The Third Portal: Chapter Sixty-Six

Weird thing: To fit with my schedule, I'm actually going to be posting five chapters of the Third Portal this week, and as such, have to skip the chapters of The Restored. Things will eventually go back to normal, fear not.

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“You’ve been aiming for the timemind for a long time,” Heather pointed out. “It almost seems like a waste to pick up something else.” 

Dusk piped up that while the timemind might not be perfect for me, and would take up a bit of space in my peak third gate, that wasn’t a reason to say no. After all, with each gate that I went up, I’d have an increasing level of spells that I needed to balance. 

Having additive mental enhancements would help me keep it in balance. Even in terms of my senses, being able to process faster might not help me sense over a larger area, but it would help me get more out of what I sensed. 

“That’s a good point,” I agreed. “Dawn, any counter argument?” 

Dawn hovered in the air, then waggled so-so. She sent me a mix of weird, mish-mashed images and feelings, which I took a bit of time to parse through. Once I had, I thought she’d essentially made two points – first, there could be some synergy between my growth item and the treasure, since both were boosting my senses and mental defenses. Second, I was already tying my resonance into my senses, so it might help me train in that way. 

I considered that for a moment, weighing the options for myself one more time with their insights.

I immediately tossed out waiting to save up points. I was lucky, but there was luck, then there was throwing a guaranteed improvement away with no guarantee of a return on investment. 

Upgrading the portal location was tempting to me, but also not strictly needed. I didn’t need a house, and while it might be something I could do in the long term with money, it wouldn’t help me in the tournament, nor help Kene with the next stage of our plan. 

It really came down to if I wanted to improve my senses and mental defenses, or if I wanted to improve my memory and mental processing speed.

I grumbled for a while, before Hannah spoke up. 

“You know, there’s no point in having perfect mental defenses if you can’t react to them in time. Ghostmind might help you with that, but it’s also reliant on a shifting roster of ghosts.” 

“You’re right,” I said with a sigh. “I want both, but… You’re right. And the Timemind also synergizes with Foxarmor and helps with keeping track of all my magic. I have more than most people. I think it’s the one I have to go with.” 

I turned and teleported into line, then turned my points over to the person behind the counter, a middle-aged man with harsh burn scars on his left arm from the desolant attack. He took my ID, then left and returned with a plain wooden box. 

I teleported away, then cracked the lid open to reveal the timemind, blinking in surprise at its appearance – I’d expected it to look like a brain. Instead, it looked more like a long, tapered piece of selenite. In each of the thin threads that made up the composite crystal, I saw reflections of myself at various stages of my life – there were images of me as a baby, as a toddler, an adolescent, a teen, and even when I’d first met Orykson.

I snapped shut the box’s lid. My temporal garden was already full, so until I finished digging out more space, I wouldn’t be putting it in. Spells and treasures like this were technically moveable within the spirit, so long as they stuck within the same gate, but it was a pain and a half. I’d never done it, though I thought Ed might have. 

At the end of the day, though, there was no sense in wasting hours of time moving it around when I could instead wait a few weeks and not have to do that. 

I spent the rest of the day flickering around, doing odd jobs across the city. Right now, my most useful contributions I could make was using Mass Enhance Plant Life in the fields to help regrow emergency crops, donate spatial mana to Edgar to help rebuild the portal network, and to use my small portal network to help medical supplies cross borders. 

None of them were especially rich bounties in terms of points, but they were the right thing to do, so I did them, then spent the evening digging in my time and space gates, and doing one quick dive into the tournament’s trial orb.

The next week and a half passed by in essentially the same manner, and I continued to make slow but steady progress in all fields. I met with Kene and Meadow a handful of times, and Kene eventually decided that the first route was going to be the best one – it would let us help Edgar fetch some eggs, while still giving us good odds at actually getting everything we needed. 

“While in the Obsidian Forest, there are a few threats outside of your ability to deal with, first and foremost being the Headsman,” Meadow warned us. “He makes his home in the deep forest, beyond the cordon of safety, but that is where you’ll need to go in order to fetch the rebirth tree.” 

Dusk piped up, asking if he was going to target us because of our association with Orykson, and Meadow shook her head. 

“I doubt it. He’s loyal to Vivian to the point of self-destruction, but he’s largely apathetic to Orykson. He won’t target you unless you give him a reason to do so, but if he does decide you should die, I’m not sure I’ll be able to save you – that’s the heart of his domain, after all,” Meadow said. “His daughter is something of a notorious troublemaker. She’s about your ages, and has been uprooting many of the old, darker powers that live in the country. She’s even been dancing into Nightflock. Hurting her is a surefire way for the Headman to try and kill you.” 

