Chapter 155

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The Creator, Atlantis, The Kalenic Sea

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Though far more dramatic than I'd ever intended it to be, my transformation into the Spirit stage of my existence was... certainly an experience. One I'd likely have to go through again at least twice, if I wanted to make it to the 'Elemental' level. Beyond that, well, I had no idea.

The sensation itself... That feeling of fullness, being so totally overstuffed with mana without the space to contain it. The feeling of my core cracking at the microscopic level as the saturation reached its peak was... indescribably painful. Once I was there, I did what Polish recommended; I started condensing my mana, pulling and forcing it all into the very middle of my core. Like a whirlpool, the mana swirled and liquified as it came together, and when there was a perfectly spherical ball of liquid mana surrounding my soul...

It was like my very being grew. Not changed so much as expanded. My immortal soul becoming something more, without losing anything of who I was before. When I reached with my will, mana flowed faster and with more immediate momentum. I could project my voice into the air, anywhere within my walls, without the need for any enchantments. An ethereal avatar as Polish had still seemed beyond me, but it wouldn't be for long. I was pulling more mana into a new disk around my core; I wanted to get used to my current state before I went any further.

But this whole thing also had... implications. I was a manabeing, just like Igna, Sidhe or any of the other manabeings I had under contract. But what was I a manabeing of?

"That was... magnificent. Blinding, but Magnificent!" Beatram Losat marvelled as he tried to blink his vision back. Polish's avatar stood next to him, silent and still.

"I'd hope the experience was worth it," I said through both my Dragonkin avatar and with my new air-vibrating speech. It gave my avatar a menacing, dual-toned, and ethereal voice that certainly caught my guests off guard. "I do have more questions, but I think they're better saved for another day; perhaps once you've regained your vision properly. I'll have you escorted to the replica island so that you might inspect it at your leisure. It won't be long now before the crusade launches, and things begin moving a lot faster."

"Of course, of course," Mr Losat replied, still desperately blinking, trying to get his vision back. "I'll admit, I hadn't expected such a bright flash."

"I'd imagine the flash would've been tolerable, had my core been the appropriate size," I answered frankly. "I believe that in all other cases, a core the size of mine should already have ancient status. The fact I was only a sprite in an oversized core and dungeon might have contributed to the... attention problems I've experienced."

"Too much dungeon, and only one perspective?" Polish asked, tone far more respectful than the almost impish tones she'd used the day before. "You should find yourself more able to multitask, now. But, if you focus on too much at once, you will stretch yourself thin and lose focus altogether."

"That's basically how I've run the dungeon until now anyway," I had my avatar shrug. "Diffused focus is good for downtime, and it's pretty easy to set alarm enchantments or have my Children catch my attention if it's needed. It'll be nice to focus on multiple things at once, though. Especially with the crusaders coming soon."

"Fascinating..." Mr Losat muttered aloud before blindly grabbing for his staff. I reached over and guided his hand to the stick, then turned to face my airship as it descended. 

"Follow me, Mr Losat," I guided him, with a hand on his back, up the gangplank and onto the ship. Polish's avatar collapsed back into energy and coallessed into her core as we left it behind. After three hours of air travel, we arrived at the floor's entrance once again. Mr Losat was still blind, though he'd reported seeing moving shapes and washed-out colours about the time we passed through the gate into the Eleventh. From there, a crabfolk-crewed ship transported us to the replica Atlantis, where I lowered the wards just long enough to get the boat in and back out again.

Once we all stood on the docks of the false Atlantis, I had a Life Spirit heal his vision. Seeing the moss-covered woman-shaped being was probably a shock, given how he blinked and stepped back. Or he could've just been adjusting to seeing again.

"Thank you, Gaea. You may go," I ordered. The spirit nodded, descended a set of nearby stairs and disappeared beneath the waves.

"Who was that?" Beatram asked, his eyes lingering on the water.

"Gaea is a Life manabeing," I explained. "They've chosen a feminine form, but prefer neutral pronouns."

"I knew about the Fire, Earth and Darkness manabeings..." Mr Losat trailed off, looking out to the ocean. "How many different kinds do you have?" 

"All but the more esoteric ones."

"But that was an Elemental!" Beatram exclaimed. "They serve their gods directly! Jaita, the Goddess of Life, is one of the gods the crusaders fight in the name of. How do you have one under your control?"

"Oh, Gaea is only a Spirit," I reassured him, smirking with my Avatar at his reaction. "I discovered that I can offer contracts to sprites summoned by my children, and after long enough and fed enough mana, they grow all on their own. Eventually, I had enough manabeings to establish my own courts for every type of mana I discovered. As for how Gaiea has the power of a manabeing two tiers above their actual stage... well, I have to keep some secrets."

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The Heroes' Pavilion, The Crusader Camp, Port Laviet

1 Week and 5 Days Until Crusade

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James slumped into a chair, finally free of his armour and the worshipful gazes of the army mustering in this camp. He took off his glasses, raised a hand to rub his eyes, and put them back on before pulling a carved stone from his pocket and setting it down on the small table beside him. A small pulse of mana activated the enchantment, sending out an invisible wave of mana that stopped at the tent's walls. "They're trying to break us," James stated, once he was sure the silence ward was in place. From the various groans of his fellow summoned Heroes, they agreed.

"Heh, they wish they could break me," Bobby, the only one in the group not exhausted, said. "The US Army did that ten years ago, and these fuckers aren't going to do it to me again. Gotta admit, they've got good beer, though."

"I'm so tired..." Karen said from her position face-first on her bedroll. "I don't even have the energy to think..."

