Chapter 245- Talismans of the Stars

[Luna POV]

It was now the second day of Damien doing his alchemy work on the ship.  He had finished the entire bottom of the ship yesterday and he was now working on the middle floor.  I had just moved back to the main deck after topping off his mana for the first time today and was now just sitting on a crate and waiting.  I kicked my legs back and forth as I stared out into the distance.

“Tamamo, this isn’t good.  I’m extremely bored.”

{You’re right, that isn’t good.}

“Hmmmmmmmmmm.  Oh, I know.  I’ll try to make those talisman things Damien talked about yesterday.  That should keep me occupied for a little bit at least.”

{Go for it.  Do you know what to do?}

“Not a clue.  Well, actually, maybe a small clue.  I want to see if they will be compatible with stellar magic.  Then, maybe Soleil will be able to level it up faster while not in a domain.”

{Shouldn’t she be the one making them then?}

“Who knows.  Maybe both will work.  Only time will tell, and even then, we need to actually make them to see if they even work.”

{That’s true.}

I pulled out a stack of paper, some scissors, a small paintbrush, and some ink.  I but the paper into long rectangles and stacked them next to me.  I then picked one up from the pile and dipped the end of the brush into the ink.  I made a palm sized domain next to me and looked into it to see what constellations I had already made.

“Hmmm.  Which one should I try out first?”

{Why not go for the one that tells which way north is?  It won’t require another person to test it on.}

“The compass it is then.”

I looked into the domain at the compass constellation to get the details and then started to draw the same thing on the paper.  Once that was done, I used the stellar magic spell on the paper and the ink glowed softly for a second before growing back to normal.

{Did it work?}

“I think it did.”

I stood up from my seat and channeled mana into the paper.  The compass symbol started to glow softly and the glow grew brighter as I turned before glowing it’s brightest when I faced north.

“Well, I don’t know whether to feel disappointed that it went so well or not.”

{Well, we really should have known it would work out well since all you are really doing is enchanting paper.}

“That’s true…but I was kind of hoping to go through more trial and error to perfect them.”

{Well, you are the holder of the partial Authority of stars, so maybe that’s what made it go so well.  I mean, that came with level 10 stellar magic after all.}

“Also true.  Level 10 is such a cheat really, it makes things so easy.”

{Maybe Soleil will have a harder time.}

“Maybe.  Anyway, now that we know it works, let’s get to making as many as I can.”

{Ufufufu.  You sound so excited.}

“I enjoy stuff like this.  Plus, it’ll keep me busy so that my kitsune nature won’t run wild for a little longer.”

{While I wouldn’t mind seeing you like that, I don’t feel like being influenced by it and causing Atmos trouble today.}

“You’re being really considerate of her recently.  Has anything happened?”

{Not really.  We just has a good day of sisterly bonding recently.}

“Ah.  Speaking of sisterly bonding, I should really spend a day with Soleil at some point in the near future.  Ever since she joined us, it’s been mostly all of us together or just her and Velvet.”

{Then once all of this is finished, the two of you should go and do something before you start heading to your next destination.}

“I think I will.  Maybe I’ll even get her depth up some.”

{How deep is she?}

“No idea.”

The next talisman I made had a picture of a bow on it.  I did the same thing I did with the first one and enchanted it.  I then stood up and held the talisman between my index and middle finger, channeled mana into it, and threw it at the mouth of the cave where the waterfall was.  After a few seconds of flying straight at the waterfall, the talisman looked like it burnt up and a beam of light shot out of the small domain I still had open beside my head.  The beam sailed through the cave entrance and off into the distance.

“I’m sure that’ll be fine.”

I robotically turned around and sat back down where my papers were and got to work making more talismans.  After a few hours, my hands were stained with ink and I had piles of different talismans piled up everywhere.  I heard someone coming up from below and I glanced over to see who it was.  When I confirmed it was Damien, I went back to work.

“What is all this?” (Damien)

“Stellar magic talismans.” (Luna)

“What’s stellar magic?  This world doesn’t have stars.” (Damien)

“For now.” (Luna)

“Quite ambitious aren’t you.” (Damien)

“Is it really ambition if it’s basically been accomplished?  All that’s left for me to do is ascend and stars will be born.” (Luna)

“I think so.  It’ll cause huge changes to the world after all.” Damien said as he stooped over and picked up one of the talismans.  “So, what does this one do?”

“Agi buff.  That’s why the constellation is winged shoes.” (Luna)

“Hmmm.” (Damien)

Damien channeled mana into the talisman and slapped it on his arm.  The constellation on the paper glowed and the paper burnt up leaving a faint copy of the constellation on Damien’s arm.  It was fainter than if the actual spell was used, but it seemed to have still worked.

“Ugh.  Why does Agi have to also be linked to perception?  Everything is all weird now.” (Damien)

“Heh, get good then.  If that insignificant boost messes with you that much, then imagine what the actual spell is like.  Better yet, imagine what having EX level Agi is like.” (Luna)

“Stats go that high?  I thought they stopped at S+.” (Damien)

“EX is apparently saved for gods and demigods.  Other than that, stats can go up to SSS, or at least I think they can under special circumstances like mine.” (Luna)

“The more you know, I guess.  Anyway, I just finished the inner middle of the ship and am waiting for Vina to finish her part.  We’ll start on the inner top soon.” (Damien)

“So, need more mana?” (Luna)

“If you don’t mind.” (Damien)

I touched his arm and transferred some mana to him.

“Thanks.  Also, mind if I take some of these?” (Damien)

“Go for it, just not any of the ones with the image of a bow.  Only me and my party can use those since they require me to make a domain.” (Luna)

“What’s a domain?” (Damien)

“Authority od Space stuff, don’t worry about it.” (Luna)

“Alright.” (Damien)

He picked up a small variety of the talismans and put them into his inventory.  Several minutes later Vina came up to take a small break and I repeated the explanation I gave Damien when she asked what all of this was.

“By the way, what was that sound from earlier?” (Vina)

“Sound?  What sound?” (Damien)

“Ah, that was me testing if one of the talismans worked.  It did and that is the end of this conversation.  You will ask nothing more about it.” (Luna)

{You’re panicking, Luna.}

‘I have no idea what you are talking about, Tamamo.’ (Luna)

“Oooo~k, so is anyone hungry?” (Vina)

“Hmmm.  A bit.  What time is it even?” (Damien)

“It should be a little after one.” (Luna)

“Then let’s eat lunch and then get back to work.” (Damien)

Me and Vina nodded.  All of us pulled out something to eat from our inventories and ate while chatting for a bit.  Once we were all done, the two of them went back below deck to continue working and I got back to making talismans.  The rest of the day continued like this and by the time we called it a day, I had mountains of talismans the size of the paperwork mountains in mom’s office.

Chaos Realm:

Mio: Um, should I tell Lunya where that magic went nya?

Fenrir: Nah, it'll keep going and mess with that stupid continent, so it's fine.

Mio: If Fen say it then it must be true nya.

Atmos: Hmmm.  This could be good.

Order: Atmos, no.  As Goddess of Order, I say that these talismans shall not be used in pranks or other mischief.

Atmos: Tch.  You're no fun.

Order: Even I have to do my job sometimes.  Payto can't really deny you the right to use them since mischief causes chaos, so I have to be the one to do it.

Atmos: What are you, my mom?

Order: ...

...

Atmos: Ok yeah, sorry about that.  That was going a bit too far.  And I don't have a mother to begin with.

Fenrir: Atmos, this is one of the reasons why some gods don't like you.

Atmos: Yeah, I'll shut up for a while.