Echoes of War, Ch 41: Dimensional Crystal (Patreon)

“Let’s go higher!” Altey’s bright laughter rang in the air as Sam lifted her up and placed her on his shoulder. She had been standing on his palm, but now she was two hundred feet above the ground.

Given the size of his shoulder, it wasn’t much different than standing on a plateau. She had room to walk around if she wanted. Nonetheless, a current of astral energy and wind flowed around her to make sure she didn’t fall.

Cora, the golem he’d given her, floated above her head in book form, flapping its pages in an unnecessary attempt to stay aloft. The golem followed her everywhere, and it still hadn’t given back the acceptance letter it ate, nor any of the other pieces of paper it had stolen since then.

“Look at the gold one!” Altey laughed as she held onto his hair and pointed at a cloud.

It was her 13th birthday and the mountains and the mid-morning sun stretched out in front of them in a field of blue-white ice and sparkling mana. She was normally as serious as someone twice her age, but she hadn’t lost her joy at seeing the world.

“It looks like a wolf,” Sam said with a chuckle as he followed her line of sight. “A very large and angry golden wolf that wants to bite the cloud sheep in front of it.”

“Then there should be a cloud shepherd around somewhere,” Altey declared as she looked around for a good cloud. Then her lips quirked and she reached up to yank on Sam’s ear. “Oh, I found him!”

“Do I look like a cloud?” Sam pretended to grumble at her while he held back a laugh. He waved at the air as he created a cloud of ice vapor that looked like her. Then he sent it flying upward to tend the sheep. Then he couldn’t hold back his laughter any longer.

“Hey, no fair!” Altey shouted as she yanked on his hair again and laughed herself. “I want to do that!”

“One day soon,” he agreed as he held out his hand. There was a sphere of tumbling ice vapor in it, very similar to the cloud he’d sent out. “Show me what you’ve learned.”

Altey frowned in concentration as she reached out to the cloud of vapor. A subtle blue glow came from her fingers and wisps of icy mana formed in the air around her, but her hand was steady.

As she touched the cloud, the vapor began to condense around her fingers, turning to thin layers of ice. Before long, the entire cloud had changed to a sphere of crystalline blue. It was thin and translucent like a soap bubble as it rested on Sam’s palm. The edges were swirled with frost that had frozen to the sides.

Altey frowned, and the blue glow around her hand became more intense. The bubble crackled as it began to shrink. It grew denser and harder as its size decreased, until what had been a ten-foot-wide bubble turned into a denser sphere six feet across.

Then it compressed further and its size changed as it turned into a long staff of ice. It was five feet long and an inch and a half wide, just about right for Altey’s height. The blue glow around her hand turned thin and faded away as she reached out and picked up the staff.

She raised it triumphantly into the air and then brought it down to her side, where she leaned on it like a walking stick and sent him a challenging look.

“Good work!” Sam laughed as he nodded at her. “Your Ice manipulation is incredible without even having a class yet. The Blessing of Ice suits you. You’ve been studying hard with Siwaha.”

“I’m going to be a great Ice mage,” Altey said with determination. “You promised me once, remember? Altey the Magnificent, Archmage of the Seven Winds. But that was before I had any understanding of Ice, so I’ll forgive you. It should have been Archmage of the Seven Ices.”

“Forgive me, is it?” Sam chuckled. “I said that on the way to Highfold all that time ago. You still remember?”

“Of course,” Altey said as she raised the staff and prodded his cheek with the end. “Only Astral Titans like you forget things, like to come home more often. That’s what I want for my birthday this time.” Her frown was overly exaggerated.

“I’ll try to be home more,” he agreed with a chuckle. With his avatars around, the promise was one he planned to keep, even if it slowed down some of his other work.

“Good!” Altey agreed as she waved the staff around threateningly. It was beginning to disintegrate as flakes of ice flew away from it, so her movements created a small ice storm. She didn’t have the mana to maintain it for too long. Just creating it had taken ten points from her.

In some ways, she was already similar to a newly minted mage. This ice manipulation was a core ability, very similar to a class feature, but it was innate to her, like a racial advantage. She didn’t have a status sheet or the World Core to help her either. It was all natural, and it would be a strong foundation for similar Ice abilities later on.

“So, what do you want to do about an academy?” he asked as he turned their conversation to future things. That was one of the reasons they’d come out here today. “All of the ones in Highfold have invited you, but you could also attend one in the capital, or even in a neighboring kingdom if it’s more suitable.”

“I haven’t decided yet,” Altey said. Her tone became more serious as she shook her head. “It’s still a year away, so I know I need to choose, but I think I want to go somewhere I’m not as well known.”

“Once you choose, let me know,” Sam said with a chuckle. “I don’t think anyone will dare to keep you out. If Aster Fall were closer to the civilized galaxy, you could go off world, but the trip is too long to make it reasonable.”

