While grasping Kinzul’s hands, gazing into her eyes gratefully and lovingly, I continue to plot out exactly what I’ll be able to accomplish. Having had Kinzul show up was fortuitous indeed. I’m more assured that the hivemind muscle memory will work. Another fortuitous arrival is Iylynila, and I quickly rush to embrace her as she’s realizing Prinrin is in dire straits. Though I want to apologize for not being there for her, Illy requested the privacy, and she stops my thought train before I can formulate an apology.
Miraina offers to go snag the eight strategists as well, and at this point, we may as well. We’ll have most of the Order of the Onyx Dawn, and its four newest family members partaking in this hivemind experiment. Boetah, Shaylon, Farzhis, Revvy, Greggy, and Veril would probably volunteer, but they’re exhausted, and that might worsen the hivemind rather than aid it. What else can I do to make use of this incredible amount of brainpower? Huff, I definitely can’t learn the time stopping spell or meteor spell at the moment. Rather, the books would teach me the spells, sort of.
The meteor and timestopping tomes are like the other books that require dedicated amounts of time reading them in order to teach their secrets. Well, they’re somewhat like the other tomes, only instead of granting an ability, they grant the ability to perceive the hidden runes within the book. That’s dumbing it down a bit, since they also grant minor abilities related to the spells, but anyway, the main reason not to waste my time on those is that the friggin’ spells are nine hundred ninety runes each.
Even if I could afford to quicken the casting of the meteor or the timestop, I’d pass out after casting one, if I’d casted anything else in the day at all, since I pass out at the one thousand S P mark. Otherwise it’d take all day to cast one of them if I tried to do it without quickening it. The meteor might be worthwhile to just nuke an entire stronghold from a mile away, but I’m pretty sure I’d light up like a magical beacon for anyone with any mana-attuned senses, for the entire day-long casting time. I’d virtually need my own private army protecting me to safely get the spell off and not end up blowing most of the runes for nothing. Speaking of private armies. How many people will we have at this point? Sixteen, seventeen, or eighteen going into the orb? Somewhere around there.
The excitement emanating from Nietru at the idea of sharing minds on a fundamentally intimate level is palpable. I try to refrain from either blushing, chuckling, or grinning at her excitement. She said she has a head for numbers, so I’ll ask for her help making some estimates on best uses of time before going in. Spreading out the resources available to us, I point at the ones that will be necessary to save Prinrin, and those that would move me forwards towards higher tiers of capability, as well as those that might possibly share new powers with everyone involved within the hivemind.
The ones that interest me most in sharing with the hivemind are those that grant one to three uses per day of certain spells without dipping into anyone’s sorcerous potential pools. The meteor tome has a miniature meteorite spell that conjures six to ten softball sized space rocks to launch at foes. I’m still a bit leery about giving Yui and Yuri access to the knowledge to be able to decipher the meteor spell itself though. One that I’m less hesitant to allow everyone to gain is the quickening of metamagical potential, since they only really apply to non-mnemonically aided spells to begin with. An ability somewhere between those is found in a new tome that I’d just located. It’s conjure monstrous mana construct at the eighth tier, once per day. Another is instant recall. Instant recall is one that simply lets you recall an object that you’ve cast it upon before. It also only works once per day, and only on objects bound to your own soul.
Sadly, Nietru confirms my suspicions, “Sorry Schism, we’ll need at least one data point bare minimum to even hazard a guess as to what we can make use of overall in terms of how much this sporific form of yours can handle. As elated as I am to have you coming to me for answers, I’m more sorrowful that I don’t have any I can offer until we have more information. Still, you’ll have full access to my mind throughout your experiment. I’m certain you’ll make full use of my capabilities.”
