III-50 Predators (I)

[Mana Signature Recognized - Undoing Spell Seals]

Adept-Captain Harraman Sijik entered the Inquisition at age 40 during the year 10,993 Ur-Twilight Novembian 12. He distinguished himself at the Battle Line Cedar, holding his position against the Brighamites in the name of the Ascendants even as other teams retreated and the general order to retreat was delivered.

It was also here that he finally reached Master-Tier for both Pyromancy and Physicality, unleashing an avalanche of ash that briefly stalled the Brighamites, protecting the battleline long enough to stabilize and guarding the retreat of the republic’s forces.

However, this came at the cost of his entire team. Several who exhibited obsidian-based wounds and severe ash-burns inflicted upon their lungs and body. Further examinations conducted by Diviners and Investigators confirmed that his team tried to escape as well, only to be cut down by Sijik during a moment of zeal.

Before this bit of information could slip out to the public, it was contained by the Inquisition, and Sijik was transferred from the Republic’s Unified Forces to the custody of the Inquisition after he recovered from his injuries. There he was evaluated and examined—and was deemed suitable for the role of Acolyte. From there, due to his zeal and unfettered nature, he was deployed in high-risk and morally complex problem areas, serving under Inquisitors Sikoya, Michaels, Herald, Nebanbearer, and two more who have since been struck from the record.

Though his field service was exemplary, his personal conduct and personality was noted to be a pain point. Common after action reviews of Inquisitor Sijik commended his faith, willingness toward sacrifice, and general fervor even in situations of extreme danger. However, they also noted his extreme paranoia, over-use of force, and excessive reliance on the most brutal and direct methods for information gathering.

Nonetheless, per the recommendation of Legend-Inquisitor Karennian, he was elevated to full Inquisitor and bestowed with the full authority of the Ascendants. However, the Legend-Inquisitor’s recommendation came with that caveat that Sijik was to never operate alone, for in her words: “Sijik is a warhound and weapon. He will not turn away. But all flesh is tainted to his teeth, and his first reaction is to bite and taste blood. He cares not for apology if the blood is proven pure thereafter, only that the foul have been gnashed and butchered. A gentle hand is required for a hound. And a hound is required for gentle hands…”

-Profile: Master-Inquisitor Harraman Sijik

III-50

Predators (I)

Orcs were creatures of cunning and initiative when it came to raids.

Adam told them the details of what was to come; what enemies they had to face; what the objectives were. The orcs, in turn, immediately started organizing themselves into interest groups based on adversary and mission type. 

Special interest needed to be placed upon the adversary. Helix, for once, cared nothing about the Necrotechs. But he did have a special kind of loathing directed toward the First Blood. He was willing to serve and support Shiv for the coming Blackedge liberation mission, but his personal preferences were stated clear and simple.

“I wish to inflict a genocide upon the Bloodspawn for debasing my craft with their incompetence,” Helix declared. Several other orcs called out in accord, sharing a similar desire, while most remained indifferent.

Comparatively, Bonk had eyes mainly for Sullain, and all but begged Shiv for first-hitter’s privilege if they encountered the Legendary Pathbearer.

Then, in between were orcs like Whisper. Whisper ran counter to most orcs in that he didn’t have a favored adversary. Rather, he desired to partake in certain operations. Operations that involved high precision, stealth, and complex environments. Mortar, despite disliking Whisper, also fell into this category—and to Shiv’s surprise, they immediately started sharing notes about these details.

This was where the orcs collective drive toward self-discipline made itself known. Shiv knew humans, goblins, and even elves leaned toward the path of least resistance sometimes. Not so with the orcs. They preferred resistance, and they would do anything to find the most interesting struggles and battles. So much so that they would even work against their natural inclination to be solitary predators and force themselves to collaborate with one another to see things come to fruition.

Adam, Shiv, and Uva watched on in rapt curiosity as the orcs composed themselves into symposiums after the briefly concluded. Most of them departed the Court Levaithan and descended to the camps. And these symposiums were not led by their Heroes or Masters either. In fact, the Skill Tiers mattered little in these matters. The ones who guided these symposiums were the orcs who had the highest cycle-ratios: Years lived per reincarnation cycle.

It was a strange kind of pseudo-seniority that guided the orcs, but Shiv found it to be a strangely brilliant structure. It wasn’t quite a gerontocracy, in which the eldest had the most say. It wasn’t just a tyranny of brute force—as if the orcs were only brute force. It was a reign of the most efficient, guided by the best survivors and sorted among interest areas.

