Chapter 29: Unpredictable Death God? (Magic Castle Bonus)

Chapter 29. Unpredictable Death God? (Magic Castle Bonus)

I approached Ariel.

The merchant noticed me coming and nearly dropped the bracelet.

Ariel turned.

I stopped beside her.

My gaze deliberately passed over the necklaces.

Then the bracelets.

Then her flushed face.

"Do you like something?"

Ariel hesitated.

Her fingers touched a small necklace decorated with blue sea-glass and a tiny silver shell. "This one is pretty."

I looked at it.

Completely ordinary.

No enchantment.

No rare material.

No ancient inscription.

Worthless.

Ariel smiled at it.

I reached for my money pouch. "I’ll take it."

Her eyes widened. "Rey, you don’t even know the price."

I looked at the terrified merchant. Then back at Ariel.

"Does it matter?"

Ariel stared at me for a moment before her expression softened.

"Well..."

Her thumb brushed over the little silver shell.

"I like it."

"Then I’ll buy it for you."

Her smile bloomed immediately.

"Thank you, Rey."

I paid the merchant, who accepted my coins with both hands like she was receiving an offering from an unpredictable death god.

Honestly.

I wasn’t that bad.

Today.

I took the necklace and stepped behind Ariel.

"Come here."

She obediently swept her hair aside.

The movement exposed the back of her neck.

And several marks from last night.

The merchant looked away so fast she nearly achieved rotational flight.

I ignored her.

Mostly.

I was about to fasten the necklace when something caught my attention.

Ariel’s skin.

Moist.

Not from embarrassment this time.

There were tiny beads of sweat around her temples. More along the back of her neck.

I frowned.

It was still morning.

The temperature wasn’t particularly high.

For humans.

But Ariel wasn’t human.

Mermaids naturally regulated their bodies around cooler, humid environments. Ariel could remain on land perfectly well, especially with her transformation magic, but prolonged exposure to dry heat was uncomfortable.

And her mana mantle was already injured.

Meaning her natural magical temperature regulation probably wasn’t functioning efficiently either.

Hm...

My gaze dropped toward the necklace.

My researcher brain woke up.

Oh... Wait.

I turned the necklace over in my palm.

Basic material. No existing enchantment.

Small enough that the magical load would be limited.

But Ariel didn’t need anything dramatic.

She just needed...

My fingers closed around it.

[Arcana Injection activated.]

Black-violet mana crawled between my fingers.

The merchant made a tiny choking noise.

Several nearby people immediately stepped backward.

To them, Rey Valen had just purchased a perfectly innocent necklace for his wife and immediately started pumping ominous forbidden energy into it.

Romantic. Very wholesome.

"Abyssal Water," I whispered.

The necklace responded.

Cold mist slipped between my fingers.

For one heartbeat, the sea-glass centerpiece turned completely black.

Ariel’s eyes widened.

Then midnight-blue light spread through it.

The silver shell developed delicate frost-like patterns. The blue glass deepened until it resembled moonlight trapped beneath a dark ocean.

Then the energy settled.

I opened my palm.

The necklace looked almost identical.

Almost.

Except now it possessed the faint glow that screamed ’This is no longer cheap market jewelry’.

[Arcana Injection successful.]

[Temporary Arcane Item Created.]

[Abyssal Tide Pendant]

[Base Item: Sea-Glass Shell Necklace]

[Elemental Affinity: Abyssal Water]

[Effect: Passive Cooling]

[Effect: Maintains comfortable body temperature in hot and dry environments.]

[Heat/Fire Resistance: +5%]

[Secondary Effect: Mild moisture retention.]

I stared at it.

Not bad.

Actually...

For a cheap necklace with no magical foundation whatsoever?

That was very good.

The effect wasn’t powerful.

Five percent resistance wouldn’t save Ariel from a phoenix flame or anything remotely serious.

But that wasn’t the point.

Comfort.

Environmental adaptation.

My researcher brain began vibrating.

No. Date. Stay focused.

I stepped behind Ariel again.

Everyone nearby was staring.

Not in the ’wow, that’s incredible’’ way.

More in the ’did the cursed Royal Magus just curse his wife’s necklace in broad daylight?’ way.

Heh, at this point? I didn’t care.

I fastened it around Ariel’s neck.

The effect activated instantly.

A faint cool mist brushed across her collarbone before disappearing.

Ariel inhaled.

Her shoulders relaxed.

The sweat around her temples gradually vanished.

She touched the sea-glass. "Rey..."

"Hm?"

"This is..."

"You don’t like heat."

She looked at me.

"So I fixed it."

Simple.

Her expression did something dangerously soft.

I immediately looked away. Nope. Not dealing with that while my brain still remembered what we did last night.