"That's how they getcha," Bobby elaborated, picking up a mug of beer from a table and taking a sip. James glared at the man as he looked at the rest of them, smugly. "They work you to the bone, exhaust you every day, until you don't even have the energy to think, and they can pour their ideas and values into your ears until you can't tell what's propaganda and your own thoughts. They've not let us use those energy-boosting potions, either; they want us tired."

"As fascinating as that is, Bobby," James interrupted. "It's not helpful when we can't do anything about it. We are in the middle of their camp, with the most powerful humans in the world nearby."

"It is, actually," Bobby replied, more serious than James remembered him ever being. "Even just knowing means you can resist it. Much better than one day discovering you'd be perfectly happy shooting into a crowd of people if your platoon leader said jump."

There was a sombre silence as people realised he wasn't just theorising.

"Fair point," James conceded. "Alright, time for a group meeting." The groans from his fellows were not happy, but one by one they pulled themselves up to at least sit. Two stood and stumbled on shaking legs to their beds. 

"What have we learned?" James started, eyes flicking to each person in the room.

"The Templars are sadists who delight in our pain and misery?" Hajime, once a depressed corporate worker from Japan, droned out. He was still depressed, but now with "Magic."

"Artic especially," Karen added bitterly. James usually wouldn't be able to stand women like her. She was opinionated, loud, pushy, and entitled. But needs must, and they were all they had. She'd been getting better once it was made clear they couldn't be sent home until they'd done what they were summoned to do. Something James was sceptical of, remembering what that boy, Akio, had said just after they'd been summoned.

"They're effective trainers," Bobby admitted reluctantly. "Or we're just supernaturally good students, which, given the whole summoned heroes thing, might be a thing."

"What about you, Vikram?" James prompted their fire mage. The Indian man was still lying on the floor, spread-eagled.

"At full power, I feel like an avatar of Vishnu," Vikram mumbled. "But right now? I am drained. In the morning, I will once again feel like I could burn this camp down without effort."

"Okay... Moving on," James continued. "They obviously want us at full power to attack this dungeon. We all know the real reason for this crusade, but... I don't think they'll be willing to stop at that."

"Yeah, the necromancer is in the dungeon, obviously," Bobby commented. "But they definitely want to kill the dungeon too. It could just teach another monster to be a necromancer, and we'd have to go down there again."

"But they also don't trust us," Karen claimed. "They've not told us a lot about where we're going, or what we're fighting. They're teaching us general combat. Basics."

"Nothing wrong with the basics," Bobby reminded. "A solid foundation will always win out. The hundred punches vs one punch thing."

Further conversation was snuffed as a hand started to brush the tent open. James reached out and swiped the wardstone, ending the enchantment as he slipped it into his pocket. Haliet entered without a word, his gaze sweeping the tent of exhausted summoned heroes. 

"I hope you've all felt the improvement I've seen in the last weeks," Haliet started. "We'll be amping up your training for the next few days, and then give you a week of rest before the crusade launches. Rest up. You'll need all your strength."

James narrowed his eyes at the man as he left, the tent flap swinging wildly before it settled again.

"As much as I don't like him, he's right," Bobby said as he moved to his bed. James stood and did the same. "Get to sleep. See you all in the morning."

James put out the candle by his bed and slipped under the sheets while the rest groaned and pulled themselves off the floor. Vikram needed to be pulled to his feet and thrown into bed, but as soon as he touched the sheets, he was out.

James closed his eyes and let sleep claim him.

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The Creator, Atlantis, The Kalenic Sea

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Focusing on multiple things at once was a game-changer. In one mental thread, I was with Gaian creating a prototype hyperbolic time chamber. In another, I was sweeping the dungeon, performing minor adjustments and cosmetic details. A third was spending time with Cadmus in my Avatar, and my fourth was getting the lion's share of my attention, with Kata as Layla Losat entered the Manse's office.

"So, you were aware of what you were doing the whole time?" Layla started, glaring. Kata gladly surrendered her body to me, and I opened her mouth to speak.

"Well, in short, yes," I answered, truthfully. "I only gained full understanding of your language a week or so after the colonists arrived, but when I discovered what you thought of me? It was a useful smokescreen, a convenient explanation that hid my true nature without any probing questions."

Layla glared at me, though I couldn't see her eyes; her eyebrows gave it away. Then she sighed and slumped in her chair. "I can't blame you. If you truly are a human in a dungeon core, you are a unique existence. The Holy City would have sent their templars to claim you as soon as they found out, and back then, I would have felt obligated to report your existence to the guild. You'd have been snuffed out before you could build up enough to defend yourself properly."

"And I have now reached the point where that is impossible," I assured her. "I am stronger than I've ever been. Yes, the crusaders will reach the island; that is a foregone conclusion. Yes, they will delve into the dungeon and likely advance quite far on their stolen intel. Rest assured, I've changed enough that it will be just unreliable enough for them to follow, but they don't entirely trust the information they do have. And beyond that... With what I know now, they've got a time limit. It's now a race to see if I can gather enough mana to ascend to Elemental and beyond, or if they can reach my core and shatter me. Sure, they'd destroy the world in the process, but I have a feeling the templar won't listen to or believe a thing I say." Layla could only nod, letting out another sigh before sitting up.

"How long until the Atlantis on the Eleventh is ready?" Layla asked, changing the subject.

"It's ready now. Your grandfather is there, inspecting the island. Once he gives his verdict, I'll relay that to you and have the teleport stones brought up."

"Stones?" Layla asked, and I smiled.

"Yes. You touch one, and are immediately teleported to the paired stone on the Eleventh. I had enough made that everyone can have their own, and trust me, I'm keeping track of them. If anyone doesn't wish to go to the Eleventh, and safety, their stones will be destroyed."

"May the gods have mercy on those fools' souls," Layla lamented, "Because the crusaders certainly won't.

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