“Do you even know where you’re going?” Andrew asked, panting as he followed Nil down the caverns. They spiraled and zig-zagged, heading deeper underground. Stairs occasionally made the descent easier, but in most instances, it was grey rock, smoothed by decades of traversal. “This place is a fucking maze, and their signage makes zero sense.”

“I’ve been to the caverns a couple of times before,” Nil replied. Unlike Andrew, he had no trouble regulating his breathing during the jogging pace. It wasn’t just the difference in realms, but only one of them had spent the past few years regularly cardio-training. “I’m mostly following Energy Instinct.”

“That ability is fucking broken. Samara says Aether Manipulation is the pinnacle of sensing and controlling the flow of magic, and I can’t sense squat over the manametal nodes.”

“Neither can I,” Nil replied. “But the energy from them is fluctuating. I’m sure you’ll sense it, too, once you have more practice and ascend the ability to Iron Realm.”

Andrew fell quiet as they continued deeper into the cave system. He drew his latest creation, leaving the magic shotgun holstered at his waist. The new weapon resembled an antique revolver but had the characteristic luminous symbols, lines, and patterns of aethertech. At the same time, it looked like Andrew had used junk from around the settlement to assemble the device.

You can take the man out of his scrapyard but not the scrapyard out of the man.

The silly joke amused Nil, washing the last of the heaviness from the ritual out of his body. He caught himself just as he was about to scan his surroundings for the visage. A week had passed since it left his life, but he couldn’t help but look for it every now and again.

Meanwhile, the array of lines around his forearms had further solidified. It looked like he was wearing the line sketch of plate-armor gauntlets. They had lost some luminosity, now resembling dimming blue wire. When Nil grazed the walls, his fingertips didn’t make contact with the rough surface. Instead, a few millimeters separated them, and the still-forming chassis shimmered for a moment. However, Nil could feel the texture of the stone through the gauntlet. The words from the visage continued to echo in his mind.

Forge Worlds

Nil struggled to tell whether it was memories of the recent experience or the soul weapon’s attempts to communicate. Flashes of the visions accompanied the words. The luminous lines surrounding his forearms shifted marginally to match the gauntlet design he had seen. Most curious of it all was the timing of the change. The pair had just come upon a deep crevasse, and the bridge across it had crumbled.

Does this mean I could shape the world around me?

Nil didn’t get much time to ponder the possibility. A grappling hook shot over his shoulder and attached to the ceiling on the other side of the gap. The tether attached to it glowed with arcane light. Andrew twisted a lever on the blunderbuss-like device connected to it and shot to the other side. Nil did the same with a minor Expend-powered leap.

It wasn’t long before they encountered a collapsed tunnel. Stone fragments floated off the pile and gravitated towards Nil’s palm. None made contact with the gauntlet. Instead, they gathered as a tight orb just in front of it.

Break Worlds

The deep, booming voice spoke again, leaving Nil gritting his teeth. He willed the visions away as he pounded the obstacles. It didn’t take him long to break through between exploding blows and disintegrating stones.

A couple of luminous lines broke away from the central shape and solidified as sparse outlines of chains. The soul weapon’s new half-baked form was closer to the form designed for shattering the earth than dealing with the forge.

“We interrupted the process,” Andrew explained, studying the shifting soul weapon as Nil worked through the collapse. He occasionally shot worrying glances at the trembling ceiling. There was always a chance that Nil’s efforts would cause a further collapse and bury them. Nil guessed his friend didn’t stop him since there were miners, guards, and others below who likely needed rescuing. “The gauntlet and Schema have interacted once again and found the possible paths for you. But you haven’t communicated and settled on something yet.”

“I figured as much,” Nil replied. “I checked my Schema interface. There is a blank notification. I think that was supposed to be the prompt for a soul weapon path and starting ability. Is it fucked for good? Can we complete this later?”

Andrew shrugged. “How should I know?” He paused. Andrew looked over his shoulder at the dark passage behind them before rubbing the back of his head. “Sorry. I’m not pissed. Just stressed.”

“And you’ve got a head injury.”

“Nonsense.”

It didn’t take long for the pair to break through the obstacle, and then they were on their way down again. The sound of battle and screams of terror rang in the distance, echoing through the narrow passageways and distorted by all that lay between Nil and the source.

The constantly falling debris ensured Nil had no trouble keeping his energy stores topped up. Even though it slowed his progress, he kept Andrew ahead of him to ensure collapses didn’t kill or maim him. Supercharging speed and Bronze-Realm Finesse helped clear falling threats in time.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Andrew, as usual, never failed to impress Nil. Despite being in the Mortal Realm and newly ascended, he just about avoided most threats without assistance. Nil kept a close eye on his buddy and took the time to recover from Samara’s ritual. Every step and passing second helped him feel more like himself. Simultaneously, the soul weapon felt more solid and alive. Faint chains dangled from his arms and dangled after him. In a couple of instances, he swung them into falling debris and turned the stones into gravel and dust.

“Nil! Andrew!” A familiar voice called as the tunnel opened into a large cavern. It was one of Samara’s assistants. An overturned wheelbarrow lay next to her. Its contents, rough, luminous blue crystals, lay strewn across the floor. A bridge extended across the cavern, and one of its support structures had collapsed, breaking a wheelbarrow wheel and trapping her leg. “Help!”

Freeing her was no effort at all. Though heavy for a mortal, Nil moved the rubble without the assistance of Expend or Toggled Supercharging. Meanwhile, Andrew pulled the woman away from the edge.

