The Fusionist Book 2 -- Chapter 23

(I wrote both chapter 22 and 23 in between ringing people up at my wife's craft fair, so there may be some alterations/additions in the future when I get a chance to really look them over.  I'll be writing some more tomorrow, so hopefully there will be another 2 or 3 that will go up before I go back to Scorched Time for the rest of the week.  Enjoy!)

Chapter 23

The fallout from revealing his Pattern Cohesion wasn’t as cataclysmic as he had feared it might be, but it wasn’t nothing, either.

“Y-you— What is this? How do you have such a high Pattern Cohesion?” Shinpai asked incredulously. He glanced down at the wooden armlet in his hand, before looking back at Larek. “And that’s not even with a boost to your Pneuma.” His instructor’s eyes went a little unfocused for a second. “It’s… higher than mine, even though I’m holding this—how?!”

Larek shrugged. The only real explanation he had was to show him his actual Pneuma stat, which was still at 109, translating to 1,090 Pattern Cohesion.

The Grandmaster Fusionist sat there for nearly a minute as the portion of Larek’s Status faded away, staring at the space where it had just been. Eventually, his focus switched to the former Logger’s face, disbelief written all his instructor’s face. “Ignoring the fact that you have over 100 Pneuma at your age and Level and the amount of Mana you pumped into it beggars belief on how you were able to regenerate it so quickly, are you telling me that it provides you with 10 Pattern Cohesion per point? That’s… impossible. At least, I would’ve thought so before I saw what you did a few minutes ago.”

“I didn’t realize how different it was until I heard from a friend of mine that it’s normally 1 to 1,” Larek revealed. “After that, I wasn’t sure what to do or who to tell. The environment for Fusionists at Crystalview Academy is, how should I say—”

“Hostile?” his instructor answered, nodding his head a few times. “I’m well aware of Dean Wilburt’s opinion on Fusions and Fusionists. It’s a wonder that he still even has a Fusion program there, but as it’s a requirement to keep operating, he is forced to keep it running; that doesn’t mean he would ever encourage it, unfortunately.

“Does anyone from Crystalview know… this,” he asked, waving in Larek’s general direction, “about you?”

Larek shook his head. “No, just a few friends that accompanied me here.”

“Good. Let’s keep it that way,” Shinpai ordered, before he smiled. “To think, because of Wilburt’s extreme prejudice, we would discover such a treasure as you here at Copperleaf. My colleagues at Silverledge and Goldpoint are going to be quite envious that I found you first.”

Larek wasn’t sure if his instructor’s sudden enthusiasm was a good thing or not, but since it sounded as if Shinpai wanted to keep it a secret from others, he could only assume that it was a good thing. That didn’t mean the risk of his being shipped off to a dark room to create Fusions non-stop against his will wasn’t still a possibility, but he chose to believe the risk was worth it if he was ever going to progress in his abilities.

“So,” Shinpai continued, “I’ll teach you all I know about Fusions, but there are limitations on the time I can spend with you due to regulations at the Academy.”

“I’ve heard something about that.”

“Fostering your learning and growth is absolutely important to not only me, but the entire Fusionist profession; I’ll do what I can, but your current status as a first-year student makes any type of interference with your schedule difficult. There’s one thing that doesn’t make much sense to me, though. You said that no one was aware of your unique situation back at Crystalview, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Then how is it you ended up in my class?”

Now Larek hesitated where he hadn’t hesitated before. While he wasn’t entirely sure of the reason behind his surprise transfer to an advanced Fusions class, he had his suspicions. Unfortunately, revealing those suspicions might cause some problems, considering what he had done had destroyed a portion of Crystalview’s building. The last thing he wanted was to cause his instructor to rethink his presence there at Copperleaf because of any potential danger to the Academy – whether that danger existed or not. He had to tell the Grandmaster Fusionist something, or else when he did discover the connection, Larek didn’t want to be accused of deliberately hiding something from his instructor.

“The Dean knew about my interest in being a Fusionist and I had assisted my previous Fusions instructor in duplicating a number of Fusions that, well, didn’t end so well.” It was a half-truth at best, but considering that it was what the Dean believed, Larek chose to copy the story.

“Your Fusions instructor knew about your unique stats?”

Larek shook his head. “No, not exactly. She was only aware of a few things, but not as much as I’ve told you.”

“So, it was her that recommended you transfer to my class?”

He shook his head again, though this time a little sadly. “No, she was killed during the Scissions attack on the Academy. My assumption is that it was the Dean—”

“Wait, did you say Scissions? Attack on the Academy?”

Larek explained what had happened at Crystalview, including the death of Fusionist Annika, as well as a brief description of the explosion that destroyed a portion of the building, which was the main reason for his transfer to Copperleaf.

It appeared as though Shinpai hadn’t heard of the attack or about anything that had occurred up north. Larek was beginning to understand that the Grandmaster Fusionist – and perhaps even his advanced students – was in a world of his own. Not that such an outlook was a bad thing, as it probably helped Larek’s instructor, and his students, focus more on their Fusions than worrying about things outside of their control.

