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Nero Walker, Book 3 Ch.40 (155)
🕑 Added 2024-04-17 22:30:00 +0000 UTCSpecialist Howard rubbed his chin in thought while he replied, “Yeah, I managed to get a pretty good look at their tunnel. It didn’t look good.”
Nick looked over at the man and asked, “You were able to regulate your perception field well enough to see through the essence disturbances? That’s impressive.”
Even as a researcher with little to no combat experience, he was well aware that during engagements of any significant size the ether tended to become saturated with highly charged essence streams. The cause of course being the numerous essence fields pushing conflicting identities into the ether. As a result, the information acquired through perception fields tended to become very difficult to interpret with any degree of certainty. Not to mention the added difficulty of being in the middle of a density shift to contend with. The ether here was filled with the most turbulent essence flows he’d ever seen.
Remembering how bad it had gotten during the battle, Nick was very impressed with the specialist. It took an enormous level of skill to see through that degree of essence disruption.
Waving away the compliment, the specialist replied, “It wasn’t all that impressive. When the rift closed… shut-down… maybe, disappeared? Yeah, let’s go with ‘disappeared’. When the rift disappeared the backlash in the ether was strong enough to freeze the ambient essence in its place. At that time, I happened to be trying to figure out where all the kobalds were coming from, and I just got lucky.”
Captain Angelton wasn’t too interested in the ‘how’. His only concern at the moment was the ‘what’. “Describe to me exactly what you saw,” he ordered.
Everyone standing around the make-shift command table listened closely to what the specialist had to say.
After taking a deep breathe, Specialist Howard began his report, “The kobalds must have been intending to use the tunnel as an invasion point because they were able to widen it a great deal while we were fighting. The opening was twice the size it was when I first saw it. That speaks to a great deal of preparation and planning. Also, there were hundreds of kobalds pouring out onto the surface. Now that I think about it, I’m not sure why they even needed the rift.”
Interrupting the specialist’s report, Nick added, “It wasn’t about the troops, I don’t think. From what I could tell from the limited look I had at their spell-array, the troops were most likely just a matter of convenience. I think the real goal was to alter the landscape and convert the area into their domain.”
The captain turned to Nick and asked, “What makes you say that?”
Nick replied, “Simple, nowhere on that array was a single rune-set dedicated to diffusive identity mitigation.”
Seeing the confused looks on the soldiers all around him, Nick decided to clarify his statement a little. “You see, normally planar gates and intersections are naturally limited to the material plane. Especially those which are created on purpose. A surrounding area’s identity is usually not influenced by their presence. In that way, portals are usually very different from planar rifts, spawn-points, and other typical essence events. Yet, the kobalds chose to deliberately open a planar rift rather than a portal. So, I can only conclude that their purpose was the main difference between the two types of planar connections.”
The captain listened to what Nick was saying, but didn’t think it really mattered in the grand scheme of things, so he decided to move the conversation along.
Turning back to Specialist Howard, the captain asked, “All right, so that explains where all their reinforcements were coming from. Did you have any trouble with their spell-casters?”
The specialist shrugged lightly, and replied, “Not really. For the most part it was a slug-fest. Their essence control wasn’t all that much better than ours, and I didn’t see any evidence of unfamiliar magic. Aside from their shaman’s disturbing proficiency at soul magic, that is.”
Everyone at the table grimaced at the mention of the uncomfortable topic of discussion. Yet, they were too professional to let it stop them from facing the reality of the situation.
Nick scoffed and replied with some heat in his voice, “That’s surprising to hear considering how many souls were burned to fuel your spells during our escape.”
While everyone raised their eyebrows in surprise at the accusation, no one looked more shocked to hear it than specialist Howard. “What in the hells are you talking about?” he demanded.
Nick looked at the specialist, his head tilted to the side with some skepticism. “You mean you weren’t the one doing all that soul-magic?”
Specialist Howard shook his head in denial and said, “I thought that was you! I wasn’t going to say anything, as it really isn’t my place to judge what type of research you do, but I should have known better than to think that poorly of you. After all, those spells were pathetically simple for a mage of your caliber.”
The two men shared a mutual look of insight, and then both shouted at the same time. “Nero!” “Walker!”
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Nero made his way toward the group, avoiding eye contact with the men and women standing around the fold-able table. ‘Might as well get this over with,’ he told himself, resigning himself to what would most likely be a thinly veiled interrogation.
When he got close enough, he smiled widely and said, “Mission accomplished, eh guys! We closed the portal, killed a bunch of flesh-eating kobalds, and escaped to fight another day. Good times all around. How about we put a pin in this Q&A then touch base tomorrow?”
No one cracked a smile, and the vibe he was getting was decidedly NOT one of appreciation for his efforts. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought he was in some kind of trouble. However, considering all his recent successes, he figured something else was going on.
Running his eyes across the frowning group who didn’t seem interested in answering his question, he tried another angle, “So, is this cave going to be our new base? I’m just asking because I couldn’t help but wonder what’s stopping the kobalds from just making another hole, or even just widening the tunnel? Are we expecting them to just forget about us?”
