Despite the early hour, Imri was among the last to arrive at the meeting. The conference room, which had originally been far larger than needed, was now packed with people representing various groups. The chatter died down as they noticed him.
“We have a lot to go through,” Laura said, eliminating the last remnants of side conversations. “Let’s address the elephant in the room: what is the status of the Azala forces?”
Colonel Harper stood and began summarizing the reports he had received. “They continue to mass near the edge of the xenoformed terrain. At this point, over a million Azala have gathered along the perimeter. The majority of their numbers consist of drones similar to those encountered in Minneapolis and New Chicago, but their average level is around ten, a slight increase from previous engagements. There were also numerous sightings of similar variants to those encountered during the conflict in New Chicago. In addition, there were several unknown classes of enemies, including several derived from Chixel hosts. The most noteworthy were several floating nodes wrapped in a membrane, making them appear like oversized flying jellyfish with a core. We surmised that these are mobile controller units. Unfortunately, most enemy forces were too high level for Identify to provide precise data.”
The report was met with stunned silence. It was about as bad as it could have been, with Azala’s lack of urgency being the only reason they hadn’t been overrun. The mobile nodes were especially troubling, as they had to assume the Azala could advance at any time.
A woman who identified herself as a biological researcher from the New Chicago Institute of System Research was the next to give a report. “We have been able to ascertain several key properties of the xenoforming process. The rootlike veins that extend from the node secrete a substance containing microorganisms that produce the tissue-like substance. Within the organism are numerous nerve-like roots capable of sending information. Anything connected to this network will have near-instantaneous communication with anything else within the network. It’s analogous to the mycelium networks of fungi in forests.”
This intuitively made sense to Imri and matched his experience fighting the Azala. It also went a long way towards explaining why they wanted to convert as much terrain as possible. While fighting on this network, they would have an incredible information advantage, second only to Imri’s Manifest Domain.
A man in dark leather armor delivered the next report. “We’ve been carefully monitoring the progress of the Azala xenoforming progress. Over the last week, the expansion rate has increased to over fifty meters daily. The stone forest has almost wholly been covered. Assuming this expansion rate is constant, we would have several months before the xenoforming reaches Mount Celestia. However, the growth acceleration has not stopped, and if we assume it is steady, we only have a little over a month. We’ve also received reports suggesting the rate isn’t constant in all directions and is fastest towards us. This suggests the Azala are now focusing their resources on us.”
“Is there any way to slow or stop the process?” Colonel Harper asked.
The researcher nodded. “From what we’ve seen from the invasion of New Chicago, the veins all grow from a node. If the node is destroyed, the veins will stop expanding and eventually die out. Likewise, the network will die without nourishment, though this process takes time.”
“So, we’re back to the same strategy: take out as many nodes as possible. However, the Azala surely know this is a vulnerability, and they will be heavily guarded,” Colonel Harper said.
“At least we have an objective to work towards,” Imri said with a shrug. Without prompting, he explained what he had been doing for the last week. He didn’t go into details about his meditation but focused on his agreement with Corrolth. There were excited murmurs when he brought out a scale to show everyone, with Christoph even making an offer.
Sylvi went next. “While Imri kept dragon eggs frozen in time, we explored the valley. Our primary objective was to map out probable locations of future settlements. Like Celestia, we were looking for natural treasures worth building around.” She paused and pulled out a golden plum that radiated a powerful magical essence. “Consuming this fruit will permanently increase base and max agility by a point.”
The room erupted at this declaration. This time, it wasn’t just Christoph making offers. The din only died down when Zhaire stepped in and shouted for silence.
Caroline took over the explanation, “Unfortunately, the body can only handle so much of the fruit’s effect before it becomes harmful. Zhaire was gracious enough to eat the fruit before we could fully ascertain its properties and could only increase his agility by two. I’ll be working to improve its efficacy by converting it into an elixir, though we are willing to auction off a few of the raw fruits.”
“Unfortunately, only a single tree grew these, and we picked it clean. So for now, this is all that’s available,” Sylvi added.
