Chapter 104 - Playing With Forming (Patreon)

Mayalyn Aloyhee

- Two days previous, northwest of The People’s Cavern -

Mayalyn threw her head back and laughed as Cameron scrambled unsteadily down the hard-packed dirt road. He looked over his shoulder at her, the distraction causing him to narrowly miss the handle of his hammer once more. The royal boy stumbled, again, falling flat on his face and sliding through the mud. Olive joined Mayalyn in laughing at her cousin. He sat up with a frown, glaring at his hammer which suddenly hopped across the ground again.

“I meroap rualla aura ferar be so shambaran rem control,” Olive chuckled while smiling fondly at Cameron.

He responded to her in a huff, though Mayalyn didn’t know any of the words he used. She could tell they were talking about how much difficulty Cameron was having with controlling his aura. He had ascended to tier five shortly after Jiran dropped them off at the People’s Cavern. Since then, the boy had barely been able to stand due to the doubling of his body's density concentration, which massively boosted the multiplier for all of his attributes. Not only that, but he had gained access to his aura and every time he reached for something, it instinctively tried to grab it for him, but with his bumbling lack of control, that usually meant the item in question was thrown away from him.

He dove for his hammer again, and once more his aura kicked it away. He clenched his fists and growled in frustration, unleashing a string of profanities Mayalyn wished she understood.

Should I have stayed when Olive decided to leave? Jiran told me to remain close to them, so that is what I am doing, but was that truly the correct choice? I hope he is safe, I did not know it was possible to miss someone so much. You owe me a kiss, so hurry up and find me!

Olive’s happily chatting voice distracted Mayalyn from the ache in her core. She hung on the imperial princess’s every word, doing her best to memorize the sounds of their strange language. Olive was tier four and walked at a brisk pace that was challenging for Mayalyn to match since she was only tier three, leaving her jogging most of the time.

Why did she suddenly demand to leave before we settled anything? I thought she wanted to negotiate, not that talking to those fools would have done any good. Without the Aahmra to guide them, they are too afraid to do anything. At least they are open to the idea of working with the empire and not outright hostile.

They reached another turn in the road that zigzagged up a steep hill. Mayalyn’s lungs burned as she jogged beside Olive. For the hundredth time in the last hour, she contemplated tapping into Jiran’s lightning that coursed through her body. Not touching the energy was agony. The sweet siren’s song of the immense power sang to her, demanding release.

I could be at the top of this hill in seconds, then relax while I wait for them to catch up. I want to feel that speed again, if only for a second… No! I promised myself I would save it for an emergency.

She jogged on, finding the road as foreign to her as the trees and flora around them. Nothing about the empire was like her island, and she loved every minute of exploring Jiran’s country. She felt the familiar bubbling excitement rising within her as they approached the top of the hill. She jogged a little faster, unable to wait to find out what was on the far side. With how high they were, she knew the view would be just as breathtaking as the one behind them. Mayalyn wasn’t sure why Olive had been in such a hurry since they left, but with the strong breeze blowing her hair, bringing with it alien scents that tickled her nose and promised renewed adventure, she couldn't have cared less.

Mayalyn was not disappointed. A vast valley stretched out before them. Its far side was another hill and beyond it, more lightly forested slopes gently rolled all the way to the horizon where gargantuan mountains reached toward the skies. Her keen eyes, enhanced by the traits of her lineage, scoured the valley and quickly spotted the massive snake that slithered through the trees. Except it wasn’t a snake at all. Mayalyn couldn’t even begin to imagine how many people it took to form such a long line.

She mumbled, completely wrapped up in her shock, “There must be a hundred times more than all The People combined. Is the empire truly so vast?”

“What? I ref sorry, Mayalyn. What shokur frophnal?” Olive asked, a little out of breath herself after their long climb.

Mayalyn answered by pointing to the long line of people. Olive squinted, shielding her eyes from the sunslight of all three suns that bore down on them. A few seconds later, Olive gasped and Mayalyn could taste her emotions wildly shifting. She yelled something nonsensical at Cameron and then tore down the hill at a pace Mayalyn could never match without tapping into Jiran’s lightning.

