Chapter 67 - Channeling 001 (Patreon)

Mayalyn Aloyhee

Mayalyn’s eyes snapped open the moment Jiran’s aura was no longer surrounding her like a warm, comfortable blanket. She sat up on the lab cot and looked around in confusion, wondering where he had gone. Her fingers idly traced the indent on her cheek where she could still feel his shoulder pressing into her skin.

His aura changed so much. I can feel his emotions now. How did he advance so far so quickly? Milta and Coidy have been the lead disciples for years and haven’t managed what Jiran did in two weeks. Is this what it takes to be the Koroko?

Her body shivered at the thought of the word and what it meant to her people. She desperately hoped she was wrong and cast the thoughts aside lest they pollute her entire day.

I can not believe he’s from the same place as Great Grandpa. His emotions were so strong. Fear, frustration, and disappointment. He could have lied. It would have been so easy for him but every one of his words resonated with his aura.

He helped me solve the final key to reproducing the makerdrives without a single word of recrimination. Even when I drained myself like a fool he never once said what I was doing was a waste of time.

What else could we do if we worked together again?

Her core thrummed at the thought and the heat it roused reminded her of the look he gave her just after they finished calibrating the voltree charger.

He… desired me. I almost killed him when we first met. He’s seen me lose my temper and now he knows I’m a shut-in who would rather stay in this lab than talk to people.

I bet he wouldn't look at me like that if he tasted my cooking. Or found out I don’t have a single normal skill beyond fighting and tinkering. I can’t even wear a dress properly!

Mayalyn couldn’t keep her mother’s voice out of her thoughts. “No proper man wants a woman who can’t even learn to cook! Get out of that dusty old shop this instant and help me prepare dinner!”

She’s right. Plenty of boys have told me that I’m pretty but every one of them lost interest the minute they realized how useless I am.

Ugh! Why am I even thinking like this? Uncle said Jiran did not want a relationship. A single look and a few stray emotions don’t mean anything.

She moved through the lab, cleaning and tidying up. No matter how hard she tried to stop it, her mind continually wandered back to the enigmatic stranger.

I know him. I’ve tasted his aura. He’s childish and foolish, but strong and dependable. Honest but constantly distracted by everything. Always smiling like a bussoon while sticking his face in every little bush and poking every bug like it’s something miraculous and strange.

Oh, because he’s not from here. This is all new to him. H-he’s on an adventure?! That son of a flouew-biter is having the time of his life on an adventure while I’m stuck on this island looking at the same mountain every day and I can’t even go climb it. I can’t swim in the ocean, I can’t explore the fields, I can’t go anywhere but town and the same old jungle paths.

Righteous anger fueled by jealousy coursed through her as she stamped her feet.

The next time I see him, I’m going to claw his eyes out!

"Maymay! Are you still down here, little one?" A light, musical voice called down the stairs.

"Yes, Pepa."

The man appeared a moment later, when she saw the tray full of the same old fruit they always ate, she cringed.

"I brought you dinner," Her father planted a kiss on her forehead.

His eyes narrowed imperceptibly as he examined her face.

"What happened? Why are you so upset?"

"No reason, I just drained all my mana earlier on the voltree charger. So I'm a little tired, that's all."

“You've been burrowed down here for two weeks. Why don’t you take a walk around town or find that nice boy you danced with.”

“Pepa,” Her tone turned threatening as she pursed her lips.

“What? I've just never seen you dance with the same boy twice let alone half the night. You were both smiling and laughing.”

“It was not half the night!”

“Then you two left together,” He raised his eyebrows suggestivly.

“What?! No-no-no you’ve got it all wrong! He was drunk and those hyena’s were eyeing him like fresh meat. I merely felt responsible for him because I’m the one that brought him to town. I only showed him where the disciples slept so he would not end up in the grass like a drunkard,” Her words came out in a rapid tumble without a single breath between them.

“Hmm. That’s a shame.”

“Pepa! W-what are you saying?” Her core turned into a blazing inferno that spread to her neck and cheeks.

“Can you blame me for wanting you to smile more? You’re always so gloomy, down here all alone, playing with these toys.”

Her chin lifted stubbornly and her scowl deepend.

“All I meant was that there’s no hope of figuring out how to produce more makerdrives. With only two left… I just want to meet my grandkids before everything we know comes to an end. Sorry I upset you, little one,” He gave her a fond smile before leaving her alone.

Jiran of Feylon

Jiran floated through the streets on his way back to the estate.

Wow. She is the real deal. Smart, fun, adventurous, and those eyes are bad for my health. Men were not designed to look into eyes that big and brown without having serious heart problems.

She's a hard-worker too. That lab was well used but I get the feeling it's only her down there. These people have access to everything the Maker left behind and they're barely interested in it, nutty bastards.

Speaking of hard work, what should I work on over the next week? Aura for sure, but I can do more than that. I've been ignoring channeling for far too long and I’ve barely touched my new subskill.

Perfect.

Jiran’s eyes lit up as a grin spread across his lips.

So far all I’ve been able to figure out about elemental compression is that it can decrease the size of my shapings by half while they maintain the same concentration of mana. Great for punching through tough defenses but I’m sure there’s way more I can get out of it than just that.

I'll head out of town before I try anything too crazy. Wouldn’t want to accidentally blow up a building or something.

Channeling, channeling, channeling what to do with you.

Channeling - Stabilize and project shapings away from the body

Jiran idly ran mana through his channels and out of his palm as his mind once more wandered back to the big weapons outside Mayalyn’s lab and the device they had worked on together.

