I then run some simulations and find a pattern that blocks all mana radiation. Like a faraday cage, the complex three-dimensional interweaving of small qi lattices nullifies any radiation in the mana spectrum.
I then add a detection method. This actually took the most time. I tried messing around with triangulation or trilateration. The fact that this would expose the user to a minimum of two waves without protection due to the need for accurate measurements threw that concept out of the window. More so if the user was standing still relative to the radiation source.
I then slap my forehead and plug the amount of mana absorbed at various points into a small processor. The front of the absorber will receive more radiation, limiting the initial exposure to less than one. Then I remove this design as I make a simple mana radiation absorbing structure which rotates. Checking the small formation’s angle when a power spike is spotted makes for a deceptively simple detector.
I feel a hand tousle my hair as I am putting the finishing touches on my design. I wake from my engineering stupor and check my surroundings. Rhea is standing behind me, her bedhead and tired eyes indicating that she just woke up. I check with my qi clone and notice that I spent hours on this problem.
“Good morning. Wanna go outside? Also, what kind of hat would you like?” I grab her hand and stand up. I put some meaning behind my words, lacing them with qi filled with intent.
“It’s safe?”
I nod.
“A couple of hundred years ago I saw a queen who wore a diadem, silver with purple gems.” She looks to the side, spinning an image into existence. It’s an ornate filigree tiara made from silver wire and interwoven cut gems. “It caught the sun, making it look like she had purple freckles.”
I look at the dragoness in astonishment. There was this side to her too? It’s a shame that a little thing like that won’t work. “No, I mean a… hat…” This time, I project a head-covering piece of apparel, like a baseball cap, bowler hat or a flat cap.
“Maybe a sunhat?” I shape a straw hat, one of those floppy ones with a wide brim.
“Or a military cap?” I show her the cool version of a baseball cap.
“I could do a phoenix crown.” I see her frown at the ornamental ball of gems, gold, gaudiness and tassels, so I remove the image.
“Or maybe you’d like…” I suppress my own laughter. “…a fedora? Hehe. Maybe a knitted wool hat? Nice and warm. Maybe a Santa hat? A beanie?”
She points at one of the hats now floating around me. Wow, that got away from me quick. I’m a small fashion show, with all the headwear images floating around me.
“You want the fedora?” I stare at her eyes. In her sparkling, enthusiastic eyes. Aw man, I can’t tell her that used to be a symbol of bearded necks and loneliness, now can I?
⁂
I put the finishing touches on the qi enchantment and put it on her head. A matte white fedora with purple edges and a tree logo now sits on top of Rhea’s head. It looks quite dashing; I have to admit.
I pull on my own dark grey army cap and let her adjust it. “Keep your hat on at all times when on the second continent. Glue it to your skull with qi. Do not take it off. Soul damage is really, really terrible.”
She gives me a serious nod and I sense qi threads sprouting from her head as they interweave with the hat. I do the same to mine and check the qi formations one last time. The complex web of mana radiation dampening lines and the small processor both pass the small army of tests I put them through. I take her hand in mine and walk through my castle’s front door.
What greets us is chaos.
⁂
Eerie chanting sounds throughout a grassy clearing, a golden tree looking over the sunny field. Mysterious and foreboding lights spill from a majestic library, dark symbols scrawled along its white walls. Complex and arcane words whispered and shouted with fervour such as ‘hypothesis’, ‘derivative’ and ‘factorial’ cause the symbols to pulse and shine.
Ket is sitting in the middle of a cleared space, bookshelves pushed to the sides, its contents stacked everywhere. Complex symbols are drawn around the seated figure. Energy pulses through them as shady characters chant and walk around the sigils.
“Drew, what is going on?”
“Hmm? Nothing special, sweetie. Why?”
Seated on a massive throne sits a humanoid blob, fat people running around, all carrying food. The large wooden construct groans under its occupant, the triangular building blocks just barely able to keep the fat boy aloft. The pile of food gets handed to him at a rapid pace, only pausing the feast to give some inane sounding advice now and then.
