Chapter 421 - Doing Something

Chris

The siege began just as the three-hour timer finished. The trebuchets were wheeled into range, and when the time was up, all thirty of them were fired in unison. The boulders soared through the air toward the walls as shields and spells rose to meet them.

Three stones were broken by large spells sent to meet them, two more by arrows launched by powerful bows, and twelve broke upon impact with a layer of [Mana Shields].

Thirteen rained down upon the wall, and its formations flared as they impacted with resounding thuds. Glowing lines filled with mana curled up and down the stone blocks, and I strained my perception to make out what Runes that had been used.

There were many, more than I could tell. Obvious ones like Runes of Protection, Durability, and Hardness were easy to spot, but others weren't so easily noticeable. Earth Runes of some sort, I guessed, but I wasn't sure what type exactly. Were they plain Earth Runes, or were they Stone Runes? Just as Ice, Frost, and Snow were each different Runes, Earth had similar delineations.

From how far away we still were, I wasn't able to get much more than that. If my Perception were higher, or my mana senses greater, that wouldn't be the case, but things were as they were.

A few moments later, the weapons unloaded again. And again. And again.

Earth was brought up from the depths, compacted, saturated in mana and Law, before being sent flying toward the walls, but moments later. The process was swift and practiced, much like I'd seen in East Fort.

It made me wonder how much practice the crews had gotten while in Gemini.

While I stood and watched the siege begin, I wasn't quite sure what to do. Usually, at this time, I would be charging into combat or swinging my hammer around in battle, but that wasn't the case this time. There wasn't anything for me to do exactly.

With my Strength, I could certainly launch my own projectiles of ice, but what use would that be? Nothing I could throw would amount to much compared to what we were already doing.

Instead, I figured I may as well use [Tundra's Descent]. My mana was already full, and not using it felt like a waste. While my Acumen was low, I could still channel whatever regeneration I got into the skill.

The trickle of mana that fed the Skill matrix was small, but a cool wind began to stir around me. It did little to offset the warm spring air, but it was better than doing nothing. With it being the eve of summer, I would have to leverage a lot more mana if I wanted to change it more drastically.

Soon, my cold wind was joined by others.

I looked around and could feel the chill emanating from a large portion of the Oathbound. Ice, and Frost, and Snow. Tundra and Glacier. Blizzard and Rime. Mana of all frozen varieties. The host of men and women chilled the area with their very presence. The mana that escaped them naturally.

Now that mana was being leveraged into skills, just as I had begun to do.

The chill grew deeper, but it still wasn't enough to overcome nature.

Watching us collectively assert our will on nature stirred something, but I wasn't sure what. The feeling struck a memory, but it was hard to recall when. An image flashed in my head of fighting a legion of Orcs before I finally remembered.

It had felt too soon then. Now it felt right, but like something different was missing.

I reached deeper, trying to figure out what it all meant, but the feeling vanished. Like I had tried to force my Anchor into reality.

Fuck.

I knew advancing my Spirit was going to be difficult, but it was still frustrating. It didn't help that I felt no resonance. My Spirit hadn't responded at all to anything. Instead, it had lain dormant in its tattered state.

Another annoyance.

"Chris," Abigail broke me out of my musings, "Gabriel has an idea."

Annoyed, I turned away from the walls, "What is it?"

"He wants to use you as an anchor for a ritual. He's called everyone with a Cold affinity to participate." She answered.

"What?" My brows scrunched in confusion.

Abigail shrugged, "Ask him, it's his research."

Over the years, Gabriel had studied Spells and their matrices more and more. While I had been in the far north, he'd been researching. While I had been forging to get a better evolution, he had been studying.

Outside of Abigail, he was Vulwin's most frequent customer, buying anything he could afford and get his hands on regarding spells and the way they worked. Miles was a close third.

Finding my brother wasn't all that hard, as he was at the center of the largest concentration of people in the camp. Surrounding him were his Lieutenants. Jacks, Meredith, Bayley, and Shawn.

