The Fusionist Book 2 -- Chapter 64

Chapter 64

“Larek, would you mind doing me a favor?” Dean Lorraine asked him.

The Logger-turned-Fusionist glanced around the room, seeing the confused looks on just about everyone’s faces – all but Shinpai, however. Instead, a hint of a smirk that had been threatening to break out was visible at the corner of his mouth.

“Uh, yes, sure; what can I do for you, Dean?”

She gestured to the table, or more accurately she gestured to the area that Whittaker had damaged with his fist. “It seems as though our table isn’t as strong as we would prefer. I know you won’t be able to fix the damage that’s already done, but would you see about preventing such a thing from happening again in the future?”

Slightly confused by the request, he looked at her to see if she was serious – and she certainly seemed like it. A glance at Shinpai showed the smirk now clear on his face as it was no longer a hint, so he supposed that this was what his Fusions instructor wanted, as well. Once he determined that they were both serious about this, he looked at the long wooden table in question, determining how he would go about strengthening it.

Just how strong is Whittaker? I think it would take at least a Magnitude 10 Strengthen Wood Fusion to withstand another blow like the ones I saw. Perhaps 11? No, I think 12 should do it – or would that be overkill? Then, I have to factor in the extensive size of the table which will add to the cost… unless I do more than a single Fusion? No, that’s probably not necessary; I can do it all in one—

“What is the meaning of this, Lorraine? I don’t have time to waste hours on this type of foolishness.”

“Just wait and see, Whittaker. You’ll probably be surprised; in fact, I haven’t actually seen this in person, so I’m also looking forward to it.”

Larek barely heard the Dean and the important-looking Martial man talking, as he was so focused on the problem he was given to solve that he blocked out most of the external stimuli. It only took him a few more seconds to come to a decision on what he was going to do, and as soon as he was set in his course, his feet began to move as he headed for the table’s “elbow”, the area that connected both sides of the L-shaped tabled together. This just so happened to be right in between the Dean and Whittaker, who were sitting approximately 5 feet away from where he was going to place the Fusion.

Bracing his legs against the wood of the table and with his staff gripped in his left hand providing him the stat boosts he needed, he began to create the Fusion, a basic 2 by 2 grid formation which was all that was needed for Strengthen Wood. He had briefly thought about trying to incorporate another spell that might aid in actually fixing the damage already done, but he thought it probably wasn’t the best time to experiment with something new at that time – though it gave him ideas for when the Skirmish was finished.

In less than 10 seconds the formation was ready, including the Mana Overflow Bypass and the reinforced containment barriers, which had been so valuable of an addition to his Fusion creations that he had trouble remembering how he managed without them. No one said anything as he prepared the grid formation, but they certainly reacted as he began to funnel Mana into the Fusion.

“Whoa; what is that?”

“How can he handle so much Mana at one time?”

“What is he doing?! He’s going to shatter the formation and it’ll explode!”

“Calm down, Jickson; he knows what he’s doing.” Larek recognized the Grandmaster Fusionist there, but he blocked even that out as he concentrated on what he was doing. Thankfully, the Fusion itself was fairly straightforward without any complicated Inputs or Variable and only a single Effect, so he was easily able to focus on the Effect while pouring Mana quickly into the formation.

And it was a lot of Mana, considering the Fusion he was creating. Not nearly as much as the Repelling Barriers, but 120,000 Mana for a Magnitude 12 Strengthen Wood Fusion was still a hefty amount. When it came to his Pattern Cohesion cost, he estimated that it would be somewhere around 950; that was based on what his experimentations had revealed about higher Magnitude Fusions in that range and the base cost of a Magnitude 1 Fusion, which in this case had a Pattern Cohesion Cost of only 1.  For something such as the Repelling Barrier, which had a Cohesion cost of 4 for Magnitude 1, a Magnitude 12 Fusion would cost right around 3,800 – something he had no desire to attempt, even if his maximum Cohesion would allow it. He’d already felt drained and worn out when using 2,300 for the Barriers; adding another 1,500 to that felt instinctively dangerous to him.

But 950 was just fine.

