The Fusionist Book 3 -- Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The next morning, Larek felt better than he had in months.

“You were right, Professor,” he admitted soon after he arrived in the Advanced Fusions workshop. “I was wearing down my pattern and I didn’t even realize it.”

Shinpai reached up and patted him on the shoulder while nodding his head. “I’m glad you were able to see it and stop it before it got any worse. To be honest, I wasn’t even sure if you were doing any harm to it at first, given your circumstances, but I can sometimes get a sense of someone else’s internal pattern when I’ve been working with them after a while. I had a feeling that you’d have been fine for another few weeks, but there’s no point letting it get to that point if there’s no need. I especially don’t want you to do anything to hinder your advancement in the future; sometimes I forget that you’re still a teenager with how you’re able to create such powerful Fusions.”

Larek was silent as he considered his Professor’s words. He had to admit that he sometimes forgot that he was only 16—actually, I turned 17 a few months ago. I was so busy that I forgot my own birthday.

The Grandmaster Fusionist sighed as he dropped his hand from Larek’s shoulder. “But now we really need your help with more Fusions, I’m sorry to say.”

“About that,” he said, holding up a finger. “I have an idea I want to try.”

“An idea? What is this all about? Is this something that might let you breakthrough to a higher Skill Level?”

Sadly, he shook his head. Shinpai already knew about his difficulties in advancing any further than he had, and from what he understood, his Professor was looking into various methods that might help him push through. Unfortunately, nothing had come of it quite yet.

“No, at least I don’t think so,” he answered. “But have you ever heard of anyone creating two Fusions at the same time?”

“Two Fusions? Like an Intermediate Fusion with dual Effects?”

Again, Larek shook his head. “No. I’m talking about creating two separate Fusions at the same time. I think I might be able to do it; if I can, then I can effectively double the number of Fusions I can produce every day. I think that I’ll have to take a day off every week to ensure that I don’t run my pattern ragged like it had been, but this should make up for that day, and then some.”

“Larek, that’s imposs—” his Professor began to say, before stopping himself. “Well, I was going to say that it’s impossible to create more than one Fusion at a time, but you’ve already shown me that what I thought impossible is completely wrong. All I’ll say is that it’s highly improbable that you’ll be able to do it, but I’d like to see you try.”

Larek was curious. “Why do you think it is either impossible or highly improbable?”

Instead of answering right away, Shinpai walked over to his customary spot on his cushions and waved for Larek to sit down as well. Once they were settled, the Grandmaster Fusionist explained. “Let me ask you a question instead. What are the three fundamentals that a Fusionist needs in order to create a Fusion?”

It took him a moment to understand what his Professor was asking. “Pattern Cohesion, Mana, and… knowledge?”

“Correct on the first two, but knowledge isn’t absolutely necessary. Remember what I told you before; the symbols inside of a Fusion are only a representation of an idea, so having knowledge of what they are supposed to look like can be superseded by something else.”

It only took Larek a moment. “Ah. Focus.”

“Exactly!” Shinpai said, nodding. “Now, which of those three is the most important? Or, in other words, which one is the most impactful?”

Larek was going to say Pattern Cohesion, because it was necessary to even construct a grid formation, but he realized at the last moment that it wasn’t that. “Focus?”

“Precisely! For Fusionists, their focus is the most important because they need to instill their intent into the different parts of the Fusion while keeping the entire thing together. You’ve seen the trance-like state that I and most of the other Fusionists at this level adopt in order to ensure they can keep their focus properly during creation; it is necessary for us because our Fusion Time is typically measured in hours, not minutes like you.

“Now, despite your ability to work much faster than other Fusionists, you still need to keep the same level of focus on your Fusion. Even if you are able to assemble two grid formations with your Pattern Cohesion and have the Mana to feed into both Fusions, you’ll still have to split your focus between two separate creations, something that even the greatest Fusionists in history would have difficulty even attempting, so much so that it is doubtful that anyone has even tried.

“But you,” he continued with a chuckle, “well, are unique in that aspect that you don’t seem to have a problem keeping your focus even without a trance. So, while it might be impossible for anyone else, you might be able to do it – but I can’t help but think that it will still be highly improbable, as I said. All I can say is that you should be careful, as it might be dangerous to attempt creating two at once, especially if they collapsed.”