“I got you,” Andrew. Much to Nil’s frustration, Andrew chose to pause and help the woman instead of rushing to the ongoing fight. Her situation didn’t seem critical, and he wanted to move on. However, he refused to leave his friend behind. It wasn’t just that Andrew was an Artisan and still in the Mortal Realm. His inexperience was most likely to get him killed. “Do you know what happened?”

Working the sous chef role required Nil to have fire safety and first-aid training. They proved useful now as he helped Andrew provide immediate care. It sped things up.

“Scourge Agents and Cursed Hounds,” she replied, sounding jittery. The woman winced as Nil had her tighten her own tourniquet. The wound on her calf wasn’t serious, but that didn’t mean slow blood loss wouldn’t eventually be her death. The state of her leg meant she would struggle to leave the cave system alone. “It's been a while since the bastards tried to steal directly from the caverns. I wasn’t going to let them succeed after last time.”

The pair dragged the woman and her cart out of the cavern to the exit tunnel’s mouth before continuing down. They didn’t make it far before facing their first threat. Energy Instinct failed to detect the almost-skeletal, bat-dog hybrids that leaped from the darkness. Andrew blew a pair out of the air with his blunderbuss.

Rip And Tear

The translucent gauntlets transformed again. The chains faded before the angular armor grew longer and took on a more organic shape. It thickened around the wrists, and the fingers elongated. Luminescent claws extended from the fingertips, glowing with a crimson tinge, unlike the faint white lines that formed the still-incomplete soul weapon.

An especially large Cursed Hound leaped from the shadows, maw wide open and dripping with vivid purple slime. Nil barely detected its presence. Fortunately, Iron-Realm Finesse and supercharged speed proved enough to dodge the attack and counter with a powerful swipe. The creature’s gory insides sprayed Nil as the claws ripped and tore hide and flesh like they were made out of paper. Even though Nil had Absorb active, Brutal Battery’s stores dipped as the claw’s lights flared.

Holy shit, this is amazing!

The claws were barely an inch long and didn’t go deep enough to damage internal organs or cause internal injuries. However, they proved sufficient for shredding flesh and breaking through defenses. The drain ceased as soon as Nil broke away from the beast. It faltered and swayed, struggling to stay upright as blood poured from the wounds and intestines peeked out. Orange slag accompanied the purple fluid. The two fluids spluttered and steamed as they mixed.

Another specimen attacked Nil before he could put the beast down. They were smaller, and a couple of strikes proved enough to put them down. It felt strange to adjust to fighting with claws instead of fists, but Nil liked the soul weapon far more than the previous two. It would make for a perfect pick if future developments added greaves or boots with similar energy-powered claws to the soul weapon. However, it didn’t feel like enough.

Andrew supported Nil from the rear as they pushed forward. His mid-ranged blasts forced the larger and smarter beasts to slow and retreat. Nil appreciated the breathing room. The soul weapon seemed to sense Nil’s thoughts and changed once again. The left gauntlet grew spinning spikes. Meanwhile, the other grew into a giant fist. The two arms appeared uneven, but the imbalance failed to throw Nil off balance. In fact, despite the bulk, he didn’t feel their weight.

Nil blocked with his left arm. The spikes shrunk into the gauntlet whenever there was the risk of damaging his person. The spinning bands sped up as soon as a beast closed its maw on the limb. Adjacent rings spun in opposite directions and had little trouble breaking teeth and shredding the insides of mouths.

When Nil’s instincts told him to feed energy to the right fist, he obeyed. It glowed red, and the strikes were almost half as devastating as the chained gauntlet.

Adapt.

Conceptually, Nil loved the idea of an adaptive chassis. However, it felt too reactive. He needed control and the ability to pick and choose his abilities. Unpredictable transformations could significantly hamper his fighting style.

As the pair pushed, the sounds of Samara’s soldiers, apprentices, and the other summoned fighting reached their ears. It was too much for them. The smaller, inhuman Cursed entities pushed past them, heading towards Nil and Andrew. It seemed they wanted to rush up the tunnels to the settlement above.

Nil tried his best to control the adaptations using Energy Instinct and cultivation techniques, modifying the flow of energy passing through them. His attempts forced another transformation, and the soul weapon adopted a form he hadn’t seen before.

Wield The Source

The new soul weapon resembled the world forger’s gauntlets but sleeker. It seemed devoid of any bells or whistles or anything fancy. They looked like a pair of solid metal but organic arms, proportionally larger than Nil’s. The endless horde of Cursed Hounds didn’t give him the chance to think about it. Instead, he just fought.

The chassis’ ability became clear when Nil used Expend’s alternate function. An especially large Cursed Hound refused to go down despite empowered punches. So, Nil chopped at it while focusing energy along the outside of his hand. A blade of wcrimson energy burst from the surface. It started at his wrist and extended six inches past his middle finger’s tip. He felt energy seeping from all his fingers except the index and pinky. They were free to move while the conjured blade locked the rest in place.

Brutal Battery’s stores rapidly depleted as he cut through one hound after another. The horde no longer had him and Andrew at a standstill. Instead, the pair pushed forward much faster than before.

It only lasted fifteen seconds. He had to dispel the blade and fight with Absorb on, letting the attacking beasts restore Brutal Battery’s stores. Once they pushed him to near full. He conjured the blade again. But it wasn’t just the blade. When Nil released an explosion of energy with a punch, a shockwave of energy burst forth. It disintegrated all within a six-foot cone. The attack consumed three-quarters of his stores.

I like this. I will wield the source.