“I’ve never heard about that happening before inside of a city,” Shinpai admitted after Larek was done. “It makes me wonder if things are changing that we aren’t prepared for.” His gaze unfocused and he looked over the former Logger’s head for almost a minute without saying anything. Eventually, he seemed to remember the conversation he was having with Larek before they got off on a tangent. “That is unfortunate about Annika, but it does sound as if it was the Dean. While he doesn’t care for Fusionists, even he was likely aware of at least a portion of your talent.”

Larek had his doubts about the Dean being aware of his particular abilities, but it did seem like the most logical explanation.

“Are you as effective with spellcasting as you are with Fusions?” his instructor asked, which was something that Larek had been dreading.

He paused for a few seconds before he responded. “Learning spells and their spell patterns seems to be quite easy. Casting anything, on the other hand, is not.”

“What do you mean?”

“I cannot cast spells… at all. If you take a look at the Fusions you’re holding and their formations, you might be able to see the problem.”

His instructor took another look at the stone square and the wooden armlet he was still holding, peering intently at the Fusions embedded within them. It didn’t take him long to see the issue.”

“Your patterns are excessively solid. I would imagine if this happened during a spell formation, the spell pattern wouldn’t be able to activate and would overload, pulling more Pattern Cohesion from your body to try and strengthen it. I’ve unfortunately known a few students who have accidentally done this in the past, perishing as they were unable to pay the cost.” He looked up from the objects and stared at Larek. “Please don’t tell me you tried this?”

Trying to keep a sheepish look off his face, the former Logger said, “Unfortunately, I did. It sucked out most of my Pattern Cohesion and then blew up, nearly killing me in the process.”

“Ouch. Alright, that could be a problem with your time here at Copperleaf. A Mage that cannot cast spells? Even as a Fusionist, you’re still expected to show a minimum proficiency in certain subjects, from knowledge of Scissions, monsters, and spellcasting. Even those coming from outside of the Kingdom must meet these requirements to be considered a graduate of any Academy. It isn’t normally an issue, as by the time any student reaches the end of the third year of their time here, they are technically able to graduate except for the need to be a minimum of Level 10.”

Larek had heard about the Level 10 requirement, but not the others; it didn’t surprise him that they would look for at least a minimum ability to cast spells and therefore be able to contribute to a defense against a Scission attack.

“We’ll have to figure something out eventually, but for now, I don’t believe it will matter so much since you are still technically a first-year student.” The Grandmaster Fusionist held out Larek’s armlet to him. “Here, this belongs to you.” As the instructor’s newest student grabbed it back from him, Shinpai asked him, “Nice work, but it could use improvement. You need to strengthen up the containment barrier in your Mana Cost quadrant, as it appears to be slightly warped by the rapid infusion of Mana during the creation process. Given enough time, that could eventually lead to a gradual rupture in the formation.”

Larek looked at the Fusion on his wooden accessory, thinking that his instructor had to be mistaken, but he immediately saw what the Grandmaster Fusionist was talking about. There was a slight warping and thinning of the containment barriers surrounding the Mana Cost section of the Fusion. It wasn’t enough to cause it to fall apart, but he could see that over time, as more ambient Mana was absorbed during the normal process of keeping it powered and active, it would eventually wear away. How did I not see that before?

“How do I—?”

“Unfortunately, we’re out of time today, but I promise that it will be the first thing I’ll go over with you tomorrow.” At that moment, those students that had entered their privacy alcoves earlier emerged within seconds of each other, as if there was some sort of alert or alarm that told them to stop what they were doing and leave. The alcoves that had been shut when he came in were still closed, and Larek had to assume that they were filled with students that were accomplishing some sort of lengthy Fusion and would emerge when they were finished.

“Students. I would like to introduce you to a new addition to our class, Larek; he is a transfer from Crystalview and will be working closely with me in the near future to get him up to speed with this year’s curriculum.” The other students looked at him with very mild interest in their postures, but they didn’t appear very curious about him in any serious way. Their almost vacant expressions and lack of any significant response to the instructor’s words made Larek worried that something was wrong with them.

“I’ll see you all back here tomorrow as we prepare for your next Fusion project which will initiate at the end of the week.” That was all he said as he leaned back in his pillow throne, and the students filed out of the room without any words spoken between them. Larek nodded toward his instructor and the Grandmaster Fusionist nodded back, before he took off after those that had already departed.

Bringing out his schedule, he saw that his next class, Understanding Specializations, was located all the way across the Academy grounds – back where he started the day. Taking off at a run, he passed the other students from his Advanced Fusions class without any reaction from them other than to move out of his way. Before long, Larek was running out of the building, opening the doors with a minor burst of strength. As they flew open, he was greeted by a sight that immediately sent a shock of worry through his body as he saw a group of familiar students speaking with a pair of Professors in their black robes with colorful stripes.

“There he is! There’s the one who hurt me!”

Through all the conversations he had with his new instructor, Larek had forgotten about the group of students that had attempted to prevent him from entering the doorway he had just burst out of. Unfortunately, the one he had picked up and bodily moved hadn’t.

I am going to be so late to my next class.

Book 2 Chapter 24: https://www.patreon.com/posts/fusionist-book-2-82714535