by A F Kay
With Mend Tool, Ruwen attached the crystal to the left forearm of his Overseer’s Tunic of Faith. The crystal grew bright as it focused the light from Glow. In the dark, a faint finger of light would have emanated from the tip, but in the daylight nothing was visible.
Ruwen opened his Void Band, the portal just a few inches from the shining crystal. He channeled fifty Energy into Harden and placed his right hand over the area between the crystal and portal.
The light, condensed by Harden, formed a visible narrow beam, which fed into the back of Ruwen’s Void Band. He had no idea what light weighed, so he used twenty Energy to force it out the other side of his Void Band, just like if he’d wanted to fire a boulder.
A blinding beam of light, the width of a hair, started at his Void Band and disappeared into the crystal forest. Everything in the light’s path was sliced apart almost instantly.
Gasps and shouts of disbelief came from behind Ruwen. He stopped the demonstration and turned back to everyone. “This will only work once. Dust, fog, mirrors, and hundreds of other things will either cancel this or weaken it considerably. My prayer is that this surprises them just as much as it did me.”
For the first time, Xavier showed intense interest in what Ruwen did. He released the crystal from his tunic and handed it to Tremine. “Xavier, maybe you could help the librarian with the math. There are thousands of crystals scattered on the ground, but I don’t know which size works best. The better the optics, the less Energy we’ll need to use.”
Ruwen used Chat to address his three Worker groups. I need all the Void Bands to join me near the dungeon portal. Form two groups, one for those with at least one point in Harden, and those that don’t.
Bliz stepped up to Ruwen, his eyes wide. “What was that?”
“Hardened Light,” Ruwen said.
“You need a better name than that,” Bliz said. He thought for a second. “How about Crystal Razor.”
“Nice,” Sift said. “You can call it Crazor.”
Ruwen shook his head. There was no way he would call his new spell Crazor.
Bliz looked at Sift. “What a fantastic name. The Crazor!”
Before Ruwen could protest, the name Crazor spread through the crowd.
Bliz faced him again. “Have you thought through the implications? Crazor has massive utility.”
Ruwen hadn’t thought about anything except his immediate problem, which consisted of burning through a gate and igniting the methane sacs of the enemy. “Not really. Can you help me make it better?”
Bliz smiled.
Of the one hundred sixty-eight Void Bands, a hundred twenty-three had at least one point in Harden. Of those, thirty-six didn’t have Glow and needed shakers or some other light source. Xavier floated across the ground, lightning crawling through the crystals, testing hundreds of them at the same time. Tremine followed, collecting the ones that produced the best beams.
Ruwen spoke with the Chief Clapping Brawler in charge of the dungeon portal’s protection and made sure the area toward the mountain remained free of creatures. For each new crystal found, Ruwen helped outfit another Worker, and set them to practicing.
Bliz discovered another use and showed it to Ruwen. Bliz’s ingenuity amazed Ruwen, and he immediately approved of the idea. Bliz grabbed the forty-five Workers without Harden, and paired each of them with a Worker who had been practicing with the Crazor.
The Workers with Crazor turned Glow on and off, causing short bolts of light. The Workers without Harden would catch these bolts in their Void Bands. Bliz had discovered Crazor beams with the same length stacked, and they could control the length of the beam with how long Glow remained active. It gave the non-Harden Workers the ability to store Crazor like crossbow bolts and contribute to the coming fight.
All the Workers had practiced at least a little with the Crazor, and Ruwen glanced at the counter. Only thirty-six minutes remained. They would leave as soon as the Commanders reassembled the teams to assault New Eiru.
Ruwen prayed the new spell Crazor would get them into New Eiru, and if it did, he needed to save the temple. That meant either moving it or stopping those attacking it.
If someone dropped Ruwen from above, he could fall into the water filled hole, and not force a costly assault on the city. Rami couldn’t help him, assuming she could even carry him, and Sift would likely kill them both, not to mention it would reveal his Falcon Aspect. Shelly was safer, but also gave away their identity. Asking a Cultivator to fly over ten thousand enemy was suicide. He would have to go through the wall or gate.
