“You… you did it.  How is that even possible?”


    Larek shrugged uncomfortably as he sat down on a series of stool-shaped rocks created by a few SIC Geomancers, surrounded by his betrothed, his friends, and the Volunteers assembled behind them.  In front of him, on the other side of the oblong circle of rocks, were General Auran and her Lieutenants, half of whom were looking at him with fear in their expressions.  It’s better than anger, I suppose, but I’d rather they not be so emotionally affected by my simple presence.  Fortunately, sitting down helped with his height problems a bit, which was why the Fusionist had suggested it.


    “Fusions.  They can be quite powerful once you get them to a certain strength,” he explained, before cutting off any other questions about how he had managed to kill the Treehemoth.  He didn’t feel like going into Aetheric Force or specifics about his Fusions; now that they weren’t at risk of dying within seconds, he needed to establish what was going to happen with the two organizations.  He and the General had come to a basic truce while in the blazing tunnel, but now it was time to negotiate toward the future.


    Which was absolutely the last thing he wanted to do, because he didn’t care for all of the politics and verbal sparring that it would likely involve.  Therefore, he took the easy route and delegated it to Bartholomew, who was both a former Noble and a former member of the SIC, as well as being high up in the Volunteer hierarchy.


    “If you have any questions, please speak to Barkus here, otherwise known as Bartholomew,” he said.  “As for me, I’ll be working on getting us out of here; I need to go talk with some of your Mages.”


    Standing up, he could practically hear the outraged and shocked expressions on the faces of what remained of the SIC leadership, but he ignored them all.  Instead, he looked around at the environment, which was located about a half-mile from the formerly central Aperture that would eventually open back up with Juvenile Dryads and nothing else.  But that left the area around them relatively barren, with just a few patches of grass here and there, with no trees nearby; it seemed as though the jungles that had inhabited the majority of the Calamity had been almost purely magical rather than a natural effect of its territory like most of the other Apertures, which didn’t leave them much to work with.


    The Hopper was also nearby, but repairs to the vessel would have to wait until they were back in Thanesh, as there were no nearby trees to harvest to patch the large hole in the side.  He had already checked on Paluna and Mygor once he returned safely to where it had crashed, additionally discovering that the whole SIC group had also made their way there, which led to this meeting of the leadership that he was more than happy to ditch in favor of working on finding a way to transport all of these people.  Theoretically, he could simply let them go their separate ways, now that he’d saved them from the Treehemoth, but it was possible that some of them would starve before they managed to find food, as all but a few of them were extremely weak after their experience as captives.  Apparently, the roots which had been keeping them alive didn’t do much more than that, so after the adrenaline-fueled escape from the bowels of the massive tree and the run through the jungle, even many of the Martials were looking like they were going to drop at any moment.


    Nedira had shared some food with them, but they didn’t carry enough with them in their Void Pocket bags to feed a total of 3,274 people, other than a small snack to keep them from collapsing immediately upon arriving.  In addition, of the SIC members, approximately 600 of them weren’t actually Mages or Martials, as they had originally been support to help with culling reinforcements, and they were the worst off.  Even if the SIC decided not to join with them and take the help he was going to provide to allow them to move faster, they didn’t deserve to stay in the middle of nowhere and suffer because the SIC leadership was stubborn.


    A discussion was already underway between Bartholomew and General Auran behind him, as he made his way over to a large group of brown-robed Mages who were lying around on the ground, appearing exhausted from the ordeal.  Unfortunately for them, he was going to need the help of some Geomancers, so he was about to disturb their rest.


    “Is there anyone here who can form a large, thin disc of compressed earth or stone?” he suddenly asked them, and his loud voice startled more than a few of them from an impromptu nap.  Ideally, he would like to use wood for what he had in mind, but seeing as there was none nearby and the Treehemoth had been blown to pieces, most of which burned up by that point, he needed to work with what he could get.


    “What is it to you?” one of the brown-robed Mages asked as he struggled to sit up.  He was from the Kingdom, so unfortunately he looked at Larek with suspicion and a raised lip, showing disdain.


    “I need to create some platforms to transport all of you, otherwise you’ll have to walk – which I’m sure you’d rather avoid,” he explained shortly, annoyed at the response.  Fortunately, he was saved from being shut down completely by a different Mage just past the original speaker, a woman with naturally white hair and oblong purple eyes – who was definitely not from the Kingdom.


    “I can do that with my Stone Extraction and Form Barrier spells,” she offered, weakly holding up her hand.  “But I’m so exhausted and drained from everything that I’m not sure how well I’ll be able to do it.  In addition, I’m still waiting for my Mana to regenerate, as it was fully drained by that damn tree.”


