Super Genetics
patreon
B2 - Chapter 33: Skill Master
🕑 Added 2024-11-05 18:50:37 +0000 UTCAs Terry and Juan caught the others up to speed, the Bloodsplatter Clan scurried about to leave their home forever.
Whatever happened next, they would never be able to return to here again.
When the preparations were finished, less than a hundred ghouls and only five liches were arrayed in the center of the large cavern. Exiting from the double doors leading to their Evolution Chamber, Crimson Spear led four ghouls carrying a stone sarcophagus on their shoulders like a funeral procession.
The entirety of their Blood of the Mother and their lone ghoul spawnling were encased in that sarcophagus.
Compared to the obscene wealth of the ghouls of Wichita, it felt like a pauper’s worldly possessions.
By his side, Ben—Uncle Ben, though he felt no urge to call him that—was explaining the layout of the Underworld to the group, with Juan dictating in Team Chat.
“It’s stratified layers under the Surface. The top layer where we are now is still referred to as the Surface—it’s where the weak clans are pushed, further away from the source of the Blood.” Holding his hands up, palms down, he laid them on top of each other. “The layers are pressed tight, but there’s always a small liminal layer in between where the creatures, loners, and lower intelligence undead congregate. The more powerful races tend to push them toward these layers, away from where they live and breed.” His eyes hardened, studying the group carefully. “But that doesn’t mean they’re weak. Draugr packs, rogue patchworks, powerful wraiths, maulers, bone drakes and worse.”
Terry felt his pulse quicken, thoughts of roaming draugrs and patchworks sending a shiver down his back. Though he was confident in handling a sole draugr, a pack sounded terrifying. And he’d never seen a patchwork in a true battle. His imagination ran rampant and he wondered just how powerful the hulking undead truly were.
He didn’t even let his mind fill in the blanks on what a bone drake was.
“We’re a large group, so the loners should leave us be—for the most part.” Juan shared an anxious look with Chippy and Py, clearly focusing on that last bit. “But with the Charnal Dukes hounding us, we may find ourselves pushed into a creature’s territory and be forced to put it down. So stay on guard at all times.”
He opened his mouth to add something else when Crimson Spear appeared at his shoulder.
“We are ready.”
Terry translated the ghoul’s words for the group.
Ben nodded. “Us, too. We’ll follow your lead.”
A wave of aura washed off Crimson Spear, passing over the assembled ghouls. Without another word, the procession loped off, moving at a steady jog that would have tired normie Terry in minutes.
The Awakened group set off quickly, not wanting to lose the ghouls in the twisting passages leading below.
A pitiful chirping sound came from behind Terry and he looked back to see Chippy waddling as fast as he could on his short legs, his face pinched tight in concern.
Terry smiled and reached down, scooping the tiny alien into his arms.
[Terry]: You don’t mind being carried, do you?
[Chialpuncritis]: Quite the contrary. It is my preferred mode of transport.
Chippy settled comfortably into his arms as Terry laughed.
They left the large cavern that was the Bloodsplatter home and entered tunnels dark enough that Terry had to acclimate his eyes with Master of Light before he could continue on. On a whim, he considered opening a portal to the surface to let in the natural light, but had no way to adjust it with their passage except to continuously open and close new portals.
The handicap made him consider the Anchor a Skill Quest. He had been so close to figuring that trick out when everything had gone down back on Earth. Only with the Singularity’s help had he managed to anchor his teleportation skill to it.
But if he could anchor a portal to an object, they’d have portable light to ease their journey—and fight off attacking sanguine.
More importantly than that, the possibilities multiplied a hundredfold if he considered the capability to anchor any of his Skills to any object. A token that allowed teleportation, glasses that gave the wearer infrared vision, metal imbued with telekinesis—the list went on and on.
He wished he’d taken the time to experiment in the downtime before Ben had kidnapped him.
As they ran deeper into the winding tunnels, he considered experimenting as they traveled. He sent Ben a message, since the man was near the front of the traveling group and out of earshot.
[Terry]: Can you ask Crimson Spear if I can open a portal to the surface? I want to experiment with having it follow us so we have permanent light—at least during the day.
[Ben]: You can do that? If you could keep one open and following us, the sanguine would be forced to stay back. Do it.
Not needing any further prompting, Terry reached up with his aura toward the surface. He felt Chippy stir in his arms as he sensed the power, but Terry maintained his focus as he prepared the portal framework.
He thought back to when the Singularity had burned within him, tried to recall the intricate structure that he’d constructed on pure instinct. It was fleeting in his mind, like trying to hold ten different equations in his thoughts at once.
He tried anyway, crafting the aura framework in a way that he thought resembled what he had done with the Singularity.
Light burst into the tunnel, burning his eyes for a moment before he adjusted its brightness to a more manageable level.
The portal quickly trailed behind him as they continued their run. He reached for it frantically, trying to alter its position using his sense of space and aura frameworks. But before he felt any sort of headway begin to form, they turned a corner and it was out of sight.