As Ruwen thought the situation through, only one approach made any sense. He needed to gain access to the city, stop whatever attacked the temple, retake the city, and then figure out how to move the temple.
Ruwen cast Shed, not making a door for the structure. Light from Glow filled the cube. He took off his hood and removed the Sublime Centipede of Solace from Inventory. His Mana bar increased by five thousand to five thousand six hundred fifty-four.
Ruwen spoke to Rami. Can you watch and make sure my Scarecrow Aspect doesn’t appear. This totem says it powers divine abilities with the Mana I’ve banked in it, but that might just mean the Architect Role.
Actually thinking ahead. You’ve come so far.
Very funny. Here goes.
When Ruwen was in the Spirit Realm he’d created different sized mental rods that he dipped into his essence pools and combined to create spells. The smallest rod he’d called a one, and it affected an area of about half an inch. The largest, a one hundred, affected one hundred thousand feet.
Since Mana was a perfect balance of all twelve essences, Ruwen should be able to use any of the recipes he’d learned. He created a size one Mana rod, touched it mentally to the centipede totem, and then visualized the essence recipe for his favorite spell: two parts Fire, one part Chaos, and one part Air.
The Mana in the Sublime Centipede of Solace dropped by one, but no Fireball appeared. Ruwen tried a size five Mana rod and then a ten with the same results. Frustrated, and almost out of time, he used a size fifty and a tiny spark appeared. Seeing the pattern, he created a size one hundred Mana rod, something unthinkable with essence, and a candle flame appeared in his hand.
Using Mana appeared to be a hundred times less potent than essence. Probably from the interference of all the essence he wasn’t using in the Mana. He wondered if a more complicated spell that used more of the twelve essences would result in a more powerful spell. He would need to experiment when time allowed.
Did my Scarecrow Aspect appear? Ruwen asked.
Nope.
Great. That totem really gives me options.
Funny, that. Just like finding near perfect crystals for coherent light.
What is coherent light? Do you mean the Crazor?
Close enough.
That made Ruwen pause. Everything Blapy had done had a good reason other than helping him. But the logic to discover the Crazor took items and people that Blapy had provided. It reminded him that Uru and Naktos weren’t the only ones who could see possible futures. Had Blapy’s desire to place the Shattered Sun portal near New Eiru been for the very purpose of creating the Crazor?
Rami returned to her perch behind Ruwen’s ear, and he pulled on his Overseer’s Hood.
Ruwen had thought of something more potent than Glow to power his Crazor and removed a small silver insignia of two clasping hands from his Inventory. He carefully attached it to the bottom of his crystal with fifty Mana. He’d gotten this Worker Class Symbol of Radiance from Big D after they’d toured the mine during their camping trip. It attached to things with Mana and the more Energy you channeled to it, the brighter it got. It would get a lot brighter than Glow.
Ruwen used Mend Tool to attach the Crazor to his right forearm. He would constantly channel Harden to his right hand, and Energy to the Class insignia that powered his Crazor. That would give him a constant beam of condensed light, that he could accelerate into a lethal beam whenever he aimed
it into his Void Band.
They’re ready, Tremine said in Chat.
Ruwen dismissed the Shed. His team stood around him, and to his surprise, so did several hundred Cultivators.
“I’ve returned with help,” Phoenix said. “We won’t participate in taking the city, but we’ll shield and heal your troops for as long as possible.”
Even though the Cultivators wouldn’t help in liberating the city, their aid in getting to the walls, and surviving long enough to breach them, might make the difference.
“Thank you,” Ruwen said.
In Chat he spoke to his Commanders. Commence attack.
Thirty-one minutes remained.
“I’m coming, Hamma,” Ruwen whispered, and sprinted forward.
Chapter 79
As Ruwen ran toward New Eiru, he used Whiskers to view what had happened in the city over the last hour and a half. He couldn’t see enough to get an accurate count, but he estimated there were over twenty thousand Naktos troops, maybe even thirty. Ruwen only had around twelve thousand.
