[MA] 349. The Forges (Patreon)

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[Chapters this week: 3/3

Next chapter: Probably Wednesday, maybe Tuesday]

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The Healing Ward was a special place in every mobile fortress. It occupied a relatively small area compared to the whole fort but still had a few hundred rooms and could accommodate thousands of Guardians.

It was manned by the rare people whose Paths were related to healing, plus those with Life Laws who chose to learn how to use their Paths that way. They became Specialists who didn't receive any AP for it and rarely, if ever, fought Void Spawn. At least their wages got a significant boost, and the techniques they learned were valued by established civilian forces. A good healer could easily find a strong backing.

Healing any Guardian was straightforward: you only had to remove anything preventing the system's HP regeneration from working. Up to D-rank, Law fragments were the main culprit. However, things became trickier from the moment B-rank Guardians or B-tier phenomena got involved.

B-tier meant things that bypassed or ignored one's passive soul protections. Law fragments did that but were still considered a C-rank injury because any C-rank could deal with them. Souls defended against both energy and non-mastered Laws, but if your body got injured, your soul stopped covering that specific place. Foreign Law fragments could then be attached. Shen had suffered from it before and was D-rank, incapable of combating the Law fragments himself.

Currently, he could help the people he had brought, but they had fought a C-rank with mastered Laws, meaning their souls might've gotten injured and automatically healed. The healers in the Ward would analyze their souls and help them deal with the consequences if needed. If that was the case, it would also be recorded on their files, and they would be closely monitored for a time to ensure their personalities hadn't changed drastically.

Any Brigade Commander was supposed to check their subordinates' souls during and after every deployment. Shen knew each of his subordinates' souls and could compare the before and after. It wasn't as precise as a healer using system records, but it was good enough for most purposes. Any injury that went by unnoticed was too minor and unlikely to cause serious issues. Even so, every Brigade had to be rechecked by the Healing Ward every nine deployments. The ideal would be for it to happen after every deployment, but it was time-consuming, and the military always lacked healers.

The place was divided into five main sections: triage room, regular post-deployment check-up area, quick-fix rooms—yes, that was the official name—long-term care, and everything else.

The triage room was at the entrance. Patients made a line, and a few healers asked what they had and did a quick check. Emergencies could evidently skip the line.

The post-deployment check-up area was meant for what its name implied. The big room could take tens of thousands of people, who stood in ranks while healers went from one person to another. The military claimed they didn't ask the system to do it automatically to train people in those functions and not get too dependent on the system.

The quick-fix rooms were a few dozen small rooms close to the entrance where a healer waited for you. Once there, they quickly diagnosed you, fixed your issue, and you left. Shen understood that modern Earth medicine would call it a clinic.

The long-term care rooms contained meditation pads that made patients float while they underwent prolonged treatment. They and everything else, which included support rooms,  equipment, and research areas, were strictly off-limits. Only patients and Healing Ward personnel could get in.

Those off-limits places presented an obvious hiding place. Shen wasn't surprised to find dozens of groups watching over the corridors leading to the Healing Ward. He also went past three different battles in the general region where the Ward was.

Shen went past the sentries with no trouble. No one waited inside the Ward proper because it was against the rules.

The triage room only had a few dozen patients. Although Guardians were currently fighting throughout the fortress, those affected by Law fragments or B-tier conditions were few and far between. The people in the line were all D-ranks or lower who happened to be at the wrong time and place and got infected with fragments.

Two bored-looking D-rank healers checked whoever got to the first place in the line. They should ask questions, but the Law fragments were so evident that they just pointed the D-ranks to a corridor leading to the quick-fix rooms. An E-rank was waiting at the first crossroads and telling Guardians when to head to one way or another, when a healer in one of the rooms finished treating someone.

A Guardian left just as Shen entered the Ward. He was missing an arm, but it was already regrowing.

Shen unceremoniously dropped the seven people he had brought with him on the ground, filled his throat and lungs with qi, and shouted, "I'm First Lieutenant Shen of the Seventh Exemplary Brigade. My current mission is to look for fugitives. This gives me the right to access the Healing Ward. Whoever hinders my path will be deemed a traitor!"

He didn't really want to trouble the healers during such busy times, and he was sure they must've received the visit from someone else looking for fugitives not long ago. However, since he was already there, he would make things inconvenient for the healers for a few moments to give them a more extended period of peace later. Word would go around that people were constantly checking the Healing Ward, which would make anyone with bad intentions think twice about trying to hide there.

