Battlefield Reclaimer, Ch 54: Crystal Flame Experiments (Patreon)

As he finished his meditation, Sam summoned a wave of crystal flame between his hands and began to study it. It was as easy to call as ever. All it took was a flicker of will. Sometimes, it was harder to keep it from appearing.

Spell theories and schools of magic were on his mind as he looked at it. The flames changed as he willed them to, turning into a sphere and then into a flat disk. Then, they rippled again and turned back to a loose wave in front of him. Its translucent edges flickered with heat, warping the air as it created a comfortable pressure against his skin.

The more he studied his crystal flame, at least the little he'd been able to so far, the more it seemed like its shape was only limited by his imagination. He'd taken it for granted since he got it, but the conversation with Krana had made him realize that it wasn't so simple. Now, he was considering what it really was and what made it different from pure Fire.

It was called Crystal Flame, not just Flame, which suggested it was something else. So far, he’d only been focusing on the idea of it as fire, but what if he focused on the other part of it?

What was crystal about it?

He needed to figure out why it was called that if he wanted to understand it better. The color had always been the first thing to come to mind when he thought of crystal, since it had that strange layering of deep blue to a lighter blue at the edges, but it hadn’t come with instructions, so he’d only been going with his imagination.

He had no idea what it was actually capable of, or why the Guardian had helped him to enhance it into a subclass.

As he thought more about it, the only things that came to mind for crystal were snow and ice, as well as some type of glass. He’d heard that those had a crystal structure. Many vision and perception spells could allow you to see the composition of a material. Glass was created through fire too, but he wasn’t sure that was a reasonable connection for his crystal flame.

The last type of crystal he remembered seeing…. The memory came back to him, bringing with it the image of the sapphire that he’d used in the gem silver. The gem had held an interlocking, repeating structure inside itself. When the mana influenced it, it became even more perfectly arranged, lending that structure to the silver he’d created.

Crystal was repeating patterns spreading...., but his crystal flames were also a fire. He had to somehow come to a new understanding of those two ideas and bring them together. He just wasn’t sure he had enough time to do it.

He rubbed his chin as he turned the crystal flame in front of himself into an Essence Shield, studying it. That was the skill closest to a crystal pattern that he’d used so far. In his left hand, a crystal flame arrow appeared, and he tried to mimic the structure of the Essence Shield in it.

The arrow flickered out, warping into crystal flames until it rearranged itself into a small Essence Shield. It lost half of its energy in the process. He could feel the essence dissipating in the conversion.

He did it again, with a deepening frown, as he felt the energy dissipate a second time. There had to be a reason for the energy loss, but he wasn't sure what it was. It happened when the arrow converted from the more destructive form to the geometric grid of the shield.

Maybe there was something it was giving up in the process? It was hard to tell, like studying a reflex and wondering how the muscles in your body moved to create it. It was clear there was a much more complex system here, one that he was using automatically.

Unfortunately, even with Krana's help, his theory of spell knowledge was mostly self-taught. Everything he knew about his crystal flame was trial and error, combined with things he'd seen, similar to his enchanting.

The thought of enchanting brought new ideas to his mind as he continued to warp the shape of his flames and study the transition. If he could use his flame to imbue runes, or put runes into his flame somehow..., perhaps he could alter the nature of it to do something else.

When he thought about that a second time, however, he wasn't sure it was wise. That sounded a lot like just using his flames to power an enchantment. It probably wouldn't work out as well as just understanding how to use them better.

He continued to transition the flames, studying the differences between Flame Strike and Essence Shield. They were both innate abilities of crystal flame, but each came with a different style. Was there a way to combine them...or perhaps a way to use Essence Shield with more flexibility?

He was able to convert Flame Strike into many different forms. Perhaps he could do the same with the other ability. If Essence Shield could be extended, like the crystal pattern in the gemstone had been, maybe he could use it to trap something inside or to slow down an enemy somehow? That would have helped a lot against the Grey Shard Seekers.