And aside from a formally declared duels or challenges, the orcs largely kept themselves from violence. Instead, they all began collective brainstorming about strategies and potential risks for the challenges ahead. They took things so seriously, that practically every orc had a notebook in their hands that they filled with details and questions. These were discussed, optimized, and then eventually collected by the orc Maestros: said orcs with the best cycle-ratios and the ones who most often served in leadership roles.

The Maestros then further convened among themselves, until a core group remained at the end. Then, finally, a unified document was delivered to Adam approximately eight hours after he finished his brief. The document was about a thousand pages thick, separated into two theaters.

The first was listed as the Surface Front, and it itself was split into campaigns against the Inquisition and the Necrotechs. The second was focused entirely on suppressing and crippling the First Blood. Adam speed-read through the pages, and with each flip of the page, his expression grew paler, and his eyes grew wider.

As he closed the orc’s strategic document, he looked at Shiv and let out a shuddering breath. “Broken Moon. They’re bloody strategists, too. The things in here… I don’t have this experience. The maps they’ve drawn and the plans they have are complex in the extreme.”

“Probably doing it deliberate just to shake you,” Shiv said with a grunt. But from what he managed to glean from the orc’s strategic proposals, he had to agree with Adam. The orcs were smart and experienced monsters. Exactly what Blackedge and the gate might need. But that led to a new problem afterward: How the hells was Shiv going to contain them when this was done?

Shiv, Uva, and Adam had their personal meeting in the captain’s quarters. The room had a desk put back in place, but aside from that, it was mostly a wide chamber of pale bone. And though the walls were supposedly sound-proofed, and the door was fused shut, the team still conducted their conversation telepathically.

Because the Court Leviathan’s crew was most orc now. And there were high Awareness orc Heroes aboard the massive beast as well.

“It’s not just their strategies. They’ve listed probable outcomes. They’ve wargammed battles together—casualty estimates and what it might take to overcome each enemy force. Furthermore, they even have a section on spies. Namely that orcs have no issue betraying each other, and our plans must remain dynamic because nonaffiliated orcs will betray our strategy to another faction if the fighting starts going too well just to make the war last a while longer.”

Uva’s face twisted in an expression of quiet exhaustion at hearing that. “Perhaps it would have been better if I just summoned—”

“No,” Adam interrupted her, his gaze wild with dread. “These orcs give me the shivers, but at least I know how to kill them. At least they can be killed normally. I don’t ever want to see an Outsider again for the rest of my life, if I can help it. Bloody godsdamned nightmares.” He let out a sigh while Shiv and Uva shared a look.

The Recollector had left scars on Adam. That much was obvious to Shiv. The damned thing left marks on Shiv too in that he hated Outsiders and would try to kill them as soon as he laid eyes on them, but he felt the same way about most vampires, too.

He increasingly was feeling more than a little different about the orcs. And not just because their Social Skills working on him.

“I don’t think we should treat the orc like an army,” Shiv said. “It’s not that useful, and they don’t really do centralized commands or have top-heavy society.”

Adam regarded him and frowned. “Explain.”

“So, in all the time I spent with the orcs, I’ve noticed a few things. The first is that they don’t really order each other around. There’s a lot of verbal jabbing. Some spontaneous murders. But I don’t think they care about status as much as we do. Just experiences and struggles.”

“Right,” Adam said, nodding along.

“They also don’t have human morale issues. They want to fight. They’re going to fight. We gave them a direction, so that’s what’s going to happen. But aside from a general recommendation and some basic rules…” Shiv shrugged. “I don’t think it’s that useful. I… I’m thinking of them like an army of well-educated mes, actually.”

That immediate made Adam’s face twist in horror. “Oh, sweet gods.”

“Not quite the same,” Uva said. “They’re more focused and less chaotic than you are.”

“Ouch,” Shiv replied.

“It’s not an explicit criticism,” Uva said, frowning. “I suspect this proposal they have offered is so detailed and overwhelming due to them trying to affect Adam emotionally. Make him feel doubt and inferior. I have observed their interactions with each other as well–and there is an undercurrent of volatility that is being held back.”

“What do you mean?” Adam asked.

“I mean I suspect that a great deal of this is a bit of a show so they can get some collective amusement out of bullying you,” Uva said. “But they aren’t nearly as disciplined and well-structured as they portray. I would say forty percent of the orcs I’ve slipped my strings into already have plans to murder ten or so orcs if we don’t give them someone else to hurt.” Her expression turned curious. “They’re also starving and miserable underneath, and getting more so with every passing moment.”

