Path of Stars, Ch 33: Verdant Sun (Patreon)

Moments later, Sam fell off the astral thread that led to the green sun and collapsed into the Void where he floated like a dead man. Just behind him was the glowing green emerald of the closest world. He was lying between it and the sun, some distance from where the fortress had been. The sun was friendly, its warmth washing across his body like a blanket.

The tiny bit of essence he regained had only lasted an instant, but it had been enough to pull him away from the vortex and throw him out here. He was alive.

He drifted on the chaos winds as he let himself relax. They flowed around and through him, their destructive force a gentle breeze that tingled across his cheeks. His essence began to return as his passive regeneration took over, flooding him with the power of the Void when it was young.

His mind was serene. His entire being had been refined to a single purpose. There was no hesitation or question, only action. Now, it felt like the entire Void was empty except for the sun and its neighboring stars, as if only those brilliant points were real.

Moment by moment, the thoughts of the present were returning, along with the ache of wounds from the battle. He let himself drift for a while longer until his essence passed ten percent and climbed higher. His Wisdom was enough that his passive regeneration only took two hours to refill his essence completely, but if he was meditating, it was twice as fast.

Floating here was a good form of meditation.

With a groan, he finally pushed himself upright. In the distance, he could see the Ice Drake and his allies approaching. They’d just left the second fortress and were a couple of hours away at their current pace, but it wouldn’t do to let them see him looking like this. They had probably seen some of what happened, especially when the fortress exploded and turned into a trap, and they would be worried.

Right now, he needed to recover his strength and set himself to rights. There was an Outsider commander out there that needed to be dead, and he would be more than happy to arrange it.

The commander was probably on Alora’s world, near the Wild Grove. There was a chance he was running away, but without the fortresses, it was unlikely he’d be able to escape from the system. Hopefully, he hadn’t had time to set up a larger teleportation network.

He pulled out some healing scrolls from his cloak and began applying them. His movements were slow and painful. An internal scan told him that he had small fractures in dozens of places across his bones and his muscles were frayed, especially at the connection points where they’d been twisted. Fortunately, the damage was a thousand small areas rather than one large one, which made it easier to fix.

He was durable these days and as a Titan the stress of the spatial pressure hadn’t affected him as much as it would someone else. It would just take a while to heal.

A healing aura of green light spread throughout his body, combining with the astral energy that was already filling the gaps. It was a representation of his inner vitality. His Constitution was incredible for his level and it was slowly fusing his bones back together. The scrolls would help it along, but it would take a few days before he could move without pain. Perhaps Alora could help more when she arrived.

Afterwards, he sat in the Void and looked into the distance with the light of the sun and the chaos winds. The green sun was friendly, an echo of the scrolls in his hand. It was the entire reason he’d been able to escape, since its light was so intense. Even inside the vortex, it found a path. He crossed his arm over his chest as he gave it a salute.

Then he turned his attention to the results of the battle that the Titan Star was reporting. There wasn't any experience, but the other gains weren’t bad.

Your Ability: Form of Astral Flame has increased by two tiers and reached Expert.

Your Ability: Astral Focus has increased by two tiers and reached Expert.

Your Ability: Aura of Astral Flame has increased by two tiers and reached Expert.

Your Ability: Astral Passage has increased by one tier and reached Advanced.

Your Ability: Astral Strike has increased by one tier and reached Advanced.

Your Ability: Astral Fire has increased by one tier and reached Elite.

Your Ability: Astral Ice has increased by one tier and reached Elite.

That was the initial wave of information. Apparently, struggling for his life was a good way to get familiar with his abilities and to adjust to his new subclass. Most of the abilities had increased by one to two tiers, which went a long way to restoring his proficiency.

The range on Astral Focus had increased by quite a bit. It had been half a mile, but now it was more complex and also had two parts, a focused range and a wide range. It felt more like a regular sense than an ability. The focused range stretched out for a radius of two miles and the wide range went out for another eight miles past that to make ten. Within that wider range, he was able to get a general impression of what was going on, but he had to focus for it to spring into clarity. Not only was was the ability more powerful, it felt more natural than the old Crystal Focus.

For Astral Passage, he'd teleported around the fortresses a good bit before being caught in the trap. Now, its range had doubled and it was up to ten miles, which fit well with the broader range on Astral Focus.

As for the other abilities, his control over Astral Ice and Astral Fire had improved, particularly his ability to channel them in large quantities. For Form of Astral Flame, he would be able to maintain the form for longer with less effort, which would have been useful in the trap. He’d gotten a lot of practice with it.

With Astral Strike, his familiarity with channeling astral energy had grown and there was a more powerful concept for it in his mind. It would be easier to use astral energy as a direct attack going forward. Those weren’t the only results, however, as the Titan Star pushed a few more announcements into his awareness.

For analyzing a vast quantity of high-tier spatial information, spell structures, and foreign runes in an intense battle, and using this information to save your life, your Skill: Analyze has increased by a tier and reached Heroic.

It has been reclassified as an Innate Ability: Analyze (Heroic).

