Blue Core Week Twenty (Patreon)

Fight next week I promise!

Day 112 - Annit

Shayma was a little scary now.

Of course she’d noticed the blue-glowing ring on Shayma’s left hand, because it gave Shayma an indefinable weight and presence whenever Annit looked at it. With that, it was easy to believe she was the representative of a Power, plus apparently it gave Shayma a few extra skills. It was, of course, a gift from Blue and even as inexperienced as Annit was with magical items it was clearly a cut above the normal Source or Affinity stuff.

Her [Illusion] skill had made her a pain to spar with before, though for the most part she kept that to a minimum so they could actually test real combat skills. Now, though, the [Illusion] was part of the real combat skills. Shayma couldn’t quite manage to make a full estoc as hard as iron, but she could give weight and sharpness to illusionary throwing knives. Or, at Keri’s suggestion, thin wires to restrict movement about the battlefield. She couldn’t, at Blue’s suggestion, make only the tip of her sword tangible, which would have been a nightmare for anyone to deal with. Yet, at least. For all Annit knew, that was just something she had to practice to learn.

It wouldn’t do more than annoy a third-tier or above, but considering Shayma’s level her weapon skills were impressive, if unpracticed. She would feel comfortable leaving Shayma to travel to Wildwood alone, for example, provided the fox-girl took along some basic equipment to keep her from being surprised. Of course, Shayma wouldn’t have to, because of one of the new Abilities the ring provided.

[Ghost Step] was an odd experience. Both Annit and Keri had to move on their own two feet, but it was like moving downhill with a tailwind, wherever she went. Her own Class Abilities didn’t seem to affect it, alas, so she couldn’t go even faster, and they dropped out of [Ghost Step] if they moved too far from Shayma. But it still meant that the three of them could effectively move together with as much flexibility as they could wish for.

In a strange reversal, Keri was more effective at landing touches on Shayma, as her [Combat Healing] could find Shayma at range, provided Keri could actually spot the girl behind [Illusionary Presence] and [Stealth]. Given the weird nature of the skill, it effectively bypassed [Regeneration], though nobody was willing to see how much damage it could actually do. Annit had taken a full power use of the Skill and it was an incredibly miserable experience, so their sparring was kept to finesse rather than power.

She stood with her eyes closed, listening to the wind. The fact that there was wind at all here, deep underground, was strange but given how much of her Class relied on it, she was grateful. It told her that Keri was off to her left, her Shield softening the movement of the air, and there were three different Shaymas approaching from three angles. But none of them sounded quite right, and they all sounded like each other, so she ignored them. No, the real one was somewhere further away, barely touching the wind but unable to hide herself completely.

Annit flung a quarter-power [Dart Flurry] in that direction while dodging out of the way of what she knew were incoming illusory daggers. There’d been the faintest rustle of movement just before she launched her attack, and since any of the daggers could be rendered fully weighted and sharp (or rather, blunt, considering the spar), she had to dodge them all.

What she wasn’t expecting to hear was a metallic clang from Shayma’s direction, followed by the girl’s rueful voice. “Touch!”

“It didn’t sound like it,” Keri said as Annit opened her eyes, seeing the last of the [Illusion] fade away and Shayma appear from the trees.

“Shapeshifted my arm to be iron...didn’t quite manage the best job.” She shook the arm in question, which didn’t have any visible injury but was rapidly losing a gray lustre. “Still stung a bit, so I guess it counts.”

“I think you’re off your game today,” Annit said wryly. “Normally you [Ghost Step] out of the way of those instead of trying to block them.”

“I...well, I’m nervous about Meil, I guess.”

“Haven’t you already been in a bunch of battles? I mean, when the mage-kings came over?” Keri dropped her shield since it was pretty clear the spar was done, at least for now, and walked over to join them.

“That’s why I’m nervous!” Shayma laughed, but it wasn’t her usual bubbling cheer. “I actually saw a mage-king in person, from a distance, and Tor Kot’s troops were...just unsettling. All white and too many legs and completely silent aside from the hissing. Plus...it’s not like they keep it a secret, but I actually saw people getting fed to the Red Core dungeons.”

“That doesn’t sound pleasant,” Annit said. “I’m just as glad we’re missing it.”

