Chapter 108 - You Call That A Plan? (Patreon)

Jiran’s heart was shredded into a dozen pieces as he pulled every single channel out of it with one, swift tug of his manabody. His life’s blood tried to explode through his chest but was held in place by his aura as he commanded his mana to repair the damage before he died.

Restoration!

Flesh reknit, muscles were forced to pump once more, and fluid was returned to where it was meant to be. He took a ragged breath and rubbed the phantom hole in his chest that thrummed with an excruciating hollowness. His frantic rubbing failed to soothe the ache. Niya glanced at him with a frown, her aura unable to penetrate his to see the damage he was inflicting upon himself.

That was the worst of it. Took me three days to do that last time. Not sure if I prefer the slow and steady method or… that. The thought was accompanied by a shudder.

Jiran released his aura and let it spread through their cave. Niya was cooking the last of the meat as she wobbled on her feet, clearly needing a rest but determined to complete her task. Jiran found himself smiling, enjoying the distraction of watching her work. Having his cousin back in his life was quickly becoming an addicting comfort. He especially enjoyed their constant, good-natured bickering and if it were up to him, he wouldn’t let them become separated again.

A few minutes later, he was mentally ready to continue his self-mutilation.

His right arm was next. Channels ran all through it like an extra set of blood veins. They saturated the muscles, looped around his bones, and branched out to his skin every half-centimeter. The regular functions of his human physique unbothered by their intrusive presence. He grit his teeth and snarled as he pulled them through flesh, winding them together like twine forming a rope. The worst was the primary channel that wrapped around his bones, unraveling that did more damage than all the other parts combined.

Thirty minutes later, he had them all together and mashed into a single solid channel. At first they fought his desire to see them join, but Restoration had more uses than merely healing. With the right mental image, the channels reknit as he desired. A short time later, he fell against the wall panting. His mana was bottomed out for the fourth time, but at least one arm was ready. A single, thick channel ran straight through the center of his limb and all the little exit follicles had been moved to his palm. His muscles and bones ached from the invasive channel but he ignored it, knowing the pain would subside in a few days as his body adjusted.

Niya was asleep, curled in the far corner, snoring softly. Jiran ate, and ate, and ate. He had long since finished the tier fives—save for a single morsel he left for Niya. Three entire tier four beasts only brought him back to fifty percent.

This is ridiculous. I need to go back to the Jeweled Isles and get myself some tier six wyvern steak. I could always go find another pack of Graymin… No, I need to let Niya rest and I’m not leaving her here alone to spare myself from eating a little bland meat. Especially after she went through the trouble of cooking it for me.

Jiran got back to work after another short rest. He moved to his shoulder where he continued adding to the extra-thick channel in his arm. By the time Niya woke up three hours later, he was finished connecting it to the ring in his chest.

“You can sleep now, thanks for keeping watch,” Niya said around a yawn.

Jiran spoke through grit teeth, his toes curling into the soles of his boots to distract from the burning agony inside his body. “I’m almost done, I’ll rest after. You can sleep a little longer if you want.”

“Nah, I’m good. Since reaching tier five, I haven’t needed to sleep more than three or four hours at a time.”

“Interesting, I haven’t slept at all since ascending, guess I’ll find out what that’s like pretty soon.”

Niya blinked at him a few times with a slack expression that screamed ‘You’re so weird.’ After a shake of her head, she snatched the little bit of tier five meat he left for her. “How did you eat so much already?! What could you possibly have spent all that mana on? My armor’s not repaired yet, you ass, I was going to use some of that too, you know!”

“Sorry-not-sorry,” Jiran said with a strained smile. “I’ve been working on the plan to get us into the city. It’s almost ready. I’ll have to wait until we take out a few more patrols to finish though.”

“You’re not going to tell me what your plan is? What if it’s completely idiotic and gets us killed because you didn’t run it by me first?”

“Oh, it’s completely idiotic for sure. But it should work, so long as we don’t rush.”

“Seriously Jiran, tell me what the plan is. How can you expect me to trust you when you're being so cryptic. My life is on the line here too, ya know?”

“Okay, okay, I’ll spill. We’re going to walk through the Graymin horde and kill off all the rooks and then fly into the city,” Jiran spoke with complete confidence, not the barest hint of a joke in his tone.

