the amount of fate energy she absorbs. She does this by using extremely rare catalysts that have to do with the moon and divination.
Hinata is stepping into a mix of dark green, a hazy blue, and shimmering mirage. She was asked what she wanted to focus on, but she said that she didn’t want to focus, she wanted to access her entire bloodline. A lot of the work she has put into her bloodline has focused on her kitsune affinity for illusions. But coming up on tier 2 and getting her second class, she wants to work on her nature affinity. The path she is taking will be much more difficult. It means that all the kitsune abilities will be in one class and all the dryad abilities will be in another. Most of her kin pick and choose, this lets them specialize and focus her power. But Hinata will have to put a lot of effort into her skills to keep up.
Helo’s ritual still resembles a yin-yang symbol with gold instead of white. Stepping into the ritual he sighs and practically slumps to the ground. Submerging himself in these familiar energies feels amazing for him. Like taking a nice relaxing bath.
He foregoes the belt and just allows the energy to enter his body freely. The pressure is much less than the first time and the energy slowly make its way into his channels. He stays there for half an hour watching as the energy travels through his body. As he starts to focus outward, he can hear the girls talking.
“So, school starts in only three weeks. Are you ready?” Alli asks Hinata.
“No… I feel like what our parents have told us is only the tip of the iceberg. We know we will be visiting all the 16 clans. We will be staying with the four neutral families, and there will be a lot of politicking. But that is really all they told us.” Hinata sighs in annoyance.
Alli’s face starts to show a little realization. “They really haven’t said much have they!” She looks annoyed now and starts to think. “What about people who enter school much weaker? What about fighting? Grades? Classes? Teachers? Dorms? Rewards?”
The two girls complain about their parents for a few more minutes and Helo just enjoys listening to the two girls talk. The rest of the night passes similarly. After cultivating they all go shower, then everyone meets downstairs to watch a movie.
Waking up the next day, Helo is ready to get to work. The first thing he does is go to the blacksmithing area. Making his way through the different workstations, it isn’t long before he is standing in front of a grinning dwarf.
He is holding a hammer and looking down at another hammer. His workstation only comes up to Helo’s waist, but it is a perfect size for the dwarf. Looking up Rurgrim’s smile vanishes instantly. “Wadddyou want?” He says in a gruff voice, it fails to completely hide the glee at what he just made.
“I need two more rings made.” Helo says to him and shows him the new design. This one has a needle that is hidden within the band.
“What’s this fer? Assassination?” Rurgrim asks as he gives the ring a weird look.
“No, the needle is worn the other way. It will be stabbing into my palm. Not outward.” Helo shows Rurgrim how the ring is supposed to be worn and the man nods.
“So, this is still for yer… What was it? Personal blood sacrifice ring?” Rurgrim shakes his head. “You above grounders are all so weird.”
Helo just looks at him with exasperation. “So can you make it?”
“No shit I can make it! It will be done soon!” Rurgrim turns from Helo and stores away his new and old hammer. Nodding Helo happily leaves the crafting area.
It is another day before the rings are made. Rurgrim delivers them to Helo during breakfast. He takes them with a grin and quickly excuses himself. Going over the final plan one last time, Helo thinks he is ready.
This time the ring will be different. First the control rune is changing to one that can handle three different commands. It is also going to be created on the inside of the ring. From there its pathways can reach each individual portion of the enchantment. It is a little outside Helo’s skill range, but he is hoping he can make it work. The first control extends the needle. The second siphons the blood. The third expels the mana.
The vitality siphon part of the ring didn’t change much. But the vitality runes were swapped for blood runes and they were placed around the needle. The conversion rune wasn’t changed at all, only the location. There are now two of them and they are on the left and right side of the ring. Both sides lead to a sapphire that is on the top of the ring.
Getting out all the tools he will need Helo takes the first ring and gets ready to create a prototype. The full-sized gems are too expensive to use during the experimental phase of the project. He is going to test it using shavings. Each portion of the enchantment has its own gem for energy storage and activation. These are all in tiny sapphires that are stored on the inside.
All these different gems and pathways wouldn’t be necessary, but Helo can’t use mana. Normally if someone wanted to activate a rune, like the vitality siphon one. They would just send a bit of mana into it. But Helo can’t do that. This entire ring is being created to help Helo do that. So, on the inside of the ring, with the tiny storage gems and the control rune, there are mana pathways that use the initially created mana to refill all the tiny gems.
