Chapter 65: Parade

2 months later…

….

Calvinian Summoning has reached level 14!

Meditation has reached level 14!

Hunting has reached level 10!

+1 Will

Strength, Endurance, Kinesthetics have reached level 9!

Meditation has reached Level 15!

+1 Will

Dupdomancy has reached level 15!

+1 Will

+1 Will… point value capped, rerouting…+1 Intuition.

Please choose an ability or mutation.

Calvin opened his eyes, staring out into his tent as he, for the first time since he’d gotten the skill, looked through all the options.

Multi Split: copy multiple different objects simultaneously. Necessary to create things with moving parts from scratch, or multiple different creatures.

Hypothetical Space Expansion: Warp the environment by an amount dictated by the skill’s mass load. Empty space is filled in with what would have been there if the space were that large.

Temperature control: Copied matter may be raised or lowered in temperature by an amount of degrees equal to Dupdomancy’s duration.

Gradual Split: Split mass is created at a rate determined by the user.

^Jet-engine, anyone?

Permanent split: Duplicate objects permanently, Mass limit divided by 100. (2.25Lb) Bent-reactive materials exempt.

*caution* While these objects are permanent, they are still Bent constructs and therefore not exempt from dispelling techniques, unlike normal objects. *Do Not Consume Duplicated Food, unless you want your body to be partially made of Bent Construct.*

Bulk Split: Mass Limit increased by (Int) %

^ouch, right in your weakest ability.

Extended Split: Time limit is increased by (Sta)%

Mutations:

Pump You Up: 1 Bent, Muscle mass is subtly duplicated, increasing by (End) % for duration. Spare mass is converted to extra duration. Will increase user’s weight.

^Better than it sounds, a small muscle increase has large effects on strength and speed.

Always bring a backup: 1 Bent, repair or replace a damaged or missing organ for the duration. Spare mass is converted to extra duration. Given enough time to heal, the body will incorporate this replacement permanently.

^Not bad, if we could get you Contingency, you could replace your brain.

Copy Kit: 1 Bent, Consume an object to permanently store it’s data in the System. The objects may then be the subject of Dupdomancy spells in whole or in part, as normal. Store 1 Item/5 levels of Dupdomancy

^From Consume et al.

Shiva: Create semi-permanent extra body parts/limbs at will, decreasing maximum Stability by 3 for each one. This does not have a strict Bent cost, and can be used when Bent is 0. The cost is essentially applied to maximum Bent. The limbs are dismissible, and Stability will recover within 24 hours.

^RAW, this means an extra pinkie costs the same as an extra arm, so keep that in mind.

“Where’s Bent and Continuity?” Calvin frowned, sorting through the abilities. There were a lot of them, but none were the ones he’d expected to be transferred over from Chained Spirit.

I’ve got some news on that front.

“Go for it.”

I tried it, but the framework is too rigid. We’re gonna need something with more juice than just an Ability selection to move the Abilities around.

“Like what?”

I need to use Warp from a Break. About three per space the Ability jumps, which means six for each of the two you want to get from Chained Spirit all the way over to Dupdomancy.

Calvin frowned. “That’s four levels off my maximum Mind.”

It sure is.

Twelve Warp used for something else translated to Four levels off his maximum Mind, which meant his next Break after that, should he get one, would have 6 Warp less than it could have had otherwise, due to his lower primary ability.

Calvin tapped his fingers on the cot underneath him. He was starting to think about Breaks as a given, like Karen had warned him not to do. It wasn’t just the lower total potential for the Break after that concerned him, but it also lowered the maximum level his Skills could achieve. On the other hand, some combinations of abilities practically demanded his attention, for example, if he paired Bad Penny with Dupdomancy, he could create a Fireball or poison cloud that lingered and refreshed itself based on the amount of Warp on the battlefield.

That might be worth losing some maximum potential.

“Make me a list of the most unfair combinations between those three skills and their cost, and get back to me. For now, we’ll keep pouring our effort into raising Mind. I want my base abilities to get high enough to resist Ilethan Sorcerer’s.”

