Chapter 223 - An Unwelcome Surprise

This is ridiculous. I’ve got to get my hands on more of these gems. I was going to leave this creepy ass place and never look back. There’s no way I can do that now. Unless I can figure out how to produce them on my own. Considering they use a skill, and grow them in their bodies, that might not be possible. Wait, the formations on that vehicle used the same phenomenon to push off the framework for propulsion!

Jiran soared back to the temple, landing beside the Meersvant's blocky short range vehicle. He didn’t bother with releasing a distortion, injecting mana directly into the gem mounted into the saddle. He could immediately tell with the help of Mana Omnis that the formations weren't the same as the masterium. While they did split, refract, and recombine the mana he fed them, it was to a significantly lesser degree.

He ran several more tests, not satisfied with his findings until one of the formations overloaded. He backed away as it turned bright red, rapidly melting into a puddle of slag.

“Damn, guess more power isn't always the solution. Was it a fault in the material?”

Jiran copied the internal structure of the crystals and the three remaining formation blocks, making his own palm-sized formation from graphene-laced alloy. Just past the intake was the central splitter—a diamond-shaped gem with exactly sixty-four facets. It was fashioned in a way that when mana impacted the tip, it would split evenly across each surface. The divided energy would then be sent in different directions throughout the formation block, each portion refracting exactly eight times off separate crystalline mirrors before recombining in a similar diamond near the outtake.

The moment he fed it mana, it blew up in his face. He didn't flinch, staring hard at his singed glove as shrapnel pinged off the protective layer of mana covering his skin.

Something went wrong with the refracting. After it split, each surface the mana hit melted and the unstable energy had nothing to stop it from escaping outward. Why? The material I'm using is definitely superior to what's in both their formations and the crystals. 

To be sure, Mana Confluence precisely copied the Meersvant material. When he fed the new formation a touch of mana, it also melted in a spectacular eruption of unstable energies.

“Okay, fine, be that way!” With a growl, Jiran perfectly mimicked every portion of their formations, from size and weight, to the exact Concentration of the original creator.

With a held breath, he fed the device mana and it released a distortion from the other end that impacted the framework and sent the block jettisoning through the air until Jiran caught it with his aura.

“Haha! Progress!” Jiran pumped a fist.

Now that mana isn’t an issue, there’s so many things for me to try! What am I thinking? I have to get home. I’ve been stuck here long enough.

With blurring steps, he headed inside the temple to the storage room. He snatched the spears he had requisitioned from his captives and removed the two gems from each, then returned to the vehicle and took the one from its saddle for a total of eleven.

For a brief moment, he considered taking the ones from his prisoners but the idea of prying them from the flesh of men who had already lost everything to the parasites in their manapools disgusted him. If he decided to kill them, he wouldn't waste the materials like he had with Jedd, but for now, he had more than enough for his plans.

Jiran jumped to an area he had yet to absorb the density from. During his short flight, he crafted a formation box and dropped it atop the sand before leaping away. A distorting wave released from the box chased him as he approached his next destination.

He was long gone by the time the ambient density flooded into the formation that he would retrieve later. He made a huge circle, leaving behind his formations. By the time he returned to the first, it was crammed full of mana that he fed to his Armament.

At this speed, I should have enough mana to leave within a day or two. I've done my best not to worry about the things outside my control, but now that I know how close I am, I can't help but worry. They better be safe.

  *  *  *

Twenty hours later, Jiran was much more efficient in his timing of both retrieving the left behind formations, and transferring their mana to his Armament. For the first time in what felt like weeks, he had the spare mana to feed his aura. It lapped up the energy like a man dying of thirst in the desert, the thought causing Jiran to chuckle. It grew by nearly two centimeters. Seeing the exact numerical increase in his status firmed his resolve to feed it daily whenever possible. 