In actuality, the 120,000 Mana and 950 Pattern Cohesion was designed to affect a smaller section of wood, perhaps a normal table or desk – not the gigantic L-shaped table he was working with. To cover the entire thing with a single Fusion meant that it would cost more, though it wasn’t a direct correlation; what that meant was that a table twice the size of the base didn’t require twice the Mana and Pattern Cohesion. Instead, it was only a fraction of the base costs to increase the area it covered, though it could still add up if one weren’t careful. It was the reason why there were dozens of Fusions around the sparring room he had been in all week or on the fortifications in the arena; technically, a single Fusion could cover the entire space or structure as long as it was all connected, but the cost in resources – and time – would be incredibly high.

While Fusion Time didn’t matter as much to Larek, there was a difference between spending a half-million Mana and 2,500 Pattern Cohesion to cover a space like the sparring room with one Fusion and blanketing it with a lot of smaller ones that didn’t require nearly as much of either. It might take him longer to do it the latter way, but for those who were actually creating those Fusions – which were likely Academy students demonstrating their practical applications of Basic Fusions – it was much easier, faster, and possible for them to create dozens of them rather than a single one.

In all, the original costs increased by an extra 15,000 Mana and 50 Pattern Cohesion, which wasn’t that much to Larek, but any other Academy student would have difficulty with handling just that extra in a Fusion. Not to mention the multiple hours added to the Fusion Time.

It took him about 7 minutes to fill the Fusion up with Mana, faster than he would normally do with a more-complicated formation because he liked to ensure he had everything focused correctly on Intermediate Fusions, but that wasn’t as necessary here. He saw it *snap* into place on the wooden tabletop and he sighed as he let his intense concentration lapse. Looking at the Fusion, he smiled when he saw that it was perfect, exactly what he was intending.

Glancing up, he looked at the shocked expressions on the faces of everyone but Shinpai, who now was full-on grinning rather than sporting the smirk from before.

“That was amazing, Larek. Thank you for your assistance,” the Dean said, her voice wavering a little. “Now, Whittaker, would you like to test it out?”

“I have no idea what I just felt and witnessed, but what does that have to do with—”

“Just humor me and I’ll explain in a moment.”

Grumbling under his breath, the powerful Martial lifted his fist and pounded it against the table again, causing Larek to take a step back at the force he saw behind the blow. He took another step back when the strike didn’t cause the wood to budge even the slightest bit, as if the man had simply pounded on hard rock, which caused him to try again – with an even stronger blow.

Nothing different happened.

Looking down at the tabletop in confusion, the important-seeming Martial really cocked his arm back over his head and slammed his fist into the table, which practically created a shockwave to expand out from where his fist impacted, blowing away dust and bits of wood that had been on top. A muted sound of a tiny *crack* proved that his blow had actually managed to do something to the wooden table, though Larek couldn’t actually see where it originated.

The man was about to stand up to get even more leverage to slam his fist down, but Dean Lorraine stopped him. “Whittaker, I’m sure that you could probably break through it if you really tried, but do you really want to? I think what you’ve seen has demonstrated what I’m trying to convey to you.”

Sitting back down while still looking at the wooden table that had withstood one of his fairly powerful blows without being smashed to pieces, the Martial said, “Alright, you have me intrigued, but what exactly are you getting at?”

Larek surreptitiously stepped backwards until he was close to standing near Nedira again, but he stopped when the Dean looked at him again. “Every once in a while someone with potential is born with an ability to do something that defies everything we know about magic, either through the manipulation of Mana or the application of Stama. They have an extraordinary ability in a certain aspect of their magic or an aptitude and skill in a weapon that is unmatched by anyone else.

“For example, Gayle Windspear was a prodigy with air-based magic, creating original spells that even the greatest Mages today struggle to replicate – all while somehow being able to cast those spells nearly non-stop because it came so naturally to her that the Mana needed was incredibly reduced. Rotham Facesmasher was a Pugilist that had a punch so powerful that it would equate your own efforts in smashing that table to an infant slapping a rock. Ishmael Firestorm could incinerate whole swathes of a forest with seemingly a wave of his hand, and form a fireball the size of a house that left entire hordes of monsters a pile of ash as it passed by. Verity the Knife could move so quickly and quietly that she could slip through an approaching force of monsters and leave death in her wake without them even being aware of her presence.

