The Fusionist Book 3 -- Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Focused Division Skill has been unlocked!

Focused Division has reached Level 1!

…..

Focused Division has reached Level 7!

Pattern Recognition has reached Level 19!

Pattern Recognition has reached Level 20!

Magical Detection has reached Level 19!

Magical Detection has reached Level 20!

The sudden onslaught of notifications caught him off-guard, making Larek temporarily black out for a moment. When he came to a few seconds later, the tingling through his body and his mind slowly disappeared as he made sense of what had just happened.

Groaning as he sat up, he waved off Shinpai who was up and coming to check on him. “I’ll be fine; it was just a bunch of notifications all at once.”

“Notifications? Did you break through past Level 30 in a Skill finally?”

Looking closer at what he received, he was originally disappointed when neither Mana Control, Fusion, or Pattern Formation increased in Level. He was happy to see that Pattern Recognition and Magical Detection finally budged past 18 where they had been stuck for months, reaching Level 20, even though he didn’t really understand what those had to do with what he just did.

His disappointment in not breaking through changed to confusion as he saw that he had just unlocked a new Skill – and it wasn’t familiar in the slightest. “Have you ever heard of a Skill called Focused Division?” he asked after almost a minute. His body and head were quickly adjusting to the sudden increase in Skill Levels, so he was able to think a little better.

“Focused Division? No, never heard of it. Did you… just unlock an entirely unknown Skill?”

His Professor’s astonished face nearly made Larek chuckle as it was comical-looking, but he kept a straight face as he shrugged. “Uh… I guess so? I have no idea what it means—”

But that wasn’t entirely true, as he concentrated on the Skill to see if it would provide him with any information. While he normally didn’t receive much in the way of information when it came to Skills, he found that there was usually a hint of what the Skills did when he concentrated on them in his Status. It was more of a feeling than anything else, and when he directed his insight toward Focused Division, what he got back was startling as it was much more than normal.

“It’s… well, it’s not a Skill that is directly tied to Fusions,” he said to Shinpai, the older man’s expression a combination of stunned and confused that was even more amusing than before. Thankfully, his concentration was on the Skill he was feeling out so he didn’t laugh at his Professor, which he thought would be quite rude.

“What is it, then?”

“It’s a Skill that is related to patterns, actually. It allows for the division of patterns once they have been infused with Mana… and, apparently, the higher Level the Skill, the more a pattern can be divided. I received an additional 6 Levels in it immediately after unlocking it, and I believe I might be able to divide a single Fusion pattern into 3, maybe 4, separate Fusions at the same time. I get the impression that the Pattern Cohesion cost increases incrementally for each additional Fusion, but it is relatively stable in growth cost, with each one only requiring approximately 20% per division. In addition, the Mana Cost is only paid once as the Skill transfers the Mana into each Fusion.”

“That’s… incredible! But how did you gain so many Levels all at once?”

He rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, even if what he was embarrassed about wasn’t intentional. “Well, see, this Skill isn’t intended to be used for Fusions at Level 1 because it is normally quite difficult to manipulate the Fusion pattern like I did. As a result, it was like creating a powerful Intermediate Fusion without even having the Fusion Skill, resulting in quite a few additional Levels.”

Shinpai’s confusion was back in full force. “But that doesn’t make sense. If it wasn’t designed for Fusions, then what…?” Larek watched as comprehension dawned on his Professor’s face.

He nodded in confirmation of what Shinpai had figured out. “Exactly. This Skill was originally meant to be learned and utilized by spell patterns. It would only be later, as the Skill becomes high enough in Level, that it should be possible to be used in Fusions. Unless, of course, you’ve already had practice at it like I have…” He trailed off, shrugging once again.

“B-But how has this never been discovered before?! I’ve never heard of anything like this being used in spellcasting, and I’ve been around quite a long time.”

“I have no idea. I can’t even cast a spell without nearly blowing myself up; then again, I haven’t really tried again since that first disastrous accident, but my instincts are telling me it would be a mistake to try again even with a better understanding of what I’m doing. If anything, my practice with creating Fusions and their innate strength might even make it worse, so I’m hesitant to even attempt it.”

Larek’s body and mind, after recovering from the barrage of notifications, felt energized, and he realized he was slightly rambling as he spoke to his Professor. Thankfully, the Grandmaster Fusionist was preoccupied with the whole concept of the new Skill that he didn’t even notice.

