Legacy of the M'Zee Chapter 35 (Patreon)

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

And that's all folks. Draft 1 done. Still a lot to fix, and I'm going to try to power through it over the next two weeks. If I'm not done by the 11th, I'll probably take vacation from the day job to finish up. 

Thank you for all your feedback! I can't wait to get to the next draft and have y'all see how this turns out.

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

That last blast did something, I thought as I drifted in my center. I felt complete, whole in a way that I hadn’t since the Dungeon. I never noticed that feeling of alienness from my Core, so much else was going on. Now that it’s gone, though, it’s amazing. My Core was now a sliver bigger than it had been, the final compression of my Aether creating a new layer of crystal over the Seed Core. The ultimate challenge of the Tribulation had blasted through it, merging and converting the Core to be mine, and giving me greater control of its Essence absorbing capabilities. All of the Essence that had been stored in it was gone, though, used to enhance and strengthen my body, mind, and center during my advancement.

“Take this,” Librarian Narwan said, appearing at my side and pushing a pill into my mouth.

I tried to reach up and stop him, but my limbs refused to move. A quick scan of my body left me gasping in pain, as the hundreds of burns, cuts, and other injuries made themselves known. The pill dissolved into my mouth, and a rush of Wood, Water, and some other green Aethers flooded out of it. Within seconds, I went from barely able to function to, maybe, fifty percent capability. “Don’t try to stand yet,” Librarian Narwan said. “Wait for my return. I must check on your teammates.”

“What!” I yelled, but he was gone. “Light and Darkness! Blast, burn, cut it.” I cursed for a bit, only to feel Sia’s chuckle in my head. I turned to glare at the giant bird.

“They are okay. Well, as okay as you are,” Sia told me. “Zimnodlot is close enough that I can speak with him, and he relayed Lampart and Kami’s report on Vaya and Bridget. They also suffered Tribulation upon advancement.”

“I thought we wouldn’t have to undergo a Tribulation until we tried to advance to Perfect Core?” I asked.

“In Craesti, the advancement from Complete to Perfect Core requires Tribulation to perfect the Core and open your Soul space. Something similar happened here, I think,” Sia said. “You had a Core that was not yours, and tried to add to it. The world challenged you, and in so doing made it resonate with your Aether more completely. You will still need another Tribulation at Complete Core.”

“Well, that stinks,” I said. I paused, looking at my center, “Wow. I’m passively pulling in ten times as much Aether as I was in the Tower. That’s ridiculous.”

“You advanced to Core. Think of the strength difference between a Condensation gatherer and a Gathering one, then multiply that by one hundred. That is how much your power grew, at least,” Sia paused for a second. “Since you already had a Core, I do not know how that would have affected your growth.”

“The Tribulation advanced all of my tempering,” I said. “I’m now at about the third level of tempering for everything but Lightning and Fire, which are nearly the fourth. It sucked, but so did normal tempering, and I’d much rather triple the suck for a tenth the time!” I laughed, then groaned as I clutched my gut. “I should try and heal a bit.”

Sia shrank down and hopped onto my arm, and then I started to gather. The Dual Runic Spiral Technique clicked together without any effort, and an absolute gusher of Aether exploded into me. It filled my center quickly, then sank into my Core and vanished. “Uh,” I said, then tried to channel it out. It reappeared without effort, and I suddenly knew exactly how empty my Core was.

“Keep gathering. You need to fill your Core completely,” Sia told me, helping to hold the gathering technique while I was shocked silly from the sensation of emptiness.

“Got it,” I said, then pulled on my technique. After a few minutes, I no longer felt like there was a black hole in my chest, but I was still only at five percent of my new capacity.

“I bet I can get a third Runic Spiral going now,” I told myself. I shrank the middle Spiral, pulling it higher to be centered on my mid-chest gathering meridian, then tried to put together a third over my tailbone. The runes tried to disperse, fighting against my control, but the new finesse I had received from the second Geist tempering and the power of Seed Core crushed every bit of resistance. In less than five minutes, I’d created the Triple Runic Spiral Technique, and increased my gathering speed by another thirty percent.

“Well, not quite what I wanted from that,” I informed Sia, “since all three of the Spirals are cannibalizing a lot of Aether from the other two, but it’s still probably twice as good as the single Runic Spiral Technique.”

“Any improvement is a good improvement,” Sia said. “But you might be able to create a corridor of Aether from farther away now. Your radius of control of Aether should have increased massively.”

“Whoa,” I told him mentally, “I never thought about doing that. Huh, let me see.” I reached out and grabbed the runes, then started to push them outward. My control didn’t waver, and they smoothly floated away from me. After a meter, the Aether started to disperse before reaching me, so I added another gather rune, and ended up creating a string of nine runes before I started to have some issues holding them together. “Ten meters,” I said aloud. “And that doubled my gathering speed again. That’s awesome!”

