南瓜影院

"Eat up," the voice of the man from earlier came through the flap.

Henry managed to angle himself and he saw the man had placed his face at the opening and was smiling at him,

"Well, you look like crap," the man said, "And I bet you\'re really hungry too."

Looking into that face, Henry nursed the idea of grabbing \'The Hydra\'s Sting\' and putting a bullet into the man\'s head. He even considered how the resulting combustive explosion would probably melt his cage and free him…

"HNGHH!!!" Henry let out as the cuff around his wrist lit up with Arcane symbols and fired its intense jolts of fire electricity into his brain, sending his body twitching again.

"Haha," the man laughed as closed the opening and walked away.

Henry remained on the ground for a few minutes and then slowly reached out for the parcel to pull it close.

Hungry as he was, Henry thought, if the man was right and he had been asleep for four days, he should have been absolutely famished. He shouldn\'t have even had the energy to do much of the yelling he had done earlier.

Henry unwrapped the parcel. It was stale bread but his taste buds were not at all choosy at the moment. After every few hard bites, he\'d take a sip of water to let it go down much more easily.

When he was done with the food, he had more energy. His body was barely twitching and he had avoided all thoughts of escape. It was clear that for now, escape wasn\'t on the cards.

Henry sat against the cage and could finally pay attention to the Reward the System seemed to have begrudgingly given him. He clicked on it and a long page of Descriptions rolled out;

[~Arcane Tapestry~

You lack the Intelligence to understand Arcane Knowledge but by turning your skin into a canvas on which to imprint those complex magical secrets, you might yet wield magic for yourself.]

Reading up till that point, Henry paused.

\'Am I reading this right?\' He wondered and the corner of his lips twitched,

\'I can wield magic now?\'

The description continued;

[~Arcane Tapestry~ refers to your very skin, your body, becoming a tapestry on which magical knowledge is imprinted for you to wield as you see fit.

By making use of <Insight> to observe a spell being cast, you can replicate the magic you observe as artistic representations on your body in a branding ritual.]

\'So— tattoos?\' Henry thought to himself with a small chuckle,

\'Please tell me I get to choose where they go. I can certainly already come up with areas I don\'t want to have branded with magical Tattoos.\'

Even as he made light of it, Henry knew this was a very big deal. He remembered how he had once asked the System about other ways to acquire magical knowledge without possessing the Intelligence Stat and it had kept mute and that memory caused him to wonder if this was the method it would not reveal to him back then.

The Description continued;

[However, there are a few things you must take note of;

•Because you lack the Intelligence Stat, you have nothing to scale the might of your imprinted Spells on. I.e they will only ever be as capable as they were when you Imprinted them. There will also be no maneuvering the Mana requirement. You either have enough to cast the spell or you don\'t.

•The Imprinted spells will remain for as long as you want them to remain. They will be a part of you and you will have relative control over them. I.e Should you no longer want an imprinted spell, you can remove it and replace it with a better choice. Otherwise, it will never come off.

•Spells are very complex and these complexities will only increase the stronger they are. Only by improving your <Insight> can you keep up with those complexities. I.e Should you attempt to study a desired spell and fail, simply Level up your <Insight> Skill and try again.

And finally,

•Imprinted Spells must not and cannot overlap on the canvas that is your body. If you lack room on your ~Arcane Tapestry~ for a spell, you either make room or give up on it.

Good luck!]

\'This is— incredible!\' Henry thought. The issue of possible horrendous tattoo placement still had him cracking up but taken as a whole, this was an incredible skill.

Sure the System had played it down with the limitations to the Imprinted spells due to his lack of the Intelligence Stat but Henry could hardly see that as a con. Especially not when he was so eager to make his first imprint.

His eyes seemed to glow as he pulled himself off the Cage\'s base and looked out of the small barred window and saw the man from before with two others (likely the ones who were driving the carriage the cage was on) as they sat by a fire.

The sky was darkening and they were roasting meat and talking among themselves.

"Come on," Henry mumbled, "Do some magic!"

Henry remembered the man saying he had Mana and so he waited for fifteen minutes for the first Spell that\'d take its place on his ~Arcane Tapestry~ before his excitement eventually began to wane.

\'Silly me,\' he thought with a smile tugging at his lips, \'I forgot, having Mana doesn\'t mean you can cast spells.\'

Sitting back down on the Cage\'s base, Henry let out a sigh before he said quietly,

"Status."

—————

[Name: Henry Morgan]

[Level: 17 (791/4500 Exp)]

[Race: Human]

[Class: Gunslinger]

[Title: Death\'s Bane, Vyker-Killer, Infernal Partner]

[Hit Points: 170/170]

[Mana Points: 280/280]

[Strength: 31]

[Agility: 30]

[Stamina: 19]

[Perception: 21]

[Skills:

{Marksmanship Lv. 4 <Active Sub Skill: Quick Thinking> <Active Sub Skill: Reload>} {Taming Lv. 2 <Active Sub Skill: Bonding>} {Insight Lv.2}

[~Arcane Tapestry~:

Imprinted Spells: None.]

[You have 30 unallocated Stat Points]

—————

Seeing that ~Arcane Tapestry~ had its very own tab that it didn\'t share with the rest of his Skills did cause Henry to raise a brow but what caught his attention far more was the 280 Mana Point Maximum he had. He was sure it should have been 180 at Level 17.

And then he spotted a new Title had joined his Status screen. It would have probably gone unnoticed since the Title tab was only slightly larger than it had been when he still had the \'Gangbanger\' Title.

Anyway, Henry clicked on his new Title and of course, it opened a pop-up Description page;

[Title: Infernal Partner;

You have tied yourself with an Infernal Spawn and gotten the Attention of a Demonic Patron. It is unknown whether this will have a positive or negative effect on your journey. (The System bets it will be the latter)

As a result of this Title, you have tapped into a Hellish reservoir of Mana and your Mana Point Maximum is increased by 100.

-The increment will remain for as long as you possess this Title.

-You will possess this Title for as long as your Infernal Partner, Yelena Hadron, lives.]

\'Ah, so that\'s why,\' Henry thought as he ignored the System\'s snide comment and its apparent difficulty to let things go.

He let out a long breath then and leaned his head against the Cage\'s metal wall as a sad smile formed on his lips.

Beyond the 100 Mana Points he gained, Henry was also glad to have the title because, in a slightly morbid way, it let him know Yelena was still alive.

He wondered where she was now. What she was doing?

"I hope you\'re having a better go at life than me, Yelena," he mumbled,

"I really do."