131, 1/2

Sizzi had attended several meetings yesterday in order to ingratiate herself into Treehome’s various societies. Erick had barely paid attention to her as she had not come down for breakfast and he had left for the day with Kiri. That evening, she strolled back into the hotel suite rather inebriated. She had been drunk then, and she was probably a bit drunk this morning. But she managed to get up for breakfast, this time.

“Good morning,” Sizzi said as she came down the stairs.

Erick flipped a waffle out of his waffle machine, saying, “Good morning, Sizzi. I made waffles again. You want one? This one is yours.”

Teressa, Poi, and Jane were already halfway through their own waffles.

“I’d love a waffle! But I will have to take it to-go.” Sizzi came up to the counter and took her prize. The heat caused her [Personal Ward] to flicker magenta at her fingertips. “Thank you for your hospitality, Erick. Sorry I haven’t been around much, but that trend will continue; I will be headed back right now. I heard Kiri had a great night killing monsters with all her new lightning and I must return to reclaim some of my place among the leaderboards.”

She had said it in a nice tone, like a dryly delivered joke, but it was undercut by an actual need.

“So soon? Okay. Well. It was nice having you around to help with the Culling.” Erick smiled, and started making another waffle, as he said, “If either of you two ever need help with any monsters, just let me know; I owe you one. I have a feeling that Silverite will delay asking me, or not ask at all, and I would prefer to be asked.”

“Will do, Erick.” Sizzi held up her hot waffle, and said, “These waffles are a nice little invention. They’d go over well in the Wasteland.”

Jane huffed a single laugh, then said, “You guys need to stop trying to poach my father.”

“It’s just a fact, Jane.” Sizzi added, “They like non-magical inventions over there.”

Sizzi headed off with a bow and another thank you, and then breakfast went fast, in the usual, nice way. Erick rescinded Sizzi’s Prismatic permissions as soon as she departed.

“First thing first!” Finished, Erick got up from the breakfast table. And then, as though proclaiming a great secret, he said, “Man cannot live on diversions of record players and Art Nouveau posters and cameras alone, but I’m not making any magic here, and I think it is time to make some magic.”

Jane said, “Don’t forget all the monster killing. I daresay that part was more important than the ‘diversions’.”

Erick smiled, then frowned. “Ah. Kiri should have been here for this.” He asked around, “Anyone else want to come? Aside from Poi, who is coming. Right?”

Poi was in the kitchen. He had just finished cleaning up the debris of breakfast-making, and was enjoying a new cup of coffee. “I’m coming.”

Teressa shook her head, as she poured caramelized cactus syrup on her seventh waffle, the last one, saying, “I’m going to work on [Future Sight], unless you want me out there with you?”

“No no. That’s fine. Jane?”

Jane said, “If you’re not at the auction at noon then I’m going without you.”

Erick paused. “I thought that was four days ago? Wait. You lost that auction, didn’t you? Did you tell me there was another one yester— You did tell me there was another one yesterday. I thought you weren’t going for that monster.”

“Arbor Ikabobbi has animal auctions all the time.” Jane added, “And yeah: I lost the Prismatic Octopus, but there’s another going up today and I decided I want it. The Beast Master who sells them had a whole clutch, apparently, but he didn’t want anyone to know that he had managed to breed multiples. Should go for a lot less than 23,000 today! Hopefully.”

“I can give you money, Jane.”

“I know.” Jane said, “But I want to get it myself. Bad enough that I’m buying the damned thing, anyway. I’m at least going to buy it myself.”

“Eh. Fine. I’m going to feel almost lonely out there with no one else to watch.” Erick glanced over to Poi. “You ready?”

Poi sipped his coffee, then said, “One minute.”

“Okay okay.” Erick asked, “Tenebrae get back to you, yet?”

“Nope. He’s denying all communication. We’re going to have to visit him in person.”

“How about Syllea?” Erick said, “Is she still avoiding us?” He amended, “Avoiding me?”

“She has said that she will help after the Path, but, yes, Syllea is avoiding you.” Poi said, “I remind you of similar requests to help you assist in the creation of a Gate network, after you figure out [Gate] magic. There’s Tasar of Stratagold, and also the Headmaster.”