If anyone did try to reject his sister’s application to an academy, he’d have to teleport over and have a conversation with them. The trick would be in not terrifying them too much. A flash of protectiveness made his eyes narrow.

“You won’t be anonymous everywhere, but you can try to make it so that only the head of the school and a few others know,” he added. “That’s probably the best we can do. We’ll tell them you have a natural Ice affinity and make it look like that’s why you’re there. You aren’t too well known outside of Highfold, so it should work.”

“You promise?” Altey’s grin was wide as she looked up at Sam with big eyes. “Somewhere people don’t treat me like porcelain as soon as they see me?”

“The Ice Sylphs might still follow you,” he said, “and I’ll send a couple of golems to keep an eye on you, but they can keep their distance and only come if you’re in trouble.”

“Then it’s settled!” Altey said as she struck a pose and tapped her half-disintegrated ice staff onto his shoulder with a dramatic flourish. “I’ll go tell mom and dad!”

Sam nodded as he lifted her from his shoulder and let his height drop until he was seven feet tall again. Then he set her down on the ground and watched as she quickly raced into the distance.

She knew the value of security, so unlike many teens her age, she wasn’t going to complain about having the golems or Ice Sylphs follow her. It was hard to say when a Flaw would open or monsters would attack. After she turned a corner on the First Layer and ducked out of sight, he took a long look at the mountains that stretched into the distance.

He’d been back home for a few days, and this time with his sister was one of his most relaxed moments and it let him forget about his work for a bit. Now that she had taken off, however, there were some critical things he needed to get back to. With a flash of silver flames, he teleported away.

*****

A little while later, he was standing in his forge on the peak. He looked out at the western sky and then at the silver column of the forge flame in front of him that towered upward like a beam into the heavens. A piece of rare elemental crystal rotated slowly in the center of the flame.

This was a shard of crystal he’d taken from the Vos’Rekan. It was called a Dimensional Stasis Crystal and it was extremely hard to find. Any mage who studied spatial energy would have seen it as one of their primary treasures and worked for centuries to refine it into a personal artifact that could enhance their magic.

It was created when a piece of regular elemental ore fell into a dimensional crack or was subjected to high-level dimensional forces over time, ones that were just on the verge of destroying it but never quite crossed the line. It took thousands of years for one to form, but once it had, it exuded a natural aura of dimensional energy that was extremely beneficial to the right person, even him.

This one had been stuck just under the Vos’Rekan’s skin, near the surface where void fire constantly bathed it, but it was also protected by the beast’s natural defense against dimensional energy. The combination created an almost perfect environment for it to grow, and as a result its purity was far higher than most other crystals of its type.

This wasn’t the only dimensional crystal he’d found in the chunks of stone from it, but it was the most important one. It shared something of the Vos’Rekan’s Stone alignment, making it durable and able to regenerate over time, which was one reason it was able to survive the void fire. It was a good find that helped to restore some of the destruction the Vos’Rekan had brought.

If word of the crystal got out, it was something that a war would be fought over, and even if he could solve that, he didn’t intend to allow it. Nor did he plan to use it for one of his new artifacts.

Among other things, the crystal was capable of sealing small dimensional cracks over time, as well as augmenting the force of dimensional stabilization enchantments.

Right now, it was the best tonic for the relic. It wouldn’t repair it directly, but he could use it as a stopgap measure with a widespread area enchantment.

That would allow him to extend the crystal’s influence over the local area and relieve some of the burden on the relic, which would speed up the repairs. With another month or two to work, he was confident in extending the relic’s dimensional anchor across the valley and the neighboring two peaks that made up the Ice Sylphs’ core territory.

That would buffer the worst of the convergence here and let him begin scaling up the repairs to the lower layers, which would extend the relic’s influence even farther. If he could bring his other avatars and main body here, and perhaps get more avatars to help, the timeline would drop significantly.

The golem production was also beginning to increase now that the relic had everything it needed to make them. Once more were finished, they would accelerate the timeline further.

He looked down at his hands and chuckled. The only difference between this avatar and his main body was that he had about half of his attributes and a separate aura storage space. Other than that, he had the same abilities and knowledge. It was more like having another arm than a separate body. It also meant he could have his avatars gather auras on their own.

This avatar’s strength was equivalent to someone at about Level 499, or a bit higher if he activated his battle aura, so it was enough for now. There were few things on Aster Fall capable of threatening him.

Spending time with his family was just one of the things he planned on doing with the new capability. The maximum number of avatars he could create right now was three, but his Intelligence was enough to handle six, since he needed to reserve at least one mental division for his main body.

He'd have to upgrade the ability as soon as possible, because he was going to need more of them. He wasn't sure what the limit was, but he planned to find out. Along with building the fortress in the Void and finishing the repairs on the relic, he needed to find Asenya.