“You’re not going?” Shayma looked a little dismayed, but that was just too bad.

“Not unless Blue makes us go,” she said firmly. “Keri will be by the line of retreat for healing, but there’s nothing we can do in a battle and no reason to risk ourselves. It’s not even our kingdom.”

“It’s not? I suppose I never asked, but I always just assumed…”

“What, Keri’s teeth didn’t tip you off?” Annit had to remind herself sometimes that regardless of how absurd Shayma’s experiences were, she still hadn’t seen much of the world.

“They’re not that different from Queen Iniri’s, so…”

“But I don’t have antlers or a tail,” Keri said cheerfully. “Just as well. I don’t know how she manages to not bang the antlers on things or avoid closing her tail in a door. Or how you do, for that matter.”

“It’s something you learn,” Shayma said with a smile.

Annit gestured back toward the rear porch of the house-and-hospital. “Time for a break, I think. Is Blue going to make us go?” She pressed, since Shayma hadn’t taken her more subtle hint.

“Oh, of course not. I’m going, but I’m going to be sticking with Queen Iniri anyway, and with [Shield of Tarnil] that’s probably the safest spot. I’d like you to come, but I understand why you don’t want to.” Shayma followed the two of them back to the porch, settling down in one of the chairs and pouring them all tayan-fruit juice from the chilled pitcher. Annit had juiced it herself, once it became clear the fruits were both edible and allowed to be eaten, and had to admit it was pretty good.

"I'd rather not. I'd rather that Keri not be involved either but getting her to listen to good advice takes a lot of effort." Keri stuck her tongue out at Annit. Even though it was true. “So I’ll be joining the rearguard with Keri and the rest of the support. I’m assuming it’ll be safe on the other end of the teleport. And that Blue is using teleports to get there.”

Even a week ago the idea of casually teleporting hither and yon would have been ridiculous. It was finicky and expensive for mages to set up the means, not to mention taking a good amount of rare Source materials, as Spatial Source was even rarer than healing. But Blue didn’t seem to have that problem, and since it seemed every little chamber he set up was completely unconnected to every other one, not to mention the surface, it had become a casual experience.

“That’s what he intends, yes. It’s quite a trek from here to Meil without it. I should know.” Shayma’s mouth twisted with a sort-of smile. “I’ve done it a couple times now.”

“Is Blue making you go?” Annit asked. She wasn’t sure she much liked Blue, but she did like Shayma, despite their odd introduction and current terms. The fox-girl reminded her a bit of a younger and slightly less excitable Keri, and while it wasn’t like anyone could change Blue’s hold on her, there should at least be someone to look out for her interests.

“Um.” Shayma blinked, caught off-guard by the question. “I don’t think so? I mean, I am - was - Iniri’s subject and her friend and I want to help. Blue’s going to be doing, well, a lot to help, but he’s not the reason I’m going. Not the original reason, anyway.”

“Annie’s worried about you,” Keri put in slyly, earning a moderate glare.

“Worried about me? Why?” Shayma tilted her head slightly, ears canted.

“I’ve seen your actual Status now,” Annit said grudgingly. “The species description is a little scary. My parents bought out their slave contract before I was born, but you don’t have that option.”

“But I don’t...I wouldn’t…” Shayma fumbled for words for a moment, flustered. “Regardless of what it says I don’t feel like I’m a slave or anything. He treats me as an equal pretty much, even though I’m me and he’s this.” She waved her hand about indicating the walls, floor, ceiling, and everything.

“What’s it like?” Keri asked suddenly, leaning forward in her chair.

“What’s what like?” The fox-girl eyed Keri cautiously, as anyone who was subject to that level of wide-eyed, earnest interest was wont to do.

“You know,” Keri said, and fortunately continued before Annit had to intervene, because she did not want to hear certain details. “Just being with a Power every day. Someone who, I dunno, can build or destroy cities with a wave of his hand...well, I guess Blue doesn’t have hands.”

“He’s not really that different from a normal person.” Shayma said. Then defended herself from their skeptical looks. “He isn’t! I mean, yes, he knows things and can do things that are...beyond comprehension. But when he talks to me he sounds like just a regular person. He likes hearing about what I did and what I want to do; he complains about the little banal things that annoy him. He makes jokes and puns. Normal things.”