“I remember them, but I don’t want to involve Tasar or the Headmaster right now. The first because she seems like a whole new adventure waiting to happen, especially because she is Tasar, the Summoner, and there’s no doubt she’ll have something to say about the Culling we just did, and the second because he’s… I just don’t want to. Eh! We’ll find Tenebrae and shake that location out of him. It can’t be that hard.”

“Good luck with that!” Jane said, “I’m going into the auction without you if you’re not there.”

“I’ll be there.” Erick looked to Poi. “Eventually.”

Poi went to the cupboard and took out a traveling mug with a lid. He poured his coffee inside, then said, “Ready.”

In a flash of light, Erick whisked both of them away to the mountains south of Treehome.

– – – –

He had scouted this location earlier and cleared out the monsters with a bit of [Withering], killing a good dozen level 25 threats and a few hundred lesser threats, all across the mountainside. Greenery dotted the valley below, with a few scattered trees and lots of grasses, but up here, there was simple, bare rock, slowly slanting downward.

There was also a small stream and a medium-sized pond. The pond had held some sort of alligator-like monster infestation that were listed as ‘mountain gators’ in their Kill Notification, but they were all dead now, and the [Cleanse]d remains rested at the bottom. This was why Erick chose this place. It was nice and pretty, and perfect for magic, and it had needed a little more cleaning than the other valleys.

The manasphere was alive with possibility, waiting to be given form, and Erick was here to give it those forms.

He had leveled [Condense Particle] through an overhead Ophiel, flying in the skies of Treehome while he was having breakfast. The spell looked much the same as before.

 

It lasted 10 minutes, now.

Erick smiled wide, as he pointed to the air over the pond, and cast, targeting a specific element.

A blue box appeared.

 

He already had [Condense Hydrogen X] as a Base Spell, thanks to his talk with the archmages at Oceanside. That one had actually come from the Headmaster, as he made the spell right in front of Erick and Erick had thus gotten a copy of that spell. Archmage Tasar had gifted Erick with a similar spell for oxygen; [Condense Oxygen X]. There were plenty of applications for these Basic Tier spells, but all of the most tactically important options involved making up for mistakes and for improperly made magic; spell combining from a lower starting point could literally save centuries of waiting, if you fucked up your high-tier spell.

Which is why Erick planned to not start his combining efforts with his lower-tier Base Spells. If he messed up, he needed a different way to get to those high tier spells, and his grandfathered-in Base Spells would be that way. As that thought crossed his mind, he wondered at the Condensing spells for three elements in particular, Carbon, Oxygen, and Hydrogen, and wondered if Shaping them in different ways would allow him to remake a failed spell without needing to break the previous spell.

… And also if he could use those three Condensing spells in different ways to make different molecules. If he was ‘locked’ to only one use of those three elements, then that kinda sucked.

But first, he would need to make those spells!

So he focused on [Condense Particle]…

And then he went through the Periodic Table of the Elements.

Stuff didn’t just pop out of the air. Blocks of gold did not fall from the sky. Almost every single one of Erick’s rapidly growing arsenal of spells did not pick up and condense a single thing. But those blue boxes kept coming, and they didn’t stop coming. Erick dismissed each spell as he made them.

Erick started slowing down somewhere around element 11: Sodium, so he started chanting.

“Sodium is a part of salt; here’s another spell for the vault!

“Magnesium is good for health; silver-looks but gives no wealth!

“Aluminum is soft yet hard; this one will be avant garde!

“Silicon has blue-grey luster; watch out now, it’s a blockbuster!

As an aside to his only audience, Poi, Erick added, “I bet the wrought use some of this, but who knows what gives kinesis.”

Poi smirked.

Erick continued,

“Phosphorus is so reactive, therefore life finds it attractive!

“Sulfur stinks like rotten eggs; sometimes comes from oil dregs!

“Chlorine is a match for salt; it makes many great gestalts!

“Argon is a noble gas of purple glows that has a mass of 39.948, but it does not appreciate the other parts upon this list— And here we go, onto the next,”

“For Potassium is part of life, it works and works throughout all strife!”

“Cal~ci~uuuu~UUmm! It’s what makes your bones all strong!”

“Scan-di-ii-um! All I know is it exists!”

He started laughing. Then he got back to the music.

Titanium was easier to sing about, titanium had applications! What the fuck was Scandium for? Scanning magics? Ha! If anyone was listening, would they make the mistake of thinking so? That would be funny.