“Noted,” I said, dryly chuckling. “What else?” 

“Oh, let’s see… There’s Kysgott, an ancient eighth gate shadow elemental. Try to avoid her. She’s not especially violent, and has no Title, but she’s at least half a millennium old, and she utterly refuses to meet with people unless she arranges for it first. There’s also a tree in the center of the forest, a ninth gate one that kills anything that gets too close. If you feel overwhelming life, death, desolation, and lunar energy in the air, turn and leave.” 

“That reminds me, I need to tell you about a tree I found. It was only sixth gate, but it was draining the life from a bunch of animals and slaughter spirits. It might be the same breed. But we can do that later – what else should I keep an eye out for?”

“There’s also the flock. An asomatous obsessed with commanding birds and getting them to kill and eat people. Only fifth gate, but has some unique treasures that enhance his connection with his birds, so he does not die as long as one lives. If a weak bird starts to attack you, it’s best to run.”

“Lovely. The fact that it has trees that grow flesh suddenly makes a lot more sense,” Kene groused, and it caused Meadow to snap. 

“Ah, yes, the fields of corpses. There are a few areas where ancient dead wander around in artificial bodies of creation energy, and will try to consume sources of mana in order to restore their shades or ghosts. They’re so old they’ve mostly lost their mind, and just shamble, but a handful of them are powerful enough to be wary of.”

“Fun, I said, and Meadow smiled. 

“It’s not so bad. There is a reason the area is cordoned off and the general population not supposed to enter. Just use your best judgement, and retreat if you’re faced with an enemy that’s too powerful for you to be able to face. And there are advantages too.” 

“I bet it’s rich with magical flora, fauna, and funga,” Kene interjected.

“Isn’t it fungi?” I asked. 

“Well, fungi is a word, but funga refers to the fungi of a particular place, in the same way that plants is a word, but flora refers to plants of a particular place,” Kene explained. “It’s probably got all sorts of horrifying plant monsters that eat people.” 

“Less than you may expect, but it’s got some,” Meadow said. “More importantly, it has a variety of materials that are useful in alchemy. Kene, this is especially true for you, but a number of them can also be used in battle alchemy, Malachi.”

“Any that we should be on the lookout for in particular?” I asked curiously. 

“Honestly, I can’t say for certain. I don’t have a complete catalogue of every plant, animal, and fungus in the country, and beyond the cordon isn’t terribly well documented,” Meadow said.

Dusk asked if Meadow would be willing to provide a guess, and she nodded. 

“Null-ranunculus is somewhat common in Obsidian Forest, so you may be able to find some. Its spores solidify the threads of space, making it more difficult to teleport in and out of an area, and I’ve used them to lock down people’s teleportation before.” 

That struck an old memory buried somewhere, and I thought that Kene might have told me about those once upon a time.

“Velvet stem mushrooms are delicious, and can act as a mana source for life and death mana when ingested – a real bargain if you ask me. Mousetail lichen is excellent for transformation potions, as they help you shrink and store mass outside of your body. A burning chestnut tree produces very tasty chestnuts, and they could help you create firebomb potions.” 

“I know that Nightflock is where most of the world’s bleakplums grow,” Kene said. “There might be a handful of them in Obsidian Forest too.” 

“Oh, that’s a good point,” Meadow agreed, then explained before I could get the chance to ask what it did. “The fruit is naturally cursed, it slows someone’s ability to manipulate mana and muster their body’s energies. Most effective if eaten, but the juice on the skin can cause some effect.” 

“Why would anyone eat them?” I asked. “How do they spread?” 

“The effect is directly proportional to the amount of energy someone has, making them fine for most people and normal animals to eat, but making them unlikely for more powerful beasts to house themselves in,” Kene explained. “But their real use is in some delicate surgeries. If someone has to really go in and muck about with someone’s energy structure, or has to remove a growth in the brain, or something like that, it’s a good way to calm the body’s energies and get them to stop unintentionally resisting the spells.” 

“Also, you should keep an eye out for vibrant toadstools,” Meadow said. “Their spores are a powerful hallucinogen, but also a very, very short-lived one. It can be useful for distorting someone’s mind in combat!” 

“Oh, and maybe…” Kene started to say. 

The conversation continued on for several hours, as Meadow and Kene seemed insistent on packing my head with every single possible mushroom, lichen, or plant with magical powers that might possibly be growing in Obsidian Forest. Eventually, though, we wound down for the night, and I returned to my training regime. 

After all, tomorrow it was time for the ascension of the Amethyst Mask.