Larek considered what his Professor was cautioning him against, but he honestly thought he could handle it. Sure, it would take a little more concentration and focus, but he had gotten to the point over the last few months that it felt like he barely had to focus now to create the Fusions he did. It wasn’t quantified anywhere, unfortunately, as his Skills didn’t reflect what he considered to be his increased Focus for Fusions; Spellcasting Focus was probably the closest, but he didn’t think that matched up perfectly with what he was thinking. Acuity might be a better stat to compare with the clarity of his focus, but even that fell flat when he thought about it for long. It was almost as if something was missing from his Skills that reflected his growth, but he had no idea what it was. As far as he knew, there weren’t any other Skills available to Mages that he didn’t already possess.

“I’m going to try it with something small and simple first: a Basic Fusion. If I can’t even hold it together before I start inserting Mana into it, I’ll stop before I hurt myself,” he said, and Shinpai shrugged.

“Feel free to try. Just be careful… and don’t be afraid to hear, ‘I told you so,’ if you fail,” the Grandmaster Fusionist added with a smirk… before scooting backward from where Larek was pulling out two steel plates and resting them side-by-side on his crossed legs.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Professor,” Larek remarked with a smirk of his own before turning his attention to the two steel plates. With a deep breath, he began by creating a 2-by-2 grid formation on the left plate, before adding the necessary components for an Illuminate Steel +1 Activatable Fusion; it was one of the simplest and lowest cost Fusions he knew of, and it was also something he would be able to test immediately by activating it to make it glow. That entire process only took a few seconds, as it was again quite basic, so he shifted his attention to the other steel plate.

As soon as he took his focus off the one he had just finished, the formation began to fall apart to the point where he couldn’t recover it. If I had infused Mana into that Fusion, it might have exploded. Fortunately, all it did was fall apart harmlessly.

He rebuilt the formation quickly and, while keeping enough focus on the first, he started to construct the second formation. Or at least he tried to construct it, but it was as if something was preventing him from placing the necessary lines for the grid to form; instead, it was just a mess of random lines of Pattern Cohesion jumbled together without rhyme or reason. When he saw this, he let everything fall apart before trying again.

A few minutes later, he grunted in frustration as he couldn’t seem to hold the focus of one Fusion while constructing the second. He knew he had enough concentration to make it work, but for some reason that escaped him, it just wouldn’t come together. It wasn’t until he sat back, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath that he remembered where this seemingly crazy idea came from. It only took him a few seconds to picture the two Geomancers forming the same spell pattern simultaneously before he knew what he needed to do.

Again, at least he thought he knew what he needed to do, but the end result was just as unfortunate. Forming two separate Fusions simultaneously was difficult at first, because he had to split his concentration between two different grid formations, but after the first few lines it became much easier. Within 30 seconds, which was far longer than it would normally take him to create a single Fusion grid formation, he got the hang of it and finished both Fusions at the same time, something that he hadn’t been able to previously do.

The problem came when he attempted to infuse both Fusions at the same time. He was able to keep his focus on both formations just fine once they were constructed, but attempting to split his focus once again to direct two streams of Mana into the appropriate places in the separate Fusions seemed to be impossible. It wasn’t necessarily a problem with his focus, he found, but that he was incapable of forming two separate Mana funnels that weren’t included in the same Fusion. It was as if there was some sort of mental block that prevented it from happening, or he simply didn’t have the ability or Mana Control. Regardless of the reason, it didn’t work.

He could fill them one at a time, he found, but that wasn’t exactly what he was looking to accomplish. Once he finished both, he immediately eliminated them from the steel plates by starving them of ambient Mana, causing their formations to collapse, before trying again. He wasn’t going to give up when he felt he was so close.

Another 15 minutes and numerous failures later, he was beginning to think it wasn’t possible. It was in between attempts that Shinpai spoke up, startling Larek a little because he had been so engrossed in his project that he had forgotten where he was. “I can see that you’re not having any problems with the formations, which shouldn’t surprise me; as for the Mana you’re feeding into them, why don’t you try moving the plates and the formations you’re creating closer together, so that their Mana Costs are near enough that you might be able to fill both with same funnel of Mana you tend to like using?”