Cameron stayed by Mayalyn’s side, his hammer tightly gripped in his hand as he warily scanned the area around them. She tasted him rapidly shift from wary to disappointment—his emotions much easier to feel than Olive’s since his aura was fully formed. He turned toward her in a blur of movement far faster than Olive’s sprint, her eyes widened in shock as his free hand reached toward her face.

Ravenna Le’Morothin

- One hour previous, Morothin: Central northern fortress city, Finlest Empire -

Duchess Ravenna was furious.

When Dorbaan burst into her dance lesson covered in blood and screaming of heretics, she knew in her gut the worst had occurred. She did not wait for the fool to say more. She knew his purpose, if he were standing before her, then the temple had already fallen.

Ravenna braced her feet against her aura. Explosive power coiled within her muscles and was released an instant later. She hurtled through the air, crossing kilometers each second. Whenever her teleportation cooldown ended, she used it again. The scenery blurred as she used her aura to pull apart the annoying drag from the wind—distorting the air as the very nature of the elements bent to her command. She became speed itself as the distant mountains grew within her gaze.

She saw it—the temple at the edge of her domain. It was a place she was sworn to safeguard. It had been determined long before her time that secrecy was their greatest ally in this endeavor. She had begged for more guards when the key was stolen from Emperor Dominus’s vault a year ago but her plea fell on deaf ears. Seeing the dead scattered across the ground, she cursed, knowing the blame for this would fall upon her shoulders. This mark on her record would set her back decades, possibly a century.

Her Father and husband's mysterious deaths were already pinned on her, at least behind closed doors. The scandal severed her access to tier seven beasts—sealing her path to ascension until the stains on her record were cleansed, and now she had another.

Those two are probably howling in their graves. Laugh all you want, fools. At least I’m alive while you can do naught but rot!

Ravenna flew over the failures that had set her plans back for several lifetimes. She left their bodies to bloat in the Fathers' light. If she was quick enough, perhaps the worst could still be averted. She reached the underground antechamber—the furthest she had ever been allowed into the temple. The gateway was wide open, and the crystal key rested in the lock as if it were a worthless bauble and not the portent of her future suffering.

She scanned the room for threats. Seeing none, she immediately withdrew the key and the ancient, indestructible door slammed shut. She hoped the heretics were still within, where they would eventually starve. She scented deeply through her nose as her hand fell upon a glistening wall of ice.

It resisted her attempts to crush it with her bare hands, surprising her. With a scream, she released the tight grip she always held on her anger. Her skill, Raging of the Inferno, blasted flames all around her that effortlessly tore the ice apart. Mana Sight watched the unknown mana within the ice dissipate into the air, its green and black tones sparkling within her gaze.

Strong, low tier seven. No wonder they all died. No amount of additional guards would have prevented this disaster. Where did those pests find a tier seven and why didn’t they leave a lookout here so they wouldn’t get trapped inside? Surely they knew I would come.

Ravenna clicked her tongue, immediately realizing the truth. The rebellious heretics had come and gone. Whatever was inside this forbidden place, they had taken it and fled. She squeezed the crystal key until her arm shook from the effort. The cursed thing refused to shatter, despite how useless it now was. With an effort of will she brought herself back from the brink of absolute fury. The facts remained; the temple was plundered and left without defenders, there was only one thing to do.

She jumped, tearing through the solid rock and soil back to the surface as easily as passing through the air. High in the sky above, she reared back her fist, gathering her mana into it until her arm shook with the effort. Then, she punched. The entire mountain shuddered and a thousand-meter-long crack tore across the ground. Her second punch collapsed the entire region in on itself, burying the scandal that would almost certainly ruin all of her well-laid plans.

Duchess Ravenna’s Mana Sight scanned the sky in every direction. She knew the mana signature of whoever made that ice. She would find the rogue tier seven and bring their head to Dominus to beg forgiveness for this failure. It was her only chance to ever see another point of EXP.

Unfortunately, she would have to leave Morothin's management to her failure of a brother until she returned. She could only hope he didn’t burn the city down before she was done with her hunt.