He sniffed in annoyance. It wasn’t like he had thought he’d get it right on the first try, but he had hoped to at least get a sense for where he needed to direct his efforts.
In his arms, Chippy squeaked quietly.
[Chialpuncritis]: What are you attempting, Terry?
He considered how to explain, feeling that he sounded a bit arrogant when forced to say it to someone else.
[Terry]: I’m trying to create a moving portal. Something that will follow my commands, or at least a fixed target. But it’s no use with us running like this.
Chippy was quiet for a moment and Terry considered trying once more when the message came in.
[Chialpuncritis]: Perhaps I could help? I know I’m not much use physically, but I am a Savant…
Terry read that message wide eyed, feeling like a fool. That settled it, he was arrogant. How could he not have thought to lean upon the expertise of a Class that was literally known for their analytical abilities.
[Terry]: That would be amazing, Chippy.
He felt the little alien shimmy deeper into his arms, a self-satisfied look on the rodent-like face.
***
[Chialpuncritis]: You see this partition here?
His three-fingered claw reached out, highlighting a section of the passing portal as they ran past it. Terry squinted—a natural instinct that he didn’t think helped him examine the aura framework in the slightest—and thought he saw where Chippy was pointing.
[Terry]: Yeah…
[Chialpuncritis]: My belief is that is responsible for an axis of its positioning. If so, then it follows that this secondary partition would be a second axis. I’ve yet to find the third, but it’s possible it’s wedged underneath.
I’m fairly confident this is the exit-side positioning—I have yet to find any sections that correspond to the entrance positioning…
Terry furrowed his brow, looking down at the rodent thing he carried in his arms like that one alien in that pre-Call movie series—the one with the big ears that talked in a strange pattern…he couldn’t remember its name.
[Terry]: How are you making that deduction? I don’t see anything about that area that would suggest it’s related to location…
Chippy squeaked—a less cute sound now that he realized it also signaled annoyance.
[Chialpuncritis]: Because I’ve studied aura frameworks for years, Terry. And there’s another piece that connects to you that is reading the data from that axis partition. As we move further away, that component alters slightly.
My hypothesis is that the fourth partition is tracking your positioning in relation to its own positioning using the aura tether and the three axes partitions.
Terry blinked.
[Terry]: Show me.
Another portal cut through space a few feet in front of them and Chippy extended his aura like a professor’s extended stylus. In quick succession, he indicated the two axes partitions he had found, then the positional partition that supposedly reflected the portal’s positioning relative to Terry.
He studied that section of the aura framework, taking an Aura Snapshot as they approached, then another one as they passed for cross reference.
As they continued on, he pulled up the two mental molds and compared them. The Skill didn’t highlight the differences naturally, but he didn’t need it to; the contrast was obvious almost on first glance.
[Terry]: Shit…I think you’re right!
[Chialpuncritis]: Mmmm.
The alien shivered in Terry’s arms, like a cat’s purr…he hoped. It was obvious that Chippy had a scientist’s disposition that had been wasted for months trapped in that cave on the Surface and he was relishing in being useful for a change.
[Terry]: So, if I alter that partition…
He reached out to the portal fading behind them, molded the first section Chippy had highlighted with a flex of his aura. The portal disappeared and Terry felt a wash of disappointment.
But then he paused; something still pulled at his aura. With a start, he traced along that line that he had assumed severed naturally. It led down, deep into the ground and out of sight.
When he found its terminus, the portal was still intact, nearly a mile below where he had first opened it.
He stopped jogging in shock, his eyes going wide. A huffing and puffing Juan bumped into his back with a bevy of Spanish curses and Terry quickly apologized before messaging Chippy.
[Terry]: It worked! Changing that first partition moved it beneath us! But it’s still open!
[Chialpuncritis]: Nice one, Chippy!
Terry raised his eyebrows at the alien, who squeaked again—a happy one, he thought.
[Chialpuncritis]: Now, the trick is to find the other two axes. Once we’ve isolated those, we can begin fine tuning the process of moving the portal!
He tried the second partition Chippy had pointed out and met success again, watching with his senses as the portal zipped sideways through the side of the tunnel, disappearing through the stone. Terry cheered, Chippy squeaked, and they set themselves to uncovering the final axis of positioning.
As he peeled apart the aura framework, he and Chippy mentally cataloged the first partition that controlled up and down as the y-axis, the second partition as the x-axis, and the yet-uncovered third partition as the z-axis.
His aura delved into the portal as they jogged past, working fast before they left it behind. Before he could pinpoint that third partition, it was out of sight.
He tried again, and again.
On the fourth try, he managed to hold back both of the blocking partitions by splitting his focus, then quickly altered the third partition that seemed to connect to the fourth partition that they were referring to as the relative-axis.
The portal suddenly zipped forward, nearly colliding with Juan’s head. The man cried out in surprise as the blue-white oval whipped past him.
Terry wasn’t sure if the portal would have taken Juan’s head with it, but he still felt terrible and spent the next few minutes reassuring the man that it wouldn’t happen again.
