Chapter 118- The Night of Knights (Patreon)

Molding + 15

Channeling: + 7

CONGRATULATIONS: Molding has reached level 100

Molding threshold reached: Subsk—ERROR

Sufficient authority qualifications detected

Prepare for imminent evolution

The moment he read the notifications, three new boxes popped up, each flashing in the same obnoxious pattern behind his eyelids. The Graymin on the far side of the wardwall continued to uncaringly throw themselves into the meatgrinder of Jiran’s Coatings.

I need time to think.

“Olive, burn the tier fours before I finish them off. Don't stop until you're out of mana or capped on EXP."

“Oh, uhm, okay. Is everything alright, Jiran? You don't look well,” Jiran shook his head, raising a finger to indicate he was still thinking. Olive shrugged and raised her hands; two miniature suns of white-hot fire blooming before her palms.

Jiran stopped watching her, his minds each dedicated to their own task. One rapidly analyzed every scrap of information that led up to this moment.

All of this happened when I realized the wires of the framework are like synapses in the brain. Madra’s brain. Basically, they are pathways that intent can use to control mana from a distance. The mindlink forms a physical connection between the brain and mana by using emotions, but it’s not emotions that actually control mana, its intent. The framework is a way to carry that intent, and thereby control mana, over potentially vast distances.

Not only that, the papules in my channels are remote deposits of intent. When mana passes over them, the stored intent inside is released, converting the mana into an element. I’m still not sure what the web or papules are made of, but if the fifteen levels of molding are any indication, then I’m correct about it being a pathway for intent.

Now, instead of getting a new subskill like I expected, I’m seeing some message about authority, which was something I needed in the last arena challenge. But I didn’t bring any of that out with me, it all went into charging Sanctuary. So why does it say I have enough of it for whatever this evolution is?

Another of Jiran's minds was dedicated to draining and killing every Graymin that survived Olive’s attacks. She acquired EXP at an unprecedented rate, nearing her next ascension in a matter of seconds. The final mind of Triune Minds was reviewing the three boxes rife with unusual text.

Solophid: An abundance of Will to harvest the gifts of the gods. Masters of both skills and techniques. When the Solophid leave their coves to tread upon the seas, lesser predators are naught but prey.

Remalon: Descendants of the Kemalon with all of their powers and none of their weaknesses. Masters of mana and subjugation. Fear not the dominating grip of the Remalon, for it means you were chosen.

Myriad - The pinnacle of adaptability and integration. Masters of the body and soul. So long as life persists, the Myriad will exist to usurp it. Unseen, unbidden, unending.

What the actual fuck.

This is nothing like the subskills I got at level fifty. Doesn’t help that Madra is being as cryptic as ever. Only two more messages to go, don't get distracted, Jiran.

Ascender’s sponsor has chosen: Solophid

Selection will become permanent in 1:59:53

Two hours. I have two hours to figure out what all this means and make my own choice or I’m stuck with whatever my ‘sponsor’ chooses for me? What the hell is a sponsor? Since when do I have one? I bet this is going to knock me out, too. So, in summary, I’ve got less than two hours to hunt down what's poisoning the formations and get somewhere safe to ‘evolve’ my skill. Whatever that means.

Better get to it then.

Olive had ceased her attacks three seconds ago and was now looking at Jiran with a questioning frown. He could tell from both of their expressions that they were worried about him. Prickles of gratitude swept through him at their concern for his wellbeing but the cold, hard, ascender in him knew every second was precious.

“Something just came up, we have less than two hours to find our quarry and return to the city. No arguments, no discussion,” Jiran’s aura blasted out at full power, instantly flattening every Graymin within sixteen meters.

He shot through the wards, Olive and Niya wrapped tightly within his manabody. He didn’t create a reflective barrier as it would be next to useless at the speed they were advancing through the throng. His three minds were hard at work between flying, tracking the poisoned thread, and spinning up his channel. There was no way their mad dash would go unchallenged and he planned to be ready.

