The ring isn't filling up nearly as quickly as I would like.
The Forest Slis aren't difficult to kill, exactly. Color Drain nearly instantly takes care of them, although I use it sparingly because it's more taxing to use than my other skills; a well-aid punch full of Firmant through their heads also seems to do the trick, as long as they don't react in ti. If they do, they can split themselves apart before I even hit them.
But it's taxing. It takes all my concentration to keep dodging their attacks. Everything they do is unpredictable their bodies are nearly completely malleable, and I have to watch out for attacks from nearly every angle. More than once, a Sli nearly catches off-guard by digging tendrils into the ground and shooting them up towards .
If it wasn't for Ahkelios' watchful eye, I would have been killed a dozen tis over, I suspect.
"Behind you!" the mantis yells out, and I spin around just in ti to see a sharp spike of Firmant-enhanced sli headed directly for my head. I twist out of the way, using a last-minute Barrier at an angle to deflect it away from my head; it shatters the Barrier, but it still manages to change its course enough that it scratches my cheek instead of impaling through the eye.
"Thanks," I say, although I'm so out of breath I barely have the ti to breathe the words. Tough Body isn't helping here whatever those Forest Slis are doing, they can reinforce themselves so much that they're cutting through without much resistance. Barrier provides only the smallest bit of resistance. Crystallized Barrier would help, but it takes a fair bit more concentration and Firmant to use
"Focus," Ahkelios admonishes . A second later, he leaps off my head and towards a Forest Sli's attack, and I feel him concentrating a tiny amount of Firmant in his hands and feet; in a split second, he unleashes a spinning kick that ripples down the entire tendril.
There's a mont of resonance, and then the Firmant just falls apart; the tendril falls to the ground as just empty sli, dead and lifeless.
The actual Sli is still perfectly alive right behind him. It makes what I assu is a burble of anger, and then rushes towards him, but not before I step over him and land a Crystallized Strength-boosted punch right in his face. Two Barriers shaped to either side of my fist blast through the Sli as it tries to split apart to dodge my attack, and I watch in grim satisfaction as it collapses to the ground.
"Have you always been able to do that?" I ask, glancing at Ahkelios. The little mantis is wobbling on his feet like he's drunk, and I spare a second to pick him up off the ground before a Sli steps on him. A kick through the head dispatches that one, Triplestep accelerating it enough that it doesn't quite have ti to dodge.
"I dunno," Ahkelios says. He clings on to my hair. "Woooow. The colors are pretty."
"Weren't you just telling to focus?" I say. I pull out a Crystallized Barrier to block three simultaneous bolts of sli, orange-purple-blue splashing violently against the crystalline wall; it cracks, but doesn't break.
"That's right!" Ahkelios agrees imdiately, so quickly I'm almost suspicious. "You... you focus. I'm gonna sleep. It's... it's moss ti. Comfy, tasty moss."
I don't get a chance to respond to whatever he just said, because he abruptly cuts the connection between us and dispels himself.
Evidently, fighting like that is costly for him. We'll have to figure out a plan for how he can participate in battles, if he wants to. Figure out his exact limits, and whether we can train them
A whip nearly shreds through the skin of my cheek, and I'm reminded that I'm in the middle of a battle. The translation stone is about half-done, although I'm well out of range of the Firmant bursts and moving ever-further. It seems that the more the obelisk is translated, the larger the bursts get and in turn, the more Forest Slis are dragged out of the Firmant in the ground.
I'm nearly surrounded by them, by now, and I grit my teeth. I need a plan. Without Ahkelios to watch my back, my survivability is cut nearly in half; I might pride myself on being perceptive, but I don't have eyes in the back of my head.
Based on the rate the translation stone's ring is filling up and that thing is hard to see from this distance it should take another ten minutes. I'll have to fight defensively. There are too many of them for to be proactive in taking them out, and I still don't have any good area-of-effect options in battle, which is sothing I'm regretting.
If I have to fight defensively...
I turn tail and run. Might as well have sothing to my back, and if the edge of the Hotspot is as much a barrier to these Forest Slis as it is to , then I won't have to worry about being killed from behind.
If nothing else, this is proving excellent for earning those credits.
The Firmant pulses from the obelisk have almost reached the edge of the Hotspot. I'm alive still, although I'm not exactly at my pri; my breathing is ragged, and I'm not sure how much of that is my being out of breath, and how much of that is the hole in my chest.
At least it's a small hole. I'd managed to slice off the tendril before it did too much damage, and I think Tough Body is keeping together and alive. I'm not sure how survivable "hole in chest" normally is, but apparently my Firmant-enhanced body can handle it.