“Just realize, you will have to add a hundred layers to your Core to reach Foundation Core, and then two hundred more for Constructed, then five hundred beyond that for Complete Core. Minimum,” Sia told me.

My bubble burst, “How much Aether is needed for another layer?” I asked.

“I do not know,” Sia said. “You will have to fill your Core completely. After that, you will fill your center and meridians to bursting with the densest Aether you can gather, until you are extremely uncomfortable, and then you will have to push all of that Aether out of your Core at the same time you condense every other bit while pulling in a significant amount of Aether from your surroundings. Each layer will take more Aether, as your Core will be able to store more, and you have to fill it before you can fill your center.”

“Well, that sounds like a lot,” I said.

“You have already advanced to Seed Core faster than anyone I have ever heard of,” Sia said, “So I expect it will only take you a few years to make it through the stages of Core.”

“A few years!” I exclaimed. “I’ve been gathering for only about a year. You really think it will take multiple times how long I’ve gathered already to make it to Perfect Core?”

“Yes, and that will be a record. By the time the next International Tournament of Champions occurs, you will be beyond any of your peers and will probably be asked to not compete, because it would not be fair to anyone else.”

“Will Vaya, Jon, and Bridget be the same?” I asked.

“Yes,” Sia responded. “You four were the only ones to advance from the pill you took. Your Cores gave you a bonus that advanced you faster than expected. Your other friends and lover are most likely very close to advancing, but they will require additional assistance to create their Seed Core in the next month. If they do not receive help, probably four months to fully advance. That is still unprecedented. The Tower of Trials was beyond worthwhile for you, and will be so for everyone from now on. Your ability to translate everything has opened a new resource for all of the nations around us.”

“Oh,” I thought, then said aloud, “Remind me to give the plans for the stabilized portal to Librarian Narwan or Sultah Aleahil.”

“Stabilized portal?” Sultah Aleahil asked. The cat person was standing over me with no indication of travel, just appearing there. “No, do not get up. Master Narwan informed me of your injuries. How did you get plans for a portal? From whom did you receive them?”

“Yes, sir,” I said, staying laying down. “Uh. Has anyone else come out of the Territory?”

“Yes, but all of them have been in need of rest. We have not debriefed anyone.”

“Uh, okay,” I said. “I was able to understand the voice that speaks when someone enters the Territory, and …” I described what happened, how we explored the area, the history location we discovered, and the Tower and Spirit. I went over my Trials and the rewards others received, then gestured at my bag. “In there is a document detailing how to rebuild the portal that used to connect to the Territory.”

“I would very much like to speak to this Spirit,” Sultah Aleahil said. “But, alas, it will not happen. To learn about the history of the Territory, about the M’Zee and the makers of the ruins we built upon.”

“Yes, sir,” I said. “Though I am very worried about the Illyrians. Knowing that Chaos Beasts like they summoned here were used before to destroy a civilization.”

“We will prevail,” Sultah Aleahil said. “The M’Zee were alone. There are four kingdoms united now. The fight may not be easy, but we will win. Especially if you have received knowledge that can enhance our fighting capability.”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I haven’t had a chance to go through the knowledge stones yet.”

“Take your time,” he told me. “A few days will not change the course of this war. Rest and recover. Do not over stress yourself.”

“That is good advice,” Librarian Narwan said.

Knight Kaminski stepped out next to him, then crouched beside me. A scan of Aether went through me. I could stop it, I thought, not that I’d want to, but I could. That’s …, how much has my strength grown?

The Aether scan turned into a healing technique that wrapped around a few of my bones, smoothing away the cracks in my ribs, right hip, and left arm. I still had a hundred other problems, but those were the major ones that didn’t heal with the pill. “You should be able to stand now,” she explained. “Do NOT do anything stressful or push your physical capabilities at all. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Knight Kaminski,” I said meekly. I slowly sat up, my abs lifting my torso with no stain at all. I carefully shifted my legs to stand straight up. A couple twinges of pain shot through my left thigh, but I was able to get to my feet. I stepped forward, Knight Kaminski watching me like a hawk, and then smiled at her. “I can walk slowly.”

“Good. Come on,” she said, then looked over at Librarian Narwan. He rolled his eyes, but a platform of Air appeared in front of me. I got on and sat down, my backpack floating over to land beside me. Knight Kaminski got on behind me, and then we blurred out over the forest.

One minute later, we reached another clearing. Vaya lay still in the center of an identical Inscription to the one I just left, Lampart just beside her. I would have panicked and ran to her if I couldn’t tell she was just resting. Knight Kaminski still leapt over me and moved to her side. I watched anxiously for a few minutes, tracking the healing Aether as it flowed through Vaya, then grinned as she carefully got up. I could feel her aura, the power she radiated as a Seed Core level gatherer.

“You advanced!” I yelled out.

“Only a few minutes behind you,” she said softly, but I was able to hear her clearly from across the clearing.

“That’s still the second fastest in the history of Craesti!”

She just laughed, shaking her head, then limped over to the air platform and sat next to me.