“The legends of these individuals are still told today, with every new student or trainee that enters our Academies and Forts hoping that they will become the next Kirin Vinelord or Gherig Rockcrusher. Unfortunately, the appearance of these prodigal individuals is rare and happens only every few decades, if we’re lucky – but that doesn’t stop everyone from hoping to become one of these fabled Mages or Martials, or even to witness them fight in person.

“But despite there having been dozens of them over the course of this Kingdom’s history, not one of them has ever been a prodigy in Fusions. Until now.”

The silence was uncomfortable in the room as everyone stared at Larek, their expressions displaying shock and what he could only place as awe – but not a single one displayed doubt. Not even the Martial who had just recently been pounding on the table.

Shinpai, of course, still had the grin on his face, which hadn’t changed even through the Dean’s speech.

“So… what are you saying?” Whittaker eventually asked, shaking his head as he turned his eyes back to the Dean.

“What I’m saying is that Team… Fusion,” the Dean said with a slight laugh, “didn’t cheat nor did they break the rules by using something created by someone outside of the team, or even use knowledge outside of what they normally would’ve learned. Larek created the Fusions himself, which the team is using during the Skirmish, and it was my hope that this competition would allow us to reveal his abilities to everyone at the Academy and the Fort. Of course, now everyone thinks he’s part of a team that is cheating, so it’s not going as well as I had hoped.”

Larek shuffled from foot to foot as everyone stared at him again, but he was saved from being the sole attention by his team’s leader.

Penelope walked up next to him and put her hands on her hips. “Now that you know about how extraordinary this big guy is, can’t you just proclaim that there was no cheating involved and we can proceed with the Skirmish?”

The Dean shook her head. “It’s not quite that easy. The perception is still going to be there concerning your team, and now everyone is going to be out to get you. They might even work to harming one or all of you either outside or inside the arena and pass it off as an accident, which could put you all in danger.” Out of the corner of his eye, Larek saw the instructor he recognized earlier twitch at her words, and he intuitively knew that man had likely been planning to do just that.  “Death during the Skirmish is exceedingly rare, thankfully, but it does happen despite all of the precautions we take. I can’t, in good conscience, put any of you in that position.”

“But if you take us out of the competition, won’t that just prove to everyone else that they were correct in their assumption that we were cheating?” Penelope asked. “They might not attack us in the arena, but might wait until later when we’re alone, where they can take revenge on us for sullying the Skirmish with our devious ways,” she finished sarcastically.

The Dean didn’t respond right away, so Whittaker took over the conversation. “You may or may not be a prodigy in Fusions, but that still doesn’t clear you of wrongdoing. What exactly did you use to dominate your match so thoroughly?”

Larek looked at the Dean and Shinpai, but he received no indication of what he should say or do from them. Being asked so directly, there was no choice but to reach into his robe and pull out his Repelling Barrier Fusion. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Penelope reach over as if to stop him, but a look at her face as she stopped herself revealed that she, too, knew that there was no preventing the revelation of the Fusion unless someone in power stopped them.

“It’s called a Repelling Barrier. In the simplest terms, it creates a powerful gust of air that directs anything interacting with its defined area downward with incredible force,” he explained. He was about to go into more specifics, but he was interrupted by the Martial again.

“Can anyone use it? What are its limitations? How does it distinguish an attack from anything else? How powerful is this gust of air? Does it cover—?”

“Again, Whittaker, we’ll have ample time to experiment with this after the Skirmish, but that doesn’t help us solve our current dilemma,” the Dean interrupted the abrupt stream of questions. “I had thought that simply removing them from the competition would prevent any retaliation at the thought that they might be cheating, but this young woman’s remarks have convinced me that it might not be the right choice,” she said as she gestured toward Penelope. “So, something else might have to be in order.”

Tearing his gaze away from the medallion on Larek’s chest containing the Repelling Barrier Fusion, the important Martial glanced at the equally important Mage. “What did you have in mind?”

