The Fusionist Book 2 -- Chapter 10

(For now, this is the last chapter available to all Patrons for the new book, as the rest will be available to higher tier Patrons until Royal Road has caught up)

Chapter 10

Speaking has reached Level 8!

Larek didn’t know what would happen when he made the announcement that he had created the Fusions. Would he be immediately imprisoned and shuffled off to some site where he would be forced to create these powerful Fusions every minute of his waking hours? Would Gharina insist that he stay and produce Fusions for every SIC member in Garventon? These and a few other negative possibilities and scenarios shot through his mind as he figuratively stepped forward and took responsibility, but the reality of her reaction wasn’t something he was expecting.

The older woman in charge of the Garventon’s defenses started laughing uproariously after a few seconds of silence following his proclamation. Still holding the staff in her hands, she doubled over as her mirth overwhelmed her, and it was all Larek could do to look around at his friends with a questioning expression on his face. Unfortunately, everyone else seemed just as confused as he was, so they had to awkwardly wait for Gharina to stop to give them an explanation.

“I’m *chuckle* sorry, I shouldn’t laugh, but that was just too funny,” she finally said, getting control of herself. “The notion that a student, much less a Gergasi, could create something as spectacular as these Fusions is just too much. Especially as you don’t even have a specialization yet, according to your robe; it would’ve been more convincing if you, my dear,” she continued, looking at Nedira, “had admitted to creating them, but even that would be impossible.”

Larek didn’t know how to respond, as he wasn’t expecting her to simply not believe him at all. Glancing around at Verne and Norde, who looked uncomfortable, and Nedira who appeared angry for some reason, he kept his mouth shut. He’d already admitted to being the creator of the Fusions, and if she didn’t believe him, then he wasn’t sure if he wanted to prove it or not.

Sobering up even further, she turned away from Larek and looked back at Nedira while still holding the staff. “The humorous diversion aside, I still need an answer. Where did you acquire this? Who made these Fusions?”

After a moment of visible indecision on Nedira’s face, the fourth-year student eventually shrugged. “I don’t know what else to tell you. Larek created those Fusions, and if you don’t want to believe me, then there’s not much I can do to change your mind. Keep the staff if you must; Larek can always make me another.”

He unconsciously nodded, knowing that he could easily make another set of Fusions for her, as long as she had a staff to put them on.

“Girl, I don’t know what game you’re playing here, but I can see that you’re going to be stubborn about this. I’m going to give you one more chance to come clean or I’ll send to Crystalview to see what kind of answers I can get there.”

Great. That’s the last thing I want to happen.

“Please don’t do that,” Larek blurted out before he could stop himself. “The Dean and I don’t exactly get along, and it could cause some, uh, difficulties.”

“Oh, and why is that? What did you do?”

Obviously, Larek couldn’t exactly go into detail about what had led to the explosion on the roof and his relationship with Annika. What he could do was admit something that he hadn’t told anyone else, but which he was hoping would explain the Dean’s animosity toward him.

“I have a Fusionist specialization. If you know anything about Professor Wilburt, you’ll no doubt be aware that he has a, well, poor view of Fusionists.”

Gharina stared at him as soon as he stopped talking, but she wasn’t the only one. Nedira had a knowing smirk on her face as she looked at him, while Verne and Norde simply looked shocked.

“Prove it. Show me your specialization.”

The abrupt order by the older woman didn’t make any sense.

“Uh, what? Do you want me to make a Fusion for you—”

She shook her head with exacerbation. “Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t have hours to waste watching you create a Fusion. Just display your specialization to me,” she demanded impatiently.

“…What? How—?”

“Just imagine displaying your specialization in front of you and infuse it with a tiny bit of Mana,” Nedira broke in. “See, like this.”

Out of nowhere, green-tinged, blocky white words appeared in front of Nedira that displayed “Specialization(s): Naturalist”, though it was backwards from his perspective. A very thin line of green energy flowed out of her chest and connected to the words, and he realized that what he was seeing was her Mana fueling the display.

Magical Detection has reached Level 12!

The abrupt Level-up for his Magical Detection Skill was a surprise, but he ignored it as he saw the words disappear and the Mana that had been connected to it disappear. “Your specialization and everything on your status are considered a private matter, so you don’t ever have to display them to anyone even if they ask,” Nedira explained. “The only exemptions to this are when it is time for your to graduate, where you will be asked to prove that you are at least Level 10, and when you want to advance in rank among the SIC, I believe.” At a nod at that latter statement from Gharina, she went on. “Even then, unless there is a specific reason why it would be necessary, displaying anything other than Level and specialization within the SIC is unnecessary.”

