Saintess Summons Skeletons

“Five options? Honestly more than I expected,” Sofia reacted.

Leverle did not react, simply pulling out a blackboard and some white chalk out of a storage item, setting it up against a wall. He started writing as he explained.

“The cheapest option. Paradoxically the one that will save you the most skill slots. I pull some of your free blueprint space to rebuild the nervous system only. We integrate it into a prosthesis. Touch and feel about 80% of original, arm physically weaker, not profiting from your stamina substats. Spellcasting is offloaded to ritual circuits, you can manually adjust them to alter your spells. Three small stones.”

“Better than nothing but not great…” Sofia said.

“Quite cheap for the service, though, honestly,” Eltiel added.

“I’m not sure I really like this one,” Sofia continued, “The other options?”

Leverle nodded, drew a line on the chalkboard, and started outlining the second option under it.

“Premium custom prosthesis. Same basis, touch and feel closer to 95% of original. Spellcasting is offloaded in the same way, but automatically copies your spiritual side circuits. No manual adjustments needed. Slightly more expensive blueprint-wise. Eight small stones.”

“These can’t heal if they’re damaged, right?” Sofia asked.

“Correct. But the prosthesis comes with built-in durability and self-repair enchantments, as do most valuable items,” Leverle explained.

“But if it’s fully destroyed, you can kiss goodbye to your spells until you get it replaced,” Eltiel noted, “Not the best but it should be enough for a filter or two if you want to save some money until you can afford the more expensive stuff.”

“I’m lacking an arm, not money.”

Again, Leverle silently nodded, and got on to explaining the third option.

“I fully rebuild your arm using free blueprint space, sourced from the rest of your body. It will cost just as much free space as what you lost. You can choose your Lumian or Demon form arm to be rebuilt, or even something else, if you fancy such a thing. But it will be stuck in that state. Fully functional as your arm used to be for all other purposes. Two stones.”

“That’s… Acceptable, honestly. The lost skill slots hurt a bit but I could live with that…”

“But if you have the money, why settle for acceptable, am I right?”

Leverle shook his ‘head’ at Eltiel’s comment, and went on to explain the next possibility.

“Fourth choice. Composite arm. Same basis as the previous option, but with advanced prosthetic skin. Saves some blueprint space and boasts superior defense, enchantable. Downsides are no-healing and counting toward equipment mana interference limit. Three stones and five small, plus you have to provide the materials yourself. Mithrium recommended for best results.”

Sofia nodded along, “So I would be wearing my skin like a glove, more or less? Interesting concept. Could I swap around skins with different enchantments?”

“Possible,” Leverle answered, “Manufacturing them is a lengthy process. I can commit to producing two a year at most. Three if someone else handles the enchantments. One or One and five small stones each.”

“I’m considering it… And the last option?”

“Premium composite arm. Based on findings from a recently published research. You should know which. Integrates extra components directly into the blueprint. Slightly more expensive blueprint wise, but allows for some enchanting at no extra cost. As internal items, the composite parts heal as you would, and profit from your other magic. Does not count toward the equipment interference limit. The enchantments could be used as a crutch, allowing for multiple arm forms. Space can be left free to enchant at any time, but any change is definitive. One old stone plus the cost of materials.”

“Ah, it’s like my eye? I didn’t know he would give the method out publicly, Richard’s more generous than I gave him credit for. How much more expensive are we talking?”

“Between half to a full system skill slot,” Leverle answered after a second of hesitation.

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“One skill slot for a full item’s worth of enchantments isn’t a bad deal at all,” Eltiel chimed in, “Kind of could see myself buying that even without a limb to replace.”

Leverle seemed to agree. “That is why the cost is steep. It is also a highly complex procedure. There is no room for mistakes. I should add, there is another option worth considering.”

“Yes?”

“Should you be willing to forgo having a physical hand… A simple solution is to rebuild the mana circuits only. It would be quite cheap in terms of blueprint space, although those spells using your left arm would be a lot harder to alter. It has the advantage of letting you interact easily with the spiritual plane. A ghost hand, in simpler terms. Unbound by physical matter.”

