Chapter 38 - The Worst of Humanity
Added 2023-05-15 16:10:53 +0000 UTCJiran held the ancient artifact lightly in his grasp with a thousand thoughts spinning behind his eyes. An effort of willpower brought his wild imaginings back into a semblance of useful order.
If my immediate goal is to unlock the subskills, I should focus on figuring out the other two elements. Playing with new toys always seems to give me a few levels for free.
Remembering Skandor’s green cloud of air that he used to fly around, Jiran blew on the cube with a sigh, which predictably did nothing.
Guess that only works in the movies.
Jiran pictured everything he knew about wind; Heat from the suns warmed the upper atmosphere causing the air to shift as it expanded from the heat. The changing of air across elevations dragged a mind-boggling amount of gases, particulates, molecules, and trillions of tiny bugs and bacteria through a cyclone of movement.
When Jiran activated his Shaping, the cube was blown from his hands. It shot out of his tent and clear across the camp where it smashed into a tree, indenting itself into the wood.
“Whoops!” Jiran scrambled to retrieve the precious cube and retreated back to his disheveled tent.
Why do I always forget how strong a fully imaged shaping is?
His second attempt was more successful as he imagined air as nothing more than air shifting due to heat. The cube floated above his hands and the green sections moved outward.
The final color is gold. That should be metal or light.
Jiran scooped up a handful of dirt and manipulated it around the cube gently with Metal Manipulation but the mechanisms failed to activate.
He then bent light around the cube but that did nothing either.
What else could it be? I still have Gas, acid, and water. If it’s none of those, I’ll have to go back to the drawing board.
Jiran pictured a V-shaped H2O molecule and then immediately scratched that thought, not wanting to flood his tent. He instead pictured the inside of a single drop of water, swirling with thousands of tiny organisms, a world unto itself.
His shaping surrounded the cube in a bubble of water that instantly had the gold mechanisms moving chaotically to unwind from their prison.
Odd choice to represent water with the color gold.
Jiran switched his focus to the new notifications.
Shaping + 2
True Origin of Water + 2
CONGRATULATIONS - Wind Control technique discovered
Another new technique. The feeling of mana flowing through my body and activating techniques and skills is so freaking addicting! Can I just sit here doing this forever? What could possibly be more fun than unlocking the secrets of Madra’s magic?
With a happy smile, Jiran walked to the edge of camp and activated the Wind Control technique at its maximum power.
A blast of air exploded from his outstretched hands and tore through the trees. Limbs were blown off and older, half-rotten trees were torn down while green leaves and needles flew free.
Crazy. That was just a touch of mana. If I put any real force behind that, I could probably blow down the entire manor. Not much use in combat besides creating some distance since beasts are so durable.
Technique evolution triggered - Wind Control > Wind Manipulation
Technique evolution triggered - Wind Manipulation > Origin of Wind
Technique evolution triggered - Origin of Wind > True Origin of Wind
Shaping + 1
True Origin of Wind + 5
Seven more levels in shaping for the subskill to unlock. Coating is a lot closer, I'll do that first. How do I protect myself from wind and water with coating? Fire and Ice require insane amounts of intensity to destroy rock, yet wind and water just need time. They both excel at slowly using abrasion to wear down any obstacle.
Jiran focused on a Coating that was durable enough to withstand a raging desert sandstorm.
He pictured the mana being stable enough to withstand all forms of erosion, even on a molecular scale. He forced the mana to pack together so tightly that not even an atom could find a crack wide enough to enter. This way nothing would ever wash or tear away any amount of the energy.
His mana leaped to obey the mental image. It wrapped around a hand and forearm in a solid sheet of energy so dense that it felt like metal armor. His mana bottomed out shortly after the Coating crept around his elbow.
Oops, looks like that version is crazy mana intensive. If I ever need to block something life-threatening, that's the way to go.
Coating + 2
Coating threshold reached technique evolution available
Hold up. Evolution available? All of my other techniques just evolved automatically, why is this one getting options?!
Augmented Sensitivity
- Increased reception of external mana
Adaptive Elemental Aegis
- Coating adjusts automatically to counter elemental damage
Kinetic Dampener
- Impacts spread across a wider range of coating reducing pinpoint damage
Those are some interesting options.
Augmented Sensitivity might allow me to learn more about density and increase my ability to absorb densoon waves. That would only be a temporary boon as the densoons won’t last forever.
Adaptive Elemental Aegis might let me use a single application of coating to protect myself from all of my own techniques rather than having to constantly change it around.
Kinetic Dampener looks most useful for actually defending myself which is something I’m not very good at.
Discovery, offense, or defense.
If I’m going to keep fighting beasts well above my tier, defending from their attacks means I’ve already lost. Increased sensitivity won’t keep me alive if I try lightning and it fails then need to swap to fire with no time to change the coating.
