The Third Portal: Chapter Thirty-One

“Frostbristle succulent,” Kene said, tracing their finger along the edge of the aloe-looking plant. “Well, color me impressed. And it was growing with yincaps, too.” 

“What’s it do?” 

“It generates ice spikes that seek out heat,” Kene said. “It’s a self defense mechanism to drive off predators that try to eat it. With a bit of practice, you can probably do the same. It’s not as consistent as blademoss, lightningbranch hazel, or a sun lotus, but it’s a solid choice for offensive plant magic.”

“Why wasn’t it attacking the arctic fox?” I asked curiously. “I mean, it’s hot.” 

“Phrasing,” Liz called from the picnic table where she sat. 

“Don’t be gross, Liz.” 

“The yin-cap mushrooms,” Kene said, choosing to ignore Liz. “They’re a lunar mana source that sheds excess power as a snow-like spore that sucks in heat. It probably kept the frostbristle in check.”

I leaned down and sent mana running through Analyze Life. The internal arrays of the frostbristle were pretty complicated, more than something like blademoss, which only projected bursts of force mana in a cutting arc to drive off predators. It was reliable, but not exactly hard. 

This plant, on the other hand, seemed to draw in cold from the environment as a part of its own sustenance, which was why we’d planted it in the winter section of the garden. Most of that cold was funneled into knots that could help improve the plant in various ways, but a portion of it was stored away in what I could best describe as a hollow sphere. That sphere was connected to a projection function that was complex in and of itself, and seemed to be where the detection source was. 

Oddly, instead of using solar to look for heat, it looked for places where cold-aligned lunar energy wasn’t. That felt backwards to me, but then again, this was a plant, not a designed spell. 

I thought I got what Kene meant about it not being as reliable as blademoss, but I wanted to test it and check. I flexed Enhance Plant Life and pushed power into those parts of the plant. The frostbristle’s sensory aspect expanded until it brushed me, and it immediately shot a spike of ice. 

I knocked it out of the air with a conjured Briarhtread, but it exploded, the shards going everywhere, forcing me to summon Fungal Armor over me. Even though the armor shed the ice, the bit of fog it created had sucked in enough heat that I erupted into gooseflesh.

I leaned back down, and then examined the succulent again. Sure enough, the hollow where the lunar power was stored had been drained to empty, and though it was pulling more power in from the mushrooms, it was a slow process. 

I pushed power in, and it converted, but slowly. I was guessing it would probably take about ten seconds to refill, and a good chunk of mana. Not a tragedy outside of a fight, but in a fight… 

I changed my approach, stimulating the parts of the plant that drew in the cold, while also running Fungal Entwinement and powering the yincaps to release more cold into the air with its snowy spores. 

Power rushed into the hollow, and it quickly released another attack from its spiky blue aloe flower, smashing into my Fungal Armor. I grinned and reached out, tapping the flower and casting Spatial Anchor on it. It was still too slow to fire an endless barrage of ice spikes from it, but it was much faster than something like a three cycle Mantle Dragonfyre. If I peppered it in with Blademoss, I’d be able to mix it in easily. 

Then I turned and focused on Ed. I sent power running through the plant and fungus, then raised a hand. 

“Dearest brother, what was it you said abo–” 

“Nope!” he said, conjuring his Earthen Shield and casting Skin of Stone. 

The Facetor’s Jade Tablet treasure that I’d given him gave them a slightly different sheen than I was used to, an oddly crystalline edge to his joints, and faint streaks of green in the shield. They merged with the lines of metal that Kerbos’ familiar bond gave him, creating an odd, but pretty cool look. 

I only saw it for an instant before I used Transport Item to fire the spike at him, where it exploded off the shield and bounced off his stony skin. He threw his hand at me, and a spear tore itself out of the ground through his legacy, bands of jade and starry metal rushing at me. I teleported behind him and released a crescent of blademoss while charging up a spike. 

He whipped around with a speed I hadn’t known he’d possessed, and a gauntlet of stone shot through with golden metal and jade crystals appeared. It cracked through my Briarthreads and hit my armor, knocking me back, but I caught myself with an Immovable Lock, teleported into the air, and shot a spike down at his head. He knocked it aside with his shield, then–

“Boys,” Liz said crossly. “That’s just impolite.” 

A sword ripped through the air at me, trailing echoes, and four lashing whips of shadow erupted from the ground around Ed and myself. The ones around me were blocked by humming blue spheres, and I felt Kene’s empowering spells rush through me.

Dusk and Dawn appeared next to me in a flash, seemingly Foxstepping to get to me, and a moment later, I heard the yipping and barking as Siobhan and Kerbos arrived to join in as well.

We sparred together for a little bit. Ostensibly, we were helping me get used to integrating my newest plant and mushroom into my fighting style, but… it was also just good to spend time with Liz, Kene, and my brother. But we did still have a job to do, so after restoring our power, we made to go. 

I did, however, take note that Liz had taken a potion to restore her mana, but didn’t say anything. I knew that she went for a highly combat specialized build, so I hadn’t expected her to take any Mass Harvesting meta-spells, but it seemed foolish to not have at least one. Was having one more offense or defense spell really worth it? 

I considered pressing the issue, but nobody seemed concerned, so I let it go. I teleported us the last leg of the journey, then we began walking, with me taking the lead as we hiked towards the ruins of the city. 

