Iniri seed a lot more relaxed, and so did Cheya, though they werent making any general announcents just yet. It required so official paperwork to be exchanged between Iniri and Wright and the parents of the granddaughter in question. Of course, Shayma and Taelah knew about it as well, and were already conspiring for so sort of gift-giving.
There was also a conspiracy against that they sprung partway through the morning. Obviously I missed most of it because they were using [Companion Concord], but mostly I had to chalk it up to just having too much going on to pay attention to everything. People inside Tarnil talked about all the ti and I was used to ignoring it, so Id sohow ignored an actual song about .
and Blue held up the sky! Taelah, Shayma, and so of the village kids sang. The kids didnt really know the words, but they tried anyway. The song wasnt actually that bad, a recap of how I saved Tarnil, but I felt a little weird being the subject of several stanzas describing my heroics.
Oh lord. Where did you even find that? I asked when they were done, since I wasnt going to be so crass as to actually interrupt them, even if it was kind of embarrassing. My favorite fox-girl and prankster even got experience from springing it on .
Rember Glaci Naran? One of the dungeon-wives I had Dreams-Ahead help? She has a [Bard] Class, Shayma said. She composed it and sent it on to Iniri, who gave it to . And you didnt notice any of it! She added gleefully. I figured youd be too distracted with other things and I was right.
Its good to have sothing that can hold the young ones, too, Taelah added. The invasion of Tarnil is already almost a myth to them, and it is good for them to know where they ca from. Her eyes glinted. Maybe we can get this bard to co up with so more songs just for the Village. Well need so extra stanzas to explain the dragons, or the Chiuxatli.
Thats going to be even weirder. I didnt really want to complain, but at the sa ti, bard songs about were so unexpected I didnt even know what to think. Dont get wrong, I appreciate it, but its just surreal to hear!
Just you wait, Iniri is going to make sure it gets spread all over Tarnil, Shayma grinned. Maybe even further. It helps your image, you know.
I guess I asked for that. Shayma nodded agreent and Taelah smiled, dismissing the kids who went racing off to do the things children did. I mostly didnt pay attention to the gossip I got through my special abilities, only the things that involved important people, so I really had no idea what the rest of the world thought of . Or, well, the rest of Orn. Most of the rest of the world still didnt really know I existed, though I was sure the Leviathans were carrying the news. There were so glimpses here and there of far and foreign shores.
You realize that one of you is going to have to translate it into colortongue, I pointed out, and Taelah waved her hand at Shayma.
Only one of us can turn into a Chiuxatli, she said. Besides, I have enough to do.
So do I! Shayma protested. The Ell rehabilitation is taking a lot of ti even with Mom and Dad doing most of the work. Theres talking with the Chiuxatli and the Scalemind Shayma sighed. I havent even had ti to go out adventuring lately. Which isnt fair to Annit and Keri, they really need more experience. I actually get most of mine from non-combat, which is fair considering how powerful I am by myself.
Speaking of powerful, Taelah stopped a fifth-tier attack all by herself. It was great!
Oh, really? How co you didnt tell that? Shayma turned to Taelah, who rely smiled mysteriously.
Oh, it was just a minor incident. One-Eye-Green spooked Tlulipechua, the poor thing.
One-Eye-Green or Tlulipechua?
Yes, Taelah said, and Shayma snorted.
I havent done anything to deserve your Elder face. Just tell what happened!
While Taelah filled Shayma in, I checked in on the Chiuxatli. Tlulipechua had a bunch of his mages and other specialists in a room, colortongue flashing this way and that way in a conversation that was really difficult to follow. Despite knowing the language, I didnt have the faculties to understand it in the sa way they used it, as a sort of multi-topic simultaneous chatter. That more than anything else drove ho how decidedly non-human-kin they were, since even high tiers didnt seem to be able to follow multiple simultaneous and concurrent discussions.
