Chapter 223: Control

Chapter 223: Control

Progress Report

marker_1: eastspar_predate [3061 Light 05 13:50]

marker_2: grannybrain_2 [3061 Light 16 05:00]

Span: 10.6 days

Character

Total Exp: 2,736,316 -> 2,936,316 (+200,000)

↳Mana Use: 200,000

Skills

Anchor Aura: +50,500 exp, 5 -> 8 (+3)

Prismatic Intent: +5 exp

Tolerance

Speed: 11.0 -> 14.0 (+3)

Synchronization

Recovery: 10.8 -> 11.0 (+0.2)

Endurance: 30.9 -> 31.0 (+0.1)

Vigor: 10.3 -> 11.2 (+0.9)

Speed: 9.5 -> 9.6 (+0.1)

The dialog shed no light on his surroundings, making the darkness in which Rain sat complete. The silence was almost as total, broken only by the comforting whisper of Ameliah’s breath as she slumbered. They were aboard Temerity, held motionless in its icy scaffold, but the near-total quiet was from the hour rather than any runework. The work crews weren’t scheduled to begin until the sun had risen.

The ship was deserted but for them, Staavo in his hammock on the level below, and Tarny down the hall. Tallheart would have been there too, but he was with his people. Cold and inconvenience had driven everyone else ashore. For Rain, neither was a concern. Somebody needed to watch the ship. Somebody with the ability to Detect invaders. Somebody strong enough to repel them.

That he got to sleep within what was essentially a fortress didn’t enter into it.

Rain sighed quietly so as not to wake Ameliah. Having her back was like having a blade removed from his throat. Likewise, the rapid progress he’d made in his soul in the predawn hours had him feeling hopeful. He was not going to have his brain blended. Everything was going to be alright.

Realizing he’d become distracted, he directed his thoughts back to the matrix of magic hidden in his cupped hands. He was supposed to be staying focused. This anchor would be for Force Ward, and it was particularly important for it to be high quality. Purify, Detection, Winter, and the like didn’t need much power to be effective, but Wards did. If an anchor for one of those shattered, people would die.

He sighed again.

He’d set aside an hour before dawn each day for anchor making, with his only other mental break being the thirty minutes he’d allocated for extreme jogging. Despite all the practice, however, his best anchor was still only tier-two. He could make a tier-three. A million mana over the span of an hour was less than he could regenerate in that time, and he’d improved markedly since his first failed attempt. The trouble was that a million mana was also a million essence. A million potential. He’d known he couldn’t afford that even before the Warden’s lesson. Also, the only spell he had that would actually require such an anchor was Suppression, which wouldn’t work well on one anyway. It had the same problem as the Wards. Of course, there were other tier-three auras open to him, but that would require him to spend his skill point.

Obliterate (0/15)

217.21-248.24 Arcane (fcs) damage per second to entities and environmentThe origin of this chapter's debut can be traced to N0v3l--B1n.

Sufficient damage causes total disintegration

Not occluded by mundane materials

Ignores 50% of Arcane resistance

Range: 5.8 meters

Cost: 50 mp/s

Requires 10 ranks in Purify

Requires 10 ranks in Corrosion

Requires 10 ranks in Fulmination

Requires 10 ranks in Discombobulate

The skill card appeared with barely a conscious thought as Rain turned his head to look at it. The tier-four Offensive Aura it described remained as unimpressive as ever. He couldn’t imagine taking it even if he’d had the skill points, let alone spending one hundred million potential on an anchor for it someday. He had inverted Arcane Ward to shred resistances already. The mana cost was high, the piercing was redundant, and he didn’t need more ways to kill things, anyway. Unless the spell did something not listed on the card—possible—the only good thing about it was the name. Even that, he couldn’t enjoy fully. There was a Yu‐Gi‐Oh joke in there somewhere, but it wasn’t worth teasing out without anyone around to appreciate it.

Feeling like he was full of nothing but sighs at the moment, he shook his head, then looked at Ameliah. Perhaps ‘looked’ was the wrong word. His new senses were impeded not at all by the lack of light. He’d even managed to break the mental block that had forced him to keep his eyes open at first. Ameliah’s soul shone like the sun, bright and warm in contrast to the dark and frigid room.