“I wonder if it’s because it originally seems like a waste of time?” Shinpai mused to himself. “I mean, if I can create the spell pattern for a Fireball in less than a second, launch it at a monster, and then create another one the next second, why would I want to spend the time trying to divide a spell pattern, especially in the heat of battle? I could just cast another spell, after all.

“But if this works for any spell, then powerful skills such as Heaven’s Wrath, Icy Deluge, and Fiery Cataclysm could be used two or more times simultaneously for an additional cost of Pattern Cohesion – which could spell the difference between life and death. That’s not even taking into account that this could be used in Fusions like our young prodigy just demonstrated, meaning that a Fusionist’s precious time and Pattern Cohesion could be stretched even further out in the field, while also equipping more SIC members with valuable Fusions. This could be incredible… as long as others can learn it.” Done with his muttered monologue, Larek’s Professor looked at him and asked, “Do you think you can teach me how to do it?”

“Me… teach you?” Larek knew that the Dean and Shinpai had originally spoken of him teaching other Fusionists how to create the same sort of Fusions he could make, but that had fallen through when it was obvious that no one else could manage the sheer solidity of his Fusion formations. While he was easily able to instruct others on his methods and the composition of his relatively new Graduated Parahealing Fusion, for instance, without the solidity of the formation and the heightened Pattern Cohesion necessary for it to work, no one else could create it.

But perhaps this was something he could teach. He’d never seriously tried before, but he guessed that it was at least worth an attempt.

“I can try. I wouldn’t advise attempting to do it with a Fusion, even with how comfortable you are with them,” he warned, wincing as he realized he was talking to a Grandmaster Fusionist with many decades of experience and knowledge. Again, his Professor didn’t seem to be offended by his warning, and only gestured for him to continue. “I can’t show you how to do this with a spell pattern, unfortunately, because it needs to be infused with Mana, but perhaps you can adapt the Fusion patterns to your spellcasting technique.”

Larek knew that, while spells and Fusions were similar in their construction, they were two entirely different methods of using the Mana inherent in their bodies. He just hoped that Shinpai would be able to consider the differences and figure it out.

“Not a problem,” his Professor said, settling himself down to watch Larek work like an extremely attentive student. There was a seriousness and enthusiasm on the older man’s face that Larek had never seen before, and it made him a little nervous to have his methods so closely scrutinized.

Thankfully, once he eliminated the Fusions on the two steel plates and got started once again, the distraction of having Shinpai sitting so close and watching the lines of his thick Fusion formation construct in the middle of the air disappeared as he focused on his work. At first, his explanation of what he was doing was slightly disjointed and hesitant, but as he poured the Mana into the formation, he became more confident. Utilizing his newly unlocked Skill, it was almost effortless as he split the Fusion into two halves, before locking them into place on the plates once again.

“…and this is where I would assume the spell would be cast as you release the spell pattern, but I can’t speak to that,” he finished, having successfully created yet another two Fusions after dividing it from a single one.

Focused Division has reached Level 8!

…..

Focused Division has reached Level 10!

Another notification startled him as he was so intent on showing his Professor how he accomplished the feat that he had blocked out everything else. Fortunately, the influx of additional Levels was only slightly impactful instead of knocking him flat on his back, so he was able to recover quite quickly.

“Amazing. Simply amazing. I’ll give it a try.”

The next moment, a spell pattern appeared in front of Shinpai as his Professor raised his hands, one that looked familiar in context but was unknown to Larek. At first, it looked like any other spell he’d seen and could learn, as it was obviously a fairly simple spell based on its pattern; after a few seconds, as it hovered in the air, the lines that it was constructed of seemed to thicken as his Professor used his fingers to add more Pattern Cohesion to the structure of the pattern. Unfortunately, after a few seconds, the pattern seemed to collapse as it became lopsided from varying thicknesses throughout the whole thing.

“I believe you need to start with thicker lines from the beginning,” Larek suggested, forgetting for a moment that he was lecturing someone who was many times older and wiser than he was.

Shinpai just nodded and started again, and this time the pattern formed much slower than before, as the lines his Professor drew were thicker to start with. However, it became quite obvious that such manipulation of the normal process of spell pattern formation was difficult for the Grandmaster Fusionist as it wobbled and fell apart after nearly 15 seconds of work, with only about half of it completed.

But just like Larek when he knew he should be able to do something, his Professor was stubborn and determined to try again. The next few minutes showed remarkable progress in Shinpai’s creation of the spell pattern, but it wasn’t until about 15 minutes later that the older man was able to complete the pattern – though the visible strain in his Professor’s ability was obvious on his face. He was able to infuse it quickly with Mana, but was unable to prevent it from activating, preventing him from being able to divide the pattern into two separate spells.

