The Ascent disappears as I pull it inside Tree. I guide it to the empty spot and deposit it on the ground. More precisely, I tell Tree where I want it to land. Tree gained a lot of power recently, so I let it do the heavy lifting. Luckily, its intelligence is not developing just yet.
I feel a poke in my side and return my focus to the real world. Rhea is wiping seawater from her clothes with a slightly angry expression. Wind billows around her, drying the clinging fabric. It’s a nice view, but why didn’t she react on time? She’s a braincore, after all.
“Try to form a qi construct, you asshole.”
I do as she requests and notice nothing special except a minuscule bit of instability. The pretty but useless formation hangs in front of us both, unwavering.
“Try to form a qi construct at a normal level of power and control, you asshole.” She is even angrier now, for some reason.
I limit the willpower and volume of qi dedicated to keeping the pretty formation active to a qi condensing level. It immediately vanishes.
Ooh, this is interesting. I start a battery of tests, dedicating half of my brain to measuring what is going on. I wipe the grin off my face as I turn to Rhea. “Alright, so your water walking and protection constructs got destabilised by the radiation?”
She nods angrily.
“Don’t know how to tell you this, but maybe it would be good to return to Tree? Maybe impose some sort of order on that rowdy bunch?” Oh, she is getting really angry now. Well, time to look cool, I guess.
Engage combat mode.
Pour additional qi into feet and sea for stability. Underbrush explodes. Distance to shore around fifty metres. Spot threat. Large bug covered in leaves speeding this way. Correction, leaves are attached to bug. Extend hand to grab Rhea.
Simulate scenarios. Jumping up is most efficient, limited mobility is lethal if bug can manoeuvre in air. Skate across sea then. Throw Rhea first? Pull inside Tree? Not fast enough. Piggyback.
Simulate aggressive solution. Attacker is unknown. Need more data to reduce risk to below a hundredth percentage. Execute safest option. Turn back to Rhea. Force her arms over my shoulders. Secure with qi threads. Start sideways manoeuvre.
Overview process is throwing an exception? Look at the bug’s back? Ah, those are wings. Shit…
Form blade from qi. Reinforce immaterial lattice with ice crystals. Aim for crack between plates on neck. Confirm hit. Confirm lack of new stimuli in bug. Sense danger from behind. Drop cargo. Observe irately angry Rhea. Incoming signal source? Accept transmission. Incoming data is extremely low frequency. Match timeframes.
‘WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING? I HAD THAT BASTARD BUG UNTIL YOU DECIDED TO BARGE IN!’
So, this is new. Rhea and I are communicating with a speed of a thousand words per minute. The average person talks at a rate of a hundred to one hundred fifty words per minute. The immense loneliness that usually accompanies a heightened sense of time is completely absent.
‘DON’T DO THAT AGAIN YOU DICKHEAD! IT SCARED ME HALF TO DEATH!’
So much for looking cool… I was wondering what those odd air pressure anomalies were. That must have been Rhea preparing to fight.
‘Okay, I apologise. Can you stop screaming? It’s giving me a headache. I won’t help you with the next batch, okay?’
I observe as her face transforms into a baffled expression in slow motion. This is pretty fun, talking at this speed while our bodies are unable to catch up.
‘Incoming! Have fun!’
I feel my own face transform into a gleeful smile as the shoreline explodes into activity. The dead bug is still skipping across the sea surface behind us, its brethren are bursting from the jungle and coming straight towards our position.
‘Those are all for me?’
Why does she sound so happy now? Qi explodes from her form in slow motion. Ah, there is a smiling dragon standing next to me. Chills run down my spine as I feel my smugness drain. Her hand raises slowly towards the pack of huge insects barrelling our way. I start forming a shield around me.
The exploding bug guts and bits of the carapace that splatter all around me are deflected just in time. I nearly feel sorry for those poor buggers. I say a silent prayer in my heart, thanking them for their noble sacrifice in being an angry dragons’ punching bag.