He hit a speedbump at copper, but he managed to make it though. The speedbump was just a flicker of the manasphere, anyway. An odd flicker, but it was there; Erick saw it. There was a similar flicker on his soul. A creation here, and also there.

It was not much more than that.

Nothing to worry about.

Erick kept going.

Silver came, and the flicker it made was deeper, this time. Erick felt a warmth on his face. He touched his nose, and his fingers came away bloody.

Poi tapped him with the rod.

Erick smiled, and kept going, but he had no more song after Silver. He just had numbers that were definitions, that had surfaced in his mind and needed to be categorized into magic.

He started sweating after Dysprosium; number 66 on the Periodic Table. He faltered, but his voice was strong. He kept going.

Platinum was a solid wall, looming ahead. Erick didn’t know how he knew it was a wall, but he knew.

He met that wall with a small ritual.

“Platinum is extremely rare and often found all alone, looks like silver but it’s not, accept no lesser white-gold clone!”

A blue box appeared, and Erick stumbled where he stood. He breathed hard, spat blood onto the rock under him, and he went on to the next element; that lustrous yellow metal that made the world go round. Not even platinum could compare.

The manasphere held tense, as though waiting. As though prepared to hit him with a very, big, rock.

Erick sang against that limitation,

“And here we have a metal known for all the worlds as kingly throne. Bright as suns and used for lots not having ‘nuff twists life in knots. Here and now a lustrous shine, if I were greedy, I’d make it mine! It is a flash that all do seek! It is of course of Gold I speak!”

A blue box appeared.

Erick crashed to his knees, then to his butt.

Poi tapped him with the rod again, saying, “Maybe stop with the particles.”

Erick eyed Poi, standing above him, then looked to the air, and cast one more spell as he spoke, “Mercury.” And then another, “Thallium.”

A blue box appeared, and then another. They were normal boxes.

No backlash that time.

“Ha!” Erick spat blood, then said, “So there are limits to Gold, Silver, Platinum, and even Copper, if only just a bit. Only Gold got the ‘Particle Mage Only’ tag. I was wondering how Rozeta was going to work around that.”

Poi said, “I’m surprised you didn’t get hit with a negative-five point penalty.”

“Gold really isn’t that impressive. It’s just… useful. And pretty. It shouldn’t be limited. Fiat currency is the wave of the future.” Erick sighed at the blue box, then said, “But something has to be a monetary standard in this world, I guess? I’m not getting into banking.”

Poi shrugged. “Are you going to try for the next one?”

“… I’m not going to try for Antirhine.”

If Gold had been a wall, Lead was a void to fall ever into. Erick did not take that step.

“Glad to see you have some sense remaining, sir,” Poi quipped, as he helped Erick to his feet.

Erick swayed a little, but he steadied himself. He considered the path to the next spell, then brought out another blue box.

 

He had made that one long ago, back when he made [Electrolysis Bomb]. It had been a part of ensuring that the water pulled out of the target was electrically conductive, allowing an easier time for that water to be broken down into Hydrogen and Oxygen. It seemed appropriate to use [Catalyst] for the next spell because the spell would need some way for the separate parts to come together easier. This next spell wasn’t something like [Crystallize Diamond], where it was just carbon being jumbled until it locked into the correct position to expand the diamond. It was an actual molecule that required breaking and reorganizing before it could come together in the proper way.

Erick briefly checked the sound of each necessary Element.

All of them sounded the same; like nothing at all, or possibly background static. Channeling mana through each one produced the same flare of mana, too; a white orb hovering above the hand. He was sure that if Kiri were to channel any of these spells she would produce a green orb. He doubted that she’d hear any different, too.

Maybe that would change in the coming centuries as the collective unconscious of people, society, and civilization, shifted the manasphere’s idea of Particle Magics. But for now, combining them seemed simple enough.

Erick got a feel for [Catalyst], along with [Condense Hydrogen], [Condense Oxygen], and [Condense Carbon], but also with [Cleanse], which was the only complicated part of the magic.

Aside from knowing what the targeted molecule looked like, of course.

That was a rather large hurdle toward making good Particle Magic.

He was almost ready to cast, but a nagging feeling poked at the back of his mind. He frowned—

“OH!” he exclaimed.

He rapidly added one more piece of the puzzle, and laughed at the obviousness of what he had just added. Volatile compounds were sure to occur in this spell, that’s why he had [Cleanse] in there, but it needed one more thing to round it out into non-lethal status, and that thing was a Mana Altering to Mercy.