I was trying to follow the threads without getting lost when my burrowing tendrils literally bounced off sothing, giving so nasty feedback that wasnt exactly pain but was damn close. I pulled the tendrils away while I looked at the area and I realized Id run into sothing Id been trying to avoid. Since Id hit an underground ocean, I had to move pretty far away from both the southern tip of Tarnil and the ocean itself, and Id ended up nearer to the mountains. Apparently, near enough that Id run into Nivirs Great Dungeon.
The section I revealed through my digging was slate-gray rock that was harder than Adamant Stone, so probably another level up at least. That or it had sothing like [Mana Structural Reinforcent] going on, which it might very well because there was a lot of mana tied up in the stuff. It didnt look exactly like my Skill did, but presumably the Great Dungeons had a few thousand years head start on and probably a completely different branch of advancent.
Fortunately the Great Dungeon did not trigger ANATHEMA, nor did it trigger dungeon combat. Which was a damn good thing because even as much mana as I had, the sheer scale of what I was sensing was staggering. I only had access to a small section of irregular wall, but I had an impression of the scale of the thing anyway. Perhaps it had sothing like my Presence, or it was sothing from [Blues Sagacity], or maybe just so subtle dungeon-to-dungeon communication.
Nivirs Great Dungeon was thousands of kiloters in every dinsion. The little bit that peeked above the ground in Nivir was a tiny corner of a massive edifice that extended down and sideways and probably took up more volu than the continent itself. It cut through a huge chunk of the Underneath and probably extended into the planets mantle. Combined with the whiffs of Spatial fields that I got from it, the sheer size made the Caldera look like a parlor trick.
If it ca to dungeon combat Id be in a bad way, so I was actually glad that I had simply run into a literal wall. That said, I didnt get any sense of awareness from the Great Dungeon, nothing to indicate there was a mind or even a controller over there. It might just not be sothing I could perceive, since Ansae said she couldnt get any read on where my mind was either, but I had doubts. Sothing that big and old could probably detonate the planet if it decided to experint with its mana the way I did with mine. Or superheat the ocean or induce volcanic winter or so other unfortunate side effect of incredibly potent forces.
Shayma, your mom and dad are familiar with Nivirs Great Dungeon, right? I sort of ran into it by accident, and Im wondering if it ever showed any signs of intelligence. Or if therere any monsters inside I need to worry about coming out. Id already pulled back a little bit, both to avoid any potential waking of a sleeping giant, and because I could feel the wisps of void mana flying around among the rest of it.
Her parents were off wrangling the other two Ells, up on top of my big glacial mountain. It would have been easier if I could have given her control of doors and teleports and the like, but a mountain complex where she could kick Girul out into the snow on occasion seed to be working. Both of the captured Ells had been subdued and confused when the Scalemind finally woke them up, which made sense considering thered been a bunch of mind surgery on them. There were probably ethical issues with being so invasive in an attempt to undo the damage of years of drug use, but it wasnt my call.
Neither she nor Giorn seed too worried by the threat the void users could pose, though to be fair both n had nothing resembling weapons on them. Sienne had no issues leaving supervision to Giorn, who was watching them trying to freeclimb a cliff behind the compound. Shayma relayed my questions, vague as they were, and Sienne frowned thoughtfully, tapping her chin with a forefinger.
Nivirs Great Dungeon seed more or less the sa as others, a big vast area under the ground, if maybe more desolate than usual. There are plants and animals there, just not many, and they dont have much mana until you go deeper than normal. Then you have to cope with stronger void mana. The only monsters weve run into are the Seracley big cat-lizard things that have a little void mana in their claws. Nothing Blue cant handle. Theyre not very smart.
Fair enough. Im going to be leaving well enough alone for now. The thing is huge. And theres how many of these?
Twelve, I think? Shayma said, looking at Sienne as she relayed the question for her mothers benefit.
There are legends of others, but right now I only know of twelve, Sienne agreed.
I think that ans they take up like ten percent of the planet by volu. Goodness. Theres probably more room inside the dungeons than outside them. It made wonder why there even was a planet, considering the dungeons were artificial, but maybe I was reading too much into it. Lots of interior space didnt an it was all livable, or that there wasnt sothing special about a comparatively normal planet. It also made wonder if Id get that large soday. I didnt really want to, and since my leveling was uncoupled from size I didnt need to, but there might still be reasons in the future.