The people in the queue looked surprisedly at him. The power of his shout was enough to make their bodies tremble almost harmfully. The healers didn't do anything beyond one of them sighing. It proved that they were used to people doing what Shen had done.

The next instant, Shen took the Royal Everblue Chalk from his spatial ring and wrote a name on the ceiling. One of the D-ranks there had a Bounty on them, a recent one that had appeared a few minutes ago—Shen was still constantly checking the Bounty Window. The guy had likely expected it to appear and came to the Ward early in the hopes of getting long-term treatment. Healers could report such people but not act against them while they were under their care.

Unfortunately for that guy, he had injured himself and was yet to be officially admitted. The other people in the room immediately turned to him to get his Bounty for themselves. They could get treatment later, but this might be their only opportunity to gain some AP.

Shen ignored the fight he had caused and went to the post-deployment check-up area. The vast room was empty. He still scoured it to ensure no one had used a low-effort hiding technique that could only work from afar. It was indeed clear.

Next were the quick-fix rooms. He found another Bounty target there. The elf had a few Law fragments in his right hand; whoever he had paid or convinced to put the fragments there hadn't been willing to do more than that. He was trembling not because of the pain but because he knew what awaited him when the quick fix was over. When Shen entered the room, he was trying to convince a visibly exhausted drow D-rank to send him to a long-term treatment room.

Even a D-rank could remove Law fragments with the right tool, and the female drow held one such item. The C- artifact was a long silver needle connected to a transparent crystal, both parts covered by glowing golden enchantment runes. The crystal was filled with a dark mist that, to Shen's Law vision, was evidently Law fragments that had been collected and contained by the device.

The drow was surprised when her small room's door opened, then afraid. Clearly, every drow exile in Samir knew about Shen. He ignored her, wrote the guy's name on the door, and closed it as he left the room.

Shen then scoured the restricted area. He found thirteen Bounty targets in the long-term rooms. Two other targets were healers hiding alone in a research room and a staff resting area. There were even three fugitives under a hastily erected system-blocking magic formation on the corner of a storage area for broken magic artifacts, which were transported elsewhere every few years.

He tried and executed the three on the spot.

He wrote the names of the people in restricted areas both on the door to their rooms and, after he left, on the floor before the Healing Ward. They wouldn't escape.

Seeing the broken artifacts reminded Shen of the Crafting Expertise Department next. Most things used in the military came from the system or were forged in the civilian Alliance. The front lines were meant to fight, not craft. Still, some people were always ready to produce something needed in an emergency, others trained how to deploy some advanced war machines if they were needed, yet more constantly checked and did maintenance on multiple enchantments throughout the fortress, a few were available for checking on Guardians' personal items for a price, many used their time off to hone their skills, and so on.

The Crafting Expertise Department was also called The Forges. Deep into The Forges were some deposits for the items owned by the military. They were often inspected by B-ranks and protected by all manner of enchantments, which were also constantly checked by crafters. The closer you got to the deposits, the more restricted access became. The fact that Shen's Brigade had cleared the mobile fortresses of all people, including crafters, showed how high their authority was. After all, the Acting General himself had said only B-ranks could stop them from checking any place.

The Forges's deposits were also a blatant hiding spot, though getting there required a lot of courage and connections. One room in there had been blocked by a B-rank the last time the Seventh combed everything. If Shen was lucky, the Captain wouldn't be here right now.

Testing a B-rank's patience was somewhat risky, but Shen felt it should be safe enough, considering the chaos happening everywhere.

As its nickname implied, The Forges' first and primary room was an enormous place with hundreds of anvils and furnaces, separated from the rest of the world by transparent domes. There were private rooms, but those cubicles were free.

The room also had countless tables, most covered with enchanted items, parts, or books. A minority of tables had alchemical equipment. A few hundred people were present, all working, all ignoring whoever came or went, except for an approaching E-rank.

Shen raised his hand to stop the attendant and repeated his warning with a yell, "I'm First Lieutenant Shen of the Seventh Exemplary Brigade. My current mission is to look for fugitives. This gives me the right to access every place in the Crafting Expertise Department. Whoever hinders my path will be deemed a traitor!"

Most people still ignored him. A minority turned to look at the newcomer. After a few moments of panicked stillness, five blacksmiths and two alchemists immediately tried to flee.