Nick was the one who decided to broach the subject on everyone’s mind, completely ignoring Nero’s inquiries. “Nero, were you the one doing soul magic?” he asked, his voice full of ice.
To Nero, the question was so completely out of left field, he had no idea how to respond. Cocking his head to the side in confusion, he replied, “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.”
When Nero heard the term ‘soul-magic’, the translation he received was about the manipulation of a person’s soul. To his mind, he not only hadn’t done any soul-magic, he wouldn’t even have the first clue how to do it if he tried.
Specialist Howard joined the conversation by asking, “When we were falling back from the site of the summoning, someone was using the souls of the dead kobalds to fuel their spells. While I appreciate that we were in a tough situation, there is no excuse for discarding our humanity just to live another day as a lich.” By the time he finished speaking, the man was nearly growling with repressed rage at the thought of this reckless young man messing with magic he couldn’t possibly hope to control.
The subject of their poorly veiled accusation dawned on poor Nero, and he responded in the only way he knew how. He laughed in the man’s face.
The entire table froze as Nero burst into hysterical laughter. The young man gripped his sides in mirth, and everyone could see Nero was starting to tear up from how hard he was chortling.
Trying to catch his breath, Nero held up a hand to try and calm down the specialist. Nero could feel the man’s essence field vibrating in what he could only describe as righteous indignation at Nero’s flippant behavior.
“Calm down, dude,” he said, barely able to get the words out while he regained his composure.
Finally coming out of his impromptu mirthful episode, Nero grinned up at the man and asked, “You think I was using the souls of the dead in some dark ritualistic casting or something? That is the stupidest thing I’ve heard all day, and just this morning I heard that guy,” he paused as he gestured over at the captain before continuing, “order less than 100 soldiers to charge into a horde of kobalds and try and stop an invasion with nothing but our ‘can-do’ attitude and a few fresh-faced recruits.”
Nick rejoined the conversation, his tone completely devoid of humor. “Are you saying that you weren’t the one to cast that soul-magic?” he asked for clarification.
Nero shook his head in amusement and replied, “I think I understand your confusion. Once again, you are all just ‘wrong’. I didn’t use souls to power my spells, I did the same thing those kobalds were doing, I used the leftover potential from the dead bodies to substitute for my center.”
Almost everyone at the table shared a complicated look with each other. However, Nick and Howard’s eyes remained on Nero, not even remotely swayed by what he was saying. Other than them, the only person who remained unfazed was the ever-stoic Captain Angelton who watched over the argument with his arms crossed and his steely gaze constantly judging everyone around him.
Nick put his hands on his hips and hissed, “Nero, we’re perfectly capable of recognizing soul-magic when we see it. What you and the shamans did is considered border-line illegal in Oglivarch. And that is only when the person doing it has the relevant background to survive the disgusting years of research required to master that vile field of magic.”
Specialist Howard added his own two valens. “As a soldier, I understand the tactical advantage of using what’s available to gain an advantage, but using the souls of sentient creatures is a dangerous game for a caster. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, soul-mages end up turning into vile undead things which become nothing more than a blight on the land around them.”
Nero’s mirth vanished as they kept talking. It was obvious to him that they weren’t understanding what he was saying. ‘They think I’m some kind of necromancer or something?’ he thought, shocked at the surprising evidence of idiocy from his normally intelligent companions.
Running his fingers through his hair, he tried to clear up the growing misunderstanding. “First, let me just say that I’m not going to turn into an undead by doing whatever it was I did. Or, at least, I can’t see how that would be remotely possible. But, I’m sure you’ve all studied the subject thoroughly, so I’m probably wasting my time explaining myself. However, I’m going to give it my best shot regardless. The ‘fuel’ as you so colorfully put it, was not souls. As I said before, it was just the stuff left over from when the soul goes off to wherever it is that it goes after someone dies. For God’s sake people, can’t you see the kobalds souls still clinging to their bodies after their dead? I didn’t touch a single one of them! What kind of a monster do you think I am?”
Nick spoke up, surprise evident in his tone, “You could see their souls waiting to be reattached?”
Nero looked over at the man and replied, “You can’t? It took a while to understand what I was looking at, but yeah, I could see them. There is a little bubble, or dent, in the ether that I’m guessing leads to wherever it is their going. When the thread that connects the soul to the body snaps, the soul just kinda slips into the bubble and disappears. What the kobalds and I were using to cast was the stuff that was falling off the souls while they were waiting for the string to snap. I’m calling it ‘potential’, because that’s what it is. I’m guessing you could say it was the unused ‘experience’ or whatever.”
Nick and Specialist Howard shared an uncomfortable look, neither knowing what to think about what they were hearing. Yet, Nick was nothing if not a dedicated scientist, so he tried to figure out what Nero was trying to say. “So, you weren’t using the souls, just the experience that was attached to their souls?” he asked.
Nero shook his head, annoyed that they weren’t getting it. “No, not at all. I wasn’t touching their souls at all, and neither were the kobalds. Can’t you see what happens when a person dies? The soul starts releasing whatever potential it was holding onto into the ether. If you’re looking for it, you can just treat it as another essence flow that is floating all around us. You had to have seen it. There was so much of it floating around that the essence in the area was shaking like a plucked guitar string.”
