Chapter 217 - Madman (Patreon)

Finely attired Meersvants rushed in and out of the room on the other side of the pond’s reflection, each and every one of them controlled by a parasite. They shouted in clicks and pops, their mouths and tongues forming a wholly unique language Jiran couldn’t wait to understand. He watched the commotion through the frozen gaze of his spy, careful not to give himself away by keeping his aura and mana out of sight.

Three important-looking men with a bevy of guards in tow eventually made their way into view, speaking in hushed tones at a rapid clip that was only decipherable when Jiran triggered oneness. The mindless state of extreme focus immediately banished his impatience, and shortly thereafter, his translator revealed their words.

“Is that truly necessary?” Sneared a surprisingly portly member of the three.

“We believe so,” A second responded. He motioned toward Jiran’s side of the reflective pool, “The creation of ice shouldn't be possible in the Rehaak Wasteland. There are no beasts capable of such a feat anywhere close to the region and the unnatural heat would dispel any such attempts instantly. The only explanation is the appearance of another catastrophe.”

The portly man smacked his lips in rapid succession, “Nonsense! The catastrophe of a thousand years ago is a myth. The wasteland is nothing more than a suitable location to banish the forlorn.”

The third man joined the conversation, the vitriol in his voice transcending speciel barriers, “Attempting to preserve your forces at the expense of the greater wish. Truly, you are beyond the foulest, most rotten excrement.”

The first man puffed up his chest, looking ready to defend himself through a physical altercation, “As if you’re any better! Trying to send my precious slayers to the far reaches of the Rehelch where they can’t interfere with your schemes. We will not allow this… peculiarity, to divert our attention from where it belongs.”

The second man stepped in, raising his hands between them, Cease your bickering! The fact remains that something killed that convict and we must investigate. I agree that sending a squadron of slayers is overkill. They are far too valuable to waste with such limited information. We should send a seeker. Once we have answers, we will be equipped to issue a proper response.”

The third man vibrated with obvious fury, “You're both fools. The old records are clear and certainly no myth. How would the wishers respond if another catastrophe is upon our lands and we do nothing? The first created the very wastelands you detest so strongly. What if it's returned to expand them until we are all forced to live in those desolate conditions? Even if the chances are near zero, we should still respond with absolute force!”

With an easily-deciphered gloating smile, the portly man responded, his voice returning to its original sneer, “You have been overruled by the majority. But to placate your insufferable insistence, Markeva, report this event to the palace.” He motioned toward one of the guards who Teleported away, “If they deem a more potent response is fitting, then they will surely send it themselves.”

“Always finding a way to shift the blame for your mistakes onto others. This is why I can't stand you,” The third man hissed, revealing sharp fangs. The gems dotting his body vibrated, distorting the air and rippling the pond's surface, “This fresh disaster will end with your own conviction and banishment! Maker be my witness!”

The second man’s pupils vibrated back and forth so quickly they blurred, “So dramatic.” With a wave of his hand, the pool's connection was cut and the thick liquid returned to a reflection of the cave's rocky ceiling.

Jiran traced a thumb along his jaw, lost in thought.

Well, that was revealing. This place is considered a wasteland, and with the unusual heat, I can see why. To think that something, or someone, was capable of damaging the land so badly that it stayed this way for a thousand years. That’s intense. Sounds like there aren't many strong beasts around either. But it's close enough to their civilization they can send a seeker, whatever that is.

Getting the mana I need to go home might be a bit more challenging than I hoped. No surprise there. Still, I can understand their language now. Time to get some answers.

Jiran’s gaze fell on the helpless tier four and the parasite resting in its manapool. Jiran was careful not to touch the man's mana as he used Elemental Castigation to boil the air. Molten ice bubbled and hissed, filling the cavern with steam. The liquid flowed over the pond to rest on its surface, not mixing with the mercury-like substance. Jiran cut off his mana when all that remained of the ice was a block large enough to contain his prisoner. A more gentle blast of hot air quickly freed his head, leaving the rest of him entombed.

He was limp and unconscious, his breathing shallow. Jiran didn't approach, observing every twitch the parasite made with Mana Omnis. The fact it was moving at all was putting him on edge.

The ones back at the pyramid went still when their host was unconscious. Why is this one different? Is he faking it? No. I can clearly see the currents of electricity in his brain and they’re almost nonexistent.

Jiran knew this was his best chance to safely learn about their race but he wasn’t about to leap in without a few precautions. He first left the cave and scoured the surroundings. Once he was satisfied they were truly alone, he created two formations, each with a separate function. He threw the first and it landed next to the man. Then, with a delicate urging, Jiran willed Enthralling Touch to take a portion of mana from the outer layer of the man’s manapool.

The moment its mana began to leak, the parasite went berserk. It thrashed and bucked, releasing a dark ink that spread through the mana around it. The stream of mana moving toward Jiran was infected as well and he braced himself as it approached. He allowed a fraction of the poison to reach him, then cut off his connection to the rest of the mana which was rapidly sucked into the formation cube at its feet.

The toxin spread through Jiran’s body in a flash, attempting to numb and paralyze his mana. A brief tinge of panic flared when his vision grew fuzzy. Mana Confluence fought back with a vengeance. The conflict was short-lived, and despite the effects being just as potent as he feared, Jiran was cleansed and back to normal in moments.

These parasites are terrifying. Well, they aren't so bad as long as you're not trying to steal their mana… Honestly, their combat potential seems incredibly low. Maybe they get better skills at higher tiers. The fact tier four Meersvants have to rely on formation weapons is pretty telling. No, that’s not the right way to think. If one of these took over a Remalon, they would be incredibly powerful. It's the Meersvant hosts they’re using that are weak.

