Lykanthropy
patreon
Augmented Aspects: Chapter 283 Cosmic Cosmetic Surgeries And Blind Jumps of Fate
🕑 Added 2024-10-24 10:36:11 +0000 UTCChapter 283
Cosmic Cosmetic Surgeries And Blind Jumps of Fate
Everything was going perfectly.
Just as I expected, there were not odd tunnels associated with my use of Arcane Geomancy Teleportation, rather it was just a matter of me going to connect with a different portion of myself.
This was why I chose to go straight from Timult, the location Mallory and I were at currently straight to World’s End, the city where our guild set up shop and set as their home.
Of course, the only problem with that was that while the process of using Arcane Geomancy Teleportation, was different, the spell didn’t seem to account for the odd spatial anomaly that had suddenly appeared, preventing spatial movements through that same zone.
Looking back on it, I realize that was likely me oversimplifying the issue that caused my initial Teleportation tunnels to Timult to breakdown.
I also realized that while I fly, I apparently lean forward, particularly when I am trying to get somewhere quickly. No doubt this is an automatic response to straightening out my core muscles, and allowing my wings to have as much propulsion as possible.
The only problem with such a position, as I soon found out, was that it caused your face to be forward.
Now looking back, I see why Superman always had that stupid pose of having his hands stretched out in front of his face, to have his hands take first contact with any objects he might otherwise fly directly into.
I however did not have this luxury.
First, my right hand was held back and down at an angle so I could maintain contact with Mallory’s hand while I pulled her along with me.
As for my left hand, well I am not saying I’m a distracted flier, but I was using it to help keep random frills of my apparently cute dress from flapping up and hitting me in the face. Perhaps that was my dress’s way of telling me that I was about to have a tragedy. That or it was just my lack of good karma, which I had used to help the old eldritch elven lady from an alternate dimension.
The same lady who after I lost all my good Karma stole my Zero and is now holding him hostage, still bitter about that, even if she can bring him back to full health.
All of these factors help explain how what happened next was in no way my fault.
WHAM!
There I was minding my own business, trying to utilize as much of the free twelve minutes I had to go unnoticed with everything in this world when all of the sudden, I was faceplanted, literally.
Going from near full speed in an Arcane Geomancy Teleportation generated speed trip, to completely still in a second is a lot for a body to take in. Fortunately, I stopped. Unfortunately, as mentioned before, with my leaning forward and lack of superman hands out to protect me, I stopped by ramming my face head first into the spatial anomaly that seemingly came out of nowhere.
Worse, there was pain, not the typical pain where you think it will be bad and then it is not, as your mind pauses to take in the situation to feel you are fine. No, this was the intense burning sensation of having your face partially dropped in lava, and then having your nerve endings seared away, so you know there should be pain, but wasn’t.
Whoosh.
Then to make matters worse, we were forcefully ejected from the random subspace of Arcane Geomancy Teleportation, where Mallory and I was forced out into the world.
We were in the middle of some grassy war-torn field. I’m sure if I looked closely enough, I could find people and civilization.
The only thing about that, was that it would cause me to focus away from the immediate area we were in, and most importantly it would require me to focus on something other than my own face.
Fortunately, I could still see the world around me, thanks to my Angel’s Sight. Unfortunately, my Angel’s Sight, showed the bright vibrant world around me, it showed Mallory just as I remembered her, wedding dress and all. Then me, I was structurally the same. Two dangling legs, a long flowing dress that was apparently hot pink, two pixie wings that protruded with magical energy from my back. Two arms, and a head. A head that apparently had no face.
Just flat, like one of those bad sci-fi movies where the robot’s face gets removed and all you see is the fleshy inner workings of a cyborg that had living flesh grafted to it.
“AHH!” I cried out, half in realization of the pain I was in, which was far less than the amount of pain I thought I should be in. Then on reflex, as anyone would, I of course reached my hand up and tried to touch the now void where my face should be.
Healing.
As one would expect, I instantly began trying to cast Healing magic on the site, but there was something wrong, it was as if the magic wanted to work, but it didn’t know what or how to rebuild my face.
Normally there were genomic assists, at least that is what I think they would be considered. These were parts of coding that would help automatically refill or guide magic to the correct spots to make Healing as quick and painless as possible.
