The Fusionist Book 5 -- Chapter 38

Chapter 38

The first thing that Larek looked at before acknowledging his notifications was the results of his new Fusion. A thorough introspection revealed the tight weave of the Fusion’s formation surrounding the source of his Stama inside of his chest, pulsing with the replenishing energy that automatically refilled from the ambient power in the environment. As he watched it work, he witnessed it pull in ambient Stama just like his other Fusions absorbed ambient Mana, and it cycled the volatile energy throughout the formation just as he expected.

What he didn’t exactly expect was the feeling of leashed power straining at the Pattern Cohesion that comprised structure of the Fusion, as if it was keeping a dangerous animal on a leash. Thankfully, the incredible strength and sturdiness of his Pattern Cohesion inside of his Fusion was more than up to the task; at the same time, he knew that if any other Fusionist tried something like this, it would’ve burst apart within seconds – if they could even get it to come together in the first place without falling apart.

Larek also noticed that his spherical design, which allowed the Stama to flow freely throughout the entire formation, aided in its stability. He was fairly certain that it was what allowed it to function in the first place, and was doubtful that making a flat, two-dimensional Fusion on another material using Stama would inevitably degrade and fall apart in a short amount of time. What that meant was that, although he had used Stama as an energy source for a Fusion for the first time, he likely wouldn’t be using it again in the future. It was just too dangerous of an energy source and he wouldn’t have used it if it wasn’t necessary – and it really was necessary, as the proof was clear in the way the Fusion served its purpose.

In other words, Larek’s Stama was perfectly contained inside of the spherical Fusion without even a hint of leakage. He could still sense it and even reach out to it, but it was now safe and secure inside an artificial container of his own making. More than that, the shell of Mana that had held it separate before was nowhere to be seen, meaning that it was really and truly safely partitioned off.

That didn’t mean it was any less dangerous, of course. There was a reason it had to be contained this way, after all, and there was no way to really test it without activating the other Effect of the Fusion, which was to release small amounts of Stama so that he could work with it rather than trying to wrestle with the entire pool all at once. That was what had been the issue before, as his efforts of subjugating his entire Stama pool had been futile; if this Fusion worked the way he designed it, he could slowly work his way up to that point, taking his chance at using piecemeal helpings of Stama so that he could finally utilize it properly.

Or so he hoped.

After seeing that it was functioning at least enough to keep his Stama contained, he backed away from his introspection and looked at his notifications.

Magical Detection has reached Level 44!

Magical Detection has reached Level 45!

Pattern Manipulation has reached Level 56!

Pattern Recognition has reached Level 46!

Pattern Recognition has reached Level 47!

Spellcasting Focus has reached Level 42!

Spellcasting Focus has reached Level 43!

Multi-effect Fusion Focus has reached Level 57!

……

Multi-effect Fusion Focus has reached Level 60!

Pattern Formation has reached Level 63!

Pattern Formation has reached Level 64!

Fusion has reached Level 63!

Fusion has reached Level 64!

Stama Subjugation has reached Level 3!

The influx of Skill increases had been powerful when he received him, though his exhaustion and the use of most of his Pattern Cohesion to fuel the Fusion had made them a secondary sensation at the time. Still, he was happy to see that he had improved most of his Mage Skills once again, with the most notable absence being Mana Control – because he had been using Stama, not Mana, to fuel the formation. What was surprising, however, was that he also gained a Level in Stama Subjugation, which brought it up to 3; he could only assume that it had something to do with how he had forcefully funneled his Stama toward the Stama Cost section of his Fusion, something that he didn’t really have all that much direct control over, but he wasn’t going to complain about it.

Once he was done looking through his notifications, he couldn’t help but notice that something was absent. The Fusionist perused them again, just to make sure he hadn’t missed it, but it wasn’t present. He then checked his Status, only to find that it wasn’t listed there, either.

For some reason, there was no sign of him having learned a new Fusion.

He wasn’t sure if it was because it couldn’t exactly be defined, or if it was because it was created inside of his own body, or because it was fueled by Stama instead of Mana, but the end result was that it didn’t seem to exist. His Status seemed to understand that he had done something significant, hence the Skill increases, but he could only assume that it couldn’t define what he had actually done.

Checking on all that took about 10 seconds, and Larek cleared his throat as he finally answered his Instructor. “I… think I now have access to my Stama,” he explained. “I don’t know how effective that access it just yet, but it is something I will need to discover with your help.”

“Yes, but what did you do? I can sense a change in your Stama, but I’m unsure exactly what you did.” Torge paused for a second before he continued, tightening his grip on Larek’s shoulder. “You may have your secrets, but in order to train you properly, I need to know.”