“Truly?”Adam said. Shiv leaned in as well.

Uva continued relaying her findings. “They feed off harm and cruelty, and it builds each day. It’s like hunger for them. Or thirst. Something they will not be able to resist for overlong. It is only mental at first, but it will wither them physically and soon. I think the orcs do have a general crippling weakness—starvation. They must in-fight or commit to brutality if they wish to stay sane and survive. And that might be our greatest defense against them as well. 

They’re predators. They need a constant stream of prey to be fed and to stay their hand from cruelty. But it will never last. However, if we can contain them, they will turn on each other. This I am almost certain of.”

“Right. But they gotta be contained for that to happen.” Shiv paused. “Or we can also keep them constantly fed.”

“How—oh.” Adam realized what Shiv was talking about. “Well. Your willingness to let these monsters abuse you for Toughness levels has finally proven more useful than mad.”

“Probably also why the Challenger made me Insul,” Shiv added. “I’m renewable pain-food too.”

The Deathless grinned. Both Uva and Adam just stared at him like he was mentally broken.

“Right. Well. We need to deal with the expeditionary force first. I agree with Whisper from what I read of their proposal. We don’t need a large force to defeat the few thousand they are sending. We should ambush and capture their strongest Pathbearers with our Stealth-focused forces first, then crush the rest with an overwhelming display of power.” Adam’s lip curled. “The orcs also promised that they will try to leave some forces alive so that their Psychomancers can mentally break and repurpose the Inquisitors into attacking the Necrotech lines.”

Uva considered that for a moment. “They will do no such thing without my supervision. They cannot be trusted with that much subtle intelligence. I also have questions relating to its efficacy.”

“Not the morality?” Adam deadpanned.

“No,” Uva replied without getting the joke. “Not at all. The ethics of this matter come second to the efficiency. The orcs have Psychomancers among them. But perhaps only five of them are Heroic-Tier Psychomancers, and only two have a non-fused Skill Evolution. Of the two, one seems to be focused on inducing mass psychosis. The other strikes me as a psionic wound of some fashion.”

“But don’t they still have a few hundred Master-Tier Psychomancers?” Shiv asked.

“They do. But consider how many minds I can control at once. Can I mentally direct an army?”

Shiv thought about that. “Well. You can kind of nudge them in place.”

“Correct. My Skill Evolution allows me to possess and direct someone on a deep and near-total level—perhaps a few dozen if my Parallel Thinking is drastically improved, and I level my Psychomancy more. But that is not an army. And we will be facing adversaries with strong Magical Resistance and additional defenses on top of that. They will not be so easy to reshape. The orcs are being over-optimistic at best. We will not be able to field a reliable army of mind-slaves without a Legendary Psychomancer. Even then, I suspect it will take much more time than we have.”

“What about just deploying one or two?” Shiv asked.

“No, that just doesn’t make sense. Even Heroes don’t attack an army alone.”

Shiv did a double-take. “They don’t? Then what the hells were we doing against the Vultegs two days ago.”

“Being desperate idiots instead of Heroes,” Adam replied flatly.

“Worked out for us,” Shiv grinned.

“Yes, you Deathless bastard. Because only one of us was in true danger.” Adam sneered.

“You’re cute when you’re frustrated,” Shiv taunted. He reached out to pinch Adam’s cheek, and the Gate Lord smacked his hand aside.

“Get your hand away from me, you oversized idiot,” Adam snapped.

“You let Bonk squeeze your cheeks,” Shiv complained. “Why don’t I get to? This is bullshit.”

“I didn’t let that bastard do anything. He just pinched me out of nowhere.”

“Yeah. I think he likes you, Adam. I think he wants to be your friend.”

“He needs to stay away from me—”

“Boys,” Uva said, squinting at the two of them. “Focus. Please.”

Shiv nodded in agreement. And tried to pinch Adam with a stream of Vitae anyway. The Gate Lord dodged back and laughed. “I knew you were going to do that!”

“You won’t be able to avoid me forever, Arrow.” Shiv chuckled. “I will infantilize you like the orcs do someday soon.”

“Uva. Reach into Shiv’s mind. The orcs are making him into an even bigger bastard than before.” Adam pointed at Shiv.

The Umbral’s annoyed expression collapsed into one of exasperated amusement. “There is just something about leaving you two next to each other that turns you into children, isn’t there.”

“Yeah,” Shiv said. “I want my turn to bully Adam. The orcs got to.”

