Day 128 - Blue
I really had to wonder why nobody else seed all that worried. Maybe it was sothing to do with the adventurer life, but everyone just took the ambush in stride and continued on. I was still on tenterhooks until they set up camp for the night, and even then I wasnt particularly comfortable. Unlikely as it was, I was half expecting more of those creepy white bugs to ambush them while they slept. Sure they kept a watch, but still.
At least the combat had yielded so concrete gains. When Shayma ca back, not only would she be getting another level but a new Skill: [Dungeon Weaponry]. Even without any description of what it did I was kind of excited, both to see what she could do with it and what Id get when I transcribed it. Perhaps itd automatically solve so of my issues.
Even though I didnt want to spread myself too thin, I split my attention, keeping an eye out through Shayma while I attended to so of my own projects in order to stay occupied. Most of the work was already done and Id already figured out the list of things I wanted to do, so the fact that I got a little dumber while I was splitting my focus like that didnt matter too much. If only having two cores ant I had two minds, but it didnt seem to work that way. Maybe I needed to specialize one first.
I still hadnt decided on that, and considering that the available specializations seed related to things I was doing, I wanted to continue on the path of pseudo-magitech for a while and see if I could get that kind of specialization. Mana-fueled or not I had a better handle on computers and coilguns than swords and sorcery.
To that end Id finally accrued the stuff I needed to build the [Mana Diamond Anvil]. It was by far the largest single-unit thing I could build, needing sothing around thirty ters of vertical height and a ten ter diater floor space to fit. I ended up putting it under the volcano sphere, partly because I needed a new chamber for it anyway and partly because if I needed to hook into a mana dynamo I wanted to use a different one than my crafting experints. That one seed more or less tapped out with all the stuff I had attached to it.
It took the form of two massive cones, one on top of the other and each so fifteen ters tall, the points facing each other. They werent solid, but rather a latticework of Light and Kinetic Affinity sources, supported by stonesteel fras. A storage crystal in the shape of a large disc provided a base for each cone, filigreed in gold where the Affinity materials joined it. The Affinity lattices traced their way down, tapering along with the cone until they t the actual anvil, the points of the cones composed of alchemical diamond sheathed in Adamant Stone.
The whole apparatus had a golden cast, from the colors of the Sources as well as the actual gold that seed to cover the junctions, all except for the very center which was blue-white from the stone and diamond. It looked damned impressive to , glowing and gleaming, and I hadnt even put any mana into it. Surprisingly, when I charged it up, it only took a thousand mana, which compared to the amounts I was used to working in barely even registered. On the other hand, it also only generated one one-thousandth of a unit of material, so on a per-unit basis...well. Itd take a while to get anywhere. A million mana a unit was steep no matter how it was phrased.
Still, I was curious what exactly I could get from the thing. Even a tiny amount of resources could be useful in sothing like, oh, a ring. Considering I wouldnt be making any weapons out of it, I decided Id toss in sothing other than the usual steel. I was going to use gold, in fact, because it seed to be important to mana sohow. My mana crystals and more advanced devices all used it, so it would probably get a heck of a boost from whatever the mana diamond anvil did, exactly.
Charged, the thing actually shone. Glimring light dripped from the fra, falling downward or upward toward the anvil point, following the mana density. I could see my Affinityless mana filling the device, twined along the paths of the crystal and Source, a weight dragging at the world as it pressed in toward a single point. A miniscule drop of gold floated in a diamond prison at the very point the two halves touched, ready for whatever the contraption was going to do. I triggered the anvil.
A vast bell tolled.
It wasnt exactly a sound, but a wave rippled through all my mana, expanding outward from the tiny drop of gold and tugging at every single thread in every dynamo and plant and construct I had. I could see it wash through the mana of the few people left in Refuge, making them twitch and stare about, even the lowest-level ones. Far below, the wave passed through Ansaes incredibly dense mana with a small ripple, barely visible to , but she leapt up as if stung.
When it rolled across my cores I didnt feel anything myself, but it rippled out to Shayma through the Companion bond and pulled her out of sleep. Whuzza? She asked, muzzily.
Nothing, dont worry about it. You can go back to sleep.
Mmph. She rolled over and snuggled in under her blanket, safe within the bounds of their campsite sowhere outside Duenn.
The wave rippled through Iniris bond too, though it was far weaker. Even so she jolted nearly as hard as Ansae, sitting bolt upright in her bed and gasping, holding her hand to her chest. I couldnt really soothe her the sa way that I could Shayma, but hopefully she would just think she had a bad dream. Id have Shayma fill her in on things later, or maybe Id move the [Mana Diamond Anvil] further away from my core. Id have to eat more of the mountain first, but that was on the agenda anyway. First, though, Ansae was less than happy.
