NOVEL NEXT Chapter 60: Solstice Break
For catching an arrow with his scissors like that, Wulf received a Mark:
[Transmuter's Instincts] You caught an object moving faster than your eyes could track. Your reaction time has greatly improved.
Not complex, but it didn't need to be. It was a boost nonetheless.
He didn't earn another Mark until well after solstice break, though.
Solstice break happened every year, taking up the two weeks at the end of the year and the start of the next year. Classes paused, though there were a few midterm exams for the first semester. Most classes ran all year, and they were halfway over.
On the actual solstice day, the four gathered in the mess hall, where Chef Kennet would be serving them a "Solstice Dinner"—which Wulf didn't know exactly what that entailed, though he was curious to find out. Last life, he hadn't had enough ration chits to afford a meal like that. He'd been spending them on mana-water with hope of catching up (it hadn't helped).
While they waited, Wulf assessed all of their progresses. He and Kalee were still at Middle-Coal, but they were both close to advancing to High-Coal and gaining their last base Skill. Kalee had gained a few more Marks, too, in skirmishes with some of the other girls in her dorms (Wulf didn't inquire what that was all about, though it sounded like her roommate had been getting in lots of trouble).
Seith and Irmond, meanwhile, were now High-Woods, and they'd both earned a single Mark in their activities. Basic, sure, and just flat strength and speed enhancements, but those were still useful.
"Weapons?" Wulf asked. "We've got about a month, so we need to make sure those are all ready…soon." He winced, considering his progress with his own weapons.
"I've nearly got enough silver to buy the bow I've been eying from the school shop," Irmond said. "And a quiver of wind-arrows to go with it."
Seith shrugged. "I've been expanding my toolkit. It might be basic, but I've got better equipment to keep an Oronith running, now."
"Been working on my staff," Kalee said. "I might need some help from an Artificer to complete the enchantments, but once I do, I'll be able to store thousands of constructs within a little pocket realm, and consume them at will to power my spell Skills."
"How exactly does that work?" Wulf asked.
"I consume a construct," Kalee said. "The Field, I suppose, destroys it, as equal compensation for a much more powerful spell Skill, and allows me to get by on less than perfect incantations."
"But…"
"If I had perfect incantations," Kalee said, "I'd be able to use even stronger skills. Yeah. Stronger than any other Mage. I'm still working on that part, though."
"No worries," Wulf said. "As long as the Oroniths work, that's all that matters to me."
A moment later, the cooks began circling the room, setting out trays of turkey and stuffing, cheese sauce, mashed potatoes, squash, steamed vegetables, and a couple different types of gravy, and potato dumplings. All of it had been infused with mana.
As they ate, almost none of them spoke. They were too busy filling their mouths to worry about talking about their magic.
But, halfway through the meal, Wulf's bracer shuddered. The paper rippled, and he glanced down at it.
[Your mana has increased. Advancement progress: 100.5%]
[You have increased your Tier to High-Coal.]
[Please select a new Skill.]
Around the same time, Kalee's bracer also shuddered, and it alerted her with a similar message.
"Eating mana-infused food helps that much?" Irmond exclaimed. "Oh, I'm stuffing myself until I puke, and I'm going to make myself like it."
Seith rolled her eyes. "They were both really close to advancing. It doesn't help you that much, and if you make yourself explode, your magic won't help you one bit."
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
"You can't explode from eating too much!"
"Sure you can."
"Sounds like a skyhorn problem."
"Be that as it may, I've never seen an elf eat more than a single plate of food without proclaiming they're full."
Irmond sighed. "We have small stomachs…"
Wulf tuned them out and turned to the last major Skill selection he'd get. He had to make it count.
[Greedy Alchemy] You can sever an Ascendant's connection with their weapon or magic object by striking it with a splatter potion.
[Disruption] At the cost of significant mana, you can convert all the order in an small object into chaos, and all the chaos into order.
[Unshakable] Your resistance to chaos increases for every person in your vicinity under the effect of your potions.
Alternate: You may choose to upgrade one of your previous Skills.
Wulf stared at them for a few minutes. [Unshakeable] was still off the table; he didn't need any more passive abilities, and it wasn't useful in combat.
