NOVEL NEXT Chapter 121: Despite Everything
It took half a day for Grace to wake up, and another six hours before either of them could stand up. Elijah's legs would shake when he walked, and his back would complain whenever he tried to stand straight. He and Dawn had spent a full hour replacing the removed rib, painfully reattaching each nerve ending, ligament, and muscle, but even their perfect work still manifested complaints from his body. The flesh and bone had been through too much to relax now. Days, if not weeks, would need to pass for all the aches to disappear fully.
In essence, Elijah would have to suck it up and accept the new reality. If he played his cards right, he had a chance of shortening the recovery time by getting access to a proper laboratory and a long list of rare ingredients, but he knew that would likewise require time to happen.
Grace could still smile, at least. Some minor snark, a few comments, but, finally, she'd spent the final hour of recovering scouring through the books that the Dungeon had rewarded her with.
"Principia Arcanica, Unbound Architectures of Spell Expressions, Abstracted Constructs and Recursions in Applied Sorcery, Treatise on the Prime— Elijah! Do you even realize that several of these were considered lost to time?" Grace loudly questioned, despite the pain that came from raising her voice. Academic study was somehow ranked higher on her priorities than her physical well-being. "I've read hundreds of texts that referenced tomes which tried to recount what old wizards had read. To have the actual books is… Oh, by Corellon's Grace, I don't have the decades of studying required to even fathom how big this is. Whatever happens from now on, we need to bring these with us to Kulvik while keeping them in pristine condition. Do you understand that?"
He'd gotten the point five rounds of shouting ago, but he thought it best not to mention that fact. Perusing the books kept her busy, while her Core gained the much-needed respite before they had to travel upwards.
'Good idea from your side,' the Dungeon commented, as Elijah sat back down to rest his feet. 'I finished the staircase for you two hours ago, but there's… 2379 steps. Not good for shaky flesh bags, I tell you.'
'Any reason you're not sending us up automatically, like you did when you brought us down here?' Elijah asked. He noted the pulsing that ran through his new staff as he sent the message. Even without thinking about it, he'd filtered the message through the item.
'Getting you down here automatically meant digging a hole and letting gravity do its work. Do you know how annoying it is to create gravitational fields at volumes above three hundred cubic meters stable enough not to tear your kind apart? It's not easy at all,' the Dungeon explained, adding the visual of a dwarf being torn apart by a gravitational force a hundred times higher than normal. 'Anyway… I see you're liking one part of your reward! How does it feel, having a proper walking stick? All the other old folks that go down here always use one, so I didn't want you to feel out of place.'
'So you did have a hand in its creation,' he pointed out. A mental shrug was sent in response. 'I'm confident the idea was my own, and I know most of the principles used, but the spiral pattern and the etchings at the bottom weren't my doing.'
'Kinda was, actually,' came the correction. 'Everything done was by your own will, or it would've been a direct assist from my side, which is strictly forbidden. And yet, I can't deny I might've offered a few subtle suggestions to the design. You messed up the proportions, for one, and how were you supposed to make use of the other part of your reward if you didn't add in a Parallelized Helicoid Channel for efficient handling.'
'... What?'
'Please tell me you noticed that the top of the staff can fit a standard Leyshard.' Elijah had no clue what that even was, though he supposed that the space between the two spirals at the top could fit something. 'The regression of humanity's knowledge continues to worry me. You people are supposed to get smarter over time. It's not meant to go the other way.'
"Grace, do you know what a leyshard is?" Elijah asked, not bothering to give the Dungeon attention through her mumblings.
"Yes?" Grace replied, putting down the newest tome she'd been working through. "Why?"
"The staff is designed to have one at the top," Elijah explained, showing the Wind Mage the empty socket.
"Interesting," she commented, inspecting the staff carefully. Elijah felt a slight disconnect in his Core when he let her take it, as if a layer of his being had been peeled away. A strange experience. "Alin has a broken one in his office that he uses to power a lamp. A gag gift that has been running for more than forty years without needing a recharge."
So they were crystals that could contain Mana. Elijah could see the benefit of having a few extra MP to spend if needed.
"There's something strange about how the spirals are formed, but I can't tell you how. You'd need one of the professors for that," Grace continued, handing the staff back to him. "Where is this leyshard of yours anyway?"
'Oh, right,' the Dungeon cut in. 'Catch!'
With only the sound of fractured stone as a warning, Elijah looked up just in time to see a blue and green crystal flying towards his face. His already-fatigued arms couldn't get up in time to protect his face, but that didn't matter as Dawn grabbed it at the last moment.