Before long, we started passing ruins. There were huge chunks of stone that had once been a part of a massive surrounding wall, but had long ago fallen over and become overrun with ivy and moss. Most of it was mundane, but there were a surprising number of vines that also glowed with some death energy. It seemed to be potent in this area, the aftereffects of the long-broken soul array that we were hunting. 

I felt something, and focused my senses on a spot of pale, crumbled stone. It was…

“Undead,” I hissed, activating my defensive spells. 

The undead, sensing mana in the air, erupted from where its bones had been hiding in the rubble. It seemed to be a strange amalgamation of different creatures – cow bones were mixed with bones from wolves, birds, and something like thicker pig bones. 

Kene called a potion into their hand and lobbed it as it charged at us, and the vial exploded. The acid, specifically made to melt bones, turned half of the thing into a huge lump of melted and fused white.

I threw Fungal Locks over it, draining the death energy that was animating it, while Ed used a burst of enhanced gravity to help pin it in place, and Dusk caused hands of earth to rise up and hold its feet. 

Liz raised her hands then, and a surge of shadows rose from the ground beneath it. Unlike the simple spikes of shadow she’d used in our friendly spar, these cracked into the bone and devoured it from the inside out, a pair of hungry mouths ripping and tearing into the bone.

“Well done,” I said, eyeing her. For all that I didn’t think I entirely agreed with her guild’s combat heavy approach, that spell had packed a heavy punch, one I’d have been hard pressed to match without Mantle Dragonfyre. 

We began moving again, picking our way through the ruins of the abandoned city. I spread my senses out around us, keeping an eye on everything, and before long, we fell into a combat rhythm. We grabbed a few mana sources and tucked them away, as well as a small black gemstone that radiated death and telluric energy that I hoped might be useful for Ed. 

It was then that I felt something in the corner of my senses, and turned. 

“It feels like people are over in that direction?” I asked. “Either that or a group of elementals? It’s too far for me to tell if they’ve got life energy for their bodies or not, I just sense the mana of their spirits.” 

“Think they’re here for the…” Kene said, then trailed off before speaking the last word in a whisper. “Array?” 

“Probably just looters and explorers,” Ed said. “Until things get re-established, looter’s rights are a lot looser than normal. We should head over to say hello.” 

We shifted in that direction, until we spotted some people and waved to them. They waved back, and I tensed, half expecting them to explode with violence like the people in the Idyll-Flume had. But this wasn’t a duel for resources, we were both a group of scavengers. 

“Got anything to trade?” one of them, a woman in a brown leather duster coat called out as we approached.

“No, just wanted to let you know we’re in the area,” Ed said. “We’ve got to move…” 

“Southwest,” I supplied. “More south than west.” 

“Southwest,” Ed said. 

“Oh, good luck then,” the woman said, wincing. “There’s an Arcanist level slaughter spirit out that way, wandering the ruins of that part of the city’s residential area.” 

The group seemed to be in the middle of fourth gate, and there were four of them, so I threw out a question. 

“Is it peak sixth gate or something?” 

“Nah, it’s about mid-fifth. But it’s a physical mana slaughter spirit, so its body is composed out of dreamstuff, near impossible for us to hit, while it releases all sorts of force attacks. It was a bad matchup, so we retreated.” 

I groaned internally. 

The residential area would definitely be where the soul array’s remnants would be, given it was supposed to nurture people from childhood to create soldiers.

“Thanks for the tip,” Ed said, then we turned and headed southwest. 

“Battle plan for this?” I asked, glancing around. 

Dusk piped up, suggesting that if its body was made of dreamstuff, a spirit gourd should be able to hit it, as could Markus. If I ran power through the spiritshield lichen that I’d mixed with the blademoss, I could also cut it, just inefficiently.

“As much as I don’t like Markus, he’ll likely be useful,” I acknowledged. “Can we even hold an Arcanist spirit in a gourd, though?” 

“If Dusk, Dawn, you, and I all worked together to boost it to fifth gate, then control it, it might be possible,” Kene mused. “Liz, do you have any mental attacks?” 

“No,” Liz said, shaking her head and frowning. “Most desolation spells that can attack the mind are fourth gate, and I’m not ready for a breakthrough yet.” 

“It seems like Liz and I will have to play distraction,” Ed said. “I can take a few force spells from an arcanist, though I’ll have to tag out pretty quickly. Dusk, can you keep a portal open for us to retreat through?” 

Dusk whistled her agreement. 

Kerbos barked, and his metal bits rippled. The metal that formed armor-like platings around him turned ever so slightly duller, like a hard bit of tungsten as opposed to a well-polished silver.

“You think we can?” Ed asked. “Well, it’s worth a try. Kerbos wants to try and forge durability enhancements into my Skin of Stone.” 

“I can dodge for a bit,” Liz said. “I’ve overburdened my shoes.”

“Huh?” I asked, with all the eloquence of a poet. "What's that?"

“Boosted my growth item to fourth gate, even though I’m only third,” she explained. “It can create a big strain on your mana regeneration and even eat into mana reserves if you go too far.”

I raised an eyebrow, not having known that was even possible. It was probably a bad idea for me to do now, and I didn’t have all the components to boost my lens anyways, but it was good for the future. 

“Anyways, with my overburdened shoes, I can definitely dodge for a while, drawing attention while you guys try and lock it down.” 

“I can give both of you some haste potions and flight potions to help,” I offered. I wished I’d trained with Foxswap before this, since I might have been able to pull them from danger if I had, but I’d had so much to do. Ah well, I couldn’t change the past. But I did have the spell form written down...

“Sounds like a plan,” Kene said. “Let’s start boosting that gourd…”