One of the beastkin reaches out a hand towards a tasty morsel. The boy flicks a finger and the resulting gale sends the skinny person tumbling backwards. He then mumbles something about braincores not deserving food as he licks his fingers.
“Even you should realise that there is a lot wrong with this picture. I was wondering where all those sounds came from, but this is a bit much, no?”
“What are you talking about? I just queried Database and all my school’s students are advancing at a rapid pace! The new guys are learning skills and cultivation faster than my original students ever did.”
A buff and tough looking beastkin sidles away from a certain redhead, unable to escape the much faster boy’s amorous advances. The dilemma obvious on his face, the muscled beastkin’s eyes plead for help to everyone near, only to be ignored. The inane chatter that should resemble flirting seems to drive the big guy slowly but surely insane.
A black-haired girl flits about the edges of it all, unwilling to get involved. All the other beastkin are trouncing through the jungle, chasing a certain beastkin by smell alone.
“Poor Angeta, beastkin think strength is attractive, after all. At least it’s good for Bord!”
“Just ignore them. Database is keeping track. Everyone is gaining knowledge or strength rather fast. Except for one guy, though.”
The couple walks past a bunny who is being pampered by a troupe of beastgirls. The white animal is stretched out lazily on top of a luxurious heap of clothes and furs. Large leaves are used to stir up a cooling breeze as one of the attendant’s hand feeds the animal polished blades of grass.
Behind the massive tree, a blue-haired girl pesters a brown-robed man. He ignores her with all his might as his frenzied eyes roam the myriad plants in the garden. An old man in a robe is sitting beneath the tree, the picture of tranquillity. A massive human and an even larger beastkin stand guard beside him. They both look at the couple approaching them and grip their clubs tight.
“Stop. Lord Bord forbids anyone from entering.”
“Halt, none may pass on Lady Angeta’s command!”
“Look how cute, my students even know how to delegate. It’s good to know they take the few commands I give them seriously.”
“Drew, this is not normal. Why aren’t you worried?”
The duo of large men is sent flying with the casual wave of a hand. “Good job, guys, keep guarding this tree. Danarius! How are you doing?”
The old man cracks open a single eye. “Ah… Teach, was it? Fascinating stuff, you got here. Where is this, another planet or dimension?”
“Haha, just a small pocket dimension. Keep guarding Tree, let no one through. You will die if you pass through, and it will hurt the whole time you are dying.”
With that, the bearded man puts a hand on the golden trunk and disappears, pulling the woman behind him. The old mage blinks a couple of times, looks around, sighs deeply and closes his eyes again. “I’m too old for this shit.”
Chapter fifty-two
Underway
T wo people appear on the deck of a sleek ship as oars splash rhythmically in a slow pattern. One is a slender man clad in a dark shirt, pants, soft leather shoes, and a floppy dark grey cap. The other is an even more slender female clad in dark purple robes held closed with a white sash, white hair spilling out from under a fedora.
The female move
s a hand to her head, only to be stopped by the man. “Nope. I’m not allowing you to risk your soul. Here…” He fiddles a bit with her headwear. “Connect to the central controlling point. You will receive the scanned data.”
The woman is now scowling fiercely at the man. “You will not allow me? Since when do I not have-”
He dramatically shuts her up by putting a finger to her mouth. “Shut up and scan for wildlife.”
Her furious expression melts when she closes her eyes. “There is nothing here.”
“And now listen to your hat’s output with a millionth fraction of your mind.”
The woman pales and stumbles a bit. “I said a millionth. Not a thousandth, you stupid dragon.”
He sits her down, seating himself opposite of her swaying figure. “Re-Haan. Please listen to me for a bit. My personal goal is freedom. I hate restrictions and limitations. I even went so far as to rebuild my cultivation base around the lack of commitment.”
