39 Mask

"Huam..." I yawned gently as we entered another store,

Ding-!!

The soft tinkle of a bell rang out as the wooden door closed behind us.

Stepping inside, I looked around at the various shelves and displays filled with different items.

This was an antique store that sold a variety of items that were once powerful but were broken and became a novelty or were no longer relevant.

There were many types of weapons and armor displayed on the walls, as well as potions, and other miscellaneous items.

Vera then pulled me forward as she glanced towards the counter where an old man was standing.

The old man had a white beard and wore a black robe that covered his entire body, he also had a pair of glasses perched on top of his head.

He seemed to be staring at Vera as she walked up to him.

"Welcome." the old man said with a warm smile.

"Hi!" Vera said cheerfully.

"What can I help you with today?" the old man asked.

"Oh! Could you help me find a certain potion I'm looking for?"

"Of course, please follow me." the man said with a gentle expression as he guided her off in the direction of the potions.

As their backs retreated behind the tall wooden shelves, I began looking around silently, still pondering over the letter i had received.

Why had they contacted me?

Besides my family legacy, what else was particularly special about me?

One had to know that not just anyone would be contacted by Nightfall, it would require very special merits or if they had a very specific need.

From what I could grasp it would have to be the second option most likely, it would seem they had a need for who I was rather than what I could do.

Regardless this was an opportunity even if I didn't have much choice in the matter.

On the back of the letter had been written an address and a time, it would seem I would have to make a stop before returning to the academy.

However, how would I shake off Vera? she was like a parasite constantly attached to me.

As I pondered over this matter, I ran my hands over a chest plate made of Quaron.

Quaron was a type of metal made of a combination between Mythril and Titanium, as Mythril was a rare resource it was mostly Titanium with Mythril as a coating.

It was particularly loved by Mages that specialized in close combat as it provided sufficient protection but was light enough to be easily movable.

There were various types of Quaron that varied in their hardness, but the ones that Mages were fond of were the ones that were hard enough to resist most types of melee weapons.

"This one is quite nice..." I murmured as I looked over the item.

It was decorated with runes of power that were imbued into the Quaron itself.

Runes were a sub-magic branch that differed from the main tree of the Classification of Magic.

Runes were extraordinarily hard to imbue and required a very high Mana Control and the strength of the rune also depended on the amount of Particles one could imbue in it, therefore not just anyone could create Runes.

As for the power of the Rune, it varied from Grade 1 to Grade 6 depending on the amount of Particles used.

For example, a rune that would produce a weak mana wave could be imbued with only 10 Particles while a rune that would produce a powerful explosion could be imbued with 1000 particles.

However, this did not mean that a rune created with 1000 particles was more powerful than a rune created with 1 particle, it merely meant that the rune was capable of storing more particles and therefore could cast the spell at a higher magnitude of power.

This was because the amount of particles stored in the Rune determined how much power the Avatar would be able to utilize.

If the Particles were not properly utilized, then they would simply be wasted.

Therefore, the more particles that were stored in a Rune, the more power it was capable of utilizing however if the rune was not created by a master Runesmith then the Rune would most likely not be able to utilize the necessary particles properly to cast the spell of the rune.

On top of that, the runes that were created with a high amount of Particles were also very difficult to create.

On the other hand, if one did not have a large amount of Particles to begin with, they could not create the runes at all as the process took a lot of time and precision in which you would have to constantly expend the Particles in your Avatar to maintain the Rune while creating it which could lead to Mana Instability and there would be a harsh backlash to the mage.

However, Runesmiths were rarer than normal mages so there were few who could create Runes.

Even the most powerful Mages would show respect to a Runesmith as they pursued such a dangerous and difficult path.

However, there were some Runesmiths who were capable of imbuing their own Runes into their Avatar, these were known as Rune Masters.

It was a very difficult thing to do, but it was possible to imbue a Rune that you had created yourself into your Avatar.

However, the Rune would have to be imbued by the Runesmith who created that particular rune, if not the Rune would not be able to take effect.

This was due to the Mana Wavelength having to resonate when imbuing it on an Avatar.

There were some Runesmiths who could imbue a Rune into their own bodies and use it as a weapon.

They were known as Rune Warriors.

A Rune Warrior's body was covered in Runes that they had created themselves.

The most famous example of a Rune Warrior was the famed warrior and Hero of the Alliance, Zephyrus.

Zephyrus was a Rune Warrior who inscribed Runes on his body that allowed him to absorb some of the strength of the Mages he killed, however, the Runes took a toll on his Avatar eventually leading to his Avatar destabilizing mid-battle and he was killed by a Marshal-Rank Demon.

As I continued browsing, I came across a bin of what appeared to be items that had been broken or no longer functioned.

Struck by a bout of curiosity, I rummaged through it as I felt an overwhelming need to find something although I didn't know why.

Suddenly my hand grasped something cold and thin, and the world felt right again.

Why did I do this again?

Pulling out the item that I had grabbed, I gazed at what I held.

A sleek mask that would cover the front portion of the face, it was colored half black and half white split down the middle.

It had two thin eye holes and a creepy smile plastered on it.

there was a slight crack near the left eye hole which made it look like the mask was shedding a tear.

I could feel the weight of the mask as I held it in my hands.

As I gazed at it, it seemed to stare back at me.

it was as if it was peering into my soul.

Suddenly it was as if a voice was whispering in the back of my head, like a breath lost in the wind.

It was as if by magic a name seeped through the cracks of my mind and came to the forefront.

'Mask of the Phantasm'

Suddenly it was as if a light bulb went off in my head, but not just any light bulb it was more akin to a nuclear bomb being detonated.

'Holy fuck...'

My head went blank at the implications of what this was.

'This...'

'This is so cliche!'

I nearly wept tears of joy as a wave of happiness washed over me.

Finally, the world had sent me some help.

'Thank you!' i shouted to whatever god was listening if there even was one.

It was forged by a very talented Rune Master named Echovolt.

Echovolt was a powerful Mage who lived during the Great War.

Echovolt was an incredibly skilled Rune Master with a talent for imbuing Runes into his Avatar.

He was one of the few people capable of creating a Rune Warrior, he was also known as the 'Phantom King'.

However, Echovolt's greatest creation was the Mask of the Phantasm.

The Mask of the Phantasm was a powerful artifact that allowed the user to harness the powers of the Phantom King.

A Phantom was a creature that was similar to a shadow spirit and it could take on the form of a human being.

It was a part of the Apparition species of Monsters

The Mask of the Phantasm had many several overpowered abilities that I had written and even some that were undiscovered as of when I had transmigrated.

For instance, it had the ability to summon Phantoms to fight for the wielder and also allowed the wielder to assume the form of a Phantom for a period of time depending on their Mana Control and Capacity.

In addition, it was capable of making the wearer immune to physical attacks while in the transformed state as they could only be dealt with through magic.

However, it did have several drawbacks, such as a weakness to Psyche-type Magic and Light Particles.

Its fatal weakness however that would make even me question using it was its Soul Corruption.

The mask would actively attempt to corrupt the wearer's soul in an attempt to transform them into the original Phantom King which would completely obliterate their soul.

Therefore one had to be very careful when handling it.

But why was it here?

I suppose it was possible that the original wielder had not bought it yet and no one had discovered its abilities assuming it to just be a piece of junk.

Coming to a decision, I walked towards where Vera and the old man had gone with the mask in hand.

*Yo*

I'm back baby! heres a chappy sorry for the info dump, also epic fight scenes coming soon. also i think il post a short story of mine if any of you want to read it, it focuses on depression. thats it anyways as always Hugz <3