The Dean tapped a finger against her lips as if she were considering it. “Well, I’m thinking that we allow them to compete, officially clearing of them of any suspicion of cheating on our end,” she began in a tone of voice that seemed odd to Larek. It wasn’t necessary her inflection, but more of that she was reciting something that wasn’t just thought up in the last few seconds. “We all know that this won’t necessarily clear them in the minds of the other participants, so we need to compose an announcement that will deter anyone from retaliating at any conceived unfairness. Perhaps a severe punishment to anyone who is involved in the accosting or deliberately harming any member of Team Fusion. That would include any Professor or Drill Instructor that perpetrated such an act.”

“What?! No, that’s not going to work with me and my staff.”

“Why not? Are you saying that you might have some mentors that might be annoyed that their star pupil had just been absolutely annihilated in the first round?” she asked, a little too quickly in Larek’s opinion. He might not be the most observant, but even he was beginning to suspect that the Dean knew that he was going to say that. Furthermore, he also suspected that she had planned the entire conversation – or even more than that.  That’s entirely too much to contemplate right now. “I can guarantee that there are some Professors that likely feel that way, and I wouldn’t put it past them to concoct some plan using some of their other mentees to enact some revenge upon these competitors. I’d like to put a stop to that before it could even be considered – but we both have to be willing to punish those who step out of line.”

The Martial instructor that he had seen flinch a little earlier seemed to deflate at her words, especially as Whittaker seemed to consider what she was saying. After nearly a minute of silence as Larek was again the center of attention in the room, the important Martial sighed dramatically. “Alright, fine. We’ll do it your way, but—” he said, lifting his finger as if to emphasize a point, “I would appreciate being apprised of his progress. No more hiding him behind closed doors, because if he can do something like that,” the finger pointed toward Larek’s medallion, “then he could potentially save tens of thousands of lives. Heck, he might even be able to develop some sort of healing Fusion that could save millions. Especially with what’s happening out there right now.”

Larek didn’t miss the stress on “healing Fusion” which told him that the Martial had at least a suspicion that it existed, though he wasn’t sure anyone but those already in the know noticed.

“Absolutely.  Larek has already expressed that he’s been experimenting with the possibility, but he says that it’s still a little ways out from being developed with a measure of safety,” the Dean responded, waving it away as though it was only a matter of course. Larek’s heart nearly stopped at her words as it came close to revealing that he had already created one, but he managed to keep himself from reacting. “He might be a prodigy in Fusions, but he’s technically still a first-year student; the more he learns, the more he can do, so I’m sure that if he has access to more knowledge he could probably develop something viable.”

With those last words, Larek suddenly realized what had been subconsciously bothering him from what the Dean had been saying the entire time. There was something off about it, something rehearsed perhaps, as if it had been planned – and it had. She somehow knew this would all come about, from the accusation of cheating to Larek and his team being dragged away to this investigative panel, and even Larek’s demonstration of his abilities upon the wooden table – it had all been planned ahead of time. That was why Shinpai hadn’t looked worried and instead appeared excited, because he knew what was going to happen ahead of time.

Why? That was big question, but with the Dean’s last statement, he suddenly knew.

They were laying the groundwork for his reveal to the Academy and Fort as well as an easy explanation for his healing Fusion later on. By doing what they did, couching his abilities as a Fusion-based prodigy, they were taking the attention off the possibility that he might be a half-breed with both sets of stats. In addition, they were working to prevent anyone from deliberately harming them during the Skirmish so that he wouldn’t be forced to use his healing Fusion. Why didn’t Shinpai tell me this was what they were doing? He felt like he was being used to achieve some agenda of theirs, but he also couldn’t deny that it at least seemed like it was in his best interests.

It was also working, based on the looks on everyone’s faces.

“Then, if we’re all agreed, let’s get back to the Skirmish,” Whittaker said, slamming his hand down on the table again, a grin lighting his face as the table didn’t even creak from the blow.

As those behind the table rose to leave, Larek couldn’t help but feel a little overwhelmed by everything. Theoretically, he could’ve been wrong about the Dean and Shinpai’s apparent plan, but he didn’t think so. What else do they have in store for me?

“You hear that? They’re letting us compete again!” Penelope said, practically vibrating in excitement.  “Isn’t that great?”

As he looked over at Nedira, he mentally sighed.

Yeah… great.

Book 2 Chapter 65: https://www.patreon.com/posts/fusionist-book-2-84765827