Chapter 319: Grafting (Patreon)

Chapter 319: Grafting

By the end of the page, Mercury had developed an entirely new mana-textile, figured out how to dye it a range of colours other than his default blue-silver, and then woven it to be strong enough to not fail under wear while still degrading. He didn’t wanna invent plastic on this lovely world, so he was happy to make things meant to wear and meant to be repairable.

That was the very idea behind a lot of old things that last. Make the pieces wear but replaceable. It was a philosophy that ensured Daryel and Itsu would still be able to live in the house a hundred years from now - though they might need to replace the flooring once more in that time. Perhaps twice.

It was a style of building that required things to be well-used and lived in, of course. The mana-weave would break apart far faster if exposed to the elements. It would mean that the walls and roof needed to be intact. Those were precisely Mercury’s next projects, though, so it shouldn’t be too much trouble. 

Not that he’d even replaced all the mats. A few of them just needed new covers, or even just the fabric trimmed or stitched up. There was plenty of perfectly solid fabric or good straw. None of that went to waste. Mercury only replaced what he needed to. 

The ladies seemed rather pleased with that. Daryel loved the old style of construction, because she had lived with it her whole life, and it was what she enjoyed. Seeing things restored to nicer conditions, though, she was happy with.

Itsu appreciated it in a different way. It was more that she lived in these sorts of places like a natural habitat. Old houses with suspiciously modern comforts were hubs for kitsune. If she had her way, Mercury would probably dig a basement for them and make a hot spring.

Which, granted, he probably could figure out and wasn’t opposed to… but all in due time.

For now, he set about the walls and doors. Some of the paper had yellowed over the years. And, of course, much of the framing had begun to rot a bit. The finish had faded, and while the ladies living there had oiled and waxed occasionally, it was not enough to keep time at bay. 

Expansion and shrinking had worn things over time. Mercury enjoyed that work, too. Woodworking was something that he had a lot to improve on. He enjoyed it almost as much as blacksmithing, since it also fell into the sort of discipline where you learnt to make your own tools.

Which was something he valued immensely. There was something just lovely about making something from the ground up. Mercury enjoyed that - though he absolutely cheated by having a full forge with him, and being able to shape tools from liquid metal and his Raiment. 

Still, even with all that, he did take the time to make the proper tools and learn how to use them. In this case, for the doors, he often took them out, and undid some of the woodworking. The framing came apart as he scanned for where the joints were. A few hammertaps, and they were off. He took out the thin lattices that the paper was glued to, and dissolved the glue by spraying a bit of water.

How was he going to get new paper? Great question. To make it himself, he politely used <Revelation> to tell him what the material was, and the paper easily gave up the secrets of its construction. 

It was the same as any paper. Grab a plant, take its fibres, dissolve anything unnecessary away, and get the fibers to arrange properly. Now the issue was the suitable plant. This one lived even further up the mountain than his last trip!

Mercury almost laughed at his own grumbling. Frankly, he was lucky it even grew on this mountain at all - with just a bit of bad luck, he would have had to travel for quite a while to get any suitable ingredients at all. Now, all he needed was a comfy hike. 

And so he hiked.

- - -

“I am the guardian of the Peak, have you brought tribute?”

A lazy, fat lion sat on a pile of rocks. It wasn’t even the top of the mountain, just a tall outcropping. How far standards had fallen…

Mercury sent the animal packing with a single burst of aura, in response to which the lion’s rubble-peak quickly split in half, swallowed the gigantic feline’s body and settled again. Apparently, the lion knew earth magic. Good for it, Mercury supposed. 

Still, he didn’t let that minor hiccup get to him. Next time, he’d take some cake with him up the mountain and see how that went. Not that he was in a hurry to go again. This trip was already longer than a full day, so he’d need to camp in the mountain.

Of course, he could have teleported down, but he really didn’t want to. The view was amazing, after all, and Mercury thought that contemplating the universe on a mountain might do him some good.

And it did. The mountain air was lovely to wake up to. Mercury stretched in the sun, stepped out to a plane of gravel and grass under his paws, and lived his best life. He spent the morning traipsing through the higher parts of the mountain, picking up paper-suitable plants. He stuffed his bags again, then headed down.