Troops no longer exited from the lake where the temple had been, and at least a hundred mobile revival baths now sat on the western edge of the water. Half the troops stood on the battlements, and the remaining fighters sat in organized lines.
Fear and panic surfaced at the vast numbers, but the Overlord kept the emotions away from Ruwen’s thoughts.
Tremine, Xavier, and Bliz had experimented on different items from Bliz’s Inventory. Ruwen had even let them borrow the terium coin he’d manufactured in Fractal with his Spirit. The Crazor had burned a hole in everything they had except the pure terium coin. Tremine guessed that even the terium would suffer if they increased the Energy used.
That meant breaching the enhanced steel gate was possible but left the terium alloy bars of the portcullis an unknown.
Because Ruwen didn’t know if they had the energy to cut quickly through the bars, he didn’t want his army directly under the walls while he figured out a solution. So they’d formed a breach team that would destroy the gate, and only then would the army advance into danger.
The Crazor lost effectiveness the further it traveled, so the Bands knew not to fire them until they approached the city. The Crazor was easy to stop if you were prepared, so he wanted to surprise the enemy with it.
Ruwen’s counter read nineteen minutes when his army stopped. The enemy lined the battlements and the city looked wrong without the tall spire of the temple piercing the sky. Spirt and Energy filled the air as magic shields were raised just in case an attack reached them.
“Breach team,” Ruwen shouted, and fifty people sprinted toward him.
The breach team consisted of Ruwen and his team, along with eight other Bands who had a Harden level of five. Twenty Mages would protect them from elemental and physical attacks, while five Healers would heal damage and cleanse any crowd control. Ten Fighters, most Specializing in varying forms of Protection, surrounded them all. He had rearranged the groups to make sure these fifty were all in one of his five layers of command so they could benefit from his buffs.
Three additional people joined the breach team, surprising Ruwen.
Phoenix, Willow, and Thistle stepped up to Ruwen. He bowed to them. “Are you here to wish us luck?”
Thistle spoke. “You have proved yourself honorable and have given us a home. You have demanded nothing from us.” She bowed to Ruwen. “As leaders of our Clans, and to ensure the future of our people, we will risk the most precious thing we own. Our one life.”
Ruwen bowed, humbled by their demonstration of leadership.
Phoenix returned the bow. “We will help protect your team but will only take a life in self-defense.”
Willow looked nervous but stood up straight. Even though all three were Gem level Cultivators, they could still die, and like Sift, there was no coming back. It displayed an extraordinary level of commitment.
The Cultivators who inhabited Uru’s lands walked the True God’s path of peace. Ruwen followed his own path, but if he had to pick one of the True God’s paths, it would be conflict, not peace.
“May the True God light our paths,” Ruwen said. “You honor your Clans.”
Phoenix nodded, rubbed his left shoulder, and stared intently at Ruwen. “I recently fought a nameless man who showed great honor. He told me he wished to protect the harvest. Perhaps this is what he meant.”
Ruwen’s breath caught. He had told Phoenix those things when fighting him as the Scarecrow in the Spirit Realm. He had refrained from destroying Phoenix’s Air Meridian and even healed him during the battle. When Ruwen had clasped arms with Phoenix after making their deal here at New Eiru, the Cultivator must have sensed something familiar about Ruwen.
Ruwen nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Phoenix knew or suspected that Ruwen was the Scarecrow, but had kept it to himself. For now, what mattered was his help.
Three empty slots remained in the War Council party, and Ruwen added the Cultivators. He faced New Eiru with seventeen minutes remaining on his counter. “On me!”
Ruwen and his breach team sprinted toward the gate, drawing the attention of thousands of enemies. As they entered spell range, his skin tingled from the hundreds of crowd control spells that struck him. One or more of the spells succeeded against him and everyone else in the breach team.
Ruwen immediately channeled Energy into the level twenty Warlord spell Warcry of Freedom, cleansing the crowd control and increasing everyone’s Mind Resistance by fifty percent. He continued to channel Energy to the spell to keep the Mind Resistance active. The added Resistance would be critical in helping them withstand all the crowd control aimed at them. A five-minute counter started, letting him know when the cleanse would become available again.
