The Fusionist Book 2 -- Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Larek wasn’t going to bother using a privacy alcove in his Advanced Fusions workshop classroom for his upcoming Fusions, if only because he’d rather be somewhere familiar and equally as comfortable. Sitting on his bed in his room was as good as anywhere else in his opinion, and it was private enough that no one would be entering it after a certain time of the evening. Both Verne and Norde could be quiet enough if they wanted to be, and if he asked them to keep it down, they would help him out by doing exactly that. He wasn’t as worried about losing concentration anyway, because if he could create powerful Fusions in a cramped space in the back of a giant carriage as it made its way over uneven ground, then he could handle a few low voices in the background of his shared room.

His choice for a Simple Intermediate Fusion was relatively easy, as there had been a book in the library that had listed a number of Simple Classified Fusions. There had been basic diagrams of the Fusions attached to them as well, but he discovered that he was unable to learnthem in that format; he suspected that anything more than Basic Fusions he would have to actually see them for real in order to gain an understanding.

In fact, the only Fusion he had actually learned and added to his growing list of Fusions had been the Fusion on the privacy alcove doors.

Muffle Sound +3

Activation Method(s): Reactive

Effect: Muffles sound from outside variable space

Input: Sound waves impacting external perimeter of variable space

Variable(s): 6ft by 8ft by 12ft space

Magnitude: 70% reduction

Mana Cost: 500

Pattern Cohesion: 10

Fusion Time: 2.5 hours

Muffle Sound +3 was a Simple Reactive Intermediate Fusion that utilized a Variable and an Input in addition to the other necessary components (Mana Cost, Effect, Magnitude, Activation Method), set up in a 2-by-3 grid pattern. The Effect used air to distort and “muffle” sounds as they attempted to travel from outside of the space – i.e. the privacy alcove – to those sitting within, and the symbol looked vaguely similar to what was involved with the Wind Barrier spell he had learned a few weeks ago in his Spellcasting class.

After dinner that night and back in their room, Larek spoke to his roommates.

“I finally got permission to make my Fusions, so I’ll need it to be relatively quiet in here for a little bit, if you don’t mind.”

“That’s excellent to hear!” Verne shouted excitedly, clapping his hands once. “Don’t worry, we’ll keep it down!” He then proceeded to jump around the room and shout as if he was on fire.

Chuckling, Larek knew what he was doing. “Alright, get it all out now, because I’ll be starting in a few minutes.”

Just then, Nedira walked in and saw Verne going nuts around the room with Norde joining in with the craziness. Arching an eyebrow at him, she was somehow able to ask over the noise, “Am I guessing correctly that you’ll be creating some more Fusions tonight?”

He nodded and couldn’t keep the smile off his face. The fourth-year moved to his bed and threw herself along the bottom edge, propping herself up along the adjacent wall. “You mind if I watch? It… fascinates me how you do this kind of thing so easily.”

“Not at all. I’m glad you’re here,” he responded. As much as his attention was on the Fusions he’d be creating soon, he felt more comfortable with her nearby; it was almost like something was missing when she wasn’t hanging out with them in their room. He wasn’t sure how she could stand being in the same room with his rambunctious roommates night after night, even if one of them was her brother, but he was happy she was capable of putting up with them.

For his first Fusion, rather than simply reproduce Muffle Sound on one of the blank steel plates that Shinpai gave him to use for his Fusions, Larek was going to create something completely different. One of the Fusions he’d been wanting to create ever since he learned about Skill boosts was one for his own Mage-based Skills, which were highly unsafe when created as a Basic, 2-by-2 grid Fusion. The reason for this was that the Fusion needed to be able to detect if the person utilizing it was a Mage, as trying to boost a Mage Skill on a non-Mage could result in harm or possibly death. The books he read speculated that this was because it injected Mana straight into their bodies to influence the Skill, rather than a normal “general” Skill like Cooking which was more of an external effect.