While Larek didn’t think that the Senior Instructor needed to know everything in order to continue his training, the Drekkin certainly had a point. Up until now, he had kept knowledge of his dual nature as a Mage and Martial contained to only a few people, all of them people he trusted to keep that knowledge to themselves. It wasn’t for his sake that he asked them to keep it to themselves, though it was that in part, but because it was safer for them if his secret didn’t get out. Evidence of that was plain enough based on how they had their memories of him suppressed, and it was only his acceptance of being taken away that they escaped with their lives.

Even now, enough was known about the Gergasi that almost everyone knew that they weren’t only giants that had mind-controlling powers, but were also extremely powerful – because they had the traits of both Mages and Martials. Being revealed as even a half-Gergasi could cause problems, especially with those who originated in the Kingdom, though fortunately he’d mostly taken care of his height problem identifying him. But there would be no denying his heritage if it became known that he was both a Martial and a Mage.

On the other hand, there were people who lived in the Kingdom who hailed from other lands who didn’t really care about his origins – or didn’t care enough to want to immediately kill him for it. The Drekkin, Torge, could be that type of person; Larek had already considered revealing some of what he could do to the Senior Instructor once he got to know him a little better, but after what he’d just done, there was very little benefit in hiding at least some of his abilities and would be better if he came clean.

If worse came to worst, he might have to flee, but he’d already gained so much at the Fort that he would consider what he’d gone through worth it. But if things worked out… then he could gain even more than he originally expected.

Larek took a deep breath, steadying his nerves. “Sit down, if you would,” he finally asked of the Senior Instructor. “I have something important to tell you.”

The Drekkin’s scaled hand remained on the Fusionist’s shoulder for a few more seconds before he walked in front of Larek and squatted down on his haunches, staring intently at the trainee. “I’m listening.”

Larek reordered his thoughts, trying to figure out how to start the conversation. In the end, answering Torge’s initial question seemed like the best way. “First of all, in answer to what I did, I created a Fusion to not only contain my Stama, but to help regulate the amount of Stama released from its containment so that I can more easily subjugate it – at least until my Stama Subjugation Skill increases.”

Expecting disbelief, anger, or outright denial accompanied by laughter at such a claim, Larek was surprised when the Senior Instructor did neither. “I see. Go on.” His face was impassive, showing no sign of what he was thinking.

Larek debated on how much to tell him, but in the end, he decided to simply tell the Drekkin everything. Or at least most of it; he left out his history with other people, including their names, as he didn’t want to get them in trouble; if the Senior Instructor sold him out, then it would only be him that be in trouble, and not others like Nedira.  He also left out his abduction by Chinli and the exact nature of his teleportation to the Empire, because he didn’t fully understand what exactly had happened there, but he included most of the rest.

“…and so, you might be wondering how it is that I have the abilities of a Mage and a Martial—” he wrapped up his explanation, but the Senior Instructor cut him off.

“You’re a Gergasi. Or at least partly; you don’t have the height.” Thankfully, the Drekkin didn’t seem all that angry about it.

“I’m what they call a half-breed. My mother was a Noble that was, uh, forced to breed with one of the Gergasi before she escaped.  Unfortunately, some time ago, her location was discovered and my entire family was taken prisoner; now, I want to get strong enough to rescue them. What that means is going up against the Gergasi directly, and I already know that I’m no match for them without the knowledge of how to properly utilize my Martial abilities.”

For the first time, Torge showed some emotion; his expression turned angry as Larek spoke about his family.

“Your nestmother and nestmates are prisoners?”

It took him a second to understand what he meant by that, but eventually remembered that was what the Drekkin called their family. “Yes.”

“Then I will help you,” the Senior Instructor said immediately in response. “But I need to know the extent of your capabilities as a Mage and what you can do with Fusions.” He paused and cocked his head to the side as he looked at Larek with a different gaze. “Are you the one that made the healing Fusions? The one from years ago at Crystalview Academy?”

The Fusionist ducked his head. “Uh, yeah, that was me.” He was prepared to be reprimanded again for his role in destroying a portion of the Academy.

“And you were the one who created all the Fusions on your clothes?”

Larek nodded.

“Then I think we can work with that. How confident are you in controlling your Stama now?”

Hesitating only a second, the trainee said, “In small amounts, I think I should be alright. The problem is, I don’t have any practice ever using it in my body or for any Battle Arts.”

“That’s fine. It’s what we’re here to do, after all.” Torge stared at Larek for a moment. “Before I commit to helping you even more than I had previously planned, I need something from you.”

