Immovable Mage

– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 219, Season of the Setting Moon, Day 17 –

Deekin performed his warm-up stretches like his two masters had taught him. When he was ready, he walked forward. He abruptly halted his step when he realized something was moving where he wanted to place his foot.

Deekin lifted his foot again to discover the mushroom looking person his smoothskin master had introduced as Shroomling. He still had trouble believing the little mushroom was a person with potential, but he trusted his master that wanted to be called instructor. His instructor was making him strong.

His instructor was proving Deekin's potential by revealing it until Deekin couldn't help but believe in it.

"Even little people have potential," muttered Deekin to himself. He moved his foot to the side to not disturb the little mushroom fussing over some tiny insects. "I must not step on the little people…"

Deekin walked carefully over to his two masters. He lowered his head to the furry master, even though it still confused him. His furry master had demanded such gestures and was pleased whenever Deekin demonstrated a bow. However, whenever Deekin tried to bow to his furless master, the instructor immediately looked displeased.

"Looking at the mana flowing through his channels, our student is showing some proper progress." Rafael grinned smugly. "Which is to be expected, of course. He's my disciple, after all."

Terry nodded. He didn't know if Deekin had a natural talent for the pillars of mana foundation or if it was purely a result of Terry's tricks for speeding up the cultivation, but the progress was becoming undeniable.

Undeniably astonishing, too. Terry himself would have been envious of such a rate of improvement when he had started on his path of mana cultivation.

I didn't have the benefit of being large enough for my instructors to sense at the required sensitivity or for them to have the external mana control to directly show me the mana movements inside my own body.

Not to mention the benefits of the sensitivity-increasing spore powder or all the mana-supplementing martialist treasures together with a body large enough to shrug off the medicinal toxins in them.

Far from being jealous, Terry was glad about Deekin's progress. Not much longer, and their representative among the giants should be ready.

At least if I'm judging this right…

Terry furrowed his brow in thought. His mana touch had given him an impression of the muscle density among the giants within the large mountain range. Whenever Rafael had taken over sparring and combat instructions for Deekin, Terry had scouted the area and gathered more information about the relative strengths of the giants they had to meet.

There was no way for Terry to significantly improve Deekin's body composition in a short time. The process of letting Deekin's mana enhance the giant's physical body would take time. It was the same obstacle that Terry was facing, which he had partially overcome with the help of a time-accelerating plant in the folded space that had carried the martialist trial tomb and the dungeon for which he had acted as a defender.

Terry had thought of a small trick to get a few improvements regardless. Mostly by relying on healing to accelerate the giant's recovery of muscle fibres and bone damage after their training sessions and by using bursts to intensify the training sessions themselves.

However, the biggest potential to unleash in the giant was not in his body, but in his mastery of mana.

"Burst techniques or bust." Terry muttered to himself.

"Why don't we turn him into a proper martialist?" suggested Rafael. "I cringe at having my disciple walk the wrong path when I could show him the way of the Heavenly Wolf."

Deekin perked up his ears. He had seen his furry master unleash mighty techniques that could carve deep crevices into mountains. Learning such might was unfathomable to the giant runt.

"Remember that we don't have much time," stressed Terry. "I'm already surprised that Shroomling's pursuers haven't made another appearance. Either this realm is too big for William's pets to catch our scent or for their other tracking mechanisms to work, or Yorgos is otherwise occupied and not available to assist in travel."

Terry caught Rafael's gaze. "We're making rapid progress with burst techniques. Would you be able to teach the Heavenly Wolf in two or three weeks?"

Rafael winced visibly before recomposing himself. "I would need a far more talented student for that."

Deekin's shoulders slightly deflated.

"Or be a far more talented teacher," teased Terry with an eye on Deekin. "The time constraint is simply unreasonable." He moved his gaze to encourage Deekin. "You're picking up what I can teach even more quickly than I learned from my own instructor. Do not try to put too much on your own shoulders."