"Colorful," Elijah said, as he studied the crystal. The main coloring was green, with the lines of blue going through the crystal haphazardly, as if it were broken ceramic put back together. "Let's see if it fits, I guess."
As the crystal approached the top of the staff, the spiral top shifted in its shape to allow it inside, and, once Elijah had put the crystal into the intended place, the staff morphed back to make its removal impossible.
How quaint.
Anomaly detected!
An eyebrow rose as the blue screen appeared in front of Elijah's eyes. Though he'd seen many communications from the world, this was a new one.
External Mana-Container Detected. All requirements for integration into Status met.
Anomaly cleared!
"Excuse me?" Elijah said out loud, opening up his Status to be sure he wasn't hallucinating.
Name: Elijah Caede
Affinity: Biomancy
Mana(Main): 1348
Mana(External): 269
Spells:
[Accelerate Growth](Tier 1)
[Plant Bond](Tier 1)
[Animal Bond](Tier 2)
[Plant Storage](Tier 2)
[Flesh Bond](Tier 4)
[Fungi Bond](Tier 4)
[Breathe Life](Tier 5)
Titles:
[Dungeon Pillar]
At the top portion, just below where Mana sat, was now an additional counter for his remaining magical energy. Elijah hadn't heard of the world ever separating the magical capacities of mages into more than one category, and neither had Grace.
'There's no need for it, usually, but I had to get a little creative with my rewards,' the Dungeon explained in a giddy tone. 'I couldn't modify your Core directly, since you're already bound to one of the others, but I'm still allowed to do external augmentations. I'd honestly planned on placing the crystal inside you at first, since you humans are so finicky about exterior modifications, but then I realized your need for a staff, and everything just came together! Cool, right?'
Elijah wasn't sure what to call this.
'A reward, doofus. A really cool one at that. The more you use it, the more it adapts to you, meaning the capacity will grow alongside your Core. Every little technique, every trick, and every Spell you use will be a little easier every time you use it. A near-perfect copy of human mana veins but in crystal form.'
Once again, Elijah could only conclude that it was an upgrade that would help in the future. Being overly excited about putting abstract theory into practice had been delegated to Grace, which she did happily.
The excitement did fade with time, as their minds began to crave something new. Elijah could just about walk, and Grace matched his pace through sheer tenacity, but neither of them had a chance of handling the climb up the thousands of steps.
But, as the voice in the back of Elijah's head made clear, they didn't exactly need to. In fact, the physically demanding task could be delegated as well.
'Dawn, how much mass do you have stored away in your Plant Storage?'
That line of thinking swiftly developed into Elijah and Grace sitting on Dawn's back, hands gripping the feathers as she climbed up the steps at a steady pace. Having to fit two people meant that the duck increased in length, growing an extra pair of legs on top of her already massively increased size. To anybody not used to her shapeshifting antics, the sight might've been seen as something close to eldritch, as the appearance barely matched that of a duck anymore.
'I'm still pretty!' Dawn claimed, growing a pair of eyes on the back of her head to stare at Elijah while continuing the climb up the stairs. 'Don't you see my feathers? They're so fluffy!'
'Can't deny that,' Elijah supposed. If he hadn't been on the verge of falling off from the moment the climb started, he might've even enjoyed the feeling. "How are you holding up, Grace?"
"Shut up," Grace said sharply, her body stiff. "Just let me breathe."
As it turned out, a certain Wind Mage didn't handle the swaying very well. If Elijah ever were to travel with Grace on a ship, he would remember to bring a few bags along for her sake. It was not every day somebody would grow so pale so quickly.
Despite their troubles, light began to shine down on them from above thirty minutes later, the dark spiral stairs were finally replaced. Elijah could barely look through the white glare before his eyes finally adjusted, and he could see the cavern that he'd only briefly entered so many days ago.
The ground was covered in grass, trees sat in every direction around them, and, above, the fake afternoon sky shone. In the past, Elijah had thought it a boring imitation of the truth, but his deprivation from the world for so long made him grateful for this regardless.
"Is it over?" Grace asked weakly as Elijah helped her down onto the ground. The Wind Mage made no effort to stand, merely lying in the grass while letting out a pitiful noise. "Are the books okay?"
"They're just fine," Elijah promised, though he had to double-check as Dawn spat them back out from the small sack she'd made for them on her lower body. She'd promised to isolate the tomes from the acid within her, but Elijah had feared she might've forgotten. Luckily, that was not the case. "All books accounted for, in pristine condition."
