The Fusionist Book 3 -- Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Larek came back to awareness abruptly, his eyes snapping open as he went from unconsciousness to absolute wakefulness in a matter of seconds. He automatically sat up and reached for the axe by his side by reflex, as the last thing he vividly remembered was being attacked by vicious, blood-thirsty Jumping Squirrels that were unhesitatingly targeting him for some reason. His fingers only met the rough, familiar cloth of his Academy robe, and he panicked for a moment before he took in his whereabouts.

It became immediately obvious that he was no longer outside in the forest surrounded by hundreds of furry corpses, but was instead inside of yet another cave. This one was more open to the outside unlike the last, and what he saw past the activated Illuminate Stone Fusions around the cramped space showed that daylight was still shining down through the nearby trees.

“Larek! You’re awake!” Nedira suddenly shouted behind him, and he immediately felt something impact his back, before he saw a pair of arms attempt to circle around him in a hug. Immediately recognizing Nedira’s limbs, he smiled at them in confusion. He wasn’t confused at what they were doing around him, because that part was obvious enough; no, it was more of the fact that he wasn’t exactly sure what had happened after the Squirrel assault.

A bout of weakness suddenly descended upon him after his initial spurt of energy immediately after waking up, and the smell of cooking meat met him a brief second later, causing his stomach to cramp up in hunger. Thankfully, it wasn’t the same sort of pain that he had experienced just before—

Wait. What was all that? I remember a dark cloud of something… and then my stomach seemed to suck it in, causing me pain before it was diffused through my entire body.

“What happ—”

Larek was abruptly rocked by a brief, incredible pain that flooded his entire being; a torturously long few seconds later, the pain disappeared, but the sensations that had accompanied it – but was unable to feel because of the pain – remained. He was reminded of when he had first arrived at the Academy and had his Mage stats and Skills unlocked because it felt vaguely familiar. For a moment, he thought it might be some sort of unlocking of his Martial side of things in a similar manner, even if he already had Martial stats and Skills; what he didn’t have was any sense of control over anything like his Battle Arts or his Stama like he should.

When the sensations evaporated a few seconds later, leaving his body irrevocably changed in the process, a flood of notifications flowed through his mind.

He was wrong. It wasn’t some sort of unlocking of his Stama and Martial Abilities.

It was, in his opinion, something that immediately thought of as a blessing… and a curse.

Congratulations, Guardian! You have passed the threshold required for Aetheric Assimilation!

As a Great One, you are responsible for guarding the Aetheric Breach responsible for the introduction of Aetheric Force into this world!  To assist with this endeavor, your body is now ready to assimilate the Corrupted Aetheric Force infused into the physical representations of the Corruption, which is attempting to widen the breach by either eliminating all Guardians or destroying all sapient life.

Upon Assimilation, Aetheric Force will aid you in breaking through your thresholds, allowing you to advance and become stronger as a result. Because of your enormous potential, unlike those with access to only one aspect of Aetheric Force, the accumulation of assimilated Force is necessary to extend the maximum Levels of all Skills from now on. Actual advancement in Skills will stay the same as it was before, but without additional Aetheric Force invested into a Skill, they will no longer increase in Level.

New Status information has been unlocked!

Axe Handling has reached Level 82!

Body Regeneration has reached Level 26!

Thankfully, he wasn’t knocked flat on his back by the notifications this time, due in part because he only ended up increasing two Skills a single Level, but the other information left him speechless, nonetheless.

“Larek?  Larek?! What’s wrong?”

The feel of someone shaking him broke him out of the trance-like state he was in as he stared at the notification, unable to believe what he was reading. From what he could understand, the Gergasi – labeled as Great Ones, even in the notification for some reason – were labeled as “Guardians” of the breach they had opened, letting what was called Aetheric Force spill out. To make things more complicated, there was a “Corruption” that came from this other world, place, dimension, or whatever it was, which is where the Scissions and their monsters came from. From those monsters was born Corrupted Aetheric Force, which he intuitively understood was the dark cloud of stuff that came from the dead Squirrels and his body had absorbed, and that this assimilated Force was the only way he would be able to advance his Skills any further. It explained why he was having issues breaking through certain Levels in his Mage Skills, as much as he didn’t like knowing the answer.

Because what it meant, as horrific as the thought of it was as it filled his mind, was that in order to increase his Maximum Skill Levels, he would need to obtain more of this Aetheric Force; to get that Force, he would have to kill these physical manifestations of this Corruption and assimilate the Corrupted stuff that they left behind.

In other words, he was going to have to kill monsters.

I’m cursed!

While the solution to his Skill problem was a bit of a blessing, the way he was supposed to go about it was anathema to everything he wanted. Larek had no desire to go hunting for any monsters, after all; he’d rather stay as far away as them as possible. The only reason he had wanted to make their way through the Squirrels was because of the threat of a bigger monster in the form of his father, but that apparently didn’t make much difference at the end.

