Chapter 154: Fear is a Terrain

Loth drew an oval lens shape with a flat back. Then using a straightedge, she cut horizontal lines all the way back to the center of the lens.

Then she meticulously re-drew each arc of the oval-shaped lens between the lines, laying nearly flush against the flat back of the lens, before erasing the original oval shape, leaving a strange sawtooth-looking pattern.

“This…is a Fresnel lens. It’s a stripped-down version of a spherical lens. It has a few distinct advantages, namely it saves a tremendous amount of space and weight, it also solves issues with spherical warping, which makes it good for transferring images.

Some disadvantages are that these images may have a small loss of fidelity based on how tight these concentric circles are, and it may experience a small loss of efficiency, because some light will be lost in the creases, but both of these problems are negligible with a well-constructed lens.”

“Have you umm… used one of these before?” Will asked.

“Never in my life.” Loth said. “I only read about it in my dictionary, tried to make one in my youth, before realizing that I simply did not have access to the means to create one. I mean, where on earth was I supposed to get a massive slab of clear glass? And then cut it to exacting measurements? Maybe if I knew someone with a Glassmaking class and a very high level. But practically? It was always out of my reach.”

“I’m not sure I’m getting it.” Will said, studying

“Each segment here, has the same angle that the original lens did, I just cut out all the material in the middle that wasn’t doing anything. The angle is all that’s important.”

“How would that look from the front?” Will asked.

Loth drew a series of concentric circles and assigned a number to each layer, matching it to the side-view of the lens.

Okay…

Will tried and failed.

He simplified and tried a lens with only three rings, and still failed. The odd shape of the lens strained both his control and his imagination. Until now, with a relatively symmetrical back and front, Will had been able to brace the two sides of compression against each other, but with all those zig-zag sawteeth…it kept unravelling.

It didn’t seem impossible, but it also didn’t seem like the sort of thing Will could master in a single afternoon.

“This is something I’m going to have to practice for a while.” Will admitted. Even as he said that, he was planning on ways to turn that practice into a game. He could make simple shapes of compressed air as he travelled, slowly increasing their complexity until this ‘frenelle’ lens was simple by comparison.

“Makes sense.” Loth mused, nodding.

At the end of a long day of experimentation Will’s favorite new cantrip was a modification to his air-shield that make him seem just a few inches off-center, which created two layers of defense with a single motion.

The refraction needed to make it happen was a simple slab of denser air, tilted in a specific way without any complex shapes. Will could also make himself seem just a little closer than he actually was by adding an imperceptible bulge to the shield.

Anyone who was paying extra-close attention wouldn’t be fooled, but in combat, when the fight was determined in fractions of a second based on half-glimpsed flashes of movement, extra-close attention was at a premium. Mistaking your opponent’s location for an eyeblink could get you killed.

The next day, they changed focus to theory of pressure and sound.

Will figured out a way to pop eardrums reliably by rapidly compressing a column of air right beside his opponent’s ear…as long as they weren’t moving. It wasn’t much more than simply clapping your hands over someone’s ears, but doing it purely through the application of his passives…that was a challenge.

With enough practice, Will could see himself eventually being able to use these cantrips at a moment’s notice, but he would have to practice all of them until they became second nature.

The thing that stuck with Will was the way these techniques seemed to be primarily designed to work on other Climbers.

Slimes didn’t have eardrums. Swarms of rats had too many. Giant monsters were simply too big, and environmental effects didn’t have senses to fool.

Most monsters didn’t really care if you were a couple inches one direction or another, they attacked with their whole body, which meant disguising your position by a couple inches didn’t really change anything. You still got tackled or swallowed whole.

But creatures who attack with a single sharp object like a sword or spear…like a Climber…a couple inches off changed a kill to a miss.

A Lord’s primary job is to enforce their will on other Climbers, through whatever means they can. It would make sense that some of their their techniques would focus on the weaknesses of the human body.

It was funny to think that a standard Climber might be better than a Lord at fighting monsters. Most Lords were perceived as unassailable, and many of them were tremendous at fighting monsters as a side-effect of their sheer overwhelming power, but Will seemed to be the type that was better against people than monsters.

Will spent the next four days without incident practicing variations of his new cantrips, lensing air in a variety of ways for fun and to advance his intuitive understanding of how light behaved.Will alternated between lenses and air compression, creating miniature explosions in midair through rapid compression as he slammed two cylinders of hardened air into each other.

While he did this, the other Parties looted the surrounding buildings.

They didn’t get much: The XP for zombies was awful, they didn’t create Loot on death, and the land had long since been picked clean by generations of Climbers. The fact that they weren’t integrated into The Tower was the likely culprit for both of these problems

The Eighth Floor was truly dead.

Over the four days, the ghost butlers created another dozen Seed of Undeath, discretely delivering them to Will.

At first, Will hadn’t checked how they would upgrade his Primaries because he was pressed for time and he didn’t have the Upgrade slots available to worry about them, but once Will was alone at night, he had the time to check.

Will pulled out the Seed of Undeath and determined their Upgrade effects on his Abilities.

Seed of Undeath

A Synthetic Sacrifice, it is the refined essence of thousands of undead. The ambrosia that the god-king Tek’tut’kanlay consumed to fuel his immortality and that of his court.