Even more exciting were the results of his few Armament tests. The space it was stored in was a complete mystery. It definitely wasn’t the framework, soul, nor physical reality, but some alternate dimension similar to how the soul tap remained inside the body yet was several meters long. The mana comprising his Armament was always connected with that space, even when he brought it out, and since his body was also connected to the space, he had a direct link to his Armament’s mana regardless of how far away it was from him. Typically, he could only manipulate elements a few meters from his body. Unaspected mana had more range when guided through the framework with his aura, but Armament completely bypassed those restrictions, giving him significantly larger range for both Mana Confluence and Elemental Castigation.

If not for his need to gather so much mana, he would certainly have gotten even more carried away in his experiments. The long hours of the night had also brought an experience that was entirely new to his life. Calm winds caressed the darkened sands that stubbornly clung to their daytime heat. When the dusk moon was high in the sky, Jiran wondered if he was still on Madra with how serene it had become. There were no howls from nocturnal beasts and no death cries from small animals meeting an unfortunate end. Only the gentle wind kept him company as he methodically drained the desert of the only semblance of life it was capable of housing. 

Equally surprising was when First Father had only begun to grace the horizon with his rays, the heat had returned in full blast. Yet neither that, nor the barren scenery were enough to dampen Jiran’s mood.

Another five rotations and I’ll have enough mana to get out of here. Not much longer.

Jiran was grinning as he soared to the next area of unclaimed density, “Sorry for what I said, Madra. You really sent me somewhere amazing this time. Who would have thought a barren wasteland would turn out to be—”

Foresight’s warning came far too late. A twinkle on the horizon that could have been just another reflection of light was Jiran’s first and only indication of the massive beam of energy that punched past him in an instant. It swept mere meters from him, the blazing energies released by the beam melted his suit and skin together, and far worse, dragged him toward the epicenter of the attack.

He dug into the framework for purchase while the rest of his arsenal dedicated itself to defense. The synapses turned to dust beneath his aura, crumbling away into ruptured space and leaving him scrambling as he tumbled closer to a sure death. As quickly as it appeared, the beam was gone, continuing far out of sight and leaving behind an inky darkness that sucked in thousands of tons of sand.

Without the framework to stabilize his weight, Jiran crashed, sending sand a dozen meters into the air as he was buried.

His aura dug deep, finding the purchase to throw him into the air. He stopped above the destroyed synapses, not high enough to be burned by the vicious sunslight. Rotating sideways, he braced before jumping with mana-fueled might. Space ruptured behind him but he didn’t notice, his attention split between the horizon and the geyser of ignited gasses shaped by his aura. The desert parted behind him, two waves that heralded the coming of a furious Remalon. Mana Omnis caught a glimpse of golden brown reflecting the suns’ rays and Jiran cursed as it vanished. He maintained his speed, pushing just fast enough that his vision and thoughts remained clear.

What the inferno was that?! It didn't look like a beast, and there wouldn't have been anything left to eat if it hit me, so I doubt it was. The seeker? No wonder they're too terrified to talk. That blast was just as powerful as my formations, though with much better range. Luckily, the accuracy sucks. 

Stealth isn’t an option. If they found me in the middle of the desert, then this seeker must have some way to track me. If he can see through my obfuscations too, and hits me straight on with that ridiculous beam… No, I need to close the distance, it wasn’t powerful enough that I can’t win.

Jiran pulled his aura in, activating Oneness and reinforcing his brain and circulatory system with additional mana to maintain consciousness as he ramped up his speed. Elemental Castigation pushed mana from his feet as quickly as he could convert it into additional propulsion. The desert dunes turned to a blur to his enhanced senses, his eyes remaining fixed on the last spot he had seen the seeker. Energy flowed into his suits formations, the insistent nagging of his instincts ignored in favor of utilizing his tools in the most optimal way he knew how.

All too soon his assailant came into view and Jiran nearly faltered his control when it turned out to be what he could only describe as a sleek spaceship. It was flying at a slightly higher elevation and moving at a speed that belied belief for something of its size. Mana Omnis was blinded by the bloom of dispersed energy coming from the rear of the ship as it raced away from him.

