The Fusionist Book 2 -- Chapter 27

Chapter 27

The next morning, Larek woke up with excitement running through his entire body as he thought about the day. He barely paid attention to the world around him during his morning routines, at least until breakfast brought him a very odd-acting Nedira who sat across from him and his two roommates with an annoyed expression on her face.

“What’s up, sis?”

The fourth-year student answered him with curt, “Nothing,” before crossing her arms over her chest and as she sat back in her chair.

Norde attempted to draw her out into conversation some more, but she didn’t seem like she wanted to talk, even when Verne got involved. Larek wasn’t really paying attention to much of that, because all his focus was on getting through his food and on with the day. Just as he was about to stand up from the long table in the Dining Hall, he felt a hand on his arm.

“Larek?” Nedira asked, as soon as he looked at the owner of the hand. He hadn’t realized that she had moved from her spot across the table.

“Huh? Yes?”

She looked like she was about to speak as she searched his eyes for something; instead, she removed her hand and said, “Never mind. I’ll see you later.”

“See you later,” he echoed automatically, his mind already on his future classes.

A little later, as he sat through his first class, he barely even paid attention to what his Professor was saying; though on some unconscious level he felt like he was taking it in.

“Larek,” Verne hissed at him. There was a punch on his arm, which made him sway in his seat after the abrupt strike; it didn’t hurt, but it was so unexpected that it snapped him out of his thoughts.

“What?” he asked loudly in response. It was apparently too loud, as Professor Burcha stopped in the middle of her lecture.

“I said, young man, that the nature of our magical abilities has ever been a mystery, ever since the Transition occurred 999 years ago,” she said, a hint of anger in her tone for being interrupted. “While most believe that it was granted to members of the Kingdom as a reward after a time of great hardship where they were powerless and enslaved to the Gergasi, its presence – if to a lesser, widespread extent – in other lands is enough to hint that it was the result of something else entirely.

“For some reason unknown to scholars around the world, only the Kingdom has managed to cultivate this magical potential – in both Mages and Martials – to an extent where a significant amount of the population can take advantage of it. This is the main reason why the only Academies and Forts capable of teaching those with this potential are found in the Kingdom, as potential found in other lands is relatively rare.

“But that doesn’t mean it is non-existent, as evidenced by myself, as well as many of the other Professors here at Copperleaf and other Academies; there are also a significant number of us foreigners participating in the defense of this Kingdom, as such service pays for our learning and training. Many of us end up staying, but even if you were to add up our numbers in comparison to the total number of those who possess the potential for magical or martial development, it is but a fraction of those that originally come from the Kingdom.”

As she went on to describe some other theories of why the Kingdom of Androthe possessed a much greater concentration of those with potential than other lands, including the presence of Scissions only appearing in the Kingdom, she finally seemed to forget about Larek and continued with her lecture. It was all fascinating, but he was still having trouble focusing on it.

Whispering to Verne, he asked, “What did you want?”

“You’re acting like you’re going to lose it again.”

“Lose it? What do you—oh.” Larek contemplated what his roommate said for a few seconds. He hadn’t been aware that he was starting to lose focus on the world as his attention was consumed by something, such as what had happened before; he was thankful that he now had friends that could help him identify when it occurred.

“Yeah, you have that same look in your eye that I saw when you were going, uh, up to the roof back at Crystalview.”

That wasn’t good. He’d rather avoid that kind of obsession again if he could help it.

As if being aware of what he nearly fell into was enough to prevent it from happening, Larek’s mind felt as if it were clearing. Not only did he become more engrossed in the remains of the Introduction to Magical Theorem class, but he was able to mentally acknowledge that Nedira had been acting strange ever since that Martial trainee had kissed him the previous evening. That, of course, led him to briefly thinking about the blue-haired, dark-skinned young woman and the feel of her lips—

“And that concludes our class! I’ll see you all tomorrow, where hopefully there won’t be any more random interruptions which demonstrate whether or not some of you are listening,” Professor Burcha announced in a joking voice, which elicited a few chuckles from the students.

