The Fusionist Book 2 -- Chapter 58

Chapter 58

The process of refining the new Repelling Barrier took a few days of experimentation and practice with it, mainly because of the many problems that sprung up. First, he discovered that the repelling portion of the barrier was a bit wild and unfocused; at one point, when he raised the Magnitude up to 4 to test it out at a higher knockback force – which he discovered increased by 10% per Magnitude – the arrow that Vivienne shot at Bart (who was acting as a test subject) was deflected to the right and nearly impaled Nedira’s face, who was standing 20 feet away.  Thankfully, it barely missed her head by no more than an inch, ruffling her hair as it sped by.

To fix that, he had to alter the Repelling Gust portion of the Effect to direct everything downward, which would also help to prevent something from flying off and hitting people in the audience.

The next issue was discovered when it was used in an actual fight, where it was discovered that strikes by the person being protected, such as Penelope when she thrusted and then pulled back quickly, the Effect would trigger and knock her sword downward. Thankfully, the same thing didn’t happen when Vivienne or Kimble released an arrow or shadow-casted a Fireball, because the Barrier only triggered when something was entering the field, not leaving it.

The solution was a little more complicated than the fix for the first issue, as it required an alteration of the directional perspective Input to extend the detection field to include objects connected to the focus of the field – namely, the person utilizing the Barrier.  It was potentially a flaw that could be exploited by those who knew how it worked, as all it would take is someone physically entering the detection field at a slow enough pace not to trigger the Effect, and then attacking from inside of it, bypassing it directly since it only activated a foot away from the person.

“If they get that close to us, then we’re already in trouble,” Bart mentioned, and Larek could only bow to the trainee’s greater knowledge of how these fights would work. Still, it was a vulnerability that he’d have to think about solving in the future, but it was going to have to stay for now.

Another issue was with the new Repelling Barrier blocking magical spells. Against a plain old fireball, the air that blew out at even a Magnitude 4 level was enough to knock it off course because there wasn’t a lot of substance to it, but for something that was either insubstantial or wasn’t an “object” at all? Practically useless. This included something like the blinding light that Nedira’s staff could produce, as it didn’t block any light from moving through the barrier; it also included air-based spells, such as an opposing Repelling Gust, as it seemed the detection field with a directional perspective was blind to it. He thought that it would also fail to stop the same type of physical illusion that had given him the idea in the first place, as it was simply a magical effect that was part of the illusion that would do damage and wasn’t an actual object.

Unfortunately, even through some additional design consideration, Larek couldn’t figure out how to accurately detect non-object sources. Even if he could, he didn’t have space to add it to his grid formation as another Input with Variables, because he had already maxed out the 4 by 4 grid in his Supreme Intermediate Fusion.  When he thought about adding more, such as a 4 by 5 grid, he began running into he same wall that was preventing him from being able to create an Advanced Fusion that he’d previously encountered.

Therefore, there wasn’t much he could do to counter that type of attack, which gave the Repelling Barrier yet another vulnerability, but he thought he might be able to figure something out in the future once he passed this Level 30 threshold that was holding him back.

The last problem they had to deal with was a matter of Magnitude. When fighting at full strength, Penelope and Bartholomew had the sheer Strength stats to power through the Barriereven with a knockback of 70%. With an overhead blow by Penelope’s large sword, the force she put into her swing was still enough to see the weapon pass through the detection field and – while it was redirected – it wasn’t stopped completely by the repelling Effect. When she used one of her Battle Arts which increased the strength of her blow even more (such as what happened when she nearly killed Bart), there was no real stopping it. Granted, Battle Arts like that were against the rules for the Skirmish, but they had to take everything into consideration.

The only solution was to increase the Magnitude of the Fusion, making the knockback Effect even stronger. The only problem with that was the sheer amount of Mana and Pattern Cohesion that required, which for anyone else would be impossible; for Larek, it was still a significant chunk of his maximum Cohesion and it took a little over an hour of funneling his Mana into the Fusion during the creation process to fill it up.

Repelling Barrier +10

Activation Method(s): Activatable, Reactive

Effect(s): Forcefully repels objects passing within range of directional space

Input(s): Directional perspective, external object at speed

Variable(s): 5 different directional perspectives, speed detection over 10 miles per hour

Magnitude: 100% knockback effect, 10 base impact damage

Mana Cost: 875,000

Pattern Cohesion: 2,300

Fusion Time: 205 hours

Even without his armband increasing his Pneuma, Larek had 2,440 Pattern Cohesion to use – which was just barely enough for the powerful Fusion he created. With his extra 90% Pneuma, it was a little less than half of his current maximum, but he still felt wiped out after creating just a single one to test out. He felt like he would have to rest until his Pattern Cohesion filled up to full again before he started another one, but he had the time when they were finally able to test it.