Halfway to it, the ship slowed and panels along its sides opened. A dozen smaller vessels poured out and like miniature versions of their mother, they each released dozens of small balls that were packed with enough elemental mana to cause sweat to sprout on Jiran’s brow. They spread out left and right, ignoring the deadly sky, to create a minefield that would take so long to bypass he would possibly lose his quarry entirely. The little ships rapidly returned to the larger vessel which tore away, a massive sonic boom on its heels.

Jiran detached a formation from his suit’s belt and Teleported it into the midsts of the minefield. Thanks to his increased Concentration, the explosion that followed was far more potent than the ones from his time in the arena. The desert was glassed for nearly five kilometers, sweeping him up in an expanding wave of smoke and heat. Fourteen of the deadly mines were caught in the blast, each detonating to release their own thunderous detonation that came in the form of black lightning that tore apart the framework wherever it touched.

Jiran gawked at the phenomenon, Mana Omnis seeing it clearly now that it wasn’t in the form of an instantaneous beam trying to murder him. Somehow, the creator of the mines had managed to weave multiple elements together, and the combination was far more potent than anything Jiran could have created with the same quantity of mana. Which also implied the mines were considerably more dangerous than he originally thought.

He swallowed hard as the expanding clouds of dark and angry lightning shredded enough of the synapses that the world turned pitch black.

  *  *  *

“Bring us about!” The command echoed through the bridge and every pair of eyes turned toward their mysterious seeker-captain.

The helmsman glanced nervously at the head formineer; a mistake he would never have the chance to regret. With a deafening snap of the captain’s fingers, the helmsman was crushed inside a fist of aura. That same aura spread through the ship and the crew were thrown from their feet as the vessel slammed to a stop, then spun in place.

The formineer in charge of the spinal-mounted discannon was the only one the captain bothered to help stand. He pointed a finger at the man, his snapped order a potential death sentence, “Fire!” The man didn’t reply, instantly slamming his hand down atop a nearby formation gem.

“Sartok, you’ve been promoted to helmsman. Man your station,” The Captain’s words slithered across Sartok’s skin, wrapping his heart in a chokehold.

“Sir!”

  *  *  *

Foresight screamed bloody murder through Jiran’s skull. In his state of Oneness, he responded immediately by firing two blasts from his hands and cutting the gas being released from his feet. As the forces from suddenly shifting his momentum were tearing him apart, a fresh beam from the seeker’s ship punched through the blinding fallout. It blasted aside the smoke, proliferating more of the unnatural darkness that swallowed everything it touched.

Jiran’s evasion was enough that he wasn't hit directly, the beam roaring past a mere meter away. Crackling flickers of dark lightning shot out across its length, eating away at the synapses and pulling him into the attack's clutches. The framework inside his body was solidified by his will and protected within his compressed aura, but he was moving too fast to maintain the effect enough to counter his weight, and was rapidly being dragged in.

In a desperate attempt, his aura flicked another of his formations between him and the beam. Whatever darkness came into existence when the framework was shattered didn’t follow the same rules of physics that the natural world clung to. His weapon detonated but the explosion was gone before it could expand. Jiran abandoned Oneness, stretching his aura away from him to solidify more of the synapses but his weight tore them as quickly as they formed.

His foot dipped into the darkness and he felt every agonizing nerve being ripped apart as though a thousand feelers were pulling him open at the seams. The pain brought motivation to survive, banishing the fear lurking within his minds. Jiran abandoned everything he knew that told him he couldn’t do it, that it wasn’t possible, and that he would certainly die if he tried.

There was no room for doubt as his aura and will clung to a single trail of synapses and he pulled himself inside them. His instincts knew what to do, and his mana answered his call. The bubble formed, and before he could feel himself shrinking, his Teleportation had already brought him well outside of the beam’s range.

Breathing heavily, eyes bloodshot with equal parts Adrenalin and fury, Jiran unleashed his amassed Armament, and the desert quaked.