The rook saw them before he saw it. A concussive force swept a hundred pawns into the air and a gray meteor swelled in size as it approached far too quickly to dodge. Jiran’s manabody billowed out from its state of compressed control like tightly compacted rubber. It snapped into dozens of panels of force that rocketed toward the deadly projectile and reflected it to the side. It careened by them, exploding into the ground and bouncing out of sight, taking an unknown number of beasts with it.

Jiran’s aura quaked in agony, having lost nearly half its mass from that one deflection. His channels unleashed a streak of blazing hot death upon the distant rook, evaporating it instantly and leaving only the remnants of vapor behind.

“Hold them off!” Jiran yelled as he pulled his aura completely inside his body to recharge it. All three of them landed gracefully, ready for a fight. Without the protection of his aura, the sounds and smells of the battlefield flooded in. The air was hot and rancid from far too many putrid mouths breathing past blood-stained teeth. The mass of pawns did not screech in an audible tone, which left only the sounds of fleshy feet smacking dirt to bombard their ears.

The beasts moved as one to surround and devour them. Instead of a meal, they met Niya’s fists. “Blazing Star! Ruinous Strike! Glacial Collapse! Tsunami Burst!” Orange flames hotter than any forge rippled forth, turning monsters into slag. The ground shook as spikes of stone and rock erupted beneath their feet, spearing dozens. Waves rose and crested overhead before turning to unnatural formations of ice that trapped and suffocated. Through it all, her aura swept them into even tighter groups, boosting the efficiency of the slaughter she wrought. A smile split her face after her second punch, white teeth showing amidst the carnage.

“Ruinous Rupture!” Her newly evolved technique—born from Jiran’s tutelage—broke the ground. Directly in front of her, the land squeezed into itself, creating a gaping hole. For a split second, every beast in that two-meter space hung suspended in the air. From within the maw, countless shards of ultra-compressed minerals blasted forth at speeds no slower than a rook’s throw. Within an instant, every beast in a fifty-meter-cone was filled with holes or ripped to shreds.

Only a few pawns slipped by Niya’s fists and Olive was there to meet them. Her blade danced around Jiran’s still form. It blazed with scarlet fury, slicing through tough hide and carapace with laughable ease. Despite not moving, Jiran was killing dozens every second. Whips of Coating writhed around him like angry tentacles, piercing chests and draining them of their lifemana. All the while, his mana sank into his aura, recharging what it had sacrificed to the rook.

Thousands of Graymin died in the thirty seconds it took Jiran to recover. To their enhanced perception, it felt like an hour. When his aura swept out to crush the neverending tide, Olive and Niya were heaving for breath, sweat running freely down their faces. He lifted them once more, dashing in the direction of the poisoned framework.

By the time the second rook showed itself, they were no longer resting against his aura for support. Their chests still rose and fell rapidly, but determination radiated from them. They were nearly to the filth when it attacked. Another boulder flew so quickly it may as well have been a solid string connecting them to the beast. Knowing what to look for, Jiran spotted the ring of force that swept through the Graymin ranks and instantly unleashed three layers of powerful ice to reinforce his aura. He only lost a quarter of his manabody and once more returned fire.

The girls spread out, ready to defend him, but a new foe popped up amidst the unending waves of eerie faces.

[Graymin Knight - Striker (Tier 5) (5430/5430) This variant of the Graymin Knight forgoes skills and mana control, focusing on speed and lethality.]

“Ruinous Rupture!” Niya’s attack cleared space between them and the approaching tier five. Its form blurred between the countless bullets which ripped apart its brethren. Before Niya could punch again, it was upon her. Olive could only grit her teeth and swing her flaming sword in the other direction as Niya and the knight moved and attacked at speeds she could not contend with.

Jiran had to pick up the slack from Niya’s absence, his Coatings no longer taking the time to drain each pawn before ripping them apart. He watched Olive’s mana carefully in the party window, dedicating a single thread to snake into her armor at the collar, piercing her back and feeding her mana whenever she ran low.