How do those things work if technology is repressed? He must have figured out a way around it. Maybe there is no density in those things at all. Is that what that device was doing?

The mana-fueled current went in a circle and passed into the tank. Maybe something along the circuit was filtering out the mana and only leaving the current to pass through into whatever that container was.

Damn, wish I could have met the Maker and picked his brain. I’m definitely going to make time to read all those books he wrote before I leave, even if it’s all just dry notes about the test results. I can’t believe he built everything in that lab from nothing and on an isolated island to boot.

Jiran’s gaze was drawn to the tiny gout of flames coming out of his hand. Through the senses of his aura, he observed the mana flowing through the channels inside his body.

A circuit, huh. Nah, no way that would work.

The very best case scenario would be blowing only myself up. No, this is madness, there's no way this is even remotely a good idea.

I'm so going to do it.

After finding a comfortable spot under a tree just outside of town, Jiran sucked his aura into his body. He condensed it as much as possible before wrapping a portion of it around one of the mana channels that ran through his body.

They were like incorporeal blood veins, translucent, and chock-full of tiny papules that turned mana into specific elements. As gently as he could, he tugged on the channel in an effort to reposition it.

A spike of pain shot through his chest.

I’m no stranger to pain. You’re going to have to do a lot more than that to stop me! No warning from foresight? Then I’ll keep going.

He kept tugging, and sure enough, the channel moved through his flesh leaving a nasty wound in its wake.

Restoration rapidly healed the damage and he was ecstatic to see that the healing did not revert the changes in his channel position.

He dragged sections no larger than his pinky a single millimeter at a time.. He couldn’t move the entire channel at once since it snaked through his chest, stomach, and shoulder. Bit by bit, as sweat poured down his face, he moved the channel while healing the damage left behind.

This is going to take all week. Perfect.

Jiran spent the rest of the day outside in the warm tropical air as he made slow but steady progress toward his goal. He woke up the next morning and fed Daughter as usual, but for the first time in several weeks, asked her a question.

“How is my family?”

“Everyone is fine. There have been no changes.”

Jiran only hesitated for a moment before deciding to rip off the bandage.

“Is it true that density and the system are sentient?”

“Yes and no. Madra is certainly sentient as are many of her children. This should be obvious to you now as you have been receiving her voice directly for some time. Density is far more complicated but your question falls under the purview of the edicts.”

“What are the edicts?” Jiran asked after clicking his tongue.

Daughter did not respond.

Did she not hear me? Or is this like the first rule of challenger club?

“What are the edicts?”

Again there was no response.

Jiran threw his hands in the air with a grunt.

“How can I trust you if I don’t know what you are or how connected you are with the system?”

“You are confusing faith with trust. Trust is earned and I have never given you any reason to doubt me. Faith is given freely and I do not desire it from you. As time progresses, I will continue to earn your trust as I will never lie to you or betray you.”

“That's reasonable, I guess. Though I definitely don't like you refusing to answer my questions," Jiran sighed, releasing the tension in his shoulders.

"Thank you for watching them for me.”

“Of course, Father. Goodbye,” Then she was gone, along with the majority of his mana.

Jiran formed a stable routine over the next three days. Breakfast and then feeding daughter mana before he would fly to a nearby beach to work on his aura and mana channels. By the end of the third day, he was finally ready for his first test with his newly repositioned channels.

“You’ll do wonderful,” He patted a large, rough-faced sea stack.

After rubbing his hands together in anticipation, Jiran tested a normal Shaping on the rocky outcropping. A gust of wind blew two-thousand-degree flames across the rock, smoothing out its surface in a matter of seconds as the stones turned red and began to melt.

Five percent mana is enough to melt rock in a fifteen-meter cone. Let’s see what five percent mana can do with the new channeling and subskill.

Jiran hopped back another ten meters and lifted his palm. He manually controlled five percent of his mana into a single glob and sent it through his adjusted mana channel.

The channel wound in a circle around his heart. The mana moved through the channel and was converted to fire-mana by the papules. It became visible as a brilliantly glowing red circle, spinning lightning-fast just beneath the surface of his skin.

Once the mana was converted to an element, he condensed it to half its size with elemental compression.

He spun the mana through the circular channel that was now just like a miniature particle accelerator. His high level in molding allowed him to guide the mana safely as it picked up speed, until it was moving so fast the entire circle glowed a steady red.

Here we go. Test number 001, aww yeah!

Jiran allowed the mana to exit the circular racetrack and flow down the exit channel. It shot through his shoulder and down his arm before exploding out of his palm.

Jiran's jaw fell open as a red laser fired from his skin. The thick beam of light instantly connected with the rock ledge and burned a meter-wide hole straight through it.

Before he could process what happened, he saw through the magma-dripping hole as his fire connected with the beach beyond and exploded into a shower of sand that shot dozens of meters into the air.

Molding + 1

Channeling + 17

True Origin of Fire + 3

Holy freaking lasers batman!

Jiran’s shock only lasted a second before he doubled over in pain from his ruptured mana channel. Restoration flooded through his body and fixed the damage, taking with it nearly twenty percent of his mana.

I’m going to need to combine multiple channels together to withstand that level of power. Could I spin the mana even faster if the channel was bigger and thicker?

The idea of flying through the sky and blasting his enemies to smithereens with exploding lasers like some kind of fantasy flying fortress sent shivers up his spine. When his daydream shifted to include Mayalyn flying beside him, cackling madly with her claws extended, Jiran’s heart hammered like the drums of war.

Only four days left before the Aahmra will want to see my progress. Time to get to work.