NOVEL NEXT 68. After The Storm
The caravan didn't set off again until the following morning. They wanted time to recover, rest, and cremate their dead. Cargo was moved between vehicles, and people feasted in honor of the dead and the passed storm. The crushed giant goat fed them all, leaving enough for the following day's dinner. Lukas resummoned Morph and had him absorb a yeti's corpse. The journal had much to say about the recent growth, and the progress surprised and pleased Lukas.
Spellweaver has progressed to Rank 5!
Arcane senses have sharpened.
Minor ability upgrade available.
Please select from the following:
Mage's Instinct: Easily identify enchantments, wards, rituals, and the functions of a spellform's elements. You develop an innate understanding of fuel, flow, and all the other threads.
Focus Weaver: Improve your innate focus when weaving spells, gaining efficiency and therefore reducing the cost of modifications and intent-based casting. Channelled spells are also significantly cheaper when used alone.
Arcane Stitching: Stitch a spell into an object, granting a short-term enchantment or limited charges for use by the wielder. The duration of the enchantment and the number of charges are dependent on spell complexity and object compatibility.
Now that's a difficult decision.
It wasn't Focus Weaver that caused the indecision. More efficient and cheaper spells had their benefits, but it was something he could achieve with more practice and training. Meanwhile, both of the other two options would grant him something new.
Lukas wanted Arcane Stitching the most; temporary enchantments or objects with spell charges would give his clones lots of new options. He could foresee giving a Stalker a Shadowsteel needle imbued with lightning energy for a sneak attack or sound magic to cause a big boom. Its uses would only increase as Lukas's arcane arsenal grew. He could foresee causing endless chaos with it. Arcane Stitching appeared fun.
However, it wasn't what he needed. Mage's Instinct seemed humble and simple by comparison, but he could see it proving more useful in the long run. The minor ability would likely help him break free of Silverspine's control sooner. Understanding of arcane script, enchantments, and all things magical would also help him learn how to use, modify, and tweak them more easily. Breaking or damaging enchantments, or twisting them to function in his favor, had potential in all walks of life.
Lukas didn't want to stop at smithing his own tools, weapons, and armor. To get the most out of magic-imbued metals, he needed to master the art of enchantment. Arcane Stitching was a shortcut to the same goal, but he believed Mage's Instinct would help him reach the same destination, but with hard work and a better understanding of Fracture's laws of magic.
Biomancy has progressed to Rank 5!
Anatomical control has increased.
Minor ability upgrade available.
Please select from the following:
Mimicry: Copy the physical features and characteristics of absorbed biomass, whether it's a person's appearance, or a non-human's special limbs or organs. Complete transformations are impossible. Only memories of up to three entities can be memorized at a time.
Biomass Storage: Store extra biomass for later use without gaining additional weight. The storage can't house more than your maximum mass. Biomass will remain perfectly preserved while stored.
Mastery of Self: Gain a perfect understanding of your body and improved control over finer details. Modify the constitution of bones, muscles, and all tissues using absorbed minerals.
Master of Self would've had value if Lukas had access to Biomancy. It felt like a minor ability that granted benefits over time as he experimented and figured out what worked best. Morph wouldn't get much out of it. He gained the benefits of a clone's exercise and training, but not the additional height, hair, or muscle mass gained through Biomancy. Lukas didn't know for sure, but refused to take the risk when the other two options were so much more promising.
Lukas wanted them both. The question was what would benefit him more in the short and long term. In the end, he settled on Mimicry. It would serve him best in the Grey, not just making picking disguises easier, but also learning to copy the characteristics of local monsters.
He ran experiments during the night. Lukas summoned Morph while everyone was sleeping, during Shae and a clone's watch. With the storm gone, the diviners had no trouble analyzing their surroundings and were confident that nothing would attack them during the night. Penelope's magic had likely terrified the local fauna and sent them running or into hiding. As a result, they had a lighter watch with three pairs looking in three different directions.
Morph snuck to a nearby pile of charred and then frozen corpses, and absorbed part of a snowman's body. He had no trouble sprouting a pair of extra arms afterward. Taking on extra biomass also allowed him to grow a thick mane of white fur. Lukas dispelled him before anyone spotted the tiny snowman in the making, wishing he had checked the journal and completed the upgrades sooner so Morph could've also absorbed a finger or hair from one of the killed adventurers.
Keeping their appearance memorized and adopting a handful of features would make running with consistent disguises significantly easier. He couldn't be happy with the decision since one of the most limiting factors of Biomancy was remembering appearances, characteristics, and anatomy. If there were no more casualties on the way to the Gray, Lukas planned for Morph to visit a morgue or the executioner's block. Apparently, lawkeeping was far stricter in the mountain kingdom—a result of the harsh environment and swiftly changing weather—and punishments were harsher. The kingdom considered it more economical to execute a criminal than to sentence them to decades or life in prison.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Almost a month had passed since Lukas departed from Iskander. The Power Compass had changed since.
Thunderstorm's Eye: Tier 1 | Rank 3
Spellweaver: Tier 1 | Rank 5
Shadow Clone: Tier 2 | Rank 5
Shade's Mantle
Shadow Steel
Steel Weave
Altered Metal Mass: Tier 2 | Rank 2
Miscellaneous:
Arcane Smithing: Tier | Rank 1
Biomancy: Tier 1 | Rank 5
Lukas had hoped Altered Metal Mass would gain ranks during the recent fight, but his expectations were far too high. Only the low-ranking tier-one abilities had grown since. Biomancy's progress pleased him. He didn't expect it to grow so quickly and believed it would slow significantly on its way to the next tier. Lukas also checked all of the abilities' individual pages. Only two of them were still blank.