Adds Undeath, Regeneration, and lifesteal abilities to the aspirant’s class choices. Provides 1 Str, 2 Res, 2 Foc/level. Unknown to all but a few.

First, Lets see what it does to Aspect.

Seed of Undeath upgrade for Aspect of the Immortal Serpent:

Modifies the ‘complete healing’ portion of Aspect of the Immortal Serpent to be significantly faster.

Adds a passive boost to Lifesteal effects wielded by the user.

This Ability will gradually replace damaged tissues with superior flesh.

Will did a double-take on that last part: ‘superior flesh’. That sounds like a great way to slowly become an undead without realizing it. Or maybe in this case…an undead Immortal Serpent?

Will tried to prompt The System to be more specific about what exactly ‘superior flesh’ was supposed to mean, but The System wasn’t being cooperative.

While the benefits were good, Will didn’t want his Will flesh replaced by anything but more Will flesh. That just sounded spooky.

What about Phantom Hand?

Seed of Undeath upgrade for Phantom Hand:

Phantom Hand counts as a Spirit Undead Subtype of Eidolon, and gains any benefit or penalty thereof.

Any damage dealt by Phantom Hand or an eidolon created by it gains minor Lifesteal that scales with Acuity.

Will’s brows rose.

Damn. This one was good, too, but it also had its downsides. It seemed as if the Seed of Undeath was a mixed bag, meant for people who were willing to accept certain steep costs – such as Undeath – in exchange for powerful benefits.

It seemed like only a boost on the surface, but if the Phantom Hand counted as undead, it could be detected or destroyed more readily by certain Abilities.

Sure, there were probably also Abilities and Affixes that boosted undead, but Will didn’t have many of them. The only example he could think of would be once the Phantom Hand was technically an undead, he could use the wand of the undead retainer to fix it.

If Will’s class leaned harder into necromancer, this upgrade would be fantastic.

But…it didn’t.

Will pictured where his Class would go if he took a Seed of Undeath into both Primaries.

He would become nearly unkillable, as his regeneration would become supernaturally powerful, and he would always have access to strong lifesteal, because the two upgrades would feed off each other.

BUUUT…’superior flesh’ and the lack of clarification on that subject is weirding me out.

There were other ways to get lifesteal. Other ways to get superior regeneration.

Will retained a couple in his Dimensional Storage in case he changed his mind, or his Class Advancement changed the way they interacted with his Primaries, and added the rest to his war chest.

Next. The Seed of Inexorable Death, Will thought, holding the glowing Sacrifice aloft and seeing what it would do to his Primaries.

Seed of Inexorable Death

A Synthetic Sacrifice, it is the refined essence of the inescapable Sin Amalgam and three spirit butlers.

Adds Undeath, Dimensional, Lifesteal, and Inevitability abilities to the aspirant’s class choices. Provides 2 Res, 1 Acu,  2 Foc/level. First of it’s kind.

Seed of Inexorable Death  upgrade for Aspect of the Immortal Serpent:

Boosts the dimensional warping of Aspect of the Immortal Serpent.

Adds a passive boost to Lifesteal effects wielded by the user.

Fear is a Terrain.

Fear is a…what?

Will pulled up the description of Aspect for the first time in months, carefully studying the Ability.

Aspect of the Immortal Serpent:

A collection of passives that focus on mobility and hardiness. The bearer of this Ability becomes more resistant to exposure and altitude. Their digestive systems become able to process food unfit for human consumption, and their hands and feet always find safe purchase on even the most hostile terrain. User will heal more completely. Scars and damage, both external and internal will fade away over time. Not even a complete removal of a limb or organ will prevent this healing, provided the user is not dead. Scales with Resistance.

Hands and feet always find safe purchase on even the most hostile terrain.

Does that mean I’d be able to…touch fear? Grab hold of their fear and physically reel them in? Or myself? Kick it out of them?

As soon as Will thought of those uses, it struck a chord that felt right. That was probably what it meant.

If someone absolutely didn’t have any fear whatsoever, it wouldn’t do anything, but there were very few people who had no fear during battle, and by the gods, that was the kind of Ability that Legends had.

And could I make spikes of fear out of my own fear or others and hit people with them? That’s…wow. That’s a damn scary Ability

Will took a deep breath and turned his attention to Phantom Hand.

Seed of Inexorable Death upgrade for Phantom Hand:

Dimensional Storage is increased.

Any damage dealt by Phantom Hand or an eidolon created by it gains minor Lifesteal that scales with Acuity.

Life stolen in this way can be reserved by Dimensional Storage, to be used at a later date for one of two things:

It may be consumed to heal the user’s wounds.

It may be tapped to know the direction and distance of the one it was stolen from.

That’s…really good.

Giving Phantom hand Lifesteal without making it undead, boosting Dimensional Storage, and being able to reserve some healing without needing his Set was just…

Whew.

On the next Floor, Will was going to have some tough choices to make. That much was certain.

On one hand…boosted storage, and permanent lifesteal for his Phantom Hand. On the other hand, literally choking someone out using nothing but their own fear.

That’s tough.