⁂
Rhea is exhausted. The core in her head is bone dry. Not even an hour ago, it was filled to the brim with liquid power, slowly growing the small crystal in its centre. Now she is running on fumes. Cursing the fact that she gave up her heartcore for integrity’s sake, she dodges a smouldering tiger.
The continuously melting and reforming beast smashes into a tree, splintering half and burning the rest in seconds. Rhea crouches low as she rubs her ring with a thumb. The tiger pounces at her and Rhea jumps high as she holds her hand out. Seawater pours from her ring’s storage space, dousing the crazed animal. The water flash boils into steam the moment it seeps into the scorching cracks of mana-altered flesh.
Dodging bits of tiger and clouds of steam, Rhea decides to spend the last of her energy reserves in a partial transformation. The back of her hands, arms and shins glow purple-white as her skin liquifies and turns into scales. She whips her arm out, backhanding a small, bark-covered rodent.
RHOOOAAAARRR
A mighty roar rattles her teeth as she keeps a wary eye on her surroundings. The fight with the burning tiger cleared a large tract of jungle, allowing her to catch her breath.
“Die obediently! I am trying to look cool for my woman, you stupid sack of sand shit!”
Ignoring the boisterous yapping, Rhea takes deep breaths. She twitches as a thumping footstep shakes the ground. A cloud of dust appears on the edge of the clearing. It billows outwards as another small earthquake shakes Rhea.
THUD
A dark shape shoots out of the brown fog, pulling a trail of dust behind it. It slows down and lands gently.
“That’s it, no more mister nice guy.” The shape resolves into a bearded man. He then pulls something from his ring and aims it at the dust cloud.
KER-BLAM
“Hasta la vista, baby.”
“Drew, what are you doing?”
“Hey, just killing dungeon bosses.”
“This is not a dungeon.”
“This is an open-air dungeon. They work differently on this continent.”
A dark shape appears in the brown cloud of dust. An enormous ant slowly moves towards the bickering duo. Mandibles as thick as tree trunks clang against each other as a ten-metre-large ant head pokes out of the jungle. A large hole between its compound eyes leaks large amounts of fine sand. Rhea sighs, shakes her head and closes her eyes.
“No, don’t look away! I’m doing this to look cool for you.”
“Getting beaten up until you pull out a piece of metal that can one shot the monster is not looking cool.”
“You take that back! That is totally not true! It’s not dead yet.” KER-BLAM “Now it’s dead.”
“What is that thing?”
“A desert eagle! Pretty neat, huh?”
“It’s not an eagle. And it’s not dead yet.”
KER-BLAM
“It’s a qi-powered slug thrower.” Drew slides a single finger lovingly across the glossy, crenelated metal. The entire thing then glows brightly as he pulls the trigger again.
KER-BOOOM
“It’s a shame that it can only handle a couple of shots. Infusing qi into materials to make heavenly crafting ingredients takes a long time. A hack-job like this cheap steel thing needs a lot of qi or will degrade quickly.”
Rhea decides not to retort at all. She observes as the enormous ant that Drew was shooting at disintegrates entirely. The metre-thick legs towering over the jungle’s crown start falling apart along with the hole-riddled head. The disintegrating ant leaves the jungle absolutely silent. She brushes pieces of metal from her hair.
Drew holds out a hand. “Wanna come to find out why the dungeons are open-air structu
res with me?”
“When did you make that thing?”
“My qi clone did a trial production run. It’s a failure though, normal steel is too weak to contain the forces, and I can’t figure out how to mass produce qi-infused items. Tree’s got a mass manufacturing complex under its roots. Let me know if you ever want a couple thousand simple items.”
Rhea grabs his hand and stands up. She walks over to the large pile of sand and starts digging around. Pulling a large brown crystal from the small mountain, she twirls it through her fingers. “Because it’s interesting.”
“What?”
“I’m sticking around because it’s interesting. Flight mountain is…”
“Sleepy?”
She laughs. “Very sleepy.”
“Then I shall endeavour to keep things interesting for you.”
“Then I shall stick around for a bit longer.”
The two smile at each other. The absolute silence breaks as a faraway beast roars. The jungle explodes into activity once again as the couple walk on, hand in hand.