That meant traveling into the Seal and dealing with whatever he found there.

Plans for the future ran through his mind as he continued turning the crystal, refining it with precise control as he purified every facet and attuned them to the necessary dimensional frequencies for the enchantment he was working on.

A little while later, he reached into the silver flame and pulled out the crystal. Its surface was a pure, shimmering silver now, similar to the astral flame that had refined it. It was about twenty inches tall and four inches wide in a cylindrical hexagon shape, but its edges seemed to be both sharp and smooth at the same time.

A strong ripple of dimensional energy surrounded it that was easy to see for Sam, but for most people it would have been invisible. It was like a weight on the space around it, pulling dimensional energy toward it and making the space denser and harder than before. If someone tried to grab it without having any control over dimensional energy, their hand would never reach it.

He grabbed the crystal in one hand and walked to the far side of his forge, through the pillars of the entrance that faced the valley. Outside and offset from the forge, in a clear area on Sun Rest’s peak, there was a massive circle of runes laid out on the ground.

The center was a focusing area with an empty slot waiting for the crystal, while the rest of the enchantment spiraled outward in silver and blue runes that warped space with their own innate dimensional energy. At the far edges of the enchantment, lines of silvery greenstone rose up from the control plateau to link into the pattern.

Pulses of the relic’s energy ran through the enchantment, powering it with an intense force that sent tremors through the space near the runes. It was subtle, but a close look showed the vast amount of power contained in the enchantment.

With a calm movement, Sam slotted the dimensional into place at the center of the runes. A quick gesture and a flare of Imbue Aura linked the crystal to the enchantment around it. Waves of dimensional energy began to radiate outward instantly, spreading like thundering rings as they flowed out into the circle.

The dimensional energy was absorbed instantly by the runes, disappearing as it was transferred into the relic’s connection. Through his link with the relic, he could feel the waves still spreading, heading out to the farthest reaches of the mountain along the relic’s transfer lines.

Then, from the broken edges of the enchantments and the edge of the third layer, a ring of dimensional energy exploded outward through the area.

It swept down the lower layers until it covered the hundred miles from one side of the twelfth layer to the other, and then it continued out across the valley and to the surrounding mountain peaks. It reached the far sides of Winter Peak to the south and the Sky’s Descent to the north, as well as past the dwarven fortifications at the entrance of the valley to the east.

Then it stopped.

It was just barely within the 150 mile radius of his senses, and he studied it as he looked down at the control node of the enchantment he’d created, as well as the amount of stress that the crystal was handling. Carefully, he reached down and flicked a finger across a couple of key locations. A trail of silver flame followed his touch as he shifted the runes there.

The ring of energy expanded a little more, covering another five miles or so in every direction, and then it stopped. He could feel the energy from the crystal had reached its limit. Even with the augmentation of the relic to support it, this was as far as the stabilizing force could go.

Still, he was more than satisfied. A dimensional stasis crystal was a wonderful thing, but it wasn’t a replacement for the relic. Its influence was covering the valley and the relic now, so even if the Dimensional Convergence broke open with massive spatial rifts, the lands here should be fine.

He spent a while adjusting the enchantment to stabilize it at the strongest output, and after double checking it a few more times, he nodded in approval. It would be enough for now. The relic’s dimensional anchor effect was magnitudes stronger than this crystal, but this would buy him a little time.

A sense of relief accompanied him as he walked to the edge of the plateau and looked into the valley below. The sun was behind the peak and the land was edging toward the dusk of an early evening, sending long shadows across the fields that stretched across the interior.

At the corner of his mind, there was a series of notifications waiting from the World Core that he’d been ignoring until now, ones that came from dealing with the Vos’Rekan. For whatever reason, he’d wanted to settle the crystal into place before he dealt with them, like he was hoping that it would make everything hold still and let him finish his work before anything else came up.

Now that he had a moment, he turned his attention to them. There was no difference in receiving the notification with his avatar or his main body. His avatar was part of him, and there was a connection with the main body that was timeless and unbothered by dimensional distance. Whatever happened to one was reflected in the other, so if an avatar gained experience, it would automatically be directed to the main body.

As soon as the notification rang out in his mind, a massive whirlpool of energy began to gather around him and the surrounding peak. Its winds were a fierce tempest of experience and intense pressure that battered the area in a howling gale.

Lord of Silver Stars, you have defended Aster Fall from invasion and prevented its destruction.

The Vos’Rekan have attacked the world 14 times in the last 200,000 years. Only 3 of those attacks were successfully repelled, including yours. The other 11 attacks resulted in damage to the World Core before they could be driven away.

Congratulations, Lord of Silver Stars. You are granted 10 Levels of Class and General experience.

