The Fusionist Book 5 -- Chapter 53

Chapter 53

After finishing all of the necessary Fusions so that they could resume their trek to the northeast, Larek looked at the gains he had achieved over the last day. His Mage Skills had shot up significantly, thanks in part to the fact that he’d created 50 of the new Shattering Acidic Occlusion Dome +12 Fusions, using Focused Division to create two at a time; any more than that required too much Pattern Cohesion, and it was originally a struggle to complete the Fusion in the first place. As his Skill Levels increased, it gradually became easier and his focus was able to withstand the hours of concentration that was needed to complete all 50.

Spellcasting Focus has reached Level 46!

……

Spellcasting Focus has reached Level 50!

Magical Detection has reached Level 47!

Pattern Recognition has reached Level 50!

Focused Division has reached Level 61!

……

Focused Division has reached Level 64!

Multi-effect Fusion Focus has reached Level 66!

……

Multi-effect Fusion Focus has reached Level 70!

Mana Control has reached Level 69!

……

Mana Control has reached Level 74!

Pattern Formation has reached Level 69!

……

Pattern Formation has reached Level 74!

You have reached Level 43 and have 29 available AP to distribute!

The reason he thought he had gained so many Skill increases was due to his new Fusion. Knowing that he wanted to include quite a few Effects into it, which included detecting a presence through the use of light fluctuations, the air gust barriers forming a dome, filling that dome with acid, freezing and then shattering the frozen acid, using powerful air gusts to tear apart whatever survived the first Effects, and then using as a void curtain to camouflage its presence and an Effect to strengthen the steel plate the Fusion was on, Larek had to push past the 6 Effect limit of Advanced Fusions – and it had been a challenge, but one that he managed to overcome. His Skill increases as a result were a bonus to having actually completed the Fusion in the first place.

As for his newly acquired 29 AP as a result of reaching Level 43, he placed another 8 into Acuity to continue improving his Mana regeneration, bringing it to a base of 176, while the other 21 he divided equally between his Martial stats. With 7 more in each, they were all now at a base of 185; with his Body stat increasing, it also reflected his Pneuma and Pattern Cohesion, bringing them up both up even further.

From his accumulated Aetheric Force, he’d also increased the maximums of some of his Mage Skills, as they were already reaching the limit after his latest Fusion-creating session. It was only enough to increase them a few Levels, but it would be enough so that he wouldn’t hit a wall anytime soon.

Level 43

Advancement Points (AP): 5/29

Available AP to Distribute: 0

Available Aetheric Force (AF): 127

Stama: 3700/3700

Mana: 4100/4100

Strength: 185 [370] (+)

Body: 185 [370] (+)

Agility: 185 [370] (+)

Intellect: 205 [410] (+)

Acuity: 176 [352] (+)

Pneuma: 3,330 [6,660]

Pattern Cohesion: 66,600/66,600

Mage Skills:

Magical Detection Level 47[55]/55 (550 AF)

Spellcasting Focus Level 50[55]/55 (550 AF)

Pattern Recognition Level 50[55]/55 (550 AF)

Focused Division Level 64/70 (700 AF)

Pattern Manipulation Level 69/80 (800 AF)

Multi-effect Fusion Focus Level 70/75 (750 AF)

Mana Control Level 74[78]/78 (780 AF)

Fusion Level 74[78]/78 (780 AF)

Pattern Formation Level 74[78]/78 (780 AF)

Overall, it had been extremely advantageous to stop for a while and get all that done, even if they were in a hurry; he thought that the time they would save having to fight any additional reinforcement monsters, as well as the ease at which they’d be able to kill anything else they encountered, would be significant.  It was also good to finally stretch his Fusion-creating muscles a little bit after having concentrated on his Martial Skill lately, though he knew that it would continue to be important to further improve them. Even with his new VED staff Fusion, he wasn’t going to rely solely on its long-range effects; he would like to hone his abilities and exercise his Stama so that it became easier to use without losing control.

There always seemed like there was always more that he had to work on, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Only 10 minutes after they left the area around the Shappos the two of them encountered yet another Aperture territory despite trying to avoid it, but the farther they moved toward the northeast, the closer together they became. It was easy enough to destroy all of the Undead Soldiers in their decaying leather and rusty iron armor with repeated uses of their staves at lower Magnitudes, though Larek took a few minutes to use his Pattern Manipulation to create a disc so that he could weave in and among them with his halberd, slicing them apart with wide sweeps of his weapon. It was only when they faced the evolved Death Knights, the undead horse-riding Knight that he remembered from all the way back in Barrowford, that he pulled back rather than risk getting hurt. It only took a single Magnitude 10 Blast to completely shatter the powerful undead, and while there were a few dozen of them that came to attack the pair in the Pattern box, they stood no chance against Larek’s powerful Fusions.

Needless to say, it was quite a change from his first experience with monsters. This time, no one he knew died, and they were able to take care of the attacking monsters from the safety of his box – which the undead couldn’t reach, no matter how much they wanted to.

After they were cleared out, which was fairly easy since they bunched up as a group to attack them, it was a simple matter of placing the new Shattering Acidic Occlusion Dome (SAOC) Fusion down near the Aperture and leave. There was no time spent on ensuring that the Fusions he placed were carefully lined up to maximize the deaths of the reinforcements as they continued to travel north, nor was there any extra time spent making sure they didn’t overlap unnecessarily. Just one Fusion set down and they were done.