Jiran mentally confirmed Adaptive Elemental Aegis and immediately collapsed on the ground in a boneless heap.
Olive
Olive put one foot in front of the other in a slow march through the woods. Cameron was in front of her, his tall frame and wide back blocked out the light that filtered through the gap in the trees before them.
She heard his sharp intake of breath and poked her head around him to see what had upset him. The spike of fear that another mutant had found them was replaced by shock at what was actually there.
The trees opened into a huge clearing. An old village spread out to both sides. It was large enough that she couldn’t see the edges past the trees on either side of the pathway they traversed.
What’s a village doing this far inland? I clearly remember Master Dolf saying the only settlements in the reaches are on the coast.
A short wall surrounded the village that was low enough she could have easily jumped over it.
What’s the point of a wall that low?
As they approached, she picked out more and more details that conflicted with what she imagined a small village should look like.
Several of the buildings had holes in their roofs and walls. A door hung haphazardly from the single hinge that supported it. Shuttered windows without glass were boarded over and the hunched people who walked through the settlement moved listlessly as if their spines had been removed.
As she watched, a densoon wave tore through the air. Everyone paused to endure the pressure. A few seconds into the wave, an entire building collapsed, sending up a storm of dust which was then flattened into the ground a moment later.
An arm waved from the rubble as a man trapped within struggled to break free. The wave passed and not a single person rushed to help as the man slowly dug himself free. He sat on his knees, staring at his ruined home. Olive could see the heartbreak on his face as tears streamed down his sunken cheeks.
There is no way this was built by imperial engineers.
How does a village survive without defenses and homes designed and reinforced by the engineering corps?
Olive watched as the door fell off its final hinge, clattering to the ground with a bang that sounded like the final drum beat signaling the end of a long, hard battle.
I suppose the answer is; it doesn’t.
An archway was guarded by two nervous-looking men in the most pitiful armor Olive had ever seen.
They saluted crisply to Markhiss before stepping out of his way without a word. The trio stopped in front of the entrance to the village. They shared a feeling of knowing that to take another step would be to truly seal their fates.
A pressure Olive recognized as aura pushed her forward into the village. Dust from the road and a nearby sign rattled under the force of the push.
Sloppy aura control. He didn’t spend a lot of time in tier five and is unlikely to be very far into tier six. What is someone so powerful doing outside of the army? How have the inquisitors not caught him yet?
They walked down the central street toward the center of the village. She could see it in the distance. A clearing between dilapidated buildings with something blue in the middle that shined in the light of the Fathers.
Olive’s eyes drifted to either side of the mass of shiny blue metal where she saw two wooden stages. The one on the right was a flat stage that looked like it was meant for village celebrations. The other stage made her heart quake as she recognized the shape of three skeletons hanging by their necks.
These scum have been executing our people?!
A seething hatred burned through her body as her vision went red. She turned around to face the madman, ready to fling the most viscous insults and promises of retribution.
Markhiss was nowhere to be seen. Sickly sweet breath caressed her cheek as a voice spoke so close to her ear, she could feel the fine hairs within trembling.
“You proooooomised,” Markhiss gloated in a singsong tone.
Olive leaped away from him, baring her teeth with a snarl of hatred. She clenched her fists so hard she felt liquid dripping from her knuckles. She knew that if she opened her mouth, she would break her vow. She chose to remain silent. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she fell into line behind Cameron once more.
The blue metal turned out to be a cage. The bars were so close together she wouldn’t be able to squeeze through. The interior wasn’t tall enough for a short man to stand fully upright. It was large enough for around twenty people to sit shoulder to shoulder.
Olive found her anger rapidly being replaced by dread as Markhiss pushed them closer to the cage. Bile rose in the pit of her stomach, causing her to swallow repeatedly.
She saw Markhiss grinning wickedly out of the corner of her eye.
“Oh, I do so love the looks on your faces right now,” He groaned as if experiencing some perverse pleasure.
“Alas, I am quite hungry or I would let you stand out here for the rest of the day and savor your torment. In you go, children. Your new home awaits.”
His aura brushed against her again, forcing her forward and into the cage against her will. The bars slammed shut behind them and clicked into place.
She expected to feel hopelessness settle into her heart but instead, it blazed with righteous fury for what he had done to these people.
I’ll show them how to stand tall and proud even in the pits of despair.
Her eyes blazed with defiance as her spine straightened. She noticed Cameron trying to follow her lead but the cage was just barely too short for him to stand. He cast her a glance of apology before he sat down with his chin held high.
Something within her tickled. It was such a strange sensation that it took her by surprise, despite its gentleness.
She focused on the new fluttering in her chest, wanting to understand the alien feeling. A gasp of denial escaped her lips as she realized what it was.
We’re in a mana cage. This metal is draining our mana!
Within two minutes, her mana was gone and a feeling of emptiness she had never known settled into her bones.
