The Fusionist Book 5 -- Chapter 50

Chapter 50

Even though it wasted a few hours, the two of them discovered that the Flying Shappos only spawned from the Aperture after every tenth River Shappo appeared. Nedira belatedly said that it made sense because it matched the ratio of the smaller Shappos they killed compared to the evolved version.

That information was all they needed for Larek to start working. After placing a few of his existing Healing Shelters to kill off any of the River Shappos that appeared, he sat in a camp with Nedira who was going to watch over everything while he started creating some new Fusions.

The first one he decided to work on was an improvement to their staves, as that had been the major obstacle to killing evolved monsters. First, he had Nedira demonstrate a spell that he had seen her use before but hadn’t had a chance to learn quite yet; she took her time creating the spell pattern and cast it multiple times as Larek watched. The destruction of the rocks she created and turned into deadly shrapnel was both loud and impactful – and it was exactly what he needed to add to his new Fusion.

New Spell learned!

Shatter

Magnitude: 3-foot diameter stone

Base Elemental Damage (Explosion): 20

Base Elemental Damage (Piercing): Up to 5 per shrapnel piece

Base Mana Cost: 150

Base Pattern Cohesion: 6

Pattern Recognition has increased to 48!

Unfortunately, other than Pyroblast – which he had learned earlier from her – and now Shatter, the Naturalist didn’t know any other spells in other elements that might be beneficial to add to his new Fusion. Most of her learning had been focused on her Naturalist Specialization, and other than some of the more basic spells like Water Jet, Repelling Gust, and Ice Spike, she didn’t have anything but nature and earth-based spell knowledge. She only acquired Pyroblast because it was useful in fighting monsters, but hadn’t had a chance to learn much more than that.

One spell from her Specialization that he did end up thinking might be useful, however, was something called Acid Spray.

New Spell learned!

Acid Spray

Magnitude: 3-foot wide cone extending up to 10 feet

Base Elemental Damage (Acid): 20 per second for 10 seconds

Base Mana Cost: 250

Base Channeled Mana Cost: 25 per second

Base Pattern Cohesion: 12

She had rarely ever used the spell because it required a target to be within 10 feet of her, which was practically melee range; Larek could nearly reach her with his halberd at that distance, and it was better if she stayed far away from her opponents. It was also a channeled spell, which meant that after paying the hefty cost of 250 Mana to initiate a spray of acid in a cone-like shape up to 10 feet away, it required another 25 Mana per second to maintain the spray. Anything hit by the acid would suffer from the burning of the liquid as it ate through skin and flesh, doing up to 200 damage over 10 seconds. For a large, evolved monster like the Flying Shappo, even if she was close enough to hit it, its exterior skin was strong enough to withstand quite a bit of damage and would likely shrug off such an attack – or at least not be overly debilitated.

But Larek had something else in mind for the spell when it came to his new Fusion.

After confirming that she didn’t really have anything else to teach him that could be used for offensive purposes, Larek got to work. Taking a blank staff out of his Void Pocket sack, he held it across his knees as he started putting together the different components he wanted to include. Ultimately, it was going to be similar to the Variable Repeating Elemental Projectile Fusion he had on the existing staves, but would be multiple times stronger.

Using the same general layout as the VREP formation, he replaced the flaming ball effect with something that mimicked the Pyroblast spell, which would create a compressed ball of fire that would appear and explode near a target.  Since it wasn’t a projectile that crossed an intervening space before it exploded, unlike the previous flaming balls, the Effect he wanted would require a mental phrase based on distance.

But that would be entirely too complicated to remember all of the phrasing, as well as Magnitude and the specific Effect that was chosen. Something such as “Fire 3” for the current VREP Fusion was easy enough to mentally phrase, but adding in another component that someone had to calculate in split-second was entirely too much.

“Fire 3 22 Feet” for a particular mental phrasing made his head hurt just thinking about it.