Imri wondered if he could enchant the plum tree with a growth aspect of his Cycles of Growth and Decay. If he could convert the ambient mana into more natural treasures, that would be invaluable. Others suggested trying to cultivate an orchard from the fruit’s pit. Imri doubted either solution would be easy, as the single tree probably consumed vast amounts of ambient mana and essence.
The meeting was adjourned on that positive note. Imri debated buying two of the golden plums that were being auctioned off. The current price was just over a million credits, which was already a sum most couldn’t afford, but he could easily justify it. However, he decided to leave the limited supply to those who could put it to better use.
With less than two weeks to the auction, Imri was running out of time to prepare. He returned to his workshop and immediately noticed the stockpile of items ready to be enchanted. He sighed and got to work, attacking the tedious task the same way he had with his constant use of Stasis: his conscious mind focused internally on Transcendant Meditation while a separate consciousness focused on doing the work. Between his machine-like focus and his Runic Replication trait, he quickly went through his backlog.
A third stream of consciousness was focused on another task: designing new enchantments. His spells'' main advantage over his enchantments was their adaptability; he could define the spell''s parameters as the situation demanded. Replicating this on a crude UI had been almost impossible for anything over a single parameter. This was why he hadn’t been able to create rings of Teleportation or wands of Dimensional Tear, but in theory, it should be possible. The essential improvement was the enchantment''s ability to take thoughts in as a parameter via Mind Receiving runes. With that, it should be possible to reproduce these multi-variate spells as an enchantment.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
After working through the design, he took a break from the tedious enchanting and began implementing his idea. He started with something safer, saving Dimensional Tear or Teleportation after he had a proof of concept. Instead, he created a Ring of Low Gravity. The only difference between the previous version, like the ones the wraiths had used, and this version was that it wasn’t necessarily targeting the wearer. The target could be anything the wearer defined.
It took Imri a while to work through the Receiving runes as they grew exponentially more complicated with the multi-variable inputs. This also significantly increased the required runes, forcing Imri to meticulously place each rune precisely while keeping them at a minuscule scale. With the level of detail involved, it took Imri several hours to finish that enchantment. Eventually, the ring was finished, and he inspected his work.
The overall crafting efficiency was slightly lower than the more straightforward-to-produce items, but he couldn’t find any significant faults in his work. He fed the small Espeonite Gemstone some mana and activated the enchantment like he would cast the spell, defining his target and amplitude. He immediately felt the enchantment take effect, and he lifted the chair, feeling its reduced weight as he did so.
Despite the test working as expected, Imri frowned. Unfortunately, the enchantment was draining its mana source at an alarming rate. The difference in efficiency was far greater than a simple ratio of the enchantment’s mana efficiency over his own. Technically, this was always true, as an enchantment had numerous supporting runes that allowed the primary effect to function as intended. However, those runes typically consumed only a tiny fraction of the overall mana expenditure, but that wasn’t the case with his new creation. He suspected the likely culprit was the Mind Sending runes. Unfortunately, he didn’t see an alternative without hard coding one of the values, which would defeat the entire purpose.
Sighing, Imri accepted that versatility would come at the expense of efficiency. He locked the enchantment in with a Drake core. Unfortunately, another flaw was quickly discovered. The efficiency of the enchantment wasn’t constant from user to user. When someone else used the ring, the mana lost to the Mind Receiving runes was far greater than when he had used it. After everyone in the workshop had tried it, he was able to draw a couple of conclusions: those who weren’t familiar with defining spell parameters couldn’t even get the enchantment to work or were incredibly inefficient. Meanwhile, those who had some experience with spellcasting could get it to work, but it still consumed significantly more mana than what it had taken Imri. Imri suspected this inefficiency could be reduced with enough practice, but he doubted anyone besides another gravity mage would be able to replicate his level of success.
There was still value in the enchantment, even if Imri was the only one who used it. Having a way to cast spells with an external mana source would effectively produce the same results without worrying about over-channeling. However, if he took it too far, he would quickly deplete his Espeonite reserves. He also wasn’t sure he wanted a ring for every spell, as it would quickly turn into a jewelry display case worth of items. He wondered how extreme he could get with something completely specialized.