The only problem was that to create an Essence Shield, they would have to be within the radius of his aura.  His talons tapped thoughtfully along the edge of the Essence Shield that was still hanging in front of him. It wasn’t consuming much energy right now as he experimented, just floating there....

He looked away from it for a moment, until his eyes widened and he looked back at the shield again. The meaning hit him in an instant.

It wasn’t consuming much energy.

That meant it was stable, at least to an extent, and not burning itself out like fire would. Even his crystal flame arrows took a little bit of energy to maintain, but this shield didn't, not unless something hit it.

Flames fed on energy, and if he’d held a regular flame shield in front of himself, he was sure it would have been a steady drain. It might have even taken more energy to try to condense flame into something stable like that.

Essence Shield was definitely more like a crystal than his Flame Strike.

The crystal spheres of Earth mana appeared in his mind at that moment as he looked at the shield. He'd almost forgotten about them, but they were an even better example than the sapphire. He'd used an Essence Shield to create them and they had somehow turned into stable spheres. They were still holding that powerful mana, and doing it safely.

An instant later, one of the Earth spheres was in his hand. He looked down at it, studying it with the full attention of Crystal Focus as his aura poured through it, testing the structure and the way that it contained the liquid mana inside.

Repeating, interlocking crystal had formed from the Earth mana itself...growing around the liquid as it sealed itself away. That crystal had somehow been stimulated by his Essence Shield that held it, just like the crystallized powder that he'd made later. The key part was that it hadn’t done that on its own. It had happened when it interacted with his crystal flame.

Without hesitating any longer, he poured his energy into the crystal and willed a small opening to appear in the side. The sphere had been formed by him and when his energy touched it again, it responded. A tiny opening appeared, just enough for a drop of mana to fall out.

It landed on his hand and rolled there, harmlessly moving across his skin.

The thought to make some type of weapon out of this mana occurred to him again, and once more he dismissed it. He would have to craft it into an enchantment or a spell scroll first, if he wanted it to become destructive.

It wasn’t in the Earth mana’s nature to destroy things in its current state, no matter how hot it was. It was designed to bless things. It could melt or destroy things when it touched them, but that had more to do with the weakness of whatever it encountered.

The drop of mana rolled across his hand as he kept his flames away from it. It hovered there, a tiny drop of power. Then, he slowly let his crystal flames rise up to touch it.

Instantly, the droplet began to harden, its structure changing as it converted to a crystal in his palm. His entire concentration was on it, analyzing every step. When it was finished, he tried to crush the crystal in his hands, but it was completely solid, as hard as a diamond.

He held it up between his thumb and finger as he stared at it, trying to understand what had just happened. He’d felt his flames interacting with it and then...this. Somehow, it was crystallizing the mana. He just wasn't sure why.

Another droplet of mana fell out of the sphere and he slowly let his flames lick over it. A minute later, there were two crystal drops in his hands. He shook his head as he watched it happen.

Even with the full attention of Crystal Focus to help, he couldn’t tell why. He did it again, just to see if he had missed something.

This time, he narrowed his attention and watched one specific part of the Earth mana as the flames touched it, trying to let it happen as slowly as possible. As soon as the edge of crystal flame licked across the Earth mana, the mana began to warp, turning to a crystal in that part. The same process slowly proceeded through the entire drop in a chain reaction as the flames continued to interact with it.

He was able to stop it if he held back his flames, but half of the drop was already crystallized. He fell into a state of meditation as he kept the flame at the lowest possible level, watching the crystal slowly spread through the mana.

Somehow, it was an interlocking chain reaction...that converted the energy inside the drop into a new form. After a little while, the entire drop hardened into a crystal and he blinked as he looked up again.

It still felt like mana. If it were turned to powder, he knew it would work for drawing runes, just like on the guards' armor, but its form had changed.

There was something happening there, whether it was a law of nature or a strange interaction of the elements between the Earth mana and his crystal flame. He had the feeling that if he were able to fully understand why, it would be a key point in advancing his ability.