Adam formed a Hydrokinetic limb with a middle finger extended. It pressed against Shiv’s face, and the Deathless pretended it wasn’t there at all.

“But back to the matter at hand,” Adam said. “The expeditionary force might be the simplest problem to solve, but we’ll need to hit them soon, or they’ll be in the vicinity of Gate Arrow.”

“Gate what?” Shiv said.

“Yes,” Uva said, staring at Adam. “Gate what?”

“Gate Arrow,” Adam replied, squaring his shoulders. “It’s what the gate is called.”

“Since when, asshole?” Shiv asked sweetly. “Uva, did you agree that the gate should be called Gate Arrow.”

“No,” Uva replied, staring at Adam without ever blinking. “There has been no discussion pertaining to the name of the gate. Of this, I am sure.”

Adam shuffled awkwardly. “Well, I’m using it as a placeholder for now.”

“In place of what?” Shiv asked. “Because I just called it the gate. And that worked fine with me”

“Well, if we take another gate, for instance—” Adam began.

“What other gate? Do you think I can go out and take another gate? And why aren’t we calling this Gate Shiv?”

“Are you the Gate Lord?” Adam asked. “Did you kill the Recollector?”

“No, I just did most of the fighting, suffering, and struggling,” Shiv said, pretending to concede the point. “But I see your point. Uva. We can call the gate Gate Arrow. So long as Adam calls me grandma.”

“What?” Adam said, his jaw dropping open.

“Because I gave birth to your mom, dumbshit.”

Uva covered her mouth as she hid her laughter.

Adam shoved a finger in Shiv’s face. “I’m not calling you grandma. The very idea is… is… repulsive and wrong. And you didn’t give birth to my mother! Stop claiming that. It’s disgusting.”

“Well, I’m not calling the gate Gate Arrow. How about Gate Asshole?”

“How about we focus and deal with—” Uva frowned as Shiv and Adam continued arguing. A sigh escaped her. “Perhaps we are no better than the orcs. Maybe even worse.”

“What do you call the tower?” Shiv asked. “Do you got a name for it yet? Did you name it Adam’s Actual Penis?”

“Oh, I thought of that, Shiv, but I realized that Gate Arrow wouldn’t be big enough to fit such a worthy structure.” Adam replied through clenched teeth.

“It would also be inside you,” Uva commented. Both Shiv and Adam paused to look at her. “If he named the tower based on his genitals. Because it would put it inside Gate Adam, you see.”

Adam cringed in disgust. Shiv placed his hands on his knees and laughed. “Yeah. Let’s do that. I can accept that. Gate Arrow it is. So long as—”

“No,” Adam said aloud. “We can discuss the name of the gate. Just let this go.”

“I’m never forgetting this shit,” Shiv breathed at Adam. There was almost lust in his breath from how much he relished the awkwardness of this moment. “Never.”

“You best forget it,” Adam shot back. “Or I’ll name it Gate Shiv after all. And guess who my—”

Adam choked before he could finish the threat. Shiv considered it for a moment and frowned.

Uva, however, looked between them and her face developed into a faint smile. “That’s not exactly the dynamic I’ve imagined, but I can accept that.”

“What?” Adam gasped.

“What?” Shiv muttered.

Uva didn’t elaborate. “Regardless. Now that we’ve had our moment of levity, we should figure our most essential matters. First: How we are to move the orcs through the gate without them running into any of the people. Second, how they will be used.”

“I think the First Blood is simple,” Shiv said. “We just let as many orcs out of the Abyssal Gate as we want. Let them do whatever they want on First Blood territory. They can maraud and keep ruining the vampires lives. Easy for us.”

“And can we be sure that the orcs will only raid the vampires?” Uva asked Shiv as she fixed him with a piercing stare.

The Deathless considered that for a beat. “Uh…”

“Because I can see the orcs ‘happening’ upon villages and other peoples in the wilderness. I can see them overindulging. They will be destructive. But I want them channeled and focused. And I will not have any of my sisters or mothers go missing mysteriously while on patrol.”

“Right. So. Supervision.” Adam nodded. “We need someone to supervise and make sure they come back for missions. Maybe do rotations?”

Uva frowned. “Maybe just someone to make sure they don’t cross over into our territory. Or anywhere near Weave for that matter.”

“I can try to threaten them some more,” Shiv said.

“You can’t punish millions of orcs, Shiv,” Uva replied. “Direct threats are not going to be so useful either. Tyranny just makes one hide their actions. We need to offer incentives to guide their behavior.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think they’re going to be better than them at that,” Shiv shook his head. “They read us easier than we read them. I don’t think that’s a struggle that’s good for us. It’s why I’ve been trying to keep them focused on me.”