“I think this is it. This is the best I can do, but I think it should work,” he said, handing the steel plate to Bartholomew. He had been what Penelope was jokingly calling the training dummy, which meant that he was forced to hold onto the Fusion while the others rained attacks down on him to test it out, but he didn’t seem to care. By the enthusiastic faces of his teammates, other than Nedira who was interested but not as invested as the others, they were just happy to test out something that could potentially make them invincible.

It was far from that, of course, but it was a heck of a lot better than the nothing they had the day before.

“Alright, it’s activated. Give me your best shot.”

Bart had the steel plate tucked into his chest armor, where it couldn’t move around, and he held his shield out in front of him in a defensive position. At his words, the Ranger immediately shot an arrow at him from a distance of 15 feet while everyone else stood back, and once it got within a foot of the front of his shield, there was a *crack* as the arrow snapped in half in the air as it was violently repelled straight into the ground, where the two pieces shattered further upon impact with the stone floor.

She took another arrow from her quiver and paused before she released it; Larek watched a glow leak out of her right fingers and leach into the arrow, which seemed to vibrate with an inner power. “Wait, I wasn’t expecting that kind of—” he began to say, but the armored target interrupted him.

“They say during our training to expect the unexpected, and I’d say this qualifies.” As soon as he stopped talking, Vivienne released the charged Power Shot – or so he heard her calling it at one point. It shot across the distance faster than he could see, slamming into the effect created by the Repelling Barrier, where it exploded upon contact, releasing the charged Stama that the Ranger had infused into it.

Thankfully, the Effect was still in process, attempting to push the arrow downwards with powerful gusts of air, and it sent most of the detonated energy straight into the floor. What wasn’t redirected extended up to 10 feet in either direction, and even Larek – who was approximately 30 feet away, could feel the energy expended by the explosion. The others also took a step back at the detonation, but none of them were harmed by it.

As for Bart, the target of the attack… he stood there, completely unaffected with a smirk on his face. “Is that all you’ve got?” he joked, looking at the Ranger, who appeared exhausted due to the amount of Stama she had drained from her body and infused into her attack.

“I’m absolutely not ashamed to say that was my most powerful Battle Art as far as damage is concerned,” she admitted, smiling back at him. A second later, she nearly collapsed on the floor but managed to sink down to her knees instead. “I may have put a little too much into that, in fact.”

“Amazing. My turn next?”

Penelope shrugged at Kimble, who looked eager to test the Fusion Larek had created. “Give it your strongest attack.”

“I don’t really think this is a good idea—” Larek tried to stop them once again, but they weren’t listening.

A fireball – a real one, not a shadow-casted version – appeared in front of Kimble and began to swell in size. It started at around the size of his fist, but it eventually grew to the size of his head, then his torso, and then nearly his entire height. It was at that point that it shot forward, slamming into the stationary Bartholomew, where flames completely covered his entire figure as the massive projectile hit the Barrier. With wide eyes, Larek grew concerned for about a second, but even at a distance he could tell that the Effect was working, as it sent the flames straight into the ground, if it didn’t extinguish them entirely with the blasts of air.

Thankfully, he’d placed an Amplifier inside of the grid formation in case more than one directional perspective was triggered by the Inputs, though he wasn’t sure if it could handle all 5 at once. When the flames finally cleared a few seconds later, they saw a few singe marks on his helmet and back, but he was ultimately unharmed.

“Whoa! That was intense! That did nothing to block the heat and it felt like I was going to burn alive for a moment,” the armored and now slightly singed trainee admitted. “I also couldn’t breathe for a moment, as if all the air had been sucked out of the space around me.”

“That’s fire for you, my friend,” Kimble said in explanation, smiling at the results.  Larek wasn’t as happy, because he had now discovered another flaw that he didn’t think he’d be able to fix in time for the Skirmish. He was happy that most of the extra flames that engulfed the entire barrier had been stopped in one way or another, because while the fireball was a relatively solid object despite its state, individual flames were relatively insubstantial. Somehow, they had enough of a substance that the Effect triggered, albeit later than he would’ve like as the Fusion was unable to keep up with so many directional attacks.

“Just a warning,” Larek announced, “attacks from more than 2 directions could slip through – but please don’t try it now!”

“Good to know. It just means we shouldn’t allow ourselves to be surrounded. Keep that in mind, everyone!” Penelope shouted, and everyone other than Larek nodded. He was hoping to be away from the fighting enough that it shouldn’t matter. “Alright, my turn!”