The parasite continued to thrash inside the man’s manapool. Feeling queasy from watching it, Jiran did his best to ignore it while retrieving the formation filled with its poison from the floor. The little cube thrummed and glowed as a portion of the tainted energy within was used to power a beast-mana filter similar to the one in his suit. Now that he knew he could fight off the poison in small quantities, he sent a trickle of mana into the cube, disabling the explosive he had set in case he lost consciousness. He did the same for the second formation that was still securely gripped in his hand.

Unsurprisingly, the filter was having no success as it was designed to remove blood from mana, not a mysterious toxin no doubt derived from a skill. While waiting for his guest to wake up, Jiran sat cross-legged and pulled a single drop of mana from the cube at a time. His first goal was learning to stop the poison from instantly spreading through his mana. His second was to become more adept at fighting off its effects. By the tenth drop, he was confident neither was possible.

The poison hits like a teleporting explosion, instantly spreading out and attacking every bit of connected mana at once. I don’t even need to heal myself as the effects dissipate as quickly as they come, but that’s only because I’m taking such small doses. If I was hit with a full blast of this stuff, I would be utterly helpless, and likely wake up with a new passenger along for a ride. No matter what, I can’t take a hit from one of these things.

Wait, why did they come at me with those weapon formations? Why not shoot their toxin instead? Do they not have a way to project it? Is there a drawback or weakness I haven’t noticed yet? Don’t tell me those weapons are loaded up with the stuff as well!

Jiran split his vision with the man so he would know the instant he woke up, then left the cave again to retrieve the formation weapons he had taken from the men in the pyramid. Now that he knew how their poison worked, he had no intention of piercing their protective membranes with his mana. He shuddered at what would happen if a full dose of their toxin was hidden inside and released into his mana at once.

After scouring the outside of the spears with Mana Omnis, he was confident they were at least safe to touch so long as he avoided the three spots along the shafts where crystals were embedded in the wood. They were incredibly light, nearly equal to the weight of his graphene weapons. Jiran grabbed both ends of the spear and applied a portion of his strength, finding it bent easily and would snap with little effort. The crystal at its tip was shaped in the form of a rectangular box, which he assumed helped with aiming the blasts they could produce.

The crystals in the shaft have to be how they inject mana into the formations. How do I safely get a look inside this thing? Should I break it and see what comes out? I’ve got four spares...

While staring intently at the crystals, and wishing he could see inside them, Gaze of Pediamus responded to his desire. It flooded his brain with information about them, causing Jiran to gasp. Identify had never worked on inanimate objects and after his first few tests with it, he had given up trying. Clearly, his upgraded skill didn’t have the same limitations, and that sparked a realization that left him flabbergasted.

I’ve been going about this all wrong! I keep relying on my old skills and old ways of using them because that’s what I’m familiar with. I need to throw away everything I think I know and retest them from the ground up. Not just now either, but every time I ascend in the future too. Who knows what might change with such a drastic increase in power!

Jiran forcefully set aside his excitement. The revelations about the crystals were less thrilling to be sure, but still important enough that he focused on them first. As suspected, they were capable of transferring mana directly into the weapon’s formations. That was merely a byproduct of their primary function which was to absorb, focus, and project mana-laced vibrations. Jiran had seen the Meersvants distort the air with what he knew was their fourth tier skill, now he understood how and why.

He originally thought the distortions were a form of elemental mana, but now knew they were closer to his ability to control unaspected mana outside his skin. Imperials, the People, Timberlings, and Forkara all had several ways to project mana, but only after it was converted to an element. With the way mana dissipates if left in the air, Jiran long ago assumed it wasn’t normal for an unevolved race to have a skill that projected unaspected mana. Learning how formations trapped Mana, which naturally desired confinement, had only reinforced that assumption.

Equally as fascinating was how they did it. He had seen the mana they released and knew that it wasn’t connected to their manapool once projected. Which meant the distorting frequencies they created were somehow remotely controlling the unaspected mana. The information resonated with what Jiran knew of natural and chaotic density. To absorb the wild energy of a densoon cloud, he had to match his mana to the movements of its density perfectly.

Does mana have a preferred frequency? Like a radio that’s tuned to a specific channel, and if you know it, you can connect and control it?

Gaze also informed him that the crystals only functioned in one direction. The mana fed through them was redirected back into itself and focused before being released on the opposite end of the crystal. Meaning they should be safe to touch. Trusting his newest skill, Jiran grabbed one and cut it loose with several ultra-fine, sharpened threads of Mana Confluence.

He held the clear gem before his eye. Staring through it revealed a multicolored, refracted desert. He detached a glob of his mana and left it hanging in front of him without direction, knowing it would soon dissipate. Before it did, he detached and pushed another, much smaller ball of mana through the gem, envisioning it vibrating at the same frequency the Meersvants used. He could see his mana splitting apart inside. It refracted through the hundreds of inner surfaces of the gem, then recombined before being expelled from the crystal.

Jiran frowned at his failure to reproduce the distortions. He focused on the speed and intensity of his mana, repeating the experiment multiple times until he found the perfect combination. The recombining energy clashed against itself, creating a dissonance that released the desired distortions. Grinning, he included the intent for his altered mana to connect with the abandoned glob and return it to his body. In the next test, the distortions impacted with the mana and it zipped through the air and into his chest.

A slew of flashes appeared behind his eyelids. Jiran closed one eye, and when he saw the notifications waiting for him, he threw his head back and laughed like a madman.

Mana Confluence: + 15

Enthralling Touch: + 8

Gaze of Pediamus: + 9