Now it was like that auto assist had been taken off and I was being forced to reconstruct my face from memory, while dealing with the pain of said face being removed.
Gentle Breeze.
One cannot describe the pain that a gentle breeze, something that seems so innocuous at times can cause a burn victim. Particularly one where the facial nerves are not as raw as one would expect.
“Oh my Gods, Cass, your face…” Mallory exclaimed.
“Yeah,” I said, or at least I tried to, as I felt what should have been my mouth open and close, but really it was just my back few teeth that ended up clicking together, while my vocal cords vibrated an odd tune.
Yes, I even scared myself at this point.
Shaking my head, I reached out and grabbed Mallory’s hand. I needed to get out of the wind, and I needed to be at a place that I felt somewhat safe in. For whatever reason I did not want to stay right next to the random spatial anomaly that doesn’t affect the real world, but will cut and burn away Teleportation channels, along with causing half your face to burn off if you try to bypass the clear warnings.
Again, at this point I was mainly angry with myself, but that was something I would have to deal with on my own.
To my surprise, Mallory unconsciously flinched away from my hand.
I paused and just stared at her. Or rather I tried to, but I guess my face might have been truly revolting as she clearly warred with herself for a moment, before reaching her hand forward.
With that I decided to try to go around this anomaly.
The idea was to go south, towards one of the two mines that I had freed and imprinted with. From there I would heal my face and then figure out what else to do.
Arcane Geomancy Teleportation.
Before I knew it, we were in the land of the Teleiotís, perfectly safe and sound, no random walls appearing out of nowhere. No random face melting episodes.
Though I will admit that this time I did hold up my free left hand to brace for any random spatial anomalies that would appear. And of course, now that I was taking things seriously and prepared for such an outcome, that was when nothing happened.
Shaking my head, I realized quite a few things.
First, I was leaking, not excessively, but I was leaking pixie blood at a fairly quick rate.
Second, some of my faithful Teleiotís, came to try see what had happened. At first it seem that they were angry at Mallory, which given the situation, and my face, I could see that as many raised their weapons at Mallory.
It was only a quick raising of my bloody hand that stopped them. After a second, they seemed to understand and lowered their weapons.
Only after this, did Mallory completely avoid the Teleiotís, and focus solely on me.
“Shit, Cass, you going to be okay?” Mallory asked.
Click, chomp.
I tried to respond with something sarcastic, but again only the back few of my teeth managed to produce any sound by clamping together.
“Right, you can’t talk,” Mallory began.
And with that I just nodded, and then turned trying to figure out what had happened.
My mind instantly began noting the intense pressures of the spatial anomaly, which allowed me to link it back to the odd disturbance of the Void creature arriving. Then my mind went back to Timult and how the outer layer of coding seemed to have been burned away, at the presence of the Void Elf creature.
It was that revelation that helped me further my own observations that Healing Magic, or at least normal Healing Magic would not be effective, at least not right now.
I paused, as I tried to understand what was happening, before I wondered if I was right in that the initial coding for my face was somehow dissolved.
Fortunately, I managed to stop my progress in time from being completely consumed by the anomaly, or so I thought. But was that entirely the case?
That was my thought at first, but then I realized that no, the rest of my face made full contact with that barrier, which caused intense pain. Pain that was enough for me to lose focus and drop us out of the sub-space we were in.
This meant that the anomaly was denser? Is that what happened? I was using normal magic, which seems light and fluffy compared to the densely woven tapestry of magic that comes from the void realm.
That’s when I realized, I needed to weave my magic together.
Or at least that was what my mind came to, when pressed with everything. I had pixie blood slowly oozing over my eye socket, or where my eyes should be, which was oddly motivating in getting to a plan and sticking with it.
That was why after a short period of time, I decided to start trying to Weave Craft, that was my official term for this new spell structure.
The problem was that I wanted the Weave Craft to be thick, this was my face after all, but I remembered how dense the structure was due to the off-center layering effect that was observed. I also went thin, as I didn’t want Mallory to come back with any statements like me being thick headed.
Yes, I chose a lighter frame, to avoid possible bad jokes by Mallory. As I knew she would ask a lot of questions about this, and why we were here.