Without another word, the blue-haired trainee sprinted forward with her sword at the ready, and she swiped at Bart from the right with a powerful attack – and it was sent straight into the floor as if it had been smacked away by a massive fist. She tried again from the left, then a straight stab, but all of them were deflected and sent into the stone below, to the point where Larek thought he heard the wood start to crack. Finally, she used her own Battle Art to attack him from above with a Stama-infused strike, and Bart instinctively raised his shield to block.

It wasn’t needed as Penelope’s sword was sent so violently into the stone floor that the wood shattered into a dozen pieces upon impact, pieces of it flinging in all directions. None of them had enough strength to reach the onlookers with any force, though one sizeable chunk did roll into Larek’s shin before bouncing off.

“Uh… I guess it works,” the team leader said, looking at the steel core of her weapon that was still in her hand.  “That’s it for me, seeing as my main weapon is gone,” she continued, walking close to Bart. Patting him on the back, she said, “Good job,” before slowly bonking him on the head with the remains of her sword.

“Remember, this Fusion doesn’t make us invulnerable, even with as much as it does. There are flaws that can be exploited if our opponents know to look for them, but we’re not going to let them have that chance, are we?”

Bart, Vivienne, and Kimble shook their heads, but Nedira just raised her hand and cast a spell. Brown roots suddenly sprang from underneath Bart and Penelope standing together, which quickly entangled their legs. “Also, remember to watch out from below; it’s another vulnerability that we can allow them to use against us. Larek can work wonders, but he can’t solve every problem.”

“Very, ugh, true,” Penelope admitted, struggling to free herself from the roots, which she started to shortly thereafter by ripping her legs away from the roots one by one. Bart did the same, but the roots disappeared a few seconds before they were both completely free.

“I’m sure there are other vulnerabilities that I haven’t figured out, but there is another one that I can tell you about right now,” Larek announced, getting everyone’s attention. “This Fusion is strong, one of the strongest I’ve ever created, but with that means it also requires a much larger area of ambience once it has been activated.”

“Area of ambience? What is that?” Bartholomew asked.

“It’s basically a sphere-shaped area around the Fusion that sucks in the ambient Mana from the environment to power it once it’s actively being used. This Fusion, when it is activated to repel an attack, is approximately half my size. What it means is that it will be difficult to add other Fusions anywhere along your body, so any boosts that I can add will have to be on your weapons, as those are typically held away from you while you fight.  Prolonged use of this Repelling Barrier could eventually compromise the structure of any other nearby Fusions, even on your weapons, but unless the barrier is active more than a few seconds at a time, they should be fine.”

“Good to know. When can you see about making those Fusions?”

“I’m going to start tomorrow on outfitting everyone with what they need, but it’ll probably take me all the way up to the Skirmish to get it done,” he answered Penelope. “This latest Fusion really takes it out of me and I need to rest a bit afterwards.”

The blue-haired team leader nodded. “Perfect. That will hopefully give us enough time to get used to all these Fusions and incorporate them into our strategy. Nice work, Larek – I knew inviting you to my team was a good idea,” she added, smiling at him, at least until Nedira stepped in front of her to block her view.

“Anyway, we should get going. See you back here tomorrow?” the fourth-year Naturalist asked.

“Indeed.”

Larek left with Nedira soon after that, but not before he remembered to pick his pillow back up from where he had left it in his spot in the sparring room. He was already starting to feel better after his last creation, but he could still feel an internal exhaustion; once his Pattern Cohesion refilled to the maximum, which happened on his walk back to his room, he felt it disappear, but in his mind he was still cognizant of the danger that it represented. It was the same fear he had the first time he nearly depleted his entire Pattern Cohesion when he attempted to cast a spell; it wasn’t likely to happen anytime soon if he could help it, but it was nonetheless an internal warning not to push the power of his Fusions too far lest he suffer for it.

Other than that worry at the back of his mind, he was happy that his newest creation had withstood the insane tests that his Skirmish team had put it through. Yes, there were flaws, but he thought it would be more than adequate to prevent them from being hurt during the competition. If he could improve it even more, he would, but even through all of the changes in the Fusion, he still hadn’t improved any of his Mage Skills past 30. Some of the others that weren’t at that point had increased, even granting him an additional personal Level, but that didn’t seem to matter on breaking through to the next stage in his Fusion creation.

It would come or it wouldn’t, but for now all he had to worry about was ensuring he and his team survived the Skirmish.

Book 2 Chapter 59: https://www.patreon.com/posts/84580067