Flashing Nietru a sad half smile I nod. It’s as I expected. There’s no points of reference to even be able to start guessing as to the form’s true capabilities, and there are so many variables, especially with the orb in play. Oof, here it comes. It’s a good thing I’ve been more or less naked since my lava bath. My form begins to squish, distort, morph. My vine-tendrils burst forth from my spore-pack as I sprout a mushroom-cap atop my head. This version of my myconid form does not have limitations to its ambulatory ability, in fact, its limbs are easily at least as responsive as my usual RS2 limbs. Not only is it responsive, but it’s also got the added benefits that its compound eyes, and vine tendrils offer.
As frightening as it is to ask people I care about to let themselves be subsumed into a hivemind, my sporebrain, I release puffs of spores one by one. After some internal discussion with ourself, we come to the conclusion that this is the best use of our shared mind. Inside will be; Ahliyuri, Atter, Iylynila, Kinzul, Miraina, myself, strategists-eight, Shiz, Teuila, and Vylon. Outside will be; Ahliyui, Kagired, Lucky, and Prinrin herself. This allows us to operate in an interior of eight left brains and eight right brains situated around the central hivemind, the Reggie-mind, while within the orb, while keeping several unique minds outside the orb. Yes, this is most optimal indeed.
I link our hands, we submit and link our hands, as the main body of Reggie brings us into within the realm of the orb and its dreamlike time. We drink hungrily of distributed learning and processing. We savor the leaps and bounds we make in understandings, in enchantments. We work simultaneously crafting runes, mastering them with a single hand. We utilize our tendrils to disassemble this potion into its constituent humors, and find ourselves quite capable of replicating it, quite capable indeed. We shall do this with many more potions indeed during our time in the orb.
Trips into the orb repeat, again and again as we absorb enchantments within tomes, master runes, and calculate myriad advantages for the war. The orb cracks further and further and further. From Thainan’s manuscripts, a libram written in pitch upon linen, we absorb the ability to generate a Stony Body, a rock armor similar to our Steely Body spell, several times per day for each of us. From the Astral Enchiridion of Neta, a book bound in some monstrous sort of hide from a creature we know not, we absorb the ability to conjure forth an eighth tier monstrous mana construct for each of us once per day, for the few seconds to several minutes that it is supposed to last.
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Each of us is attributed a differently leveled duration with which we are gifted Neta’s Enchiridion’s ability to manifest monstrous mana constructs. Even though each of us can only manifest it once per day, our durations differ quite wildly in some cases. The Teuila and Reggie sections of the hivemind last for precisely two minutes each. Lady Kinzul’s manifestation lasts for one hundred sixty two seconds. The manifestation belonging to the Vylon segment of our hivemind lasts for one hundred forty four seconds. That which belongs to the beloved deviant known as Prinrin lasts exactly six seconds longer than the ones belonging to Teuila and Reggie. The beloved Iylynila’s similarly lasts exactly six seconds longer than the ones belonging to Teuila and Reggie.
Yet other durations exist for the conjuring of the monstrous mana construct of the eighth tier as a supernatural ability as well. The Spellknight twins Ahliyui and Ahliyuri each have a duration of exactly a minute for its power to remain manifest, and Lucky’s would last the same duration. Miraina, Pawn, can manifest hers for approximately eighteen seconds, while the eight strategists can manifest theirs for anywhere from a dozen to a few dozen seconds. Kagired, Sponge’s manifestation would last approximately ninety six seconds. Shiz’s manifestation would last ninety seconds whilst Atter’s would last one hundred thirty two seconds.
It seems in almost no time at all we gain leaps and bounds, distributed amongst all of us. From a leather-bound tome known as the Articles of Alin, we learn how to fill a small space in the air thick with a lethargy inducing mist several times per day, not sleep inducing, no, sluggishness, heaviness. This slowing mist is certainly one best used on smaller foes in great numbers that would fit within its limited area. It may do nothing at all to a creature large enough to not be weighed down by its magical might.
