Imri stepped through the portal after retrieving his Dimensional Waypoint coins. His fear was confirmed as soldiers moved about with purpose, only slight twitches and grimaces revealing the underlying fear. A mob of terrified people was far less restrained, many of whom were trying to push through to the portal. Only the guards acting as riot control prevented them from leaving.
Imri sighed. On the one hand, he felt terrible that people were so terrified that they would react this way, but on the other hand, he had warned them this was coming. If there were infinite mana, he wouldn’t mind keeping the portal open long enough to evacuate those who wanted to leave. Unfortunately, they didn’t have that luxury.
Imri ignored the crowd, teleporting past them and into the town hall. It didn’t take him long before he found the makeshift command center. Colonel Harper stood over a projected three-dimensional image of the terrain created through some skill or spell. As they received updated reports through a radio, symbols were adjusted, keeping the map as accurate as possible. People moved about the room with purpose and control, starkly contrasting the chaos outside.
Colonel Harper noticed Imri and immediately began explaining the situation without prompting. “We received reports of increased Azala activity during the auction, and we think they''re getting ready for an assault. Unfortunately, they’re not the only ones; the Chixel have shown up and now make up the vanguard of the army.”
“You’re sure they''re not just drones or a small mercenary company?” Imri asked.
“Scouts with Identify-related abilities have confirmed they aren’t Azala, and there are too many to be considered a mercenary company. Our working theory is that they have been conscripted as a part of an unconditional surrender to the Azala,” the colonel explained.
Imri nodded. He knew the war had been tipping in favor of the Azala but had hoped the Chixel would continue fighting with guerrilla tactics. Unfortunately, the Chixel working for the Azala had never crossed his mind.
“Do we abandon the lodge and fight them on the narrow trails like last time?” someone asked.
Imri shook his head. “I saw Azala climbing buildings like they were walking on a flat surface. They’ll quickly surround anyone trying to defend a fixed position. On top of that, they have aerial and ranged superiority.”
“So we’re just fucked then?” someone unhelpfully asked.
“We still have one critical tactical advantage: me. Specifically, I can open portals anywhere I see or have a waypoint, and I’m working on a spell that will make those restrictions a moot point. We can strike them anywhere and at any time.”
“Which essentially gives us range and mobility, swinging things back in our favor. How often can you open portals?” Colonel Harper asked.
“Depends on too many things, but it''s quite a few times. I also don’t need as long to recover; with potions, meditation, and the bonus from the nexus, I can go from entirely exhausted to tip-top shape in less than a day. I also have an item that instantly recovers my mana and removes any over-channel. Unfortunately, it has a significant cooldown, so I’ll only be able to use it once.”
As Imri explained his capabilities, the contingent from the auction arrived, with Zhaire clearing the way with his size and presence. “This brings back memories of the first battle,” the mountain of a man said, sounding almost wistful.
“I take it there are no objections to the Ogrog being the vanguard?” Colonel Harper asked.
“Objections?! They would be more likely to switch sides than listen to stand-down orders,” Zhaire said with a grin, not at all remorseful for his unruly army.
“And my team?” Sylvi asked.
“I suggest mage hunting. Eliminating enemy mind mages will be vital. Also, if an opportunity presents itself, destroying nodes,” Imri suggested.
“And the healers?” Emelia asked, almost challenging Imri to tell her to stay out. Fortunately, he had thought through this particular issue.
“I’m suggesting triage be set up at Edea’s Spring. That way, people can retreat to the portal and get healing. The worst injuries can be treated with the natural wonder, while the healers can manage more moderate injuries without being overwhelmed. We can send those with minor injuries to Celestia and let the added resource recovery solve the issue,” Imri suggested.
“And those that can’t return to a portal hub?” Emelia asked.
“I can open a portal or teleport them back. If I can’t get to them, no one can,” Imri argued.
Through their bond, Imri knew that his arguments had won. While his solution wouldn’t save everyone, it was as good as they could do.