My gaze moved toward a nearby rooftop. Then toward a suspiciously large flower cart. "Also..."

Two distant mana signatures froze.

"Seris. Lily." I folded my arms. "If you want one too, take it."

Nothing.

I sighed.

"I know you’re there."

A head slowly appeared from behind the flower cart.

Lily.

Her expression was the physical manifestation of ’Maybe if I move slowly enough, he won’t notice I’ve been caught’.

From the rooftop, Seris descended with significantly more dignity.

She landed beside us. "You knew?"

"Since we left the estate."

Seris stared.

Lily emerged fully. "You could’ve said something."

"I wanted to see how long you’d keep pretending."

Seris narrowed her eyes.

I smiled.

She immediately understood I’d been entertained by this.

I pointed toward the jewelry stall. "Choose something. Both of you." I tossed another few coins onto the counter. "Take one."

Then I remembered the others.

"Actually, choose something for Nia and Liora too."

The merchant stared at the coins.

Then at me.

Then apparently decided surviving this transaction was more important than understanding it.

"Yes, my lord!"

Her enthusiasm increased dramatically.

Lily immediately started browsing.

Seris pretended she wasn’t interested for approximately eight seconds before picking up a thin gold necklace with a small ruby-red stone.

"This one."

I held out my hand.

She placed it in my palm.

[Arcana Injection activated.]

"Blackflame."

Crimson-black fire curled around my fingers.

Seris’s eyes widened as the ruby darkened.

[Blackflame Ember Pendant]

[Elemental Affinity: Blackflame]

[Effect: Fire Mana Efficiency +5%]

[Effect: Cold Resistance +5%]

[Secondary Effect: Flame stabilization.]

Seris took it.

Her expression became suspiciously pleased. "Hm."

That ’hm ’contained an unacceptable amount of happiness for someone pretending not to care.

Lily practically shoved hers into my hand next.

A delicate green pendant shaped like a leaf.

I considered it.

Nature wasn’t one of my six primary elemental variants.

But Lily’s magic was tied to living mana, growth, and natural circulation.

Earth alone was too rigid.

Water alone wasn’t enough.

Wait.

What if...

I combined traces of Abyssal Water with Obsidian Earth, but deliberately suppressed their destructive properties.

A foundation.

Moisture.

Minerals.

Growth.

Interesting.

"Obsidian Earth. Abyssal Water."

The pendant pulsed.

Dark green light spread through it, threaded with silver-blue veins.

[Experimental Arcane Combination detected.]

[Verdant Abyss Pendant]

[Affinity: Nature Support]

[Effect: Plant Mana Recovery +5%]

[Effect: Botanical Sensitivity Increased]

Lily’s eyes became enormous. "Ohhh."

I handed it over.

She immediately put it on. "This is amazing."

Now that was the correct reaction.

Finally.

Someone appreciated science instead of assuming I’d cursed the jewelry.

For Nia, Lily chose a silver feather pendant.

Easy.

Voidwind.

[Void Gale Feather]

[Wind Affinity +5%]

[Movement Resistance Reduction: Minor]

[Air Pressure Adaptation: Increased]

And Liora received a pale crystal bracelet.

That one practically begged for Obsidian Earth.

[Obsidian Crystal Bracelet]

[Earth/Crystal Affinity +5%]

[Physical Defense +3%]

[Mana Crystal Resonance: Increased]

I looked at the five pieces.

My pulse quickened.

Oh, this system was disgusting.

Beautifully disgusting.

[Conditions fulfilled.]

[Repeated successful modification of mundane items detected.]

[Arcane Item Creation acquired.]

My eyes widened.

[Arcane Item Creation]

[Type: Production Skill]

[Description: Allows the Host to create magical items by constructing and embedding stable Arcane properties. Weapons, armor, jewelry, clothing, tools, containers, accessories, and miscellaneous non-living objects.]

[Restriction: Artifact-tier creation is currently unavailable.]

[Item Tier is determined by material quality, magical compatibility, constructed properties, and total Mana/Forbidden Energy invested.]

[Warning: Higher-tier items require exponentially greater energy and structural stability.]

I stared at the notification.

Apparently the system had watched me casually turn five pieces of cheap market jewelry into magical equipment and decided ’Fine. You clearly want to become a magical weapons manufacturer too.’

My researcher brain immediately began calculating.

If these materials produced low-tier magical items with minimal investment...

What happened if I used monster materials?

Rare metals?

An A-rank monster core?

What if I poured ten times the mana into...

I stopped.

Research later.

I physically turned my head toward Ariel before my own curiosity kidnapped me again.

I had a date.

I was going to behave like a functional husband for at least one morning. Probably.