What was that, Blue? That hurt! She sounded aggrieved, and the fact that she said that it hurt ant it must have been pretty serious. It didnt strike that shed consider anything short of nigh-disabling pain more than an annoyance. I felt a little bad for that, since it was sothing worse than disturbed sleep.
I didnt want to show her the [Mana Diamond Anvil] though. Among other things, I was pretty sure that landed in the realm of things I shouldnt tell anyone about that shed warned not to tell even her. Instead I showed her the output of the thing, the one-thousandth unit of gold that had beco sothing else.
First I lifted a pedestal in front of her, to get her attention, then a tiny one atop that, and then an even smaller one atop that, the last one made of glass with a setting for the transford material. A tiny drop of [Hyperthaumic Phase-Condensed Aurum].
I really wished I had a better description of the material because it sounded exotic as hell, reminding of superconductors and condensed matter physics, though the terms used to describe the forr gold were so much gibberish to . Maybe Ansae would have so idea.
The dragon blinked at it, blinked again, then reached up to rub her paw along her muzzle in a clearly exasperated mannerism. You made sothing that is better than perfect at conducting mana out of a mana insulator. Of course you did. That would explain She trailed off, thinking, and I took the opportunity to add sothing to it by way of apology.
I really hadnt intended to hurt her, and frankly Id probably need more gold from her anyway so this would act as a bit of a paynt for it. The Glacial and Volcanic Sources had fruited, from my new Climate areas, and I put one of each on a separate pedestal in front of the one with my exotic Aurum.
Oh my, Ansae said, eyes glittering with undisguised greed. I didnt realize youd made new ones. High quality Affinities, too. I suppose that ans that Aurum isnt for , she added with an insincere sigh. Which is too bad. Id love to have sothing like that in my hoard. You do realize that this is the sort of thing people kill kingdoms for, yes?
Well, oops. Id have to make sure nobody knew about them without putting them into Artifacts or sothing. Once I figured out how to suppress the mana forge I wouldnt mind trading her so, so long as she was satisfied with one drop. A full bar would be a bit much..
Im sure youre wondering what use this Aurum has, Ansae said, as if she were reading my mind. She reached out to pick up the Sources, the Volcanic Affinity a grey shot through with flickering orange and the glacial Affinity white with blue marbling. Both of them simply lted into her scales, her horns taking on a subtly deeper sheen a mont later. Mostly, it looks like it can massively amplify Skills, but its very strange, because its still a bit of an insulator from what I can see.
Oh right, she did ntion that gold was a mana insulator. That maybe explained why it was in my high-end stuff all the ti. It was needed to keep the mana contained, though it seed to mana acted more like a fluid than electricity. A very well behaved fluid, since it didnt seem to want to escape from the virtual channels it made through my bulk, but maybe I just didnt know what to look for. It sounded like it had turned into so sort of mana semiconductor, or semi-superconductor, which probably ant it was capable of really weird stuff.
I couldnt do much with this little amount, but you might be able to. The mana density is so high it wouldnt have any problem imprinting from a Class or Skill, but what that would result in I couldnt say. Crafting isnt actually my specialty. She waved a claw, settling back as I pulled the Aurum back into my inventory and removed the display pedestals. Appraising, now...I can tell you that Ive never seen the stuff you just showed , so I bet its never existed before.
That was a little bit impressive. Now, I had assud that the [Mana Diamond Anvil] itself was unique, but I also figured that there were ways to do the sa thing with existing knowledge. If Ansae hadnt run into it, I doubted it was anything commonly known, or even rarely known. I had to wonder if the anvil was itself on the order of an Artifact, because now that I was looking for it I was pretty sure that none of that mana went to waste.
When I used mana to condense stone or tal to the next tier, a lot of that mana was spent in the process of the phase change, with very little to none of it remaining in the material. The aurum, on the other hand, was chock full of mana. It didnt look exactly like the mana that flowed through my dynamos, the process of being bonded with the Aurum having made it almost static. Almost. I wished I had a finer mana-sight, because I was pretty sure I could learn a lot from the details in those subtle movents.
Id probably have to transcribe soones superior mana-sight. Mine had gotten eaten by [Genius Loci] and that didnt seem to have any way to level itself. Or maybe the improvents were invisible. Soday Id get my Status to behave.
I mulled over these things as I started putting a golden sh around the inside of the [Mana Diamond Forge] room. I figured that mimicking electromagnetic shielding would be a good place to start with mana shielding, and then upon further consideration I put [Warding] over the whole room, dialed up as high as it would go.