“What about the mob of panicked people? Any idea how to get them under control without violence?” Colonel Harper asked.
“I could use Project Emotions on them. I don’t like it, but it’s better than the alternative,” Emelia suggested.
“Once they’ve calmed down, we need to give them purpose, a way to feel like they’re contributing. If they don’t have any applicable abilities, we can suggest they donate their mana. It won’t be much, but every little bit helps,” Imri said. Everyone nodded in agreement, knowing that the fixed portal structures were vital to the plan.
With the loose framework of a plan in place, Imri excused himself. He didn’t go far, finding an out-of-the-way corner in the large building and sitting on the floor. He entered meditation, directing his mind to review the flood of knowledge he had gained with Omniscience of Gaia.
Divination was broad in what it could accomplish, and he was surprised to learn he already had several spells that were classified as such. Since it was the ability to gain information through spells, all his measurement spells fell under that umbrella. So far, he hadn’t ranked up any of those spells, as he mostly used them in enchanting. He also didn’t find the mana efficiency improvement that helpful, as even a minor amount of mana gave him ridiculous precision. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
Measuring was important, but it wasn’t immediately helpful. Fortunately, he had another ability classified as divination: Transcendent Meditation. Through it, he could shift his perspective, seeing into his body or staring down from the heavens. The former wasn’t immediately helpful, and the latter had proved too difficult to control. It had shown him visions of raindrops eroding through mountains or sunlight traveling through outer space; neither helped directly, but it gave him a grasp on an out-of-body perspective.
He needed a way to shift his perspective as he did with Transcendant Meditation, but he needed the precision and control of his measuring spells. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get anywhere with the more mystical aspects of Transcendant Meditation; it operated differently than all his spells, which were derived from understanding the concepts it was interacting with. Instead, he dispelled everything mystical from the concept of divination and approached it rationally.
He started with the building blocks of every magic school: a spell for measuring what he was working with. Almost as soon as he had that thought, new spells were added: True Light and True Sound. Imri immediately noticed they were a bit more abstract than his other spells, as they measured several things used to form the concepts of light and sound. For example, his True Sound spell measured intensity in decibels and frequency in hertz. Combined, the two spells could gather the same information as his eyes and ears, but with perfect accuracy and precision only limited by the amount of mana.
The first implication was apparent: if he could precisely measure with a spell, it could replace biological sensory organs. The system agreed as two new spells were added.
<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%">New Spells Learned</td>
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<td style="width: 98.9589%">Enhance Sight (1F): Improves the target''s vision and prevents optical illusions. Mana cost per second varies based on the distance from the caster to the target and the precision of the sense.</td>
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<td style="width: 98.9589%">Enhance Hearing (1F): Improves the target’s hearing and prevents auditory hallucinations. Mana cost per second varies based on the distance from the caster to the target and the precision of the sense.</td>
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Imri smiled as the information entered his mind. While his vision had been impeccable, thanks to his Omniscient Vision trait, he certainly wouldn’t turn down another way to enhance it. However, Enhanced Hearing was an excellent spell in his arsenal, especially with an unknown assassin likely on their way to kill him.
He tested Enhanced Hearing, casting it at a low level of precision to start. Even with just a faint trickle of mana, his hearing was vastly improved; he could easily pick up dozens of people that had only been a din of noise. As the precision increased, he could hear hushed conversations in other rooms as if he were sitting right next to them. As he kept going, he could pick out the quiet grumbling of people on the street from several blocks away. It would have been overwhelming without a similar experience with his Manifest Domain.
Imri dismissed the spell and noticed that even the higher precision hadn’t strained his mana, and he could have kept it going indefinitely. Unfortunately, he had so many demands for his mana that he didn’t think this would become a staple. However, he could see an incredible usage for this in rune form. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a spatial or temporal spell, so he would need to spend some time working out the rune, but that was only a minor inconvenience for a tier-one spell he could cast.