“Exactly. Now, show me your specialization.” The older woman crossed her arms awkwardly as she was still in possession of the staff, but her stern look toward Larek seemed to brook no arguments.

Therefore, he took a deep breath and pulled up his Status, before focusing on one specific part of it. It took him a few seconds to figure out what he should do, but after a moment he was able to coax a trickle of Mana out of his body and into the section of his status he wanted. Unfortunately, a trickle for him was apparently a little more than the average person, as a blue-tinted portion of his Status became available for everyone to see floating in front of him.

Larek Holsten

Specialization(s): Fusionist

Level 12

Advancement Points (AP) : 3/13

Available AP to Distribute: 40

Whoops.

Gasps from his friends made him scramble to shut down the projection of his Status, which happened a few seconds later once he mentally figured out how to do it.

“Larek!”

“What?”

“How?”

The exclamations from his friends made him a little embarrassed, but it was Gharina’s reaction that he was worried about the most. The reason for that? Because he was already over Level 10, which was the goal of the Mage Academies for their graduates; he was concerned because he thought she might refuse to let him go to Copperleaf because he had already exceeded the threshold.

The older woman was stone-faced as she stared at Larek, which he couldn’t determine if it was a good thing or not.

“You’re already Level 12? Are you a graduate?”

He shook his head. “No. I’m still a first-year.”

“How is that possible?”

Larek just shrugged.

“No matter.  We’ll just have to see about transferring you out of—”

“He hasn’t finished his schooling yet,” Nedira interrupted.

Gharina shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. We can always use more help in defense, especially with everything that is going on, and if he can make these Fusions, that’s all the better.”

“He can’t cast any spells, though.”

That made the leader of Garventon’s SIC contingent pause. “What?”

This time, Larek spoke up. “I haven’t learned how to cast a spell yet. I can make Fusions, but no spells. In addition, the only Fusions I can create are these basic 2 by 2 grid formations, and I want to learn how to make more complicated and stronger ones.”

“That’s impossible. How did you get to Level 12 without being able to cast a spell?”

“Let’s just say that I’ve made a lot of Fusions.”

Gharina was silent after that as she stared at Larek, and all he could do was stare right back. If she was going to force him to leave the Academy, he wasn’t afraid to face it like a man. He was tired to letting the whims of random SIC representatives dictate his fate, now that he knew he could be much more useful creating Fusions in the future rather than be put on a town wall somewhere defending against Scission monsters.  After seeing her positive reaction to the Fusions he had created on Nedira’s staff, a sense of self-confidence he hadn’t previously been aware of flared up in his chest as he stared the older woman down.

After what felt like hours, Gharina abruptly smiled and handed the staff back to Nedira. “Fair enough. If asked, I know nothing about any Level 12 Fusionists passing through here, and if I were you, I would practice – in private – showing only the portions you want of your Status so you don’t do that again.” She sighed and looked at Larek in the eyes again. “I really could use an example of that healing Fusion, though. I’m sure I can find someone to make it around here.”

“I’m not sure that would be possible,” Nedira said, shaking her head. “Larek’s Fusions are a bit different, more structurally permanent than normal, and it would be difficult, if not impossible, for anyone to replicate them.”

“But—”

“Here,” Verne quickly interrupted, handing something out to Gharina. “Take this and you can have someone better at Fusions look at it, and you can also use it for your people here. Just remember to take precautions like we warned, and you should be fine.”

The local SIC leader hesitated for a moment before she took the wooden anklet from Larek’s roommate, which held the Healing Surge +3 Fusion on it. Larek nearly protested, as it would leave Verne without a way to heal himself if he were hurt, but he was assuaged by the realization that they would be traveling relatively safe in the massive carriage in a very short time. Regardless, he resolved to create another one for the boy as soon as he was able.

“Thank you. Remember, I didn’t see you here and don’t know anything about you,” Gharina reminded Larek. “Despite ‘having no knowledge of you’, I expect hearing good things about you in the future.”

With a nod in all their directions, the SIC leader turned around with a graceful swish of her robe and left them there, staring at each other.

“Well, that was… something,” Nedira finally said. “We should probably see about getting on those Network carriages before they leave without us.

“And then we’re going to have a little talk once we’re on our way, Larek,” she added, smirking toward him before turning away with a similar gait as the local SIC leader.

Book 2 Chapter 11: https://www.patreon.com/posts/fusionist-book-2-81662426