“ARMCHAIR!”
“EEP, Drew, what are you doing?”
Dodging the slaps thrown his way, Teach covers his face while groaning as he crawls into a ball. “It’s armchair, how the fuck did I forget?”
Rhea looks down at the whimpering man with disgust on her face. “Maybe not this interesting, though. Normal is also good once in a while.”
Chapter fifty-five
Hordes
F erah throws her hands up in frustration “Why are you asking me all this stuff? I’m like not even ten winters old. I don’t know how to run a school! I used to gather herbs in the forest, not apprentice under the town’s major.”
Ket looks at the pouting girl as he suppresses a smile. Carelessly throwing a small pebble, he shifts his seated position to something more comfortable. “That’s great. Now how would you motivate people to learn certain subjects?”
“Stop asking me these questions!” An angry expression on her face, Ferah rolls on her back, staring at the endless void surrounding the moon. “Give people rewards? My Granma used to give me food when I washed clothes.”
Ket sees the girl suppressing tears and stretches out his hand. Halfway to her furry little head, his hand stops. “Food? No way. I’d eat it myself if I had Teach’s food.”
“How about news? The tea-circle my gran used to run always traded rumours.”
“That is a great idea! Let’s see. There are some rumours about slave raids that I gathered. Here, would you people like this as a reward?”
Ferah grabs a small green stone from the pocket of her white dress. Putting it on her forehead, she gasps. “Fortown is gone? Fortown never gets attacked.”
“Why does Fortown never get attacked?”
“Fortown has super high walls. I and Granma went with the caravan once to trade for new metal tools. Those walls are really, super high. And on one side it’s mountains. And the other side is a river.”
“Database, who rules in Luzden?”
A flat, staccato voice whispers near the discussing duo. “Baron Kardel.”
“Wha? The same Kardel as in, Peak City Kardel?” Ket tilts his head as he looks down at the white rock, his gaze focused beyond the floor.
“Unknown. The reward for that information is now one hundred points.”
Ferah stands up and pats the white dust from her dress. “Database, what’s the chance of this rumour being false?”
“Calculating… Seventy-five percent chance that the rumour is exaggerated. Ten percent chance that Fortown is razed.”
“What’s the reward for scouting that area?”
“Three hundred points for a basic information report.”
“Great! Assign that mission to me, please!”
“No.”
Ferah freezes mid-stride. “Why not?!”
“Minimum level of power needed for mission assignments outside Tree is core forming. You’re qi gathering.”
Waving her arms around, Ferah starts jumping up and down. “LET ME OUT, stupid Database! Stupid bearded guy! I just want to know if my grandma is still alive.” Dark spots appear at Ferah’s feet as she clenches her fists. “Do… do you know if Goodsummer is… if anyone from Goodsummer still lives?”
“Goodsummer is unknown, clarify.”
“It… it’s a farming town down the river from Fortown.”
“Ten points awarded for that information. No additional information found.”
Tears silently continue to drip from Ferah’s eyes as she stands there, on a white moon in a dimension separate from all that she has known in her entire life. Over the white horizon, a large tract of land containing two mountains and a massive Tree spins across the sky.
Ket watches as the girl crumples into a heap and starts sobbing.
⁂
A black-feathered tiger stalks through the forest. It jumps into a shadow, only to appear tens of metres ahead. A streak of blackness dives down from the trees, crashing into the stalking feline. The figure of a girl is seen as she holds on to the softly yowling beast.
“Gotcha, ya big lump!” Rubbing its fur and feather affectionately, the duo of shadow-intent users make their way through the forest. “Now you’ve got to be my mount for twenty years. You shouldn’t have taken that bet.”
More soft yowls sound out in protest.
“Nor should you have accepted the five before that, yeah. I hope you have learned a lesson?”
In response to the teasing tone, the tiger tries to shake Tess by making sudden turns and jumping around. Hair flying everywhere, she only smiles broader while clinging to the large beast. Not a minute of this high-speed rodeo action later, the trees suddenly give way to a clearing.
