III-39 Animated (II)

Reviewing the last few chapters: we know there are two kinds of mana cores, artificial and natural. Most mana cores fall into the natural category. These cores usually serve as the foundations for gates, as it requires a significant amount of mana clashing between two worlds to truly begin the process of crystallizing a mana core. On top of this, there also must be an unfolding narrative happening between the worlds. An incursion, migration, or other events will feed a gate’s mana core, and over years, it will finally stabilize and become a dimensional space unto itself.

A golem's mana core is, on the surface, not so different than the mana core of a gate. However, when observed at a micro-level, there are several significant factors where a golem deviates from a gate. 

The first is quite simply the amount of mana required. Forging a golem requires a paltry amount of mana compared to that of a gate. However, crystallizing the golem also requires something in particular, Psychomancy. Psychomancy paired with Physicality, for the golem is meant to be an embodied entity—something that interfaces with the world around it, rather than expanding its own dimensional borders and therefore becoming an encompassing world unto itself.

And despite the golem's comparatively paltry mana requirements, it needs to have an active mana field to function, which necessitates the development of a Magical Skill as well. This is not the same as using Psychomancy to crystallize the core. That will not give the core a Psychomancy Skill. Indeed, if you know anything regarding golems, you will understand that non-physical golems—i.e. Golems that do not directly affect the physical world, are the hardest golems to create of all.

And this is not even getting to the actual difficulty of completing a golem’s creation.

Just like with a golem, the stabilization of its mana core requires events to transpire. Events and experiences, and not the same kind as a gate’s mana core. A golem requires a personality to be modeled on. This process takes years and is why most golems behave so animalistically—with it being easier to impart an animal personality model upon a golem. Pairing this with the aforementioned Magical Skill requirement means the nurturing of a golem often takes far too long to be worthwhile for most, even if the golem can develop and evolve on its own in the long term…

-The Practicalities and Limitations of Golemancy, Essential Coursework for MAG-TECH 210 at Phoenix Academy

III-39

Animated (II)

Shiv stared at his Woundeater-infused bone drill. The bone-drill looked back at him, using its tip as an “eye.” His vitality was vanishing fast, so he reeled the drill in with a strand of Vitaemancy and clutched the drill as tight to him as he could. This way, he fueled it while minimizing vitality loss. 

As he gripped the drill, it did not strike him, it did not slam into his head, nor did it use the Biomancy infused within it against Shiv in any way. Rather, it merely existed. A vibrant clash of red and white hues danced around its length, while veins of blood and tissue dripped free from the drill’s surface.

“Well,” Shiv breathed. “At least you’re better behaved than the Gravitic Wrestler drill.”

Shiv tentatively felt around the insides of the bone-drill. He used his Vitaemancy to search for the Animated Skill Infusion he bestowed upon the weapon. But the skill felt constrained somehow. Shiv got the sense that the skill was uncomfortable, and that the shape it embodied was unnatural.

Like… it doesn’t want to be a drill, he thought to himself.

As he studied the drill, he also observed a translucent dot present at the middle of its length. That was what Uva noted earlier with her Psychomancy, and now he saw it too. Shiv reached into the drill’s pocket of thought with his mind, and prepared to discover just how sapient this once-inanimate object really was.

His mind-mana swirled down and sank into that small, translucent dot. Moments thereafter, Shiv felt a connection form between him and the drill. He was also linked to Valor and Uva's well, and he could feel their anticipation climb alongside his own as they awaited a response.

"I am what?" the drill asked again. The way its thoughts washed into Shiv was faint, weak. It felt like grains of sand cast through the wind, dissolving too fast to attain any wholeness. Comparatively, Uva and Valor’s thoughts were solid. The drill was an echo of a mind, and a fast-fading one at that. Shiv instinctively gave it a bit more vitality, and though it grew brighter with mana, its mind never felt any stronger.

"Are you alive?" Shiv asked the bone drill.

"Am I alive?" the bone drill asked him in return.

