Chapter 439 - Thylarin brothers (Patreon)

The guides cannot tell me anything about how to control Deathrap nor how to use the control panel. Even getting access is difficult and just looking into it I have to go around, wasting time and mana.

It's just that access to the controls won’t be granted to just anyone, and guides seem to bear some kind of mark. A mark that makes it easier for them to control the flying trainship thing and it also doesn't allow them to do certain things. Otherwise, they go kaboom.

What comes to mind is someone with a skill similar to Sophie’s doing that, but at the same time, these marks the guides have feel more restricted in what they can do. Sophie, on the other hand, should be able to do more given some time.

Even so, while guide no. 1 and no. 2 take care of defenses and mana usage at the right places such as engines, fields, navigation, stabilizers, and other stuff, I try to learn as much as possible about the controls.

I've done more difficult things so it's doable. I also have plenty of blueprints on the mana stones from various floors that I carry with me and like to examine before falling asleep.

Shortly, the guides can screw off. I’m sure if I split my mind into a few parts with [Focus] I should be able to control this rusty thing on my own.

I can just [Infusion] myself in, I can [Resonance] at the right times and then use my eyes and [Mana Manipulation]. Easy as that.

Even so, I let them handle it for a while and teleport back into our room where the rest of group 4 currently is with a few leaders of other more powerful groups.

Tess, Sophie, and Izzy seem to be busy talking to the blue guys so I head towards the corpse of the marauder. Lily is there as well, poking it and probing.

“Was it strong?” I ask her somewhat quietly. I don't want to bring attention to myself.

“It cut me in half, here,” she gestures horizontally from one side of her waist to the other. A part of her shirt is missing, a piece of her belly poking through.

Even talking about being cut in half, Lily is smiling, “It didn’t even use mana so its stats must be great and its body parts are very strong to damage me that much. You know, I already messed with my bones a bit and it still cut through.” She shakes her head.

Yeah, typical Group 4 behavior.

“How did it use these mental attacks?” I ask.

“We don't know. Twins think it might be some sort of hypnosis that doesn't rely on mana, Sophie theorizes it was some gas we couldn't see or smell. Kim had a theory it was something like primordial energy as they don't seem to affect the sand. There also might be some other stuff that is like that.”

“Do you think it was a pet of one of the guides?” I also poke the body with my finger. It feels to the touch like glass but slightly warm and very tough.

“Izzy thinks so,” Lily nods. “We also got some information from the groups that colluded with them and all of them have different information. Some were promised great positions in the central region, others some great items, some were told we’d head to a place we can use to escape this moon.”

“So just pawns to be thrown away if needed and only our two blue friends might know something.”

“Yes.”

“They know something but so far refuse to talk. They want to strike a deal,” Sophie joins us with a sigh. She seems to be tired. “I couldn't get much from them, they have good mental defenses and they set some traps so if I push more they will die.”

“They shouldn’t have any mana,” I note.

“Yes. They shouldn’t. Yet they have. I'm almost sure they didn't have any when you brought them back so maybe it is some passive that got them a little bit of mana they used to set these traps in their minds. Maybe it's some trait that makes them resistant against mental attacks and some traits might not need mana to operate.”

“That sucks. In a few hours we will hit the storm and the guides can't change the trajectory. Even if they could it's too late.” I poke the corpse of the marauder one more time and stand up.

“Yes, I got passed the information. Did you see the new side quest?”

Huh?

I open the notifications right away and it is there.

Side quest: Survive

Reward:
???
Beyond 3-day stay token

Objective: survive. Oh how I missed this kind of quest.

***

After that the room becomes too rowdy as some of the leaders start screaming at the two blue guys who laugh in their faces. The guy with the Dawnslayer class is quiet unlike most of them and from seeing his expression and behavior so far I guess he has a concentration type of skill.

I watch as Tess literally kicks out a few guys and when she zaps a few more the room becomes quiet.

She doesn't even seem to be that angry, just as if she dealt with an annoying kid, spanked their butt and then stood there while the kid started sobbing quietly. That's how this looks like to me.

I leave the room and walk through the hallway that is getting full of people pushing closer wanting some information. Some start asking me right away. Ignoring it all I just walk through and when some especially annoying vyssari jumps into my way, threatening, I kick him away where he crashes against the rusty wall. One of his friends gets blasted away with a weak burst of kinetic energy.

It feels a bit awkward as these guys are quite short, almost like kids. Kids with beards and raspy voices.

Deathtrap keeps flying, tilted to the side slightly, even noisier than before because of the huge hole in the wall.

As I pass by it there is one of the guides, directing a few groups that carry huge metal plates and start stacking them against some makeshift construction they build around the hole.

The guide doesn’t have his mask either and is profusely sweating and cursing every time they do something wrong. He seems to be trying to connect the plates to set them into the web of inscriptions so they can power them and save some mana. I know he doesn't have much time as he can leave the control room only once in a while.

What comes to mind is if there shouldn't be someone strong protecting him. Sure it might seem like we got all the perpetrators but what if there is one more?

In the end I ignore that and just leave a a message though the link I was added into. I'm sure Tess will deal with it. In the worst case I will control the ship myself.

Reaching the backup core room I meet the vyssari there, Ashenfoot Shaman class guy. He is moving around, poking control panels and also examining what I did to the core and my anchor I left there.