[You will now receive additional information when using Analyze. You gain the ability to see through some obscuring abilities and traits.]

You have gained Basic Skill proficiency in a new class of Runes. Please give the skill a name.

For comprehending two divergent systems of runes, your Ability: Rune Formation has increased by one tier and reached Heroic. As a result, you gain the Trait: Runelord.

[Runic structures flow from your hands like water. Your speed in understanding and constructing runes has increased by 25%. It will be easier for you to adapt runic structures for your own use in the future.]

He studied the results for a while as he rubbed his chin. It looked like all of the intense study of the spell structure and runes in the trap had paid off. The Titan Star was still waiting for him to give the new skill a name, so he assigned the first one that came to mind.

Just call them Outsider Runes, he told the star. I’ll change it if I think of something better.

Recording Skill Name as Outsider Runes (Basic), the star confirmed. A moment later, a new line was added to his status sheet.

There was also a whirlwind of power from the star that had a sense of great distance to it as a complex rune was inscribed in his mind to represent the trait. It hummed with a strong rhythm that felt like his own memory. Suddenly, a few key points about runes that he’d noted once and then set aside sprang up in his mind, each of them important to spell structures.

The rune felt like it was an echo of himself, an assistant that was ready to help him with analyzing runes and hold their lines steady as he carved them, taking over some of the burden on his concentration. He’d never quite seen anything like it.

It seemed that the Path could add traits of its own, but it did it very rarely. The distance of that connection was significant, and it had probably taken quite a lot of power. As for the rune itself, it felt like a unique spell structure, a type of living enchantment. Perhaps the Blessing of Ice was the closest to it. He looked at it and nodded slowly.

He didn’t understand a lot about Outsider runes, but he had memorized everything he’d seen inside the trap. All of the small fluctuations of energy, the lines of the runes, their resonance with the elements of the Void, and the way they worked together to create that giant spatial structure were in his mind. When he had the time, it would be a good thing to study. Hopefully, he could get some more insight into the Outsiders’ abilities and artifacts.

That would help on Aster Fall as well as here, perhaps even with the core enchantment on the relic. The memory of the artifacts that his uncle, Micas Hastern, had used came back to him, as well as the ones that the Bloodline Clans talked about. There was something going on with Outsider artifacts. When he got back, he needed to investigate. The Boundless Alliance was involved with it too.

As for the improvement to Analyze, that was a nice upgrade. Few things would be able to hide the truth of their information from him. The skill had also become an ability, which was a rare change, and it placed his ease of use with it on the same level as a Seer.

The commander had tried to kill him, but at the end of the day, he’d harmed his own people and had given away their magic to an enemy. He'd barely scraped through, but the gains weren’t bad. He was looking forward to turning the tables. He cracked his knuckles as he looked to where the Ice Drake was approaching and then to Alora’s green world behind it.

It was time to get down there.

With a growl of pain, he stood up to his full height and folded his arms across his chest. The green sun blazed behind him like a crowning halo as the healing spells continued to flow through his body.

*****

When the Ice Drake arrived, the nagas and Alora flew off of the deck, heading straight for Sam. Worry was obvious in their eyes. They’d seen the fortress explode and the massive spell structure around it, but the trap had warped space and blocked their view. A few message spells across the distance had only reassured them that he was still alive and waiting for them.

Even now, there were eddies of spatial energies fluctuating where the fortress had been. It was a giant disk of crushed stone that was slowly expanding outward as the chaos winds pulled on it. Eventually, it would disappear, but at the current rate, it would probably take a few weeks.

“My lord!” Sleset shouted as he arrived. His eyes were shining as he looked intently at Sam. The sun was reflected in them, making them look like a deeper emerald than usual. “Your destruction knows no bounds! The enemy fortress exploded as you approached!”

The naga had clearly guessed more than that, especially since there were lines of silver scars all across Sam’s body that were hard to miss, but it went unmentioned as he took in the damage and nodded. His concern was obvious, but it disappeared as he turned toward the other nagas and shouted. “My lord’s wrath has shattered the enemy nest! He bears the scars of victory! A battle fought and won!”

The nagas roared in agreement, their concern fading away into exultation as they let out a resounding hiss that echoed like a violent storm across the area.

Sam closed his eyes for a moment and said nothing, although he wanted to chuckle. Sleset was trying to keep morale up, rather than focusing on the fact that their new Oathlord had just been injured. It was by far the best way to deal with the nagas. They needed a strong and invulnerable leader to give them confidence and keep them in line.

When he opened his eyes again, he gave them all a stately nod, to make sure they knew he saw them. Then he turned to Alora for a more balanced discussion.

“Are you really alright?” she asked cautiously as she stopped in front of him. Her eyes were tight as she studied his scars. “I couldn’t see what happened, but I felt the fluctuations in the elements. The entire space was snarled into a red and black sphere. It felt like an ocean of blood that was filled with resentment and I could see it churning. How did you make it out of there?”