    “I might be able to help with that,” Larek said with a smile, happy that someone was willing to help.  “What’s your name?” he asked.


    “Giginix.”


    He walked toward Giginix and pulled out a few things from his Void Pocket sack.  The first was a freshly baked loaf of bread with some tasty, sliced monster meat, which he immediately handed her; she instantly fell upon the food as if she was starving, which he supposed she was.


    “Hey!  I thought you didn’t have any other food!  Why does she get some?” asked the first Geomancer Mage, which was echoed by a number of the others, who all appeared to be growing angry – or as angry as their exhaustion allowed them.


    “Because she needs her strength if she’s going to actually help me get you out of here,” Larek responded evenly.  Ignoring the others, he then handed her a bronze medallion on a leather string, and she immediately slipped it over her head and allowed it to rest against her skin underneath her robe without even questioning what it was.  Of course, when she spasmed slightly once its effects made itself known, she paused in the process of devouring her meal to stare wide-eyed at Larek.


    “Is this real?  How?”


    It was just a spare Mage Stat Boost Fusion he had left over from when he needed them in the past, but to someone who had never had their stats boosted by 100%, it was a huge difference.


    “It’s a Fusion.  It should help you regenerate your Mana faster, as well as expanding your Mana pool.”  He handed her a canteen from his sack filled with water before asking, “Will this help?”Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    She nodded, still wide-eyed as she finished off her food and drank half of the canteen in a few loud and long gulps.  After letting out a burp that seemed to come from the depths of her stomach, for which she in no way apologized, she pulled herself to her feet, already looking better.  He handed her one more thing once she was upright.


    “A bracelet?  What does this do?”


    “It boosts your most common Mage Skills.  Should make it a little bit easier to cast,” he added.


    Giginix’s eyes widened again as she took in the changes.  With a nod and a smile, she turned to the Fusionist.  “So, what exactly do you need?”


    Larek described what he was thinking, and after a few seconds, she nodded and got to work.  He watched her cast her first spell, which made the ground rumble under their feet; a few seconds later a large, misshapen chunk of greyish-black stone broke out from an empty space ahead of them.  After it settled in a small depression, another cast of a spell seemed to melt the stone, as it collapsed into a puddle.  With a few movements of her hands, the stone flattened out into a circular shape approximately 80 feet in diameter – and it was only about a half-inch thick.


    “It’s going to be a bit brittle at that width,” she warned him.  “Do you want me to add another layer?”


    “No need,” the Fusionist said, waving away the offer.  “When you have the Mana, make another one like this, if you can.”


    Before he got started, another Geomancer – not the one who had spoken to him before – managed to stumble his way over to the two of them.  “Sir?  Mr. Fusionist?”


    “Hmm?” he distractedly asked, already thinking about the Fusions he was going to add to the large stone slab.


    “I can do the same, if you have some, uh, supplies to help me recover?”


    Larek absently pulled out another meal and handed it to the newcomer, as well as another two Fusions with boosts.  “Here.  Just make them the same as this,” he said, pointing toward the stone circle.


    “Yes, sir.”


    The Fusionist barely heard him answer as he moved forward, kneeling down by the edge of the new transportation platform.  A quick Strengthen Fusion at Magnitude 15 was all it took to ensure the stone wouldn’t crack when people stood on it; when it snapped into place, there was a distinct *ring* that reverberated out from the stone as it suddenly strengthened to unnatural heights.


    Stepping out into the center of the stone slab, he was pleased to see that it easily held his weight despite being so thin, and he knelt down again near the center.  A minute later, he had Buoyant Sphere and Buoyant-Thruster added to the stone, which would be enough for it to fly and move through the air; he didn’t add any other offensive or defensive Fusions for now, as these would only be temporary to simply move people.


    Over the next 30 minutes, another half-dozen Geomancers got up the courage to offer their help, and Larek handed out more of the boosting Fusions and his dwindling supply of food to them, allowing them to help make the circular stone platforms much faster than before.  None of his helpers had the energy to ask what he was doing with his Fusions, only continuing to raise up stones from below ground and flatten them into discs, and he moved from one to another to add his own contribution.


    Even though they weren’t sure what the Fusions were, as Mages, they could see that they were quite powerful – and they seemed to trust that he knew what he was doing.  Thankfully for them, he indeed knew what he was doing.