Deekin's shoulders straightened and his chin rose up before nodding. His instructor master had spoken with reverence of the one called the Divine Hammer. Another little person, according to what Deekin understood. Even shorter than his instructor, which was hard for Deekin to fathom.

"You start with the combat practice," said Terry to Rafael. "When his mana pool has bottomed out, I'll take over and we'll focus on burst techniques."

"Are you going out to scout again?" asked Rafael.

"Later," said Terry. "For now, I have something to do in the shadows…"

Terry had discovered that Oz could send its mana from one plane to the other without changing its own location. The shadow slime could scout through the separation to the shadow plane without moving its body.

Terry was naturally excited. It allowed him to scout more freely without exposing his trained slime to potential danger in the process. It also freed up Oz's main body and its satellite slime to scout other areas directly at the same time.

It was exciting.

It was also a headache, since every pocket of Terry's linked mana was like another eye to get used to. An eye that became worse with time unless either Terry, Oz, or Oz's satellite slime got close enough to control the mana directly.

Despite the drawbacks, it was exciting to Terry.

***

"You know…" Rafael approached Terry while rubbing his forearm. "Our little giant is starting to hit like a grown juggernaut."

"Like the undead kind you met maybe," replied Terry absentmindedly while keeping his eyes on his notebook. "Still some way to go before Deekin can compare to the living thing."

The death whispers' mastery over the hellspawn's active abilities was rather limited.

It will take even more until Deekin could rival a juggernaut champion. He would also have to work on his body before it could handle that kind of power-up…

"I don't think we have the time," muttered Terry with a shake of his head.

"What I mean is…" Rafael scratched his nose. "Are we sure this is a good idea? Teaching your burst techniques to a giant and all? I mean, I get we need a representative. Kind of. I still don't get why we can't just barge in and demand the answers we need, but ignoring that, I get it. But, you know? A giant. Using mana. Actively. Are we sure that's a good idea? You know, what we are unleashing on this realm and all."

For a moment, Terry was stunned speechless.

Since when has Rafael become the voice of reason?

"I don't know," admitted Terry. "We don't have the time to raise a giant. Not properly at least."

"Yeah, we've done our best, haven't we?" Rafael shrugged.

"I've done my best," corrected Terry. "I hope he forgets at least half the shit you tried to 'impart'." He made finger quotes. "If I see him trying to use that weird hand slap to block someone's weapon, I'll be tempted to slap someone, too."

"Oy, brother, are you threatening me?!" complained Rafael.

"I'm just saying that, perhaps, we should leave the 'pinnacle of style' for the time our disciple can afford such recklessness," retorted Terry. "Before he learns how to crush an opponent's spirit with style, he should learn how to avoid getting crushed himself. That includes both strength and judgement, and I don't think we're there yet for either."

"Only because you made me accept such a poor disciple!" complained Rafael.

"The disciple is fine," sighed Terry. "The time is too short. There's little we can do about helping his judgement."

In fact, we're kind of doing the opposite of helping with that. All that mana coursing through his channels will slow down Deekin's aging even further. It might take even longer until he's mentally matured.

"That takes time and experience," continued Terry. "It should be fine for him to represent us as long as he trusts us and our judgement. As for power…"

Terry subconsciously frowned. Everything was a rough judgement call. He had to relate the giants he had fought – their size and muscle density – to the giants he could sense in the distance and then compare that to Deekin's performance while empowered by burst techniques.

All in all? Terry believed Deekin was nearly ready.

However, something in the mountain range made him uneasy. Further towards the center, the mountains were filled with mana-osmotic material, which naturally impaired Terry's scouting.

What are the chances that Deekin is the first giant to naturally accumulate mana?

"Two more days," judged Terry. In the end, he couldn't account for everything. It was a rough judgement call to begin with. There was no way for Terry to compare Deekin's performance to giants he hadn't even sensed. There was little point in comparing him to giants that might be entirely imaginary.

Worst case, we abandon the giant representative plan and we will have to interfere directly again.

Mana, I hope not. Rafael would never let me hear the end of that…

***

The giant guards stared at the weird group moving towards them.

A furry snack.