When Juan was reluctantly assuaged, Terry and Chippy celebrated—quietly; they’d accurately pinpointed the three physical axes and could—in theory—alter the portal’s positioning in real time.
About thirty minutes into their run down the low-grade tunnel, Ben sent a message to them all that they were stopping for a break while the scouts ranged ahead.
Juan said a prayer in Spanish under his breath as they entered a wide open cave that branched into four distinct tunnels. The cave was dimly lit by green moss growing from the ceiling—just enough with Terry’s Master of Light Skill for him to see end-to-end.
The hundred ghouls didn’t mill about mindlessly, but instead turned to sharpening weapons, resecuring their packs, or other tasks that Terry couldn’t figure out the purpose for. The spawnling’s sarcophagus was reverently lowered to the ground, the four bearers circling it like a honor guard.
Though he wasn’t winded in the slightest, he was excited for the break—it would give him and Chippy time to experiment with the positioning partitions in one sitting instead of piecemeal as they whipped past the portals.
Setting Chippy down, he summoned another portal. Brilliant yellow-white light streamed into the cave, illuminating the far corners and drowning out the green luminescent light from the moss.
Eyes were drawn toward them, Al’Ruzan, Mara-Lin-Jaid, and the ghouls who had been ahead of them and so hadn’t noticed their experimentation during the run.
Terry ignored them as Chippy’s claw reached up, poking at the aura framework around the portal.
[Chialpuncritis]: I think we ignore these three-dimensional positional axes and focus on the relative-axis. With this, you should be able to force the portal to follow you at a fixed relative position.
He thought the logic was sound but he wanted to be careful messing with any of the positional axes because zipping a portal through someone’s head wasn’t what friends did to each other.
All the same, he noticed Juan discreetly angling behind Al’Ruzan and Terry chuckled to himself quietly as he examined the aura.
It was strange considering the partitions as positional because there were no numbers, just shapes. By altering the shapes of the aura, it moved the portal or even altered the Skill…
His eyes went wide. When he didn’t move for a moment, Chippy looked up in confusion.
[Chialpuncritis]: Terry?
He didn’t respond as he pulled up another Skill. With a thought, he activated Metal Telekinesis and pulled his silver bracelet up into the air, putting it side-by-side with the portal framework.
His eyes and senses ranged back and forth, looking for the connection, knowing it had to be there. Chippy had stared at him oddly for a moment, then chirped as if in excitement. Terry felt his aura pass over the two Skills beside his, studying the vastly different frameworks—
[Chialpuncritis]: I found it!
Terry couldn’t hope to believe that Chippy had understood what he was looking for. Almost in disbelief, he replied.
[Terry]: Where?
Chippy’s aura shifted, peeling back the framework of Metal Telekinesis as he circled a particular section that looked familiar, yet different, from Terry’s portal skill.
Now that it was pointed out, the similarities were obvious.
Neither of them said another word as Terry began to manipulate the portal framework, shifting it like he’d once down months ago to Light Shift and his High-Efficiency Light and Matter Transportation to create Master of Light. He didn’t know what the result would be—Light Shift and portals evolving into Master of Light had been unexpected. Some variation of Master of Metal would be incredible, but for now, he just continued to work without trying to steer the new framework into any particular direction.
As he ran his senses over both frameworks, he began to catalog the sections of the molds that he intuitively realized were compatible. Compared to before when he’d created Master of Light, his aura attributes were much stronger—and now, he had Chippy.
[Chialpuncritis]: Try this here. No, no—here!
Terry faltered, trying to follow the little Savant’s direction. But once he realized where Chippy was pointing, he saw it too—a fold in Metal Telekinesis that would slot perfectly in the portal framework.
They continued like that for the next few minutes, Terry working on intuition and Chippy giving suggestions when his intuition missed the bigger picture. He might have thought two cooks in the kitchen would be a disaster for his progress, but Chippy had the perfect temperament to compliment Terry’s more artistic approach and he could feel—just feel—that they were moving at a breakneck pace compared to his earlier attempts in Wichita.
When Ben came over and gave them a two minute warning about breaking camp, Terry held up a hand, silently shifting another fold in the portal framework. It slotted into place perfectly and he sat back, giving Chippy a satisfied look. The two of them stared at each other in silence for a moment, the tension building, until they both cheered together—Terry whooping, Chippy letting out a high-pitched series of squeaks that he nevertheless understood perfectly.
He didn’t even need to see the notifications that rolled in to know that it had worked; they’d created a new Skill from two existing Skills.
Not only that, he felt it on some intuitive level that this Skill was a class above anything else in his catalog.
When he read the notifications, he could only shake his head, wide eyed and slack jawed as the others crowded around.
New Skill created: [Master of Telekinesis]
Master of Telekinesis (D — Upgradeable)
Use aura to move physical objects. Speed, dexterity, and distance of movement are dependent on weight and caster’s mastery of aura manipulation and aura projection.
Note: This is an upgradeable Skill. As caster’s rank, understanding, and aura control increase, so can this Skill.
Comments
Steven Beal
thanks for the chapter