Both his walks had been calm and serene. No one interrupted him, no one bothered him. It was peaceful work that suited a peaceful guy like him. When he set about papermaking, a usually long and difficult process, he found it meditating. 

Mercury could do the work of a hundred men without much trouble. He had the hands and mental capacity to spare. He worked quickly and efficiently. Whenever a bit of plant fibre gave him trouble, he simply cast <Material Transmutation> and shifted it into something else entirely different - usually “paper”. 

He split, beat and washed the fibres, laid them out, compacted them, then set them to dry. Of course, he asked the fibres to intertwine properly, and he asked the air to help them dry faster. That way, by the end of the day, he had a few sheets of paper. By the second day, he had a half dozen drying racks creating human-sized sheets which he then cut to size. 

Ghostly hands carried doorframes, tapped them apart with hammers, and prepared new ones. Green wood was turned to seasoned with a single sweep of his Raiment and will, drawing water from wooden pores and leaving them dehydrated and strong. He asked the tough plants to bend when he needed them to, and was able to connect pieces without glue.

The way that he was able to integrate regular craftsmanship with his magic was what Mercury really loved. It was the difference between blacksmithing and his <Magical Metallurgy>. And he was far more familiar with plants than steel, his <Magic> making the wood easily follow along with his requests.

It was fun, seeing the framed twist out of shape. He replaced rotten bits, and redid the finish on ones that were still good. Sometimes he’d plane surfaces or smooth things out. A bit of sanding, patching and replacing joints, hammering them back into frames. Then, of course, gluing on the paper.

That was how it had been attached previously - thin wooden lattices with glue on them and paper on both sides. It was what Mercury did, too. <Revelation> revealed the composition of the glue, <Answer> told him how to recreate it, and then he did it. 

It was a simple glue, made from plant starch boiled in water to create a thicker paste. This was then spread evenly across the paper, which he sprayed with some water, then glued on. As it dried, it contracted a little, tensioning it and creating a smooth surface.

Screen by screen, the old, yellowed paper was replaced by newer ones. A handful of sheets had even torn over time - bumped into, damaged by insects, or otherwise. Mercury made sure to pay careful attention to those. 

When everything was in place again, the screens and doors were light and easy to pick up. Even Daryel could have done it physically, though the lazy old mage preferred to use her gravity magic for it. She did help Mercury put the house back together, though, sometimes by sitting and having tea as his ghost hands went to work, sometimes by lifting parts of the house up.

Whenever he had help he was grateful, and when he didn’t, Mercury didn’t complain. After all, this was fun for him. The process of learning a new craft, from the ground up. 

Once the sliding doors and screens were replaced, he began to look into the framing. Large logs which built the structure of the house. Many of them were debarked but otherwise not manipulated too much - meaning that they bent and curved, distributing load that way. It was fascinating to see.

Most of them were also perfectly intact. In this case, Mercury didn’t want to just rip them out and replace them, either, since the wood was part of the house’s character. It became far more about assessing where structural damage was present and then applying local repairs.

For that, he sourced trees and shaped large chunks from them. A few bits of framing had definitely seen insect damage, and those sections he carved out, holding the load off of them during repair with his ghost hands rather than any new braces. It was easy, with his mind. Sometimes Daryel would help. Itsu would crouch and watch him work as Mercury hammered new pieces into place and shaped them to follow the curves of what was already there.

He didn’t try to hide or disguise his work. The wood would simply look different, since it was decades younger. But he was okay with that - while it may create differences, that was fine. He used some glue, but mostly had the fibres in the replacement blocks bond into the original tree.

In a lot of ways, what he did was closer to grafting than woodworking at this rate, but the wood was still dead. It was a fun mix of things, and his Skill seemed to agree.

[<Novice Woodworking> has levelled up! <Novice Woodworking lv. 9 -> 10>]

[<Novice Woodworking> has evolved into <Woodgrafting>.]

[You have acquired the Skill <Woodgrafting lv. 1> through Skill evolution.]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

His level went from 22 to 24, too, which was nice. He gained a handful stats from it, and a few Skill points, too. It made him smile. <Woodgrafting> was a rather suitable Skill for him, since his ability to manipulate the world did enable that much. Having bonuses applied to it was nice.

