The Fusionist Book 3 -- Chapter 3

(Sorry it's a little late today; I had an appointment earlier today that went far later than expected, so I wasn't able to finish until tonight.  I'm hoping to have 2 chapters up tomorrow!)

Chapter 3

Larek impatiently suffered through his morning classes as he waited for the opportunity to experiment later in the day. He spent his limited time in his Advanced Fusions class creating stat-boosting Fusions on a pair of staves, all of them +8 in Magnitude for Intellect, Acuity, and Pneuma, as well as a heavy steel shield with +6 stat boosts for Strength, Body, and Acuity. Theoretically, he could create them easily enough to make Fusions with higher Magnitudes, but there was both a limit to the time he had to create them and a limit to the area of ambience that he had to work with. With a staff, it was much easier to spread out the stat boosts along its length; for the steel shield, it was difficult to fit more than the +6 boosts on it without them interfering with each other, even if he doubled up the boosts in a single Fusion. Unfortunately, until he was able to make Advanced Fusions that would allow him to incorporate 3 or more Effects at once, he wasn’t able to include them all into a single Fusion.

Of course, that didn’t mean he hadn’t at least tried to get it to work, but unfortunately his Fusions seemed to fall apart when he tried to place 3 different Effects into them. From his studies, he knew it had to do with an Advanced Fusion technique that incorporated his Multi-effect Fusion Focus Skill; sadly, with it stuck at Level 10 no matter what he did to try and improve it, accomplishing such a technique was seemingly impossible. While he’d accomplished what many people thought impossible in the past, these limitations on his ability didn’t seem like something he could brute force his way through without the minimum Skills.

Larek didn’t even know who the Fusions he was creating were for, as that was all handled by Grandmaster Fusionist Shinpai and Dean Lorraine, but he honestly didn’t care all that much. He figured that they were going to those that needed them the most, as he overheard at one point that at least some of them were going to the SIC members on the walls of the city. He wasn’t naïve enough to assume that none of them were being handed out as favors to people in the Academy or Fort, but as long as someone found his Fusions helpful, that didn’t bother him.

What came as a surprise to him was the demand for Repelling Barriers, or more accurately, the lack of them. After garnering so much attention during the Skirmish, he had expected to be creating bunches of them for the SIC defenders on the walls, but other than a small handful of them, he had mainly been directed toward creating stat boosts instead. It wasn’t exactly groundbreaking work, but the types of boosts that he created were much better than many other Fusionists could make – other than Shinpai, perhaps – and would also last much longer. He couldn’t deny that they would most likely be helpful to those who received them, so he didn’t complain.

Following his last class of the day, The Dangers of Scissions, of which the curriculum was undergoing some significant changes given the extreme shift in Scission behavior happening throughout the Kingdom, Larek rushed to his Fusions workshop to get started with his experimentation regarding a new healing Fusion. All throughout the day, he had fleshed his idea out more and more, up to the point where he was positive that it would work.

“Whoa, you’re in a hurry today, aren’t you?” Penelope noted, while needing to run to keep up with his long strides.

“Yes. I think I have a solution that will work, thanks to what happened last night.”

“Oh? And what happened last night?” the Martial trainee asked innocently.

“I’m almost positive you already know, if you weren’t the one who ordered it.” He snorted, realizing that it probably was Penelope who orchestrated the whole false assassination attempt, even if she hadn’t been there herself. She had a lot of clout with his other protectors, after all, and was also Vivienne’s lover.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she replied, though Larek could tell by this point when she wasn’t telling to truth, or at least stretching it more than a bit.

He shook his head as he began to approach the doorway heading into the workshops. “Sure, sure. Anyway, as much as I hated what happened, it was beneficial.”

“Ah, so you’re going to be more cognizant of the danger you’re constantly in?” she asked.

“No. Or, well, I guess, but that’s not what I meant by it being beneficial. It was what Vivienne did to me that gave me the last piece of the puzzle I needed.”

“Larek, that wasn’t the objective of her actions. She was supposed to impress upon you the risks you’re in from other people even in the relative safety of the Academy.”

As he reached the doorway, he opened the door and looked back at her, raising an eyebrow. “Oh, really? And how would you know what she was supposed to do, given that you have ‘no idea what I’m talking about.’”

She just grunted in response as she followed him inside the hallway that led to the workshops, before slipping past him to take the lead. She took her protection assignment seriously when they were indoors, only allowing him to have a bit more freedom to lead the way while they were outside and threats could be more easily identified.

Nothing and no one accosted them, thankfully, though he received plenty of stares as he rushed by. The biggest difference was that these stares weren’t based on his height or anything about his appearance; instead, it was based on the notoriety he had achieved during the Skirmish as he was proclaimed a Fusion prodigy by Copperleaf Academy’s Dean. It was annoying, especially when more than a few attempted to talk to him but were rebuffed by his bodyguards. Logically, he knew it was for the best, otherwise he would likely be inundated by students – and faculty – who wanted to use him to create a Fusion for them, but he also recognized more than a few of them that had the semi-vacant look that likely meant they were fellow Fusionists. He doubted that they wanted to demand a Fusion from him, but were more likely to be interested in talking about Fusion techniques and advice, but his bodyguards turned them away all the same.

