Chapter 320 - Magnificent mind (Patreon)

Unsurprisingly, we are let in.

Unsurprisingly, they seem to be pissed off.

Unsurprisingly, the duplicate doesn't care.

With amusement, I watch as he bathes in the looks the Butler gives him, as well as the Housekeeper´s who has joined up.

Both of us are escorted through the Bastion the shortest way towards the room where we did meet the two of them for the first time. Getting there, we still find it in ruins, a result of my and the Housekeeper's short clash.

The tall and thin Armorer as well as the shorter Gardener already wait there.

"We have only half a day until the barrier and the rest of the systems will be without any mana," the Armorer says in his quiet, whispering voice.

With Vega in his arms, the duplicate just shrugs, and even I want to punch his face for some reason. My minion also seems to be enjoying it. She is half-demon, isn't she? Such a show of arrogance and power must be something she would appreciate.

Indeed, I'm the most normal one here.

While they talk, I plop down and watch them curiously. All four of the natives seem to hold themselves back, but there is a hint of panic.

"There is no way it's that easy to transfer so much mana, it would tear you apart," the Armorer complains after he hears about Plan B.

"It's fine, we have nice skills, and we will work together with that lazy asshole over there," the duplicate answers.

So rude.

"Even then, it will take me hours and hours of preparations to make it all work. You have no idea how many settings need to be changed. I will also need a sample of mana from the core you mentioned."

"Sure," the duplicate reaches into the anchor we have placed on one of the least damaged circuits.

Unable to contain it fully for a short moment, a wave-like amount of mana explodes from him, even pushing the Armorer a few steps back.

I reach out and resonate with him, and together we close the anchor.

Cursing under his breath, the Armorer gestures to the Butler, and through one rift, both of them disappear to make preparations.

Staying alone with the two remaining members of their small group, I find the Housekeeper standing in front of me. She is smiling, but her eyes are dangerous. Even now, she is still wearing a light dress with a skirt that ends a bit over her knees, her shoulders revealed.

"I like the rapier you have; will you gift it to me?" she asks shamelessly.

"It's a gift from someone very precious to me. I don't know if I can just…" I start before the cuts me off. She just reaches and takes it off my belt.

For some reason, I find it very funny, especially as she starts checking the weapon for any sort of damage and even starts cleaning it.

The Butler appears again, and the duplicate follows him, together with Vega, to whom I gesture it's okay, and the Gardener.

Being left alone with the Housekeeper we spend the next two hours in silence. I can feel her gaze on me, but I just continue to practice. 

When I feel a sharp pulse of mana wash over the Bastion we stand up and head back towards the city walls. Neither of us is talking, even as we finally reach the place at the top of one of the higher walls. There, in the distance, two Veil Guardians stand, looking towards the Bastion.

"They have followed you," the Housekeeper blames me.

"Probably," I agree.

"I can call the Butler for support, and we can…"

“They already connected to the Veil.”

“That's not very good.”

“I agree.” I leave a tiny orb and anchor near her, “If they move closer, just destroy the orb, and I will be back.”

After that, I teleport a few times after finding where the duplicate and the Armorer went. Two of them, Vega, and the Butler are there as well, all of them together in the room with the core.

When I enter and reach the core, the Lord's body is already gone, now useless. Instead, the duplicate and Armorer are having a discussion.

“It won't work, the core of this Skyhold Bastion is standard one, only partially adjusted to our needs over time. The amount of mana it can contain is measured in…” the Armorer says in his calm, whispering voice.

“It will be fine, I'm good with inscriptions.”

“Your inscriptions are far from adequate. I can already point out five twists and three wasteful lines on the ones you inscribed.”

“Hey, if it works, it works.”

While they discuss, Vega moves closer to me, keeping her distance from others, “Master, they like us even less than before,” she says somewhat happily.

“How does it feel for you?” I ask her with some curiosity.

“They hate master and uncle, but they still cooperate and also are scared. Because master is stronger than them.”

“Is being stronger that important?”

“Yes. It's the best!”

My disciple indeed, “Good job, minion!”

“What did I do?” she asks confused, but I'm already next to the Armorer and the duplicate.

“We have two Veil Guardians outside of the Bastion, and they are already connected to the Veil,” I tell them.

The Armorer turns to me, “Standard procedure. They used to be powerful humans turned by the Veil into what they are now. The Veil Guardians' main objective is to locate places like Skyhold Bastion or strong survivors and then pass that information along.”

“So, not good?”

“Yes, Mister Gwyn, not good.”

“Hey, original weirdo, help me over here with inscriptions. That scrawny man is too scared to do anything.”

Immediately the Armorer complains, “I have to say it again, but the way you are using inscriptions is extremely primitive and taxing on both the material and the user.”

“Hey, if it works, it works,” I say to him and join Vega's uncle.

It takes a few seconds, but it's enough for me to grasp what he is doing, and ignoring the rest of the room, I join in. My mana resonates together with his, and we etch and paint inscriptions on the floor around the core and the core itself. Together we create another anchor and use [Tether] to gradually connect the two of them.

At this point, I activate Mana Wavelength Iris and take over, my new passive allowing me to handle more strain than my duplicate.

This time he uses [Resonance] to connect to me, and we combine our [Mana Domain], using [Infusion] and [Mana Manipulation] to handle it all.

Lastly, I put our beloved creation, the single use and ugly Focus crown on my head, and create a black orb of highly compressed mana, both of us keeping it under control.