    A sudden shout from the leadership meeting nearly broke his concentration, but he managed to finish the Fusion he was working on without any mistakes.  When he was able to focus on what was happening, he was hoping he wouldn’t have to go and break up a fight, but his Listening Skill let him know that it was instead a shout of shock, as Bartholomew and Nedira were explaining about the ability to unlock their full potential.  He ignored the rest of the conversation after that, though it certainly sounded more animated and excited than before, which he hoped was a good sign.


    A full 2 hours after they started, between Larek and a dozen Geomancers who had offered to help – most with the expectation of being rewarded with the boosting Fusions, which was fine with him as it made his job easier – they had over 250 circular platforms spread out over a half-mile of area.  Brushing off his hands unnecessarily after they were done, he thanked the Geomancers and offered, “You want to see what you just helped me do?”


    They nodded tiredly but eagerly, and they followed him onto one of the platforms.  Standing in the exact center, with one foot connecting to both of the Buoyant Fusions, he smiled and said, “Watch.”  A second later, he mentally activated the buoyancy effect, which reduced the weight of the stone circle by 99%, and then he slowly activated the thrusters underneath.


    To say that the Mages were shocked was an understatement, and all but Giginix cried out in fear when leaving the ground.  The non-Kingdom Mage instead appeared excited upon gaining altitude, and he called her over to where he was standing.  He gave her some quick instructions on how to mentally move the platform, and soon enough she had taken over the controls.  The movements of the stone transport were jerky at first, but it wasn’t long until she seemed to get the hang of it, and they were flying all over the area, moving at nearly a hundred miles per hour.  It could go faster, but he cautioned her to keep it slower while she was still learning.


    The other Geomancers eventually settled down and looked at the ground passing underneath them over the edge in wonder, after seeing that they weren’t going to be blown off at an unexpected turn.  By that time, Larek had helped Giginix land back where they started, which ended up a little awkward as she hit the ground a bit too hard, causing everyone but him to fall; but no one was thankfully hurt.  Plus, if they thought that their flight was a wonder, the way that the platform didn’t even crack in the least upon the impact with the ground made them even more fascinated with how the Fusion on it worked to strengthen the stone.


    Larek enjoyed the attention his Fusions garnered from the Mages, as he appreciated when others were grateful for the work he’d put into them.  As he smiled in satisfaction as they landed, he happened to look around, only to see that his friends and the SIC leadership were waiting not too far away from where they landed.  They appeared to have finished their discussion, so he stepped off the stone transport after ensuring that all of the operating Fusions were deactivated.


    “We’ve come to a decision,” General Auran said as he approached.  He couldn’t read the expression on her face, but based on the reactions of nearly everyone else in both organizations, he had a feeling it was a good outcome.  “The SIC is going to gradually be joined with the Volunteer Militia, but we’ll be keeping the SIC name and operate as a separate branch,” she continued.  “In other words, we’re going to work together to save this Kingdom, because what we can accomplish together will far outweigh what we can do on our own.”


    Larek nodded, glad that they had worked it out without his input.  “Glad to hear that!” he practically shouted, enthusiastic about the outcome of their negotiation.  “I’m glad my friends could help you come to that decision.”


    “Oh, it wasn’t just them who did it,” the General responded with a shake of her head.  “It was witnessing you create such powerful Fusions and casually handing out others that would have been considered masterpieces a decade ago if they were even half of their strength that helped, but it was also the promise that we would be able to fully unlock our full potential that sealed the deal.  I’m told that you can do that for us?”


    Larek nodded.  “Of course.  But only if we work together,” he warned.  He was more than cognizant that some of the members of the SIC joining the Volunteers might seek to take advantage of the situation by gaining a bunch of powerful Fusions and then working against him and the organization; if that was the case, he would have to make an example of them.  He just hoped that it didn’t come to that – but trust had to flow both ways, so he was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.


    “Did they also tell you about the Fusion that will keep the mind-controlling bugs from controlling you?”


    “They did.  And supposedly they will protect us from the Gergasi?”


    Again, Larek nodded.  “Absolutely.  That’s going to be important in the future.”


    “What?  Why?  Aren’t they, uh, related to—”


    The Fusionist cut her off before she could finish that statement.  “It’s not a secret anymore that I’m what they call a half-breed, which is half-Human and half-Gergasi.  Despite that, I have no desire to claim any relation to them.


    “If everything goes the way I hope, once the Calamities are cleared up and the Kingdom is in a more stable place, my goal is to eliminate the threat of the Gergasi for good.”


    The General smiled for the first time, the glint of what looked suspiciously like the urge for revenge flashing through her eyes.