Shiv frowned at that. "Okay. Weird. So. Why'd one of you slam into my face earlier?"

"Why did I slam myself into your face earlier?"

“Not you, the last drill.”

“The last drill?” it replied.

“It seems to mimic your words and concepts slightly. But it goes no further than that.” Can Hu’s optics blinked. “It reminds me of badly damaged automata. Scrambled of thoughts and functionality.”

Shiv narrowed his eyes at the drill. “What do you want? Do you want to kill me?”

“Do I want to kill you?” the drill asked. “I’m a what?”

“What is with this thing?” Shiv asked. Then, he caught a hint of a feeling—an impulse behind the drill’s words. Shiv reached in deeper with his Psychomancy and he found an urge there, for it to be rejoined with his vitality. “Huh. Maybe that’s why the last drill crashed into me. It was trying to get back. But why didn’t you just reach out?”

“Maybe because it could not,” Valor said, his voice heavy with consideration. “Your last drill moved freely of its own accord with its gravitic field. This drill seems lost and confused.”

Shiv nodded. “Yeah. But why?”

Shiv cut off his flow of Psychomancy briefly, and he watched as the red and white aura painting the bone drill began to evaporate. As the infusion dissolved, its Biomancy pulsed and a chain of what looked like lacerations manifested all around the bone drill before the last of its Vitae faded.

"This is just godsdamn strange," Shiv muttered. “No idea what’s up with this thing.”

"A Unique Skill begets unique results," Valor commented, "and this, my friend, is a result more unique than any I've seen before. To create a golem from a skill itself is unprecedented. Since you have attained the skill, there must be a relationship between your skill infusion, your Vitaemancy, and the creation of a living construct. The question is how. How can a golem exist when there is no mana core.”

“It's wrapped inside my vitae, isn't it?” Shiv replied. “My Vitae is a combination of both my vitality and my soul. So, using the infused skill as a catalyst or something, maybe it's sustaining itself temporarily? Or something? I don’t know, Valor. I’m just guessing here.”

"No. Do not apologize. This is quite good, Shiv. Good thoughts. That is very possibly what might actually be happening. Let's use this as our primary theory right now and continue our test.”

As Shiv infused a new drill into a Woundeater, they had Uva cast her Psychomancy into it to see if she could manipulate its “mind.” For few moments she rooted in its depths. Then she shook her head. "It's like a shadow of a person. It is purely reactive. Any decision it makes is on impulse. It has a set of chaotic memories I cannot make sense of. They’re all related to injuries.”

“Injuries?” Shiv asked. “Like. Injuries consumed by my Woundeaters.”

The Umbral blinked in consideration. “Perhaps so. Yes, that might be it. Despite this, it will not respond to me. It’s like it cannot understand my commands.”

“Huh,” Shiv said. “Let me try something. Hey, drill.”

The drill shifted in his grasp. 

"Do you know that you're a drill?" Shiv asked.

"I'm a what?" the drill responded.

Uva joined in. "Why didn't you respond to me when I sent you a thought?" she asked.

"Thought?" the drill replied, sounding absolutely lost about what she was talking about. Sounding absolutely lost.

Shiv tried explaining things further to see if he could get the drill to respond in a new way. "You're a drill. You're my bone drill. I infused a skill in you and now you’re talking to us using my voice.”

"I'm a bone drill," the drill said, with utmost confidence. "You infused a skill into me, and now I am speaking to you using your voice.”

"Remarkable," Valor breathed. "It's like a-" Valor cut himself off. "No, not a child. More like a puppet. A puppet and a parrot, both. Try to command it, Shiv."

And Shiv did. "Go out fifty meters and come back."

But the drill just shook. Blood and cancerous tissue leaked from it as it splattered against the ground. Shiv repeated his command. And the drill continued to be dormant.

“It can’t understand your orders at all,” Uva said. There’s nothing there in its mind that corresponds to what you just said.

“Why?” Shiv said.