Erick smiled. He shaped. He cast.

The air wavered on the mountainside. The starter spells were only capable of small-sized spaces, but Erick was a Particle Mage, and that made all the difference. A space the size of a house seemed to twitch, as a rim of thick air took hold around it all. Inside that space, possibility herded airborne particles into a form more fitting for Erick’s purposes. He couldn’t quite tell what he was seeing since the contained result was colorless, but that was exactly how it was supposed to be.

… Maybe there was a heat-mirage-like occurrence in the middle? Erick couldn’t quite tell, even with his Perception and the Sights of all the Ophiels hovering around the area.

A blue box appeared.

“Still volatile, eh?” Erick nodded to himself, then looked back at his creation, watching as it matured. He smiled. “Oh! So that looks like it works… Oh yeah.” He pointed. “See that spot, Poi? That’s where the ether is forming. Looks like it’s flowing everywhere, though. There appears to be some thick air from [Cleanse]’s inclusion, too”

“Uh.” Poi was focused on something else. “Volatile?”

“Oh yeah.” Erick waved that concern away. “This stuff explodes, but I’m pretty sure I cut down on most of that.” He paused. “Or maybe not?”

Poi rapidly said, “Let us back up. Perhaps to the other mountain across the valley.”

“Oh! It’s not that bad!” Erick had an Ophiel throw a [Prismatic Ward] around them, and then throw a [Stillness] into the surrounding air. “We’re good. But!” He gazed down at the forest below. “I need an animal to test this on. Or rather…”

In minutes, Erick had his first test subject.

Ophiel, in his sunform, held aloft a squirming squirrel, except, it was not really a squirrel as he knew them. It thrashed and bit and was the size of a small adult human, with a tail and fur made of spines, similar to those of a porcupine. It was a monster; Erick saw the rad in its chest, right behind its heart. It would have been trying to kill them if Erick had gotten anywhere near its territory. As it was, it was trying to spit poison at him and at Ophiel, too, and it would have, if Ophiel didn’t have a few tendrils around the squirrel’s muzzle. Clear goo dripped out between the monster’s lips. That goo plopped on the mountainside, then bubbled and ate away at the stone. Ophiel had the monster locked down. The squirrel wasn’t going anywhere.

Erick said, “Good job, Ophiel. Put ‘er in the sleep spell. Let go of the mouth.”

Ophiel held the squirrel in his strong grip, dangling the thing from tendrils of light, but he let the monster’s muzzle go. It instantly started screaming light and spitting globs of clear goo that did nothing to Ophiel. It tried spitting at Erick, over ten meters away. It would have hit, if not for the [Prismatic Ward]. The goo struck the edge and slid down. The squirrel was completely outclassed. Ophiel hovered the monster into [Merciful Ether]’s area of effect.

Erick waited.

The squirrel’s energy kicked up several notches as it tried to trash and bite and claw and shoot acid and quills at everything, but mostly at Ophiel. It was not successful at doing anything but tiring itself out—

The monster tired out much faster than normal. Ten seconds passed, and the squirrel’s tail drooped. It slashed one more time, and then its arms drooped. Its head lolled. Ophiel cleared away the quills underneath the squirrel, then set the monster down.

Erick couldn’t believe his eyes.

“… Oh my gods. It’s sleeping.” Erick gazed with [Blood Sight], and said, “Heart rate falling. Eyes closed. Not dying. But sleeping… Sleeping very deeply. Slowing heart, still… Very slow, actually. I think it’s going to d— Oh! Look at that.”

Tiny puffs of thick air escaped from the squirrel. Its heart rate steadied. When its heart rate slowed too much, more puffs of [Cleanse] escaped from the creature. Keeping it alive. Asleep, and alive!

“Success!” Erick called out, his voice echoing across the valley, eliciting a flash of light from the [Stillness] all around, “But we’re not allowing that monster to live. So!” He looked up to Ophiel.

Ophiel sent a fire down into the not-very-protected space.

For one bright, shining second, all was light, and little sound. When the light cleared, the squirrel was very dead and Erick had the blue kill box as certifiable proof of that death. One couldn’t trust the blasted, blackened landscape as proof that the monster that had been at the center was dead, after all. Not even the little bits of blackened monster squirrel raining from the sky were proof of anything, once you had seen the horrors and illusions of Ar’Kendrithyst.