The first problem was the surface area. He would need something far larger than a ring for what he had in mind. He took a Mana Absorption panel and repurposed it. He went through his entire spell list, inscribing the parameters needed to cast each spell. It took him the better part of a day with no breaks, but eventually, his entire spell list was inscribed into the panel, which was now completely covered in intricate runes. Unfortunately, this was only the first step, as more was needed to create the spell effects. He had effectively created a reference table of spell parameters but needed the rest of the architecture.
While he was working on the Spell Parameter Reference Array, Zuri and Toby prepared the materials for the second component of his project. It was a staff made from the highest quality tree on the Celestia plateau, shaped and enhanced by the highest level woodworker. A large piece of Espeonite was affixed to the top, cut to reflect a brilliant gleam as the light reflected off it. Golden leylines ran from the facet down to the base in straight lines. Aesthetically, it was strange. It was a combination of mystical and technical, but that suited Imri perfectly.
Imri began inscribing the runes. The first portion was a set of Sending and Receiving runes. It would read Imri’s thoughts and then send the desired spell to the Spell Parameter Reference Array. The array would then return the spell parameters via another set of two-way communication runes. The last step was the hardest. He would need to take another input of his thoughts via a Mind Receiving rune and have the enchantment parse the thought to determine what the parameters were. Fortunately, most spells shared similar casting criteria: amplitude, target or area of effect, and frame of reference. They were also all different types of values, respectively a number, object, and vector, so it shouldn’t be too hard for the enchantment to interpret.
Imri took his time, carefully inscribing each rune with meticulous detail. He tested each component as he went, making minor corrections as needed. When it was done, the entire staff was covered in intricate runes. He took a deep breath and tested the final product, using the most mundane spell in his arsenal.
Immediately, his mind was informed of the exact distance from himself to the wall he had targeted. He smiled and progressed to more complicated spells. Each spell worked as it always had, though it consumed significantly more mana than it would through his natural spellcasting. Incredibly pleased with his final result, he took out his highest-level core and finished his item. An Identify revealed the item had been named the Staff of the Celestial Mage. With its completion, Imri received a flood of notifications.
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 99.9817%; background-color: rgba(52, 73, 94, 1)" border="1">
<tbody>
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<td style="width: 98.9589%">Traits Ranked Up</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 98.9589%">Master Crafter 5 (+1): .5% to primary attributes (+.1%)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 98.9589%">Wonderous Crafter 2 (+1): .3% to primary attributes (+.15%)</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 99.9817%; background-color: rgba(52, 73, 94, 1)" border="1">
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<tr>
<td style="width: 99.9817%">Imri Padar has reached level 31 (+2) in Runic Engineer</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 99.9817%">Primary Stats</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 99.9817%">Strength 166 (+1)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 99.9817%">Agility 136 (+1)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 99.9817%">Constitution 163 (+1)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 99.9817%">Intelligence 321 (+3)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 99.9817%">Willpower 260 (+2)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 99.9817%">Secondary Stats</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 99.9817%">HP 396 (+6)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 99.9817%">FP 293 (+5)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 99.9817%">MP 2016 (+57)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 99.9817%">Mana Efficiency 1518 (+28)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 99.9817%">Crafting Efficiency 2037 (+87)</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 99.9817%; background-color: rgba(52, 73, 94, 1)" border="1">
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<td style="width: 98.9589%">Traits Ranked Up</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 98.9589%">Runic Crafting E to D</td>
</tr>
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<td style="width: 98.9589%">Runic Crafting improved to Runic Artistry</td>
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<tr>
<td style="width: 98.9589%">Runic Artistry (2F): Gives an intuitive understanding of how runes work and how to optimally combine them. Improves the rate at which new runes are learned by 5.5%. Crafting Efficiency of runic enchantments increased by 2.5%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 98.9589%">Relativety Runic Enchanting F to E</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 99.9817%; background-color: rgba(52, 73, 94, 1)" border="1">
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<td style="width: 98.9589%">Quest Updated</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 98.9589%">Runic Engineer rank up: Generate mana 343,720/4,000,000, have rank 5 in achievements Master Crafter and Mass Assembled 1/2, have achievement Wonderous Crafter 1/1</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Imri smiled, proud of what he had accomplished. However, he only allowed himself a momentary reprieve. There was still more work to be done.