Giving his roommates another minute of getting their energy out, he settled down on his bed and brought the first of the steel plates to his lap as the room quieted. He could still hear Verne and Norde quietly talking in the background, but he blocked them out as he focused on creating the brand-new Fusion he was planning.  Nedira’s comfortable presence nearby settled the few nerves that suddenly sprang up at the thought of creating something more than the Basic Fusions he had created previously; this felt like the first step on the path to unlimited potential in the field of Fusions…

…or he was simply kidding himself with delusions of grandeur. He found that it was hard to tell sometimes.

Regardless of what happened in the future, this – the Fusion he was about to create – was a necessary stepping stone to the wider world of Fusions and Fusionists that he was becoming more and more excited about after reading his newest books. With a deep breath, he pulled his Pattern Cohesion from his body and began to assemble the Fusion which would increase his Spellcasting Focus Skill, something that was extremely difficult for him to increase naturally due to being unable to cast spells.

From what he could figure, it had managed to raise to Level 9 simply due to the fact that it borrowed some of the same focus that he applied toward creating Fusions, but it had stalled out at Level 9 and wouldn’t increase more than that. While this test Fusion wasn’t designed to be worn or carried around given that it was on a bulky steel plate, his main desire was to ensure it worked at all. Later on, he could potentially find a way to incorporate it—and others—into his accoutrements that he wore around his person, but again this was just a test and to prove that he could make Simple Intermediate Fusions to his instructor, Shinpai.

In the 2-by-3 vertical grid formation, Larek placed the Mana Cost symbol in the lower left column, followed by an Input just above it and a Variable above that. In the other column, starting at the bottom, was a Reactive Activation Method, with Magnitude sitting just above and the Effect above Magnitude. For the Magnitude, he started small with a Magnitude of 4 because he was unsure how much Pattern Cohesion Mage-based Skill boosts required at higher Magnitudes, but the books he’d read mentioned that Skill boosts up to +3 were fairly common. What that told him was that if +3 was common enough that most Fusionists could create it, then a Magnitude of 4 was likely more than safe for his own greater amount of Pattern Cohesion.

The Effect was the stylized, wide-lidded eyeball symbol for Spellcasting Focus he copied from the Simple Intermediate Fusions book he had read, and all he would have to focus during the process was ensuring it was designed to increase the Skill Level. The Input was designed to detect the presence of a Mage upon touch, which he discovered was a symbol that looked like a stick figure wielding a staff. The Variable either was a simple circle with an “X” in the middle of it, representing it either being yes or no.

He was discovering as he learned more about Fusions that the symbols for each of the different sections of a Fusion were sometimes silly pictures while others were a bit fancier. He had asked Shinpai about it and his instructor said something that was hard to believe at first, but after a while Larek supposed it made sense.

“I’ll tell you a little secret, Larek.”

“Oh?”

“The symbols you see written in the books aren’t set in stone. They are simply representations of the meaning behind what they are used for, a reminder and a focus for the Fusionist to concentrate on during the Fusion process.”

“Really?”

“Yes, it’s true. For instance, the sun-like symbols with rays shooting out of it that is commonly used for Illumination Fusions is simply a representation of the Effect that the Fusionist wants to happen. It helps to remind them during what could be a long process that they need to focus on the illumination Effect, making the Fusion easier to keep stable as they don’t have to think about what it’s supposed to be. That’s obvious, correct?”

“Yes.”

“But if I were to change the sun-like symbol to, say, a frog, what do you expect would happen?”

“I… I have no idea.”

“Nothing! What I mean by nothing is that not a thing would be different if you were to keep your focus on the Effect you want the Fusion to achieve. So, you could use a symbol of a frog, a house, a rock, a flower—whatever you want—and as long as you are cognizant of the Effect you want, such as Illumination, then it would work no matter what you use. Strange symbols used like that might confuse most novice Mages the first time they see such a Fusion, but a true Fusionist can extract the meaning behind a Fusion with practice, even if each section were a series of random dots.