“Ready?” I ask.

“Go for it.”

[Focus] activates, and I take the black mana into my body, using it to power the skill.

The world feels slowed down as my brain handles all of the information my eyes are giving me, and that's when I activate [Tether] and [Redistribution]. The inscriptions glow radiantly. The ones painted, the ones etched, and a trickle of the mana from the Veil Ignition Station's core flows through my skills. And slowly, I increase the opening, allowing more and more mana to pass through.

Quickly, the amount becomes a powerful stream that I'm trying to keep under control. The duplicate is helping me while activating inscriptions and quickly adjusting what we did wrongly, and even the Armorer and the Butler are doing something in the background.

And like that the core of the Bastion lights up, more and more mana filling it, the audible hum sounding in the room.

It's easy.

It's so damn easy with the help of all the preparations and the duplicate´s cooperation, so in excitement, I widen the opening, and like a wave, much more mana flows through. The process speeds up even more.

Yet still, it's not difficult. I'm using so many skills, I'm handling black mana, I'm handling my eyes. I'm even making sure Vega is not in danger. Even then, it's possible with black mana powering my [Focus].

The world feels slow, I have plenty of time to react every time something breaks or cracks. And my inexperience is supported by my ability to improvise and halve it all while we are fixing it.

Should I let even more mana flow through?

“Enough!”

Should I open the pathway wide open and let the entirety of the core fill up this core? It could be fun.

“Stop!”

I bet I could handle it. The Bastion might break, and its core might be damaged. But I could do it. I can handle that amount of mana flowing through.

“That's enough,” the duplicate disrupts my skills and by force pulls me away from the core, and only then do I come back to my senses. All the sounds my skill allowed me to ignore come rushing in and with them, useless information like the state of my body, pain, and such useless things.

The black mana disappears, and my passive activates, fed by the Vortex core, and taking a few steps, I plop down on one of the tables. My body hurts, my head hurts, and I realize I can't see. But my mind is fine. Either thanks to the new passive or results of our training.

“Close your eyelids; your eyes are burned off. You don't want Vega to see you like this,” the duplicate says, and then I can sense him moving towards Vega and pulling her somewhere else.

I do as he told me and use more thermal energy from the Vortex core. Then I examine the damage.

Damn.

Well, it could be worse.

“How are you capable of channeling so much mana? You should be dead, reduced to burned pathways and a charred body,” the Armorer says in his quiet voice.

I can hear an interest in it, maybe even curiosity.

He continues, “You bear a magnificent mind to handle it all effortlessly. Your body is extremely conductive too, and your eyes... it's long since I saw such a powerful trait. Is it strengthened already? Once, twice?”

Sensing his presence with [Perception], I release a bit of kinetic energy and push him further away from me.

“So, how is the core?” I ask.

“Full to the brim,” he doesn't seem to mind but I still feel his gaze on me. “I already started the sequence to take off, and the Butler went to use communication systems to warn the citizens.”

“Flying already?”

“Yes, in the past few days, the Veil has become much more active in this area, and two Veil Guardians outside are bad news. We have to leave. But I want to show you something first. Can you transport both of us to where the Housekeeper is?”

Feeling thermal energy healing my wounds and making sure Vega is with the duplicate, I push myself off the table and onto my feet.

I almost stagger but I'm able to control my battered body and keep myself standing still.

The duplicate seems to be in a similar, but a bit better state than me, so there is no way I will be acting all hurt while that weirdo is looking.

Pushing through, I put my hand on the Armorer and teleport us to the anchor I left on the wall. Appearing on the other side, a sharp pain flashes through my head, and with my eyes still closed, I turn towards the direction where the Housekeeper is standing.

“Fuck, you look like shit. I like that,” she says immediately.

“Housekeeper, please, your language,” the Armorer says in a quiet voice.

“Fuck you too. We are in full attention, and there will be a lot of fighting fairly soon. You know what that means. I'm taking over.”

“All of us know the rules, Housekeeper.”

“Good, do we have enough juice to deal with these two jerks?”

“More than enough.”

I'm still unable to see. It seems that because of my trait, my eyes are taking longer to heal than they would be if I didn't have a Mana Wavelength iris. But I can use my other senses, and at that moment, I feel the immense mana rush into the barrier and around the walls.

It spins, it twists, it hums, and I feel multiple segments of the barrier grouping up and creating a delicate shape that collects and directs all of that mana. That mana spins there, bounces, and clashes multiple threads against each other. All of that concentrates it even more, and the spinning circle of it gains even more speed.

At this point, the noise of it reminds me of a sling spinning at terrifying speed.

Out of the rift, the Butler appears and stands by my side.

“Focus on the one on the left,” the Housekeeper orders the Armorer who controls the barrier. “Butler, I want you to get there and grab the voidsteel blades afterward.”

There is no hesitation in her voice, and it seems to be well placed. The ray that the segments of the barrier shoot roars through the air as if it's tearing it apart. In a split second, the ray is gone, hitting its target.

The Butler disappears, and a second later, he appears back, and I can sense two red-hot, yet undamaged blades made of voidsteel on him.

“The second one has escaped,” the Armorer says.

“We expected that much. Continue preparations to lift off. We will head to the Sanctuary and then further south,” the Housekeeper orders.

Well, it looks like I will see what happened to Darren and Nina in the end.

However, and more importantly, let's observe how this thing flies.

***

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