Only then did I put in a piece of Cultivated Steel into the anvil. Like the gold it was basically a tiny speck, but it was fractionally larger, reflecting how the units my interface used definitely werent standardized on volu. If I had to guess, considering what I knew now, it was based on how mana-rich it was or so similar tric. I could see how materials that reacted more with mana would take up more space in a mana-based system, just for the purposes of keeping them contained.
The bell tolled again, but this ti the golden sh broke it up, reducing the mana surge to a bare ripple that faded to nearly nothing by the ti it reached my core and Ansaes lair. Neither Shayma nor Iniri stirred, but Ansae cocked her head, listening.
Yes, I can still feel it. Far away though, so whatever you did worked.
That was all I needed to hear. With my mana regeneration I could keep the [Mana Diamond Anvil] going more or less constantly, and tried a bunch of different materials. Whats more, Ansae was interested enough to give her impressions of them, which was invaluable in planning what to do with them.
Steel gave [Firmant], which Ansae said was actually indestructible. I could manipulate it, because it was my mana, but nobody else would be able to. That seed completely ridiculous, but considering how little I was able to actually make, I couldnt build everything important out of it.
Silver and copper were similar to gold, but Silver seed to be more attuned for my dungeon Fields and copper actively drew in mana. Again, the tiny amounts ant that I couldnt abuse it too heavily, but I could already imagine the benefits of, say, [Shield of Tarnil] being able to absorb mana from what it blocked.
Stone and glass were really exciting, because they had, to at least, mythical properties. The tiny bit of [Reified Manastone] I made was not only incredibly tough but utterly immoveable, immune to any force once I placed it, including gravity. I could have stared at the tiny sphere of floating stone all day, but I still had to be physically connected to anything I wanted to control, so I couldnt have any useful floating islands yet. The [Incipex Thaumaglass] was invisible and frictionless, if incredibly fragile I accidentally broke my first bead trying to adjust its shape, the mana hissing out and joining back to join the flow of my dynamo as it turned to dust. Still, I could think of uses for a frictionless substance if I could get the hang of it.
So things didnt work in the forge at all. Wood, flower parts, and monster parts all turned to dust, and the mana seeped out of it so it wasnt even interesting dust. Magicite exploded, a tiny little pop of a mana-flare that thankfully didnt actually damage the forge, and calamite turned into so sort of vapor that I had issues corralling. Water was one of the weirdest transformations, appearing unchanged but possessing the crushing pressure of the abyssal depths of the ocean. Not that useful until I made more than a fraction of a drop.
Then there were Sources. Really, at the size the forge took it would be more accurate to call it Source dust, and it created a tiny, self-contained reservoir of ultradense mana. Of course, that mana had an Affinity and I couldnt access it directly, so I couldnt simply churn out a bunch and solve my mana storage issues. That would be too easy. No, these were ant for people who could actually cast mana properly, though maybe I could put them into so of my dynamos or sothing if I needed a buffer.
Even if it would take so ti to make all these things useful, I felt good about it. Watching Shayma and the gang take care of the monsters made realize that they werent nearly powerful enough. I needed to improve their ability to go up against higher levels and Tiers, and while the LAE and similar weapons were useful, they were essentially a distraction. The featured centerpiece of the Purifier path was the Companion, and given that Id forsaken monsters entirely my Companions were supposed to pick up for that slack.
[Tempered Wisdom advances to 7]
If I could get so more advancents I could at least start cross-transcribing Shayma and Iniri, and if Shayma could use [Shield of Tarnil] that would be amazing. Not to ntion whatever benefits might co from higher Companion levels. Even though Id clearly not been using it very well, Skill transcription was kind of amazing and the higher level functions of the Companion path should be equally amazing. Judging by the odd-level pattern so far, Id find out the next ti Shayma advanced a Companion level.
Speaking of which, I was clearly doing sothing wrong there. I had the feeling that the Companion levels should be advancing far more quickly. Even if a couple of months was nothing in the lifeti of a dungeon, I had mage-kings and fourth-tier jerks to deal with so I couldnt wait around for the advancents to happen. I had two options there, either bite the bullet and buy the companion specialization, or figure out what actually caused the advancents other than major events.
If I did purchase it, Id rather wait until Shayma was back. No point in buying it and then sitting around waiting to see what it did, especially if it affected Iniri in so way and then Id have an annoyed kirin that I couldnt talk to. Plus there was no telling what might happen to Shayma, and Id rather not have her discombobulated while on an important mission.
My experintation carried through the night and into the morning, when the group near Duenn was stirring. Since I was looking out for any possible attacks I was actually paying attention when Keri woke Shayma up just before her watch ended, as morning broke.
Good morning, Shayma, Keri said cheerfully, though quietly. Do you and Blue have so ti to answer so questions for ?
I sure do.
Of course, Keri! Shayma waved for Keri to join her on one of the seats Id provided from inventory.