I just had a thought, I told Shayma, as my contemplations swerved down another path. Youre kind-of sort-of a dungeon monster now, so you probably cant, or at least shouldnt, go into Great Dungeons. Shayma winced.
Youre probably right, she conceded. Ill have to stick to mana springs. Even if I get more Trickster experience doing other things, I do need to learn how to fight with my Skills.
Honestly, I think youre doing fine. You can take out dragons, for goodness sakes.
Well, young dragons, and at least upset them, but its true. Still, you never know what well run into.
I was a lot more worried about soft threats than hard ones. I was lucky that Id caught the bit about Nivir, because while I certainly didnt have anything to fear from Anell agents, my neighbors were not so lucky. Throwing the continent into chaos with strategic assassinations and disruptions would certainly annoy , and might well fully occupy my ti depending on what happened.
There was no guarantee theyd talk about in such a way that I could spot the next disruption, and while my special ability seed to be able to pierce any protections, I had no idea what anti-divination procedures might exist. For all I knew, they might be expecting surveillance, and take precautions like speaking in code or only exchanging encrypted ssages. I already knew that if I didnt actually understand what was being said I wouldnt get any visions of it, like with the Scalemind or the Leviathans. Or even the Chiuxatli, before I learned colortongue.
If things went badly enough, I might have to launch the Fortress before the Chiuxatli finished designing the interior. Though to be fair, even if the Anells were to launch so major offensive itd probably take weeks or months to arrive. Shaymas capture of that one agent had pretty effectively broken Anells direct power in Orn, and while it was irritating that wed clearly missed so agents, having so few left ant they couldnt annoy us too much.
If I was going to get the Fortress ready I still needed to put weaponry on it. The Chiuxatli had a grand vision for the interior, which was great, and warding, which was amazing, but I also needed it to be able to project force, not just loom nacingly. I could just use it to crash into things, probably, but what I really wanted was a built-in [Starlance]. Preferably both my own apocalyptic one, and Iniris more reasonable one. The problem was that I couldnt use magical tools or items. Not really. I had to do it all with my own stuff.
My own [Starlance] was easy, but I really wanted an option other than burning up a star and laying waste to a few thousand square kiloters of real estate. It would be nice if I could use just a tiny fraction of that, especially if I could focus it into more than a massive nuclear blast. It would take testing, because while I read the [Starlance] and subsequent neutron star remnant as a very tiny supernova, I didnt know if the magic would. Extra containnt might an it only went a little bit nova, or it might not do anything.
Hey, Ansae? She was clearly working on the ward sche I had asked for, sitting at the top of her tower surrounded by magically infused spheres. Complex mana structures hung in the air, visible mostly through mana-sight but so of them were visible normally, interacting in ways I didnt understand in the slightest. It was a three-dinsional dynamic network at the very least, with tiny tethers of mana leading to Ansae as she studied it.
Yes, Blue? Her eyes flicked, tiny pulses of mana cycling through the threads she was using to control the ward schema. While it was obvious that she was powerful, watching her deal with such complicated mana showed why she was powerful. The complexity and finesse on display was absolutely that of a grandmaster or above, and that was assuming I actually saw everything she was manipulating. For all I knew there was so kind of magic programming inside the mana constructs that was only visible to people connected to it. Rather like my Climate interface, if it could be called such.
Im thinking about weapons for my Fortress, and obviously I want a [Starlance]. The problem is, I dont know if I can actually dial it down any if I could have like a tenth or a hundredth of a full blast and maybe avoid collapsing the star when I do it. If Im willing to invest the [Firmant] I could contain the physical explosion, but is it really a physical explosion? Is there so sort of magical containnt I need? I assu you saw the [Starlance] when I used it.