Larek, his uncomfortable thoughts interrupted, turned to Verne and thanked him as everyone began to file out of the room. “Thanks for telling me about—”

“Not a problem,” the boy interrupted, “as long as you don’t mind me punching you in the arm again.” He smirked at Larek, before shooing him away with a wave of his hand. “You better hurry or you’ll be late to your class.”

For a moment, as a result of his mind clearing from the intense focus that had clouded it earlier, he had forgotten that his Advanced Fusions class was halfway across the Academy campus. Nodding at his roommate again in thanks, he took off, doing his best to navigate his way through the students still filing out of the large classroom. It took him longer to get out than the day before, which made him think that sitting up front for the next class might be a better option than in the back, as long as he was able to arrive early enough to get a seat there.

Racing across the Academy grounds, he put on even more speed than the previous day, with the time until his class would begin ticking away in the back of his mind. Not as many people stared at him compared to yesterday as he raced ahead, as they were already somehow familiar with the sight of a 7-foot-tall Mage student running at a full sprint. Approaching the entrance to the workshops where his class was held, Larek was both worried and eager about seeing that young woman in the purple robe again; he didn’t want to be delayed again, of course, but he also wanted to personally apologize.

Fortunately and unfortunately, there was no sign of the purple-robed student or the others that had accompanied her the day before. He was able to yank open the doors to the workshops and proceed down them without harassment, making his way through the hallway to his destination. Before long, he was at the door to his Advanced Fusions 1 class, and he slowly and quietly opened the door to go inside, calming his labored breathing as he did.

Thankfully, he made it to class on time, which was evidenced by the appearance of the same 4 students from the day before sitting quietly on cushions, along with 2 new ones that were unfamiliar to him. Looking around the room, he noticed that two of the privacy alcoves that had been previously shut were now open.

“Larek,” came a voice that he immediately recognized. “I’m glad to see you were able to make it. Please have a seat and I’ll work with you in a moment.”

Following Grandmaster Fusionist Shinpai’s instruction, Larek sat down in the same area as the day before, waiting for class to begin. Soon enough, his instructor was speaking to the other students, so the recent arrival simply listened in.

“Welcome, everyone. David, Marybelle, I hope you’ve gotten some sleep,” he said softly, his voice just loud enough to carry to those inside the relatively quiet room. To those he addressed, who appeared to be the new students that had at some point emerged from their privacy alcoves, they nodded; it was only at that time did Larek notice that each of them were holding something in their laps. At his instructor’s prompting, each of them got up and handed what appeared to be a thin steel plate to the Grandmaster Fusionist. Even from where he sat, Larek could see that each of the plates held Fusions, but they were both larger and more complicated than the normal 2-by-2 grid that he was familiar with.

“Ah, very well done, David. It appears as though you’ve incorporated what we covered at the beginning of this year into your design. So, tell me, what does this Fusion do?”

The young student cleared his throat and fidgeted where he sat, clearly nervous. “I-It’s a Fusion I designed to permanently Strengthen steel while, uh, also permanently emanating a slight Area Chill,” David said, his voice hesitant and not much louder than the instructor’s.  “In addition, it, uh, also has an activatable Illumination section that can be used when it’s, uh, dark and stuff.”

“That certainly looks to be the case,” Shinpai replied, nodding as he looked again at the steel plate. “Tell me, why did you create this particular Fusion?”

“Um, well, I thought that this would be a good addition to a Martial’s armor pieces when they wear them in defense against a Scission,” David explained, becoming more comfortable and enthusiastic as he spoke. “I’ve heard that it gets hot wearing all that equipment, especially when in the light of full sun, hence the cooler temperature. The light is because defensive battles also take place at night, so…” he finished, shrugging like it was obvious.

“That is very true; members of the Scission Interception Corps can fight at any time, day or night, depending on when the Scissions appear,” the instructor agreed. He then held up his finger as if to make a point. “However, they can also fight anywhere, meaning that they could end up fighting to the north in winter where snow blankets the ground; as a result, they might have to fight in freezing temperatures. Having your Area Chill Fusion connected to a permanent Activation Method would force them to fight while being even colder at that point. For such an Effect, it would be better to have it as an Activatable or even Reactive Activation Method so that it could be better regulated.”

