The Fusionist Book 2 -- Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The ride inside the SIC Transportation Network carriage was surprisingly smooth, given the speeds they were traveling. Larek looked outside the small window-like slit in the wall of the storage compartment where he was currently residing, and he saw the landscape practically flying by. He estimated that they were traveling at least 10 times faster than the caravan wagons would move, and despite the sometimes uneven ground they were journeying over, the entire structure of the carriage barely bounced up and down.

That could probably be explained by the multitude of steel bow springs underneath the floor of the carriage which were connected to the axles and wheels, which provided a suspension that was unrivaled in comparison to anything else he’d ever ridden before. The springs, as well as the wheels and axles, were all covered in Strengthening Fusions, granting them the extra strength and durability that such a vehicle would need to survive such high-speed travel, and by the sheer number of them he counted, he estimated that it would likely require a team of a dozen Fusionists at least a day to ensure everything was strengthened to the point where it wouldn’t fall apart.

That was just for a single carriage, too. No one with him knew how many of carriages the Network operated throughout the Kingdom, but the entire operation of keeping them up-to-date on Fusions probably employed quite a few Fusionists.

The inside of the carriages were a surprise, as well. Only the front quarter of the vehicle was set aside for passengers, while the rest was reserved for cargo and other supplies.  At the moment, almost all of the first-year students were able to fit into two of the passenger compartments, with the other passenger compartment in the third carriage being filled with a force of SIC members that were transferring to other locations. The exceptions to the first-years were Verne and Norde, who joined Larek, Nedira, and the two Martial graduates in one of the cargo holds, where they were able to find places to sit among the crates, barrels, and bags that the carriage was lugging along to deliver to other locations.

“We’ve got a dozen other stops before we get to the capital, where we can take another carriage or two to Copperleaf Academy, Nedira was saying. She had spoken to a few of the SIC guards that accompanied the carriage, who were stationed up near the driver, and she had gotten the information from them before they set out. “Even with the stops, it’ll be at least 5 times as fast than if we had still been with the caravan.”

“That’s good to hear; I’m ready to get back to classes,” Verne mentioned.

Larek nodded, though he was thinking more about Fusion classes than anything else. He was hoping that their newest Dean wouldn’t be as prejudiced against Fusionists like the last, and would then be able to push his knowledge to another level without being watched every time he went to class.

The two Martial graduates were off by themselves, further toward the rear of the cargo hold, but Nedira still lowered her voice to barely be heard over the creaks and rumbling coming from the carriage moving over the ground at full speed. “So, Larek, tell me how you managed to get to Level 12 already.” She sat down next to him so that she wouldn’t have to strain to hear his response, while Verne and Norde were sitting across from him on a pair of crates.

He looked at her and the two younger boys, trying to figure out what to say. Obviously, they knew he was good at Fusions and had increased the Skills related to their creation, but he didn’t think that would necessarily account for all of his Advancement Points and subsequent Levels – especially since he couldn’t cast any spells. He debated on whether to misdirect them by saying that he somehow managed to advance past Level 20 in his most-used Mage Skills, but he was starting to tire of omitting some things from these people.  From all they had gone through and the way they attempted to cover for him when speaking to Gharina, keeping his secret, he considered them his friends.

If he couldn’t trust them with a few tidbits of knowledge about him, then who could he trust? His family, of course, but they weren’t here.

Besides, he felt liberated in a way admitting that he made those Fusions to the local SIC leader back in Garventon, and unburdening himself to his close friends would likely feel just as liberating. In addition, speaking with them about the dual nature of the energy inside his body was potentially a good way to finally figure out if he was going to be in serious trouble if the truth got out to the wider world.

“I, uh, have some additional Skills that contributed to my Advancement Points,” he explained in a very soft voice.

“What? What Skills are you talking about?” Nedira asked, as Verne and Norde leaned forward to hear him.

He only paused for a second before responding. “Martial Skills.”

They were silent for a moment before they all looked at him incredulously, followed by chuckling.

“Good one, Larek. You can’t have any have any Martial Skills—”

After his experience earlier in Garventon, he hadn’t the opportunity to practice the process further, but in this case he only had to expand what he showed rather than restrict it. In front of him floated more words, which included what was seen before about his specialization, Level, and Advancement Points along with his Mana, Stama, and his three Martial stats. For now, he chose not to share his Mage stats, especially his Acuity, Pneuma, and Pattern Cohesion, as they were already quite a bit out of the ordinary, but he would if it became necessary.

Larek Holsten

Fusionist

Level 12

Advancement Points (AP) : 3/13

Available AP to Distribute: 40

Mana: 760/760

Stama: 200/200

Strength: 30

Body: 20

Agility: 30

He only kept it visible for a few seconds while they stared at it with open mouths, which didn’t close even after it disappeared.

“So, yes, I also have Martial stats and Skills, including Stama,” Larek continued to explain. “I haven’t been able to access my Stama and utilize it like I can my Mana, though I discovered a Battle Art during the fight against those monsters outside of Crystalview Academy.”