Uva regarded the drill again. “Have it perform an act related to Biomancy.”

Shiv grunted. “Drill. Regenerate or something.” This time, the drill responded. Shiv felt his Vitae burn itself fast as a dense layer of cancerous growths formed around the bone. “Stop,” Shiv said, shaking his head from the sudden coldness he felt. “Damn, that sucks up a lot of Vitaemancy.”

“But we know one thing now,” Uva said, gesturing at the drill. “It can be ordered to perform actions related to your skill.”

“Related to the skill…” Valor said. “Wait. Then, maybe it doesn’t really have a mind.” The Legendary Pathbearer thought for a beat before he continued. “Shiv. Try to detach your Animated Skill Infusion from yourself. But don’t infuse it into a physical object this time.”

“What? Just push it out of my body with the Vitae somehow?” Shiv asked.

“Yes,” Valor said. “See if that is possible. I think what we are doing wrong here is that we are treating the drill as a physical vessel. But your Vitae is already solid. It's as hard as adamantine and exhibits aspects from your other skills. Just release your Vitaemancy and let it exist of its own accord.”

“Okay,” Shiv breathed. “I’ll try.”

Once again, he reached into himself, connecting his Vitae to his Woundeater Skill. As soon as he gained the Woundeater Animated Skill Infusion, he summoned a swirl of Vitae atop his hand, and he concentrated on separating it from himself—

An explosion of Vitae blasted out of Shiv. He immediately felt part of himself break free. There was no struggle in parting the Animated Skill Infusion this time. It split immediately, without resistance. The suddenness of the separation caught Shiv by surprise, and he let out a cry as he felt his vitality plunge.

Vitaemancy 58 > 59

Golemancy 1 > 4

Shiv was cold. Very cold. Weakness overtook him, as he stumbled back Uva caught him and folded around his body. Shiv let out an exhausted groan as he settled against her. The world around him spun. There were spots in his vision. 

As he looked up, he blinked as he found Uva's to resemble a sloping curve. Her head was like a spoon and her colorful eyes were folding over his face like the lip of a cave, regarding him with concern. "Are you all right," she asked. 

The rest of her body was shaped akin to a lounge chair, from structure to comfort. Shiv shuffled in her embrace.

"Yeah," Shiv replied. "Uva, your physicality is—”

“Strange?" She answered on his behalf, slightly tasting a slight hint of self-consciousness from her hand. He shook his head. "No, it's really comfortable. How many other forms can you shape yourself into?"

She blinked. "I have not had the luxury of time to test the extent of this skill."

"Maybe later," Shiv whispered.

"Maybe later," she replied.

"Maybe later," a third voice joined them. And just then, Shiv let out a gasp. He shot back to his feet with a pull of his gravitic field. But just as he balled his fists, his mind went blank with surprise. Standing across from him was a humanoid shape glistening with streams of red and white mana—the color of his Vitae. At its core was a glimmering Woundeater bearing a long chain of crystallized injuries. Still, it was the humanoid that commanded Shiv's attention, however. It was the same height as him, it was the same size as him. The contours of its body resembled his, but it lacked any distinct features. It was also dissolving before his very eyes—the Vitae that composed it rising into the air like vapor.

“Holy shit.” Shiv gawked at the Vitae Golem. Shiv awkwardly held out an arm, his Vitae golem stared at him. It also extended an arm, mirroring his actions.

Shiv then focused on the golem, commanding it to put down its arm with a thought, and it responded.

"All right," Shiv breathed, "what else can you do?"

"What else can I do?" the golem asked.

“Still not a very good conversationalist,” Uva commented dryly. “But it definitely looks like you.”

“Structural composition unknown,” Can Hu said, using his Analyze Skill on the golem.

Shiv commanded the golem to stand still as he walked over and placed a hand upon its shoulder. Its Vitae-formed form was as hard as adamantine and possessed an inertial sheath just like Shiv. Moreover, he could feel its Biomancy mana grinding against him as well. As he ran his hand across the golem, its Vitae began to melt back across into his body of its own accord. 

