The Fusionist Book 2 -- Chapter 12

Chapter 12

“Where did you hear that?” Nedira asked, pulling the speedy Martial graduate’s attention away from the former Logger.

“Oh, I might have eavesdropped on a conversation or two,” she admitted without any sense of shame. “I can move quite stealthily if I want to.”

Did she hear our conversation with Gharina?

A look at her face as she turned back to Larek was all he needed to confirm that to be the truth. Larek sighed, feeling like his secrets were suddenly spilling out of him all over the place like a tear in a bag of flour. “You heard, didn’t you?”

She nodded with a smile. “Not all of it, but I caught most of your discourse with that woman back in Garventon. I must say, I’m impressed that the woman thought so highly of your abilities with Fusions even though you’re still a student.”

Larek was still a novice when it came to talking to people, but he was fairly certain he heard an underlying threat in her words despite the smile she maintained. Based on the reactions of his friends and the way they stiffened up, they had heard it as well.

“What do you want?” he asked, annoyance beginning to color his tone without his volition.

She never stopped smiling as she leaned back. “Oh, don’t be like that. I was just wondering what kind of help you might be willing to offer to a couple of graduates about to embark on their first assignment.”

“Rheina, there’s no need for this—” Crester said, putting his hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off as she lost her smile.

With a sigh, she looked toward her fellow Martial. “I know, I know. We still owe him for helping to heal us back in that camp, but I can’t help but want to see what he can do.” She looked away, not meeting his or anyone else’s eyes. In a whisper that Larek barely heard, she said, “I don’t want to die.”

The pure emotion in that sentence was all he needed to hear, because despite the woman trying to exploit him with threats, he could well understand her fear. Having personally experienced seeing more than a few SIC members dying in the defense of a town and a city, along with himself not wanting to join in any defenses because of the risk of death by monster, he could see how a new graduate would be wary of the same.

“Fine. I’ll make you some Fusions, but you cannot tell anyone about me and what I can do. Even if someone sees your Fusions and asks about them, just say that you found them alongside the road or something. I can’t allow them to be traced back to me.”

“Larek; you don’t have to—”

“I know, Nedira, but if I can make a difference with my Fusions, then I’d like to try. Imagine if every Mage student, or even Professor, had a staff like yours during the attack at Crystalview? How much of an impact do you think that would’ve made?”

She only had to think about it for a moment before she answered. “It would’ve made a huge difference, and you know it.”

“Exactly. I still need to be careful so I don’t end up locked in a room somewhere, but I’d rather help where I can. As long as they can keep their mouths shut, right?” Larek asked, looking straight at Rheina, who nodded.

“Yes, we can keep your secret.”

Bargaining has reached Level 2!

Bargaining has reached Level 3!

Leadership has reached Level 10!

Apparently, making such a deal with the two Martial graduates was significant, because not only did he received two Levels in Bargaining, but he also broke through to Level 10 in Leadership.  Is that because of leadership concerning my friends, or for some other reason? He wasn’t sure, but it wasn’t important right now.

“Well, then, what do you need? I think I can do it while we travel, but if we stop and I’m in the middle of one, you’re going to have to stop anyone from disturbing me; if I’m interrupted, the Fusion could explode from all the Mana invested in it.”

The two Martials looked at each other and nodded. “I think we can do that,” Rheina  What would you suggest as far as Fusions? I have to admit, I don’t really know much about Fusions other than that healing one and a few at the Fort that sharpened some of the weapons there.”

Larek thought about it for a moment, looking at the two Martial graduates. Rheina was dressed in soft-but-durable, neck-to-toe leather with a cloth hood that she could pull up to cover her head for some reason. He could only assume it was to make her harder to see in the dark when she snuck up on a monster, but for protection’s sake, it didn’t really do all that much. He’d never actually tried creating a Fusion on cloth or leather before, because everything he’d learned in Fusions class and from that book Nedira gave him said that they weren’t really worth it because Fusions only lasted a fraction of the time on the softer materials. It made sense, he supposed, because the more it bent, the more the structure of the Fusion formation would deform; then again, with his Pattern Cohesion creating extremely strong and durable grid formations, he wasn’t sure if they would be as affected as a Fusion from a normal Fusionist.