“I will find you, little traitor. Everything I have worked for hinges upon it. Run all you want, this empire is not nearly large enough to hide from me!”

Jiran of Feylon

“Obviously I’m tier four, how would I have the time to ascend when I’ve been asleep for half my life?”

“B-but that ice… and you're just as fast as me. How is any of that possible?”

Jiran sighed as he considered what to tell her. After gathering his thoughts, he told her the same thing he told Cameron and Olive regarding his dreams and memories from Earth giving him numerous advantages in imaging, mana control, and aura manipulation. He made sure to leave out any specifics that might get her vanished by the system though.

“So that’s why you suddenly seemed like a different person after your Tiering Day. Wow, everything makes so much more sense now! And that also explains why you’re so weird. You’ve got a whole other life’s worth of memories floating around in that idiot head of yours,” She patted him on the back in mock sympathy.

Jiran pushed her shoulder, rocking her sideways to the point she nearly fell over. When she shot him a glare, he stuck his tongue out and they dissolved into laughter. When she calmed down, she went quiet for a while, her stare a thousand kilometers away. Jiran was content to give her however much time she needed to get her thoughts in order. He couldn’t possibly understand how difficult of a pill today’s knowledge was for her to swallow.

“You know, a part of me can’t believe you’re really back.” Her words were barely audible, her face a drooping mask of hidden scars. ”Even after Lenton swore you were alive, I’ve always felt deep down that you had to be dead. My head knew he was right, that you were out there somewhere, but I couldn’t face it. It hurt too much thinking you left me with them and didn’t want to come back. So I convinced myself otherwise. It was easier that way. When the Soothsayer told me I would find you… Argh!” Niya roughly ran her fingers through her dark hair, turning it into a disheveled mess. ”I don't know, dammit! All this emotional crap isn't my thing!”

I should change the subject, she’s clearly not ready to deal with this yet.

"It's fine, Niya, you're still just a kid. You have plenty of time to figure all this out,” She scoffed when he threw her own words back at her. He pushed on, not giving her a chance to form a rebuttal, “Well, I’m very much not dead, yet. So how about we trade. I’ll teach you more about healing like I promised I would, and you can tell me what you know about forming.”

“Pfft! You won’t find a better healer than me outside of Cruex. I see falling asleep for a year didn’t help with your insufferable cockiness. I doubt you know anything that will help me advance my technique,” When she saw Jiran’s smug, confident smile, her haughty facade crumbled, “Uhh, besides, we don’t need to trade. I’d be happy to teach you what I know.”

Niya undid the straps holding her chest plate and backplate in place, holding one in her lap, she set the other beside her. Both were cracked and dented, covered in blood stains and dirt. She ran a finger along the largest crack running across the backplate’s surface.

“Forming allows you to turn one material into another. The more similar the two are, the less mana is required. I would show you, but I used the last of my mana to fix my vambrace.”

“Let me try then,” Jiran held out his hand. Niya’s face contorted between several emotions before coming to rest on resigned acceptance. With a sigh, she handed him the backplate.

“The first thing you need to do is understand the material you’re wanting to create. That’s mana-tempered iron—very expensive. You know what, never mind. This is a terrible idea, give it back,” She held out her hand but Jiran just smiled at her and brushed her hand aside with his aura.

“A little trust, cousin. Don’t worry, I won't ruin your precious armor. And if I do, I’ll just make you something better once I figure out the skill,” Niya cringed and looked like she was about to try snatching it again but relented after realizing how easily Jiran’s aura had dominated hers.

Jiran condensed his manabody, concentrating it inside the metal so he could memorize every detail of its structure. He could taste the iron and feel every nook and cranny of its forged interior. Every hammer stroke used to bend it into shape had left minute imperfections that his manabody swam into as if they were cavernous fissures. With his aura so concentrated, he was even able to sense something similar to the density framework within the metal. It wasn’t quite the same, and he furrowed his brows, trying to understand the difference. The threads were much thicker and made of mana, not density. If the density framework was a lattice of interconnecting strings, then this mana framework was the sturdy bars of a prison cell.