Erick clapped his hands, eliciting a flash of light from his palms, as he said, “That is what ‘Volatile’ means. I imagine many of my spells will have this tag.” He recast [Merciful Ether] onto the same spot, telling Ophiel, “Go find some non-monsters.” He added, “We can let those ones go when we’re done.”

Soon enough, there were several small animals resting atop blackened stone, in a space filled with [Merciful Ether]; an owl, a snake, a pair of rats, one normal squirrel. There were also two large animals off to the side; two wolves. The wolves had each taken thirty seconds to succumb to the ether, but the smaller animals had taken a lot less. There were obviously some body-weight variables happening there.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Each one of them had gone a bit oddly crazy before they finally zonked out, but now, even the wolves were drooling like saint bernard dogs. Maybe they smelled the other animals? The wolves jerked in their sleep, as though dreaming, perhaps.

“… No. Wait. I know what that is. The monster squirrel messed me up.” Erick said, “The drool is a byproduct of the ether. I knew it had side effects, but I had forgotten. Also, some of them might not actually be asleep.” He asked Poi, “Can you tell which ones are actually asleep?”

“The wolves are not. They’re just disconnected from themsel…” Poi paused, then said, “Now they’re asleep.”

“Yes. That’s right, too. Sometimes it disconnects people from themselves.”

Erick let the spell run its course, eyeing the animals for any signs of distress, or otherwise. As the spell went on and the ether inside the space turned deeper, becoming more concentrated, the thick air spurting from the animals became a steady, even trickle. The animals remained under their anesthesia, and were likely unhurt. Did they still have Health left? Erick didn’t know, and it would be difficult to test, for animals like these always had low Health and low levels. Maybe the wolves were in their twenties, but they were likely not much higher.

When the spell ended and the rim of thick-air containment broke, Erick threw a [Cleanse] at the escaping ether, making sure to miss the test subjects. Ophiels moved in, casting [Quick Wall]s, ensuring that any waking animals would not immediately hunt the others.

Five minutes later, the rats woke first, followed almost instantly by the squirrel. All three of them stumbled about, as though drunk. It was another minute until they noticed the wolves lying two meters away. Then they woke up quite a lot faster. Ophiel let them run back down the mountain, back to the woods they had come from, but they ran like drunkards; swaying this way and that and not running in the direction they wanted. Erick threw a [Cleanse] at them before they got out of range, clearing out their systems of all lingering ether. The three animals instantly began to run much, much faster.

A minute later, the snake tried to snap at the sleeping owl, but it hit an invisible wall.

Erick frowned. “I didn’t even see that the snake was awake.” Erick looked to Poi.

“… I should not be helping with this sort of thing, Erick. I shouldn’t have mentioned the body-disconnect in the wolves, either.”

“Eh. Okay.” Erick turned back to his experiment, watching the snake flop around as it too, was obviously still doped-up. “I couldn’t even tell it— Owl is awake.”

The owl’s heart beat hard. Ten seconds later, it twisted upright, and then flopped back to the ground. Erick threw a [Cleanse] at both the owl and the snake. The owl righted, instantly. Erick lowered the walls around it just as the owl looked up and flew away. The snake remained where it was, contenting itself to curl up into a coil, its eyes watching Erick, the Ophiels above, and the wolves to the side. The snake did not want to move, and Erick didn’t make it move; not yet.

Another full ten minutes later, or maybe even fifteen, for Erick was thinking about other magics while he waited for his current experiment to finish, and the wolves woke. They seemed similarly wasted, like all the other animals, like they were waking from a night of partying. Both of them fell right back down. Erick threw a [Cleanse] at them while taking down their walls. They perked up. They stared at Erick with bright, dark eyes, then turned and bounded away. Erick watched them go until they reached the treeline, and vanished into the woods.

With a lightform scoop, Erick had Ophiel transport the snake back into the tree where he had found it.

That done, Erick made his next spell which was a variation of the previous one, but Mana Shaped for 500 more mana and transformed into a new and more-useful form.

A medium-sized blob of thick air popped into existence. Within seconds, a mirage-like core took hold of the center of the ‘creature’. A blue box appeared next.

Erick joked to Poi, “Not all slimes wait for you to fall asleep before pouncing.”