Seras Streams
patreon
Chapter 64 – Finding the mage’s tower
🕑 Added 2024-10-29 01:24:37 +0000 UTCThe duo kept trudging onward. Jace had tasked Priam with watching the desert horizon as he kept an eye out for that magic-face thing that was sometimes watching them. As soon as he spotted it, he tapped Priam, “Dark Matter Cloak (Rank 3) [Group].” The duo was surrounded by the spectral, purple aura as they vanished from sight, became untraceable and undetectable.
“Why do you think he’s watching us so much?” Priam asked.
Jace scratched his head, “Well, I’d bet because we have so many dungeon cores bulked up into a single bigger one? Like, it shines brighter, magically, or something? My eyes didn’t pick up on much except that they’re gold and have a golden aura around them.”
Priam paused and looked at him, “Gold?”
“Yeah. Why? Are they different to you?”
Priam nodded, “They are dull silver to me.”
Ollie tapped the side of Jace’s head, “They’re silver to me, also. Must be those fancy All-Seeing Dragon’s Eyes of yours.”
“So…they’re magic?”
Ollie frowned, “Probably. That could explain why Double-A wants them. But he just instigates the localized Cosmogenic Merging – at least that is what all of the records state.”
What if it’s something different? Jace thought. Some type of magic that we’re out here gathering? “Priam, on your world, did this magic stuff have…vessels?”
“Oh, yeah. Lots of types. Potions, mostly. Drinkable spells. I suppose they would be drinkable Skills, now.”
“Ollie,” Jace muttered. “I have a theory. It’s a bit out there-” but what isn’t with this whole situation? – “Do you think that these…dungeon cores – could they be magic containers? Or a…natural deposit of magic?”
“Hmmm…” Ollie’s voice thrummed just behind Jace’s ears. “I…Hmm…do me a favor, Priam. Try licking it.”
“What?!”
“Just try it,” Ollie stated. “Go on Jace, get it out of your bag.”
Priam looked to his Wayfinder who shifted shapes in a dancing tumble, “Fine, I’ll try…licking the dungeon core.” A look of revulsion went across his face.
Jace pulled the dungeon core out of the backpack. Really, it was 64 of them all combined, and while each individually would have been the size of a baseball – which Jace had only seen one of, way back in his youth at the orphanage as the older kids played in the small backlot – this one was the size of his head.
Priam leaned forward and licked the sphere. His face lit up with a satisfied look. “Oh, wow! It tastes…hmm…how do I describe it? Candy? Sour candy?”
Jace felt the sphere get slightly smaller. “Ollie, did he just…lick a dungeon core out of it?”
“Looks like it!” Ollie said with a smile. “This is raw magic. Bloopa, give me access to Priam’s readout.” The shifting shapes twirled and vibrated slightly as they rotated. “Just as I thought,” Ollie said with a chuckle. “Priam, if you were a native to this world, you would have gotten a brand-new spell, so a new Skill. But you did not. Instead, you got the magic converted to a useable form – Stardust.”
Priam looked at Bloopa, and his eyes went wide, “That much?”
“How much?” Jace asked.
“450 Stardust,” Priam muttered.
“But its baseline was 300,” Ollie stated. “This calculation is based on soul energy, and since he has naturally high compatibility at 150%, well, 150% of 300 is 450. You’d get-”
“75, because of all my prosthetics putting me at 25% compatibility,” Jace stated. I always did do decently with numbers.
“Now we know why Double-A wants these,” Priam stated as his eyes met Jace’s. “He wants the Stardust for himself.”
“Not quite,” Ollie interrupted. “He is a native to this world. Each dungeon core he consumes? It gives him a new Skill. It is a fascinating workaround of The Cosmic System’s normal Ascendant limitations. I thought Legendary (Equipment) Boons were the only way to get around the System limitations of ‘no new skills for Ascendants’.”
“Does that mean I could get new Skills from the gods on my home world?” Priam asked.
“Very probable,” Ollie replied. “Even after you become an Ascendant.” He grinned, “That explains why most magic worlds end up under the control of the Planetary Independence Pact. Those Ascendants have a workaround to keep growing their Skill repertoire. I am surprised that Xera did not know about this. I will make sure she knows.”
Jace frowned, “So…if we fought this guy, and he’s been doing these Dungeon Run events, getting 500 new Skills every time…” he let the thought linger and the four contemplated the implication.
Priam broke the silence, “He’d have thousands of Skills. Even your Arbiter thingy can only stop one at a time.”
“But!” Ollie replied. “Most of his Skills are magic. The nature of Jace’s Anathema Arm alone will let him just disable or stop them with a touch. The ones given by his Class? Those are fueled by Cosmic Power, not pure-magic or divine-magic.”
Jace looked at Priam with concern, “I think…if we end up confronting this guy, you should not be there. I can’t rip off my arm and put it on you.”
Priam nodded, “Makes sense. You could take him one on one, I’m sure. Plus, I can put a Pulsar Ward and Pulsar Physic with the [Contingent] Evolution on you before I leave.” He grinned, “And maybe you can keep the dungeon cores. I’d love to get a whole bunch of Stardust for doing nothing but licking a sphere.”
“Let’s go get that phylactery first,” Jace replied as he put the dungeon core back in the sack. “Come on.”
>>>---<<<
The dunes gave way to a flatter section of the desert, and Jace could see the edges of the world. Quite literal, edges of the world that fell away. As Ollie had explained as they had approached; the world was not spherical. Most were spherical, but a few were flat and existed in the universe…but were exceedingly rare.
