12

"Who are you?" I replied after I had dislodged the small girl from me. Going into an over-dramatic bow, she squeaked out.

"I'm a Komainu Master! Call me Komainu; I will protect you and watch over your territory when you are not around."

Letting a smile creep on my face at the pure teeth rotting enthusiasm she showed, I gently ruffled my hand through her hair as I responded.

"That's great; do you mind if I show you around, and please just call me Aidan"

Pushing her head into my hand, her smile grew larger as she spoke again while giving me two thumbs up.

"You got it, Ma-Aidan!"

Walking over to the illusion covering the parahuman batteries, I stepped inside and was assaulted with the smell of blood coating the floor. My eyes shot over the four people and saw the culprit.

Skidmark was paling as blood pooled around him from his arm, and while it had only been around thirty minutes, it still was almost enough to kill him. Darting over, I pulled a health potion out of my pocket and let it pour over his wound, watching as it sealed up.

Swiping a hand over his skull despite the lack of sweat. I then continued my tour for Komainu.

"These terrible people would hook people on life-ruining drugs, blow innocent civilians up or be a pedophile and attempt a coup. I currently have them hooked up to a system that drains their source of superpowers for energy. A part of your job will be ensuring these people do not die."

I then handed her three health potions before continuing.

"These health potions can heal a single mortal wound a peace. If you are hurt, you are to use these to heal yourself before you anybody else. Is that understood?"

Looking her in the eyes, I attempted to hammer in that fact. The semi-serious moment was halted in its track by her giggle and grin that showed her small fangs where canines would be on an ordinary girl. Breathing out, I continued.

"I'm saying this because I want you to be safe. I understand you are supposed to guard me; however, I do not want you dead because you tried to heal one of the stupid mouthbreathers filling this world."

With another grin, she replied semi-seriously this time around.

"Understood, is there anyplace you need me to guard in particular?"

"The main door, and feel free to be in this form as long as it is just you and me here. However, I need you to turn into your statue form for a bit.

She nodded before her form twisted, and a statue up to my chest rested on the floor before me. Grinning at this, I drew a circle around her and started chanting. If this worked, I could enchant her like she was an object which would open many paths.

As of now, she was, while a decent guardian, not all that powerful and would have to resort to simple physical attacks to fend off an attacker.

A few minutes later, I got the spell results back, and they were promising. She counted as an object with a soul, lowercase; this meant as long as I was careful, I could grant her quite a few power via enchantment. I could also write down my spells, and my Arcanum would allow her to study and gain my magic.

Speaking to her again, I started to walk out. "Feel free to turn. Don't touch anything; turn back if somebody knocks on the door."

Hearing the faint swoosh of air filling in the now vacant spots, I closed the door behind me. I needed to purchase a few items at the Boardwalk. As I walked, I felt the Grimoire's power swell again before fading back into my marrow, ready for the next surge; striding onto the Boardwalk, I took in the new sight.

On the weekdays, very few people were on the Boardwalk except those who worked there, making it feel empty and desolate. On the weekends, however, the Boardwalk was overflowing with people moving around.

This sheer deluge of people made me smile as even in a shit hole like the Bay, people still adapt. While they may not be as great or as important as people like Armsmaster, they were still improving and surviving, which was good to see.

Tearing myself from my musing, I start walking towards a small bookstore I had passed the last few times I was here. Nodding to the people as I passed them, I had a faint smile as I walked into the small store labeled The Little Nook.

An older man with a slight paunch wearing a turtleneck looked down from where he was standing, shelving books before talking.

"I'll be with you in just a moment."

Shimming down with surprising agility, he soon stood before me. I started talking, matching his smile.

"I'm looking for quite a few blank books."

Raising an eyebrow, he responded

"Let me see what I have in the back."

Sweeping away, he left me alone, so I looked around to see what kind of books this place sold. It was mainly non-fiction, and after picking up a few, it seemed that the shelves were stocked with whatever the owner could get his hands on at the bargain bin.

A few minutes later, the man came back, balancing half a dozen small journals in his arms before setting them down with a thump on the counter.

"That will be 32 dollars," He said, holding his hand for the cast. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the required amount before handing it to him.