They were discussing something animatedly while everyone else looked on from around them. Seeing me, they parted to let me through.

"-won't be strong enough. The efficiency will be terrible if it ends up working in the first place." Jacks said.

"Like your idea's all that much better," Bayley scoffed, "You come up with a better way to link hundreds of people ritually without frying everyone's mana channels."

Whatever Jacks was going to respond with died when he saw me. The others who were arguing turned as well.

"What are you guys arguing about?" I asked.

Gabriel cleared his throat, "I'm sure you can tell that our passive regeneration isn't enough to overwhelm nature."

I nodded, as that much was obvious.

"Well, I think there's a way to change that." He said before quickly launching into an explanation, "A person on their own naturally leaks mana when their mana pools are full. It happens without conscious effort, and whatever affinity mana they have is released into the environment.

"On its own, and being only one person, the amount of mana is so minuscule compared to the ambient mana that it doesn't do anything. Those with stronger affinities, more Intelligence, and higher Acumen release more mana and of a higher concentration, but that still can't sway how much mana is in an area. It's like a drop in the bucket.

"But that can be changed with Skills. Skills like your [Tundra's Descent] or [Blizzard] or any other area effecting skill use that mana more efficiently. Instead of just releasing it into the area, it amplifies it with a spell matrix. If you were to dump your entire mana pool in one spot, and in another pour all of it into [Tundra's Descent], it would result in two very different outcomes."

"I understand that," I nodded along.

"Yes, but all of that is on the individual scale." Gabriel's eyes were lively as he described it, "Group a large amount of people together, like we have here, and the effects are additive. One person's change adds to another person's change. I proposed that if we were to link them all together, the change would be multiplicative. Like how artillery spells have to be cast ritually, by linking mages together. Similar to how the efficiency of the change is amplified when using spells, this would amplify it once more."

"That all makes sense," I said, "Then what were all of you arguing about?"

Gabriel's face lost some of its liveliness. "The how is where we conflict. Not everyone has [Ritual Casting], and even if they do, they're not all skilled in using it. We're trying to come up with the most efficient and safest way to do this without, as Bayley put it, 'fry everyone's mana channels.' "

It sounds like a Formation.

Of course, I'd thought about creating such a thing, but it would be so expensive and time consuming it wouldn't be worth it in the end. When I created my frost areas before, they had never been on a city-sized scale. The city itself spanned a large area, but to set up something like that would have to be done outside the range of its weapons, adding thousands of square feet to the project.

Not only that, but I wouldn't be able to add any Runes or mana pathways on the inside of the city, which wasn't something I could accomplish. With those limitations, I discarded the idea not long after thinking of it. It was possible, probably, but not my hand. Every Formation I created started in the center and worked its way out.

Now, Gabriel had suggested a way around those limitations by using a ritual and people, instead of Runes and Formations.

"You would know better than I would; tell me what you need me to do," I said.

"Whoever is used to anchor the ritual, should it fail, would feel the brunt of the backlash. You have the strongest body here and the highest resistance to the energies involved, so I figured you're the best choice. Your strong affinity helps, too," He explained.

Abigail, who'd followed me, spoke, "This sounds dangerous, Gabe."

Gabe scoffed, "No more dangerous than charging into battle."

"I trust you," I nodded, "Do what you need to."

Gabriel got excited and began working out the specifics with the rest of his Order. Eventually, the plan had been whittled down from its more lofty ideals.

Instead of linking everyone with a Cold affinity, it would only be a portion. When Mages started to tire from holding the ritual together, they would be cycled out. Plus, instead of only using everyone's natural regeneration, it would drain more than what was regenerated. When someone reached three quarters, they would cycle out for someone who had a full mana pool.

All in all, the Mages of the Fox Order argued, discussed, and refined ideas for a few hours before they came up with something they were all satisfied with. After that began the process of setting it all up.