That said, she was nice enough to back up a few feet and let me work. All the while turning her head every so often to see my face, only to turn away in revulsion. But like watching the results of a multiple car accident, Mallory couldn’t keep herself from sneaking a peek back every so often.
However this was fine, as it gave me time to both begin loosely casting the layers of skin. I started small, going with just trying to seal off the obvious bleeding parts first.
I created one coat, and the blood still poured through, but at a much reduced rate.
Then adding a second layer of living flesh crafted energy, I did the same, this time, I infused the two layers with Golden Qi energy. These were going to be muscles after all, meaning they needed to be alive.
Then slowly layer by layer I made the changes needed to fix this.
Well my version of slowly, as after I got the first one down, I began chain and multi-casting these all over. Why go quickly, because my face felt like it had been sunburned and I was out in the Sahara desert with piercing twenty mile an hour winds hurling dirt and debris right into my face. It wasn’t like that, but these were the motivating factors I had, to push myself further.
Also, there was a certain muscle memory that came with the process.
Almost like I should know how to cast these spells, I just didn’t try before.
With the grafting, the best way to describe it would be akin to blowing bubbles. You can blow one really big one with a lot of time and focus, or you can just take a deep breath and let loose sending hundreds of bubbles into the air at once. I chose the latter option, at least at first.
For the bones, I also infused Silver spirit Qi into the structures, giving them a stronger durability.
I noticed that once I got what I considered the base frame, the world seemed to respond in kind and once again provided my Healing Assist mechanisms. That is, once I had a round globe for a forehead, the coding designed to help regrow my brain and outer skin appeared.
Not going to point out that I didn’t have part of my brain there to Mallory, I know she would just make some snarky remark about finally getting something to fill that void I always had. Or “are you sure you had it to begin with?”
I could also feel my teeth, tongue, and mouth coming back to life.
Again, it felt like I was moving slowly, but after I did the first layer, the Healing Assist came to life and all but demanded I build here next. Then graft this portion over there.
While I felt bad for needing the Healing Assist, as it effectively felt like painting with magic by numbers, I did come to appreciate its subtle elegance. Only now that I was looking for it did I see it and its importance. It was seemingly always there, just hiding in plain sight.
I wonder if my mind subtly picked up on these assists and began subconsciously using them for all spells. As this thing was amazing, I could even see how it would help me to use other forms of magical energies as well.
Was I always cheating, by using these assists to create the spell and effect I wanted?
Or was it really cheating if everyone had access to this same magical assist, but no one seemed to take a moment to realize they were there, in every part of this world.
Finally, after a long time, I paused and opened and closed my mouth, blinked my eyes, and took in Mallory as if for the first time.
“Are you okay now?” Mallory asked.
I nodded, then finally feeling confident with my healing I spoke, “yeah, I feel fine.”
Then Mallory just stared at me.
Seeing her intense gaze, I inwardly paused as I tried to understand what I might have done wrong. Then I realized, I might have gotten the color off. That or maybe my skin had that freshly healed sheen that only comes from skin that has not been weathered.
“Do I look okay?” I finally asked, hoping that I didn’t mess it up.
At that Mallory just paused and stared at me like I was crazy. Then seeming to realize the moment, she shook her head and just responded, “yeah, you look great. Better than before actually, if that was somehow possible.”
She spoke, and I could tell she actually meant it. Apparently for whatever reason I had done the seemingly impossible. I had fixed, or rather helped to further enhance the situation.
Then almost as if that was all the still charging and rebooting system needed, I could feel it almost clicking into life in the background, as it activated and linked to me.
Hidden Quest Completed: Cosmic Cosmetic Surgeon: You managed to heal yourself from damage inflicted from external sources. You must continue down this path to help preserve BiPrism from the elements and forces of the beyond. Rewards: Skill, Further Evolution Points Unlocked, Evolution Perk Awakened, World First Notification.
New Skill Gained: Weave Crafting has reached level 1.
Weave Crafting is a Dexterity, Endurance, Perception X2, Intelligence X2, and Willpower X3 based skill.
You have managed to tap into the deeper realm, and managed to unlock the true power of the universe, find that power and find the path you wish to take moving forward.