Sometimes, he felt like he was a prisoner and his bodyguards his jailers with the way they kept him isolated, but he supposed it was for the best. Besides, he was already incredibly busy all the time, and stopping to talk to new people all the time would cut into his work.

When he arrived at the Fusion workshop, Larek noticed that two of the privacy alcoves were occupied by students – which was a fairly common occurrence – while the rest of the room was empty of anyone but Shinpai. On a second glance, however, he realized that there was another person there standing nearby the Grandmaster Fusionist, though it was hard to make out who it was; whenever he looked in their direction, his eyes wanted to look away – but he was confident there was someone standing there.

He was about to mention it to Penelope, concerned it might one of the assassins that his bodyguards had so consistently warned him about, but his words died on his lips as Dean Lorraine suddenly appeared where he was previously having trouble looking. Penelope drew her sword in one quick movement, sidestepping to move in front of Larek in a guard position, but she relaxed a moment later once she recognized the Dean.

“Excellent reflexes, Penelope. Also, good eye, Larek; I shouldn’t be surprised that you noticed me despite my powerful Redirection spell, but I just can’t get over how incredible it is that you can do things like that seemingly without any effort. Even Shinpai can barely see me when I do that.”

“What? I always know when you’re there, Lorraine,” Shinpai said, appearing offended.

The Dean looked at him with a smirk. “Oh? Like the time I caught you creeping through the—”

“Alright, I will admit that sometimes I can be distracted and don’t notice you,” the Fusions Professor cut her off. “Anyway,” he continued, ignoring her as he focused on Larek, “I’m glad to see how prompt you are, Larek. I take it by how quickly you got here that you have something you want to try?”

He nodded, moving to one of the privacy alcoves that was open, though Penelope investigated to ensure it was clear and safe before she allowed him to sit down. “I had an… experience last night that gave me an insight into what I was missing,” Larek finally responded once he was settled. “Give me a few minutes while I put it all together.”

“Take your time. It’s better to be safe and fail than to rush ahead and potentially hurt yourself – or others – in the process,” Shinpai warned. Larek nodded once again as he pulled out one of the thin, flat, steel plates from underneath his robes and placed it on his lap.

Centering himself as he looked down at where he was going to place the formation, he thought about the healing Fusion that he was going to create. The last few weeks had been leading up to this, and with one setback after another, he was finally confident that he had the answer he had been looking for.

Originally, the problem was that he couldn’t separate the way he applied the channeled spell effect he understood from Minor Mending from the Martial-based Body Regeneration Skill, so trying to utilize Minor Mending in any Fusion simply reproduced the same issues in non-Martials as before. After realizing this, Shinpai and the Dean had him shadow some of the healers in the healer’s ward for a day, in order to see if he could learn any additional spells that he might be able to use instead.

His time with them was very informative, even if not all of the information he gained was beneficial. First, he was successful in learning two new healing spells, both of which he gained from watching some of the students who had basic Healer Specializations. This was the most basic of healing-based Specializations, though from what he’d learned from watching all the healers at work and from his Specializations class, very few students of the Academy stopped there before they graduated. The reason for that was gaining the Healer Specialization was one of the easiest to gain of any Mage-based Specialization, and it was only the first step in their academic journey.

After that, depending on where they focused their studies, they could unlock upgraded Specializations, including ones such as Battle Cleric, Light Soother, Holy Mender, Blood Priest, and more.  From what he had learned, Bettra – the healer that had saved his face after it had been torn up by an undead bird, before being killed by a different undead in Barrowford – had been a Light Soother, who was able to utilize light-based attack spells in addition to healing.

In fact, the requirements for obtaining a Healer Specialization were so simple that Larek had unlocked it within a few hours of watching the healers work.

Congratulations!

You have unlocked the Healer Specialization!

Requirements:

Mana Control Skill of 15

Spellcasting Focus Skill of 10

Magical Detection Skill of 10

Knowledge of these 3 different types of Fusions

Minor Mending

Lesser Reconstruction

Localized Anesthesia

The Healer Specialization also provides these benefits:

5% reduction in Mana Cost for healing-based spells

Do you wish to accept this Specialization? Yes / No

At first, he immediately rejected it because he was a Fusionist, not a Healer. After talking with Shinpai, however, he learned that almost every member of the SIC gained more than one Specialization over time, which was evidenced by the stripes on the sleeves on the Academy’s Professors; the more stripes, the more base Specializations they had acquired. By “base”, he meant the most basic form of that Specialization, such as Pyromancer, Fusionist, Healer, Naturalist, etc.  By delving deeper into a certain field, such as learning additional Fire-based spells as a Pyromancer, they could unlock more advanced Specializations such as Fire Weaver, Flamesurger, or an Immolator – all of which applied their knowledge differently.