The boy looked crestfallen as he slumped in place. Grandmaster Fusionist Shinpai didn’t give him too much time to wallow in self-pity, as he smiled and gestured to the Fusion in his lap. “But for this project, that matters not at all. What this was designed to do was to force you to use your ingenuity in forming a Fusion based on multiple Effects and Activation Methods, which is exactly what you did. While it might not be a completely functional Fusion for everyday use on the armor of a Martial member of the SIC, you’ve demonstrated your competence in assembling the correct components needed for the project.”

David perked up after hearing that, but Shinpai wasn’t done. Holding up his finger again, before pointing it down toward different placed on the Fusion, he said, “There are some areas that you can improve, however. First, your containment barrier around the Area Chill Effect is loose and is likely to fray within a few days, which will end up collapsing the entire Fusion. If everything wasn’t at Magnitude 1 like you created it, this could result in a potential detonation that could do more harm than good to the person wearing this armor.

“Here, your connection between the permanent Activation Method and the two cross-Effects of Strengthen and Area Chill is practically nonexistent, which is why I can barely feel the Area Chill portion of the Fusion while I’m holding it. I’m sure you were probably wondering why it wasn’t as cold as you expected?” At David’s reluctant nod, their instructor continued. “Exactly. You may have lost focus on that portion of the Fusion while it was being created, but things like that can take time to learn how to focus for an entire 6-hour or more process – especially for advanced Fusions.

“Lastly, the symbol inside the activatable Activation Method is slightly deformed, meaning that it was either originally designed that way or was distorted during the longer creation process at some point. It holds enough of the intent behind it that it shouldn’t matter all that much in the long run for this particular Fusion,” he demonstrated this by activating the Illumination portion of the Fusion, causing the entire steel plate to softly glow, “as you can see, but with higher Magnitude Fusions, could run into a situation where this could cause a failure with all of the ambient Mana running through it.

“Those are elements of your Fusion that can be improved over time, as they take years of practice to refine. Even I,” he continued, looking around at everyone, but especially at Larek, “am still refining my processes, which is a lifetime endeavor. So, don’t be discouraged with these few things that I don’t expect you to have perfect right now. Instead, be proud that your project demonstrated what you are in this class for in the first place: to learn. Practice and refinement comes in time, but you’ve obviously shown that you followed my instructions in the overall formation of this unique Fusion, using your ingenuity and abilities to not only design it but to create it.”

As Shinpai flashed another smile at David, who still appeared unhappy with his result, he put down the Fusion the student had created off to the side, facing directly at Larek.  His instructor then picked up the other steel plate with another new Fusion on it, before addressing the other student, Marybelle.

“Another excellent demonstration of what you’ve learned…”

Larek only half-listened to the Grandmaster Fusionist expounding upon the other student’s Fusion as he stared at the one he could now see clearly across from him.

A 4-by-4 grid? Multiple Effects and Activation Methods? There is so much that I need to learn.

“…Larek?”

His instructor’s soft voice shook him out of his intense concentration as he focused on the Fusion. Looking up, out of the corner of his eye he noticed that all of the other students were gone and the privacy alcoves they had been sitting in front of were now shut.

Larek cleared his throat, slightly embarrassed to have been caught being so focused that he hadn’t been aware of the other students moving around him. “I’m sorry, Shinpai. What was that?”

“I was just asking if you were ready for your first lesson,” the Grandmaster Fusionist informed him with a stern tone of voice.

“Yes. Absolutely.”

“Very well,” Shinpai continued, sounding more even-toned at his response. “Come sit in front of me and I’ll go over what we’ll be working on in the near future. But first, you wanted to learn how to strengthen your containment barriers around your Mana Cost section, if I’m not mistaken?”

Larek nodded, again taking off the wooden accessory which held the Pneuma Boost +9 Fusion and handed it to his instructor.

“I just can’t get over how strong this Fusion is,” the Grandmaster Fusionist said, looking at the armlet in his hand. He was silent for a few seconds as he continued to stare at the Fusion, before shifting his attention back to Larek.

Smiling at the enthusiastic student, Shinpai said, “Alright, let’s get started….”

Book 2 Chapter 28: https://www.patreon.com/posts/fusionist-book-2-83500921