Fair enough. Keep leveling your Skills between now and then and there should be more Abilities to choose from. Calvinian Summoning in particular is a little lean.

Calvin thought back to the most recent level of Dupdomancy that had granted him a point in Intuition rather than Will. If he raised his other Will based skills to 20, he could give a much-needed boost to Intuition and Stability…except he’d be more likely to bottleneck his Will once it uncapped with his next Break.

Once again, you’re treating the next break like a given. Calvin thought to himself, shaking his head. Damn, I wish I hadn’t passed out.

Minutes after waking up again, Calvin had realized he could have recovered his Bent and wiped out a significant portion of the remaining Ilethan army as they limped back home. No one said he had to let them go in peace. He could have even gotten a Break from it.

But with a full day’s head start, he’d be practically on top of Surrak before he managed to catch up to them, even as slow as they were going.

Now, a month later, he had to settle for creating a heavy concrete fort that overlooked the road, rather than crippling the occupying army and retaking Surrak.

Aim high, but take what you can get. You know you’re years ahead of Andra’s schedule, right?

Right.

Calvin made up his mind. I’ll deal with the Will Bottleneck when and if I get to it. There are no guarantees in life, and sitting on a power increase could easily get me killed.

Right you are.

Calvin reviewed his choices, and found quite a few of them attractive, so he started by eliminating the ones with the least impact.

Copy Kit didn’t really change much, couldn’t store all of his vials, and there was no guarantee that he’d be able to add valuable momentum to the items he copied.

In essence, it was a way to make sure he didn’t get his spell components stolen.

Maybe later.

Shiva sounded interesting, and it could be used in a situation where he didn’t have Bent, but extra limbs didn’t seem all that exciting, especially since it did nothing for his ranged attacks, making the ability mostly defensive.

Pump You Up was good, but he never intended to become a walking engine of destruction, he was going to become a Wizard King, and The Bowser covered his strength plenty.

He couldn’t think of any immediate use for Hypothetical Space Expansion or Gradual Split.

So, I’m looking at Bulk Split, Multi-Split, Always Bring a Backup, Permanent Split and Temperature Control.

Multi-split and Temperature control effect versatility, Backup is a lifeline, Bulk Split is pure power, and Permanent Split is…permanent, giving the advantage of stockpiling small objects.

With Permanent Split, Calvin could use Calvinian summoning to create small Knick-Knacks, then replicate them permanently, ditto with Wasps, and even his spell components, making spares or even turning them into rudimentary grenades.

Handy, but the work output of one permanent two-pound Knick-knack was nowhere near a hundred full sized ones, no matter how permanent it was. Temperature control could reach into the freezing temperatures, but only raise the temperature enough to scald. It definitely wouldn’t melt metal or freeze people where they stood, so it was out.

Multi-Split was something Calvin had wanted for a while, as it allowed him to make very intricate items with one Bent, for example, a suit of Jerrytanium armor would be impossible to make as he was right now, because armor is made of hundreds of different pieces and even different materials, but with Multi split, his Jerrytanium marble, a scrap of leather and some cloth, he could make a suit of armor. Or a bow and arrows, or a bicycle, or any of a thousand other things with more than one solid part.

Calvin decided to drop Bulk Split for now. He didn’t need it that badly, yet.

Which left three. Permanent, Multi, and Backup.

…Which one do I need right now?

None of them besides Bulk actually provided him a boost in output…so there were none that he needed at the moment.

Damn this is a tough choice.

With the Permanent split he could outfit his men with weapons and armor, make permanent wasp bodyguards and duplicate his components for safekeeping, but with Backup, the skill would just sit there doing nothing…until it saved his life.

And multi-split was stunning in its versatility, allowing him to make a dizzying array of objects with multiple component parts. Off the top of his head, Calvin could think of three uses for it that improved his defense and offence.

Power, Safety, or Versatility.

I choose Multi-split. Calvin decided. Seeing his copy get nailed by an arrow had made it difficult to choose to pass on the Backup ability that could save his life, but the solution was simple: Don’t get shot in the liver by an angry archer. In the meantime, a key Skill in Calvin’s arsenal whose defining strength was versatility became even more so.

