Jane froze. He was still concealed, so how—
'Why did he say that?'
[Any competent mage would have attacked first. He's setting a trap.]
'He responded late, too... No, it would have been because he figured out the decoy. Is the next ingot trapped?'
[A mage's trap should kill without any room for doubt. If there is indeed a trap, then that ingot is done for.]
'Right, he should know that we're here for it.'
"I'll count to three, and if you don't reveal yourself, I'll kill you."
Jane made up his mind. He formed a 'Cross Distance', and aimed it 300 merds north.
"Three."
The landscape around him did not change, however. Whoever the assailant was, they had precautions against their opponent teleporting. It was still fine, though. Jane could just fly away.
"Two."
"..."
He shut his mouth, trying to prevent a scream from coming out. His body was thoroughly shredded, having been under the effect of many detonated 'Force' runes. It seemed his opponent had prevented the use of both 'Project' and 'Include' runes. Luckily, Jane's locket was weakened enough to prevent the restrictions from immediately killing him.
"Wait, wait! I surre—"
"One."
'Damnit.'
[He has used most of his mana to restrict the use of your runes and set traps, so in exchange, he cannot effectively counter your concealment. Running away is still possible.]
'However, I can barely move with the degree of damage I've sustained. "Grow" is unusable, so I'll probably die before getting far enough away... There is no other option. I need to focus.'
"Zero. What a shame."
[Get ready!]
The entire region became enveloped in an extreme cold. Jane's skin froze and cracked, but he negated the spell only half a second after it was cast.
'I just have to wait!'
Jane's frozen skin immediately melted, and the muscle underneath blackened. The flesh on his fingertips dangled from the bone. Another half-second later, the attack was again negated.
[The radius of the negation has to match, or else he will be able to discover our location.]
'There are some attacks which I shouldn't fully negate.'
Strangely, Jane felt his entire body be overcome by an extreme cold. It wasn't due to the corresponding runes, though. He immediately dispelled the negated 'Heat' runes, enduring the torturous feeling of his approaching death.
"I wonder... If I sit here and wait, will you just die?"
Jane closed his eyes. He consumed half of his remaining mana, and spread it all around him. In a few places, gaps formed in his wave of energy. Around these gaps, he formed circles and 'Void' runes. At the very same time, he constructed 'Cross Distance' around himself.
'300 merds, north.'
This time, the magic worked. Jane used 'Grow' on himself to prevent immediate death, and waited. After a few seconds, he initated another 'Cross Distance'.
[300 merds, south.]
Using all of his remaining mana, he teleported negated 'Flesh' runes inside of 'Diffuse' to his previous location. After waiting around a minute or so for his mana to replenish, and healing himself a bit more, he teleported back as well.
---
"Wh...help—"
Jane finished off his enemy, then reached out and took his soul core. The surface didn't have any engravings, so it was perfectly good to use.
'Hmm.'
[You're welcome to try it, if you want.]
'Won't it come loose if I get sliced up?'
[But that's exactly why you have it, isn't it?]
'Good point.'
He sorted out his things, then flew away to as abandoned of a location as possible.
---
[Only one...]
'At least it's a decent one.'
[By the way, do you not feel anything about killing humans?]
Jane, who was busy heating up metal, thought for a second.
'You don't, so why would I?'
He used 'Force' to make it into a somewhat spherical shape, then reinforced his fingers and molded it more precisely. He had concealed the surroundings, since he needed to see himself to heal and being seen would likely lead to death.
[Don't you need to put the soul core in, somehow?]
Jane cut the sphere in two with a blade formed of 'Air'.
[You didn't... plan for that...]
Ignoring the mocking thoughts, he put the soul core inside and began working. This one had about as much mana as Vanessa did when she was alive, so he would be able to produce an exceptional protective tool using it. After doing some rough calculations in his head, he engraved a balance of 'Reinforce Material', 'Reinforce Flesh', and 'Amplify' runes.
'Somewhere it won't interfere too much... Ah, I can just put it there.'
Jane formed a scalpel of ice, then sliced his stomach vertically using it. Then, he closed the tool, imbued mana into it, and placed it inside his abdomen. He had to push a bit of his intestines aside, and dodge some strange organ.
'What a waste of space...'
[What is wrong with you?]
Making sure not to leave any scars, he closed the wound. Since he still had a scalpel in his hands, he pressed it against his skin and poked a few times. It stung a little, but never managed to pierce through his skin.
'Oh right, I need clothes.'
While no one could have seen due to the 'Concealment' runes protecting his location, there was currently a naked woman standing in the middle of a field. He did not care, personally, but it would be difficult to work with Vanessa if he acted like that.
[Have a little creativity, will you? How do you think dyes are made?]
In his memories, there was a hazy image of someone crushing up flower petals to make dye.
'Listen, no one will end up seeing the clothing in the first place, so why do you even care what color it is?'
[You could make it for the dummy, too. Provocative clothing also works in a fight.]
'And I'd have to remake it every single time. Why would I ever do that?'
[It takes less cloth.]
'Wasn't this conversation about what color the clothing is?'
[Do you think I don't get bored, weaving clothing for hours? We could at least change it up a little.]
'Oh, wait. I need to practice different decoy appearances. Not that I use them, anyways...'
---
Jane then proceeded to torture himself growing flowers for several hours straight. He figured that if he had to make clothing, he would at least make it right. Unfortunately, he had never made proper clothing before.
'The, uh... seam, it goes...'
[I don't know either, you know? I never paid attention to that sort of stuff.]
'That's like someone who's a picky eater but can't cook at all!'
"Fuck..."
Jane formed a laughably crude needle out of metal, and watched it crumble in his hands.
'Aren't there some people who live naked? Is that so bad?'
[All of those people were massacred hundreds of years ago. Anyone who does that now is just a pervert.]
Jane looked down at his body.
'Since it's your body, isn't it...]
[Shit, shit, my name is Jane, wow, it's strange that I'm looking like this!'
[I didn't even do anything.]
As he was recovering from his close call, a beam of flames obliterated his entire camp. Jane himself was sent flying a few dozen merds away, and skidded on the ground a while before stopping. In his hands were the tattered remains of cloth, and a few burnt dyes.
"Damnit!"
Enraged, he chased after the source of the attack.