Sofia silently dismissed the idea in her mind from the first sentence, but she let Leverle explain it anyway. As she was able to switch back to the previous option, she had a sudden idea.

“That last option… Couldn’t we do that with a toggleable passive that creates an invoked body part. Alith used to have something like that… From a ghost to a regular body…”

Leverle fell silent, turning back toward the blackboard, and hesitantly scribbling a few incomprehensible lines, before facing Sofia and Eltiel again. “Possible,” he finally declared, “But with heavy tradeoffs. Either a weak invoked arm, useless in battle, or a very heavy blueprint space use. No viable in-between.”

“Very heavy?” Sofia repeated inquisitively.

“At the very least three slots for the invoking spell only,” Leverle clarified.

“Oh… Oh… Yeah, no, I do not think I can afford that at the moment… Or ever. A ghost hand is only ever so useful when I already have ghost skeletons anyway. If I go with the most expensive composite arm, when can it be fixed?”

Leverle turned around again to scribble a few mathematical equations on the chalkboard, “From my estimates… When the materials are ready, the work will take about eighty two hours. Getting used to your rebuilt limb, uncertain. Such a thing could take you a few days or a few months.”

“Hmm… Alright, oh right, I already have the [Runeforged Overlord] runes on my skin,” Sofia pointed out, “will that not conflict with enchanting the arm?”

“Non-issue. The composite arm enchantments need to be done on a sub-dermal level. There will be no such conflict.”

“Good, good… And for the materials, what do you suggest?”

“I mean you’re already paying an old stone, Mithrium is the obvious answer, right?” Eltiel commented.

“Not necessarily,” Leverle denied, seemingly taking some pleasure in contradicting her, “the arm will already benefit from her own defenses. For defensive enchantments Mithrium makes sense. Otherwise, pure gold or a gold alloy would allow for more enchanting space at the same blueprint cost.”

“Something like black gold? What about using my own bones? They are pretty enchantable, about the same as Mithrium from what I’ve been told, just a lot less sturdy.”

“Then it will be worse than Mithrium defensively. That aside, it could be slightly cheaper on the blueprint, but that is just my assumption. I have no knowledge of the specifics for gold alloys,” Leverle answered.

“Understood… Then, do you mind waiting here a day or two? Just the time for me to receive the money to pay you and discuss the materials with others.”

Leverle shook his blank mask. “I have things to do yet. See you again in two days. Should you not be ready then, we can schedule another time.”

“Thank you very much, doctor,” Sofia thanked him with a deep bow.

“I have done nothing. Thank me once the work is done,” Leverle answered, storing back his things, his black hands then hiding back inside of his black robes. Without another word, he walked out of the room, soon departing from the city hall in the direction of the unfinished temple of Death.

“He’s quite friendly with you, eh? Maybe I should have accepted to become Dread’s apostle. Always so chummy with each other.”

“Dread? He wanted you as his Apostle?” Sofia asked, staring at Eltiel, then thinking back to the failed Apostle of Dread she had killed in Skyreach some years ago.

“Old news, I seriously considered it, but I’m really too attached to my appearance. It reminds me of my family every time I look in a mirror. It’s quite unique, don’t you agree?”

“Sure is… How do you… What is the name of your race, even?”

Eltiel shrugged, “Don’t really have one. Some heroes were quite insistent on calling me a Night elf. I can somewhat see why, but that’s like asking to piss off both Sun and Moon, I’d rather not. I’m just a mixed blood, basically.”

“Your family must be quite something.”

“You don’t say. My father is a half Fairy-Human, and my mother is half Elf half Exidian. It’s a miracle I exist at all, honestly. All alone, sole representative of my ‘race’.”

“Well, I’m the only Lumian.”

“Heheh, race changes don’t count. Let me feel special, will you?”

“You’re one of about fifty ascended, is that not special enough?”

“And you’re one of how many agents of the weird-ass things that can erase people from the universe? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Leave some prestige for the others,” Eltiel continued with a smirk, “Anyway, ‘s getting late, wanna go out for some food? Meal’s on me. Gotta be generous with my juniors.”

That was how two weird summoners ended up walking throughout the city all night, discussing how they acquired their respective summons while stopping at every single street-food stall on the way.