A flash of light blinded him momentarily as the spell activated, and he blinked back the spots in his eyes as an orb of light hovered in the air in between the two Fusionists.

New Spell learned!

Light Orb

Duration: 30 seconds

Base Elemental Damage: 0

Base Elemental Effect (Illumination): Creates a hovering orb of light

Restrictions: Anything passing through the Light Orb will cancel the effect

Base Mana Cost: 10

Base Pattern Cohesion: 2

“Well, halfway there, I suppose,” Shinpai said, frustration evident in his voice. With a wave of his hand through the Light Orb, the spell that Larek had just learned which he recognized as the base source of his Illuminate Fusions, the hovering light disappeared. “I’m trying again.”

So he did. With Larek giving out what pointers he could, he could see Shinpai continuously progress as the next few hours wore on. The biggest problem he discovered with his Professor understanding what he needed to do was that the experienced Grandmaster Fusionist was so set in his ways when it came to casting spells that the process of holding the spell stable after it was infused with Mana was extremely difficult; Shinpai was so accustomed to simply letting the temporary spell pattern go so that it could be activated that it was as if he was trying to go against his instincts. It made sense in a way, as it was similar to his own disastrous spellcasting accident, as keeping a spell pattern around for too long was dangerous as it would want to absorb additional Pattern Cohesion to stay stable. He thought that the Grandmaster Fusionist would be used to it after creating so many Fusions over the years, but apparently the basic training that he was taught when he first learned to cast spells was almost impossible to override.

Almost impossible wasn’t the same as impossible, however. Both Larek and Shinpai freely recognized that this was likely the reason why no one had ever bothered to attempt something like this in the past, leaving the Focused Division Skill undiscovered until now, because it was just so difficult and against natural instincts that no one would want to try.

After nearly 6 hours of constantly creating the spell pattern for Light Orb over and over while attempting to divide it after it was infused with Mana, his Professor finally succeeded. Shinpai only managed to split the spell pattern in half and move them away from each other a few inches before he lost control of them, causing them both to activate for a split second before winking out as they touched each other, but it worked.

The smile of pure giddiness on his Professor’s face as he unlocked the new Skill was more than worth the hours of unfamiliar teaching to Larek. As he congratulated the Grandmaster Fusionist for gaining the new Skill and turned to his own work, intending to see if Focused Division would work for the same sort of powerful Fusions he had been making constantly for the last few months, his Professor said something that at first was heartwarming, but then sent a spike of dread through his entire body.

“Thank you, thank you! You don’t know how long it’s been since I was able to increase any of my Skills – and I even reached another personal Level! This is life-changing in more ways than one, as it will give an avenue of advancement to even us old folks who have hit a wall in our personal development after being unable to progress our Skills past a certain point. I don’t think you fully understand what this means for every single Mage in the Kingdom and beyond; this, as strange as it sounds, might be even more impactful than some of your Fusions, though I don’t want to downplay their importance by even a little bit.

“Which is why I want you to teach the Dean and the rest of the faculty here at the Academy how to acquire this Skill. The Dean might even have you teach higher-year students this upcoming year, as well.”

“Uh… what? No.  I’m not really good at teaching and—”

“Nonsense! You taught me, and there is just something about the way your words instill a sense of meaning that I don’t think anyone else could match. Even though I unlocked the Skill, I am positive that I wouldn’t be able to describe the process as easily to anyone else. I don’t know if it is due to, uh, you know, but it obviously works.”

What his Professor didn’t outright say was that it might be that the Dominion magic that he seemed to possess might have had an impact on his teaching, which was just another reason why he didn’t want to try and instruct anyone else. How many people would be affected by this magic he couldn’t control? Granted, it could be something else entirely that allowed the Grandmaster Fusionist to learn the Skill, but could he really take that chance?

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem as though Shinpai was going to take a no for an answer, though ultimately it would be up to the Dean to dictate who he taught. Just the thought of instructing the powerful figure in charge of Copperleaf Academy was way more intimidating than teaching his Fusions Professor, and he dreaded how long it might take being in close quarters with the woman.

“Come. We’ll go see her right now.”

His new Skill was powerful and could drastically improve his speed in creating Fusions, but he was beginning to suspect that his success was going to be much more trouble than it was worth. Sighing in resignation, he stood up and followed his Professor out of the workshop and up to the Dean’s office, Vivienne trailing after as Larek’s bodyguard for the day.