Niya blinked at him for several long seconds before flopping onto her back. She started mumbling to herself and Jiran chose not to listen with his aura, respecting her privacy. After several minutes of silence, she suddenly started thrashing on the floor like a child throwing a tantrum. When done, she sat up and created a flickering flame on the tip of her finger before meeting his eyes.

“I can still remember you killing that mutant crab on the beach when we were kids. I know you didn't use a talisman like that dumbass Skandor thought. I also know you helped Markhiss kill those two tier sixes in the temple. But this is totally different! You want to walk into an army of beasts to fight some of their strongest, then what? You plan to walk right back out again after? Are you really that confident you can beat them and that your aura won’t deplete from a constant bombardment of the pawns?”

“Absolutely. I’ll need you to cover me while I channel an attack for each rook. If you can keep the lower tiers off me, I should be able to kill them before they get the chance to attack. All that is assuming they are about the same strength as the one Ravenna punched. If they’re much stronger, we might run into some trouble.”

“Might run into some… trouble? And all you need me to do is keep the pawns off you while you channel? Okay, fine. When will you be ready?” Jiran did a double-take at her sudden agreement.

“Not going to argue, or say I’m an idiot, or that my plan is suicidal? Honestly, I’m a little bummed. I was looking forward to you freaking out.”

“Oh, it’s idiotic and suicidal for sure. But if it works, we’ll be heroes,” Niya’s grin split her face as she adopted a thousand-mile-stare. “I’d love to see Ravenna try to pin us as villains after we save an entire city. Especially since she doesn't have any proof. So, yeah, I’m in. Now hurry up and finish whatever Jiranzy nonsense you’re doing so we can go!”

“Jiranzy?” He raised a brow in her direction.

“Jiran-crazy, it’s a working title,” Niya flapped her hand, brushing off his question. “What I really want to talk about is how you do that mana-thingy,” Jiran didn’t dignify her phrasing with a response—he simply stared at her until she explained. “You gave me your mana, then you took mana out of the Graymin.”

“Ooooh, that mana-thingy! It’s a combination of coating and molding. I use a coating to connect with their manapool, then either push my own mana in and release it, or claim their mana and absorb it.”

Niya drew in a long breath through her nose before releasing it just as slowly, her eyes glowing with intensity the whole time. Jiran wasn’t fooled by her calm exterior. He could sense her body vibrating so hard he was a little surprised she didn’t sink right through the ground.

“What level was your coating when you figured that out?” She asked, still trying to sound like she was only minorly interested.

“Uhm, don’t remember. Probably in the thirties, maybe higher.”

Niya clicked her tongue as she scowled at the wall.

“Did you want some advice on leveling the technique?”

“Who, me? No, of course not… Whatever gave you that impression?” Niya’s sarcastic tone was caramel-thick, causing Jiran to laugh—which immediately had him coughing as pain radiated through his chest and shoulder.

After regaining his composure, he spent the next thirty minutes talking Niya through several of his tricks for controlling coating, which it turned out was incredibly similar to her layering technique. He gave her a few vague hints about the elements, making sure not to pass on anything that might be considered taboo. By the time he finished, Niya was pacing back and forth with a scowl.

“Nine levels in molding, eight in shaping, twelve in layering, and a dozen spread between my elements. What kind of monster are you, Jiran? I learned more in an hour sitting in the dark with you than I did in three seasons of torturous tutoring under that sly old bastard.”

“You stuck with Lenton for three seasons after I was gone? That’s impressive. He was a… frustrating mentor at times. Not sure I would have lasted that long.”

“As if I had a choice. He wasn’t about to let me run around on my own, ruining his plans,” Niya fumed with her arms folded across her chest. Jiran opened his mouth to ask more about her past but stopped himself.

I won’t press her, she’ll talk when she’s ready. I’m just happy she’s finally opening up to me.

Jiran yawned, lack of sleep finally catching up to him. “I’m going to take that nap now. If I’m not up in four hours, can you wake me?” Niya nodded at his request and he flopped onto a bed of soft aura before promptly passing out.

Jiran woke on his own. Checking his map, he saw the suns had moved halfway across the sky. He cracked his neck, stretched with a yawn, then looked at Niya who was sitting cross-legged against the wall, practicing with her aura.

“You didn’t wake me?”

“I tried, your aura wouldn’t let me.”

“Really? That’s odd. Well, maybe not. I don’t actually remember the last time someone tried to wake me up.”

“I’m sure I could have if I really wanted to but I didn’t try very hard. You needed the rest. Are you ready to go? I’d like to sleep in a nice bed for a change and the only thing stopping me is a few million Graymin.”