An armored snack.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Some kind of pest buzzing behind the armored snack.

A wiggling mushroom cradled in the armored snack's bosom.

Behind them walked the runt, whom they had sent out to fight some time ago. The guards thought the runt was supposed to fight the foolish sun elves. The runt hadn't been tasked with hunting. Why did the runt bring back food? Why bring the food back alive?

Terry could practically see the gears turn in the giants' heads. He glanced down at Shroomling for whom he had improvised a baby sling. He had wondered if he should leave Bugsby and Shroomling behind, but he was worried about leaving them too far out of his sights.

If Terry's theories were correct, then both the beetlefolk and the shrooman were targets of elven hunts. He was already surprised that he hadn't encountered the moon-sympathizing parts of the expedition another time. The thought of having the two out of his reach when Yorgos and William arrived, settled Terry's decision.

That and the chance they might need Bugsby as a translator in case the giant leadership had an even worse elven dialect than the giants they had met so far.

The fact that Bugsby could also offer a long-distance void transfer escape ability was just another bonus.

Terry could see the saliva dropping from one giant's mouth and before they could make their ridiculous demands, he circled mana into his lungs to unleash a powerful shout. "Bring us to your leaders."

"Food doesn't get to make demands," jeered a giant and stepped forth with his club raised.

"Disciple?" Rafael shot Deekin an expectant glance.

Deekin understood his master's intentions. He circled his mana like the instructor had shown.

The earth trembled under his steps.

The distance shrunk in an instant.

Deekin's fist smashed into the guard's face. He glared at the second guard and growled. "Worms like you are not worthy of facing my masters."

"Ugh…" Terry winced and glared at Rafael. [Seriously?]

[I'm so proud!] Rafael grinned smugly.

"Runt, you don't know your place—" Before the guard could finish his derisive sneer, Deekin had already knocked him unconscious.

Deekin glowered at the remaining guards, who were staring at him with wild eyes. "Weaklings dare to stand in our way?! We have business with the tribe chieftains. Move or you'll never move again!"

Terry sent Rafael another glare, but didn't comment anymore. There wasn't anything he could do.

I really shouldn't be surprised that Deekin was way more receptive to martialist habits than to anything I tried to explain about respecting the lives and choices of others beyond their potential to become powerful…

Still…

Terry could only sigh.

Deekin, for his part, felt good about himself. He had always been the shortest among the giants around him. This was the first time he had beaten those taller than himself. More important than venting his past grievances, though, was the undeniable realization that his masters had been right.

His instructor master had been right.

Deekin really had potential.

Deekin would not allow the giants that had belittled him his entire life to disrespect the masters that had uncovered his hidden potential.

Completely subconsciously, Deekin's mana flared. The manaless guards didn't understand why the runt in front of them suddenly seemed even more menacing, but they perceived it all the same.

Terry watched the guards with bated breath. From his previous interactions, he had seen how they reacted to Rafael or him beating them down and making demands. The giants had been unwilling to yield and entirely uncooperative until death.

Let's see how they react to someone at their own eye level.

Terry observed their expressions. Their body posture. Even their souls. He could see the gluttonous hunger give way to rage and indignation, which was replaced by fear mixed with begrudging respect.

A female giant's gaze towards Deekin appeared to go even further than respect, but Terry tried his best not to dwell on the giants' mating habits.

Before long, the giants stepped out of their way while one of them offered to lead the way.

Terry and the others followed with his mana touch leading the way, and Oz covering their rear silently from the shadows.

***

"Who else dares to stand in our way?!" roared Deekin. His demand reverberated throughout the surrounding mountains.

Terry puffed his cheeks. In front of their disciple was the unconscious body of the latest overgrown busybody that had challenged Deekin due to his short stature only to learn that physical size wasn't everything.

None of the giants could compete with Deekin's mana-supplemented combat power. Deekin might be physically shorter, but the size of his mana pool combined with burst techniques turned that vertical shortcoming entirely meaningless.

"You've bested my champion." The local chieftain finally stood up from his throne.