The only energy Helo has to put into the ring, is a sliver of mental mana that is used to discharge the mana from the storage on the inside. That is the only reason Helo is still an enchanter. Runes use mana to function, but there are a few specific runes that can interact with different energies.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Control runes are one of them, the ability to discreetly activate an enchantment using mental energy is expensive and rare, and it is the only way Helo can use them.
Finishing the first ring Helo looks at the clock and it is already two in the afternoon. He has been working for almost six hours. Standing up to stretch, he refuses to look at the ring. It takes him a few minutes to build up the courage but eventually he does. Looking down he gives a nervous smile. He really hopes it doesn’t blow up.
Carefully picking up the ring and placing it on his middle finger Helo pulls are strand of mental energy from his own reserves. Over the last few weeks, with his recovery going well, Helo’s energy reserves have finally fully recovered. He is still more tired than usual. But at least now it is more manageable.
Holding his hand in front of his face with his palm facing him Helo takes the first step. As the energy enters the ring, Helo easily and skillfully manipulates it into the control rune. Then with a deft mental flick, the needle silently slides outward. Looking at the needle Helo then uses the same mental strand to flick the blood siphon pathway. Clenching his fest he hears the feint sound of groaning metal. Opening his head the needle tip is bent backward. It couldn’t pierce his skin. “Dammit.”
Taking out his stylus and taking off the ring Helo carefully refills the gems on the inside of the band. They are supposed to refill themselves, but he wasted the charge. “Okay, so the needle activates. I don’t need to try it again.”
Helo then pulls out his knife and cuts his finger on his other hand. Activating the blood siphon, he taps his bleeding finger to section where the needle should be poking out. Feeling the smallest of draws, Helo watches as the runes on the side of the ring glow red. Then as the energy continues to flow into the rune, it uses some of the gathered energy to force a small portion to become mana. That mana flows outward and into the main sapphire. Then to Helo’s delight the tiny pathways on the main gem glow blue and the inside gems fill back up. It used almost all the mana that was created. But it only took a few seconds, and the ring is still drawing mana. This time it is filling the main sapphire and only the main sapphire.
“I DID IT!!! HAHAHAHA!” Helo screams into the ceiling of his room and laughs like a madman. He can hear as footsteps quickly approach and his door swings open. Turnig with a smile he can see Alli with Lelai behind her. Holding out his hand Alli can see the glowing sapphire on his middle finger. “I did it.” He says with a smile.
“EEEEEEEEEE YESSS!” Alli screams in joy for Helo and dives into his chest. She has witnessed how annoyed he gets that everything uses mana. For a while it really bothered him and made him think about his curse. But he quickly got over it. Alli remembers though and is happy Helo made a work around.
“Let me see.” She grabs his hand and looks at the front and back. The blood was all absorbed and the finger on his other hand was already healed. As she looks, the runes start to slowly fade back to just an etching in the metal and the sapphire glows brightly. “This is awesome!”
She looks at his creation happily and askes him what his ‘Appraisal’ says.
“I’m not going to look yet. This is only my test ring. I’m going to make the real one now.” As he says this, Alli studies his face. Shaking her head she starts to pull him out of the room.
“Nope, now you’re going to rest. You can make it tomorrow.” She pulls him into the sitting area that wasn’t moved due to the rituals. The couch faces the wall and there is a large screen. Still holding his arm Alli sits him down and sits next to him. As they lean back Lelai jumps up in his lap and relaxes with him.
The rest of the day goes by with a weird dichotomy. Helo enjoys himself; he completed the ring and has even used it a few times. It sends a feeling of relief through him. But at the same time, he so badly wants to go and make the real version. On the bright side Alli and Hinata are putting in a ton of effort to keep him distracted.
Waking up the next day, Helo goes downstairs to breakfast being served. Due to his injuries, he has been sleeping more than usual. It is weird for Helo to sleep so much. With his vitality so high, his body is usually bursting with energy.
As he sits to eat, there is knocking at the door. Everyone else is already seated so Helo just waves them all down. “I’ll get it. Relax.” Walking over to the door he opens it and is surprised by the visitors. It is Healer Eriana and Akira.
She doesn’t even wait to be greeted and enters the house with a “Mhpf.” Helo looks at her with bewilderment and thinks, What did I do this time?
“Can you believe that the head of this clan is trying to pressure his healer to okay an injured child for training.” She says as she takes Helo’s seat at the table.