“Whoa,” Shiv said, surprised at the sudden rush of vitality re-entering his person. A blast of warmth swelled inside him. A second thereafter, the golem splashed back into him. Once more, his Animated Skill Infusion returned to his possession.

Animated Skill Infusion Gained: Biomancy — Woundeater 90 (Master)

“Feels much more natural than just shoving it inside a drill,” Shiv said.

“Because this is likely its natural state,” Valor said. “Still… I’ve never seen someone absorb a golem into themselves.”

“Yeah,” Shiv chuckled. “Me neither. Frankly, I don’t know the first thing about golems, Valor.”

“I am beginning to have a hard time calling what you just created a pure golem. It is more akin to a… puppet dichotomous soul.” Shiv blinked as he spun to face Valor, and the Legendary Pathbearer intercepted his question. “Indeed. Like what I could do. The splitting of a single soul into different but dichotomous vessels. Vessel that we inhabit and use at the same time. What I think you have here, though, is a limited lifeform shaped from the legends contained within a skill granted animation by your Vitae.”

“Any idea why I can do that?” Shiv asked.

“I am not sure. But since Sullain was aware of my son’s experiments, I suspect it has to do with resurrection. And this resurrection now applies to creating a partially living skill. This is likely the reason why you managed to bring back Lady Van Erren as well. You didn’t just animate a Skill with which you evolved, you animated your soul, and since she was trapped in your Outside Context Problem Skill somehow—wait, can you infuse yourself with your Unique Skills?”

“Good question,” Shiv said. He activated his Outside Context Problem and briefly vanished from reality for a moment. Valor and the others reacted with brief surprise, while Shiv tried to find the skill. Yet, despite it being active, he couldn’t locate it. There wasn’t a ripple or disruption. It was just active. “Not unlike my Vitaemancy. I’m using that skill too, and I can’t feel it at all.”

He remanifested before everyone in a burst of Vitae and shook his head. “Can’t find the skills. Are Unique Skills hidden from Animancy too?”

Valor flinched back in surprise before remembering who Shiv was and answering the question. “No. In fact, Animancy is the most common way some people make their skills Unique-Tier. You cannot find yours?”

“Nope. Other skills give off a ripple. My Unique Skills can’t be felt at all.”

“Strange. But also exciting. The fact that you can a golem from your very soul is already a wonder. Golems usually take a great amount of time to build. The composition of their mana cores is not the hard part. Shaping their attuned mana and mental template, however, is immensely time-consuming. Natural golems are more common than artificial ones for that reason. But what you can do is some else entirely.”

“I fought elemental golems before. Crushed their cores. They had bodies of stone, fire, water, lightning… All that was connected to the core, huh?”

“Indeed,” Valor said, trying to understand what Shiv was trying to figure out.

“Well, my Vitae golem feels different. I can’t tell if the skill is the core of the attuned mana. Because it’s wrapped in my Vitae. It's sustained by vitality. But something about it feels like it's built different. Like the skills are more like recordings of stuff that happened in the past rather than a direct copy of the skill.”

That got Valor thinking as well. “Yes. The Poetry Skill had the ground and your soul reciting lines. Lines from the past.”

“Lines spoken by my pilot,” Can Hu said.

“It is a resurrection of a past event,” Valor said. “A repetition. Then, the Woundeater infused within the drill could not perform the same actions as that which was empowered by Gravitic Wrestler.”

“Because I never did use Woundeater to really move around before,” Shiv muttered to himself. “Okay. Yeah. Maybe. Wait, let’s do something else.”

"Shiv," Uva said, sounding slightly nervous, "why do you have that look on your face?"

"Don't worry about it," Shiv replied, as he used his Vitae to dip down into his Inertial Overdrive Skill. "I'm just going to find out if I can outsource some of the suicide bombings I do."

“Composer, this cannot end well,”

Can Hu stared at Shiv. "I regret mentioning that term to you earlier."