"Good," the Wind Mage replied, weakly trying to stand again. Elijah helped her up, letting her lean on his shoulder while Dawn shrank back to her original size. "Can she still carry them like that?"
A pair of roots popped out of the ground and grabbed the books, following behind Dawn without pause.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
"... Oh."
"Don't think about it too much," Elijah encouraged, settling into a walking rhythm that Grace could handle while using the staff to keep his balance. "Just put one step in front of the other, and we'll have that steak you wanted before you know it."
The pace increased just a little at his words. Neither mentioned it.
As they left the place they'd popped out behind, Elijah could feel through the earth how the spiral stairs were swallowed back up, as if they had never existed.
'No reason to have them anymore, remember?' the Dungeon commented. 'Unless… you'd like to go again?'
'No,' Elijah firmly stated. He could see the main path and the indents in the gravel, which made it clear it'd been walked on in the past hours. 'I didn't want to do it the first time, and I don't want to do it now.'
'That's a shame. I could get you more rewards. The human mage could even have another handful of those books she likes! I might even throw in a few of the old elvish schematics.'
… In the past, during the years when Elijah had been interested in the lore of the world, he had read about many magical creatures. One of the more notable ones had been the ancient fae, known for their verbal contracts that enslaved mortals. Through cunning and enticing words, the fae would trick the mortals into agreeing to give up their souls, damning their existence for something close to eternity.
At this moment, Elijah internally debated whether the Dungeon was worse.
'Rude.'
As he'd grown used to doing, he ignored her grumblings, more focused on keeping up the pace. The trees had started to grow familiar to his eyes, and he knew that the clearing wouldn't be far away.
"They're here," Grace got out through heavy breaths, the wind revealing the same facts to her. "Aleksi's spotted us as well."
Of course, he has.
If Elijah had the strength to spare, he might've chuckled as he heard the sound of boots impacting the gravel path distantly. He certainly managed to put on a wry smile, as the corner revealed a certain giant.
Dried blood stained the old man's clothes, and the cloth around the torso was littered with holes. Aleksi was in a sorry state, and yet his eyes still sparkled as they looked at each other.
"You look like shit," Elijah commented, while Grace wriggled out of his grip and pushed him towards the giant. "Couldn't even bother cleaning yourself up?"
"Didn't see the point, with how awful everybody else looks as well," Aleksi replied, the large arms wrapping around Elijah tightly. Though imperceptible to the eye, Elijah could feel the slight shaking. "Thought you were dead."
"You have so little faith in me?"
"Suppose I did."
"As if I'd be the one to break my oath," Elijah chastised. He tried to make his voice sound harsh, but couldn't find it in him to even pretend to be offended. "You keep me safe, and I keep you healthy. We protect each other in our ways. That's the deal, and that's the way it will stay."
They stayed together for some time. Elijah considered the fact that this was the first time they'd been apart for so long. The thought troubled him, and he knew that it had been a thousand times worse for Aleksi.
"The Dungeon was being a nightmare about sending you messages to let you know we were alive," Elijah finally explained, as Dawn reminded him of Grace's shaky footing. "It's only when I pressed that it finally allowed that carving in the wall to go through."
"Good timing on your part," Aleksi added. When Elijah tried to help Grace along again, the giant gently pushed him aside before picking the Wind Mage up in a princess carry. "I suppose you also had something to do with that, Grace?"
"I was just on the sidelines for that part," Grace firmly denied. "For everything else? Well… you could say that I'm the one who should be thanked, for keeping Elijah alive down there. He has no survival instincts."
An exaggeration, but Elijah let her have it. The true story could be retold after he'd slept for a few days.
"Is that so? Well, I owe a debt to you that I'll happily repay once we're on safer grounds," the giant replied, as they began to walk down the gravel path. "I've been betting on your return for some time now. Elijah has a few tasks ahead of him."
"Such as?"
"Removing a few bodies from this world, for one."
As it turned out, the dwarven king knew nothing about the attempted kidnapping, as Aleksi had considered the attempt detrimental to whatever relationship that had to be fostered with Darim. Nobody had been notified, and the giant had kept himself and Jack inside the Dungeon to maintain that fact. This would've caused questions, of course, but Sasha had been sent out to warn the temple about their extended stay inside the Dungeon. 'An attempt to put in more hours into repairing the crown, by sleeping in an area with higher mana density.' Goodwill, or a lack of desire to anger Aleksi, had caused them to accept that lie, giving Sasha food and drink to bring to the others.
But that also meant Jack had been seen by nobody but Sasha and Aleksi. While both had rudimentary skills in the care of the wounded, that didn't extend to healing injuries this severe.
