[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 52: Void Crafting

Sending another pulse into the Void mana shell, Sam pressed the encapsulating barrier to the underside of the [Storm Crystal].

He had learned not to read the mana itself—that had been a huge mistake that he had to unlearn—like he had with the [Ember Vine Fruit].

What he did was much harder, but also far more reliable. By reading the fluctuations and reactions within his own Void mana, he could predict what would happen with the Storm mana.

And the more experienced he became with the whole mana extraction process, the more Sam was able to head off potentially catastrophic results.

Keeping his eyes shut, since his sight had nothing to do with what he was doing, Sam felt his way through the [Storm Crystal]. His Void mana began to drag, like it was caught on something, and Sam immediately slowed his pulsing of Void mana.

Switching tactics, Sam shored up the weakened area of Void mana, and only after he was satisfied did he continue pressing forward.

The whole affair took nearly an hour each time, as far as Sam could tell without a watch or even the sun to judge by.

It must be well into the night by now, he thought.

The rain was so bad, however, that even if it was midday, he wouldn’t have been able to tell. The sun was a distant memory.

While Sam tinkered, Raiko kept watch for monsters and continued to keep the [Storm Crystals] growing on their Skyshard to a manageable level by culling them when they grew too large.

Bringing his attention back to the mana extraction, Sam found that as his thoughts drifted, he had been operating on autopilot. He had been adjusting Void mana as if it was second nature.

Trying not to focus too hard and fuck it up, Sam let his mind wander a little while his body sorted itself out.

The Void mana ebbed and flowed along the barrier he created, strong enough for once that he could feel the weight of the Storm mana pressed against it.

He managed to peek one eye open, and was rewarded with an interesting sight.

The [Storm Crystal] was only half lit up with Storm mana, and the upper half that the light was confined to was incredibly active.

Sam quickly formed the rest of the Void shell so the Storm mana wouldn’t jump out and electrocute him or put another hole in his tent.

It would have been easier by far if he could create the spherical shell first, then simply move it away from the crystal. In theory, that would take the Storm mana along with it, separating the crystal and the mana.

However, it wasn’t so simple.

Creating and maintaining a spherical hollow shell was hard. Sam struggled with it every second, and so it was something he saved for the very end.

He couldn’t easily adjust it while in that form, mostly due to his own incompetence and inexperience with Void mana.

Maybe one day I’ll be better at this, he thought ruefully.

With utmost care, Sam transferred the Void shell to one hand and held the [Storm Crystal] with the other. The mana wanted to stay within the crystal. It was an excellent conduit, and the Storm mana naturally fought against the change in equilibrium.

But Sam stayed the course and was ultimately rewarded when he opened his eyes and saw that his hands were separated by a couple of feet.

In his left hand was a [Faded Crystal], devoid of any mana whatsoever. And in his right hand was a silvery-black sphere within which a tiny storm raged and thrashed.

The sudden shock of his first success caused him to lose control for just a fraction of a second and the Storm mana escaped in an explosion of light and sound.

Your [Void] Path has reached Level 5.

+1 Insight Talent | +1 Strength Talent

+1 Arcane Talent | +1 Vigor Talent

The Void within responds to the harrowing call from Beyond.

You gain [Void: Surge].

[Void: Surge]

(Aura) (F-Class)

(☆Primitive)

Completely saturate the surrounding area with overwhelming Void mana, negating and denying all other mana from entering the area of your aura. Grants a minuscule bonus to the effect of Vigor and Insight when using [Void: Surge].

Mana Cost: Very High

Sam blinked rapidly to restore his vision after the flashbang of Storm mana had gone off. Interesting to know that it didn’t inhibit my ability to read the notification, though.

He looked at his new Path ability with great interest. Judging by the description and the information it trickled into his brain, it was used defensively.

Kind of like a really large shield to deny or prevent mana from getting to him and the area immediately surrounding him.

The “Very High” mana cost wasn’t welcome, but considering how hard it was to use [Scour] to block or deflect spells, it might be worth it.

Doubly so if he could deny multiple spells at the same time. Something that [Surge] might be able to do, but [Scour] absolutely could not.

And, just to make sure, Sam popped open his Status. If his guess was correct and Talents really were 1% improvements to his base stats, then his Vigor should be higher.

Take that, Mrs. Peterson! Maybe if stats had been part of his life back on Earth, he would have been better at math since it would have actually mattered in his daily life.

It was good to see that even though the Talents were small, they were already beginning to add up. His Vigor bumped up a single point from a total of 47 to 48.

Which, consequently, also increased his HP from 269 to 273. And while 4HP from a single point of Vigor didn’t feel like much, there didn’t seem to be many sources of HP. Sam was just happy to get more HP where he could. And while he couldn’t prove it easily, he was beginning to suspect that he was getting more HP per point of Vigor than earlier.

High on his first success, and curious if another attempt could net him his sixth level of Void Path, Sam went back to practice.

