Devourer Class

Galahad went home that night and found some orbs he stored in the bas.e.m.e.nt. He had a quarter of a barrel full of orbs now consumable by the System; since two days prior, he was not at the level requirement to do so.

He came back to work the following day with a perfectly healed body, and a new tattoo along his forearm; replacing the ignition pen that belonged to Regin. The tattoo was the magic sword he was excited to carrying beneath his arm. The colors were matching the black hilt and blue metal, but the most interesting part was the coil of lightning that spiraled around the blade.

It seemed the system of the orb was able to detect the element imbedded into the array of the sword and added some extra details. Regin was curious at first, but lost interesting after finding the tattoos that disappeared and reappeared at will were not anything special.

The purple lense simply noted that his skin was changing pigmentation with basic chemical reactions, most likely the way an actual's mimic's skin behaved.

It was certainly a unique ability no human had control over, but that didn't connect it to the black substance that could take solid weapons and armor. It was a physical change he could make to his body on his own, it was only thanks to the orb that he could do it.

The internal inventory of the weapon actually looked like a decent tattoo someone might get as an adventurer. Galahad planned to leave them visible, as it wasn't uncommon for people to have tattoos, especially in cities like Diagon.

If his parents saw the ink along his arms though, they'd probably lose their shit at him. So he was enjoying the ability to hide them whenever he saw fit.

It certainly was a useful new addition, but not nearly as much as his second class. He spent a good portion of free time testing the limits of the four elements he had control over.

Rather than trying to intensify the range and power of his elements in the dungeon, Galahad took it slow and practiced at mana manipulation at home. He had learned his lesson the first time around, finding that one day in the dungeon was enough to unleash all kinds of crap to the surface, both the emotional and physical.

While currently sitting in his living on a day off, Galahad was cross-legged and had his eyes closed. Both palms were facing up while resting on his knees. Both were holding spheres of water that was not magically conjured, but simply from his sink. When training his ability, he though it best to not waste a lot trying to pull it from the atmosphere.

While both spheres were spinning and slowly morphing between shapes, Galahad felt less resistance over his control than before. His practice over the mana in his body and the surrounding mana was getting a lot easier.

Once he was done warming up with the water, Galahad threw the two together and held it in his right hand. His focus and sights were now completely on his left.

He twitched his finger tips and a haze started forming in his hand. Fire mana was slowly flowing out of his palm and into a clear smoke. Only small bursts formed at a time, Galahad had learned his lesson about compressing it would result in an explosive reaction to a spark.

Before he could even try starting a fire, sweat started condensing from Galahad's face and neck. Keeping a hold on water and generating fire was very difficult.

The first day of testing with Regin proved he might have five elements, but he could only use four, and control two at a time. It was a strain to operate one element with any complexity, so two was even worse.

After the haze was getting close to too big, Galahad thought about the ignition of the fire mana. A volatile thought came to mind and he flexed his left hand.

The fire erupted in his hand without warning, fortunately his regrown eyebrows reminded him to be careful, the concentration of mana was only enough to create a little burning sphere in his hand.

Galahad watched as the fire whipped around in one hand and the water shuddered in the other.

He finally had a decent grasp on creating two elements at once. The problem now was maintaining both without the splitting headache that came right after.

Whatever skill mana indicator was, its purpose was clearly identifying the different elements in Galahad's vision while using the Elemental Conduit Class. Whenever he focused on a single element, the other colors would fade and one remained. But if he tried using two at the same time, he had a clash of colors he had to maintain a constant balance between. If he didn't hold the balance, the two elements would collapse.

On average, Galahad could hold it for about fifteen seconds, so he wanted to keep exercising the power until he felt there was no more room to improve. He counted down the seconds until the balance slipped; seventeen seconds before a puddle formed on the floor and the flames went out.

'Nice, new record. Ah shit, now my socks are all wet.' Galahad's achievement was short lived by unkowningly stepping in the puddle on the floor. Although it was probably better than accidentally setting the carpet on fire.

'Screw it, I'm not hanging these out to dry. Today is gonna be a soggy boots day.' Galahad thought while assembling a bag of stuff to leave the house.

He planned to spend his day off for dungeon hunting regaining what he lost from the last few days. Slung across his shoulder was the large bag he bought over winter, filled with the plunders he recently earned from Sladdus. The mind flayer's trophies were now going to be resold back to surface for new armor. Seeing that Galahad lost a majority of the bandit armor to the mimic fight.

The trip between shops and the haggling went on for a few hours. He managed to earn enough to buy a new set of armor from the sword, daggers, and knives alone.

A few different armorers offered a variety of light-leather armor or heavy-metal plating, but in the end, he bought a combination of the two types.

He bought a somewhat heavy c.h.e.s.t piece that had metal sheet across his back and front, and then leather guards on his limbs. It felt like the best way to keep his vital organs safe and not sacrifice any speed or flexibility in his limb.

Of course not all gear fits perfectly when purchased, so Galahad payed for everything in advanced and had his measurements taken for adjustments. The shop keeps would send him a scry message to let him know when they were ready for pick up. The whole process became exhausting towards the end, leaving Galahad wanting to grab a drink and go home before starting work in the morning.

Just as he started thinking about the spending the last of his extra credits on dinner, he remembered the ceramic mask. The little thing had been shattered and now there was nothing to hide his face.

'Actually . . . It might be safer to find a full on helmet. Considering I almost lost my eyes to the Heath mimic and I truly did lose some fingers, gauntlets and a helmet might be worth looking at.'

Galahad turned back around, recalling which stores might have the cheapest options, but then stopped. He accidently bumped into a couple walking right behind me, they hadn't expected him to make a full turn around on the sidewalk.

He gave a quick apology with barely a glance and kept walking. At least he tried walking, until the guy of the couple grabbed his arm.

"Hold it, I know you." He snarled in a voice Galahad had heard before.