金瓶梅第2部

Tycondrius wore the most sincere smile he could fake, politely addressing the young Vanzano.

"Miss Athena, I'd like to use your brother's relic to speed your development to Bronze-Rank."

"Um, isn't it cursed?" Athena stuck out her lips, pursing them together like a tiny duck bill.

"Yes," Tycon nodded. "Grant that I will first nullify the curse, in order to ensure your safety."

"It's literally a snake skull." She complained, "It looks gross!"

"Does it?" Tycon glanced back at the table. He thought it looked impressive and powerful, "No matter. The purity of the Frost Stone's mana should be enough to catalyze your breakthrough."

Holy Lancer Tanamar of Vanzano stepped forward, his expression grim and determined.

"It's too dangerous," He insisted.

Tycon rolled his eyes, "Seven hells, young man. Take a look at the crystal's affinity rating with your charge."

Tanamar raised his eyebrows, his pupils dilating in surprise. Shortly after, his eyes narrowed to slits. It looked like he understood.

"What are you guys talking about?" Athena asked.

"What's the percentage?" Tycon asked in a lowered voice, grinning mischievously.

Tanamar scowled back, "What do you mean 'percentage'?"

"Is it 88?" Tycon whispered, just loud enough for Tanamar to hear. "I'm certain you're aware of the implications."

"You..." Tanamar shut his eyes, "Tch... No wonder you don't act like an NPC."

Tycon did not know what that meant, but he decided to 1. treat it as unfamiliar transmigrator diction and 2. take it as a compliment.

After a moment he grimaced... but nodded, "Yeah... we won't get this kind of chance, again."

Tycon smiled as he turned to Athena, "Tanamar and I are just using some esoteric terms to describe the 'Frost Stone.' Ultimately, I believe I've convinced him that the plan is worthwhile."

Athena puffed up her cheeks, "I dunno... I kinda wanted to get stronger like a normal person. Isn't this kinda like cheating?"

Tycon reared his head back in surprise. He found the notion absurd, though the reasoning was... heartwarming. Athena had talent and an artificially-made Yin Body. Those were advantages to be seized and cultivated, not ignored.

"Young lady, this opportunity is a gift from your brother. Perhaps he meant for you to use it to protect yourself."

"Maximus... for me?" Athena's eyes shone like snow globes. Soon, more tears would flow and Tanamar's problems would be renewed.

Tycon chuckled in amusement, "I'll need to perform some tests. Lend me the basement key and return to Zenon and Victorius for evening training."

...

It took Tycon three suns to create Athena's ritual formation. His goal was to bypass the Frost Stone's curse and to tap into its power source. Simple enough.

The testing was not without its dangers. Working with the stone so intimately, Tycon had the chance to observe its effects.

The Frost Stone's curse had a rudimentary sentience. Tycon likened it to a... priority flowchart. First, it would try to overload his senses. While he was distracted, it would then try to forcibly change his settings-- effectively adding third-party... desires. The instilled whims were inane... enslaving villages to ritually sacrifice, violently betraying those closest to him, and actively avoiding hand-washing after relieving himself.

If the curse took hold of him entirely, he'd awaken as a gentleman of a largely different set of morals and motives. In exchange, he'd gain the ability to cast a few paltry frost spells and knowledge of Snake Cult propaganda, customs, and courtesies.

He didn't look into just what. That would take more research and the information wasn't useful to him. He checked the data over for any rogue curse functions in the knowledge subset, but that was the extent of it.

Tycon would not have his mind taken over as long as his arrogance overpowered the stone's ancient will. Likely the curse's strength had diminished over time or it was instilled by a mere Gold-Rank mage.

If his willpower was to waver, he could rely on his ⌈Mark of Pride⌋ ability. He was immune to overt domination effects.

Without fear of a complete override, he could utilize his System to forcibly cut the connection with the Frost Stone via mental command. A few changes to the System's connection filtering later, he ensured the curse's most severe effects would not activate on him.

He couldn't make himself entirely immune during the testing phase. He needed to ensure his ritual completely bypassed the curse so Athena wouldn't turn into an unhygienic Snake Cultist. To that end, he worked with the Frost Stone's power set to 2%, feeling the bite of the curse and the cold, both.

Less than thirty minutes into working on the first sun, he returned to the servant's quarters to borrow and steal several thick blankets. Some individuals reveled in discomfort, taking pride in stubbornness and hardiness. Tycon would suffer minor annoyances for greater comfort. It was efficient.

The workings of the Frost Stone's curse were simplistic, its composition logical and grouped. However, its organization was... appalling. The entirety of the curse was lumped into one concentrated mana-stream.

It was an unintentional layer of defense. If Tycon wished to completely dispel the curse, he would need to root through the inner workings of its core. It would take several suns to decipher it, then further study to calculate how he could modify the mana-stream without causing an explosion. Such an endeavor also required a moderate amount of arcane power-- something he did not have.

...He could have written it better, though. He found it so bothersome, he did take the time to forcibly change and reorganize some of the curse's miscellaneous settings.

Because of the Frost Stone curse's design, Tycon surmised it may have been created accidentally, perhaps the result of a desperate mage's will coalescing into a physical form. If that were so, the creator was not merely an uncreative hack-- they were just a man or woman with shite morals.

The ritual formation would have been completed sooner. However, Tycon took an embarrassing amount of time designing a modifiable variable function. In the midst of the ritual, he wanted to be able to adjust the amount of mana flow from the stone to the empowered target.

It would have been highly inconvenient to activate the formation at a low percent, only to repeat the cast several times more at increasing percentages. This way, he'd only need to complete the ritual once, adjusting as necessary.

After all was finished, they'd seal the stone away, perhaps for use later?

It would probably be fine.