"Don't," Shiv replied. "You were an inspiration to me, Can Hu."

"Your praise fills me with shame," Can Hu responded.

"What do you mean by outsource?"

The Penitent got his answer, as Shiv created a new Vitae Golem. This one vibrated constantly, its body shaking, as if it was about to rupture from an overload of kinetic energy. Its insides quivered, the inertial overdrive skill resembling a sphere of compressed force. A sphere that constantly pulsed in and out, as if it was trying to burst free and detonate.

"What am I?" the golem asked.

"You are a suicide bomber," Shiv told it gleefully.

"I am a suicide bomber," the golem agreed with mutual enthusiasm.

“Composer," Uva said as she pinched her nose. "This is not good."

Shiv began to laugh—then Valor started chuckling as well. "Now, this is wonderful. The amount of things we can do. The experimentation we can run."

Can Hu studied Shiv's vibrating golem for a moment longer, before he shuffled behind Uva. Immediately, she brought her shield in front of her as protection, and Shiv gave her a thumbs up. She just frowned in response. "Shiv, please don't blow us up."

"Oh, it's not us I intend to blow up," he replied. A feral grin spread across his face. "Hey, suicide bomber."

The golem stared at him. "Yes."

"Charge the Abyssal Gateway, and spike yourself as many times as you can before discharging your Inertial Overdrive."

The golem charged off without hesitation. However, it didn't spike itself. It simply ran, even though it was coated in Vitae. Even though the Vitae shrouding its body possessed Shiv's gravitic field, the golem didn’t launch itself through the air. Instead, it just ran. Never once did it use its gravitic field to travel. Still, Inertial Overdrive made it faster with every step. Just before it dissolved, the golem discharged all the built-up kinetic energy it amassed. 

The golem vanished in a small explosion of force, casting fragments of dissolving Vitae everywhere.

Shiv frowned slightly. "Okay. So. It did half of what I wanted it to do. I think it’s because of my skill.”

“Explain.” Valor didn’t sound confused. From his tone, it was more like he wanted to hear Shiv's conclusion.

“It knows how to move based on my Inertial Overdrive Skill. It remembers moving faster. But even if it had a gravitic field, it doesn’t know how because it doesn’t have the skill.”

“I suspect the same thing,” Valor said. “I think it is time we progress with our experiment.”

“See if we can stack two skills in the same golem?”

“Indeed.”

“Got it,” Shiv breathed. But before that. He cast out his vitae and started draining some vitality from another basilisk. As he refilled the warmth combusting within his soul, he started shaping a new golem. 

He planted the Inertial Overdrive Skill Infusion within the golem at first. And as soon as he separated from it, he reached into his Gravitic Wrestler Skill for a new infusion and then dipped a strand of Vitae into the golem. Shiv released his Gravitic Wrestler Skill Infusion within the golem, and to his satisfaction, it coexisted with the Inertial Overdrive Skill. There was a cost to the additional infusion, however: The Vitae sustaining his golem was consumed even faster than before.

"Shit," Shiv breathed, "it looks like infusing more skills increases the amount of Vitae it takes to sustain you, huh?"

The golem just stared at him. "It takes Vitae to sustain me?" it asked.

“Maybe I need to get an Intelligence Skill for you to do anything more than ask questions. Wait, Poetry had you talking.”

“Social Skills probably make a difference on the conversational front,” Valor theorized. “But the fact that you can mix infusions indicates that you can create mixed-skill golem.”

“Yeah. It just spends a bit more Vitae.” Shiv grunted, then a vicious smile crawled over his face as he pointed toward the Abyssal Gateway. "Alright, bomber. Spike yourself ten times and then blast yourself towards the gateway.

And this time, the golem did surge off toward the horizon. It blasted across the air, spiking itself over and over, going faster and faster. The sound barrier broke against the golem by the ninth spike of acceleration, and an emission of Vitae painted its trajectory. the Golem drew one last time on its gravitic field before it finally discharged its Inertial Overdrive. A second explosion occurred before the abyssal gateway, and this one was not a small pop. A three-hundred-meter wide blast swept across the front of the Abyssal Gateway. Chunks of rock and more began to rain down from above.