Imri took a deep breath, recentering himself. He couldn’t become distracted with new spells. They were nice to have but not what he needed. He needed a way to project his senses, allowing him to see from a different perspective. Fortunately, this wasn’t much of a stretch, as his measuring spells could already do this. He could cast True Sound on a point he could see, and the spell would measure it as if a device had been placed at the target location.
<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%">New Spell Learned</td>
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<td style="width: 98.9589%">External Senses (2F): Creates nontangible sensory inputs at a location visible to the caster. Mana cost varies based on the number of senses created, the precision of the senses, and the distance from the caster to the sensory input.</td>
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Imri cheered, getting more strange looks from the people in the crowded town hall. He didn’t care; this was precisely what he needed. It wasn’t some mystical scrying that would shift his perspective to exactly where it needed to be, but he didn’t need that. He needed a better way to get line of sight for his spells, and this would accomplish that.
He tested the spell out, changing his perspective to a meter in front of himself. His vision shifted, and he was now looking at himself, which was a bit disconcerting. He immediately noticed a difference from the Enhance Vision spell: the External Sense didn’t use his existing visual acuity, so he needed to put some mana into precision to replicate his own sight. In contrast, the Enhanced Vision worked with his eyes, adding visual acuity like a magical contact lens. The External Sense didn’t replace his vision, giving him two sets of visual feeds to sort through, which wouldn’t be possible without superhuman mental stats.
The External Sense also had another advantage over its mundane equivalent: a three-hundred-sixty-degree field of vision. It allowed him to see everything in the large hall, so long as he used enough mana to get the necessary precision. Fortunately, with Imri’s massive mana pool and mana efficiency, that wasn’t an issue. He pushed the boundary of his new spell, adding a third set of sensory inputs. Managing the three perspectives was disconcerting, but he could manage it. Unfortunately, the difficulty only increased exponentially, and four perspectives were his current limit. Even that was barely manageable and wouldn’t be practical in a fight or other similarly strenuous activities.
The next test was the most important one. He had dismissed his previous castings and began anew. The corner where he was sitting was out of the way, lacking line of sight outside the town hall. With a casting of External Senses, that was remedied. He followed that up with another spell, targeting the space he initially couldn’t see. As he had hoped, the spell worked, and a second External Senses was created. Now that the first External Senses was no longer needed, he unceremoniously dropped it. The new perspective had an even better vantage point, allowing him to cast a third iteration of the spell and immediately drop the second. Theoretically, he could keep chaining the spells together, projecting his vision at the speed of sight and thought, dropping the previous castings as soon as they were no longer needed.
He quickly found himself with a bird''s eye view of Celestia. By pushing more mana in, he could make out every detail of the people moving about despite the vast distances involved. He could see miles in each direction, encompassing the entire plateau. With a thought, his vision shifted, giving him a view from the plateau’s edge.
Looking out over the Seagrass Plains, he could see the destruction of the further half of the land. Vast swathes of the strange grass had been converted to the flesh-like membrane that the Azala favored. Swarms of drones moved implacably forward in a wave of bodies. Massive titans, the height of skyscrapers, ambled ahead, and the rank and file gave them a wide berth. Other mutated monstrosities supplemented their ranks: creatures with extra arms or extra legs, winged creatures, and creatures with elongated heads.
The Chixel stood in the front, ahead of the xenoforming and marching towards the hunter’s lodge. They were packed in tight ranks, like a medieval army about to lay siege to a city. While they had less variance than the Azala, there were outliers as large scaly creatures that rivaled an Ogrog in size marched amongst them. Several platforms floated in the air, resembling Imri’s enchanted platforms. On them stood priests in ornate robes, flanked by a retinue of inquisitors with black blades and fully charged soul gems. Enchanted wagons moved like an old-fashioned bus, crammed full of captives, both Human and Chixel.
Imri saw everything in excruciating detail despite being fifty kilometers from the closest invader. His mana depleted steadily due to the distance from him to the External Senses location and the high precision he had imbued into the spell. Still, he could have kept the single spell going for hours. However, he had a much better use for his mana and intended to bring it to bear upon the armies that dared to threaten his people.