Niya’s version of coating—Layering—shrugged off a dozen blows in the first two seconds of exchanges. Unlike Jiran’s coating, she had to constantly move the shield of mana around her body as it could only cover one limb at a time. Meanwhile, her own punches blasted chitinous plating and spiked appendages into dust. Jiran’s eyebrows shot up as she quickly dismantled the monster with pinpoint strikes and savage counters, each laced with explosive, elemental mana. Ten seconds later, Niya felled the knight and began laying into the surrounding Graymin with a vengeance.

The moment it was recharged, Jiran’s aura exploded once more, washing away the Graymin and getting its first taste of the stain which covered the ground. Everything north of their position, all the way to the distant mountains that were a speck upon the horizon, was covered in the violet, sticky goop. Trampled grass near the hand-thick layer of waste had long since turned gray, the life sucked from it. A nearby pile of beast corpses bubbled on contact with the vile substance, slowly shrinking as they were digested in the open air. The fizzing of assimilated meat released moisture that turned the air rank and sour with the scent of harsh chemicals.

Their noses crinkled from the acrid smell as they continued to work their way north. Within Jiran’s aura they crossed two kilometers in a matter of minutes, thankfully not encountering another rook, providing the girls a chance to fully recover.

I wish I had a little time to experiment with this stuff. I bet there is a better way to clear it out than burning it. What kind of smoke does it give off? How does it grow? I bet there’s mana in it!

Jiran’s thoughts were cut short when Niya lightly punched him in the shoulder. “Whatever you’re thinking, cut it out! I know that look, you were about to get us into more trouble, weren't you?”

“Was not…” Jiran lied while continuing to scan the low hills for rooks. Seeing fewer and fewer Graymin, he increased their speed.

They were nearing the source of the poison already. He could sense its influence on the framework growing precipitously. Soon, the remnants of a destroyed town appeared in the distance. Olive visibly shuddered from the eerily still atmosphere as the number of Graymin dwindled to nothing. The wall which once protected this unnamed place lay in ruins and Jiran couldn’t help but imagine a similar fate for Mortan if the Graymin made it through the wards.

He stretched his aura wide as they passed the first row of homes, finding the remnants of families reduced to nothing more than food for the filth. Determination to stop their advance roared to life within him as he focused on his task. The thickness of the taint expanded to cover several nearby synapses; whatever they sought, it was here, lurking within the dilapidated, ooze-covered buildings.

“Where are all the Graymin? This isn’t normal,” Olive gulped, the sound loud in their ears.

Jiran slowed as they entered the town proper, silent destruction surrounding them on all sides. The framework synapse he had been following branched into five separate directions—each leading to a different gutted building.

“It might be more than one beast, I’m seeing five signals now. Should I just blow the whole place up or do we want to get a look at them first?” Jiran pointed out each of the buildings.

Olive shook her head. “We must know exactly what we are dealing with. As much as I would prefer your first option.”

“If there’s five of them, it wouldn’t hurt to get rid of one or two then!” Niya’s punch launched before she finished speaking. The shock waves released by her mana-laden fist turned one of the buildings into splinters that danced through the air.

Jiran saw it immediately, a pool of writhing flesh that occupied the entire space beneath the structure’s foundation. To human eyes and even his aura, it appeared as nothing more than more of the filth on the ground, but to his interface, the truth was revealed.

[Graymin Rook- Corruptor (Tier 6) 27100/28000 Unknown classification of the Graymin Rook capable of corrupting formations across vast distances. Low combat potential detected.]

Identify + 2

The entire town shook with a massive quake that toppled most of the remaining buildings, despite the sticky filth holding them together. As rubble fell through the air, Niya blanched. “There’s no way my punch did all that!”

As dust began to settle, a great heaving tear split the ground and two dozen Graymin Knights poured out, dashing toward them with silent snarls. Behind them, a behemoth began to crawl out as well. Its clawed hands tore out chunks of filth as it pulled its girth from the rent in Madra’s soil.

[Graymin Rook - Enforcer (Tier 7) ????/????]