Instead, he thought back to some of his previous Fusions and came up with something that would work even better. There would still be a mental phrase, in this case “Blast” followed by the Magnitude chosen, but the distance would rely entirely on a narrow object detector that extended past the tip of the staff in a beam approximately 6 inches in width. If the object detector “saw” something within 250 feet, it would use that object as the target distance for the Effect. That way, any of the Effects could be used against monsters, the immobile ground, or even a thrown object – as long as it passed through the invisible beam of object detection.

Rather than just 8 different Magnitudes to assign to the different Effects like the VREP, Larek added a full 12. The smallest Magnitude was essentially a ball of compressed fire no larger than his fist, and when it exploded it only expanded to a diameter of about a foot and a half. Compared to the original Pyroblast spell, which expanded up to four feet when it exploded, it was quite small.

The size of the ball and explosive diameter only increased as the Magnitude got higher. At Magnitude 3, the explosion matched fairly closely to what the Pyroblast spell could normally produce; at Magnitude 6, the explosion reached 10 feet in diameter; at Mag 9, it was twice that. If they chose to use Magnitude 12, the highest Magnitude he thought he could reasonably create without risking himself by using too much Pattern Cohesion, then the explosion reached up to 40 feet – which was a larger diameter than the entire main body of a Flying Shappo.

In other words, it was quite powerful.

As for Mana restraints, there weren’t any. This weapon would only be for himself and Nedira, at least for the moment, because they were far too dangerous for anyone else to handle without proper training and a healthy understanding of what it meant if they used them too much. He set an optional 0.5-second Interval for Magnitudes 1 through 4, allowing for repetitive explosive blasts, which had a separate Reactive Activation Method triggered by adding the phrase “Repeat” to “Blast 1”, “Blast 2”, etc. He didn’t add it to anything of a higher Magnitudes because there was too much risk of damaging the Fusion formation with the draw of so much Mana through it, and it would also drain the ambient Mana in the area much faster that way. Of course, there was nothing stopping Larek or Nedira from simply thinking the mental phrasing needed to use those Effects in rapid succession, but it was one of those things that they knew to be cautious with unless there was no other choice.

As it was, anything over Magnitude 8 required a few seconds pause between each use to reduce the risk of degrading the Fusion formations too fast. Thankfully, even if they pushed them too far, Larek was adept enough with manipulating his Pattern Cohesion that he could repair or strengthen anything in the Fusion that started to deteriorate, but as long as they were relatively careful, they should last a while without needing to be repaired.

As far as ambient Mana draw, the rapid expenditure of the most powerful Magnitudes would be significant, but if they were able to stay on the move – such as what they were doing flying around inside of his Pattern box – then it wouldn’t be too detrimental to the nearby Mana density. It was still something to worry about it they were forced into a stationary position, but they would simply have to rely on the smaller Magnitudes if that was the case.

Once he had every “Blast” Variable set up and the fiery explosion Effect in place, he moved on to the next Effect: Shatter. Replacing the flying stone Effect from the VREP Fusion, instead of a ball of compressed fire that exploded, the “Shatter” Effect would create a stone at the target before making it shatter into hundreds of sharp pieces with deadly velocity. If a monster was immune to fire or magical spells, then the physical nature of a large stone essentially exploding in their face would theoretically bypass those restrictions.

Similar to the Blast Effect, the smallest Magnitude of Shatter had a stone that was approximately the size of two fists put together and produced hundreds of smaller stone slivers that were almost needle-like in appearance. It wasn’t very powerful, but he could see it being effective against smaller monsters where a weaker attack was more prudent, or even for those situations where accuracy was better than pure destruction.

Of course, at Magnitude 12, the size of the boulder that was produced was 15 feet wide and would send out shards of stone that were equal to his leg in length and width. Needless to say, he didn’t want to be anywhere near one of those boulders shattering into hundreds of those shards.

The same Intervals for repetitive use applied to Magnitudes 1 through 4, with Magnitude 5 and up being at their own discretion. In essence, the setup for Shatter was nearly identical as the Blast, with only the Effect being fundamentally different.