Such a simple solution hadn’t even occurred to Larek, as he was so intent on trying to split his Mana that he didn’t even think of that. As he begin to move the plates around, close enough that one was practically stacked on top of the other, he suddenly had an epiphany.

Wait a minute. Why don’t I just stack the Fusions and then direct them where I want them afterwards? He already partly did that when creating normal Fusions, after all. When he created the original grid formation, it sort of hovered over the material where he wanted to place his Fusion, and once it was filled he would direct it to fuse into the structure of the material with a *click*. He hadn’t ever attempted to move it more than the slight adjustment required for the final push into the material, but he didn’t see why he couldn’t move it more. At that point in the process, with the Mana infusing it and acting as a sort of glue that held it together, it should be easy enough to shift where he wanted it.

With a thoughtful nod in Shinpai’s direction, he attempted something else new that he’d never done before; instead of creating the Fusion directly above the material he was using, he instead formed the grid formation approximately a foot away from the steel plate in the middle of the air. There was a slight inhalation of air that came from his Professor, but the Grandmaster Fusionist was experienced enough to know not to interrupt another Fusionist while they were in the process of making a Fusion, so he said nothing.

Since he was just making a single Fusion, it only took a few second for him to form the pattern and then infuse it with Mana. At that point, when it was completely saturated, he felt a connection with it as it attempted to fully form, but as it was in the air with no material nearby, he was fairly certain it would collapse if he simply let it go right there. This would probably elicit a slight explosion, which sounded like it could be useful as a weapon in the future; at the same time, his instincts were telling him that an unfinished Fusion like this could wind up harming his Pattern Cohesion if he simply let it collapse while he was still working with it.

Instead, he mentally directed it toward the steel plate underneath it, which was more difficult than if it had been directly underneath it, but not overly so. As it clicked into place, he let out the breath he was holding as he tested the illumination on the steel plate and checked over his work, seeing absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. In other words, it had worked. More than that, while he was controlling the Mana-infused grid formation, there was something else he intuited that was going to make all the difference.

“That was… odd, Larek. Why did you do that?” his Professor asked.

“Because of this. Watch.”

Suddenly confident that his intuition was correct, he quickly eliminated the Fusion from the steel plate, leaving it empty for another one, before concentrating on the air above the two plates in his lap. With a few thoughts, he assembled the same Fusion once again, but this time he made the lines thicker, or more accurately, deeper; typically, the lines were fairly two-dimensional, as they were relatively flat with very little thickness because they didn’t need it when attaching to a material. But now he pictured the lines becoming more three-dimensional, with a deepness that doubled its thickness, which he could easily see since it was suspended in the air in front of him.

Filling it up with Mana took exactly the same amount as it did when it was thinner, which he figured was because it was still doing the same exact thing no matter its depth. A general feel for how much Pattern Cohesion was used in the Fusion led him believe that it might have used perhaps 20% more than normal, which was actually quite good considering that it essentially doubled in size.

As he held it in place, now infused with Mana, Larek did something he wasn’t entirely sure would work, but his previous experience with moving the nearly completed Fusion led him to believe that it would. Now that the Fusion was largely held together because of the Mana, it also made the formation a little more pliable and able to be manipulated; it was this malleability that allowed it to conform precisely to different-shaped materials, such as rings and armbands that had rounded contours. Larek, however, was using it for a different reason entirely.

With a focused mental slice into the formation, he cut it in half like a loaf of bread. The two halves didn’t want to detach at first, as if the Mana “glue” was holding it together, but with a slight twist and an inaudible snap, the two halves separated and he was able to control them independently of each other. Without hesitating any further, he directed them onto the two steel plates in his lap, allowing them to click into place simultaneously. As soon as they were fully fused into the material, he checked them over and didn’t see any issues that had come from separating them from the original whole. A mental activation turned the illumination on both on, and he smiled in satisfaction before looking up to see Grandmaster Fusionist Shinpai’s absolutely flabbergasted face.

“I—”

Larek’s explanation was interrupted as a barrage of notifications slammed into him the next second, knocking him flat on his back.