Groups were segregated, and the links were all planned out. The least skilled ritual casters were at the bottom, linked to a half dozen or so non-mages, while they themselves were grouped with others on their level. A stronger mage linked together than the group before being grouped together themselves.

Gabriel had referenced military structure when coming up with the linking process, but it was more like a pyramid scheme, by the way I looked at it.

Still, the links grew in size, and at the top of it all were Gabriel, Meredith, and Bayley. All of whom were a variation of Cryomancer. Jacks was an Earth Mage, and Shawn was a Wind Mage.

"Are you ready?" Gabriel asked, straining already at his great work.

"As ready as I can be," I said, prepared.

I wasn't sure what it would feel like, as I had never done anything like this, but I felt it as soon as I was pulled in. Links of mana from the three Mages wrapped around me, and a strong weight settled on my shoulders. I could have blocked it if I'd wanted to, which gave me a bit of peace of mind.

Then I thought of what would happen if I suddenly broke that connection. It would no doubt hit Gabriel with the backlash, along with Meredith and Bayley. Don't do that then.

Along with the weight, there was a different kind of strain on my mana channels. It was odd to describe, but it wasn't exactly pleasant. Instead of a physical pain or weight, it was an arcane one.

"The links are complete. Are you ready to begin?" Gabriel asked.

I nodded.

Mana rushed into me in quantities I'd never felt before. Ice, Frost, Snow, all of it jumbled together in my body. Some of it was tainted with other mana. Like Tundra being earthy and Snow being watery, but all of it had enough commonality that it didn't begin raging inside my body.

That didn't mean it was peaceful, but it was bearable.

I grunted at the force of it all, but it wasn't as bad as I feared. It felt like being under the effects of a maxed [Weight of the Arctic], [Fury], and [Glacial Presence]. My boosting skills put a similar strain on me that this ritual did, which I hadn't anticipated.

That being the case, my new Copper Body was specifically prepared to handle loads such as this.

While the strain wasn't bad, the mana was. There was just too much of it. My magical stats were fractions of what my physical ones were, and I'd never dealt with as much mana as this. It felt like my Body was trying to refine itself. Mana saturated every pore, and when my cells began to break down, it built back with some of the mana. I was about to call on my Bloodline, but the pressure eased.

The mana that had been building inside me cycled back out of me and into Gabriel, Meredith, and Bayley. They were much better prepared to handle it than I was, and three massive spell circles bloomed into existence. Three ethereal tails fluttered behind Gabriel as he forged the mana into what he needed it to be.

Meredith’s Actic Wolf Bloodline was also being used, while Bayley’s Aurelune Bloodline turned her skin blue, with white lines dancing across her skin. Aurelune’s were a race of ice spirits, similar to that of Naiads.

Whatever cool breeze I'd been feeling earlier was blown away as it felt like I'd ripped open a [Frozen Rift] three times around me. Temperatures plunged, and snow began to fall from the sky.

"Ha!" Gabriel laughed, "I knew it!"

His eyes scanned an invisible screen, and I knew it was a spell upgrade of some kind. Meredith and Bayley did the same. They explored their upgrades while maintaining their spells, while I focused on something different.

The ritual links connecting out of me looked and felt eerily familiar. I closed my eyes and felt for another link that was constantly there, outside of the ritual. [Frostguard Oathbound] was doing something. It felt like it was helping, stabilizing the ritual, but I wasn't sure how.

Odd.

I'd have to ask Gabriel about it.

"I wonder if there's a way to reinforce a spell structure?" Gabriel muttered, looking at the spell circle in front of him. Now didn't feel like the time to ask him about it.

Instead, I turned back to Smoothrock's walls and watched the snow begin to fall over the city, and everywhere around it. A loud snap sent more boulders flying, and I saw those land, too.

Now, at least, it felt like I was doing something as the snow accumulated. Waiting a few days like this didn't sound all that bad now.

But I'd be ready to charge the walls when the time came, and I hoped it would be soon.