In Loki's Honor

When life gives you inertia-dampening metals, you make Lemithrilnade. Ugh. That sounded horrible. Anyway. After learning how Mithril reacted when accelerated to high speeds, we started to see how it could be applied to our benefit.

But first, let's address the elephant in the room. If the planet is spinning around the Sun (it wasn't) and the solar system was moving at thousands of kilometers per second in the galaxy (it wasn't), then how does Mithril pick a fucking point of reference to determine its kinetic energy?

The answer involved quantum mechanics and magical metaphysics. But in a nutshell, Mithril picked up its inertial reference point from the ambient Mana. As far as the ambient Mana field was concerned, the world was not spinning (it wasn't), the planet was not going around the sun (it wasn't), and the solar system was not going around the galaxy core (it wasn't).

As a parenthesis, if the (it wasn't) remarks above weren't fully understood, let me explain. This world was in a pocket dimension, a fold in reality that was elsewhere and nowhere at the same time in the outside universe. The sky was fake. That's why the Sun only shone two hours per day during the Age of Eclipse. We now return to our normal programming. Close parenthesis.

After I realized that, the solution to our acceleration conundrum became obvious. I just needed to move the point of reference along with the Mithril. Or I could move the point of reference and make the Mithril follow, or even capture and emit energy from the field.

Fortunately, I had a way to generate a moving Mana field. The [Manastorm]. My first test was with the Mithril chain shirt, named "Frodo is Cheater" for some reason. I tried flying at top speeds with the Manastorm active and the chain shift was pulled along, causing some pull in the Mana field. It quickly fell behind, though. But that proved my theory.

We embarked on Queen Lorna's Vengeance once again and tried with [Eye of the Manastorm] active around the airship. Barbara slowly accelerated the vessel and it started moving like it should, gliding over the air like the sleek speedboat it should be from the start. We shouted and laughed at the success of our experiment. The Mithril airship wouldn't need to be downgraded into a defensive boat at all.

It was like this Alcubierre drive people in mom's planet were experimenting with or just weaving theories about. Since the reference for the Mana field was moving along with the Mithril ship, the air resistance was cut down by its absorption properties. See, as far as the Mithril was concerned, it wasn't moving. The wind then was a force pressing on the Mithril, and this energy was absorbed and ejected in all directions. The air molecules were being slowed down considerably as the Mithril sucked up their kinetic energy. That caused the front of the airship to cool down to the point of freezing water vapor while the rest of the hull emitted heat. 16% of the heat absorbed was sent to the interior of the airship, warming it up considerably. The rest was dissipated.

I saw snowflakes trailing down in the wake of Queen Lorna's Vengeance as the water vapor froze but didn't stick to the Mithril. The metal had no concept of temperature as would only heat up a little above room temperature before it would emit all the excess heat. I knew that from smelting it in the forge. Yes, that made sense. Just as it did for location, Mithril also depended on its environment to determine what temperature it should be. It was a material that relied heavily on environmental variable gradients to operate. Force it into an extreme energy differential and it would reject the excess. This might also mean that Mithril would reject extreme cold for a while. What would it do, then? It wouldn't eject "cold" as it was negative...

I better stop here. Negative energy was a thing and I didn't want to know what Mithril would do with it outside of a very controlled environment.

We returned with our airship, our now fucking fast airship, and docked. One problem was solved, and a dozen new ones were discovered. Right now, Mithril airships could only be flown if either Rosewise or I were on board. We were the only ones with the [Eye of the Manastorm] Perk. The other girls only had the [Mana Wellspring] precursor Perk.

It was a plus for the Mithril airship security. Thieves would find that getting away with their stolen airship would be really, really slow. I think I could install a Core that emulated the [Eye of the Manastorm] effect but why would I do that? Perhaps later on. It could be the keystone to activate the airship enchantments.

*

*

Barbara, Miriel, and I went to meet the newest member of our family.

"Goliath online!" The Jadeite Golem barked when we activated it.

"Goliath?" Barbara asked, staring at me with a raised eyebrow.

"SCV, good to go, sir!"

"Nice to meet you too, brother Goliath!" Miriel completely ignored our pop-culture quote conundrum and greeted the magical machine.

"I have waited long for this day."

"Oh!" Miriel swooned. "What a nice brother you'll be. Much different from another brother," she glared askance at me.

"Command me to serve!" Goliath answered. The Crystal fairy giggled.

"You are just a big fairy with inward wings, aren't you?"

"Faith, is eternal." The Golem answered.

Miriel patted the crystal outcropping at its top, what it had that most resembled a head. "Right. Our mom is a Goddess! What do you want to do?"

"Zug, Zug. Work, work!" It didn't have the right enthusiasm or stupidity behind this one.

"Work? We could do it. You need some clothes..." She peeked inside the Jadeite. "Why are you wearing the Tabard inside you? Brother Nethe, why is that?"

Miriel gasped. "You are indoctrinating Goliath already! No, no. Goliath, what do you think about that?"

"It is better to die for the [Emperor] than to live for yourself."

"No. We won't talk about dying here. I know you're made to fight but... dying is sad. So don't die!"

"Acknowledged, HQ!"

"HQ? No, no! I'm Miriel."

"Confirmed."

"Great. I'm Miriel, and you're Goliath. Where do you want to go?"

"Take me to battle!"

"No! Not battle. Let's... visit the garden."

Goliath made some weird beeps. "USDA selected."

"Let's go!" Miriel tugged on Goliath's hand, hugging a jadeite finger like a person hugged a tree.

