The Harvester

Chapter 231: Sovereign Monarch of Firmament

“Done,” Rakna said as he admired his handiwork on the ceiling of the cave. Natsu was by his side in canine form and if he was an organic being, the Celestial Blaze would have been wheezing after two straight hours of constant focus on drawing mildly complex magic formations.

“My Lord…” The small dog spoke up tiredly. “I have confessed my lack of knowledge about magic formations. However, I couldn’t help but notice the lack of mana-transferring formulae or written lexis on this formation, nor did I see supply slots. So, if neither yourself nor Mana Banks are going to power this circle, what is going to? I also do not think that there is enough ambient mana here to make it self-sustainable…”

Rakna glanced at the Celestial Blaze with an amused huff. “You would be right if this magic circle was normal,” he said and twirled the pen in his hand. “This ink isn’t just a good medium; it’s also a perfect conductor for a certain power source.”

“A certain… power source, you say?”

“Mhm,” the therian nodded and took out his gear’s valise from his storage. He swiftly opened the locks and pulled a certain hidden compartment open which was filled with a bluish smoke. He put his hand inside and pulled out a pair of dark blue stones connected by a cyan strand of energy. It was an Eion System; two stones producing energy when close to each other.

Rakna’s valise actually had the function to produce them. As long as there were two minerals with fitting constituents provided to it, it was possible to turn them into actual Eion Stones with enough exposure to the energy itself as well as a bath in liquid Eion.

He held the stones and hummed. He looked up at the center of the formation and reared his arm with a closed fist. Then, in one swift throw, the two stones, reinforced and guided by mana, hit the magic formation’s core area and encrusted themselves in two specific spots defined by inner runes and circles.

Natsu watched as the light emitted by those twin stones slowly spread across the entire formation through the ink. It was like a mold being filled with molten steel. When the magic circle was done changing colors, the cave’s ceiling ‘flipped’. It was as if billions of small mirrors were flipped down from the inside of the earth to project an image.

It started at the center with a large patch of blue, sometimes accompanied with wafts of white to form clouds, and then the rest of the ceiling followed up. The light of the sun suddenly peered into the underground space and illuminated the surroundings.

The Celestial Blaze gawked at the flawless firmament. “By the… if I hadn’t spent hours doodling it, I wouldn’t believe this is a formation.”

“Don’t call it doodling,” Rakna deadpanned and inspected his work. He hummed, “It looks better than I expected. That’s good,” he commented and glanced at the System window that told him his proficiency had reached Exceled.

“What do we do now, My Lord?”

“Well, the next would be a bit of terraforming… but before that, I have a place to go check,” Rakna stated and disappeared from his spot after one step. He reappeared next to a hole in the ground that had once been covered by the house of the fake village chief.

“Where does it lead to?” Natsu asked as he arrived next to him in a dash of flames.

“That Téras’ tomb,” Rakna answered rather serenely considering the topic. He then quickly went down the underground passage with the Celestial Blaze in tow. When they reached the tunnel at the end of the stairs, they dashed to the sarcophagus room with speed surpassing what others at their level could ever hope to accomplish.

“There they are,” the therian commented as he glanced at what seemed to be the remains of a pair of golems, with large parts of their bodies apparently melted into a liquid.

“These are?” Natsu asked as he eyed the golems.

“Liquid Stone Golems,” Rakna replied. “They were here protecting the tomb. I was the one who destroyed them. It seems the Church and Basilica didn’t bother to retrieve these when they came to investigate. They did take the sarcophagus though,” he added whilst glancing at the pedestal in the middle of the room. He waved his hand at the golems and placed them inside his ring. “I came here to get these and…” He said and turned toward the opened mithril vault door that once locked this tomb.

He entered the room and with a thought, Sonata flew to his hand, transforming into a Guandao at the same time. He whirled it and the blade began to oscillate at boggle-minding frequencies as he injected mana into it. He hacked at the deeply rooted hinges of the door and the polearm slashed through both the wall and the mithril with minimal resistance.

“There. It might be low-grade mithril, but it can still be recycled,” he said as the chunk of magical metal fell on the ground. Without missing a beat, he put it in his storage as well. “As for the golems, it could be interesting to study them. It would be a waste to leave these things down here.”

“I see…” Natsu muttered and his master began to draw runes in midair. “What are you doing, My Lord?”

“Just placing a few explosive runes,” Rakna nonchalantly declared, passively noting that the walls of the tomb had lost their former sturdiness; most likely having lost reinforcement from the magic array put in place by Verias around his sarcophagus.

“…of course, it was impertinent of me to ask such an obvious question,” the Celestial Blaze uttered with award-worthy apathy.

“You’ll get used to it,” Rakna said and Natsu’s flames flailed as if his expression had twitched.

“Should that be something you say about yourself, My Lord?”

“Well, people keep saying it to me so I thought I might as well share it with you.”

“…”

“Done,” the therian said after placing the tenth explosive rune. He exited the room afterward and continued placing more scriptures on the way to the surface.