Nick frowned in thought, while Specialist Howard adopted a confused look while he tried to figure out what the hell Nero was talking about. Unfortunately for the rest of the command staff, they didn’t have the relevant magical knowledge to understand the subject at all. To them, it sounded like a typical scientific argument that probably boiled down to how each party wanted to define something. Although without one side accusing the other of being an idiot, they couldn’t really be sure.
Nick was hesitant to expose Nero’s unprecedented skill in essence perception, especially since it seemed to be so incredibly versatile, not to mention powerful, but he just couldn’t help himself. “So, when you look at the ether through your perception field, you’re actually able to ‘see’ the individual essence flows, not to mention the souls and the experience coming off them? Can you see that dimensional film as well? Are the individual essence streams identifiable to you?”
Nero didn’t immediately reply, as the looks he was getting form the command staff were starting to make his palms sweat. “Um… yeah. You know I’m getting pretty good at seeing what’s happening in the ether. We just spent all day providing me with dead bodies to look at. Is it so hard to believe that I figured out how to see souls? It’s not all that difficult if you just try. It’s like squinting to see the hidden image in a magic-eye picture.”
Although no one understood Nero’s reference, they were able to get the general idea of what he was trying to say. No one at the table was unaware of how extraordinary the ability to perceive the ether like that would be. The tactical advantage alone would be nothing short of phenomenal. Each of them took a few seconds to imagine all the possible advantages the skill could provide. Surveillance, Teleportation anchoring, Spell work, even social skills like lie-detection and essence field interpretation. There wasn’t a single field that couldn’t be mastered with the aid of that kind of ethereal perception.
Specialist Howard broke the silence by muttering, “You could be the greatest surveillance-mage of this age. How is that possible?”
Nero wasn’t unaware that he was better at seeing through the ether than everyone else was. However, what he’d failed to realize, up until now, was how much better at it than them he actually was.
Surprisingly, it was Captain Angelton that got the conversation back on track. “I’m assuming that’s how you were able to disrupt the rift. You were able to locate, isolate, and destroy the tether directly. That’s a powerful skill young man. Don’t worry about the question of whether or not you were doing soul-magic. I’ll personally see to it that you get the relevant study materials so that you can avoid the fate most soul-mages resign themselves to. For now, go set up your tent and get some rest. Remember to eat. We’ll talk again later,” he said, then gestured off to the rest of the cave and ordered, “Go on now, you’re dismissed.”
Nero didn’t fully understand what ‘fate’ the captain was referring to, but he recognized the ‘out’ the man was giving him. Figuring that he should take advantage of it while he could, he replied, “Thanks, Cap. Let me know if you need my help with anything. Good luck with your planning and what-not.”
After offering a cheeky two fingered salute as a goodbye, Nero took off to find a spot to pitch his tent. ‘Well, as long as I didn’t accidentally get myself labeled as some kind of ‘black-mage’ or something, I’m sure I’ll be fine,’ he thought to himself.
As he made his way through the cave, he thought about the singular cleric he’d met, and couldn’t imagine a guy like that leading a crusade to root out evil liches and expunge their wickedness from the world. However, it might be best to not rely on his ‘glass-cannon’ spell in the future. There was no accounting for how stupid prejudice could be. Even though he’d explained it was all just a misunderstanding, didn’t mean they would believe him. Whether or not he was right wouldn’t stop them from burning him at the stake if they really decided to go all ‘witch-hunter’ on him.
With those happy thoughts bouncing around his head, he skillfully put up his little tent while chewing on a ration bar. There was really no point worrying about it. Not to mention that this society didn’t exactly scream ‘middle-ages’ to him. At worst, they’d probably assign him to a remedial magic class and force him to renew his magic-casting permit or something ridiculous like that. With that amusing notion relieving his tension, he decided to think about something else.
‘Tomorrow is going to be interesting. Are we planning a counter-attack? Guerrilla warfare? Fortifying our position? Are we even going to bother with the spawn points that are no doubt growing in number?’ he wondered to himself with some excitement.
‘Ah, who am I kidding… I’m just glad I’m still alive to worry about it,’ he thought to himself with a smile. He really was enjoying being an adventurer. It was all so exciting, and random.
Comments
Osama Laden
Come on!!!!👍👍👍👍🦍🦍🦍🦍💥💥💥🧍♂️🧍♂️🧍♂️🧑🏿🦽
Ocean Breeze
That's really decent feedback. This is not something that has bothered me personally, but it's very possible that it would if I was reading this as a book instead of chapter by chapter.
Brisyngr
Thank you for the chapter. I suck at giving neutral feedback but imma try anyway. All these misunderstandings/emotional whiplash and acting stupid/smart is slowly distracting from the overarching story for me. I really like the world you are building but pretty much every chapter i get annoyed at the character interactions and thoughts. I just feel like the story is getting even more extreme in thise regards, like Nero is regressing in maturity and has in my eyes negative character growth. Hope my wordvomit was understandable and not discouraging ^^