Sia winged over the clearing, then shrank and landed to my other side. “Master Narwan is faster than I am. Leaving me behind was not kind,” Sia said. I felt the glare he was giving me.

“Sorry,” I said contritely.

He clacked his beak, then sighed and leaned into my side. “I am glad you are okay. You continue to surprise me, and I am now stronger than I have ever been. I do not regret Bonding you.”

“Thanks,” I told him. The air car of Aether zoomed off to collect Jon and then Bridget. It expanded each time, letting them sit comfortably together. Once they were on board, we shot off towards the city.

“Not teleporting?” Jon asked.

“I do not believe using a transport Inscription in your condition is a worthwhile risk,” Librarian Narwan said. “So we will take the slow way back.”

“Okay, sir,” Jon said.

I laughed, then leaned back. Within seconds, I was out.

I woke up in my bed at the inn, and just lay there for a bit, enjoying the feeling of sleeping on a super comfortable bed. Finally, after ten minutes or so, I forced myself out of bed. “Finally,” Sia said as soon as my feet hit the ground.

“Hey, that’s a comfy bed,” I laughed back at him.

“Master Narwan is waiting for you in the dining area,” Sia told me. “And now that you are awake, I am going to sleep.”

“Sleep well, my friend,” I said. I looked down, then shrugged. I can change later. I slowly made my way down the stairs, my legs shaking with each step. Every shake, though, made the stair crack, my strength too much for the wood to take.

After a few minutes, I made it down, and then limped my way to the dining area. Librarian Narwan was sipping on a cup of tea while reading a bundle of paperwork. “Aiden, please sit,” he said without looking at me. “And take control of your aura. I am shielding the staff, but would like to relax.”

“Uh,” I mumbled, focusing inward. I redoubled the effort I had set up to control my aura, folding it internally and compressing my Aether to prevent it from escaping.

“There you go,” he said. “Now, sit and tell me what happened on your expedition.”

I nodded, collapsing into the chair. The cup of tea in front of me was still steaming. I could see the streamer of Aether that connected it to Librarian Narwan, keeping my tea warm. “Thank you,” I told him, then took a sip. I felt a wave of warmth through me, and I felt like I’d just drank a cup of coffee. I looked at the cup with wide eyes, then took another sip. The warmth repeated, but I didn’t immediately go into a caffeine overload.

“So, speak,” he said.

I nodded, then told him what had occurred. He listened intently, giving me his full attention, then asked questions about the animals and plants I had seen. When I got to the history grotto, he made me go back and describe every single panel to the smallest detail I remembered. He asked me to go over the last two panels a dozen times, making me dive into the tiniest detail I could remember, using Aether to push my memory as best as I could.

When I got to the challenges of the Trials, he had me go over them multiple times. Then he nitpicked every choice I made, and forced me to figure out more ways I could have solved the challenges. “Do you understand where you failed?” He asked.

“Yes sir,” I said. “I could have used the Aether around me more, and used the techniques the stones were using against them. That would have let me get through another cycle before I was trapped. I don’t know that would have changed much, but it would have let me last longer.”

“Good. Always reflect on your successes as much as your failures, and determine how you could have done better. Use every trial as a springboard to further strength, regardless of your position. Now, continue,” Librarian Narwan said.

I sipped my tea, the herbs within working to help me heal a bit more. I nodded, then continued my explanation. Librarian Narwan smiled at me when I described how I volunteered to help my teammates and friends, then laughed aloud when I got to Jamila. He frowned at me for my helplessness during the march with Jon, then nodded at my ability to coordinate with Vaya. “Excellent,” he said once I finished that part of my tale. “That experience will serve your team well. One of the many things to teach you, now that you have created a Core, will be joint techniques. That is for later, though. Finish your report.”

I nodded, then finished with the last challenge, followed by the rewards. I offered to bring them out, but Librarian Narwan shook his head, so I just kept narrating. Finally, I finished with taking the pill, advancing, and then he knew the rest. “This has given me much to think of,” Librarian Narwan said. “But for now, go, celebrate with your friends. The whole city will be having a festival starting tomorrow to celebrate your success. We will remain here for the next week, and then return to Craesti City.”

“We’re not going to the war front?” I asked.

“You do not have the training yet,” Librarian Narwan said. “You will get some during the trip back, but not the full amount. Do not expect to be sent to Illyria for at least a year, unless something goes horribly wrong.”

I nodded while standing up.

Librarian Narwan gave me a grave look, then said, “I am proud of you, my disciple, and look forward to the wonders you will do.”

“Thank you, Master Narwan,” I said, then bowed a full ninety degrees to hide the tears prickling my eyes.

He smiled while standing as well. He then gave me a slight bow, and waved me away.

I turned and walked into the atrium of the inn to find everyone waiting there. The Topraki, the Volk, the Ashkhas, and the Craesti. My friends, my loved ones, my colleagues. As soon as I appeared in the doorway, they began cheering.

TO BE CONTINUED …