I did see it, but it was too intense even for to examine casually, Ansae admitted. If youre going to set off another one, I would welco the chance to examine it more closely. You absolutely will need magical containnt, though. [Firmant] may be indestructible, but everything around it is still going to be flooded with stellar mana. It would take a lot of power to keep that in.
Maybe sothing like the containnt you put on the stars in Iniris Torc? While I didnt know mana, I had at least a general concept of energy, so I wasnt a complete novice when discussing things with Ansae. Obviously I didnt know any of the magical techniques, but the concepts of ablative shielding and sacrificial layers still translated.
It didnt much surprise that Ansae already knew the concepts, but it salved my ego a bit that I could suggest a few refinents. The chanistic and physical view of the world I had really seed to complent the way magic worked, because the more soone understood and knew was possible, the better they could articulate their intent. Not that Ansae really needed any help to beco more powerful.
The conversation did result in her collapsing the warding schema she was working on and pulling up a different rune network, making notes on her magical system. After a few more minutes of working on it she closed it down as well, tapping her claw on the stone of the draconic desk she was using. For a mont she appeared lost in thought, then she grinned.
Im using up more magic than Id like on your projects. Maybe its ti for a refill? She suggested, stowing away her work and shifting down to her amazon form. The last word ca with a shake of her hips and I had to laugh.
Id never refuse such a suggestion, I said.
As pleasant as the diversion was, it was also necessary. She really was spending mana faster than she could regenerate it, which was basically spending any mana at all, and while we both enjoyed the process I could feel that it galled her. By personality and by species, her vulnerability clearly rankled, as did her reliance on to keep her from exhausting her resources.
At the sa ti, actually being able to do things cheered her imnsely, which was why after so ablutions she went winging off to supervise her pupils in their Caldera survey for lairs. Part of was surprised it was taking them so long, but the Caldera was imnse and there was really no rush. Better to find the exact perfect confluence of geography and mana, or even ask to adjust sothing that was nearly perfect, than accept sothing substandard.
Only Syrinu and Akanen had selected a place by the ti I ground through another days worth of anvil-ti, finishing the materials I needed for Keris soul prosthesis. It really took an astounding amount of ti and mana to make them, even if it was physically less than a kilogram of tal. By my estimation it cost slightly more material to use the Skill than it did to do manually, but considering how much ti I spent on the details the first ti, I was willing to take that tradeoff.
I wasnt going to give it to Keri for free. While I could technically afford to do so, it made uncomfortable and even [The Ell Family Tree] and [The Imperishable Blade] had been created as paynt for services rendered. Since I had very little I actually needed from her imdiately, I was going to have to trade favors. I was already investing in her being useful in the future, so I might as well double down on it.
Of course I would like to have depletion immunity, Keri said. But what kind of favor does Blue need from ?
Im not sure yet. Sothing healing-related in the future, probably. Shayma rephrased that for Keri, who nodded thoughtfully.
I suppose its not any different from the way nobility trade favors, but owing a Power one is a little different. Keri glanced over at Annit, who nodded ever so faintly. Given that Annit was specifically charged with making sure Keri was kept relatively unencumbered, I actually wouldnt have been offended if shed suggested Keri turn down. Ill do it, she decided.
[Model Soul] sucked up supermaterials and other ingredients from my inventory and took a big chunk out of my mana pool, though the latter refilled quickly enough. The Skill wasnt instantaneous, which was kind of surprising, but took about twenty seconds to process and spit out a model for . I handed that off to Shayma, who gave it to Keri.
Its gorgeous, she said, running her finger over the crystalline surface. Also, warm? Its so strange!
Like Annits model, it was a small, eye-twisting sculpture of supermaterial embedded inside a [Core Lattice] crystal, though hers had a healing Primal Source rged into the base instead of wind and storm. Keri took it with only a little bit of nervousness, and I triggered [Bind Model]. With [Soul Proficiency] I could more easily track the mirroring and connecting of the model with Keris actual soul structure.