Actually its about Annie, Keri said, settling down and clasping her hands together. Youve noticed that her Class and Affinity are not very powerful. We talked about it, and if it werent for Blues blowgun she wouldnt have been able to put a dent in those monsters despite her level. She could barely protect even with you and Cheya holding off most of the monsters and its really getting to her. Is there anything Blue can do to help her out?
Uh. That was not what I expected at all. Generally I expected Annit to be the one to think about these things, but of course Keri wasnt stupid and Annit wouldnt co to for a solution. She had trust issues and I didnt really bla her.
Actually yes. I can change or admix her Affinity, but thats a breeding option so I dont see her taking that. The sa is true for the Companion option, which would make her more powerful once I can transcribe Skills to her. I am actually working on equipnt upgrades for you all already, for what its worth.
Admix? I guess that ans you can blend in new Affinities? Shayma asked. Sotis I forgot that even though Shayma was quite smart, she wasnt a scholar and I still sotis spat out unfamiliar words. The fact that she didnt have any trouble just asking about them ant she was braver than . Upon my confirmation, she repeated it to Keri, who nodded understanding.
I was afraid of that. Keri frowned, a different frown than Annits. I dont think shed want to try that.
But you would? Shayma teased with a smile. Just a bit curious, then?
Shayma I groaned. She had too much fun flirting on my behalf. Keri looked away demurely for a mont.
Well, she said, lowering her voice, a bit. Now that I know Blue isnt so monstrous thing, at least. But I wouldnt do anything to hurt Annie and if she doesnt want to it wont happen.
I didnt even want to offer just because youre a couple and itd be pretty weird. Im not really sure its a good idea even if Annit does want to jump up a power level, because theres no going back.
Shayma repeated that to Keri, then added a question of her own. I can see why Annit is worried about how strong she is, but what about you? She really only needs to worry about protecting you if youre going out adventuring, and you dont need to. You didnt when you were at Wildwood.
Cities arent where people need help, Keri pointed out. Okay, maybe they do but not the type of help I an. When I was very little there was a mana-spring flare near where I lived, and Tekaomi was there keeping everyone alive. Shayma nodded, though the na didnt an anything to .
Thats what I want to be, Keri finished. I go where theres trouble and I fix things. But to do that, I need to be able to handle it and since Annie will always co with , she does too.
You do know if you tie yourself to Blue more completely, youre going to have less choice about where you go, right?
Keri snorted.
Blues already opposite the mage-kings and hes a Power. I dont think were going to stop fighting any ti soon. Theres probably nowhere I could go that we would be more needed, at least for now.
Well thats fun to think about. Thanks, Keri. Shayma giggled, but I continued. Anyway so of the stuff Im working on is probably pretty potent, so she doesnt have to worry about going to such extre lengths, probably. Not that I find them unattractive or anything! I just actually like them and I dont want to ss up their relationship.
I was beginning to worry about that! Keri laughed. Thought maybe Blue was trying to let us down easy.
If I had a breeding station built Id probably be looking for excuses to get them into it, but you dont have to tell her that.
No, thats not sothing you have to worry about. Shayma said with a giggle.
So what is this Companion thing all about anyway? I know youre one, but theres sothing else going on?
Yes, I made a Bargain with Blue in his capacity as a Power. Shayma nodded. Companions Shayma paused to marshal her thoughts for a mont. Blue gets a link to them, so he can see through their eyes, and then can use their skills to boost his, and his to boost theirs.
Theres more, keep in mind youre only companion level six. Theres probably more stuff at seven, nine, and ten. Not to ntion whatever things I just havent figured out.
The thing about him seeing through our eyes...Annies already uncomfortable with him able to Keri blushed, suddenly. To spy on us all the ti. She doesnt feel like she has any privacy. Is there anything he can do about that?
I an. Not while youre living in my territory! Although now that you ntion it, I ought to see if I can disable the sensory input from the companion bond. If I end up with a bunch of them in the future itd be nice to at least drop it down low. You tell Keri Ill see about what I can do to create a privacy bubble or sothing, but no guarantees while theyre staying with .
I understand, Keri said, once Shayma had made that more intelligible. Thank you for the answers. Ill see about discussing it with Annie at a better ti.
A few minutes later and the other two began stirring, the camp waking up as the light of pre-dawn washed across the sky. I watched them pack up and set out for the last bit of their trek to Duenn before I was distracted by sothing closer to ho. While generally I ignored all the people going in and out of my territory these days, most of those people were near il, not near my mountain ho. These two had arrived through the wilderness by the foothills, and their nas would have gotten my attention anyway.
Sienne Ell
Level 49 [Void Duelist Inheritor]
Giorn Ell
Level 51 [Verun-Style Kinetic Champion]
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