Jiran chuckled, enjoying the lack of pain in his shoulder as he rolled it. He smacked his chest a couple times and then flexed his arm, not feeling much beyond a little soreness. It didn’t take him long to get over the surprise of his new tier four body healing so quickly. With a satisfied nod, he started digging. A few minutes later, they stood under the sky, the remains of First Father barely visible as a glowing strip of crimson on the horizon.

He confirmed there were no enemies in sight, then they ascended the tallest hill of their little valley together. Crouching low, they scanned the terrain for movement, immediately spotting several bands of Graymin shuffling around randomly. Their nearly idle movements reminded him of bad horror movies from Earth, but he knew the second they spotted prey, those beasts would turn into true nightmares, at least for anyone weaker than them.

“Is it just me or are there a lot more of them now?” Jiran whispered. Niya nodded while pointing toward an isolated group. Jiran returned her nod and they set out.

Before Jiran could descend on them, Niya raised a hand to stop him. She pointed to herself, then the group of Graymin. Understanding she wanted to fight them alone, he stepped back to watch. A little burst of anticipation lit within his chest at the thought of finally seeing what his cousin was capable of.

As Niya crept closer to the group of twenty, Jiran took the time to examine the new variants he spotted.

[Graymin Pawn - Warrior] (Tier 3) (340/340) Tough frontline variants of the Graymin Pawn. Capable of prolonged combat and heavy labor. What they lack in intelligence, they make up for with strength and durability.

[Graymin Pawn - Spreader] (Tier 3) (290/290) These low-combat variants of the Graymin Pawn focus on gathering resources to proliferate the stain. Be wary upon spotting this variant as their presence heralds the coming of more powerful, back-line forces.

Identify + 1

Woah, haven’t seen a level-up in that skill for a long time. I should really take some time to figure out how it works so I can level it faster. The descriptions are getting better, and if I could identify higher tier beasts this well, it could really save my ass.

Niya arrived amidst the Graymin in a tornado of fire. Flames licked over every centimeter of her armor as she spun, launching punches and kicks in a storm of wanton destruction. She danced among them, impossible to touch, impossible to escape. Her own version of coating—Layering—extended the reach of her limbs and Jiran’s brows rose as her mana turned to scorching flames—something he had never tried as he found unaspected mana easier to control.

Her technique forgoes control for raw elemental power, interesting. How does that not burn her skin though? If her layering is on fire, what’s protecting her from that heat? Her martial prowess is leagues above mine. Looks like she wasn’t idle this last year. I’ll have to convince her to spar with me again.

Graymin were blasted apart with ease and once more Jiran found himself slightly surprised. She was not killing any of them. Their limbs were blasted off—either disintegrating from her heat or thrown into a growing pile. Wounds were cauterized, keeping them alive long enough for her to finish unarming the entire group.

Jiran glanced at the party window to check her mana.

She’s hardly using any. Touches of forcing but mostly molding and layering which are incredibly efficient. I would be surprised if she uses one percent before the whole group is down.

A moment later, every last one of them was a helpless, burnt husk without limbs. She knelt over the first she had struck, placing her hand on its chest.

Jiran stood beside her to keep watch while she tried to figure out the technique. "There's a thin membrane, once you push through it, you'll be able to sense its mana. Then, claim it as you would regular density in your stomach."

Niya nodded, and a second later he watched her mana tick up by half a percent as the Graymin died.

"Mana Siphon," She mumbled in an awestruck whisper. "What a ridiculous technique. I've killed so many beasts and watched them rot when I could have been doing this the whole time?"

"It doesn't work very well on any beast with a core. Without a manapool to pull from, you only get little bits and its foul tainted mana that needs to be purified. Not worth the time or pain honestly."

"Oh, that's too bad. Still, if it can be used against the Graymin… that's going to make our job a lot easier," Jiran could only agree with her sentiment as she moved from body to body, leaving naught but empty, burnt husks behind.

"Get some for yourself," She motioned toward a pile of beasts to the side. "I don't know about you, but I'm ready to bust into Mortan as a hero." Niya's goofy grin was met with rolled eyes and a matching smile.

It took another two groups of the lower-tier Graymin for Jiran to gather enough mana. He tore out all the papules in his new channel, then used Restoration to regrow them so there were only two types. When their mana was full, they returned to the city, and the millions of Graymin surrounding it.