The combination of Ruwen’s buffed Energy Regeneration and the fifty percent reduction in spell cost from Quartermaster’s Yell, made many of his previous ideas possible. And he used one of them now.
The breach team bunched up behind Ruwen and he increased the size of his Void Band to thirty feet, holding it up like a giant shield. His buffs reduced the cost to under ninety Energy per second, and his Gold Fortified body and increased Dexterity allowed him to keep running safely. The Overlord kept thoughts of tripping and falling into the portal away.
To protect from ground attacks, Ruwen channeled Harden into the soil as they advanced. The immense Void Band opening, Bodyguard, Fresh Air, and Warcry of Freedom, even with the fifty percent reduction, consumed one hundred eight Energy per second. That meant maxing out Harden caused his Energy pool of three thousand two hundred twenty-six to drop by twenty-one per second.
The combination of the two shields, one above and one below, worked amazingly well, reducing the strain on the Mages and allowing them to focus on protecting the group’s flanks. The benefits justified the small cost to Ruwen’s Energy pool.
They reached the gate as the counter fell to fifteen. One of the Workers had a level five Shed, and they created a thirty-by-thirty-by-thirty-foot cube. The other Workers with maxed Harden, immediately strengthened every surface except the one that faced the portcullis. The Glow from all the Workers made the inside of the cube bright.
Ruwen closed his Void Band and stopped channeling Harden. The structure shook from the massive bombardment of spells and missiles that Ruwen no longer absorbed with his Void Band shield. His Inventory had suffered a huge reduction in space. Even with the stacking of similar spells, arrows, and crossbow bolts, he’d still used over six hundred slots in their short run to the gate.
Ruwen and Bliz stood in the middle of the wall facing the gate, with four Workers on each side of them. Ruwen used his level one Melt to remove a small portion of wall and expose a piece of the portcullis. Grabbing the terium alloy bar, nothing appeared to happen. Bliz, who had five levels of Melt, did the same, and the bar softened under his hands after a few seconds.
Even with Bliz’s five levels, Melt wouldn’t work in time. Ruwen said a prayer and channeled th
irty Energy into the Worker insignia that powered his Crazor. The light blinded everyone in the Shed and a Healer quickly wrapped the bottom of Ruwen’s Crazor with a bandage, shielding everyone from the brightness.
The other nine Workers powered their Crazor’s as well, and the Shed wall disintegrated, revealing the terium alloy bars of the portcullis and the enhanced steel door behind it.
A small gap between the top of the Shed and the gate allowed a yellow liquid to drip down. The enemy had poured something on their Shed, and when the liquid struck the Crazors it vaporized, instantly filling the Shed with fumes.
Analyze told Ruwen it was a sulfur-based acid, and before he could speak, a quick thinking Worker stopped his Crazor and sucked in the vapors. The drop in pressure however, pulled more of the liquid into their Shed. Ruwen stopped his Crazor and released a small amount of fresh air he’d stored, balancing the pressure and slowing the acid.
Ruwen activated the level eight Worker ability Insect Repellant, creating a hundred-foot sphere which he decreased until it encompassed just the Shed and the gap above them. The barrier kept the acid from entering, and they all focused their Crazors on the bars again.
As Ruwen had feared, the terium alloy bars resisted even the level five Harden powered Crazors.
“Pair up,” Ruwen said. “Focus your beams on the same spot. A pair on top and bottom, each working toward the center. Bliz and I will take the center.”
The focused Crazors overcame the bars’ durability, and they began to melt. The air in the Shed grew hot, and Ruwen realized he hadn’t planned for that. To cool down, they would be forced to open their structure, exposing themselves.
Phoenix sat cross-legged behind Ruwen and closed his eyes. A moment later the temperature dropped as Phoenix Cultivated the heat. The Shed shuddered as something massive struck the roof. Willow looked at the ceiling and then placed an acorn on the floor. The acorn grew with every blink, as Willow fed it Spirt until it reached the roof. Its branches crawled along the ceiling and down the walls of the Shed. More heavy objects struck the Shed, but the structure only vibrated.