It’s like the density framework that existed inside the metal when it was forged was replaced with a mana framework instead. Is this what mana-tempered means?

He grabbed a few bones with his aura and set them atop the backplate before meeting Niya’s eyes. She sighed, continuing her explanation of the tier four skill, “Firmly hold the image of the metal while activating the skill. Direct your mana through the bones and the skill will do the rest.”

Jiran held the image—a simple task while the metal was within his aura. He made sure to take note of the mana framework within the metal, desiring that his newest skill repair it as well.

“Forming.”

A mindlink connected his thoughts with his manapool. The energy was smoothly drawn through his channels before exiting his skin and entering the bones. Jiran sensed the mana change somehow as it passed through his channels, becoming much less sensitive, almost blocking his ability to feel what it was doing. He used Molding to attach a bit of extra mana to the mana leaving his channels so he could ‘see’ what was happening more clearly.

The forming mana flowed into the bone where it reacted with the material, breaking it down on a microscopic scale that he couldn’t quite perceive. He watched as trillions of tiny explosions erupted in a chain reaction that left nothing but a white powder where there had once been solid bone. During that process, the forming mana had changed again. Now, it was heavy and sluggish, mixing perfectly with the powder. As if the crack in the backplate were a black hole, the forming mana and bone dust were drawn inside, filling it seamlessly before suddenly, the combined manadust became metal.

Forming: + 5

Three percent of my mana to fix that one crack?! I only got five percent from eating half a tier four beast. Unless we find some tier five or six meat, I’m going to have a hell of a time getting any practice with this. I still need to talk to Daughter too, but revelation drains my mana completely. Damn, how bad is this mana issue going to get in three or four more tiers? How bad is it for the emperors who almost never get to eat meat of their own tier?

Seeing him distracted in thought, Niya snatched the plate from his lap and ran her fingers over where the crack had been. Seeing it good as new, her shoulders slumped with a sigh and she wiped a bead of sweat from her brow.

“Oh, c'mon. Even if I messed it up, you could have just fixed it after.”

“Not always. This mana-tempered iron can shatter if it isn't repaired correctly. Can’t fix it if it’s totally broken, I would have had to scrap it and use the pieces to repair everything else which would have saved a ton of mana but I would be down the entire plate.”

“Talking about things that can’t be fixed after they’re broken, did you know that two of the emperors are nearly wild, and if they learned of our method to convert density to mana, they would probably lose it and destroy the entire empire?”

“Yup, Lenton told me a long time ago,” Jiran was a little disappointed when he didn’t get a rise out of her but it was replaced by a relieved sigh that he didn’t need to worry about her accidentally causing the apocalypse.

“Whew, good, I was a little worried you might have told someone.”

“I did, lots of someones.”

“What?!” He shouted.

“It’s okay, Markhiss killed them all. Well everyone except Dommell. We’ll probably want to track him down at some point and make sure he doesn’t get us all killed.”

Jiran scrunched his face and shook his head, “Why would you do that if you knew? What were you thinking?”

“Hey, you don’t get to judge me! You don’t have the first clue what I’ve been through since you were gone. I did what I had to for survival and for my friends. Would you do any less for the people you love?”

“Of course I wouldn't. What kind of question is that? I wasn’t criticizing you, I’m the last person who should get to do that. I’ve told several people as well. I was honestly wondering why you did it. Sorry I raised my voice, you really surprised me.”

Niya narrowed her eyes at him but eventually realized he was telling the truth and the frazzled edge of her emotions smoothed back to normality. “I’m sorry, too. I really need to get a grip, it’s been a crazy da—”

A deafening explosion shattered the air. The ground shook, sending leaves falling so thickly it was impossible to see through them. Jiran was in the air a heartbeat later, he spun in a circle, looking for the threat. His eyes widened when a second thunderous explosion collapsed the mountain a short distance away. It crumbled in on itself, so loud he was forced to block sound with his aura. Niya was at his side in a moment and both of them watched the surreal destruction with mounting apprehension. Jiran heard her swallow, inside his aura, the sound was unnaturally loud to his hyper-aware senses.

“I think we better get a little further away,” Jiran mumbled.

“No shit.”