I felt my Mana start to drop quickly, so I eased back a bit.
“Good gods,” Veronica whispered. “You can pick up new skills so easily.”
Amelia’s mouth was agape. “That kind of control. . . it’s unheard of even with powerful vectors! I didn’t know such a thing was possible, even with the legendary Ink Mages.”
“What a rush!” I pulled back my Mana, and the flames withdrew.
“You did it,” Amelia said as she clasped her arms around me. “I knew you could.”
“Not bad,” Veronica said. The surprise she’d shown previously had vanished, but I could see from the awe in her eyes that she was trying to conceal how impressed she was. Possibly even a little envious.
I let the flames go out, having burned through most of my Mana there.
“Is it possible to only activate a couple of those flames?” Amelia asked.
“Good question,” I said. “I still have a bit of Mana left; I can try for a short burst.”
I repeated the procedure but attempted to send the mana from my tattoo to a single finger. A small flame sprang to life on my middle finger, but it died out quickly without much Mana left to feed it.
We all laughed, a mixture of surprise and elation.
“That could be very useful in future,” Amelia commented. “Imagine manipulating fire as easily as you draw a tattoo with your dagger. That would be remarkable.”
She was certainly right about that. More control was always a very useful thing to have. My foster-father had taught me that, always emphasizing technique over sheer strength in any task. We used to spar sometimes, and he had put me on my ass more times than I could count, even though I was twice as strong as him, and taller. That was the power of good technique.
“I know I could get more tattoos,” I said, “but I figure it might be worth trying to trace over the existing rune to see what happens.”
Amelia nodded. “It’s worth a shot.”
I opened the single fire Core and retraced over my tattoos on my left forearm. When I was done, I tested the fireball and the multiple projectile spells, and found that it used a lot less mana than the previous versions.
“It seems that any spare Cores we have won’t go to waste,” I said.
“What do you mean?” Veronica asked me, clearly intrigued by the tattooing process despite her previous disgust.
“When I reinforce an existing tattoo with additional ink,” I replied, “casting the spell uses less mana. It means I can use my new trick without running out of Mana so quickly.”
“Amazing,” Amelia said.
“That’s not how it works when enchanters use the ink to craft weapons and items,” Veronica said. “They don’t retrace runes. They simply add augmentations.”
“Really?” I asked. “I suppose this is yet another benefit to being an Ink Mage, eh?”
Amelia grinned at me. “It sure is.”
“All right, your turn,” I said to Amelia. “What tattoo should I give you?”
Her eyes lit up with delight at the prospect. The power of the tattoos was intoxicating, and I was very pleased to be able to offer that power to Amelia. I picked up my ancient tattooing dagger, and Amelia reached for her book to choose a new tattoo.
Chapter Ten
It was time to give Amelia a new tattoo. She sat on the ground with the book on her lap and an excited expression on her face as she flipped to the Cold section. Her fingers traced the drawings of the runes as she looked for an appropriate one.
We had three small Cold Cores left. I was hoping to add another rune to enhance my own Cold tattoo, but I wanted to give Amelia something first. These Cores were a little small, so I wanted to ensure she would receive a complete tattoo or augmentation. She’d been fighting so bravely with me, and she deserved a reward.
“What do you think you might like?” I asked.
“Well, I’ve got my ability to create a throwing spear already, so I think I’d like something that could be used at close quarters. Like you, I want something that doesn’t have a large area of effect; something for enclosed spaces where there’s a risk of hurting bystanders. It’s not as easy you might think.”
She continued to flick through pages of spells for shattering opponents, slicing them clean through with a big blast of ice, skewering them with a hail of ice blades.
I had an idea. “What about the ice blades?”
Amelia looked up at me. “Uh, that’s a pretty big area-of-effect spell. Doesn’t sound like the kind of thing I’m really looking for.”
“But it could be,” I said. “Look how this rune has several blades connected to a projectile rune, allowing you to throw blades at your enemies.”
“That might work,” Amelia said. “Then I could simply summon one blade and hold it.”
“I like the sound of that,” Veronica said. “Then you can summon an ice blade whenever you need it. It would be particularly effective against Fire monsters or Fire Mages.”
“Could be great for a brawl when you need to get close to someone without them seeing your weapon,” I added.
Veronica shook her head. “This is all so tedious. Wouldn’t it be easier just to use a vector? Sure, they’re expensive, but at least you don’t have to jump through all these theoretical hoops.”
“What we can do is pretty amazing though,” I said. “You have to admit that.”
“Maybe,” she said. “But it’s a high price to pay. My sword, ring, and leather skirt are more than sufficient for me.”
“It might look like it now,” I said. “But if you lose those items, you’d be completely powerless. If someone wants to make me powerless, they’d have to cut off my arms.”
Veronica glared at me, and I could see her mind working to try to come up with an appropriate response. She walked away, still thinking about my answer.
I sat beside Amelia. “I think she’s got a sore spot about my magic.”
Amelia nodded. “She would have studied for years to become a