“A… Battle Art? Is that a Martial ability?”  Norde accidentally asked his question a bit louder than Larek and everyone else was speaking, which apparently carried over to the pair of Martial graduates in the cargo hold.

“What was that about Battle Arts? Did you want to know more about them?” Rheina abruptly asked, and before Larek could respond, the abnormally quick woman was sitting on a nearby crate. A few seconds later, Crester made his way over a few barrels and bags that were in the way, joining the leather-clad woman.

“By the way,” the armored Martial began before anyone could say anything, “we wanted to thank you for the healing the other night. I have to say, there isn’t much scarier than losing one’s sight in the middle of a battle; our Body Regeneration would’ve kicked in eventually to heal the blindness, but that Fusion you had was a literal life-saver. If those ugly Bog Goblins had recovered before we did, then they could’ve caused a lot of damage and killed a bunch of kids.”

Slightly embarrassed at the praise for some reason, Larek ducked his head. “It was no problem.”

“Anyway, why were you talking about Battle Arts? What do you know about them,” Rheina interjected.

“Uh, well, I don’t know much, other than they use Stama?” Larek responded.

She nodded. “Exactly. Just like your spells use Mana, our Battle Arts use Stama to fuel them.  While your abilities are flashy and typically extend outside of your body, our Arts are largely internal but can extend to our weapons. For instance, I have a Battle Art called Fleetfoot that increases my physical movement speed by increasing my Agility, which is completely internal; on the other hand, I also have Explosive Strike, which extends Stama out of my body to coat my knife blades. When coming in contact with my target, the Battle Art inflicts additional damage by expending the energy in a small, controlled and directed explosive blast. The most obvious Art you’ve likely seen are from archers who can contain some of that explosive Stama energy into their arrows, which explode spectacularly – the little showoffs,” she said dismissively.

“That’s amazing! How do you learn new Battle Arts?” Verne asked enthusiastically. “For spells, we have to observe the same spell being cast over and over repeatedly, until we understand it enough to recreate it ourselves.”

“Ah, I guess that makes sense for something that is done outside of the body,” Crester said. “Battle Arts are a little different, because there is nothing that we can observe to learn them, but the repetition aspect of learning is the same. As part of the training process, we have to grab hold of our Stama and wrestle it toward a specific part of our body with an intent behind it. For instance, in order to learn my Shield Taunt Art, I had to direct my Stama to my left forearm with the intent being for it to bleed out and cover my shield, where it could then be struck by my mace; the resulting effect would cause every monster within range to target me rather than my lightly armored companions.”

“How long did that take to learn?”

He thought about it for a moment. “A little over a year, I think? It was one of the first Battle Arts I learned, so it took me a little longer than the rest, but I think the fastest Art I learned still took around eight months.” Rheina nodded, either agreeing with how long it took him or that it also took her around that long to learn.

“You said you have to ‘wrestle’ your Stama; what do you mean by that?” Larek suddenly asked, seeing an opportunity to learn more about handling his Stama which had been difficult to manipulate up to that point. “We handle our Mana a bit differently, I assume.”

“It’s exactly what I said; you have to wrestle with Stama in order for it to perform what you want it to do. In other words, you need to subdue it with your internal strength and forcefully show it how to enact a Battle Art. That’s essentially why it takes so long to learn a new Battle Art, because Stama is like a wild, untamed beast that needs to be broken and shoved into a certain pathway. Once it finally adheres to that pathway, you’ll learn the Battle Art and can enact it any time you want. Subsequent Battle Arts are both easier and harder to learn; they are easier because you’ve had practice making Stama submit to your will, but it also becomes harder because once a pathway is established, it is very difficult to nearly impossible to try and train a new Battle Art on the same pathway.”

“What exactly does that mean?” Nedira asked.

“Well, take my Shield Taunt Art, for instance. If I were to try and create another Battle Art that focused Stama toward my arm and my shield, such as something like Shield Expulsion which pushes monsters back with an expulsion of force, the Stama I wrangled through my body would automatically try and enter the pathways already established for Shield Taunt. Does that make sense to you?” Crester asked the fourth-year Mage student.

She nodded, along with everyone else. To Larek, it was a strange concept to consider, but he supposed it was like carving a riverbed through the body for the Stama to travel through, and any subsequent attempt to carve another river would cause all the Stama you were manipulating to fall into the previous riverbed. Later on, he’d thought that he’d have to see if he could feel what kind of pathway was carved out in his own body with his Furious Rampage Battle Art.

That would have to wait, though, because Rheina asked a question that brought his attention right back into the conversation.

“So, I’ve heard a rumor that one of you might have some insight on where that special healing Fusion came from. Am I correct?” she asked, looking straight at Larek.

Uh, oh.

Book 2 Chapter 12: https://www.patreon.com/posts/fusionist-book-2-81674627