Shiv threw up a fist. “I can make my soul do suicide bombings for me!”

“Incredible!” Valor cried with equal glee.

Can Hu and Uva stared, wordless.

And that wasn’t all.

Vitaemancy 59 > 60

Golemancy 4 > 5

Inertial Overdrive 112 > 113

Gravitic Wrestler 143 > 144

Shiv’s eyes widened at the notification. “Valor. The skills I infused leveled as well.”

“Have they?” Valor asked. “Inertial Overdrive and Gravitic Wrestler?”

“Yeah.”

“That is odd. But then again, so are you—and your golems. That might indicate a more direct connection. It could be that your infusion caused this. But considering the time you gained these levels, I suspect that the deeds performed by your golem have been attributed to you.”

“And that’s not normal?”

“No. Golems are usually their own entities. But now there seems to be a crossover between—” Valor paused. The flames within his eye sockets flickered. “Oh. Oh, no.”

Shiv noticed the drop in Valor’s tone and frowned. “What? What’s wrong?”

Valor hesitated for a moment before he started talking again. "These golems… They're strange. Your core is not the composition of its being, as you theorized earlier. Your Vitae is their main driver, it seems. The Skill Infusions, however, guides everything they can do. It's almost like they are replicators or repetitive reenactors of events that happened before."

"Resurrections of past moments related to the skill," Shiv said.

“Past moments bound to a skill,” Valor muttered. “So. Vicar Sullain has your Vitae. And he is an Omnimancer. And he only gained that Skill after he fused his Animancy to all the other magical Skills he had. And if your Vitaemancy golems work by resurrecting feats recorded in the history of a skill… He might be able to recreate an Animancy Core.”

Shiv blinked. His mood went from excitement to a plunging dread. “Oh, shi—”

***

"Shit!" Adam roared. He slammed his fist down on the table. He did it several more times until the table shattered into splinters, casting wood about the room. “Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!”

"Yeah," Shiv replied. "I kind of reacted the same way.”

Nearby, the orcs watched Adam’s breakdown with wry amusement writ upon their faces. They were on the ground level of the obsidian tower where they had the briefing a few days ago. New boards had been dragged in with battle maps of Lost Angeles partially drawn upon them. There was also a mess of books and other files scattered across the floor. Scattered, because the desk they were just on was reduced to something less than rubble beneath Adam’s fist.

"Why?" Adam cried. "Why must you always do this?"

"Really, you're blaming me?" Shiv replied, partially offended.

"Yes, I'm blaming you. It's because of your bullshit. You are bullshit. Your skills are bullshit. And it is because you’re bullshit that this bullshit happens to us!” Adam's tone was more exasperated than genuine anger. "You keep evolving stranger and stranger skills. What was the point of everything we did with that Animancy Core?"

“We managed to kill the Recollector,” Shiv replied.

Adam opened his mouth and then he shrugged. “Yes. That was useful. But now Sullian has a replacement.”

“Potentially,” Valor said. “This is just a theory. And one that he will have to uncover on his own without a renewable source of Vitae. Or someone that can naturally wield it.”

“Right. Potentially.” Adam let out a breath. “But he can still control it. He managed to capture Shiv’s exploding Vitae with his Omnimancy. What’s to stop him from shaping it himself?

“A great many factors. I suspect his ability to manipulate Shiv’s Vitae is because he has power over Animancy and a Vitality Manipulation Skill. But his understanding will not be natural, and he will need to perform a very specific series of actions to discover what we have. Shiv only learned of this while repairing Can Hu.”

“So. Ideally, he might not discover this at all?” Adam asked.