“...I think that’s stranger than all the weird things he does. How does a dungeon learn to be normal?”

“So, what, it’s just like having a rich, eccentric...boyfriend?” Annit asked, despite herself.

“A bit?” Shayma looked at her tumbler full of juice. “I mean, we can talk all the time, but he does give me some privacy. But...while we can be intimate and all, he can’t exactly give me a hug. I kind of miss that.”

“I can fix that!” Keri bounced out of her chair and wrapped the surprised fox-girl in a hug.

“That’s not what she means, Ker,” Annit said dryly, not even slightly surprised at Keri’s behavior. She was almost compulsively affectionate, which probably was a good trait in a healer but there were some that found it overbearing.

“Shh, you’ll ruin it.” Keri told her.

Shayma laughed. “I appreciate the thought, but you’re not Blue.” She returned Keri’s hug, then released her. “I just meant it’s a little hard sometimes, hearing him right there but not being able to touch him. Or well, I guess I can but it’s not like anything I could share with a demihuman.”

“I’d thought of all kinds of troubles you might have, but not that one,” Annit admitted.

“I told you she cared!” Keri grinned and bounced over to give Annit a hug too, which earned her a slight swat.

“Hush, you.” She said before turning back to Shayma, while Keri perched on her chair arm, leaning against Annit’s shoulder. “It’s just hard for me to think of Blue as a person. He’s more like...an earthquake or a landslide or something.”

“Hmm. Way back when I was first changed, after I fulfilled my Bargain with Blue,” Shayma said contemplatively. “Basically one of the first things he did was give me a bouquet of flowers. Dungeon flowers, of course, huge things but so exotic! The second time I came here, he’d made a cottage on a lake that I really liked. He remade that for me later on, too. I’d show you, but that’s where his core is so you’re probably not allowed? Not yet anyway.”

“That sounds nice enough,” Annit allowed, “and I don’t have much to complain about, just being employed by him. It’s difficult to trust someone you can’t look in the face, though. Or can look you in the face. Either way.”

“Do you trust me?” Shayma asked, earnest and honest. “I can vouch for him.”

“It doesn’t work that way,” Annit said dryly. “But I appreciate the sentiment. I suppose I should stop suspecting him of trying to take advantage of you.”

“Gods, he lets me yell at him if he messes up even though he basically owns me. He wouldn’t have to try at all. We don’t argue much but I think the fact that we do at all shows he isn’t going to.”

“Mmm.” It was difficult to argue with Shayma’s logic, but Annit couldn’t shake some fundamental wariness. But maybe that was for the best. Between Shayma and Keri, someone needed to be the cautious one.

Day 113 - Blue

Meil was in sight.

It was the first time I had seen the city with my own eyes, or, whatever it was that [Genius Loci] used. The last time had been through Shayma’s eyes, and it hadn’t improved since then. It hadn’t gotten much worse, either, at least from this distance. I was pretty sure that the dungeon there had eaten more of the wall, but the entire city hadn’t been converted.

The major difference I could see was that figures circled the air around the tower at the center of Meil. They clearly weren’t birds, and they lacked the telltale orange glow of the Flame Knight’s flight ability, but at this distance I couldn’t tell what sort of monster they might be. Probably something boring, considering the lack of imagination Vok Nal had shown so far. If I had some sort of binoculars - or monoculars - I might be able to figure it out.

Wait, I had glass now. In theory I should be able to make a lens or two, and a hollow tube wasn’t much trouble. I wasn’t sure how well [Genius Loci] would act with it, but since I could focus where I was seeing it’d probably work.

Embarrassingly, I ended up with an image that was upside down or small or completely out of focus quite a few times before I got it. Knowing the principles of optics and actually constructing something useful were not the same thing, it appeared. I embedded the thing in one of the standing stones I was leaving along the river, at intervals of kind-of-sort-of a kilometer, of the same style I’d used to demarcate the boundaries of my [Warding].