She’d listen if I tried to explain it. She’d pretend to be interested, too, because she’s amazing. Not that I’m about to torture her describing 2000s Saturday morning TV. That’s something you have to have lived through. Besides, we have more important things to talk about.

He bit his lip, chewing on it gently.

Is she okay after what happened with the cervidians? We haven’t really had a chance to talk in private yet. What is she going to think about what the Warden told me? About what I can do now? We’ve only been apart a week, but we’ve both traveled so far down different roads. I almost feel like I’m a different person, I—

With effort, he stopped himself. He was being silly. He could SEE the connection between them. See its strength. Nothing about what had drawn them together had changed. There were linkages like that between all of Ascension's members, some weaker, some stronger, but all of them were undeniably real. No, Ameliah was back now, and the company was growing stronger in every sense. Everything. Would be. Alright.

...

And that’s a flag.

...

Damn it.

There was a soft chime as the anchor solidified. A dialog appeared, but Rain didn’t even glance at it, instead watching as Ameliah’s soul flashed, breathing out, then in. She inhaled deeply in the physical world as well, releasing a soft sigh. The blankets rustled as she sat up.

Blinking, Tallheart looked down to see the shorter human standing beside him and holding out the filter. He took it gently so as to not damage it, then inspected the runes. The error had been corrected, and with a solution even neater than the one he’d had in mind. After a few more moments of inspection, checking the piece as a whole, he nodded. “Excellent work. This should function.”

“Thanks,” Romer said proudly over the wind. He turned, calling out and waving his arms to attract the others’ attention. “Hey! Hey, we’re ready!”

Reason waved back, then began leading the others around the smelter. Romer turned again to Tallheart, then took a step to the side and scooped Nibs up from the table. “I’ll go get Corrin and whoever’s on boiler duty.”

Tallheart rumbled, nodding his assent as he moved to stand beside the glass enclosure to wait. After a moment, Reason and the others joined him, Meloni busy retying her hair with a bandanna against the wind.

“What took so long?” Staavo asked, peering at the filter Tallheart held. “I thought I was going to die and rot away before you two finished.”

“Staavo!” Meloni scolded. “Be nice. Also, you’re not that old.”

Tallheart grunted. “He is, though.” He turned to stare at Staavo. “Like a dry raisin.” He paused, then tilted his head. “Hmm, no. Raisins are sweet.”

Things continued in this way for a few minutes, banter turning to discussions of the filter and the upcoming process before Romer finally returned, Corrin and Kettel in tow. After some brief instruction, the red-haired youth moved to the far side of the smelter and began blasting it with Firebolts.

“Where’s Mereck,” Myth called, looking around.

“He’s coming,” Romer called back, pointing. “I asked Ellis to get him.”

“How hot d’ya want this thing?” Kettel asked, pausing his assault.

“Much hotter than that,” Tallheart said, pressing a hand to the side of the smelter to check the sodium within. As expected, it was nowhere near melting.

There has to be a simpler way. If only Rain knew how his people had done this.

“Jus’ say when, then!” Kettel replied, resuming his barrage.

A few minutes passed before Mereck appeared, panting. “Sorry,” the former innkeeper wheezed. “I was on Velika duty, and she just found out what waffles are, so— Sorry. I’m here now.”

“About time, safety officer!” Kettel shouted. “I was about ta’ die of boredom!” He punctuated his statement with another blast of fire. “Hot enough yet? I ain’t got infinite mana like some people!”

Tallheart rumbled, shaking his head. “No. More heat.” He turned to Corrin. “Open it.”

“Oh, that’s us!” Meloni said, hurrying with Reason to the edge of the glass enclosure while Kettel downed a mana potion. She nodded to Reason, who nodded back, then both raised their hands toward the structure. “Okay.”

“Here we go,” the Geomancer said, touching the glass seal molded over the frame to hold the nearest panel in place. Meloni and Reason took on looks of concentration as he worked, glass flowing away from his fingers. The two Chemists were using Fume Control, as the argon filling the vestibule could not be allowed to mix with the outside air. It was all of the inert gas that they had, besides what was in the latest generation of light bulbs. Fuse—the spell Myth used to produce it—required a significant amount of mana. It also made Rain spit blood, which was an interesting side effect for a skill to have. It was a pity that it did not work well on metals. Otherwise, all of this trouble may not have been necessary.