There was definitely so flow of mana between the two, though it wasnt as intense as the amount that Purification took, for example. Obviously the model was physically separated from where the soul actually resided within the body, but there was so resonance that made think they were sort of treated identically for magical purposes. Though even that wasnt accurate; there was so understanding of how it worked that was difficult to articulate. Probably because I still didnt have the whole picture on how souls, dungeons, magic, the akasha, and Depletion all interacted.
The takeaway was that it was my dungeon authority and magic that protected the soul in question, and the prosthetic was the chanism for doing so. It was a gentler and less complete version of purification, where I effectively transplanted my mana into a soul structure, but still good enough. With the supermaterials it allowed for growth as well, so they wouldnt lose the protection as they leveled and tiered up. Such a prosthetic couldnt actually restrain soul growth, and in a sense the connection was all one way.
That did make worried about whether I could use it to help out Yamal. If his soul structure was collapsed, the prosthetic wasnt going to exactly replace it. That said, I didnt know the full extent of how the prosthetics worked and magic was far less chanistic than physics. It was still worth a try, since it wasnt like things could be worse for the [Depleted] fourth-tier.
I want to try it, but I dont know how to get him connected back to a Primal Source. I brought in all three of my Companions on the problem, since I wasnt sure where to start. For all I knew there was so simple and well known way to make an unconscious person use their Skills or sothing, so it was always better to appeal to the collective knowledge of so very smart people.
I could ask Keri, Shayma offered. Im sure she has so experience with it.
Absolutely, Taelah agreed. Though what about the Scalemind? Couldnt one of them, or even you, use mind magic to make him link with a Source?
I would advise against a Scalemind, Iniri said. Im sure his family would allow it if Blue or I asked directly, but Yamal was a fourth-tier. Even in the state he is, I suspect hed react poorly to a monsters magic.
Oof. Yeah, I honestly cant tell what it is that makes people spot monsters right away but pretty much everyone over tier three seems to be able to do it.
Let find Keri, one mont. Shayma flickered over to the new cabin Annit and Keri were having built on the outskirts of the Village. The hospital Id made had gone completely unused, as forward-thinking as it had been at the ti, and the chamber they were housed in was a crude thing compared to the Climates of the Caldera.
Taelah and Iniri werent exactly kept waiting. They werent even all together, using [Companion Concord] to coordinate the discussion from their own places. It didnt seem necessary to pull everyone together just for a single question.
You should definitely have a healer there, if youre going to try, Keri said with a frown. I dont know anything about being completely depleted like that, nobody does, but soone should keep track of his physical state.
Hes got a dedicated healer coming by to keep his body from withering, but I can take you along if you like, Shayma offered.
No, thank you though. Keri grimaced. It would be incredibly rude to whoever has been taking care of him all this ti. However, maybe you could take a note to whoever it is? I dont have many people to discuss the healing arts with.
Of course, Shayma agreed cheerfully.
Ill send a ssage to his estate, Iniri said. I could tell she was trying not to get her hopes up, though even if I could pull him back from whatever coma he was in, the prosthetic wouldnt fix the damage done.
It only took another day before Yamals family agreed to let Shayma and I try. Though I had the feeling that Iniri would have asked to make the attempt anyway, if theyd been reticent. The actual estate was out in the country, and in fact one of the ones Id dealt with before, when pulling settlents out of the path of the mage-kings war cores. Id taken it for a baronets dwelling, and for all I knew it might be. Fourth-tiers were practically nobility anyway.
I dropped Shayma off out front of the big estate, which actually ca with its own small village around it, and she strode up to the front door. Before she could actually knock an elderly kirin-kin man in what looked like tweed opened it, bowing deeply. The overlay marked him as Hurin Entarl, a level 38 [Voyaging Chirurgeon]. It seed a bit odd that the healer opened the door rather than one of the servants, but maybe they just felt Shayma was rather more high profile than any normal guest.
Lady Voice, he said, which seed to be the title people had generally settled on for Shayma. Welco to the Gen estate.
Thank you, Hurin, Shayma said, as I supplied his na so she could maintain her air of mystique.