For the final two Effects, as he wanted to replace the icy spike and water stream Effects from the VREP Fusion, he had to get a little more creative. For the first Effect, icy spike, what he was looking for was a stronger attack – something he didn’t think was necessarily going to happen if the spike of ice was simply larger at Magnitude 12, for instance. Sure, it would hit harder, be stronger, and would be likely be many times larger than what the VREP Fusion produced, but there wasn’t anything fundamentally different about it.

He thought about trying to apply the principle behind the Shatter Effect by creating a chunk of ice and causing it to explode at a target, but that seemed less useful – and he already had two effects that essentially exploded. Unfortunately, he didn’t really have any new spells that he could think of that might work in improving how the Fusion sent icy spikes flying out from the end of the staff. After some deliberation, he tapped into an existing Fusion he already possessed, Frozen Zone, and then did something that seemed counterintuitive at first.

Instead of making an icy spike bigger when the Magnitude increased, he kept it the same size. What changed was the number of icy spikes produced, all of them approximately a foot in length and an inch wide with a sharp tip; for instance, at Magnitude 1, only 3 of the spikes were produced, separated by 3 inches and arranged in a triangular formation as they flew out from the tip of the staff. At Magnitude 6, a full 30 of them were arranged in a circular cluster 2 feet in diameter; Magnitude 9 doubled that number, and Magnitude 12 had a wide, 10-foot circle of 200 foot-long icy spikes that would shoot straight ahead, reaching up to 200 feet away before losing altitude.

Overall, that may not seem like an upgrade, but when he added in the fact that each of the icy spikes would radiate a chilling cold that was adopted from Frozen Zone, then anything hit by these spikes would start to have portions of their bodies freeze. At Magnitude 1, the cold was only slightly chilly because it wasn’t very strong nor did it spread that cold all that far; at Magnitude 12, if all 200 of the icy spikes hit a large target, then the cold would be the equivalent of a Frozen Zone at Magnitude 12, freezing anything nearby almost instantly, and it would radiate that cold up to a foot away from each spike.

Similar to the previous two Effects, Magnitudes 1 through 4 were repeatable, though he also added 5 and 6 to the list because he was fairly certain that the overall Mana draw for this Freeze Effect was less than the previous two so there was a smaller chance of damage being done to the formation.

Lastly, replacing the water stream Effect was a little easier to decide what to do, if a bit more complicated. Using the new Acid Spray spell he’d learned from Nedira, he combined the acidic and deadly nature of that spell with the Water Jet spell, forming an Effect that shot out continuous, powerful jet of acid instead of dispersing it in a spray. While blanketing an area with acid might be beneficial, he didn’t think that it would have quite the same outcome as it would if a monster was hit by stream of pressurized acid. If something was resistant to many other physical or magical means, then it was quite possible that the natural destructive power of acid might cut through those resistances where nothing else would work. He was fairly certain that the pressure, combined with the acidic effect, was strong enough to even cut through a Rainbow Slime, whereas the other Effects would be far less effective. Better yet, the Acid Effect was useful in slightly closer quarters, especially when something exploding or freezing could potentially harm an ally, as the acid was slightly more viscous than pure water and wouldn’t splash nearly as much upon impact with a target – meaning that there was less splashback that they would have to contend with.

Instead of assigning different Magnitudes to the Acid Effect, Larek simply hooked it up to Magnitude 12 and left it at that. It was more of a “channeled spell”-type of Mana draw compared to anything else, and how much ambient Mana was used was dependent upon how long it was kept active. Anything past 5 seconds would start to deplete the nearby Mana density, so that was just something that they had to keep in mind.

With all of these new Effects in place and the different components set up for the Fusion, Larek double- and triple-checked the formation to ensure he had everything correct. He fixed the width of a couple of containment barriers and was finally satisfied with what he had created.