So… It wasn’t me she is mad at. But that’s my spot… My food… Helo looks sadly as Healer Eriana starts eating Helo’s freshly made plate of food.
A hand claps on his shoulder and Akira starts to pull him toward the kitchen counter. They take their seats on the barstools and a maid, that Helo doesn’t even understand how she appears and disappears, steps forward with more food. Helo squints his eyes and focuses on the maid. But she just gives him a tiny finger wave, a wink and then disappears.
Looking at Akira in confusion Helo is about to ask about it, but Akira shakes his head. “Don’t. I went down that path before. It is an abyss that you will never see the end of. I don’t understand how they do what they do. If I can give you any advice about the Kashiwage clan, it is, beware of angering the maids.”
Helo just stares at him; he has no idea how to take that. Then suddenly a hand reaches out from behind him and drops off some juice. Flinching Helo whips his head around, but the maid is already gone. I didn’t even sense her.
Looking toward Akira, the man just subtly shakes his head. If Helo’s perception was any lower, he would have missed the subtle shiver go down the clan leader’s spine.
Turing back to his food Helo tries to act like nothing happened. It takes a while but he is eventually able to stop hyper focusing on every noise. By the time he is focusing on the table again Eriana is already done eating his food.
Standing up she walks over to Helo and smacks him on the back of the head. Glaring, she meets Akira’s gaze. “What.”
“You don’t have to take out your anger on him.” Akira says, but he knows that he has no control over her.
“You want me to okay him for training. So what? You get to beat him up, but I don’t. Well, there. I just did, he can train.” She swiftly moves toward the door and an angry pace. Helo is surprised by how smoothly she moves for an old lady. Getting to the door she turns back around. “Aiko dear. The food was great.” She says in a grandmotherly voice. Aiko beams as the door closes.
Scratching the back of his head, Helo looks at Akira. The man just shrugs again. “We are destined to be but a kite, swept up in the fickle winds of female behavior.” He nods sagely and goes back to eating.
“AHEM.” Both spin in their stools and Yuki is glaring at them with her arms crossed. “What was that?”
“Ah, hello love. What I meant to say was that I was wrong and she was right.” Akira slowly spins and looks away.
Yuki is left glaring at Helo. He is just sitting there wondering how things turned out this way. He didn’t have anything to do with that. Rolling her eyes Yuki can basically read Helo’s thoughts by the look on his face. Snorting she turns to the table and says hello to everyone.
“Whew. We almost died.” Akira says. Helo is a little surprised by how much Akira is joking. The man usually tries to act like some kind of sage, or he acts like a classical patriarch, calm and stern. What he doesn’t know is that both Akira and Yuki decided to act more like parents to him.
Yuki and Akira stick around for the next few hours. During this time everyone had breakfast and lunch. Akira also informed Helo that they would be meeting up again in the morning to practice. This made Helo happy because it was one of the things he missed. Due to the rift break training, and the rift break incident, it has been over a month since they met in the dojo to train in the morning.
After lunch Hinata’s parents left and the team went back to their usual lives. Which have been slow for the last few weeks. With only three weeks left before they go to school, they are enjoying the chance to relax.
After lunch when everyone sits in the living room to hangout, he goes back upstairs. It is finally time to finish the final project. Sitting down everything is already ready on his desk. The three tiny sapphires, one large sapphire, one ruby because the garnet no longer worked the best, and the ring. Sitting down he whips his stylus out of his necklace. Opening a folder that is neatly stored on his desk to pull out the paper that outlines his enchantment.
Next, grabbing the ring, Helo holds it up in the air and starts to inspect… “Shit. The needle.” He drops his head on his desk with a “Wham” then grabs the ring and stomps out the door. Searching for the house for Rurgrim Helo finds him in the back where they have a small training field. He is practicing manipulating earth with his hammer.
“What yah here for?” Rurgrim says after setting down his hammer. “Come to show off your new toy?”
Holding up the ring he shakes his head. “Nope, I need it modified. The needle needs to be stronger, a lot stronger. The first one bent as I tried to use it.”
Rurgrim takes the rings and starts deftly spinning it between his fingers. Nodding his head he can see Helo’s impatience. “I have the tools to swap it out in my room. Making a new needle won’t be hard.”
Thanking him, Helo goes and sits in the living room. He is waiting for Rurgrim to return and is impatiently looking around. At the kitchen table Alli, Hinata, Arisah, and Gabi are chatting. But as Helo sat down, they all started whispering and giggling. He looks over his shoulder toward the kitchen and glares at them. They just laugh louder and Alli sticks her tongue out at him.