From there, they continued on, encountering more and more reinforcements and their evolved monsters, though there weren’t any that they couldn’t handle – or that his new SAOC Fusion couldn’t kill when they respawned. The only thing that changed were the sheer numbers of monsters that they encountered, which was explained by the much larger territories that their Apertures possessed; judging by the maps they had taken, territory size and their subsequent density increased the closer they got to the center of the Calamity, but they were angled to pass through the least amount of them if they kept their course. It would only be a few days now at the pace they were moving, and they would be out of there.

They even discussed heading off in a different direction to get out faster, knowing that they could easily handle any of the reinforcements that might catch up to them if they moved out of their previous path, but they ultimately decided to keep on as they were going rather than risk it. They might save a day or so of time at this point, but both of them figured it wouldn’t make that much difference in the end. They would still get back to the Calamity before it was too late, after all, because it would still take the Strike Faction weeks to reach the center.

Or so they thought.

Halfway through their third day of heading to the northeast after creating all those Fusions, Nedira looked at their map, absently noting that they had passed that the halfway mark the day before and they were now on the last stretch for a couple more days and they would be out of the Calamity. At this point, they were approximately 200 miles away from the reported site of the Steel Slime Aperture, which was at the heart of the Calamity, and the presence of evolved monsters was already starting to taper off – which was a big relief. While they had yet to encounter that they couldn’t easily kill with their staves and the SAOC Fusion, there was always a chance that they would find something that could give them trouble. As far as Larek was concerned, they had gotten quite lucky in the reinforcements they faced, but he’d rather not push that luck by staying in the Calamity any longer than necessary.

As he glanced at the map over her shoulder while continuing to move the Pattern box on their designated path, something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. Whipping his head up, he noticed something moving in the distance ahead. Sighing as he expected yet another batch of reinforcements from the nearest Aperture, he began to prepare for whatever it was when he realized they weren’t heading their direction. Instead, a huge clumping of what appeared to be 6-foot-tall Rock Golems were stomping toward a destination to his left. As he got closer, he saw that the grey-colored, humanoid-shaped monsters were heading southwest, away from an intercept course with the Pattern box. Such a thing hadn’t occurred since they arrived, which made the actions of the monsters very strange.

He tapped Nedira on the shoulder to get her attention. “Hey. What do you make of that?” he asked, pointing toward the Golems that were getting closer by the moment. Even when they were within a few hundred feet, none of them reacted to their presence, which was doubly weird.

The Naturalist looked up at his question, seeing exactly what he was pointing at almost immediately. She appeared confused for a moment, matching his own current state, before she sucked in her breath. Looking back at her map for a second, followed by turning her head to the southeast; a moment later, she glanced between the map, the Golems, and their supposed heading rapidly a few times.

“Kill one of them, if you would?”

She didn’t have to ask twice as he held out his staff, briefly chose to simply use a multitude of Magnitude 6 blasts, and proceeded to blow the legs, arms, head, and then the body of the closest Rock Golems apart from the explosive impact of the Fusion’s Effect. Once it was a pile of scattered rubble on the obsidian ground, he saw the Corrupted Aetheric Force it contained flow into him, and he knew it was dead. It was at this point where the rest of the Golems would see what he did and attack…

…but they seemingly ignored the plight of their dead comrade and kept stomping toward the southwest.

“It’s as I thought,” Nedira said after watching the events unfold.

“What are you thinking—?” he started to ask, but his mind was already putting it together. “Oh no.”

“Unfortunately, I believe so.”

“But… how? That can’t be right.”

She was silent for a few seconds. “I have no idea how it happened, but I can’t think of another explanation. If the notes can be believed, then the only reason these monsters would ignore us so completely is if they had instructions that superseded their normal behaviors.” She looked off to the east, and Larek followed her gaze. Flying through the air were apparently some winged monkeys of some kind, moving much faster than the Golems – but they, too, weren’t on an intercept course with the two of them in the Pattern box. “I think that proves it,” she said, waving at the airborne monkeys’ direction.

“So, what you’re saying is…” He couldn’t say it.

“Yeah. The Strike Faction appears to have made it to the center of the Calamity, and it’s calling on all of its monsters to come defend it.”

Larek nearly refused to believe it, but he—like Nedira—couldn’t see any other explanation. “Again, how? They should’ve been weeks out still!”

She didn’t have any answer but a shrug.

The Fusionist sighed as he stopped the Pattern box, staring at the different groups of monsters they could see from their position, which included a third horde to the south that they had apparently bypassed. It only took him a few seconds to decide on his course of action, as he, too, started flying the box toward the southwest – right to the heart of the Calamity.

Nedira nodded in approval, but still asked, “You sure?”

“Of course. We didn’t come this long to give up now, did we?”

“No. No, we didn’t. I just hope that they know what they’re doing and don’t get killed before we can get there.”

Larek gradually doubled their speed over the course of about 10 seconds, giving them both a chance to acclimate. “Not if I have something to say about it.” Without having to worry about crossing over Aperture territories and drawing the ire of any reinforcements, he was going to arrive as fast as he possibly could.