They both continued drawing more symbols, and Rael couldn't help but be amazed at Ayobe's understanding of arrays.
As he drew the symbols stated by the manuscript in his head albeit terribly ,Ayobe simply perfected them while explaining each of their meanings and uses. Even the ones she didn't necessarily recognize didn't stop her from reproducing the exact symbol. It wasn't long before they had drawn an array two feet wide.
"It's a protective array of sorts," Ayobe muttered, more to herself.
"Yes, it is," Rael replied, admiring her expertise.
Ayobe glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. 'He really doesn't know arrays that much', she thought, wondering what else could be causing their aether reserves to be drained.
"It's completed. Why isn't it working?" Rael questioned, causing Ayobe to roll her eyes.
"It won't work without an energy source. What do you think the source runes were for?" she said, pointing toward the circular, moon-like drawing at the center of the array.
Rael thought for a moment, contemplating whether to use the aether crystal he had with him. Still, he wasn't sure how the array would react, so he stepped forward with the intention of using his own aether.
"Step back," he said to Ayobe, prompting her to move back toward the burn fire where her sisters watched.
He stepped through the gaps in the array, careful not to wipe off any symbol, then knelt down. Taking a breath, he placed his right hand atop the moon symbol at the center and began channeling aether through his arm and into his palm.
Nothing happened.
Rael narrowed his eyes, and Yasmin scoffed in the background.
Then a vibrating, whining sound rang out as the symbols began to glow with an orange light. A dome of pure orange aether, marked with a shield symbol at its front, formed around Rael.
Rael smirked.
Ayobe immediately stepped forward, amazement written all over her face as she inspected the dome.
"Wow… it's a boundary ward sigil. This is incredible. How did you find such an intricate array?" she asked with genuine curiosity, even though she knew he likely wouldn't answer.
And truly, he didn't,he was just as amazed by the small dome surrounding him.
'But how strong is it?' he wondered, glancing toward Ivyré and Yasmin. There was no way he'd let them test it. Not only would it require aether, but even if he wanted to, he had no control over whatever debuff his territory imposed on them.
His attention was soon drawn to how quickly his aether reserves were being drained a 0.5 per second, and that was without the dome even being attacked.
He pulled his hand away from the center, deactivating the array, causing Ayobe to protest.
"Wait, I wasn't done studying it," she exclaimed.
Rael barely heard her. His mind was focused on another dilemma.
How was he going to get enough energy to last through three Withered Nights?
He only had one aether crystal. He glanced at Ivyré and Yasmin, who were making small talk by the fire. He couldn't help but wonder what kind of elves they were ,because when he'd checked their magic pouches, there were no crystals at all. Just piles of gold-like coins he guessed came from beyond the borderlands, coins he had no damn use for.
He sighed.
The only other option was life force, which he suspected would take effect once he ran out of aether.
'It seems I'll have to catch quite a lot of livestock then', he thought, settling on a solution.
Ayobe drew his attention back with a question.
"It draws on a lot of aether, right?" she asked, a meaningful gleam in her eyes that caught Rael off guard.
"Yes. How did you know?" he asked.
"Source runes. It contains too many source runes," she replied, tilting her head in thought before asking, "What's the name of the runic manuscript?"
"What?" Rael froze.
'Name? What did she mean, name? Isn't it just a boundary ward sigil?'
He hesitated, then chose to come up with a name so as not to feel entirely clueless about arrays, as he truly was.
"Plutonic Manuscript?" he replied.
"Hm. Never heard of that one before," Ayobe squinted her eyes, throwing him a skeptical look. Still, she knew there were thousands of manuscripts out there that she didn't and would never know of.
"So, you plan on mounting the array for…" she paused, scanning the entire compound, "…the compound, right?"
"I do," Rael replied as he walked toward his longhouse.
"You'll definitely need a lot of energy sources," she said meaningfully.
Rael paused, understanding what she was hinting at, but he simply ignored her. His thoughts had already shifted toward dealing with his new elven neighbors. Because aside from the quest, he needed aether beasts ,living aether beasts which meant leaving his territory with them still in it.
"Hah… what to do," he murmured, glancing at them briefly as an idea came to mind.
…..
As trees cast their shadows across the landscape, turning the night beneath the forest canopies pitch black, a slim figure moved cautiously through the darkness. He wore tattered robes smeared with dried mud, limping carefully and making sure even his breathing was as slow as possible.
Xaphxan had grown tired of cursing his fate over and over again. Ever since escaping the Dark Acolytes, he kept stumbling into increasingly dangerous situations,his muddy appearance being proof enough.
He had buried himself beneath piles of mud, holding his breath for nearly an hour, hiding from a feline-like beast that had been stalking him for days. He would've sworn it was toying with him; otherwise, he'd already be dead. The pressure it radiated was far beyond his rank though, to be honest, his rank felt useless anyway.
He blamed his manuscript.
All it allowed him to cast was a tracking spell which was utterly useless and a fireball spell so pathetic it could barely singe the fur of an aether beast. And yet, it promised greater power if he reached higher tiers. He wasn't counting on it.
Xaphxan paused, gazing up at the trees, searching for one suitable enough for the night. He wasn't foolish enough to believe he could continue moving without being devoured, so without wasting time, he climbed a tree he deemed safe.
Before settling in, he rubbed a powder over his body from head to toe, effectively masking his scent.
A guaranteed good rest… I hope, he thought as he lay concealed among the leaves, closing one eye while keeping the other open.