The fairy and her... big brother went away. Barbara tapped her feet. "Nethe, I want to have a chat with your mom."

Oh, boy. That counted as "the talk". I triggered [Suppress Curse] and let mom deal with the angry [Crystallomancer].

*

*

I made a point not to read the Journal entry of Barbara grilling mom. But the Halfling seemed to be in a state of appeased anger, so I'll leave it at that. Let the embers cool down on their own, do not stoke the fire and all that stuff.

We started on our preparations for the trip to the Scorching continent. We would visit Ackerton, Atlantis, the Fairy Island, and then spend a month at the front lines. The war there was not one of conquest, though it seemed very like that. We were invading the neighboring countries, rooting out demonic cults, killing any hidden demons, then holding and rebuilding what we could to prevent either an uprising or further infection. It was a gruesome uphill battle.

The cultists had already sent a dead person to me for resurrection. Leave a single summoner cell active in a city and the next day it could burst with hundreds of demons out for more sacrifices and summons.

Summoning a demon was ridiculously easy. Such ease was intentional because the demons wanted to come. A summoning ritual had two phases. The calling, also when the gateway was opened, and the binding, when the summoner forced the demon to obey by either coercion or bargaining. Opening the gateway required a sacrifice. For lesser, stupid demons, an animal was enough. For the stronger and more intelligent ones, a sentient person or even a virgin maiden. A stupid summoner could do the former but eschew the latter. It usually ended with the summoner dead but if they were the last forward summoning circle in occupied lands? All bets were off. The Demons would grant their service just for the promise of letting more demons in future summoning rituals.

The economics of summoning demons were interesting. Sacrifice a chicken worth three coppers, and get a lesser demon you could kill for Exp. This Demon's Core, alchemical materials from the body, bones, and leather were easily worth five to ten silver. Factoring in the ritual materials that were also cheap (usually just chalk and salt did the trick), the summoner had multiplied their money by a hundredfold or more with just ten to fifteen minutes of a ritual. The added value came from damning one's own soul, their community, and ultimately, the world.

After summoning a few lesser Demons, the summoner would have some money and would think, could I turn my silver into gold? I really dislike Frank who lives next door. He stinks. And then Frank has his neck cut in an altar. Here comes an intermediate demon, who would either eat the summoner and claim both their soul and Frank's or bring the summoner further down the slippery slope. Next, perhaps Frank's daughter, barely a teen, would be the one to lose her life on the altar for a greater demon to come through.

And there goes the peasants and all the people and the thatched roof cottages in flames. Trogdor not required.

After thinking about demon summonings and how we could stop them from happening, I had an idea. Oh, boy. That would be a game-changer.

*

*

The next day, with my full status, unlocked, I set to work. The idea was simple. Combine a Core carved with a particular Perk of mine, an immovable rod, and a seamless Mithril plating case. After set in place, the immovable rod inside the Mithril casing would be nigh-impossible to move. The Mithril was a deterrent for demons, just like the Truesilver. But the enchanted Core was the key. I had a Perk to lock down dimensional travel. That included summoning magic.

With the Mithril dampening the demons' powers nearby and the dimensional lock, no summoning ritual would happen. And it was a dispute of Magic + Ego. I'd eat Netherbane's front cover if anyone in this world had enough points on these two Attributes to beat me.

I could only enchant two dozen Perk Cores in a single hour. Netherbane could finish combining the rods and casting the Mithril casing. The whole ensemble was further enchanted to resist heat to avoid having someone soften the Mithril with a slow application of heat. The price of the end product was heinously expensive.

In a week I made enough of these to cover all of Akerton's capital and surrounding settlements as well as everything inside Arista's Aegis, the enchantment I created by sacrificing my life. Haru had a Perk to speed up the creation process the more of the same thing I made. Give it a month or two and the production would be a hundred such Cores per hour.

A single one could cover a small village. With several in every city and town, we could stop summoning rituals inside urban areas.

[The Goddess of Protection's Demonbane Moon] - Level 0

> The information below requires an Appraise check of 640.

> Has a range of 2 kilometers. If there's another Moon within 4 kilometers or less, the range is increased by 500 meters.

> Whenever a Demon is defeated in range, this item gains 10% of the Exp.

> Immobile. Only the Matriarch or her appointed [Saintess] may move this object.

> Dissipates 86% of all energy above a certain threshold that strikes it.

> Converts fire and heat into light. Glows for 1 second for every point of base damage absorbed.

> Self-sufficient even in low Mana areas.

> Blocks all dimensional travel and summoning in range, except for the Matriarch's own magic.

> Requires a Magic + Ego check of 750 to bypass the dimensional block.

> Lowers the Attribute score of all Demons in range by half.

> Divides the damage dealt by and maximum HP of all Demons in range by four.

> Highlights all Demons in range even through solid obstructions up to 5 meters thick. Lowers their Stealth proficiency by 500.

> Hardness 2,200 (Mithril Shell) 180 (Enchanted Core).

> HP: 4 (Mithril shell), 3,300 (Enchanted Core). Self-repairs 10 HP per minute.

> Gains 35 Enchantment points every 20 years.

The range increase when the moons were near each other was there to cover the gap between circles in a square grid. The gap was 1.41 times the circles' radius and an increase of 20% would be enough but I went with 25% to make sure we'd leave no gaps in the defensive grid. If I could cover the entire Scorched Continent with these, our Demon problem would be not solved but way easier to deal with. It would require tens of thousands of those at least, though. Making them (actually sourcing the materials, mostly the Cores) would take decades.