Corrin grunted. “Almost done. Someone grab this panel.”

As one, Mereck and Staavo stepped forward, taking the glass pane as it was freed, then carefully walking it to the side. The look of concentration on Meloni and Reasons’ faces intensified.

“Hurry!” Meloni shouted, the strain clear in her voice.

Tallheart took a deep breath, then, careful of his antlers, slipped inside, ignoring the panel being hauled back into place behind him. He again touched the exposed side of the smelter, topping off its charge to maintain the heat-gathering enchantments, then probing the contents with his skills. The sodium inside was only just beginning to melt. More importantly, the sealed vessel had maintained itself well enough that only a few contaminants had slipped inside.

Good.

He looked up, catching Kettel’s attention, then signing to him in hand code. “More.”

Myth, meanwhile, had moved to stand beside the lever that would flood the chamber with the titanium-containing liquid.

“When you’re ready,” the Alchemist signed.

Tallheart motioned for him to wait, then after one last inspection of the filter, slipped it into the slot designed to hold it. Next, he made sure a ceramic crucible was properly positioned beneath the spout before looking up again and nodding. There was no sense in letting the molten salt get everywhere.

Myth nodded back, turning the valve, and a tremor quickly grew, the side of the smelter vibrating in the unbreathable air. Tallheart straightened as much as he could, unconcerned. He had not designed it to fail. Once more, he placed his hand against the metal body, his brow furrowing as he realized the sodium was beginning to recrystallize.

We should have warmed the liquid first.

Shaking his head, he looked up. “More heat.”

Kettel nodded, and crimson light flashed, but he stopped after only a few bolts.

“More!” Tallheart signed sharply. He was irritated, he realized. He did not want this attempt to fail.

Kettel glanced at Mereck, then shrugged and reached to his belt, extracting a second blue potion, which he downed before continuing his assault. He said something, his lips moving, and Romer nodded, darting off.

Unbreathing, Tallheart waited, straining his senses to the utmost. The sodium was molten again, but he couldn’t sense any titanium yet, except...no. It was there, but faint. He could sense it, growing slowly, ever so slowly stronger as the heat continued to build. Before long, Romer returned, bringing Cessa with him, who walked over to lay a hand on Kettel’s shoulder. Panting, he gladly made way for the higher-leveled Fire Mage.

‘How hot?’ she asked, Tallheart reading the words from her lips.

Doubting she knew hand code, he merely returned his gaze to the smelter, then jabbed a finger straight up. In the corner of his eye, he noted that the others had begun moving away. That was perhaps wise of them.

Cessa’s first Firebolt struck, twice as bright as those Kettel had been producing. Tallheart knew for a fact that she was capable of more, but she could not exactly use Fireball without shattering the glass, enchanted or not. As she fell into a rhythm, he closed his eyes again, ignoring the beginning complaints of his lungs. Still, he waited, but before lack of air became an issue, he felt the filter beginning to fail from the heat. He could wait no longer.

This will have to do.

He pulled the lever.

Rather than the river of molten salt he’d expected, he was met by an explosion. The blinding torrent of vapor was enough to make his ears pop, a sharp snap telling him the toughened alchemical glass had broken somewhere, though it had not shattered. Unable to see and with his eyes stinging from vapors hot enough to overwhelm his resistances, Tallheart probed with his skills instead. Astonishingly, as the vapor continued pouring through the filter, he realized that the titanium he had sensed was not molten. The salt had boiled before the metal had even melted.

It is like the tungsten, over again. We need not have bothered with the filter.

Releasing the lever, Tallheart felt for the spout with his hands, grasping either side firmly and peeling the metal away like it was the rind of a rockmelon. He reached inside, finding the titanium bloom with the tip of a finger.

Knowledge exploded in his mind. He could see it clearly. The rune.

Order of Metal

The spongy metal responded, blisteringly hot flecks tearing themselves free from impurities as the unreacted sodium was driven away. He rumbled in satisfaction, the sound slightly deeper than usual to his ears as his long-held breath mingled with the argon and crystallizing salt.

Now, I can begin.