Right now, however, he doubted he had the time. He wasn’t sure how long he’d just spent watching it, but it felt like at least half an hour.

He rolled the three crystal drops across his palm, letting them chime against one another as they touched. At the same time, he put the sphere of Earth mana back into his pack, tucking it away with the others. A quick look around said that no one was really paying attention to him, but for some reason he still felt like hiding it.

He couldn’t tell why the change was happening, but as he looked down at the droplets on his palm, they did give him an idea. If he created a layer of crystal flame, kind of like an Essence Shield, and spread it across an area, maybe he could create a crystalline structure that locked down everything in the area. He could call it a....

Crystal Field.

It wouldn’t be too difficult to do, just an Essence Shield spread horizontally across an area, perhaps a bit loosely. The shield already blocked energy from moving through it, so maybe it would also lock it into place or crystallize other types of mana. If that worked, it would definitely help against casters.

The main issue would be spreading it and timing it to trap his enemies inside. His Essence Shield could only be summoned within the radius of his aura. It would have been difficult to get that close to the Seekers. If it did work, it would be a good control spell, which was something missing from his abilities right now.

Along with that, he needed to make some scrolls. Those were the single most effective weapon for a battle that he could prepare in advance, and he had all of the materials for them. Those spider skins weren’t doing him any good in their current state.

The idea about Essence Shield also led him to think more about control spells and what he could do with them. He knew runes for slow and ice, and he was pretty sure he could combine those two to create some Water-variant scrolls that would hinder the enemy.

If he added a more complex binding pattern around those two runes at the center, and a few support structures that he’d learned from the illusion amulet, he should be able to charge up the scrolls with a significant amount of essence.

If it had been the salamander skin, that wouldn't have worked, since the quality was too low to hold much essence, but the Red-Striped Hell Spider skin was a different story. He needed to see what the limit was on that.

A few more scrolls of other types would be good, but he’d start by making a scroll or two for slow ice and assess from there.

---

It took him about four hours, twice as long as he’d planned, but in the end there were two new spell scrolls resting in front of him. The intricate rune patterns on them gleamed with a soft, icy blue light, accompanied by the soft chime of his level in Essence Scribe jumping to 12.

Each of the scrolls was charged with thirty points of essence, which should be enough to cause some trouble for whatever was coming. Unfortunately, it was taking too long to create them, which meant that these would have to be the only new scrolls he made.

He only had half a day left and he needed to create something that would help take out a large force. Something explosive.

He’d been thinking about what to use while working on the scrolls. As he put the scrolls away in his pouch, two small grey objects took their place on the stone. They were the cores from the Seekers. A moment later, a bright red aura appeared in his palm, its color contrasting sharply with the cores. It gleamed with roiling arcs of essence as wisps of energy tried to rise from the surface and fell back down into it.

An Aura of Rebellious Flame.

He only had three of them left, but they were all fully charged to twenty points of essence. Of the few types he'd collected, these auras were the ones with a nature that was closest to destruction and most directly opposed to the energy in the cores.

Now, he needed to find a way to imbue this aura into one of the cores in front of him, to create something similar to the delayed umbral fireball that he’d made once before. That time, he’d used a rock. This core would be a much better base, with its own energy to add to the explosion.

Hopefully, it would deal extra damage of some type to the Grey Shards, since the core was related to them, but he wasn’t counting on it. As long as it created a big blast, he’d be content.

The cores were smaller than the rock, which meant the runes he placed on them would also have to be smaller, but his skills had advanced quite a bit since then. That part would take some concentration, but it was doable.

The cores also had a fragment of an aura inside, and he wasn’t sure what to do with that. Instead of going straight against it, he’d have to lay down a rune pattern to absorb its energy and hold it for the right moment, when the Rebellious Flame collided with it.