“Now, I’m not telling you this because I want you to start changing every symbol that you use in your Fusions. Rather, I want you to be aware how important the meaning behind them all, as well as how important it is to maintain the focus necessary to imprint each section with that meaning. Do you understand?”

“I… I believe I do.”

Therefore despite learning the secret behind the symbols he was creating in his Fusion, that they were more simple placeholders for the meaning behind them, he didn’t alter them at all. As he studied further, he began to realize that they served a purpose, especially with larger Fusions that had a dozen or more different sections to them. Thinking about some of the Fusions he had made in the past, but most specifically the Healing Surge one, the Effect symbol he had used on it had been so ingrained in his mind that he barely had to think about its purpose when creating a Fusion.

It was automatic at that point, as a portion of his mind was able to set aside the necessary focus to complete the Fusion without any help from Larek. He couldn’t help but think that the same thing would likely happen if he were to include the Healing Surge Effect in a larger, more complicated Fusion. The symbol was familiar and not something he needed to spend his time ensuring it was done correctly, because he knew it would be; if that was the case, then he could use the rest of his focus and concentration on the other elements of the formation instead.

Long story short, it was a muscle memory for creating Fusions, instead of a physical one such as what allowed him to swing an axe at a tree with perfect precision, regardless of his Axe Handling Skill.

After all the symbols were in place, Larek made sure the new doubled containment barriers his instructor had taught him were in place around them all before he began all the linkages. As this was a Reactive Fusion, the Mana Cost was fed through the Activation Method, which in turn created a loop through the Input and Variable sections; another loop was sent through the Activation Method, Effect, and Magnitude sections, which would only activate if the Input and Variable sections were correctly activated at the presence of a Mage.

Last, Larek added the Mana Overflow Bypass that connected with the Mana Cost and the containment barriers throughout the entire Fusion, which would help alleviate any issues with the large influx of Mana he was about to dump into it. After double and then triple-checking his lines and connections, he began funneling Mana into the Fusion a little slower than usual. The reason for that was because he had to adjust to the new size and expand his focus; not only did he have to envision what he wanted the Effect to accomplish, but he also had to concentrate on what the Input and Variable sections were there to evaluate.

After slowly trickling Mana into the Fusion for about a minute, struggling and nearly failing to maintain his split focus, he quickly began to realize what he was doing wrong. Instead of treating each section as separate entities that had to be focused on individually like he had been doing, he should be thinking of the Fusion as a single entity.

What am I doing? It’s in the name, dummy.

A Fusion wasn’t just a connection between a grid formation made of Pattern Cohesion and Mana and an object; it was a fusion of all the separate elements that went into the formation to make something altogether new and whole.

When he began thinking of it like that, shifting his entire focus and intent to what he wanted the Fusion to become, which included the smaller bits of the Input and Variable, it all suddenly connected in his head. With his concentration now firmly in place, Larek no longer struggled to keep it all together. When he felt like the Fusion he was creating was where it needed to be in his head, he began pumping in Mana and—

—it was done. It turned out that not a lot of Mana had been needed to finish it off, so only about 10 seconds of constantly feeding it the energy from his body was all it took to fill it up. Shortly after the flow cut off, he watched the new Fusion sink into the steel plate with a *click*.

As he picked up the finished Fusion, he felt it activate and begin absorbing the ambient Mana around it. Looking at his Status, he discovered that his Spellcasting Focus Skill had a notation next to it indicating that he had an extra 4 Levels added to its base of Level 9 that brought it to Level 13, similar in appearance to his Mage stats due to wearing his wooden accessories.

Spellcasting Focus Level 9 [13]

As soon as he closed out his Status, he was flooded by a deluge of notifications.

Book 2 Chapter 35: https://www.patreon.com/posts/fusionist-book-2-83794063