Larek bristled at the mention of his Instructor needing something, but he pushed his hesitance away. He wanted to training, after all, and while he didn’t expressly say it, the Fusionist had implied that he wouldn’t be using it to help against the Calamities by rescuing his family from the Gergasi. So, as long as it wasn’t something that would cause him or his friends harm, he would consider it a fair trade. “What do you need?”

“Those healing Fusions – can you make more? We have one left from what was given to us after the Scission attack, but we were told not to use it any more except in an emergency; the thought was that it would stress the Fusion too much and destroy it.”

Larek smiled, thinking that they still had one of his original Healing Surge Fusions, but that quickly turned into a frown. “Who told you that? If they had seen it, they would’ve known that frequent use wouldn’t stress that Fusion enough to degrade it. If it was a more powerful Magnitude, or channeled ambient Mana in larger, sudden bursts, then that could be a possibility over time – but not the Healing Surge Fusions I created back then.”

At least, he was fairly certain of that; he hadn’t seen one of his original Fusions he’d made at Crystalview Academy in years, so it was possible that they did eventually start to degrade – but he somehow doubted it.

“It was Dean Wilburt from Crystalview Academy.”

“Ah. Yeah, that explains it,” Larek said. “He had it out for me and most other Fusionists from the beginning. After I accidentally blew up a portion of the building, I’m guessing he started including Fusions in general in that dislike.”

The Drekkin hissed suddenly, and it took the Fusionist a second to realize he was laughing. “That was you? He never did fully explain what had happened.”

Larek chuckled along with him. “Yeah. I didn’t know what I was doing back then, and I stacked up hundreds of Healing Surge Fusions on the roof. When one was destroyed by the Scissions, it blew up and created a chain reaction that led to the catastrophic destruction of the others.” He sobered up a second later as he realized how that sounded. “But I’m much more experienced now, as well as more careful,” he reassured the Senior Instructor.

“I’ve felt your Fusions, so I know you’ve had to have improved,” Torge agreed.  “You haven’t blown yourself up any of your other Fusions, after all.”

“True… at least, not accidentally,” he added with a wink. “But getting back to the Healing Surge Fusions, I can certainly create them – but what about Dean Wilburt? Won’t he have a problem with them?”

“He has no say over what we do or do not use at the Fort,” the Drekkin assured him. “He can only make suggestions, which was what he did with the healing Fusion we were using before. We didn’t know any better, and being the authority in the area on such things…”

“…you followed his suggestion and stopped using it. Makes sense, I suppose. So, you’re not worried about flagrantly using the healing Fusions? I assume that you want them for the other trainees, so that they can train longer without worrying about major injuries?”

“Precisely. As long as they work, I don’t care about what the Dean says about it.”

“Alright, I can do that.” He held up a finger. “But, I want to make sure that my name and presence here stays a bit more private. If you’re going to be using the healing Fusions, word will likely get out to the Academy and therefore the Dean will hear of it, and as I said before, we don’t exactly have the best history.”

“We can do that. There’s no reason to share where we got them from, and we operate independently enough that he cannot demand the answer from us.”

Larek was as satisfied as he could be. He debated offering to create some other Fusions, such as stat-boosting ones, for the trainees, but held off because he realized that would only be a handicap for those learning how to utilize the stats they did have. While Mages could certainly benefit from higher stats early on, he knew from experience that higher Martial stats meant a harder difficulty learning how to utilize them. Once they had the experience and training – which was what he was currently learning now – then they would be beneficial, but for now, they would harm more than help.

“Well, then, if you’re in agreement, let’s get started.”

Bargaining has reached Level 11!

“Taking a small bit of your Stama, I want you to use your Stama Subjugation to start circulating it through your entire body, never keeping it in one place for long.”

As Larek listened to his Instructor’s orders, he was able to squeeze a little bit of his Stama out of his pool using the Magnitude 1 Effect of his new Fusion. At Mag 1, only 1% of his total Stama pool was released, but even that was almost too much for him to control; thankfully, he managed to corral it all together in a small blob of volatile energy that wanted to slip out of his mental grip, but he could feel his Stama Subjugation Skill kick in and grab ahold of it completely.

For the first time ever, the Fusionist was able to start moving that tiny blob of a measly 26 Stama around his body, feeling it subtly affecting each of his body parts as he went.

Stama Subjugation has reached Level 4!

I did it! After all this time, I can finally control my Stama!

He still had a lot of training he needed to go through to become even halfway competent in using it correctly, but with the aid of his internal Fusion, he was well on his way.