Please co in, he said, holding the door for her personally as he ushered her inside. I do hope you can do sothing for Master Gen, Hurin said. Ive been his healer for years and this defies everything I can do.
I hope so too, Shayma said. My understanding is that this is an affliction of the soul, not of the body, so you shouldnt feel bad for not making progress. I wont be doing any soul magic myself, she added. But Blue might be able to put in new safeguards that would allow him to recover.
I will leave that to your expertise, Lady Voice, Hurin said.
I would also like to pass on a missive from Keri Esox, Shayma said, pulling Keris letter out of thin air, or rather, her pocket space. Simply to open a dialogue as a fellow healer.
I would be honored, Lady Voice. Hurin bowed again and took the letter as he led Shayma to Yamals room. The man wasnt looking great, but for a coma patient he didnt seem too badly off. There was so muscle atrophy, and he seed to have lost so weight, but he wasnt dead which was pretty good under the circumstances.
Shayma moved to his side, taking out a kinetic Source and placing it under one of his hands. Then she used illusion to hide the fact that shed shifted into a massive scythe-ard monster, the image of a fox-girl reaching out to put her hand on his shoulder while in truth she was using the native magic of her form to try and grapple with his mind. Assuming there was anything left of it.
I watched closely, trying to see if Id get a flicker of his soul structure, such as it was. I knew it couldnt be good, since his prior Source had crumbled, but I was hoping thered be sothing. For a few minutes nothing happened, but Shayma didnt say anything so I assud she was still concentrating, trying to deal with the unconscious mans mind and see if she could activate his Skills or his mana.
Suddenly I had a brief glimpse of a tangled, ruined pile in Yamals core, flickering for a mont before it vanished again and the kinetic Source collapsed into a pile of sand.
You had it for an instant! I told her. Let get you another Source and if you can do that again, maybe I can do things quickly.
This is very weird, but I can try. He has no Skills but I can sort of pull on stamina, Shayma remarked with her illusion. I think hell need so mind reconstruction too. The shock of losing all his Skills is a serious problem.
All those lessons from the Scalemind will co in handy, then.
Definitely, Shayma agreed, turning to address Hurin, who had posted himself in the corner of the room.
There may be sothing we can do, but it is unlikely to be an instantaneous fix.
Whatever you can do, Lady Voice, Hurin said, clearly sweeping Yamal with his Skills. It probably wouldnt help, but it certainly wouldnt hurt.
I provided Shayma with another kinetic Source, and this ti when the soul debris appeared I applied [Model Soul] instantly. Unlike with Keris, it took about a second to complete and I applied [Bind Model] before even studying it. When I did, I saw that the model was basically a single dot of Argentum, surrounded by a chunk of kinetic Source and then the blue of the [Core Lattice]. Apparently what it registered was that there was effectively nothing there.
When I displaced it over to Shayma, and she put it in his hands, I could see the remnant debris of his soul collapsing downward to a single point as he harmonized with the model. It didnt vanish entirely, though the [DEPLETED] part of his Status did, but his Class was definitely gone. The overlay just showed his na. It was a little bit weird, but I figured that binding in the soul model must have triggered sothing. I certainly couldnt reconstruct the Class, so maybe granting him immunity from Depletion let whatever normal soul processes that did exist deal with the catastrophic damage in so way.
[Soul Proficiency] advances to 6.
That helped Shayma said, though not entirely certainly. But I dont think hell wake by himself. Ill have to do so work.
Hurin hovered anxiously while Shayma did whatever mind magic she needed to do. I had no idea what was going on, and as hours ticked by, I was starting to get a little worried. Shayma seed unflustered, though, occasionally making a remark for my benefit or Hurins about her progress. It was getting on toward evening when his Status suddenly changed, registering a Class. Level 1 [Remnant of the Sovereign].
Yamals eyes opened.
He tried to croak sothing and Hurin leapt forward, helping the man sit up and take a drink. Yamal seed a little confused, though I didnt bla him, looking at Hurin and Shayma. Once hed swallowed whatever was in the glass Hurin had provided, he tried again.
Why did I get to select my Class again?
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