He waits until she looks him in the eyes. “So please believe me, when I restrict someone, I do it for a very good reason. Anyway, listening to it shocked your soul, right?”
Rubbing her forehead, the woman replies. “It’s like a hoard of data in my head? Concentrated in the middle of my brain.”
“Hoard? How do you visualise it?”
“It’s a large pile of treasure, twinkling and bringing data through.”
The man rubs his face. “Pile of treasure? It’s not a signal transmitting cable?”
“No.”
“How does the information flow?”
“The gems twinkle and the treasure sparkles gloriously.”
The man now has his fingers in his hair. “And here I’m figuring out the connection protocols and deciphering the data stream. It’s just sparkling treasure, she says. No worries about baud rate or encryption. Does my subconscious hate me or something?”
“Why does it need to be that complicated? It’s the connection to your own soul; force it what you want it to be!” The woman is smiling savagely as she closes her eyes. “Don’t like libraries that much… Slave workers are too slow. Let’s leave it a treasure pile, that works just fine.”
“You are telling me just changed the way you visualise your soul connection a bunch of times without problems? Don’t you know how dangerous that is?”
“Stop making it difficult for yourself.”
“Alright then, how can you train it? How do you make it grow stronger?”
The woman is silent at this. She pales a couple of times but is quick to recover each time. “Add more treasure!” Eyes bright, her grin is back.
“Add more fucking treasure… How can I do that? It’s a Cat 6 cable, I can’t just change the protocol! Adding additional wires is not po-”
She flicks his forehead with a finger. “Stop making things so difficult for yourself. Let me help.”
She then puts her forehead to the area she just assaulted. They sit still for half an hour until the woman suddenly pulls back. “No wonder… Your soul is stronger than your cultivation base.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I tried making a spatial storage ring a while back. You did it with contemptuous ease. I tried for an entire day and failed. I talked with your students, and they confirmed it. You have an immense amount of mental power. Your cultivation base is lacking. You don’t have enough qi at your command to change the form of your soul.”
“I am too weak, and I’m too strong?”
“What happened when you exposed yourself to the soul wave?”
“It changed a couple of bits here and there, ruining several packets.”
“My entire treasure hoard got scattered. I nearly lost my connection entirely.”
The man’s eyes widen in shock. “You nearly demonised?”
“What’s that?”
“Instinct takes over when the soul is absent. Mortals would just die; sufficient qi allows a soulless body to continue operating without someone in the driver’s seat.”
“I think I understand what you mean with driver’s seat. I nearly became a mindless savage?”
“Cultivators are sensitive to this kind of stuff. A higher soul affinity comes with a higher vulnerability. This continent is freaking me out.”
The woman chews her lip for a good minute before saying anything. “Thanks for the hat.”
The man puts his arm around her shoulders as they look towards the horizon. “No problem.”
⁂
“Bord, you’re not coming along?”
“No, go away. Bring me more food!”
Tess looks at the humanoid blob with disgust in her eyes. She takes a single step towards the library but halts in her tracks. The chanting of scientific terms has been growing ever louder over the past hours. Formulas and glyphs are now floating upwards through the library’s ceiling. Tess takes a deep breath and walks towards the dark entrance anyway.
“KET! Let’s go do a mission, I want a hat!”
The chanting stops, the glowing sigils darken and the ominous air vanishes as the seated figures all stare at the entrance.
“Hey, Tess!” Ket smiles refreshingly as he stands up, dropping the hooded cloak. “I was just teaching these guys a bit. Thanks, everyone!” He waves and strolls out, grabbing Tess’s arm as he walks out. The dozens of people, beastkin and a few humans, start to murmur amongst themselves.
“Thank you so much, I was just teaching them, and it got out of hand so, so incredibly fast.” A haunted look on his face, Ket whispers to his saviour. “What are we doing? I need some fresh air.”