“I’m going to start now,” he warned Nedira, before beginning to funnel Mana into the Mana Cost section of the new Fusion. As soon as he dumped in the first of his Mana into the Fusion, he could sense that it was going to take a lot more to fill it up completely. Thankfully, his Mana regeneration had improved greatly since he was in the Sealance Empire or even Lowenthal, and he was able to keep up a steady funnel of Mana into the Fusion. The large Mana Cost didn’t surprise him, considering what sort of Fusion he was creating and the fact that it was Magnitude 12, but what did surprise him a little was how much of his Pattern Cohesion was already draining from his body to fill it in. Even with the reductions in what was needed due to his Specializations, he estimated that it was going to be a third or more of his current Pattern Cohesion.

As he sat there, constantly funneling Mana into the formation while focusing on keeping it together, he was aware of the few reinforcements that managed to make it to their camp and past all the defensive Fusions. Nedira, of course, took care of them with her staff with no problems, but as time went on with no end in sight to the amount of Mana being needed for his Fusion, he began to worry in a very small portion of his mind. He ignored that worry as much as he could, because it was only going to interrupt his focus, but it continued to nag at him, nonetheless.

It only got worse after the first hour passed… and then the second… and he was aware that it would nearly be time for another Flying Shappo to spawn from the subservient Aperture – and it wouldn’t be stopped by the defenses they already had in place.

Finally, after what was one of the longest Fusion-creating sessions he’d ever participated in, he felt the last of the Mana required for the formation enter the Mana Cost section, and he glanced at his Status to see that just over 18,000 Pattern Cohesion had been consumed – and that was after the 40% decrease in cost due to his Specializations!

As the formation hummed with Mana and he directed it to *click* into its finished place on the staff, the Fusionist heard, “Larek! Hurry up! It’s coming!”

Feeling the weakness of nearly a third of his Pattern Cohesion being gone and the hours of constant Mana funneling, Larek shook his head as he looked up. Nedira was fidgeting in a panicked state, her staff aimed toward the large figure of a Flying Shappo approximately 400 feet away. It had just entered a dive that would have it crashing down into her, flattening the entire camp – including Larek – in the process.

“I’m done,” he said hoarsely, and for the first time he realized that his throat was dry. “Move out of the way, if you would; I’ve got this. At least, I think I to.” Nedira looked back at him and saw him pointing his staff toward the incoming Shappo. She appeared momentarily confused because she couldn’t see any Fusions on it, but then she seemed to realize that he had hidden them with the void carrier Effect so that they wouldn’t be obvious. She quickly sidestepped out of the way but kept her own staff pointed toward the incoming monster.

Blast 12, he thought, even as the monstrous winged figure entered the range of the staff. Nothing happened at first; Larek realized that his aim wasn’t completely lined up with diving Shappo and tried again.

BOOM!

The explosion that occurred in the face of the Shappo was so great that Larek and Nedira felt the heat of it even 200 feet away, and the shockwave a split-second later knocked the Naturalist on her back. Larek was able to hold himself upright, though the compressed air that pushed by him stung his eyes a little bit as he looked to see what had happened to the monster.

When his vision rapidly cleared from the blinding flash of the explosion, he saw what appeared to be the hind legs of the Flying Shappo spiraling to the ground after having been launched backwards and further back into the air from the shock of the explosion. Of the rest of its body, or even its wings, which had been pulled tight to its body as it dove, there was no sign. He could only assume that it had been completely obliterated by the explosion.

Larek didn’t even realize his ears were ringing until it disappeared a second later, and he scrambled to his feet in a slight panic to check on Nedira. He breathed a sigh of relief when she sat up on her own, a confused expression on her face morphing into anger as she looked at him and his staff.

“You couldn’t have warned me about that?”

He hung his head, slightly ashamed, but he couldn’t help but chuckle at how absurdly destructive his new Fusion was. “Sorry about that. I guess my powerful staff is more explosive than I thought.”

She just huffed and crossed her arms, even as she activated the Graduated Parahealing Fusion on her robe to heal what little damage she had taken. “I’m going to ignore the implied inuendo there, while you tell me what in all that is holy did you just do.”

As he sat next to her, letting her lean on him as she finished the last of her healing, Larek began to explain all the spectacular features of his newest creation.