What it can't handle are those Firmant pulses. They're getting close enough now that I have barely any room to maneuver, and the ti between each pulse has gotten so low it's nearly a constant hum instead of a wave of deadly Firmant. I have a Crystallized Barrier layered around , and I use Color Drain to take out the worst of the Forest Slis dodging is less draining, but I'm not exactly in an ideal position to dodge. Even breathing hurts, let alone moving.
"Co on..." I mutter to myself. I can't tell if the translation stone is done I can't see it from here but I can't even approach it as long as the obelisk is this active. I have to hope that the Firmant pulses will die down once it completes, or that the obelisk will simply reset itself before the pulse reaches the boundary of the Hotspot.
Right as I think this, the pulses waver and stop.
I don't hesitate. I'll die if I do so I pour every effort into going for the obelisk and the translation stone.
I just have to get there before the pulses start up again.
Dodge to the side. Twist to barely avoid a tendril, then duck to avoid a swinging whip. Create a wafer-thin Barrier around my body so I skid, sliding across the dirt and just barely missing not one, not two, but three different Forest Sli projectiles, the last of which splashes onto my Barrier and hisses ominously. Employ Crystallized Strength defensively instead of offensively, leap high and across three different Forest Slis...
If not for ntal Acceleration, I would be dead three tis over.
I can feel Firmant building in front of , which ans I don't have much ti before the next pulse. I can also see the completed ring on the translation stone, which ans that all I need to do is inject Firmant into it and hope that does sothing.
I'm not going to get there in ti.
All-Seeing Eye. Firestep. Triplestep.
They're two different Speed skills, which makes it easier to see how to combine them even without Intuitive Analysis. With it, rging them is almost pitifully easy, so much so I wonder how I hadn't seen it before. I suppose that's the point of the Eye.
[ A new Skill Fusion has been found. Would you like to log the results into the Interface? ]
Yes.
[ Accelerate (Rank C) obtained! ]
Accelerate.
It's the last boost of speed I need. I feel Accelerate's Firmant wrap around when I use the skill, blasting forward in combination with Triplestep and Firestep and leaving a streak of fla floating in the air; it's so much faster than what I'm used to that I nearly shoot right past my target. I slow down a second before I do so, brushing my fingers across the translation stone and using Firmant Manipulation to inject a burst of Firmant directly into its core.
Please let Mari be right.
Several things happen all at once.
First, the pulse from the obelisk dies down, and I sigh internally with relief I will not add evaporation to my list of experienced deaths today.
Second, the translation stone shines brightly with Firmant. I feel that Firmant reach out and connecting with my own, granting understanding; suddenly, the glyphs on the obelisk go from nonsensical to understandable.
Third, a different pulse starts up. This one travels from the translation stone into the obelisk, and I feel it resonating with a different kind of Firmant. Intuitive Analysis tells whatever it is, it probably isn't deadly but that doesn't matter, because as the obelisk begins to resonate, it cracks, and I haven't had the ti to read the darn thing.
Ti for a rapid, split-second decision.
[ Are you sure you wish to bank 132 Strength credits? ]
Yes.
[ 132 Strength credits banked! Rolling for results... ]
[ Select between:
Primal Fist (Rank B)
Concentrated Power (Rank B)
Crack the Skies (Rank A) ]
[ You have unlocked an Inspiration. Bonus will comnce once skill selection has taken place. ]
The cracks are spreading. I need to choose quickly. Intuitive Analysis kicks in.
Primal Fist is simple. It's a skill that fills my arms with Primal Firmant, not that I know what that ans; what I do know is that it's a magnitude stronger than Crystallized Strength. A basic upgrade, with potential down the line for to figure out what I can do with Primal Firmant.
Concentrated Power is interesting. It allows to essentially build up power for as long as I can concentrate on the skill, with an upper bound that's roughly equivalent to an S-rank skill if I'm willing to concentrate for several days.
Crack the Skies has more vaguely defined limits than the other two. For one blow, it gives enough strength to 'crack the skies' defined as a sonic boom.
Crack the Skies is the most powerful, but Concentrated Power has the greatest versatility. It synergizes well with the ti loop and my ability to prepare, even if waiting to build up power sounds aggressively boring. More than that, Intuitive Analysis tells it should be able to combine with nearly any other skill if I use it in combination with the Eye, allowing to empower almost everything given ti to prepare.
I'm still tempted to pick Crack the Skies, because raw, imdiate power is tempting, but I grit my teeth and choose.
[ Concentrated Power (Rank B) obtained! ]
[ Inspiration comncing. ]
The world freezes around . The obelisk is intact, though the whole structure is run through with tiny cracks but the translation stone's effects are still active, and I can read.
I breathe a sigh of relief, and start scanning through what it says.
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