“We’re likely going to need to think about the Abyssal Theater more,” Adam said. “But the surface should be more straightforward. We need the Necrotechs to be strained. Overwhelmed. I need their forces sapped and for Sullain to be distracted as well. Getting through their fortifications will take more than a few orcs, and even the gray-skins expect it to take upward of a million casualties if they wish to open a path to Blackedge and hold Sullain’s focus.”

“You’re not worried about them spreading across the surface?” Uva asked.

“No,” Shiv answered. “There really isn’t much nearby but the Necrotechs. I guess they can try raiding towns or cities or pick a fight with the massive monsters that live under the waters of the Pacific, but Sullain’s right there. And they want to be in my graces. They want to be favored.”

“So this should have minimal risk,” Adam said. “What I don’t want to do is this suggestion.” Adam flipped the pages of the orc’s battle proposals to a graph depicting a camp being built outside the Surface Gateway.

“Why not?” Shiv asked with narrowed eyes. “Looks good to me. It lets them move around easier up top—lets them guard our gate on the outside, too.”

“It also lets them conduct a potential pincer on the gate if anything happens.” Adam closed the document for emphasis. “They can squeeze us from two directions if they manage to amass enough forces. No. We have the gateways manned by the Arachnae Order or even dimensionals. Never orcs.”

“Alright. But how are we going to move them from place to place?” Shiv asked. “I know we got a bunker built over the Tutorial Gateway. We can’t just have them moved in groups. It’ll take days for them to get anywhere.”

“Teleportation anchors,” Adam answered. “We built a massive teleportation anchor over all the gateways. It’s… not efficient. Not for movement or mana. But we will be able to teleport the orcs across the insides of the gate between these anchors. Maybe a few hundred at a time.”

Shiv remembered how hard Bonk hit him. “You know that’s not going to be enough to hold a good number of them, right?”

“Right. So we need to supervise the Heroes personally.”

“I do,” Shiv corrected. He tried to imagine leaving Uva and Adam alone with the orc Heroes. He didn’t want to. “I’ll be there when the orc Heroes need to move.”

“Wise,” Uva said.

“We will test this strategy out soon,” Adam said. “We’ll move you, Uva, the orc Stealth and interception forces over to the Surface Gate. Then, we move on Sijik and his elite Inquisitors while the orcs break the rest of the expeditionary force. After that…” Adam pressed his lips together. “After that, we go in two directions. I want skirmishers to go after the rest of the Inquisition—and Stormhalt. I want the City-Lord alive and for questioning. But the bulk of the orcs will be dedicated to pushing the Necrotechs back and keeping Sullain at bay. Between them and my father, we should get an opening to start relieving Blackedge.”

“Alright. I’ll go wrangle the orcs first,” Shiv said. “See if I can add a few more incentives before we leave.”

“Ah,” Adam said, his eyes widening. “On that note, Can Hu says his functions seem to be improving after your treatment. That he managed to gain a Toughness level from falling.”

“Really?” Shiv grinned. “That’s pretty good? Does that mean he’s going to be fixed with some more levels?”

“Valor is uncertain,” Adam continued. “Can Hu still has severe soul damage, but he isn’t nearly as broken as he was before. On that note, they are currently in the upper levels of the gateway containment bunker.”

“Yeah, about that, can we name the bunker something like Adam’s—”

“Shiv. Don’t start with me again.” Adam cut him off. “Can Hu wants to start up a factory inside your cape. And he will be able to now since you have a Category One dimension there. I’m thinking that Valor, Uva, and some of the orcs can probably use that as a transportation point as well. The first project we should prioritize is building a teleporter inside your cape as well.”

And that gave Shiv ideas. “Wait. Can you teleport outside a gate?”

“You can. It just takes a great deal of mana which… The core might be able to provide? I’m not sure. I haven’t had enough time to discover its limits.”

“So, if it can, why don’t I just go around dropping orcs off across combat zones?”

Adam’s mouth opened, but then he closed it shortly thereafter. “Huh. That… We’re dealing with multiple layers of Dimensionality, but it is possible. Theoretically. That might even be efficient. Though it could put the dimension at risk. We can discuss this with Can Hu and Valor soon. I’m sure they’ll have more insights. And maybe they’ll be done with my rapier soon, too.”

Shiv remembered Adam still had equipment that needed reforging. “Hells. I forgot about that. Let’s take a look. I wanna see just what kind of weapon gets made from my kukri, your rapier, and Confriga’s sword.”