Terry frowned. He could sense a 'but' coming

"But…"

Terry clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"For a runt to dare lay fingers on our chosen warriors?!" growled the chieftain. "Do you think our tribe will stand for this?!" He rammed the end of his thick metal staff on the ground of rock. Many of the armored giants behind him drew their weapons and stepped forward.

Terry's expression darkened. He had held some hope when they had finally reached a giant chieftain, but from the looks of it, they were done following proper challenges and things were about to escalate to a giant free-for-all.

Deekin might be able to defeat each individually, but it doesn't seem like they're willing to allow him the opportunity. If it's like this, then we're going to have to intervene.

Guess I wasted our time after all. Rafael was right. We could have reached this point weeks ago…

"Warriors!" The chieftain wanted to ram his staff onto the floor a second time to signal his commands, only to find that his staff refused to budge even the slightest. His muscles strained against the immovable staff and his face turned red from effort and embarrassment.

Terry's face contorted into the closest to a martialist sneer it had ever reached, right until his head jerked around to a particular cave entrance where his mana touch had seeped into a new opening.

A wall containing mana-osmotic material had shifted.

An aged voice crawled out of the opening tunnel to issue an unexpected command to the chieftain.

"Let them in. I want to see this youngling."

"Ancestor?!" The face of the chieftain had drained from blood.

Many giants were creasing their thick brows and scratching their heads. Never before had they encountered someone daring to order their chieftain around. Wasn't their chieftain the one who gave orders?

"Finally," exclaimed Terry.

Terry's mana touch invaded the hidden tunnel system while Oz pumped additional mana pockets from the shadow plane to bypass further mana-osmotic barriers.

Terry felt the outline of a giant that, once upon a time, had probably been among the strongest of them all. Old, but the shape and density of his body still carried traces of powers past.

More importantly, though…

I knew it.

The giant sitting on an elevated position of reverence in the hidden hall had not just a physical presence. He radiated a mana signature.

Terry held no doubt that this giant ancestor, in his prime, would have beaten the current Deekin into paste.

Perhaps even now? That body has aged, but that also means the mana had ample time to transform the physical body as well. The ancestor's mana pool might not outshine Deekin's by much, but the mana had plenty of time to passively adjust his body by now.

I wonder if the ancestor can sense the mana in Deekin. Even if he isn't particularly sensitive, Deekin's mana signature should stand out.

Is that why he has gotten interested?

"We'll see…" Terry nodded to Deekin, Rafael, and Bugsby before they all walked forward to address an audience of giant ancestors.

***

Terry looked around the hall to discover there were a few other elderly giants with traces of mana. He had to remind himself that his own view of what's normal mana accumulation was severely distorted by his upbringing in the Greenhouse and his life in Arcana.

Probably not bad as far as purely passive accumulation goes…

Terry's eyes moved to the obvious leader among the giant ancestors. Even if Terry hadn't located the source of the rumbling voice by the fluctuations in his oscillating mana bubble, he would have easily guessed that this giant was the leader. The true local ruler behind the chieftain managing the affairs outside.

This was the giant with the most intense mana signature.

Ignoring Deekin at least.

Combined with the ancestor's elderly appearance, the mana signature hinted at the longest lived lifespan present by far.

Terry could feel the ancestor's gaze searching their group just like Terry's was examining the ancestors, and Terry intentionally let go of his mana cloaking.

A simple gesture, but an effective one.

An explanation.

A warning.

Terry was certain that the ancestors would have an interest in Deekin's outstanding battle performance, and he would use that interest to bargain for answers. He didn't really intend to teach them how to replicate the powerful results. They wouldn't be able to, even if he explained everything to them in detail.

They didn't know that, though. Terry would demonstrate his own mana and relation to Deekin. Their interest should then serve as bait to rope them into a conversation.