From wooden slats known as the Infernal Gimmil Slates, we absorb an ability that benefits the Shellcrackers the most. We can either enchant an item already bound to our souls such that we can recall it on another day, or recall an item of ours, once per day. This “instantaneous recall” spell-like ability is one more object on a quest or mission that we might not have been able to bring along, or might have forgotten, that may turn a tide.
From a fox-fur trimmed leather-bound libram known as the Compendium of Heusandro, we each become potent sorcerers. We find that we can evoke fourth tier or lower shadowy versions of magics, or through Cairbrie’s Scriptures, conjure third tier or lower magics with shadow stuff several times per day each. Not so powerful or deadly as the way Reggie already knows how to do an eighth tier shadowy evocation. It is a lower tier than that of Reggie’s primary known offensive spell, but still potent.
Through a folio sealed in a lacquered blackthorn box known as the Folio of Leobuleo, we feel as if we are opening a casket of Fimbulvetr from Fakeworld’s Norse mythology. Upon absorbing its enchantment, we can each generate frost in a cone several times per day.
Through the Cula Esoterica, a rabbit-fur trimmed leather-bound obscure libram, we pick up a familiar enchantment that has been available in several tomes. We can quicken greater, more rune-costly spells for the same volume of sorcerous potential investment. Better yet, after another subsumation of the same sort of ability, from the Eternal Compendium of Glinarv, and the Senau Apocrypha, it now only takes half as much additional power. Instead of doubling the cost of sorcerous potential invested in casting spells to quicken them, it only takes one and a half times their normal cost, rounded up of course. Fifty S P to cast a thirty three rune spell in a timely fashion is far, far, far more achievable, and easy to keep track of for the simple Reggie brain that spends its time not guided by the hivemind.
We cave, and allow each of us to learn the secrets of generating our small artillery battery of meteorites, too hungry for the knowledge and power to pass up the chance to learn. We feel more at ease with our Spellknight twins regardless, them having given themselves over to ourselves completely. Between our Lady allowing us to Administrate all Latents and learning, that which we learn and absorb in accelerated time is stored safely in the external twin in normal time. That is, it’s safely imbued into Ahliyui’s mind, her mind, our mind, where we all shall be able to retain it all. Our healer and our wounded, protected by our hound, make certain that even our twin on the outside is not overwhelmed or harmed in the process.
In far too short a time, it would seem that the orb is soon to sheer and shatter the rest of the way through, so we must refrain from abusing it further. We are desperately desirous of utilizing it down to every last second of its capabilities, but then we could never repair it or understand its workings. At least if we stop now there may be some chance to peer within its enchantment to learn how to make use of its accelerated time, its realm of dreamstuff.
While we were working within the orb, the gems required to absorb spells and enchantments in certain methods seemed to disappear, but then would reappear during spats when we’d returned to reality. Now however, after having fully absorbed the enchantments that we’d shared out into reality, back into ourselves that had learned them in the dream-realm, the gems now disappear for real in this waking world outside the orb.
Similarly, though in linear reality we’d only experienced several minutes, this form has experienced days upon days upon days that it is not supposed to be able to last through. The form begins to lose cohesion, and the hivemind begins to separate. The sporebrain releases its grasp on each of its parts in turn, carefully, gently, one after another. As we’re doing this, we attempt to coalesce all memories from the events, all the shared accelerated time, all the rote muscle motion, everything we’d learned and become within orb time. We do not “steal” it from ourselves that return to individuality, we copy it.
We eventually become me, I, myself, Reggie Shellcracker the solo myconid once more. Only a moment later, I’m returned to RS2. I’d used the time in the orb to both absorb enchantments, as well as to learn and master somewhere around, or possibly over, three hundred total runes. Eighty or so of the runes I’d mastered were for the dispellation spell, the most important part of what I’d just done, the only part that matters. That’s the part that could possibly save Prinny from this curse. Nervous beyond belief, I gulp and I wait with bated breath as I scour my memories and mind for runes and enchantments, but primarily the runes.