When they were out of the underground passage, Rakna glanced back and snapped his fingers, momentarily summoning a small magic circle at the tip of his index finger. Right after, Natsu raised a nonexistent eyebrow as muffled explosions echoed from inside the hole in the ground until they eventually got quite close and fully buried the tomb.

Rakna let out a small huff. “I feel better now,” he nodded to himself and the Celestial Blaze laughed wryly at his antics. “Let’s move on to the next step,” he added and extended his hand to the side where a frost crystal quill formed. “Let’s see… this one should fit the bill,” he muttered as he began to draw the lines of a constellation.

“Again?” Natsu asked, mortified as he mistook it for another magic formation.

The therian snorted. “No. Didn’t you hear the name of my crafting spell?”

“Your crafting spell?” The Blaze muttered. “You mean the one you used to make those ridiculous swords? If I remember correctly… ‘Star Hearth’, was it?”

“And you don’t find anything peculiar about it?”

“Should I?”

“…well, I guess it’s not that known to the normal folk. Much less you,” Rakna shrugged as he drew the 39th line of the constellation. It was clearly an advanced one that took into consideration even the normally unperceivable components. “The 40-Star Variation should be more than enough for the output I predicted,” he mumbled to himself after completing the pattern and tossed away the crystal quill before it crumbled. “Let me show you the magic of the stars, Natsu…”

Rakna flicked the constellation and a chime-like sound resounded. “[Star Monarch – Virgo,]” he intoned and the pivotal points of the constellation straightened before fusing into one amalgam of energy. It twisted itself and a pair of angel wings suddenly sprouted from it. Unexpectedly, at that point, Rakna’s expression changed, as it bore a far larger mana expenditure than he expected.

He raised an eyebrow and watched as the rest of the energy slowly uncurled itself into the form of a woman; like a fetus growing at an accelerated pace. The process was strangely mesmerizing and halfway through it, the being’s appearance became tangible and as if a painting, details and colors filled it.

An immaculate white dress materialized with a flutter and the woman landed on the ground bare feet with her wings wide open. Unlike Ganymede, this constellation’s manifestation had a bright smile on her face as she beheld her conjurer. She had white hair as long as her height and of which occasional strands were tied together by several golden hairpins in the form of an ear of wheat.

The beautiful angel’s blue eyes landed on Rakna and she lifted the edges of her dress. “Greetings to you, Lord Monarch. I, Astraea, Star Maiden and Goddess of Innocence, have answered your will and summon,” she spoke up with an amazingly soft voice and Rakna’s eyes widened.

“That’s a first…” He blinked in shock and she smiled serenely, lowering her dress and crossing her arms over her stomach with her wings half-folded behind her. “Ganymede certainly wasn’t chatty like you. Is it because of the number of focal stars I used for you…?” He mumbled the last part to himself.

Astraea giggled. “Naturally, Lord Monarch. Since I am a Divine Spirit, the circumstances are vastly different.”

“A Divine Spirit, you say?” Rakna scowled and before he could ask anything else, a System window slid into his field of view.

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You have learned a new Sub-Spell; Virgo!

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– Virgo (T.5): Most commonly attributed to a young girl named Dika, daughter of Zeus and the Titaness Themis. Virgo is also sometimes known as Astraea, daughter of Astraeus, Father of the Stars, and Eos, Goddess of the Dawn.

The legend tells of this young woman, born mortal and placed on Earth to rule over human justice during the Gods’ Golden Age defined by the prosperity, peace, everlasting spring, and the eternity that human beings once possessed. When Zeus overthrew his father, the Silver Age began. The humans began to no longer honor the Gods as they used to.

The maiden of Virgo gave a speech to the entire race, warning them of the dangers of their ways, and flew to the mountains, turning her back on humans. When the Bronze and Iron Ages came along and wars began to be waged, she left Earth altogether and headed to the Heavens.

The story of Astraea has other versions, combining her Domains of Justice, Innocence, Corn, and Fortune. Once summoned, she appears as a beautiful white-haired angel with ears of wheat ornaments representing the vitality that blooms in the everlasting spring, the noblesse of nature granted to her, and her deep connection to the balance of life.

As a Star Summon, Astraea has the ability to spread fortune and the blessing of nature to her surroundings while anything she considers a threat will be plagued with misfortune and the punishments of justice.

Most importantly, after resonating with the Host’s dormant divinity and magic, Astraea has found herself deeply linked to you. Her identity as the Star Maiden made it possible for the user to call upon her as a True Divine Specter, a lesser Avatar of Gods, capable of awareness as well as fighting capability.

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Forty Star Variation Cost: Fixed 2 000 MP + Variable (Correction: 1 000 MP)

Duration: 30 Min.

Cooldown: 24 Hours.

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Note: The constellation of Virgo possesses 96 focal stars. Changing the number used in the casting process will affect the cost and duration.

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Hoarfrost Star Magic has leveled up!

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Your Dormant Divinity has been strengthened…

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A foreign connection has been established to your soul…

Congratulations! You have gained a new Title; Sovereign Monarch of Firmament!

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