To pile on the horribleness, he was becoming more and more like his distant relatives than he cared to admit, especially if he was now on the same type of path that they were with this whole Aetheric Force thing now a part of his advancement. What would come next? Would improving his Dominion magic be required to develop even further? If so, he wanted nothing to do with it. That was, of course, if he had any other choice – just like what was happening with the Scission monsters he needed to kill in order to advance.

It was either fight and kill monsters and advance or do nothing and stagnate his development. Granted, at the moment, his abilities with Fusions was fairly impressive, he admitted to himself without modesty, but was it enough to survive? Sure, he could probably improve the Intermediate Fusions he’d created in terms of protection and weapons, but he knew that he could do so much more than that. That knowledge that he was able to improve and make even better Fusions in the future just by killing monsters was a driving force that he would be hard-pressed to ignore for long, if at all.

“Can I display notifications to you?” he asked with a tired sigh, speaking for the first time since he just had his life and future advancement opportunities abruptly altered.

“What? Of course you can; you can do it the same way you can display portions of your Status. But what’s wrong? What—?”

Larek figured it out quickly, applying the same technique to display part of his Status to do the same thing to his notification. A second later, hovering in the air for her to see – which also included everyone, he noticed a second later as he looked around the cave – was his notification.

“What exactly does this mean, Larek?” Penelope asked. “Is this true about the so-called ‘Great Ones’ and their role as Guardians? Is Aetheric Force really a thing?”

Larek shrugged. “I have no idea. This is the first time I’ve heard of either of those things. You probably know more than I do, to be honest. Or at least Bartholomew might, given his… relationship with them.”

A quick glance in the young Martial trainee’s direction showed that wasn’t the case, as Bartholomew appeared just as shocked and confused at the notification as everyone else.

“What did it change?” Nedira asked softly, coming around to look him in the eyes. Her posture was still a little standoffish, but something had either changed in her opinion of him over the last few hours or she wasn’t letting her confused emotions regarding her keep her from being concerned about his safety.

For moment, the secrecy of his stats, abilities, and origin that he had held close to his chest for so long made him balk slightly about sharing his Status with the others. Even when he was telling everyone his life’s story the night before, he had only revealed a few things such as his Martial stats and his Battle Art, never the whole thing. It felt like baring his soul to another, something that he didn’t take lightly, but he also knew that they had agreed to accompany him despite the danger, so he felt like he could trust them. The fact that none of them seemed as if they were frightened into leaving by the reaction of the Squirrels to his presence only helped to further solidify his feelings toward them.

“I don’t know. Let’s take a look.”

For the first time ever, he bared his entire Status to the others; the entire cave full of people looked at the changes at the same time he did.

Larek Holsten

Fusionist

Healer

Level 20

Advancement Points (AP) : 16/17

Available AP to Distribute: 30

Available Aetheric Force (AF): 312

Stama: 600/600

Mana: 1330/1330

Strength: 60 (+)

Body: 60 (+)

Agility: 60 (+)

Intellect: 70 [133] (+)

Acuity: 104 [198] (+)

Pneuma: 304 [578] (+)

Pattern Cohesion: 5,780/5,780

Mage Abilities:

Spell – Bark Skin

Spell – Binding Roots

Spell – Fireball

Spell – Furrow

Spell – Ice Spike

Spell – Lesser Restoration

Spell – Light Bending

Spell – Light Orb

Spell – Localized Anesthesia

Spell – Minor Mending

Spell – Rapid Plant Growth

Spell – Repelling Gust

Spell – Static Illusion

Spell – Stone Fist

Spell – Wall of Thorns

Spell – Water Jet

Spell – Wind Barrier

Fusion – Acuity Boost

Fusion – Agility Boost +7

Fusion – Area Chill

Fusion – Body Boost +5

Fusion – Camouflage Sphere +2

Fusion – Camouflage Sphere +5

Fusion – Extreme Heat +5

Fusion – Flaming Ball +5

Fusion – Flying Stone +5

Fusion – Graduated Parahealing +7

Fusion – Healing Surge +1

Fusion – Healing Surge +3

Fusion – Healing Surge +5

Fusion – Icy Spike +5

Fusion – Icy Spike +7

Fusion – Illuminate Iron

Fusion – Illuminate Steel

Fusion – Illuminate Stone

Fusion – Illuminate Wood

Fusion – Illusionary Image +3

Fusion – Intellect Boost

Fusion – Muffle Sound +3

Fusion – Muffling Air Deflection Barrier +6

Fusion – Multi-Resistance Leather +2

Fusion – Multi-Resistance Leather +7

Fusion – Personal Air Deflection Barrier +4

Fusion – Pneuma Boost

Fusion – Repelling Barrier +1

Fusion – Repelling Barrier +4

Fusion – Repelling Barrier +7

Fusion – Repelling Barrier +10

Fusion – Repelling Gust of Air +5

Fusion – Sharpen Iron Edge

Fusion – Sharpen Steel Edge

Fusion – Sharpen Stone Edge

Fusion – Sharpen Wood Edge

Fusion – Space Heater +2

Fusion – Spellcasting Focus Boost +4

Fusion – Strength Boost +1

Fusion – Strength Boost +5

Fusion – Strengthen and Sharpen Steel Edge +1

Fusion – Strengthen Iron

Fusion – Strengthen Leather +1

Fusion – Strengthen Steel

Fusion – Strengthen Stone

Fusion – Strengthen Wood

Fusion – Temperature Regulator +3

Fusion – Tree Skin +2

Fusion – Tree Skin +8

Fusion – Water Stream +5

Martial Abilities:

Battle Art – Furious Rampage

Mage Skills:

Multi-effect Fusion Focus Level 10/10 (100 AF)

Pattern Recognition Level 20/20 (200 AF)

Magical Detection Level 20/20 (200 AF)

Spellcasting Focus Level 20/20 (200 AF)

Focused Division Level 30/30 (300 AF)

Mana Control Level 30/30 (300 AF)

Fusion Level 30/30 (300 AF)

Pattern Formation Level 30/30 (300 AF)

Martial Skills:

Blunt Weapon Expertise Level 1/20 (N/A)

Bladed Weapon Expertise Level 2/20 (N/A)

Throwing Level 5/20 (N/A)

Dodge Level 7/20 (N/A)

Pain Immunity Level 20/20 (N/A)

Body Regeneration Level 26/30 (N/A)

General Skills:

Cooking Level 1

Bargaining Level 5

Beast Control Level 9

Leadership Level 11

Writing Level 11

Long-Distance Running Level 10

Saw Handling Level 15

Speaking Level 16

Reading Level 17

Listening Level 42

Axe Handling Level 82

Overall, there weren’t that many changes, but the first thing he noticed right away was he now had an entry for what was mentioned in the notification: Aetheric Force or (AF). Right now, he only had a total of 312 AF; he wasn’t sure how this was tallied, as there wasn’t an explanation. Further down the Stats, where his Skills were listed, he discovered another change.

Where his Level was previously shown, such as Fusion Level 30, it was now written as Fusion Level 30/30 (300 AF). When he concentrated on it, he immediately understood that it was saying that his maximum Level for his Fusion Skill was Level 30 and he had maxed it out; furthermore, if he wanted to raise the maximum by a single Level, he would have to spend 300 of his accumulated Aetheric Force to make that happen.

“That’s crazy, Larek. How did you get so strong, so fast?” Verne asked, but the others just looked at him. “Oh, yeah, half-Gergasi and all that. I guess that makes a difference.”

“I think it’s more than that,” Nedira said, shaking her head. “There’s something different enough about Larek that it literally forced his father to come look for him. According to everything you’ve told us, the Gergasi haven’t left the Enclave for centuries, if not longer; when I remember what I heard him say back at the Academy about the Aetheric Corruption tracking him, that might be why. I think that whenever they leave their Enclave, the Corruption follows them and opens up Scissions in order to kill one of the ‘Guardians’ keeping it from breaking through completely. That’s also most likely why those Squirrels targeted you, because they could sense that you’re one of them. Not a strong enough one that they might drop a Scission on you at any time, but once they were close enough, they could tell… somehow.”

That caused a silence to descend over the cave as everyone considered the implications of her words. It sounded entirely plausible when she said it out loud, which was yet something else that he had to worry about in the long-run. If he became stronger with his advancement, would he then have to worry about attracting Scissions? If so, was there a way to prevent that? Or would it eventually happen even if he didn’t get stronger?

There was no way to know the answers to this question without going to someone with more knowledge of it, but that meant going to the Gergasi and his father – something he’d rather avoid for as long as possible. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he was beginning to suspect that the only way to ensure his survival was to get stronger and ensure he was capable of defending himself even if a Scission opened up near him; to do that, it meant killing monsters and assimilating their Aetheric Force.

“Why do you only have 312 Aetheric Force?” Norde suddenly asked. “There were over 1,000 of those Squirrels out there, so shouldn’t it be more? Or if you only received a fraction of a point, how does that work?”

Larek was about to say that he had no idea, but it turned out that he did. While there hadn’t been any information about it in the notification, he realized that when he focused on the actual 312 number, he received an impression of where it came from.

“It was how many of those furry monsters that I personally killed, or assisting in killing,” he explained. “Even though you killed many of them near me, for some reason they didn’t count. It’s almost as if I need some sort of connection to them in order to designate myself as the recipient of the Corrupted Force, however that works.”

Thoughts of accompanying his group and having them do all the fighting in order to accumulate more Aetheric Force went right out the window at this new knowledge, further driving him down the path of killing monsters. It was as if the world was pushing him down a raging river toward a certain goal in the future, one of which he only knew the vaguest idea about, and there was no way for him to escape its watery clutches; the only way to survive was to hang onto the safety of a floating log as it made its way down to the sawmill of fate.

It appeared that if he wanted to avoid whatever this “fate” that was in store for him, he would have to ride that log at least a little ways until he could find an alternative path, or else he’d be swept away by the raging current. Larek just hoped that he was able to find a way to survive without suffering the same end as all the trees he’d felled back in the Rushwood Forest.

He really didn’t want to find out what being cut and shaped into uniform planks felt like, after all.