Putting the money away, he pushed the books across to me after placing them in a bag. Giving him a thank you, I left the shop and started heading back to my laboratory.

Letting the bag swing by my side, my nose curled up as I walked past a group of people lying on the ground, eyes glazed over. I had entered the docks and was opposed to the bustling commerce of the Boardwalk.

The Docks were full of wastrels who sat around doing nothing, not even attempting to reach for better. I opened my lab door and saw Komainu lying on her back in girl form. She was tossing the Grimoire up in the air, catching it and repeating it.

Rushing over to her, I grabbed the Grimoire before looking down at her as she wilted. Sitting up, she started to explain.

"I was sooooo bored."

My mind had to take a minute to reboot after the fact that Komainu, a guardian spirit, was bored after forty minutes without me here. Sitting down next to her and, setting my Grimoire next to me, I ran my hand through my illusionary hands before I started talking.

"Sorry, I didn't think that you might get bored. Next time I go out, I'll make sure to bring back a TV or something of the sort, ok?"

I then ruffled my hand through her hair, causing her to giggle and lean into me as she looked up at my eye sockets.

"Ok," she chirped before rolling on her butt and standing up.

"What now?"

"Now, I take some time to write out some basic Magecraft and see if you can learn that. While I work on that, feel free to poke around; just let me know if you are going into the batterie's containment circles; I don't want you to get trapped."

Shooting me a thumbs up, she darted past the illusion hiding my batteries and started observing them. I, meanwhile, sat up against the wall and started writing what I knew about Reinforcement, which while not much, should help Komainu in a fight.

Typically this would take years to teach somebody, even the basics; however, Arcanum(Basic) would let me transcribe my knowledge that other people could learn quickly. Komainu would never reach my skill level, not without years of training; however, Reinforcement would allow her to become a true terror on the battlefield.

As a magical being, Reinforcement would enhance everything about her as Reinforcement improves objects, and she counted as both an object and a person due to her unique nature.

Writing this down properly would take a few hours, so I locked the door and kept an eye on my newest lion-dog statue, which was currently poking Coil's toe near the edge of the circle while giggling the whole time.

Several hours later, I stood up and set the new grimoire down before shuffling over to Komainu, who had transitioned to slapping the top of Skidmark's head.

Skidmark, while still pale, was much better now that he wasn't actively bleeding out. Tapping her right shoulder and ignoring the yep that popped out, I through a thumb over my shoulder as I steered her toward the grimoire.

"Alright, I wrote down everything I know about Reinforcement. Your secondary job is to study what I wrote and try to reproduce its effects."

Pouting as I assigned her actual work for the first time, she dragged over the book and pushed her back into the wall as she cracked it open and cast her eyes on the words inside.

My next task was to provide her with an actual way to use Reinforcement. While she could use her inner magical energy that could lead her to be exhausted at the wrong time. So I landed on an idea similar to my ruby in my head.

I would enchant an item to pull energy from the batteries she could use instead of her inner pool. The principle was essentially the same, so it would only take me around a day to make as opposed to the multiple that it took last time.

As I started gathering more materials for the process, Grimore's energy bubbled up much more literally. The Dust coating up to my waist began to flicker as some of it dropped away as the reagents I needed while others turned into half-imagined items.

Forcing down the new power, I pulled a little Dust off my leg and held it in my hand. Taking a moment to focus on it before the Dust shimmered, and after a few seconds of very faint whirring, I had a perfectly cut diamond in my hand.

Picking up my Grimoire, I flipped to the newest page labeled Arcana of Matter. As I pored through this most recent portion, the flame in my eye socket grew wilder as the sheer potential of unlimited transmutation sunk in.

As long as I had Dust, I could make nearly anything, and while this perk was based on Endless Legend, I knew from Endless Space the true power of this power. Given sufficient Dust, I transform an entire planet instantly, build spaceships with the snap of my fingers, and more. The only limit was Dust; I now knew why some people worshipped Dust.

Arcana of Matter

Dust is everything. You need to simply tell it what to become. With this Arcana, you can turn a handful into any portable object, a bag into something it'd take a couple people to lift, or an entire barrel into a hasty fortification.