Matter of fact, it seemed like choosing any of the Mutations crippled the power advancement of the skill, since they didn’t exactly synergize with the Skill itself.

Picking Backup didn’t enhance the core utility of the skill, pushing back valuable combinations with other Abilities, like Temperature Control and Gradual Split, that he could use to make freezing streams of alcohol. And Permanent Split wouldn’t be terribly strong until higher levels of Dupdomancy.

Even so, passing on Permanent split had been nearly physically painful.

Well, no time like the present to aim for level twenty

Calvin rubbed his hands together and got started Shadowboxing Calvinian summoning and Chained Spirit.

…

Chained Spirit has reached level 15!

+1 Will

+1 Will… point value capped, rerouting…+1 Intuition.

Please choose an ability or Mutation

-Siphon

Calvinian Summoning has reached level 15!

+1 Will

+1 Will… point value capped, rerouting…+1 Intuition.

Please choose an ability or mutation.

Abilities:

Variety is the spice of Death : 2 extra slots, +1 extra slot every 5th level, rather than 10th

Atom Ant: Sacrifice Mass of summon for increase to physical attributes of summon. 1 to 1 ratio. 1 summon's worth of mass lost empowers 1 summon with double physical attributes. (Max multiplicative power equal to Calvinian Summoning Level)

Chimera: The user may rearrange parts from any slotted creature onto any other slotted creature in any combination.(New slot every 10th level)

Bulk Summoning: Mass Limit increased by (Int) %

^Oh, this must have been unlocked by Dupdomancy.

Extended Summoning: Time limit is increased by (Sta)%

^Ditto.

Diversified Portfolio of Death: User may now divide summon’s mass between any different combination of *options they have access to.

^Not only size and slotted creature variations, but extras like Chimera and Atom Ant may be added to a fraction of the total summon. The summon will no longer be strictly homogenous.

Mutations:

Aburame Clan: Allows summons below a certain size to treat user as a nest.

^Gross. 1/10, would not recommend.

Voice of the Swarm: Summons may speak User’s words through the swarm, using their natural sounds to replicate speech.

Survival of the Fittest: All Calvinian summons experience occasional random minor mutations of the template creature. A creature from the swarm may replace the old template creature.

^Monster breeder, anyone?

I choose Atom Ant, Calvin decided with no hesitation, his mind reeling with the knowledge of the technique to empower his summons. Sure, taking Bulk Summoning would increase the output of his Knick-knacks and speed up the fort’s construction, but he also needed a way to deal with Veterans, and what better way than to make his wasps essentially Veterans as well?

Even if he divided his swarm’s numbers by one hundred and fifty, that would still give him sixty-seven thousand five hundred wasps ten time the size of a normal wasp, and fifteen times the strength, Endurance and Kinesthetics that they should be, and quite possible lethal with a single sting, depending on whether the physical upgrade increased the potency of their venom.

Give or take.

His math was a bit spotty as to the exact weight of the Fever Wasp he’d originally eaten.

I need someone to test these on.

Calvin sat up and went to look for a patsy who wouldn’t die too quickly.

***

“You want to do what now?” Grant asked with a raised brow. the ex-commander was busy polishing his gear, having plenty of time on his hands, being outside the typical command structure of Calvin’s company.

“I wanna check the performance of my new wasps,” Calvin said. “I got an ability that should make them more combat effective against Veterans, and I want to get an idea of what they can do.”

“Well, too bad, I’m not getting stung on purpose,” Grant said with a shrug.

“That’s the idea,” Calvin said, holding out his hand.

Calvinian summoning.

Atom Ant.

8/15 Bent remaining.

Calvin created his swarm of monstrous wasps, ten times the weight of a normal one, their physical attributes multiplied fifteen times.

They should be vicious little bastards.

Grant backed away with a cry as the swarm flooded out of Calvin, but he settled down a bit as they settled to the ground, the three-inch long wasps watching him with barely restrained malevolence.