“It is important never to be overly optimistic,” Valor replied. The Gate Lord groaned. “He had contact with my son. And so he must have some suspicion about how Vitae functions. But it is also very possible that the Vitae he clutched is too damaged by Necromancy to function the same way. Or that it has dissipated entirely by this point. Shiv’s golems constantly expend vitality to exist, after all. But it is best to be sure. And best that we strike at the Vicar first, in case he learns to make use of the gift he possesses.”

“Right,” Adam sighed. He gestured at Oldsmith’s notebook that was splayed open on the floor. “Well. He isn’t our only problem. The Inquisition is dispatching a force to our gate. They’re looking for the core, too. I’ve tried to delay them with excuses and partial truths, but Sijik has run out of patience. Pretending to be Oldsmith isn’t going to be helpful for much longer, as the Inquisitor has named the Master-Advisor a traitor to the Republic and demands that the automaton meet with him at Fortress-City Diego within the next three days.”

“And I don’t have Oldsmith as a Perfect Semblance anymore,” Shiv said.

Adam nodded. “It wouldn’t be that useful anyway. Oldsmith was spent. We’re going to have to deal with a small army of republic soldiers ourselves first before the main Inquisitorial force arrives.”

Uva cocked her head. “This sounds less a problem to me and more an opportunity.” Everyone turned to look at her, and Adam in particular looked curious about what she had to say. “The expeditionary force will not be large, I suspect. We should scout them out first. Learn about their composition and intentions. And then it might be useful for Shiv and me to assume a role in their force. He with his mask. Me with my Psychomancy.”

The Psychomancer walked over to the board, picked up a marker, and drew a line between the Inquisition and Vicar Sullain items. “Additionally, I think it would be best if we can trigger an engagement between the dispatched expeditionary force and the Necrotechs.”

“I concur,” Whisper said, offering Uva a nod. “This might also give you an opening. If the Inquisition and the Necrotechs find themselves in active conflict, they will have to divert forces to face each other—and we might have a window to access Blackedge, then.”

Adam narrowed his eyes as he contemplated the suggestions. “Yes. That might work. But we’ll need to hit the Inquisition’s forward deployment first. There’s no guarantee we’ll be able to stop them in a direct engagement, either. A small dispatch separated from an army one hundred thousand strong could be a few hundred Master-Tier Pathbearers.”

“Afraid of a little fight?” Mortar taunted with a laugh.

The Gate Lord glared at the orc. “Of the fight? No. But I would prefer not to kill any loyal soldiers of the Republic who are here just because of—”

The ground beneath them shook. The vibration felt familiar to Shiv. He felt it many times.

“Something just exploded,” he said. “Something close by.”

Adam’s eyes flashed with light as he activated his skill, but even before he learned why the gate was shaking, a notification appeared before everyone’s eyes.

Quest Gained: Hey, fuckers! Why aren’t the assholes who stole my gate dead? WHO BOMBED MY GATE DEAD? THE FUCK’S TAKING SO LONG YOU RAT-CUNT-FUCKS! KILL THEM! KILL THEM NOW! I’M LAUNCHING A RAID ON THEIR ASSES! SOMEONE KILL THE FUCKERS WHO BOMBED MY REALM FUCK’S SAKE!

Rewards: +25 Levels for a Selected Skill; +10 Levels for a Selected Skill; Three [Hidden] Master-Tier items; two obsidian dildos for use on “ADAM ARROW” and “THE CORPSE SHEDDER” until they get pregnant with my corpse-babies; Adept-Tier Skill Evolution—happy now

Failure: I WILL NOT ACCEPT FUCKING FAILURE! WE’RE RAIDING THE GATE NOW! THE FIRE IS COMING NOW! KILL HIM OR I BURN EVERYTHING.

A loud screech of straining metal filled the air. The temperature began to climb.

Adam let out a breath of utter exhaustion. “Shiv. I think you’re going to need to do that orc army ritual to change our gateway. Let’s solve the Lord Scorn problem first.”

As if to mock him, the sound of a metallic seal being broken followed, and sounds of combat arose soon thereafter.