One alchemist was C-rank and fast, but only at early C-rank. Shen smiled happily as he flashed from his position to grab the guy by the neck while surrounding him with qi.

Lieutenant Specialist Aimer Genmenor had been concocting something that took a lot of his focus and mental energy. The high-elf's willpower was spent and he wasn't used to fighting. When he used his mana against Shen's qi, the resulting psychic clash made him faint at once.

Shen kept the guy held by the neck and enveloped by qi to avoid surprises as he checked The Forges. He was astonished to find seventeen Bounty targets working in plain sight, either building something to rake up Commendations or bribe hunters. When he wrote their names on the floor, no one moved to capture them. The Guardians in that place were used to minding their own business.

Shen also checked all internal sites in The Forges. He eventually arrived, unchallenged, at a golden vault that a B-rank had previously stopped his Brigade from checking.

"I'm First Lieutenant Shen, and I have the authority to check this safe's contents," he declared to the huge door.

The safe was heavily enchanted. He felt some enchantments scanning his body and soul, then sending some mana pulses and getting others in return. They were checking for his identity and clearance.

Mana pulses kept coming and going for a few minutes, plenty of time for the B-rank to stop Shen if they wanted. No one came. Then, the thick door slowly opened by itself.

Shen found nothing less than a hundred and sixteen fugitives inside.

The B-rank who had protected them was screwed by that alone. It was enough to conclude the Captain was either captured already or fleeing for their lives. But things were even worse than they looked at first sight.

The vault was big enough for a few thousand people to stand side by side. It was supposed to store Void-related items that shouldn't get near anyone without the proper knowledge and protections. The artifacts should also be further locked in special cases even there.

There was one unprotected item in there with the Guardians.

All fugitives were high elves bound to the walls by thick, magic chains on their wrists and ankles. An enormous black cauldron was in the center of the room. The feeling of wrongness coming from the iron object explained that they all looked at Shen with hope and glee as the door opened.

Shen immediately yelled, "Treason detected! Possible Void research! Unwilling Guardians used as materials!" Then, he turned tail and fled from that place as fast as he could.

The unprotected cauldron was terrible news. This was way above Shen's pay grade. He felt bad for the victims, but entering the vault to save them would be suicide for him. Another B-rank, or maybe even Long Hei, would have to come and deal with that.

Speaking of B-ranks, the traitor Captain might have escaped or gotten killed—or he might have merely gotten delayed and be coming for Shen.

While running, Shen erected as many defenses as he could. He extended his aura as far as possible, which he had been unwilling to do before as it might affect the crafters. Yelling had been bad enough. He also used all focus and willpower he could muster to surround himself with seven-yard-long water jets aimed away from him, filled with his Path. Lastly, he covered everything up to a hundred yards from him with his Laws, investing almost no willpower in that because if a B-rank—

He had barely covered his surroundings with his Laws when a stronger will countered his.

The rebound was almost unnoticeable. Shen did notice, however, that the external influence that had just countered his Law control on the edges of his senses was approaching fast. His aura couldn't detect it, and only the instant feedback he received from having his Laws overwhelmed let him notice it in real time. He knew exactly what was approaching.

A domain.

There was no one to report it to or beg for help from because he couldn't speak even a syllable before he would get struck. Even thinking that such an attempt would be useless was all he could do. He could think fast, but the domain was much faster and already a few yards away when he reached that conclusion. His water jets were ignored and cut through as if they weren't there.

Then, the domain touched his soul...

...and disappeared.

Or rather, Shen had disappeared. Someone had instantly teleported him away. He was standing back in the vault. An instant later, its door closed with a loud bang.

In the ensuing darkness, the Void Energy inside the cauldron suddenly morphed. It was no longer Void Energy, but also not qi or mana. It felt similar to the phase-space energy made of Law fragments that Shen had found when breaking through to the Ethereal Harmonization realm but different. Empty and longing, somehow.

Thirsty.

The transformed energy took the form of a pale white mist as it spilled from the cauldron's mouth and into the ground, expanding towards the people chained to the walls—and Shen, who had appeared between the cursed artifact and the victims.

Most interestingly, the crafter he had captured was no longer with him. Any traitor who had captured fugitives for their wicked plans and sent Shen to his death would have no reason not to add yet another victim to it. As luck would have it, it seemed someone wanted to get rid of him for capturing the wrong Bounty target, not because he had stumbled upon the Void's plans.

As Alicia would've said, "Fucking bullshit."

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