After learning that it couldn’t hurt him to take it, Larek now had a Fusionist and a Healer Specialization, even though the latter didn’t really do anything for him since he couldn’t cast any healing spells. There was also the potential that if he was able to unlock additional Specializations he might be able to acquire hybrid types, which reminded him of the student he had been forced to duel back at Crystalview. Barto had been an Illusionist that had incorporated Air-based effects into his illusions, making them deadly rather than harmless. While he apparently hadn’t unlocked a hybrid class at that time, he later heard that he was on track to become something called a Cloudshaper – whatever that was.

Even if he wasn’t able to utilize the spells that went with a Specialization, including hybrids, it didn’t hurt to acquire them; not only that, but some of the more “higher-tier” Specializations had bonuses to Skills, so they might actually be beneficial at some point. Knowing that, Larek thought it might be smart to learn as many spells as possible, unlocking as many Specializations that he could get his hands on… except that there was a problem with that.

As much as he tried, he was unable to learn any of the powerful healing spells he saw at work in the healer’s ward. What he didn’t know before, as it hadn’t really come up in any of his classes, was that spells Mages could utilize were slotted into 5 different unofficial categories based on the complexity of the spell formations – and were identical to the ones used for Intermediate Fusions. Simplespell formations were the ones that were taught to almost every Mage, which included Fireball, Ice Spike, Stone Fist, and Minor Mending – which were some of the first spells that Larek had learned back at Crystalview. Lesser spell formations were ones that he had learned such as Wall of Thorns, Wind Barrier, and Static Illusion. In fact, every single spell that Larek had learned thus far were Simpleor Lesser spell formations, including the two new healing spells he’d learned, which were both Lesser in complexity.

But when he attempted to learn Minor or Major healing spells, his mind couldn’t comprehend them, just as his Fusion-making abilities couldn’t fully understand Advanced Fusions. There was some sort of block there that he was unable to push through, which meant that acquiring any other Specializations would have to wait. From what he understood, every other Specialization required knowledge of at least one Minor spell formation to unlock them; it was only the simplicity of the Healer Specialization that allowed Larek to gain it in addition to Fusionist.

After gaining the two new spells, Lesser Restoration and Localized Anesthesia, he thought he might be able to figure something out for the healing Fusion, but he was wrong.

New Spell learned!

Lesser Restoration

Base Healing: 7 per second to minor flesh wounds, bone fractures, and organ damage

Base Effective Range: On touch

Base Mana Cost (Initial): 25

Base Mana Cost (Channeling): 10 per second

Base Pattern Cohesion: 5

New Spell learned!

Localized Anesthesia

Base Effect: Blocks bodily pain in a localized area

Base Magnitude: Up to 1 square foot

Base Effective Range: On touch

Base Mana Cost (Initial): 5

Base Mana Cost (Channeling): 1 per second

Base Pattern Cohesion: 3

The first spell, Lesser Restoration, was a step up in healing from Minor Mending, as it even worked to fix bone fractures and damage to vital organs – which the weaker spell could not. The problem with the spell, at least for most Healers, was that it attempted to do too much – and the Mana Cost reflected that as it was 25 Mana to initiate the spell and then 10 more every second. For someone who only had 100 Mana, for instance, this meant that they could only heal for a few seconds before they ran out of Mana. More complex spell formations tended to specialize in different types of injuries, therefore lowering the cost, but that wasn’t something that Larek could learn.

Localized Anesthesia, on the other hand, was similar to his Pain Immunity Skill, as it blocked the pain from a wound in a localized area on the body. This was, of course, helpful to ease the pain of any victims of serious injuries, but it also had a secondary effect of slowing down bleeding and helped to stabilize a wound before it could become any worse.

From the start, Lesser Restoration appeared to be absolutely perfect for what he needed for a healing Fusion, but when he attempted to apply it to a formation, the result was less than spectacular. The main issue, when used on an experimental rat that had been seriously injured with broken bones and internal bleeding, was that the healing effect he imparted into the Fusion was too strong – as unlikely as that sounded. Even at a Magnitude of 1, the rat essentially exploded as every injury attempted to heal itself at the same time, tearing the poor creature apart.

That inevitably led to him attempting to combine it with Localized Anesthesia with the thought of stabilizing the wounded areas, but for some reason it had the opposite effect on yet another injured rat. This time it imploded, as the healing was stymied as its body was numbed and unresponsive, therefore being unable to react properly to the healing energy that was pushed into it.

Time and again, he attempted various formations with the help of Shinpai providing advice, but no matter what he did, the result was either horrendously bad or simply didn’t provide much in the way of healing for some reason. Larek had briefly thought that it was the spell effects that were the problem, and he needed a different spell in order to accomplish his healing Fusion.

But he was wrong. What he was missing wasn’t a new spell; rather, what he was missing was an understanding of the effects the spells created, just like he instinctively understood his Body Regeneration Skill he tied into Minor Mending to create his Healing Surge Fusion.

Thankfully, he gained a new facet of understanding the night before when he was paralyzed by Deepfang Venom. Now it was time to put that understanding to good use.