Mercury enjoyed bringing his own unique approach to crafting in general. And with <Woodgrafting>, he was able to even begin incorporating other things into the structure of the wood. He could develop pseudo-fibres in blocks of mana, then connect those up with wood fibres and create truly bizarre half-mana logs.

Which was fun but not necessarily super useful. Instead, Mercury put his new Skill to work doing repairs. Twisted logs were shaped, and when some had bent from strain and time and looked on the verge of failure, he shifted them back and used donor fibers to repair the damage, allowing them to de-age, almost.

New wood mingled with old, paler strands dancing between browned, older ones. It was fun to see where the damage had happened - an art similar to how broken pottery might be repaired with gold. He didn’t hide the damage. He highlighted it faintly, in a way to show off how the house had aged and been lived in.

There was beauty in that, too, he thought. The fact that this place was used so wonderfully.

- - -

Day by day his workshop grew, and Mercury tackled task after task. The walls and framing were one of them - with many exterior walls also needing replacing. Mercury dug for clay, made more straw, and learnt more about the materials used for that, too. He pulled away bits where the walls had chipped and replaced them, heated them to set them, and then let Zyl paint them.

The dragon was all-too happy to include some floral motifs that Daryel asked for, and upon much prodding by Itsu, a handful of foxes soon danced amid vines and flowers. It was prettier and more personalized than the old walls had been, though much of them remained intact, too. 

After the walls came the roof. Slats inside were replaced and mended, the tiles being made from high-heat fired clay. Mercury, of course, did not let that stop him. It took half a page, but he did build a kiln, make charcoal to fire it with, and then make clay. He created moulds to quickly make more of the tiles - and then he made them.

Dozens upon dozens of tiles. He replaced damaged and cracked ones, carefully underlaying them. He’d glazed them with handmade glaze, and placed them down. 

Each day he got up, had breakfast with Daryel and Itsu and Zyl and Juno. Each day, they’d split up, partially doing things together. Zyl helped him glaze tiles. Daryel helped him get them to the roof. Juno and Itsu played with illusions and shadows.

They were almost like a family. Mercury ventured up the mountain, all the way to the peak, to find a special kind of blue flower Zyl wanted for paint. He found a bird there.

“I am the guardian of the peak-”

A gust of wind carried the vermillion phoenix away, and Mercury peacefully plucked the flowers. Truly, he was so glad his walks were uninterrupted and entirely unbothered by anything. 

He made paints for his lovely boyfriend. He slowly restored a house by hand. He forged new tools and repaired ones that broke, he threaded wooden fiber as though it was cloth. He wove and made and crafted and made the world a little bit nicer with his own two hands.

It was a fulfilling life. Something that he could pursue forever, if he wanted to. He just kept doing it. A page passed, and the roof was done. A page later, he’d taken up pottery and made new cups. He made a pottery wheel.

Another page, and he’d created a whole new outdoors area. A newer gazebo-style thing, with the same roofing and beams and a few sliding screens. It had polished wooden flooring with handmade nails. He hammered them into a foundation he laid from almost-concrete himself. 

Daryel loved it. She had her tea inside it often, staring out into the forest and holding her partner’s hand. Days ticked by, and Mercury’s little woodworking workshop inside Logston grew, until he ran out of space.

That’s when he started to work to expand it. After all, dimensional <Magic> wasn’t entirely beyond him. His inner realm was already all about overlaying it with reality, so this was just an extra step.

Plus, if he manifested a part of his crown, it should be easy. That was practice he had neglected slightly, but not fully. Every day, before he went to bed, he tried it. Calling on the silver wreath that tore his head off with violent knowledge every time he summoned it.

And yet, gradually, he wore it down. First, the wreath thinned. The spilling silver ivy lessened. The amber gems inlaid in it dimmed. Then, a single spike of the crown vanished. Then another. Bit by bit, he reduced them.

It took two pages to get it done, but in the end, he could summon a single bit of the crown.

A simple rhombus, with leaves spilling from its side, and an amber gemstone inlaid in it. It would hover over his head, lagging behind its motions slightly, and bringing only a fraction of the pain his full crown did. It was… almost tolerable.