He managed to replicate the success fairly quickly, too. Though Sam was usually a C student in high school, he learned quickly once he could get some hands-on experience.

Unfortunately, the result was another explosion. And since Sam had tried it out on the largest [Storm Crystal] he had, it was even bigger and nastier than the last one.

Sam lost consciousness for a few moments, and when Raiko came in to check on him, she saw Sam sprawled out on the ground cloth of the tent.

Komachi was right beside him, her back arched. All of her fur suddenly dried and steaming. It stuck out in all directions like an oversized dandelion.

“I see you’re still practicing,” she said with a poorly suppressed laugh. “Any successes?”

Sam pointed to the two [Faded Crystals]. A little jolt of lightning jumped off his finger and zapped through the air. He shook out his hand and brought some life back to it by flexing his fingers repeatedly. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“We’re coming up on our first island.”

“Already?”

“It’s been hours, Sam.”

“Still, it’s a big sky.” He set the [Faded Crystal] down and gave Komachi an apologetic look as his cat curled up and angrily began to attack her fur with her tongue. “I wonder what they call the sky here?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, like do they call this section the Squall Sea, or is it all just the ‘Cloud Sea’ or something?”

Raiko shrugged. “You coming?”

Sam looked at the crystals, shoved the ones that weren’t broken into his Inventory, and followed Raiko out of the tent. The raining had eased up finally, enough for a fine silvery mist that suggested nighttime to Sam.

Thankfully, the filtered moonlight was enough to make out the other islands.

The first island that came by was little more than just a craggy pillar covered in what looked a lot like giant flytraps.

Everybody collectively decided to pass on that one when an equally large hornet flew into one of the carnivorous plants.

It didn’t fly back out.

“I can’t look away,” Raiko whispered when the bug guts were oozing out of the flytrap.

“I can’t either,” Sam said in horror.

From a distance, what looked like just a craggy pillar was actually a hornet’s nest with dozens and dozens of man-sized holes. Maybe there was some landmass there, but that was one question Sam didn’t care to know the answer to.

Let the bug and plant monsters eat each other and leave him and his little island in peace.

Particularly since Sam could see something ahead, now that the storm was moving behind them, a distant purple smudge on the horizon.

It was a collection of broken boulders loosely drifting together with a bigger Skyshard in the center. The whole mass resembled an asteroid belt, if said asteroid belt was covered in green living things and a couple waterfalls to boot.

“Hold on, is that water going to run out?” Sam asked. “That can’t really be an infinite source of water, can it?”

“Let’s go and see.”

Raiko floated to the edge. Sam followed after her. He looked over the rim and then backed up because that just seemed like good sense.

It was a good thing he didn’t have a fear of heights, but he couldn’t get the thought out of his head that one strong gust of wind and he’d find out first-hand just how far down the ground was.

If there was any ground.

“It’s getting closer, but it is still quite the leap,” Sam said. “Not sure just yet how I’m going to get across.”

“You’re good at jumping, right?”

“Not… that good?” Now that he thought about it, with his increased Strength and Agility, he might actually be able to leap decently far.

Just how far was the burning question.

And without a large area to test… the only option was to see how far he could leap as they came alongside one of the “outer isles” of the Skyshard.

They were all connected by thick vines and foliage that would have been home in Hawai’i.

Komachi paced around his feet, tail up like a flagpole. “I can make it!”

“You’re going to stay right here, young lady,” Sam said sternly. “I’ll make the jump, and if it seems safe, we’ll… see what we can do from there.” He looked through his Inventory for some rope.

Nothing.

She grumbled in response.

As the new Skyshard drew closer, Sam took his claymore out of its sheath, stabbed it point-first into the soft earth, and began ripping up the tattered tent.

With his high Strength, the supernaturally strong material ripped easier than a wet paper bag. Sam distinctly recalled how strong it had seemed that first night before the spiders attacked.

God, that feels like a lifetime ago. Could it really only have been a few days ago that I was stocking shelves and praying that the check engine light on my car would just go away?

Technically, it did. Now that was a win for procrastination, all thanks to Earth exploding into bits.

Sam used the straight edge of his sword to cleave the strips of one tent into somewhat uniform sizes. He was more than strong enough to rip the tent to shreds, but he had never quite gotten the knack of ripping sheets into identical strips.

With Komachi helping, using her claws, it went faster.

Using the [Charred Claymore’s] edge to even everything up, Sam began knotting the strips together, working them into a rope that he tied around his waist.

The other end, he looped around the largest boulder.

“This is a terrible idea, and I’m all for it,” he said with a smile. He waited for the outermost edge of the vine-covered outer Isle to get close enough.

He didn’t want to wait until it was as close as possible after all. If he waited until it was as close as it would get, then every moment he stood on the other Skyshard would be another moment that his Skyshard was getting farther away.

“I’m sure it’ll work out,” Raiko said wryly, drifting to the outer Isle.

Sam took a few steps back, got a running start, and then leapt.