You are now Level 370.

You gain 100 Strength, 100 Constitution, 50 Agility, 50 Wisdom, 500 Intelligence, 500 Aura, 200 Charisma, and have 20 free attribute points to assign.

Ten levels when he was approaching Aster Fall’s World Limit was a massive amount of experience, and probably the maximum bonus that the World Core could assign at once. He hadn’t earned any experience from the Vos’Rekan, but he had received essence. This balanced it out and pushed him closer to the Level 399 limit.

Once he reached it, he might have to try and create a modified avatar that was limited to Third Evolution abilities or figure out something else so that he could stay here, but that was for the future. The World Core’s announcements weren’t done yet.

As High Artificer of Aster Fall, your connection to the World Core exceeds the system of Marks. Instead, you are granted an additional use of the Trait: World Core’s Favor.

You may now make two requests of the World Core. If your request is suitable, it will be granted.

You also gain the Command Trait: Voice of Law.

[Voice of Law is a special Trait that grants the bearer the right to speak with the World Core’s authority in an area, making announcements anywhere on Aster Fall, including across regions or the entire world. As long as the declaration does not contradict the primary rules of the World Core or damage it, it will be upheld as a Verdict of Law.

This Trait includes the ability to grant quests, as well as to assign experience rewards, Marks, and Titles, as well as to impose similar penalties, including stripping Titles or exiling individuals from civilized races. Traits can be suggested as rewards, but they will need to be approved by the World Core and will be assigned based on the target’s compatibility.]

For your efforts, you are granted the right to advance two Abilities or Skills to Heroic. Heroic is a tier that exceeds the normal realm of abilities. Holding Heroic-tier abilities is guaranteed to grant additional options for Evolution.

Choose wisely.

Make your choices now.

As the World Core’s attention pressed down on the peak around him, Sam looked up to where the first stars of the evening would appear. In the distance, Silverguard’s location shone in his mind.

He hadn’t expected to earn Heroic rewards from this. The higher the level, the harder it was for the World Core to grant this type of increase. The cost of each Heroic ability was probably more than the ten levels of experience.

His mood was mixed with excitement as the opportunity tossed his careful plan to level Avatar of the Stars into the air like a child’s toy. It wasn’t difficult to choose it as an ability to upgrade. The World Core’s reward was best used on new abilities, and that one burned in his mind as he put it forward for the first choice.

The second ability was harder to decide.

He had a lot of core abilities that were still at Epic. In fact, most of them were, including Astral Strike and Essence Shield, Aura Regeneration, Astral Fire, Spell Forging, and all the rest. Only 5 out of 24 of his main abilities were at Heroic.

He had three Heroic crafting abilities, as well as some innate abilities like Essence Control, Rune Formation, and Analyze that had reached that tier, but those were in a separate category. This reward needed to be spent on his main ones.

Besides Avatar of the Stars, the lowest of his abilities was Astral Binding at Basic, which he’d only used in small ways. It was one of his top choices, since with Avatar of the Stars, that would maximize his Third Evolution abilities and set the path for an even better Fourth Evolution.

If he chose that, however, he’d be ignoring his main offensive ability in Astral Strike, the defensive ability of Essence Shield, and many other utility options. Those two were key abilities, as was his racial Aura of Astral Flame, which boosted all of his other abilities, both offensive and crafting, and Astral Focus, which defined the range of his aura senses, scanning, and teleportation.

He wished he had twenty more of these rewards to use, but he didn’t. It wasn’t that easy to get something to Heroic.

After a great deal of deliberation, he placed Aura of Astral Flame as the second choice, and then he looked at it before he made the final decision.

Astral Strike and Essence Shield were tempting, but the vast majority of his attacks and defense these days came from his artifacts, which stored far more power that was readily accessible than he could hold. In terms of burst damage and quality, it would be wonderful to push them to that level immediately, but it could wait.

Aura of Astral Flame was a core ability for all his other abilities and if it went to Heroic, it would help him to increase the tier for everything else over time. Strategically, it was the best choice.

With enough time, he could get the rest to Heroic on his own. Aura of Astral Flame would act like a guide pulling them in that direction. It would be faster than before, but it would still take a lot of battles and time.

As for Astral Binding, he would level it up on his own. He had enough abilities at Heroic already that it shouldn’t make a difference to his next Evolution.

He was taking the long view, but it would pay off in the end.

With his choices made, he nodded and the whirlpool of power around the peak swept down into him, thundering through his body. All around him, an aura of burning silver flames and bright silver stars spread outward, covering the peak and then moving outward in a great wave of essence.

To those in the valley, it looked like a vast, starry sky had been born from the mountain, as if the Void had suddenly descended to Aster Fall. Each shining point of light burned brilliantly, and between them, the silver flame of his forge soared upward like a pillar into the night.