[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 81: Skyshards

There was no skill up for fixing all of Komachi’s gear, which was only in need of a light layer of TLC. Perhaps it was because most of her gear wasn’t very strong, or that it wasn’t in need of much repair.

Her [Flamewool Cloak] was the worst off, but Sam was able to fix it up before it became threadbare. Nowhere was it more obvious that he was using magic by doing [Basic Maintenance] than with Komachi’s cloak.

It should have been impossible to repair something that was looking patchy and thin to something warm and thicker. Not without fully remaking the item. But as Sam stitched up the tiny rents and the ragged edges, the cloak changed subtly from one moment to the next until it was fully repaired.

“Thanks Sam!” His little cat looked like she was wearing nearly brand-new clothing.

“Let’s try making a [Water Tile] or something,” Sam said, pulling Komachi onto his shoulder and taking out the [Water Concept].

In theory, it was pretty simple. Sam would place the [Water Concept] at the bottom of a carved-out depression. It should pump out water with an infusion of mana, and therefore make a lake, pond, river, or the like depending on the geography around it.

Using just his Strength, Sam had no trouble carving an 8-foot deep hole into the ground some distance away from the center of the Skyshard.

He couldn’t help but think of how he could have done a day’s worth of stocking in an hour with his current Strength. Hell, he could have lifted the compacted cardboard bails with one hand.

“Good thing you got all dat Strength.” Komachi pranced from shoulder to shoulder, her bell-wand ringing.

There wasn’t even any sweat from the effort. It was as easy as playing in the sand!

Realizing that he could literally shape the world around him with nothing more than his hands was nothing less than surreal. Yet another tangible effect of all his stats.

Komachi craned to look over his shoulder. “Yis. If you use that boulder, could fill the bottom with rocks.”

Sam took a few of the boulders, heaved them out of their homes in the ground, and piled them at the bottom of the trial pond.

This was something I couldn’t do when I first got onto the Skyshard, he reminded himself. In less than a week that had all changed.

He had come a long way.

It reminded Sam how important it was to take on appropriate, or even too-difficult, monsters and challenges. If he took on easy prey, then it would stunt his growth, not to mention be boring.

That would be one of the benefits of grouping up with his friends. So far, he saw nothing that suggested an Experience reduction when multiple people fought the same monster.

If that theory held true, then you would just be holding yourself back by exclusively soloing. Fighting stronger monsters typically resulted in increasingly higher Experience yields.

He couldn’t wait to see what else was out there, ready to challenge him. Though he didn’t know how to find one, he was still hoping to stumble across a Dark Vault again.

Hopefully, he could find Kale before then. No, he thought, not “hope” I will find him.

Smiling, Sam fed a trickle of mana to the [Water Concept] and dropped it into the hole.

The crystalline item pumped out a gush of water from both ends, filling up the area with surprising speed. After a few minutes of watching, the [Water Concept] stopped producing water.

Over the next ten minutes or so, Sam gave it a couple more jump starts, but it became pretty clear by the end that he was just pouring water into a hole he dug in the ground.

The mandragoras had already taken the spare soil and were spreading it out into a different location, creating raised beds with it.

One of the creatures, the roasted tomato, was fiddling with one of the [Marrowgems]. It seemed fully grown, so what else was he doing with it?

“I think this idea is a bust, Komachi.”

“Probably,” she admitted. “Was worth a try. Everything is so new, so I never know what’s possible. What do ya think we’re missing?”

“A supply of mana for one,” Sam said, wading into the muddy water and pulling out the [Water Concept]. “I had to keep giving it my own mana. Not exactly ideal. Then there’s the lack of proper land.”

“The [Sourcestone] has mana, doesn’t it?” She spun around and peered closely at the crystal.

Sam joined her and started at what he saw.

The [Sourcestone] was several feet out of the ground now. No longer just a foot-tall pyramid, it was at least half-erupted from the soil and shining like a brilliant jewel.

“It does,” he agreed, walking up to it and putting a hand on its surface. He could feel its intentions in some way.

“It’s living, just like the tree,” Komachi whispered in awe.

Komachi was right. Which was a surprise in and of itself.

The [Sourcestone] had its own… lifeforce. It was the only way to describe what he felt. Not exactly like a person, but something more than a mere plant or stone could ever be.

In fact, Sam could sense that it had been incubating since he placed the much smaller [Sourcestone] here. What stood before him was nearly as tall as he was, and it was only halfway out.

No wonder Raiko defended her tree so fiercely. It was a living creature of sorts, much more complicated than any random tree. And the [Sourcestone] seemed the same way.

It wanted to come out, to fully bloom and control the Skyshard, but it took time and energy to do it.

First Layer mana was weak, diffuse. It needed more as a Class-E entity, but all it had to work with was First Layer mana.

Going purely on a hunch, Sam reached out his hand and placed it against the faceted face of the [Sourcestone]. It pulsed with light and life.

Sam opened himself up to it, feeding it just a tiny trickle of mana at first. As the [Sourcestone] began moving and glowing, he increased the amount of mana he expended to a flood.

Inch by inch, the crystalline Settlement Core erupted from the ground. Tiny silvery chains sprang forth from its crystalline shell and burrowed into the ground.

Wherever the chains touched the earth, the dirt was transformed to smooth pale stone. The chains burrowed into the Skyshard, anchoring the [Sourcestone] as, with Sam’s help, it pulled itself out of the Skyshard.