[Greedy Alchemy] sounded pretty useful, and it'd be effective against Pilots, too. He could completely deactivate a golem.
But he had to think long-term. A control effect like that could be resisted, like poison, and it'd mean that he needed to seek Marks that not only increased his ability to overwhelm control resistance, but also overwhelm poison resistance. The demand of Marks that he would need was just too much.
[Disruption], though not immediately useful in combat, would be excellent in crafting. With the ability to manipulate order, too, though to a lesser degree, he could transmute the exact materials he needed to make a golem of his own.
He mentally selected [Disruption] without a second thought, then leaned back in his chair, satisfied. Around the same time, Kalee leaned back and nodded with acceptance. She'd made her choice, too.
"Oh, don't you two look so satisfied," Irmond teased. "Don't worry, you know what they say? Brightest stars burn out soonest. Like, something like that. I'll catch up."
"When I have the power to, Irmond," Wulf said, "I will help you catch up."
"...I'll hold you to that."
~ ~ ~
When classes returned, Wulf took his chances in the golem labs. He needed a golem of his own, but he wasn't about to just go hunting for a wild golem and try taming it. There wasn't time for that, and the Academy had already done most of the work for him. As part of the tuition, all students received a basic golem.
It had a core and a frame of gravel, but no outer armour—that was for the pilots to make themselves. Traditionally, they'd chisel their own deepstone armour in the schematic they wanted, relying on their abilities to mold the stone in the exact way they wanted.
As Dr. Stowne had explained, "An Oronith will slowly form a soul the longer it has a permanent crew. To influence and bind to that soul, a Pilot must personally build a smaller golem, and influence the Oronith through the link. By making the golem with your own hands, you will have infused it with your will. It will improve your connection with the larger Oronith."
But the good news for Wulf was that he didn't need to use deepstone. Deepstone conducted a Pilot's Skills, but Wulf didn't need that. It could be whatever material he wanted, so long as he maintained control of the little golem. As long as he turned it into a potion, it'd work.
After they received their golem frames and proved that they could use it—a basic High-Wood rated golem—they were allowed to bring them back to their dorms, where Wulf immediately began work on his.
And more importantly, its armour.
He'd make armour out of stone for it. A sheet of metal wouldn't integrate very well as a solid in a potion, and he wouldn't have as good control over the golems. But he didn't have to start with stone—he could start with whatever material he wanted and transmute it. In the process, he'd make more xerion.
Using half-frozen clay, he shaped the many components of the chest and body armour, forming swooping, slender outer plates, then letting them dry. While he worked, he tried to keep his attention away from Ján's half of the room, but it didn't always work.
He simply reminded himself why he was doing this in the first place. Nothing else kept the regret away.
Poison potions made an excellent source of chaos, but stone was more order than chaos. But he had to start somewhere. He flooded the armour with chaos, transmuting it into bonesteel—that was as far as he could go in a single push, and a step that wouldn't immediately crumble apart.
But then, he used [Disruption]. He concentrated on the concept of order, and willed all the chaos to convert. He'd turn it into a structure of pure order.
With a ripple, the armour plate turned into stone. It was…almost like quartz. Certainly not as orderly as diamond—that needed a much higher concentration of order to achieve—but it was a pale, semi-transparent substance that held together decently on its own.
Finally, he withdrew a little chaos from one last potion. Consulting his transmutation tables, he decided he was going to aim for an arcane immediate substance known as Sorcerer's Jade. It was one of the strongest materials at the current concentration of order and chaos he was able to work with.
But, most importantly, you couldn't make it out of pure order. It needed to be tempered with a few units of chaos.
He inserted a few poison potions' worth of chaos into the plate, and sure enough, it transmuted. With a ripple, the stone smoothed, then became…jade. White streaks ran through it, but overall, it was a smooth, pale green.
He fitted it onto the golem. It stayed put. The golem, being only a frame, wanted to bind to new stone (hence why there were so many extra pebbles attached to the foot of the golem). With slight hesitation, he backed away. The panel stayed.
First panel done. Perfect.
Better yet, he'd created a decent amount of xerion in the process—about a coin-sized chunk. Over the past few months, he'd filled five large flasks with the substance, though he hadn't made much progress bending it to his will.
But there were still plenty more panels to make, and only about a month left before he had to leave.