The pillars didn’t look like anything specific or bear any kind of indicia, since it turned out I couldn’t make that. At least not by myself. But I did color them granite-blue with [Customization], creating a record of my advance toward Meil. One of them had a spyglass in it, and after a little thought I added a little pedestal for people to stand on if they wanted to use it in the future. Not that it looked anywhere but the Meil tower.

Once I got the lenses working right, I could see that Vok Nal was, indeed, unimaginative. The figures were winged goblins. Maybe I could call them imps? Either way they didn’t seem to be all that dangerous, aside from being able to spot things from the air. Which was an advantage normally, but I wasn’t approaching from the air.

The sight made me realize how close I was to some point of no return, or at least a major confrontation where I should probably have as many ducks in a row as I could manage.

So far as I knew the only people heading over to confront Vok Nal himself were the fourth tiers, Iniri, Shayma, and Iniri’s mages Joce and Keel. The third-tiers and second-tiers would attack the Dungeon itself, provided I didn’t get to it first. I wasn’t sure if I could suborn or destroy the opposing Dungeon with any efficacy, but with [Bane] and all my mana I could certainly try.

I’d already given the fourth-tiers Primal Sources, and with some reluctance I parted with a few more for Iniri, Joce, and Keel. Iniri wanted light Affinity, of course, while Joce and Keel took fire. Then, after a bit more thought, I had Shayma deliver a set of Primals to Piping Hot Pies. Fortunately none of them had any exotic Affinities, so I was able to cover all four of them.

I probably could have produced another Artifact, but Ansae’s remark about them coming back to bite me on the metaphorical rear end kept me from doing so. I wasn’t sure that it’d make a big difference anyway. Sure, [Promise] was powerful but it didn’t really make Shayma that much more deadly. Even though Annit seemed impressed by it.

There were still some experiments I hadn’t gotten back to though. All the crops I’d acquired and plugged into my mana dynamo could have made for some interesting consumables, maybe even buffs, but they were disappointingly mundane. Maybe it took multiple generations, which would require someone actually processing the various vegetables. I did have a number of farmers I could pay to do that, with some of Ansae’s gold, but that could be put off until later because that’d take weeks or longer to show results.

A scan through my overlay showed me that I had two Fields I’d basically never done anything with. I’d been getting a steady trickle of experience from reinforcing my core room with steel, and both Darkness and Mist were rudimentary enough that they didn’t take much for me to boost to ten each, just in case there was something interesting once they were maxed and hopefully evolved.

Skill merge; [Darkness] 10, [Mist] 10. New skill: [Murk]. Rank set to 5.

[Murk]: Combines [Darkness] and [Mist]. Creates tangibly obscured area.

Then I cursed myself for forgetting my new trick. I hadn’t plugged either of those Fields into my mana dynamo to see if they gave me a new one, like [Regeneration] had given me [Rejuvenation]. Unfortunately both of the original fields were gone, giving me one field that I could vary more finely but didn’t provide nearly as much fodder for new things.

I’d fix that right now.

Since I was now using [Murk] in my Core protection I used that for the experiment, and while it didn’t unlock anything, the dark, swirling, well, murk seemed to solidify. Good enough, though I was hoping for something more profound. On to other Fields.

[Abundance] learned. Rank set to 5.

[Abundance]: Significantly increases flora growth and yield.

Boosting Growth ate through my [Fertilizer] stocks fast enough that I cut the connection as soon as I’d gotten the new Field. That left only the Spatial Fields, which made me realize I really needed to figure out how to get new Fields that were unrelated to my current ones. They were powerful, and the closest I had to spellcasting, but there weren’t many options. Something like [Field Customization] would be perfect, although there wouldn’t be much difference between that and spells, maybe. In the meantime, I set up some tests with the remaining Fields.

[Spatial Overlay] learned. Rank set to 5.

[Spatial Overlay]: Overlaps two areas of space.

[Portal] learned. Rank set to 5.

[Portal]: Creates a constant connection between two openings.

[Portal] was simple enough, though it was a hefty drain on the dynamo. I could see how it was an improved [Link], though considering I already had [Teleportation] I didn’t know that it was really worth using other than for the nifty visual effect.