Shadow Clone: Tier 2 | Rank 5
Mid-Tier Ability: Empowered Clone II
Tier 2 Ability: Shade's Mantle
Body-conjunction ability: Shadow Steel
Altered Metal Mass: Tier 2 | Rank 2
Mid-Tier Ability: Cover Weaknesses
Tier 2 Ability: Steel Weave
Spellweaver: Tier 1 | Rank 5
Mid-Tier Ability: Mage's Instinct
Biomancy: Tier 1 | Rank 5
Mid-Tier Ability: Mimicry
He needed to figure out how to hasten his Heart and Soul abilities' growth. When the caravan set off again, he filled it with mage clones specialized in Spellweaver and had them experiment with touch spells.
"Lightning is easy to work into attacks, but Sound not so much," Lukas told them. "Do the best you can, practising subtle, controlled attacks without disturbing Penelope."
All the clones glanced at the sorcerer in unison. She was fast asleep and hadn't stirred since the battle. However, she had slowly started to revert to her old form, appearing more in her forties now. The draconic scales had almost faded from her neck, ears, and the back of her hands. Bass had grown restless but refused to go far. He sat on the carriage's roof, finally talking to Shae. It seemed the Elder Wyrmkin had won respect with his performance during combat.
When within the privacy of the carriage, Shae had removed the first and leathers. He suffered a leg and rib injury during the fight. They needed cleaning and binding. Penelope couldn't heal him in her current state, but the Elder Wyrmkin didn't seem to mind. Apparently, his aches and pains faded swifter with each night following the rituals.
Lukas was surprised to find Shae even bulkier and armored than the day before. His scales had lost some of their natural shine, appearing almost stony but speckled with colorful metallic veins, and also had the dull glinting spots that reminded Lukas of unpolished precious stones. He needed Penelope's confirmation, but believed that the Elder Wyrmkin was of Earth Dragon heritage or some variant of the sub-species. Their magic focused on defense and body reinforcement.
"We can't exactly tell if we're doing something right without test subjects, El-Prime," one of the clones protested.
"You have each other, don't you?" Lukas grinned. "Just remember that if any of you disturb Penelope, I won't dispel you and have everyone else use you as a guinea pig."
"You're such a sadist."
"Or is he a masochist? Whatever we feel will get back to him eventually. Sooner than later."
"Shut up and do as you're told." Lukas sighed. The clones obeyed, getting to work almost straight away. He heard chuckles and giggles as soon as he left the carriage, and couldn't help but smile. He didn't mind them having fun from time to time, especially when it preceded what was likely to be incredible discomfort.
It demanded almost no effort to swing onto the carriage's roof. Shae and Bass shot him a glance. The Elder Wyrmkin handed him an essence sphere. Lukas saw the image of a fanged maw ripping into a bloody carcass.
Essence of Predation
A candidate for Biomancy's tier ascension, perhaps?
"Where did they come from?"
"The caravan leaders," Bass answered in Shae's place. He had instructions not to speak much around outsiders until his speech improved significantly. "The snowmen dropped a bunch of these. That's your cut. Shae got one too, and there are three for Penelope. Apparently, it's the standard distribution."
"And bonus for mistress," the Elder Wyrmkin added, speaking at a barely audible whisper.
"Penny will probably use one or two hasten her recovery and then divide the rest between the two of you," her familiar said. "You're going to need plenty of those for the clones, won't you?"
Lukas nodded. "But that's still a while away. My needs are going to increase drastically as I get more shards for the clones. A couple of options for the Heart and Mind pillars will go a long way. But I'm in no rush. Thunderstorm's Eye and Spellweaver need to get to the next tier first."
The landscape rapidly changed as they continued deeper inland. Their surroundings grew more mountainous and the caravan had to frequently slow to clear ice and rock blocking the path. The storm had severely damaged the road to the Gray. Abilities and spells utilizing stone and ice didn't just clear obstacles, but also repaired the road. In a couple of instances, the mage also constructed bridges. Ravines that were no trouble before had become a challenge.
Lukas couldn't help but admire the landscape. The mountains looked like chocolate cake made with stout—almost solid black—and iced with blindingly white snow. He saw a giant bird with feathers of orange and gold grooming itself atop a high cliff. It appeared almost twice as large as Lady Silverspine in her dragon form. Lukas believed its size rivalled the giant Silver Serpent under Iskander. Luminous feathers made it standout against the striking white.
I bet it has almost perfect camouflage at sunrise and sunset. I bet its packed with magic.
Neither creature would've survived for long on the Realm of Greater Beings. One of its ruling powers would've hunted it down and absorbed its magic to grow stronger. Lukas and Lady Silverspine's other minions had sought out several entities like it, hunted it, and retrieved whatever she wanted. The phoenix's heart stone he handed her during their last meeting was from one such job.
Stories of entities like the bird and the serpent was part of the reason he Lukas had come to Fracture. These entities had the freedom to live and grow on Fracture. Its monstrous size and the stitched together nature gave them plenty of room for seclusion and secrecy. Lukas hoped to stay under the radar just like them on his path to greatness. In his experience, individuals who sought fame and glory on their way up were often the first to fall. Lukas planned to have his fun from the shadows. It was where he belonged.