“Hoo there, we are here.” The tiger disappears in a dark flash the moment Tess jumps off its back. Tess lands and surveys the clearing. She ignores the shrill screech not too far away that sounds a lot like a small critter being eaten. She shudders a bit as the wailing sounds are suddenly replaced by crunching noises.
“Maybe I should stop making her angry.” She then shrugs and climbs a tree. The same horde of animals she got her kitty cat from spreads out in front of her, having grown even bigger in the meantime.
Tess pulls a rectangular object from her ring, aims it and presses a button. Putting the object to her forehead, she checks the recorded image. Walking up to one of the silent animals, she puts a hand on the rough-skinned donkey.
“Earth was… empathy and apathy.” Her face grows concerned and empty in short order. “Perfect balance of dim and bright mana.”
She walks up to another animal and finds the same balance. “Not a single sign of mana imbalance or mana mutation. Maybe the beast hordes won’t be so bad this year?” Summoning her mount with a short whistle, she jumps on. They immediately start running towards the east.
Sometime later, Tess takes a break. Now on the wide-open grasslands around Tower City, the surrounding mountains have started growing bigger. Patting the slightly winded animal, Tess starts munching on some snacks. She nearly stumbles as her tiger vanishes, only for it to reappear with a small, chitin covered deer in its maw seconds later.
Tess looks at the cake in her hand. She then looks at the bleeding corpse dropped at her feet. Sighing, she tosses the snack to the cat, who eats it in a single bite. Tess forms a black dagger and kneels by the small animal. She pokes it a bit, turns slightly green as organs start popping out of the cut in its abdomen, and walks away.
Her tiger pounces it and eats it in two gulps. “Stop trading dead animals for proper food, okay? I won’t give you my food in the future. You don’t need to eat that much anyway. You’re a qi condenser now…”
Tess stops talking as she looks at the ridiculously cute display in front of her eyes. The fierce mount is now rolling in the grass, looking at Tess with big eyes. It coyly bats at the air with its paws. “Mrrauuw?”
“…Never mind. Let’s just get going.”
The su
n is low on the horizon by the time the duo reaches the forests to the east of Tower City. The dense green blanket covers the foothills that separate the Shi-eit kingdom from the rest of the world. The thin ivory spear is visible behind Tess as she guides her mount to jump on top of the trees. The cat makes some protesting noises but follows her directions after only minimal kicking. Tess holds on as the cat uses shadows to propel itself further up into the canopy.
Then Tess freezes. Her tiger makes an inquiring noise, only to be slapped into silence. She jumps off and lands on the ground, immediately putting her head on the moss-covered ground. Closing her eyes, she just listens.
“Come, follow me, and be quiet.”
Tess had been taking it easy before. They had been leisurely making their way to the east, not in any hurry. Now, however, her tiger mount needs to put in the effort to keep up with her, even without a rider slowing it down.
Tess is now a black streak, moving closely to the ground as she runs at full sprint. The shadows seem to swell as she passes by, aiding her every step. Trees and bushes are dodged at full sprint, larger obstacles like rocks and cliffs are skipped by jumping through the shadows.
Until the forest ends and Tess sees the mountains east of Neutalinn properly for the first time. Sees the small clusters of gathered animals for the first time. Sees the mana mutants for the first time.
“Shit, fuck, all the hells and dungeons. Piss on your crystals and mana.”
Now pale as a sheet, Tess starts mumbling to herself like a madwoman. “Twenty… fifty… observed a minimum of a hundred full mana mutants. Each leading a group of half-step mutants. No way. How did… Heightened bright mana concentrations in the clearing means… That mana must’ve come from somewhere, right?”
The rumbling sounds she heard earlier are made by a legion of hoofs, claws and paws. She sees all kinds of elemental corruptions on all kinds of animals. She sees more groups making their way across the mountains, all looking towards a certain clearing behind her. The only barrier stopping them from trampling the kingdom is the wide river in front of her. The river that is slowly shrinking now that winter is coming.
The Dao of Magic: Book II Page 44