[Spatial Overlay], though, was really confusing. The amped-up [Teleportation] created a region that was in both places simultaneously, so when I put it on some foliage they kind of intersected and phased through each other. I assumed that someone who went into it could decide which version they went out or...something like that. I wasn’t willing to run experiments on anyone I knew. I could link it to more than one place at a time, so I could see a value in it as a nexus if it weren’t for the fact that it practically broke the dynamo with how much mana it used.

[Spatial Control] actually did, or would have if I had let it keep drawing. There was probably something there, but it’d take more power to create. I had a pretty enormous mana flow already, so I was hoping that it’d be amazing when I could do it. Though it was possible that as a Dungeon I was just hideously inefficient with my mana and normal spellcasters could do this stuff with a lot less effort.

That was all I could think of, which didn’t seem right. Surely I had more toys than this. Though to be fair, teleporting a bunch of high-powered Classers basically right into the city, or as close as I could get without actually hitting the other Dungeon, was a heck of a strategic benefit. As was the ability to retreat back to someone with an actual healing Class.

Considering the flying things though, I had steam power and I had metals, even if my steel reserves were practically zero. Couldn’t I make some sort of steam pressure cannon thing? Sure, it’d be hideously inaccurate and completely inferior to what the third- or fourth-tiers could do, but...actually that was a bad idea. There was probably a role for something like that, but not here. I’d have to practice with it anyway, and it actually didn’t seem likely I’d have enough ammunition or time to get good enough before the invasion. At least I could pass along what I saw to Iniri via Shayma and let them decide tactics.

Now that it was imminent, I was feeling a little bit jittery about this attack. I didn’t actually know what a mage-king could do, and while I was pretty confident about the monsters, if it had been as easy as just killing those then they wouldn’t have kicked Iniri out of all of her cities. Apparently that was mostly Tor Kot though, and we wouldn’t be dealing with him without the Adamant Fortress. Which I really hoped would be enough. It was pretty clear things would go badly if we didn’t kick the mage-kings out before they realized they weren’t dealing with another one of their kind.

It might go badly even then. Who knew how much power the mage-king Council wielded? Where even were they, other than over the ocean someplace? I didn’t have much choice though, since the best I could hope for was removing them and relying on Iniri’s kingdom and newly-Purified self to hold off any invasion.

Now that I was so close I was a bit more cautious about digging my way forward. Mostly, I couldn’t guarantee that I wouldn’t get hit by ANATHEMA if I touched the Meil dungeon and if that happened I’d be too damned mad to think. Or at least think well. At worst I might end up setting the staging point outside of Meil proper rather than right at the tower like I’d originally intended, but since Vok Nal probably didn’t have much of an army left that might not matter.

I was actually glad I wasn’t in charge of the battle plan. I had many talents but tactical genius was not one of them.

Since I had more attention on the digging I had less on everything else, but it seemed like I wasn’t the only one nervous about the next day or so. Iniri was spending a lot of time in the hot spring, Shayma chatted a lot with Annit and Keri rather than sparring. Here and there, precious reserves of alcohol were opened as people took the edge off with a round of drinks. There were some attempts at tayantan wine but none of it was ready yet. Assuming it would work in the first place.

A part of me was kind of jealous. I could use some liquid courage right about now, or at least some artificial relaxant. I didn’t have the anatomy to feel a proper stomach-churning unease but there was definitely something unpleasant there. “You know, I don’t feel ready for this,” I confessed to Shayma.

“You want to call it off?” She asked, and not idly.

“No, that’s not it. It’s just that the mage-kings are really scary. They’ve been talked up an awful lot.”

She snorted, lazing in her bed at the cottage. “You burned a whole army by yourself. His army. He’s only got Meil and the surrounds for resources, and you have a better idea than I do how much he spent on them.”

“I really don’t. I don’t do monsters at all. Well...I mean I can guess some of it, but how do you make monster levels? How do you use Depletion? How does Vok Nal get any of that power? I don’t know any of that.”

“Well, I bet he’s pretty vulnerable right now, and he won’t be expecting three fourth-tiers to hit him without any warning, or for Iniri to be able to use [Shield of Tarnil]. If we’re lucky we’ll just punch him right out of the sky.”

“What, you’re betting he’s going to fold like a chump?”

“I’m hoping.”