“It was some evil spell made of blood and death,” Laimar grunted in agreement from where he was standing next to her. He took in Sam’s wounds and nodded, the respect in his eyes increasing. “That’s one that I would not have wanted to face. You’re a tough one, Lord Titan.” Some of the nagas’ customs seemed to be rubbing off on him, since the addition of a title for Sam was new.

“It was difficult,” Sam agreed as he tilted his hand and waved the question aside. He’d survived and learned a key lesson, but that was for him to dwell on and not them. “The more important thing is I have some information about the commander. Based on what I could tell, he’s at least in the middle of the Fourth Evolution, perhaps even stronger than me. He’ll be difficult to face, but that spell should have tired him out. We need to chase him down before he can recover, which means heading to your home world, Alora.”

“Of course,” she agreed fiercely as a light flashed in her eyes. “We can’t allow him to spend any more time near the grove than he already has. If we get close enough, I should be able to locate him. His presence will be a glaring mark on top of the natural energy. But first, let me heal you, or at least do what I can.”

She stepped forward, her hands glowing with a verdant green light as she touched Sam’s arm. A wave of cool energy bubbled through his body like water washing the roots of a tree. In its wake, some of the damage to his muscles and bones knitted together. It was much more effective than his healing scrolls. It also didn’t end immediately as she continued to pour mana into him over a handful of minutes.

Her presence lingered like the scent of wintergreen and jasmine twining through forest leaves, only slowly fading as she pulled her hands away. Sam looked down and flexed his hands as half of the scars on them faded away.

“I can’t heal everything at once,” she apologized softly as she looked at the results of her work. There was a touch of fatigue in her eyes. “Your durability is insane. The amount of mana it takes to heal you is more than I’ve ever seen before, at least for anyone who can still walk. If we have a couple of days, I can keep working on it.”

“Thank you,” Sam said quietly as he shook his head. “This is more than enough. We don’t have time to delay if we want to find that commander though. I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll be with you anyway,” Alora agreed with a slight frown, but she nodded. “We do have to get to the grove.”

“Let’s head out,” Sam agreed as he turned to the Ice Drake. The ship’s enchanted hull was glowing with light blue runes that looked like an intricate grain across the surface of the wood. It was ready to fly.

With a gesture, Sleset ordered all of the nagas back on board and then he leapt on himself. Alora and Laimar followed, heading to the prow. As soon as Sam stepped on board, however, he was met with a rush of nagas heading in his direction. All of them were carrying pieces of armor, weapons, and strange objects.

“We deliver the wealth of battle to the lord!” Sleset declared grandly as he raised his four hands, each of which was filled with a different item that he placed at Sam’s feet. Each of them was in good repair and the intensity of enchantments radiated from them. “We scoured the remains of the fortress you conquered, Starborn One!”

Sam slowly set his foot down on the edge of the ship, avoiding the pile of treasure that was swiftly growing as he looked at the nagas. There was a bright spark of delight in their eyes as they waited for his approval. Any vestige of the bandits they might once have been was absent. Their oath had remade them and they were more than happy with it as they stared at him.

Sam looked at them and then at the hundred and more items they had piled across the deck, and then he just relied on the natural flow of the moment.

“I am honored by your gifts,” he said calmly, projecting pride and honor back as he straightened his shoulders and looked at them steadily. His voice resonated with power. “Your valor in battle, your steadfastness, and your faith in one other is what guides you to victory. Leave a handful of the enchanted objects for me to study, as well as anything cursed or that holds dark energy, so that I can better understand our enemies. Take the rest back for yourselves.

“Use it to adorn your nests, to fill your treasure bags, and to sell if you wish. One day soon, we will reach a world filled with markets and things to buy, and you will need gold to spend.”

Sharp and bright hisses of satisfaction rose up from the nagas as they cheered. Then they sorted themselves out under the direction of Sleset and the three commanders. Some items were brought up for his inspection, to see if they held dangerous spells, and then they retreated with the majority of the loot, leaving a smaller pile behind.

“You honor me,” Sam looked down at the treasure and nodded. “Now we go to fight! Let us fly!”

More hisses answered him as the nagas quickly found their positions and looked across the railing of the ship to the second world. A moment later, Sleset and Laimar had control of the ship’s enchantments and the Ice Drake soared into the air, making a large arc as it turned toward Alora’s homeland.

When everyone was back at their posts and the ship was underway, Sam looked down at the enchanted objects, rubbing his chin. They glowed with dense and spidery runes that crawled along the surface like swirled ink, jagged in some places and curling in others. They gave him the same unsettled feeling as always, but they were more familiar now. He’d seen a lot of them inside the trap.

Now that he’d learned the basics of Outsider runes, he’d needed some things to experiment on, and these would do. He could break them down and see how they worked. With a wave of his hand, all of the items disappeared into his cloak.

Ahead of him, Alora’s world shone with a swirl of emerald and blue. From this distance, it was like a tiny gem, but once they got closer, it would spring to life with a mix of trees and oceans that was laid out like a beautiful mosaic. Beside him on the prow, her eyes never left it.