I check it quickly and he doesn't seem to have made any changes but he seems to be annoyed as he senses me checking it.

“You have made this wrong,” he points out one set of inscriptions.

“On purpose. It uses less mana that way.”

“But you totally ignored or skipped the supporting set of inscriptions that would concentrate that mana better. You are also missing a failsafe or quick removal set.”

“I don't know what that is.”

“You what?”

“I don't care about these fancy stuff, but if you have them noted down somewhere you can give them to me. It’s the least you can do for all the work I'm doing to keep this thing floating.”

“Crazy human, one day you will blow something up.”

“For the most part that's the goal,” I shrug and then wave my hand at him, shooing him away.

While he watches I then do some smaller changes. No such fancy things as failsafes or supporting whatever. Just increasing the stability of my anchor and making it more resistant.

I still dislike how these two blue boys messed with my anchor before.

***

Two hours later it's Tess who visits me down there.

She glances at the vyssari guy who sits there in the corner, watching me work, and then ignores him.

“We made a deal with those two. Lily restored their bodies and I gave them my word we won’t kill them if they don't give me a good reason to. Can I rely on you to help me keep my word?”

“Yup, no problem here.”

“Thank you Nat. They want you to be there when they start talking.”

“I just started getting into fun stuff. Did you know this rusty thing used to be able to do a flip? There is a ‘switch’ for that.”

“What for?” Tess seems to share my confusion.

“No idea but it's interesting it could do it. It also used to have weapons but they are long gone now. If I'm correct there is also a button to make it drop all its plating.”

“Wouldn't that make us nearly defenseless against the sand? If I remember correctly these plates are generating the field.”

“Exactly! I also started helping with controls and I'm in charge of proper mana redistribution. I remember laughing at them, but this ship is terribly optimized, there is barely any automation and I think it's made that way on purpose.”

“I hate to interrupt you, but…”

“Got it, got it.” Getting away, I turn to the vyssari guy and remind him, “Don't break anything.”

He shows me some weird gesture I do not recognize.

Maybe their race’s version of the middle finger?

As before, the ship’s hallways are full of people from three different races, but this time they just let us pass. The crownz over my and Tess’ heads are quite memorable and make it easy to identify us. Like that we reach the door into our room with some defenses set nearby and a few groups under the control of a man in black chainmail standing there. Sophie, sensing our presence, lifts up some defenses and we enter inside.

As before group 4 is there, a few group leaders I didn’t bother to remember so far and the two blue guys.

[Manabreaker - lvl ??]

[Manashroud Shaper - lvl ??]

Not gonna lie, I liked their class names before and still do. They seem to be a bit more civilized than the rest of the heretics.

Currently with all their limbs restored they stand there surrounded by others, yet they don't seem too worried, they are even smiling.

On the other hand, Lily has much shorter hair now, and while I can't see it at the moment, I think she also sacrificed a body part for more mana. She likely used [Sacrifice] a bit more to keep her mana topped up in case she needs it.

“I'm Dravos and this is my brother Drekar, what's your name, crazy human?” One of the blue ones introduces himself; they both look nearly identical to each other.

“Does it matter? Just tell me what you want.”

“I thought we’d show some respect to each other. As individuals who walk on the path of mana.”

“Sure. So how did you mess with my anchor?”

Someone from the people around us mumbles, “We do not have time to…” but gets interrupted by Biscuit who woofs at him. That makes the man shut up immediately and the way he looks at Biscuit seems to be full of fear.

Dravos lifts one hand and flicks his fingers, bringing my attention back to him, “Your anchor operates on a fixed frequency within your mana spectrum, tethered directly to your being. All it takes is a bit of tuning - altering the mana surrounding it to interfere with that frequency.”

Another hand gestures to his brother, Drekar, who nods. “We attuned the surrounding mana flow to dampen the anchor’s resonance. Not enough to destroy it, you would sense that, but enough to disrupt the connection. A subtle shift in the phase alignment, and poof... a nice surprise for you.”

Dravos grins, his eyes glinting with amusement. “Of course, it’s much harder when dealing with someone skilled like you, crazy human. But we couldn’t resist the challenge.”

“So you just disrupted it slightly without breaking it.”

“Crazy human, it's not that simple.”

“But that's what you did, right?”

“Yes, but…”

“Got it. So what did you want to say?”

The two brothers look at each other, still confident as before.

“We want to live, obviously,” Dravos says.

Drekar nods and says, “Dying in this shithole isn’t part of our plan, and your group seems to be the one in charge.”

“So we have an offer for you.” Smoothly following his brother’s words, Dravos joins in.

“Just say it.” I challenge them.

“So impatient.”

“We also used to be like that, brother.”

“Not as much.”

“Yes, not as much, but we can understand.”

“Yes, we can,” Dravos turns back to me with a big smile, “This place is called Mana Desert. Do you know what it serves for?”

“No,” I answer honestly. I have ideas, but nothing I would be sure of.

His brother spreads all four of his arms wide and announces theatrically, “There are five special Containment Arenas within the Astral Prison. Each one is different, and each serves to restrain a powerful being.”

Dravos continues, “Solitary confinement cell, that’s what Mana Desert is and we are currently heading towards the Champion it holds.”

***

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