“I’m not going to overwhelm you with all of them at once Grant. I want a controlled experiment where we find out exactly how many it takes to get through your defences, starting with one. If one stings you I’ll dismiss them, since I don’t want to actually kill you.”

Grant groaned and rolled his eyes, picking up his belt full of swords and strapping it over his shoulder.

“Fine. Let’s take this over to the road.”

The swarm leapt into the air with a horrific buzzing and went high into the sky so as not to unnerve the surrounding camp.

It mostly worked. A few people watched Calvin warily, but for the most part, his soldiers had come to associate the humming sound of wasps with reinforcements, and simply ignored them, focusing on their work.

Fort Gadsint was coming along nicely. As a matter of fact, between Nadia siphoning with Lady Killer for him, and the sheer number of camp followers, he was ahead of even his most optimistic schedule. All they really needed to do was wait for the concrete to dry and they’d be on their way home.

The two of them walked through the bustle of the camp, and past the slowly growing town that had spontaneously emerged behind it, full of enterprising individuals ready to provide goods and service for coin or barter.

They finally got outside the populated area about five hundred feet away from the walls.

“Alright,” Grant said, rolling his shoulders as his swords pulled themselves out of their sheaths and began floating around him. “Let’s get this over with.”

“I want to see something first.” Calvin said, summoning a half-dozen wasps down from the cloud far above them.

He held out a finger and allowed a wasp to land on it. He studied the large blue and black wasp resting on his finger, twitching with eagerness to kill.

“Oh look, you’ve got a friend. Too bad he’s gonna die.” Grant said with a smile.

Wordlessly, Calvin pointed the wasp at a jungle tree and instructed it to kill.

The wasp took off of his finger in a burst of wind that washed across his face. A fraction of a second later, there was a distant crack as the wasp impacted against the tree stinger-first, burying itself up to its abdomen into the wood.

Grant’s confident smile slipped a bit.

“That’s…that’s a little much, don’t you think?”

“Maybe,” Calvin said, directing another to fly into a nearby fire and retrieve a piece of burning coal. The creature was able to dive into the flame and pick up a coal several times its weight, and get it half-way back before its wings finally caught fire and it dropped to the ground, still alive.

Looks like they’re a lot tougher, too. I wonder how thick their exoskeleton would have to be to resist sword-blows?

“Umm…” Grant looked a little nervous.

“Let’s start with one,” Calvin said, pointing at Grant, whose eyes widened, his swords coming up in a defensive posture.

Suddenly Calvin caught sight of cloud of dust to the south, in the direction of Mujenan. He lowered his hand and squinted, trying to make out what was approaching. It seemed to be…an army from Mujenan, wearing the traditional gold and brown.

Grant followed his gaze and let out a tiny sigh.

“I didn’t think I’d be getting reinforcements.” Calvin said as he watched a rider separate from the marching army, his guar carrying him swiftly up to them.

The man was a perfect specimen of Gadveran virility. Well, perhaps not quite so much as Baroke, but certainly more handsome. He flashed them a dazzling smile as he reigned his Guar in, the snorting lizard bending to nibble at some roadside grass.

“Good afternoon. I am Colonel Elspetz, commander of the 7th Brigade. I have come to begin construction on more permanent fortifications. Could you lead me to The Wasp?

Calvin felt his eyebrows raise. He glanced at the curing concrete behemoth behind him.

More permanent fortifications?

Well, you are a couple years ahead of schedule.

“That’d be me.” Calvin said, raising his hand, almost forgetting to do the salute, seeing as the man was technically his superior.

I hate rank when I’m not the one on top.

“You?” Colonel Elspetz asked with furrowed brows. “But you’re not Gadveran.”

Calvin let that low-hanging fruit go unplucked.

“That is true.” Calvin tried to search for the words for a moment. “Can we speak privately?” he glanced at Grant, who looked eager for the opportunity to bail on testing Calvin’s new wasps.

Once Grant was gone, he turned to Colonel Elspetz, who raised a brow.

“With respect. I’m not entirely sure your brigade is needed here, Colonel.”

“With respect, huh?” Colonel Elspetz broke into another white smile, but Calvin could feel the irritation in the man’s gaze. “Words usually precipitating a gaffe. Tell me, Wasp, why are we not needed?”