"Oh, Elijah's back," Jack commented in a dazed tone, eyes barely able to focus on Elijah and Grace as they entered the clearing. Nothing had gotten infected, and the man wasn't at death's door, but a fever mixed in with blood loss had still caused minor delusions and confusion. "I think. Are they back, Sasha?"
"Yeah," she confirmed, putting a hand on Jack's chest to stop him from getting up.
"For how long has he been like this?" Elijah asked, as he kneeled before Jack, inspecting the mutilated arm and hand. The thumb and index finger had only suffered minor cuts and bruising, but the middle finger had lost most of the meat and skin, and the ring finger and the pinky were outright missing. The bone meant to be connected to the pinky was outright missing, the only signs of it existing before being the bone fragments embedded deeper inside the hand.
Seventeen deep cuts into the forearm, minor bruising on the upper arm, two snapped tendons…
The world of pain Jack should've been in made one fact clear.
"How much of the topical anesthetic did you use?" Elijah asked.
"Enough to stop the screaming," Aleksi said, showing the empty container.
Figures.
The sheer amount applied, along with the prolonged duration, made it clear that it'd gone systemic. It explained the confusion from Jack, as he was likely having a special kind of trip at the moment.
At least that made the next part easier, as the young man wouldn't be conscious enough to resist properly.
Since the missing fingers hadn't been removed through clean cuts, reattaching them would be more trouble than they were worth. Instead, he would have to call upon his abilities and grow new ones. That meant removing every fragment from the arm, rebinding the nerves, and even augmenting those left on the hand.
A painful experience, to say the least, but one that would have to be done sooner rather than later.
"Keep him in place, please," Elijah requested, as he called back Dawn from her misadventures with the bodies that had been sitting at the end of the clearing. Almost nothing remained of them, after just a few minutes' attention from the duck. "I'll dampen the nerves to stop him from moving the limb, but everything else is your job."
If Elijah had access to a laboratory and anything that could be used for accurate measuring, he would've used general anesthesia, but he would have to make do with this.
'Ready, Dawn?'
'Yes!'
'Let's get this over with then.'
With his right hand on his staff and the left holding the bruised forearm, Elijah called upon his Core.
Dual-Channeling of [Breathe Life] and [Flesh Bond] has been activated! Current cost: 40MP/sec
A relatively high channeling cost, in comparison to his previous attempts at modifying flesh. If Elijah had to guess, the reason would be the difference in the target. Before, all usages had been restricted to his own body. While the flesh still needed some persuasion to follow his word, each little cell still matched his own magical signature, and the world encouraged them to be more agreeable.
With Jack, this was no longer the case, and Elijah felt them fight his orders. The young man's body already worked hard to repair what had been destroyed, warding off diseases while going around the pieces of metal embedded deep into the muscle tissue. A valiant effort, but one that would fail.
'Be purified,' he commanded, and the flesh bent to his will. A momentary glance at the staff revealed its enhancing effects for every syllable. As he continued to channel the Flesh Bond spell, the structure of the staff changed in minute ways, the internal grains of its structure shifting ever so slightly. Elijah couldn't tell what difference in effectiveness it made yet, but he trusted that it would become more prominent soon.
Jack screamed, trying again to get up, but hands on his shoulders and legs stopped that dream. Elijah nodded at Aleksi in thanks before pushing harder for the flesh to continue its duties. And, steadily, metal splinters of various types and sizes began to push through the skin, falling onto the tree stump and allowing the tissues they'd occupied to heal properly.
The costs grew from the sheer amount of damage done, but Elijah paid the price without hesitation. He could slow down his work to conserve energy and spare his own Core some pain, but each breath Jack currently took was spent screaming in agony. Even if the man wouldn't remember this clearly in just a few minutes, Elijah had enough humanity left in him to spare him any additional pain.
After manually picking out the bone fragments that had been inserted into the wrong places, Elijah began on the last part of the forearm, working his way onto the actual hand. The tendons were regrown, settled into place, and then came the actual fingers. Those mutilated but still standing were quickly dealt with, requiring only half a dozen seconds of focus each. The body knew how it wanted the blood vessels to settle; that part of the pattern still remembered, but the forming of bones was a responsibility Elijah had to deal with.
Luckily, he could take inspiration from the other hand, mirroring the setup and making minor adjustments as needed. The structure of each small bone was created step by step, Elijah continually wrapping them in the needed flesh to keep it all in place. And, before he knew it, a pale hand had settled in his grip, weaker than it had been a week before but still healthy.