Blending auras like this was a new tactic for him. Before, he’d mostly used them as a power source, combining them with runes that matched their affinities. This time, he wanted to take advantage of the contrasting natures and make them conflict even more.

There was a chance they would just fizzle out, but if he added enough augmentation runes and directed the energy outward, and also empowered the Rebellious Flame more..., the conflict should pour out into the area. Beyond that, it was hard to say what would happen.

He looked up toward the maze again, making sure everything was peaceful, before he pulled out a piece of chalk and began to draw a diagram on the stone.

Once that was done, he’d engrave it onto the core.

---

Hours flew past as Sam worked, his stylus flickering in a shining, silver stream as one rune after the other was added to the first core. Each rune was tiny, so small that he had to use Crystal Focus and refine his will down to a pinprick to engrave it into place.

He was currently working on the inner layer of what would be a three-part pattern. It was similar to what he’d come up with for the delayed umbral fireball, but much stronger. He’d made some changes to his design before starting, but the most significant was the addition of an Aura of Shifting Shadow.

He had a feeling that if he used that aura, plus the fragmented aura in the core that was similar to it, and then inserted the Rebellious Flame as a third party, it would work out even better than his initial idea. At the very least, it would have more power, and that should mean a bigger boom.

Another tiny rune was added, and then another, as the pattern spiraled around the outside of the core. From time to time, he looked up to check on the maze. His Aura of Crystal Flame was constantly flowing around him, fusing into the core and purifying it to fit his intentions.

At the same time, he made sure that his essence never dropped below 90%. Krana would warn them of an attack, but surprises could always happen. That was also why he was trying to make as many resources as possible, to deal with the unexpected.

The maze was quiet and his attention turned back to the core as he continued to engrave another rune. Slowly, line by line, he worked to bring his vision closer to reality.

After this, he still needed to do the other one.

---

Near the maze, Krana was looking out into the distance as Jeric stood by her side. Her eyes were silver and there were deep creases across her forehead as the frown lines on her face deepened. Eventually, the light of her spell faded away and she turned to Jeric.

“It has to be some type of Seer itself,” she muttered. “Or at least some type of Wisdom-based caster. That’s the only thing I can think of that would block my sight. It’s possible they have an artifact or enchantment that’s doing it, but monsters rarely carry those. I’ve never heard of a Grey Shard Seer, so I don’t know what it could be.”

“What level do you think it is?” Jeric asked with a frown of his own. His arms were crossed over his chest, his muscles tensing and relaxing again as he thought of the upcoming fight.

He wanted to take Sam and run through the tunnels, to fight their way out until they got home, but he shoved the idea away. It would only mean that they’d run into trouble somewhere else. It would also go against the contract he'd made to escort Ayala home.

The best way to take care of his family was to keep doing what he had already decided on.

“Over 40 at least,” Krana answered, her frown deepening. “It has to be stronger than me to block me so well. My fear is that the Grey Shards have fallen under the command of something much more powerful than they are. If there’s something like that, we’re in danger here, more than we’ve ever been up to this point. Hopefully, it’s over-confident in seeking us out and we’ll be able to deal with it. If it’s something even bigger than that....”

Jeric’s knuckles popped as he tightened his hands where they rested on his biceps. He’d already made all the preparations he could. He had helped set up the traps in the killing zone and his Stamina was fully recovered. Everything else was out of his hands.

His gaze turned to where Sam was working a little distance away, his head bent over a tiny sphere on his stone table, and he gave a short nod. If there was something that could be created in the time they had left, he trusted that Sam would figure it out.

---

Not far away, a large group of Grey Shard Stalkers and Seekers were advancing forward through the tunnels, their shadowy forms sliding along the walls as they crept from point to point. Behind them walked a figure that all of them had learned to dread.

It moved like a human as its staff tapped rhythmically on the stone, but its body was closer to that of a lizard. It had diamond-flecked, scaled skin, a cruel jaw filled with fangs, and its slit-pupiled eyes shone with a dark gold light that filled the tunnels around it.