This one was called a square world, but they came in all shapes. Given the near-infinite possibilities of an ever-expanding and evolving universe, inevitably there would be other flat world shapes. Bloopa – through Priam’s interpretation abilities – explained that there were at least 10 such flat worlds across The Cosmic System at the moment. All but two were artificial discworlds made by technologically advanced civilizations.
“If you were to go to the edge, then you would loop around to the underside and basically be upside down. But on this world, there is nothing down there. It is just…plain grey,” Priam conveyed as Bloopa shifted shapes and forms.
“Why can’t I understand Bloopa with the Universal Translation Skill?” Jace asked.
“It is not spoken or written – it is a symbol-sign-type language. An oversight from when The Cosmic System was first created by The Architects. Xera’s brother Xero was…shall we say…not very wise. Intelligence in spades, but not wisdom.”
“Ah,” Priam muttered. “Like the difference between a scholar in the archives and an elder dispensing knowledge.”
“Correct,” Ollie replied. “A Common (Skill Evolution) could overcome this issue in foresight.”
The ‘System Glitch’ location from the (Information) Boon used back on the glacier tile was just on the edge of the world. Jace had been toggling the Dark Matter Cloak (Rank 3) on and off in bursts to try and disrupt any chance of being tracked.
And it appeared to have worked. Thanks to the new [Innervating] Evolution for Cosmic Infusion, he could keep Dark Matter Cloak on for up to 30 minutes at a time at (Rank 3). But that would drain him to exhaustion. But he had been cycling for 15 minutes on, and about 1 hour off to maintain a decent energy level.
The flat terrain was broken up by scattered bits and pieces of broken masonry and stonework. The ruins of some ancient construction made of pale grey stone, blasted by sand and the weather until it was cracked and torn apart into countless bits and pieces.
<<<<<>>>>>
SYSTEM ERROR: UNMERGED LOCATION IDENTIFIED
Emergency Message dispatched: You have come across a location on a world that The Cosmic System was not able to fully assimilate through Cosmogenic Merging. Because of this, you may lose access to your Cosmic Power and Class Skills. Now that the System has been notified, it may take up to a minute to integrate. Please stand by.
<<<<<>>>>>
The message showed up in front of both their vision, and they waited patiently. “So what was it like,” Priam asked, “Being in this thing and separate from The Cosmic System?”
“It was…scary,” Jace replied as an invisible ‘thrum’ passed through them and the air wavered slightly. “Ollie vanished, I had none of my Cosmic Power. I was sinking because of the prosthetics…If not for the hydromancy from the World Pillar, I would’ve died.”
“Huh. So magic still works even with no System present. That makes sense,” Priam replied as he crossed his arms. “How long does this localized merging take?”
Ollie flew out in front of the duo, happily splashing in phantom nebulas. “No more than a minute. Just wait!”
Jace nodded and sat down on the sand. Priam followed suit, and the former picked up some of the substance and let it run through his hand. “This feels weird,” Jace muttered. “It’s not anything like the gravel I sometimes touched back home.”
Priam scooped up a handful, “My dad used to say that ‘relationships were like sand’. He said a famous philosopher and wise woman said it. I don’t remember the rest of the saying, but it had something to do with holding on too tightly.”
Jace chuckled and picked up more of the substance, gripping it tightly in his prosthetic limb. Only a slight trickle left it. “Maybe the part you forgot is that even if you hold that relationship tight – erm, close, I guess – then you’ll still lose some of it.” He picked up more sand with his other hand and made a slight opening within his clenched fist at the top, and poured more sand in. “But you have to keep adding more to it.”
Priam looked up at him with a…an almost awestruck demeanor. “You’re a philosopher?”
“A what now?” Jace asked.
“Wise person. Someone who makes comparisons between the world around us and life lessons.”
Jace let out a laugh and let the sand fall from his grip. “No! No I’m not that smart.” He stood up and offered a hand to help Priam up. “Come on, I don’t see the air moving anymore.”
Ollie flew back into Jace’s hood. “Yup! It is integrated!” He pointed his paw past Jace’s face, “Onward to the hidden phylactery!”
The duo walked on, and Jace made sure to toggle his Dark Matter Cloak (Rank 3) [Group] to being ‘on’ to ensure that the Archmage Ascendant had no clue where they were or what they were doing.
There were several partially buried structures, and Ollie pointed out one that looked like a fallen-sideways tower. It was partially buried, and there were several windows that were made of some very hard, glass-like-but-not-glass substance. “Inside that,” the Wayfinder stated.
Jace tapped the near-glass stuff. “Think it’s safe to break?”
Priam tapped it with his foot-paw, “Hmm…it’s not quite glass. But close to it.” He shoved his face against it and tried to peer inside, “Nope; too scratched up from the sand.”
Jace motioned for him to back away a bit, and the duo got several feet away. Jace threw his sword – and the blade bounced off. “Huh…okay.” He recalled it to his hand. “Thoughts?”
Ollie frowned and slightly tapped the top of Jace’s head. “Hmm…an [Exploding] Dark Matter Dart should do the trick.”
Jace raised his blade and pointed at the window, Dark Matter Dart (Rank 1) [Exploding]. The black-purple bolt shot out, drilled partially into the window, and then exploded with a resounding bang that kicked up sand around the impact point. Jace walked up and smirked, “We’re in. It’s a twenty-foot drop.”
He planted his grapnel arm and waved Priam over. The bunny-boy grabbed onto his back, and Jace lowered the two into the fallen tower.