“Fort’s done.” Calvin thumbed over his shoulder.

The smiling colonel took a small glass lens out of his vest pocket and placed it over one eye. Rather than the wailing or gnashing of teeth that Calvin expected, he seemed rather pleased.

“Excellent, I’ll have a messenger bring news back to general Andra.” He said, giving Calvin a hungry look.

Crap, he wants credit. Be delicate.

Calvin couldn’t create an enemy, and he couldn’t afford to let the man take credit. Kala and Andra would know who was responsible, but the name on the letter was usually what went down in history, what the common people would remember. And Calvin needed plenty of public opinion.

“No need,” Calvin said with a shrug. “I included news of its completion in my weekly letters to princess Kala. It’s most likely reached Andra’s desk by now.”

Invoking Kala’s name had the desired effect. The man’s casual disregard was now tempered with a fair bit of caution.

“That’s right, I’ve heard about that. You’re a good friend of the princess, aren’t you? I’ve heard a lot of rumors circulating Mujenan about your valor in battle. More than one of them seem to come from the princess herself.”

“I don’t know,” Calvin said, “I wasn’t there when the rumors started.”

“Of course.”

He could feel the Colonel’s gaze weighing how damaging it might be to upset the princess against how politically advantageous it would be to steal credit for the fort.

Finally he felt the man err on the side of caution. “Excellent work captain. Congratulations. You’ve done more than your share here and practically created a miracle. You’ve leave to take your company back to Mujenan for some much needed rest. My men will be manning the fort from here on out. I’m sure you’ll be met with much pomp and circumstance for all you’ve done.”

“Thank you sir.”

Probably not, considering I didn’t actually send that letter.

***

“This is odd!” Ella leaned over to shout over the roar of the crowd as they rode their guar into Mujenan. It seemed like an impromptu parade had begun, with them at the center of all of it, streaming bits of paper and everything.

“No shit.” What the hell is going on? Calvin asked himself as he scanned the crowds of beaming faces.

I’ve got an idea.

“Whooo, there’s the guy who killed a thousand Ilethans!” A big fat man shouted, his shirt unable to contain his girth as he shoved his hands in the air.

“Wasp, put a baby in me!”

“Beat those pasty Ilethans at their own game!”

“Veyers, you have any idea what’s going on?” Calvin shouted over the crowd.

“Not a clue!”

“This might have something to do with it!” Baroke said, leaning over the crowd with his massive arms and snagging a weathered piece of paper off the side of a nearby building before handing it to Calvin.

Calvin glanced down at the paper.

The Wasp leads a cunning maneuver across the cliff face, treating the Ilethan forces like bumbling idiots as they catch them in the back for the second time in a row!

Underneath a few more paragraphs of descriptive text that detailed his exploits to an unnerving degree, he found a cartoon of his forces sneaking up behind a lumbering, oafish Ilethan and poking him in the butt.

Huh.

Check the date.

The cartoon was dated the day of his escape from Fort Choke.

That’s interesting. There’s obviously no way someone could have gotten the news on the same day, but here it is.

Somebody real friendly, with some political power and free time on their hands, has been remotely spying on you in order to make sure the public knows how awesome you are.

Kala, Calvin thought, as he eyed the cartoonist’s depiction of Ella’s rather glamorous form.

Kala’s in your corner, it appears. Just make sure you don’t take her for granted.

Calvin folded the flier up and tucked it in his vest pocket before returning to smiling and waving.

Calvin Gadsint

Body:

16

Strength:

9

Kinesthetics:

9

Endurance:

9

Mind:

24

Intuition:

15

Stability:

15

Will:

24

Bent:

2/15

Skills:

Stealth

7

Talking to Girls

10

Acting

9

Read Expressions

9

Sense-Grafting

13

Knife-Work

7

Dupdomancy

15

Hunting

10

Meditation

15

Chained Spirit

15

Calvinian Summoning

15

Your Princess is in Another Castle

5

Fishing

5

Genosian Language

5

Beli Ma

6

Macronomicon