***

Equipment Obtained: [Rapier of the Myriad Selves]

Tier: Heroic

Condition: Perfect

Composition: Stellarite; Bone Adamantine; Arcanite

Enchantments > User-Duplication; Pyromancy 70; Self-Sharpening; Self-Mending; Self-Shaping; Master Speed Amplification; Master Temporal Warding; Spatial Warding; Conduit of Dawn; Chrono-Clone Anchoring; Master Magic Amplification

Adam held his new rapier high and grinned at his reflection. It was a length of adamantine edged with prismatic arcanite that was finally edged with golden mana. Shiv could feel a dense amount of Chronomancy infusing the blade, and felt a slight twinge of envy at how good the weapon was.

Nearby, Can Hu looked better than ever before. The Penitent’s joints still squeaked when it moved, but not nearly as loud as before. The cracks on his chassis were fading as well.

“This reforging went smoother than anticipated,” Can Hu said, gesturing at the blade. “Both broken weapons shared many similar enchantments, and the mana melded easily. The same case stands true for the material as well. Stellarite called to stellarite, with only the arcanite and bone adamantine hilt proving a challenge to shape.”

“Remarkable,” Adam breathed. He swung his blade through the air, and it left a trail of Chronomancy in its wake. He flourished. The blade flashed. A dozen more Adam appeared around him, each sharing his expression. However, rather than just being the old clones, Adam’s new clones were infused with a hint of Chronomancy within them. And it wasn’t just Shiv that noticed. Adam was eyeing his clones as well, and before they vanished, he waved his blade—and he blinked into the clone’s place, removing them entirely.

Shiv narrowed his eyes as he watched the Chronomancy mana within the clone shatter outright from the Chrono-Clone Anchoring transition. It was a bit like Shiv’s Chrono-Anchored Strike, but more fragile feeling. Fainter.

“Huh,” Adam said, looking at himself. His blade’s golden glow grew brighter and brighter. “This seems—” He blinked back to where he was before. “—useful.” Adam looked around and frowned. “I… shifted back to where I was.”

“You did,” Shiv said. “Seems to be a bit different from my anchored strike. Temporary. There’s Chronomancy in all your clones, but you remove them by jumping to them, and the blade resets you back to your original position after a while anyway.”

Adam regarded the rapier again, but then nodded. “Not bad. Might even be better for me.”

“I am glad it pleases you,” Can Hu said. “Now. I have expended the remainder of the former Gate Lord’s arcanite toward the forging of the crystalline armor. It’s merging has proven effective as well.”

The Penitent staggered over to a nearby stand and pulled off its cover. Underneath was a set of prismatic armor that resembled glass in terms of texture. Most importantly, Shiv had a slightly hard time focusing on the armor. As if it was pushing away at his focus somehow.

Uva, meanwhile, had little issue walking right up and examining it.

Equipment Obtained: [Veil of the Silent Caster]

Tier: Heroic

Condition: Perfect

Composition: Arcanite; Focus Crystal

Enchantments > Heroic Magic Amplification; Temporal Warding; Spatial Warding; Invisibility; Awareness Warding; Lagged Spells; Illusory Mana Field; Spell Priming; Self-Repairing

“I suspect the original wearer of this armor might have been more Shadow than mage,” Uva commented.

Shiv and Adam stared at the armor beside her. Sweat beaded on Adam’s brow as he forced himself to look at the armor. “Shit,” Shiv breathed. “I don’t know what half these enchantments do, but it’s kind of hard to focus on the armor.”

“What the hells is Awareness Warding?” Adam groaned. “Trying to look at this makes me feel ill.”

“I am not certain,” Uva said. She pressed her hand against the armor, and then slipped one of her mana strands into the armor thereafter. “But I intend to find out very soon.”

“Alright, then,” Shiv said. “I think it's time for us to get ready for a field test.”

“Pathbearer Shiv,” Can Hu said. “I have a request—”

“Get in the cape,” Shiv said, not wasting time. “You too, Valor. I wanna see how our new toys work in a high-stress situation.”

“Our?” Adam asked.

He converted his own bone armor into a spellpattern rendering with a flash of crimson mana. Adam’s eyes widened as Shiv grinned at him. “Yeah. Our. I got some biomass to assimilate. “ Then, he reached into his cape and pulled out a dead basilisk’s venom gland—a gland he fed to one of his mana hydras before fusing that with his armor’s spell pattern. “Maybe more than some.”