Sitting with his tablet out it is only thirty-minutes later when Rurgrim returns. Taking the ring Helo is happy to see that this time it is made from a sliver of Orichalcum. It is a bit cheaper and much sturdier than something like mithril. Honestly it is much too sturdy, but Helo really doesn’t care.
Running back to his room he puts the ring where he had it earlier. Sitting back down everything is now ready on his desk. Pulling out the ring he gets to work.
Seven hours later, Helo is finally done. He had been focusing for so long that he was starting to feel dizzy. But now that it is over he lets out a deep sigh of relief. Grabbing the ring he holds it up.
It is a simple band of grey mana enhanced metal. Sturdy but nothing special. There is a small sapphire sitting within the center of the band and it is surrounded by etched lines. One either side there is an intricately etched rune that will glow red as the blood is absorbed. On the bottom the ruby is in place and on the side of the band there is a small hole where the needle will pop out.
The entire band is etched with runes and channels. Inside the entire bottom half of the band is an extremely complicated rune. At the top there are three tiny sapphires. Using ‘Appraisal’, he finally gets a chance to see what the system makes of his creation.
Ring of Blood Sacrifice (Uncommon)
A ring made by an enchanter with no mana. Taken from a vile creation and given an extremely simple function.
- Converts blood into mana
- Expel mana from the main sapphire.
- The wielder sacrifices their own blood.
Checking his new creation over Helo is happy with what he was able to make. Putting on the ring he decides to test it for the first time. Stripping out of his clothes Helo gets ready to take a bath.
Entering into his nice bathroom Helo walks up to the runes on the wall that control water flow and temperature. Sending out a mental flick he activates the needle. As it slides from its sheath, it stabs into his hand. As the blood starts to slow, he sends out another mental flick. The sides of the ring glow red and the sapphire on top starts to fill with mana. He can tell that the efficiency is horrible. The ring has absorbed almost twenty units of vitality, but he only has one of mana. But it is enough.
The only issue is that he didn’t have the room for any runes to absorb mana. So for the ring to refill itself he needs to let it drain him for a bit longer. Enough to put a unit of mana in each sapphire. So, with eighty units of vitality absorbed from his blood Helo can try his ring for the first time. Eighty units might seem like a lot, but each stat is ten units. With Helo’s modifiers he has 168 stat points in Vitality and Will. That means 1,680 units. His regeneration is 42 units a minute. So he will be refilled in two minutes.
With a massive smile he holds out his hand and for the first time, he turns the water on by himself. Obviously, he has his stylus that can do the same thing. But to Helo this feels different. This was all him, no outside help, no mana cores to charge a device. This was made by him and is fueled by his blood.
Looking down at the ring Helo then realizes that the single unit of mana he needed to turn on the water is now gone. He still needs to make it warm. “Ahhhhh Dang.” The sapphire isn’t massive, but it can hold a bit of mana. So, taking out his stylus, Helo fills it with mana.
Looking at his ring, part of him feels like it is now tarnished. He is just now realizing he could have done the same thing, but with a mana core absorption rune on it. “Dammit.”
Turning his head and just shrugs. It was a fun project, and it is honestly something he will use. Plus, this is a worst comes to worse kind of ring. Shaking his head Helo just takes his shower.
The next week goes by quickly. At night he uses his ritual, and in the morning, he trains with Akira. Nothing of note happens and everyone is enjoying the down time.
Just like that another week goes by, then another. Before Helo even realizes it, it’s time for school. Coming down the stairs one morning Helo is taken aback. He enters the first floor and Alli is wearing a school uniform. It is a simple design, white blouse with a black coat. The coat is a mix between a cape and a blazer. Over her legs she is wearing a kind of modest skirt and underneath that she has leggings on.
Looking up, Alli smiles. “Helo! Come try on your uniform!” She starts rummaging through some boxes that are on the kitchen table. Turing around Helo wants to flee back up to his room. As soon as he turns the corner to go up the stairs Alli yells, “Get him!”
To his surprise Hinata is just coming down the stairs. Hearing Alli’s shout she tackles Helo and holds him so he can’t flee.
Looking at the smile Hinata he says. “How do you know she is talking about me?”
With a smirk she just shrugs. “I didn’t but was I wrong.” Helo doesn’t answer and just turns his head up.