Mercury kept it summoned for longer, now - often minutes at a time. Slowly stretching that capability.

[<Mindbloom> has levelled up. <Mindbloom lv. 6 -> 7>]

His prodigious mind grew even stronger. He had also not stopped circulating qi, his Silver Core sitting at full stability. By now, he was maybe ready to ascend to Bladesoul, though he had no manual. And no real need to do so, either?

Power hadn’t driven Mercury in a little while. He didn’t need to be able to kill people harder - very few of his abilities were geared towards combat at all. For the most part, he had always directed himself at curiosity. It made him incredibly efficient at picking up new techniques.

Of course, his body was tempered. His every muscle was stronger than steel. If he stubbed his toe on a bed, the bed would give. Mercury was powerful, yes, but it was a byproduct rather than the goal, often.

There was power in knowledge, power in effort, power in growth and desire. And Mercury loved living a whole lot. He grew and learnt because he wanted to. And, at the end of the day, he was a bit curious about Bladesoul, but not that curious, after all.

The leader of the Cult of Infernal Flames was probably one major realm beyond Bladesoul, Mercury imagined. But he didn’t want to pay them a visit quite yet. Although he did miss practicing the healing arts… But his <Herbalism> had improved by leaps and bounds from making the paper and the glue.

[<Herbalism> has levelled up! <Herbalism lv. 3 -> 5>]

All that was to say that he truly enjoyed these few pages. He truly did like sitting at the pond, watching Zyl paint. He loved tinkering with magic, seeing the world with a tiny crystal floating over his head, changing things. Which is why, when there was an explosion in the not-so-far-off distance, Mercury bristled.

It was a sound of violence, a shockwave rippling across the forest. Birds flew up from branches. A deer that had been just about to eat a cookie from his paw startled and ran. Noise split the serene forest, and one of their teacups shattered.

Green liquid spilled over Daryel’s dress, staining the white of her skirt and darkening the purple of her robes. It was a shame, too. It had been the last of today’s tea, the old lady always savoring a cup when it had already cooled a little.

“Ah, troublesome,” she sighed softly. “I’ll go change and set it aside for washing. Don’t worry yourselves.”

The words came out easy and languid. Somehow, despite everything, the old lady didn’t lose her smile, standing up easily and with dignity. A second shockwave passed through the landscape and she stumbled for a moment.

Mercury knew that no one else got angry at that. But he did. The martial world was reaching a little too far into his private life. He was visiting a friend, and even there, he couldn’t escape the shockwaves of battle for more than a handful pages? That was just too annoying.

Standing up from the table, the mopaaw dipped his head. “Itsu, Daryel, thank you for your hospitality. As your guests, we need to show adequate respect to our hosts, though. Please, let us take care of this trouble.”

Itsu tried to wave him off. “It’s no trouble!” The kitsune spoke cheerily, tails dancing in the air behind her. “Just let them fight their fights. It’ll pass. Think of it as an earthquake!”

But people were not inevitable. Mercury could only smile and dip his head a little more. “I think that there is a responsibility people have to be somewhat kind to each other. As a healer, I simply must head to a battlefield if I hear of it, you see?”

Daryel’s eyes turned sad at his words. Her and Itsu knew, of course, what he meant. Mercury simply could not keep out of trouble. He wanted things to be better so badly, that he’d run out there and try to change the foundation of the martial world to be a kinder one. 

The old lady paused her walk, turned back to him, and clasped her hands. “Thank you very much, then, for the repairs you have done on our house. Perhaps, if you had not come here, this earthquake would have shaken it.”

“Probably not.”

“Likely, indeed, but perhaps it would. So, thank you. Your visit has been nothing but pleasant, and both me and my wife truly do hope you’ll return when this has been taken care of.” 

At those words, her smile was a kinder one. Warm and welcoming, that of an old grandma talking to her grandkids.

Zyl was the one who returned it. “Don’t worry, Daryel. We’ll be back soon.”

The dragon sprouted wings from his back. Mercury manifested a single silver spike above his head, and Juno turned to liquid shadow. A single step carried them a thousand feet into the distance, leaving two waving women behind. 

Mercury was going to return to the martial world.

With a vengeance against violence.