Tess holds a hand to her mouth, stopping herself from laughing. “No problem. Let’s take the main scouting mission. It’s quest number one.”
THUMP
“Please take me with you! I tried beating them up, but they only seem to like it. I can’t even get angry at them anymore!” A very frazzled Angeta is begging the duo. “I tried doing that quest so many times, but nobody wanted to come along with me, and it’s a group quest. Please, let’s get out of here!”
“So beastkin really do think power equals attractiveness.” Smirking, Ket looks at the small stampede of humans with animal features trampling in their direction. “There’s even women among them!”
“Let’s just go already!” Angeta pushes the two towards the middle of the clearing. They put a hand to its bark and look up. A beam of light shoots down from the moon, bathing the trio in a white glow. They are gone the next moment.
⁂
“Wow, this is really high. Good thing I don’t have vertigo.” Tess mumbles to herself as she looks down the massive tower far below her; a damaged city is slowly being rebuilt.
“What was the mission description again?”
“Didn’t you read it Angy?” asks Ket.
“I did, but I had other things on my mind back then.” Shivering, Angeta tries to make herself angry.
“First, scout Tower city. Report on the state of the dungeon. Second, find a place where an access portal can be placed. I’ve got the portal stone for that one. Third, scout the mana clearing where we got our mounts. Fourth, scout any beast hordes approaching the city.”
“That’s great, but how do we get down? And how do we get back?” Tess looks at the spinning formation, protected by a forcefield. The trio was transferred across thousands of kilometres by Database, using the Tower formation as an anchor point.
“Did none of you read the quest? No, don’t bother trying now. We are too far away to connect to Dee-Bee.” Ket looks at the duo in irritation.
A flash of light blinds the trio for a second, followed by a cheery voice. “Hey guys! What are y’all up to?”
“Hey Sel. Did you read the quest?” Ket takes a small stone from his ring as he distractedly greets the blue-haired newcomer.
“Looking around, right? Who cares, let’s go have fun! Wow, this is high up. Are those small things below us clouds? Wooow.”
“Don’t make too much of a mess, alright? This
city has suffered enough.” Ket grabs Selis by the back of her neck, pulling her away from the edge. “Also keep an eye out for any qi poisoning. I will put the return portal here.” A small map of the city appears in front of him, marking a dark alley in the slums.
“The slums, that’s your old shack, right? Got it.” Tess then pulls a large black cat out of thin air. It flops lifelessly to the ground. She kicks it a bit, frowning. “Stand up, you useless kitty. You were without air for at most half an hour. Not enough to kill you. Stop playing dead.”
The feathered cat yowls, slashing at its tormentor. Tess fades into shadow and reappears on its back, clutching two tufts of fur and feather. Her heels dig into its flanks as she steers it towards the Tower’s edge. “I will check on the mana beast clearing and scout for beast hordes. See you!”
Tess then breathes a sheen of darkness over herself and the cat. They fade from sight as they both jump down towards the city.
“Wait, Tess, how did you put your mount in your ring? Tess!” Ket shouts after her, the howling wind his only reply. Drooping his shoulders, he looks at the other two disciples.
“I’m gonna tortu… request recipes from my favourite restaurants so Teach can cook them for me!” With a wave, Selis jumps down as ice crystals start forming around her.
“I’m going to rescue a slave, teach her and let her defeat me. Then she’ll be the strongest and those hormonal dick-bags will leave me alone. Recruiting new willing members with a clean aura gives points. Search for new seeds to give to Tree for more points.” Angeta glances at Ket. “Scouting the state of the city also gives points.” With that, she attaches a vine to a protruding shard of Tower and jumps down.
Ket’s face shows a variety of emotions as he stands there by himself. Finally, his features settle into a wry smile. He looks at the glowing dot of concentrated qi in the middle of the formation. He draws a complex pattern in the air, made from grey qi. Pushing it towards the forcefield, his hand sinks through the barrier.
The Dao of Magic: Book II Page 42