The fact that the Fusions he had on his armlets and anklets, which bent a little to fit better on his body, gave proof that bending a little didn’t harm them in the least. Granted, something like cloth that could literally be folded in half was entirely different. Then there was the consideration that both cloth and leather, unless greatly strengthened to resist being torn or scratched, could result in the Fusion falling apart if the material was scratched or gouged.

In other words, it was something that might be possible, but he wasn’t going to try something brand-new without experimenting first. Depending on how much time he had during their travels, he might be able to get to that, but there were certainly other things he could do first.

As far as the rest of Rheina’s outfit, she had the pair of knives at her waist along with a small bag tied to her belt, but it was also made of leather and not something he’d attempt to place a Fusion on at the moment. A pair of flat stud earrings with either a very large purple gemstone or colored glass adorned her ears, and a pair of bracers on her forearms with small steel plates along the outside finished up her accoutrements – unless she had something underneath, which he thought he’d have to ask about.

“Well, to start, I can create stat boost Fusions for Strength, Body, and Agility, Healing Surge for healing, and I can sharpen your knives,” he explained to Rheina, tackling her first. “The problem is that stat boosts need to have contact with your skin and I haven’t experimented with cloth or leather before, and I’m unsure how well they would hold up under abuse. The same goes with the healing Fusion, as you need to have physical contact with the object the Fusion is on in order to activate it with a thought. I might be able to place some lower Magnitude stat boosts on your earrings, which shouldn’t disturb each other’s area of ambience.

“Your knives will be the easiest, as those should be separate enough even with Magnitude 5 Sharpen Fusions like my axe here,” he continued, holding up his axe and carefully demonstrating how sharp it was by cutting a sliver off the wooden crate nearby with ease. “Do you have any hard materials other than your earrings that are in permanent contact with your body?”

Rheina looked at him in astonishment as he rattled off the Fusions he listed, before looking down at her arm bracers. “Uh… the steel plates are connected to the leather by welded steel rivets that touch my skin underneath – would that work?” A quick thought from Larek made him consider if that would work, and he nodded. If it was all steel that was basically one piece as the rivets were welded to the plate, then he thought that would work. If it didn’t, then they’d find something else that might.

“Hmm… I think that will do it for you, then. I can put the Healing Surge on one of your bracers, Strength and Body stat boosts on your earrings, and then a stronger Agility one on your other bracer? Is that the stat you use most?”

The quick woman nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, yes, definitely.”

“Good. Like I said, the knives will be easy, so that should work for you for now.” Turning to Crester, who looked at Rheina with a shocked expression on his face, Larek looked him over. He immediately knew that his would be much easier, if more extensive. “Right. Strengthen Iron on your plates and bands on your armor and shield to give you extra protection, Strengthen Wood on your spear shaft and also on your shield, Sharpen Steel on your spear head, a Strength and Agility stat boost on also on your spear Shaft, a Body stat boost on your helmet because it comes in contact with your skin, and… do you have any metal underneath all that which has contact with your skin?”

“Uh, well, I have a necklace with a pendant with a portrait of my girlfriend?”

“Ha, you still have that?” Rheina chuckled. “I’m pretty sure a girl you knew when you were 10 isn’t still pining for you, Crester.”

The man looked offended, but he didn’t say anything, just slipping the necklace out of his chainmail. Larek looked at it and saw that it was a 2-inch wide oval metal pendant that opened with a hinge on one side, but he wasn’t interested in what was inside. Instead, the flat surface along the outside appeared perfect for a Fusion.

“Yes, that would work,” Larek said as he nodded. “Alright, who’s first?”

Book 2 Chapter 13: https://www.patreon.com/posts/fusionist-book-2-81702243