Sorcerer… Cyborg???

Chapter 16: Aftermath

It felt as if hundreds of tiny needles were piercing Kothar's arm from the inside. He pulled the King Snake's fangs out of his arm, now noticing that the flesh around the holes was beginning to turn blue.

"Dammit!" Kothar was at a loss for how to deal with the rapidly spreading venom, the corruption was visibly spreading, and Kothar might even lose his life if he failed to deal with the poison adequately. Kothar remembered one of Simon's many lectures to him.

"Many try to exploit the close combat weakness of mages, and among the tools utilized to do so, poison has often been a favorite. However, common poisons do not work on a mage, or any individual with elemental mana, as unless the poison is able to counteract the destructive force of the mana, it will be useless."

Kothar immediately began to send his mana toward his left shoulder, where the fangs had pierced him. Immediately he felt a resistance, the Frost Snake was an elemental creature itself, and so its venom had the properties of ice, which meant that although it would not counter his own mana, it would put up a fight for sure.

Kothar's bright blue mana visibly surged under the skin as it clashed with the venom of the Frost Snake, slowly wearing it down. Kothar sat down cross legged, evidently clearing the venom would take some time.

The venom had left a peculiar scar on his left shoulder, leaving a snowflake pattern behind. Unfortunately the venom had been able to deal some lasting damage to his arm, as he tested its movement, Kothar realized he was unable to raise it beyond the level of his shoulder. This would have been devastating for Kothar, but augmenting his physique was a given for him. All it meant was that he would begin modifying his body sooner than he expected.

After skinning the King Snake, and harvesting the fangs and venom sacs from the many carcasses, Kothar decided to continue his journey, he resolved not to return until he had gathered enough mana to revive Silane.

Kothar tested his injured arm, while wielding a sword was out of the question, he could still channel mana unhindered. Aiming his spells would not be an issue, as he could compensate by twisting his wrist and angling it upwards.

Kothar made his way along the foothills, heading further in would be fatal, as there would beasts much more powerful than the King Snake. Now that he had tested himself in combat, Kothar was in search of materials for his future augmentations.

Since he would also be practicing space magic in the future, as well as his modified Starheart module, he would have have to find some Magesteel, which was universally used in the creation of magical devices.

Highly sought after due to resilience to all known elemental mana, as well its ability to rapidly conduct mana, it was prized beyond all other metals. Even an Advanced Mage would wince at the cost required to procure the amount Kothar needed for his plans.

Kothar hoped to find a vein of the precious metal, as the constant combat between powerful beasts in the Fidour Mountains resulted in a rapidly changing landscape, one day a barren field might become a bubbling spring, veins of precious ores would be exposed as rock rose and fell. The danger was evident, but the Fidour Mountains were a veritable gold mine for any who dared to venture within.

After a long day of exploring, Kothar set up camp under a large overhang, near a cliff that he had been examining for any valuable ores. He was now sure to carefully examine the campsite for any potential dangers. Finding none, he set a small fire, since it would not be visible from outside his campsite.

Kothar pulled a sheet of paper from his pack, and began planning out his the design for his new arm. He would be able to move the arm using mana control alone, but he wanted to incorporate some of the technology that he had previously. It would require minimal adjustment, since he could easily power the engines and devices using his lightning mana.

Wanting to keep the design simple, Kothar decided to integrate a interwoven cage of rune inscribed Magemetal in the shoulder, to act as a reservoir for mana to power his arm. He also decided to incorporate an plasma emitter into his palm. The shoulder unit meant that he could continue to add technological and magical devices without worrying about depleting his mana pool, and the plasma emitter could be used as a short or long range weapon. Satisfied with his design, Kothar stowed away the blueprint and began to meditate.

[Energy levels approaching threshold. Prepare for AI restoration.]