Terry's mana would also make the mana-using ancestors think twice before succumbing to their instincts. The true leader of the giants must have a mana sense of some form. Even if the ancestor was tainted by the same prejudices as the rest of his kind, he had to have some understanding of mana and the difference it can make in overcoming physical shortcomings. Even if the ancestor would look down on Terry due to his short stature relative to the giants, Terry's mana pool warned them of the terrifying outcome that would await them if they dared.

A glimpse of potential rewards dangled in front of them.

An implied threat reinforcing a position of power.

The Warlord would be proud…

Terry pushed the thought away. He admitted that the Warlord's teachings were practical, particularly in situations where Terry's own shortcomings prevented him from simply forcing his own ideals through all adversity like the Veilbinder had done.

Terry admitted the usefulness of insights in the Warlord's Inquiries, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"So then, youngling, what do you want?" The ancestor demanded of Deekin.

"I am Deekin, and you will use my name or perish!" roared Deekin, evidently unafraid of facing down the secret leader of his tribe.

Terry sent another annoyed glance towards Rafael. His felan friend couldn't possibly look more proud of their disciple.

Well, at least he didn't call the ancestor wrinkleface or old fart.

Terry, who was still caring Shroomling in a baby sling while Bugsby was clinging to his back and peeking at the giants, stepped forward.

"I am called Terry," said Terry while accompanying his words with finger runes to ensure there was no miscommunication with the mana-using ancestors.

Terry gestured to his side. "This is Rafael. We've been training Deekin, and we have some questions we would like answered."

"Oh?" The ancestor snarled. "The puppet master dares to speak?"

"We should just eat them," interjected another elderly giant.

"That elf looks strange," muttered one giant while looking at Rafael. "It's so hairy, and with weird spots…"

"Oy!" Rafael barked, but Terry placed a hand on his shoulder to prevent him from picking a fight at this time.

Terry chuckled while catching the leader's gaze. "Deekin is no puppet of ours. He's our disciple, whom we trained to prove a point." He chuckled again. "'Puppet master'? These words spat with such vitriol are a bit strange, coming from you, don't you think? I don't believe for a second that the chieftain outside is really in charge. Not with you present in the shadows. There's only one puppet master here as far as I can see."

"The runt acts as your puppet, no matter what you say," sneered an ancestor.

"Deekin acts as our representative," corrected Terry. "I've chosen him for a reason. Like I've said. To prove a point."

"And what point would that be?"

"That your kind would do well to stop ignoring those underneath your eyes," said Terry firmly. "We need answers, not a fight, even if it's a fight we don't have to fear."

Terry hoped his phrasing was adequate. He spoke from his perspective and wanted it clear, but he also wanted the giant ancestors to identify with the words themselves. At this point, they were bound to have questions they wanted answered, too. That was the bait, after all.

His threat was put out there as well. Even if the giants believed they did not have to fear a battle, Terry wanted them to know he didn't fear them. The smarter ones among them should know how to interpret that, especially those with mana sense.

"I thought my point would be more easily understood when it was a bit closer to your eyes," continued Terry. "Deekin isn't our puppet, but he has learned to respect us."

Deekin actually chose to bow to Terry and Rafael, which caused Terry's eyebrow to twitch slightly.

I hope that's not overdoing it.

"Just like you seem to have come to respect Deekin," continued Terry hastily to avoid letting the giants linger on Deekin's bow. "He has bested everyone that challenged him. A runt when he left and a champion when he returned."

Emphasize Deekin and his transformation as much as possible.

"We don't want to trouble your tribe," said Terry. "We're not associated with the elven factions. If anything, they have a grudge with us. We have protected Deekin from the sun elves and we have our own hostilities with the moon elves."

Let the hint at sharing enemies linger.

Terry hated having to pay so much attention to his phrasing to emphasize the points he wanted to echo in the heads of his audience without slipping into lies that would be betrayed by his honest face.

"In fact, we would like to better understand the grievances the giant tribes have with the elven factions."

Take the perspective of the giants. Invite them to rant about the elves. Invite them to tell their truth about their hated enemies.

"We want to hear your version of this realm's history. Nothing more. Nothing less."

Get them to talk about more than just their conflict with the elves. Get them to talk…

***