Evolution Perk Awakened: Weave Crafting Cosmic Cosmetic Surgeon: Able to heal even the most devastating of injuries to a state that is beyond the original starting point. Effect: All healing when using Weave Crafting is increased by 25% efficacy. All healing performed using Weave Crafting is capable of increasing related Attributes based on part of the body healed, effect related Attributes Increased by 25% on targeted area.
Seeing the message I could almost feel the slow languid pace that the message took to be generated, almost as if it was thinking and trying to hide everything. It was odd that there was no experience provided, but I think part of that was due to the way the system itself seemed to be working overtime to try to both fix itself and provide a reward for what it just saw.
Looking out of the corner of my periphery, I saw the indication that I had apparently spent over ten minutes healing myself from the damage taken by the instantaneous travel.
Time remaining: 1:23, 22…
I exhale, as that was a lot, over ten minutes of me focusing on one task, no wonder it felt like I was at it forever.
Mallory of course just stared at me, her mouth agape.
I was going to wonder why, but then realized that I likely had that 25% bonus to my face, as in I might have made it more perfect. Which was not my intention at all.
Still, I was glad to have a face again, so I guess I’ll take it.
I pause wondering why something felt off.
But realizing that everything was still going, even if the world was only now slowly grinding back to life, It was still seeming for it to get easier at coming back online. Which was my cue to get back to the Wedding so we could be back in place and pretend like nothing had ever happened.
Looking around I see the Teleiotís, who are all gathered around and just staring at me. Seeing them and that they are still able to work and move about naturally, despite the world being completely paused, I am about to ask, but then realize I have better things to do with my free remaining minute of Confidentiality.
“Thank you for letting us stay here while I fixed this,” I state, while gesturing to my face.
With that, the Teleiotís all seem to nod and kneel down in reverence.
“Yeah, and time for us to go,” I note as I turn and grab Mallory’s hand.
I am about to try to use Arcane Geomancy Teleportation again, hoping that this launch angle to the second cleared mine, and from there to World’s End will be free and clear of face erasing obstacles.
Everything is going well, when finally the last part of the quest bonuses springs to life like a stuck jack-in-the-box figure that was finally released.
WORLD FIRST NOTIFICATION: Rise Of The Beyond. Creatures and Powers much greater than mere mortals have arrived. Fortunately, there are those who have already taken the first step towards mastering the new powers and protecting the world. Be warned though, for this will effect everyone.
Seeing the message I pause, as I instantly feel Mallory’s hand clasp down tightly on my hand.
“Okay, so I take it what you did was a super big deal?” Mallory asked.
“You saw me, I just healed myself like I always do,” I responded a bit defensively.
Mallory just stared at me, then shook her head.
“We don’t have time for this, let’s get back and discuss this later.
I wanted to protest as that would likely mean burning my own personal Confidentiality for that conversation, but then sighing I agreed.
With a huff I made the first drop off point to the southwestern mine then realizing we were safe from any anomalies I took in a deep breath, and prepared for the one last jump, hopefully.
Again, the whole idea behind this route was that we should be south enough to have avoided the anomaly, but I couldn’t be for certain. Though an odd part of me seemed to know that the giant void rift was to the north east of us currently.
“Relax, there is still plenty of time,” Mallory said, her voice reassuring and confident.
“It’s not that, I’m worried that we might find another anomaly and be hurled out into space,” I state, but I take in a quick breath and cast my ability again.
“Wait, what?” Mallory asks with a note of panic, but we are already gone.
Poof.
Comments
Lykanthropy
Good question, the truth is, she is very much doubting her magic abilities, particularly around that odd anomaly. Given that she thinks Telepathy is as weak as her normal Teleportation which was shattered, having to instead resort to Geomancy Teleportation, she didn't want to risk even more backlash at that. Also she was more than a little freaked out by her face being gone, that doesn't help people act rationally, normally. Most importantly, thank you for reading.
Lijwent
Did she forgets about her telepathy? That seemed the best way to communicate without talking, or was it blocked by whatever damage to the world? TFTC
Lykanthropy
Yes to the first part. As for the second part, it does seem to be a possibility. Also, thank you for reading.
Arlano
She already has a thousand and one things on the fire, but she have to remember to fix this anomaly later on. It seem very dangerous, and potentially very interesting to study. Is the era of the gods coming? With being with a stronger bloodline than mythic like foretold.