Runes, much like those surrounding Raiko’s Sacred Tree, began to etch themselves into the ring of pale stone at the [Sourcestone’s] base.

Sam’s MP was drained to a tenth of its max by the time it was all said and done. A large dais had formed beneath the [Sourcestone] with fine silver chains trailing from the crystal to the rune-marked stone.

Before his eyes, the first of the runes flickered and lit up.

An idea started to form in the back of his mind. All those crumbling bits of land, coming off the Skyshard below. Somehow, he could do something about it. He just wasn’t sure how yet.

“I get to witness so many things for the first time,” Komachi said with uncharacteristic insightfulness. “And actually comprehend! Magic, life, creatures. I used to be a real dumb cat, Sam. Couldn’t understand what you said usually, and then things started to change when Raiko came around. I feel more like who I was always supposed to be.”

Sam reached up and scratched the underside of her chin affectionately as he had done since she was a tiny kitten that could fit in the palm of his hand. “It’s a new life for both of us,” he told her. “I’m glad I get to share it with you.”

She purred, content.

Just as Sam was starting to turn away, he received a new notification.

Your [Sourcestone] has abilities to select from.

[Resource Discovery]

Your [Sourcestone] is an ancient fragment of a powerful weapon from time immemorial. Its ability to resonate with all types of mana is unrivaled. By attuning your [Sourcestone] to a mana signature of a material you possess, your [Sourcestone] will be able to locate similar signatures across your current Layer. The accuracy and quantity of mana signatures tracked depends on the level of your [Sourcestone].

[Source Chain]

Create a spectral chain that latches onto another Skyshard, Tile, or piece of drifting flotsam. Your [Sourcestone] will reel in the item, keeping it moored until either your Skyshard runs out of MP, or you release the chained item. The number of chains, length of tethering, speed of reeling, and size of what can be reeled in depends on the level of your [Sourcestone].

[Sourcefield]

Recalling its previous life as an implement of War, your [Sourcestone] is no stranger to battle and desires to protect you and yours. By overcharging the ambient mana with its own, the [Sourcestone] is capable of creating an expandable barrier around the [Sourcestone] and the Skyshard itself that absorbs magical attacks to replenish its mana while simultaneously denying entry to all those you do not expressly allow passage. The strength of the barrier, duration, MP absorption rate, and size depend on the level of the [Sourcestone].

Sam stared at the Shardscript. “This opens up so many more possibilities.”

“These Skyshards are way better than hitching to a rando rock, diggin’ a hole and then hopping to the next rando rock.” Komachi reached a paw out, batted something invisible, then moved it around more.

He wasn’t going to admit it openly, but he realized a little late that she was interacting with his Shardscript.

“I wonder what other Settlement Cores offer? Or rather, what can Raiko’s do?” Sam wondered aloud.

As much as he wanted Kale to be with him, he hoped that his best friend found a Settlement Core as well. Any Skyshard would be significantly weaker without one. They seemed integral to growth, progression, and just flat-out survival.

“Maybe that’s what those spirit warriors were from?” Komachi guessed. “A sacred sapling ability. Or tree? Not sure which it is, really.”

“It does look like a Tree,” Sam agreed.

“Why aren’t they around anymore, though? Are they only reactionary, or is it something else?”

“I think it’s weaker now.”

Sam rubbed the stubble on his chin thoughtfully.

Undoubtedly, this was like his [Swordsman] ability choices. He could pick one, then the next time the [Sourcestone] gained the ability to select more, the other two he hadn’t picked would be joined by new abilities.

Whether luckily or not, the [Sourcestone’s] abilities didn’t seem to have the same sort of rarity and tier system he was used to. There was no Class rating either, and every ability explicitly stated that its strength relied on the raw level of the crystal.

At least that makes things straightforward.

Of course, not a single one suggested how much mana they expended in the process, nor if they had a cooldown of any sort.

Sam looked at Komachi. “You got some thoughts?”

“Each ability is real useful, except in different directions. Wish we could pick them all, since they all seem equally important.” Her tail flicked around. “We don’t have Tiles, so I bet the [Sourcechain] could work for that, maybe? And then there’s [Sourcefield] that might be able to push enemies off the island? Might be some easy Experience.”

Komachi made some good points, but Sam could also see how useful [Resource Discovery] would be to a fledgling Skyshard. His entire group needed resources badly.

The downside was [Resource Discovery’s] requirement of already being in possession of whatever resource they were looking for. He supposed if it used its mana signature it made sense, but it still was a bit of a chicken and an egg problem.

On the other hand, they couldn’t process any raw materials worth a damn. Nobody had a Profession. There were no blacksmiths, carpenters, weavers, or… anything among them.

As much as Sam wanted to kick start the development of their Skyshards, and he knew they would need a plethora of resources for that, he didn’t think that was the right way to go.

Same for the [Sourcefield], an undoubtedly valuable defensive tool that probably took up so much mana that he doubted it would last long enough to be terribly effective.

It was still a solid choice. It just wasn’t the best choice for right now. Safe in the knowledge that it would still be there later, Sam took a closer look at [Source Chain].

Like [Resource Discovery] it might be useful to take in some materials. If they came across a random floating bit of land that had a forest on it, the ability made it seem like they could spear it with a chain and reel the whole thing in, chop down the trees, then cut it free and keep going.

That sounded awesome.