Master Of None

”Su did you find out what happened?” Walker found her washing a cloth in some greenish tinted water. This was an herbal solution used to help heal burns that was commonly used in every church in the kingdom. It was even for sale at the alchemist stalls in the market. 

”Leader, one of the priests in training, was polishing the healing light crystal and fell, they hurt their head and those that tried to catch them were also hurt. Not the crystal is cracked and losing its mana. Somehow the crack needs to be mended but I am not sure how.” Walker absorbed this information then looked more closely at the large healing light crystal.

He was able to see that there were small cracks spider webbing out from one side along with a ladder still propped up near it. ”Su you wouldn’t think that I could climb up there would you?” Walker was already in motion with those words. Su wanted to stop them since it was dangerous to climb up somewhere where another had fallen not too long before. But she was involved in a task that must be completed for an injured man who had been burned working in the forge. 

The healers and nuns paid Walker no mind since they were so involved with their own tasks. The second Walker approached the stone pillar that had been carved to hold the crystal he could sense that there was light elemental mana traveling in strange ways. He looked around the area to see that the colors were not the normal assortments of a rainbow but a weird mix matched pattern of reds and yellows. The crystal having this damage was keeping it from filtering all forms of light through it. 

Walker could feel there was more of an issue with it as well, the mana that was leaking out was the partially filtered light elemental mana but instead of storing any of it , it just flowed back out. It could not store any of the sun’s rays at all right now!

Reaching the foot of the adder Walker placed a shaky foot on the first wooden rung and started to climb. There was a wobble here and there but not enough to deter him He was three quarters of the way up when the ladder started to sway side to side. This ladder was in need of repair for sure and was definitely the reason the priest in training had fallen. Walker did not want to abort his climbing to reach the crystal but felt the ladder would topple over if he went any higher. ”Don’t you worry I have the ladder under control!” The weak voice of the high priest reached his ears. The high priest had forced himself to stand and was not holding the ladder which was much more steady. ”Just do your best, if anyone can figure it out it will definitely be a hero.” The tiredness in the high priests voice was evident but their hope was stronger. This was exactly the job for a hero. It was not glamorous like slaying evil monsters or rescuing damsels in distress but this was just as important.

Walker was on steady footing and easily reached the top of the ladder. The healing light crystal was shimmering weakly trying to filter the light as it normally did. Reaching out and touching the cracks Walker could feel that the built up light elemental mana was flowing out as fast as it flowed in to the crystal. This flow caused the strange colors to appear in the air. 

”The problem is that the crystal can’t store the light mana any more! I need a bit of time to see what we can do!” Walker had a few ideas on what to try to get things to work, his first plan was to use elemental manipulation to keep the mana from flowing out of the crystal. With that he could examine how the crystal structure was affected. The real question was how would he change the crystals structure? It was not technically a part of earth anymore since it had taken on the light element. So using earth sculpting was out of the question, but what if he could somehow shape the light elemental mana within the crystal to change the structure.

He placed his hands fully on the cracks and channeled his mana in to the light element mana seeping out of the crystal. The light elemental mana was held back in the center of the crystal, however the more that built up the more it pushed against him to escape. This was like a river pushing on a leaking dam! The pressure building would eventually break the dam, or in this case Walker’s manipulation.

He needed something to use to repair the crystal, using his mana manipulation he tried to force the light elemental mana to move and fill the cracks but only found that the mana could slightly affect the crystal. ”Ugh why won’t you change!” Walker let out his thoughts verbally to think through the pressure. ”I need something to plug these cracks, stupid broken crystal.” 

His frustrations sounding around him smacked him back in the face, he did have something he could use to plug the cracks. Removing one hand Walker pulled some of the crystal shards from his inventory. These crystal shards could be used to craft gear that could store mana, furthermore they used to be light crystals too! He had a handful of about ten shards, by letting some of the mana from the healing light crystal flow in to them he felt it being trapped inside each shard. Without his control the shards would leak out the mana, but when he placed them in to the cracks they seemed to keep the light elemental mana within them.

This theory to use them to plug the cracks could work! Walker began fitting in the shards pulling out another twenty throughout this process. After a great deal of time there were only very small cracks left that were still bleeding the mana. The light elemental mana had somewhat started to build within the healing light crystal. Walker gave his next attempt to channel the light elemental mana within the crystal to fuse all the shards back together and close the remaining cracks. He imagined the diamond light structure of the crystals becoming attached at corners held together by the light mana within. The mana was flowing along these connections slowly gaining more traction. 

Walker felt something click together and he opened his eyes to the perfectly smooth surface of the healing light crystal.

’ Skill crystal crafting has been learned through specific use actions and taken from the crystal craftsman system.

Crystal crafting- mana 1+ cost

Using mana to manipulate the natural elemental mana within a crystal the user can make the crystals more easily change shapes and fit to gear. The crystals used can be made in to unique energy sources for gear and other items.’

Walker did not look at the skill much since was too concerned with the healing light crystal in front of him. He had spent over an hour on the ladder. The high priest was using all of his physical energy to keep the ladder still watching Walker work. During this time he was in awe to see the repairs being made, Walker had used more than one form of magic to fully fix something none of them were able to fix themselves. It was impressive to say the least. 

Feeling the faint aura of healing starting to return along with perfect rainbows flowing from the healing light crystal Walker descended the ladder. When he came face to face with the high priest the high priest began to collapse. ”Ah! Are you alright?!” Walker was extremely worried, he did not know how long he had spent on this project just that there high priest had been there the entire time. 

”Mhm- ye-ss I am...fine. Just-tired.” The high priest was unsteady so Walker helped him over to the bench Su had led him to earlier. The high priest looked like he had just had the energy sucked from him. This was one of the busiest days at the cathedral in a very long time. He was thinking that it may be time to retire soon if this kept up.

Walker wanted the high priest to have some peace so he left him to the bench alone where he seemed to be alms falling asleep. The elderly that had been restless and frustrated before had started to settle down and instead shout their praise to Walker for fixing things up well. Walker wanted to go check on Alice but realized she was nowhere to be seen. The spot she had been resting on was empty. He turned around here and there trying to see where she had gone. Feeling a slight tap on his shoulder Walker turned to see the massive smile on Alice’s face. She had woken up while Walker fixed the healing light crystal and was extremely impressed.