"There we go," Elijah announced, removing the damper that stopped Jack from moving the arm. It went up to the young man's face in an instant, Jack nearly slapping himself in his panic, but there was nothing to be frightened about anymore. "Don't overexert it for the next month, and everything should be fine. While the muscles have regrown, the connection between them and your mind needs time to be framed into place properly."
Elijah could technically try to accelerate the mind-muscle connection with some direct manipulations of the man's nervous system, but… he thought it best not to risk it.
"Damn… never thought the day would come where my nails were clean," Jack murmured, the effects of the sedation still running through the body. It faded some minutes later, luckily, as the channeled Mana flushed out most of the after-effects. "Happy to see you three properly again. We've been worried."
"I don't doubt it," Elijah said, taking a seat next to the young man. Grace had already settled in the grass nearby, taking the chance to rest a little from the trip up. "I see you got far with the crown, while we were away."
"Oh, yeah," Jack said, grabbing the mithril crown from the ground. "Got into a proper rhythm, and I did just about nothing but Transmuting for a few days. No adverse effects from it either, if you could believe it."
With the amount of work Elijah and Grace had put in at the same time, without any permanent consequences, he could.
"Now… How about I go about finishing this? Shouldn't take too long, right?"
To the surprise of none, Jack kept his word. While Elijah and Aleksi busied themselves with the clean-up, making sure to remove any evidence of fighting from the giant and making Dawn devour the flesh and armor of the dwarves, the young Metamancer did little else but keep his place on that tree stump, transmuting every line of orichalcum into mithril.
In the meantime, Elijah announced his return to the dwarven lord and king. It came as a surprise to them all, as the general sentiment had been that Elijah and Grace would not be returning. Nevertheless, all welcomed them with smiles and apologies, offering comfy beds and luxurious food.
The former got rejected by the group, as Jack intended to live up to the lie and finish his work quickly, but they agreed to get food more tasty than bread and simple meats. Not outright a steak, as Grace still craved, but still different enough from the fruits that they had consumed in ludicrous amounts for days on end. Enough to be temporarily satisfied.
Though they would not have to make do for long.
After four more days of an intense regimen of Transmutation in and out, with every hour of the day planned down to the minute, Jack put his finishing touches on the crown. What before had been several broken pieces held together with orichalcum was now a complete crown of white gold, shining as if perfectly polished at all times. The metal itself refused to be dirty, offering a perfect reflection despite its rounds in the dirt during breaks.
And the dwarves were quick to announce this to the entirety of Darim, crowds gathering in the temple to witness the repaired relic. And, as expected, the group joined to watch.
"Duron is proud of this work, Jack Larson," Lord Greyhelm announced, as he held the crown high, the temple connecting to the relic with lines of white light from above and confirming its purity. All who witnessed it cheered, nobles in engraved armor standing beside commoners wearing simple robes. Or, Elijah imagined them to be, at least. Despite his best attempts, understanding the small trinkets used to signify social class was still a challenge. "After much difficulty, you have assembled a piece of ancient history, and we will forever be grateful for this."
Elijah couldn't see from his spot beside the small platform, but something was handed to Jack by the dwarven king, who now wore armor beautifully decorated with mithril and gold. It looked small enough to be a piece of jewelry, but Elijah couldn't say for sure.
"For your efforts," King Trueforge said, as he pressed the trinket into Jack's hand with enough force for the man to wince a little. "This ring signifies that the first human has been granted the title required to stand beside a dwarven lord. If tradition for dwarves were followed, this would be braided into the left side of your beard, but, for you humans, the chosen standard is for it to be worn on your right hand instead."
Another cheer rang through the crowd.
"I'm not sure I've ever seen him this red before," Grace whispered in Elijah's ear, as they watched Jack stutter on the stage. An invitation from the king to say a few words to the people hadn't gone as well as expected, and yet Darim applauded him loudly. Little could ruin this moment for them. "Should we help him or…?"
"We'd probably make it worse," Elijah countered. Going by how much Aleksi seemed to be enjoying the view beside Sasha, it couldn't be too terrible.
The cheers and clapping died down as the king raised his hand. For it to take more than an instant showed the intensity of the people's joy, but they nevertheless respected Trueforge's title.
"The time of work and hardship is now over," the king announced. "The time for celebration is here. Every dwarf and human within Kragdur shall dine side by side tonight, with the finest of foods and ales that would make even Duron stumble!"
The crowd cheered louder than ever as the last part was shouted by the king. The people certainly had their priorities.
Though… Elijah couldn't deny he was excited either.
'Let's see if we can get you one of those steaks, Dawn.'