Chapter 65 - Wake and Make

I awoke in my workshop with an aching head and an empty stomach, and when I finally gathered enough of my will to actually open my eyes everything felt off, unreal almost. Or maybe too real. The weird, omnipresent white light wasn’t helping anything. I felt like I was viewing the world through a wide lens camera, and the impulses from my mind were just signals sent to a swivel upon which the camera was mounted.

My swollen tongue felt like a foreign entity in my mouth. The air tasted wrong too. Someone had gone and replaced my tongue with a dead fish, and everything was being filtered through that dead-fish-filter.

The familiar little mana motes hung in the air around me too, thick and lazy, drifting in patterns just on the edge of logical.

I drunkenly sat up on my cot, slowly shaking my head and trying to get some feeling back into everything that should have feeling. Nearby, my workbench loomed out of the pure white of the room, all right angles, squeaky joints, and old oil smells.. It looked wrong too…

Oh. I was on the floor. Someone had switched out my cot for a pallet of some kind, just padding and a blanket, really. Now that I thought about it, everything did seem taller. What had happened to my cot?

I stretched to get some of the blood circulating again, but something made me hesitate when I tried to move my arm, a slight pressure, warm.

Looking down, I saw that I wasn’t alone. There was another, smaller pallet next to mine upon which Samila laid on her side, breathing soft and rapid, one hand resting just above my wrist. She looked rough, her robes wrinkled, her face muscles tensed, and her body rigid like she was ready to jump to her feet at any second. The strength at which she held onto my arm was a good indication of how tense she was. If I were someone else, there'd probably be bruises.

Carefully, I shifted the angle of my arm until her grip loosened naturally and fell away. I caught her hand before it could hit the bed and let it down gently. Somehow, that seemed to relax her, and she sank down into a more natural position to sleep.

As for me, I felt like I’d spent enough time in this bed for two lifetimes.

Also, I was surprised to still be alive. It was a welcome surprise, mind you. Very. However, I hadn’t really counted on living this long back when I’d hatched this plan. I had half expected to either die to Ephelir or have us die together and rid the world of both sources of corruption, but things had gone sideways during our little duel ending in a forfeit where I lived and now I had to go through with the hard part.

I looked down at Samila again. She looked so peaceful like this. The mask she wore in her waking hours was gone, giving way to the woman underneath. She wasn’t goading me into anything or trying to lift my spirits or get me out of my own head. She was just lying there, being herself, and aside from the blue scales and lack of hair, she looked incredibly human, just a pretty girl dreaming in her bed.

I felt the urge to put my arm back where it had been to feel that touch again or maybe wake her and tell her I was okay, but I decided against it. That urge was coming from a place of… I didn’t know.

If I were feeling introspective, I’d probably say that Samila was the one that sought me out in my glass cave and dragged me kicking and screaming into the light with other people, and, on some unconscious level, I knew that was something I needed. My mom used to do it when she was alive, take my hand and lead me into wondrous places, and, again, if introspection was something I was doing (which I was not), that was probably something I missed.

You do not need to wake the girl because you miss your mom, Ryan. That’s weird and creepy and we’ve moved on. Best let sleeping dragons lie or however that saying goes.

There was a powerful, growing pressure deep in the center of my brain, swelling urgency and anticipation. I wanted to do…

There was all this… potential like a gas pocket in a mine that was just waiting for a spark to finally expose the deep places of the world to open air. I wanted to- No. I needed to stretch, and if I didn’t do it soon, I would lose something. Of that, I was increasingly certain.

Compulsion. I feel compelled, but like it’s coming from me at the same time. System? Is that your doing?

With a thought, I brought up my logs, reviewing the messages I’d received. Five levels in a matter of seconds. Five error messages. A new achievement received five times.

Demon Slayer.

I couldn’t be sure, but that one seemed like something that shouldn’t have happened five whole times. It felt momentous, like it was something that would be celebrated back at Exotic HQ. Was there an Exotic HQ? Probably not. If there was one, however, someone getting this achievement would be commemorated with drinks, dancing, and questionable decisions. The reward was-

Depth increasing. Stand by....

Depth increasing. Stand by....

Depth increasing. Stand by....

Depth increasing. Stand by....

Depth increasing. Stand by....

Status Gained: Internal Bleeding [1 HP/sec]

Status Gained: Brain Hemorrhage [1 HP/sec]

Status Gained: Brain Hemorrhage [2 HP/sec]

Status Gained: Brain Hemorrhage [6 HP/sec]

…

Oh.

Apparently, I’d had a stroke. A big one. That was distantly concerning. Distant because I had my logs right there, telling me I was at full HP again and that the Hemorrhage status was gone. Distant, also, because my thoughts weren’t coalescing on the fear enough to get that jolt of dread usually associated with near death experiences. They couldn’t.

I blinked trying to pin down why I wasn’t freaking out. Had I been nearly killed too many times to worry about that kind of thing anymore, or was it the ridiculous urge to do eclipsing all other thought right now? Was it the System’s doing, or was I already a jaded veteran in my late teens?

Okay. Take control. What do you think you should be thinking?

I did my best to simulate what a normal, non-me entity might think about all of this.

The System had popped my tiny brain by ‘rewarding’ me a little too freely. The error messages had to have something to do with that. There was no way I was supposed to receive Demon Slayer that many times for one kill. Perhaps it was because I received it when ‘Duelist’ threw an error? Then it tried to do it again and again with the same results.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

What kind of design was that? What did the System do in a typical case when someone killed a ‘true Nemesis’ as it had said? It had to have happened at least once or twice for the achievement to even exist, so what made me special enough to kill with the reward?

I thought about it for a full minute and, over the course of that minute, started to understand.

My specific situation had to have come up sometime. The universe- er, the multiverse was an impossibly big place. Someone, at sometime, in some universe had to have challenged a corrupted, godlike Exotic way above their level to a duel in the past… and also had said Exotic restrained in a beam of light specifically designed to imprison him… which was made by a genius Dark Lord figure utilizing the power of a unique cosmic phenomenon… and… then… won?

Well, if I put it that way, maybe this was an edge case. An extreme edge case. I was still sour about it, though. The reward nearly fried my brain.

Okay. Time to take a look at the damage.

Ryan Kotes - Level 23 Animator (Uncommon)

Type: Artificer (Common)

Core: Engine (Unique)

HP: 301/301

MP: 267/267

Attributes:

Body: 53

Mind: 42

Spirit: 106

Free attribute points: 5

Abilities

Shape 9 (Transmute)

Consume 5 (Reservoir)

Iron Grip 4

Devouring Grasp (Magivore) 5

Volatility 3+++++

Imbue 4

Trigger 4

Automate 4+

Tempered Channels 4

Knife in the Dark 23 (Mark, Curse of Obfuscation)

Hardened Defense 1

Compartmentalize 3

Tension Step 1

Expanded Channels 1

State Change 1

Collect 1

Skills:

Climbing 8

Unarmed Combat 5

Running 5

Stealth (Gray Man) 12

Conduit 5

Split Mind 9

Spear 4

Deception 5

Disguise 3

Sword 6

Pistol 4

Mana Manipulation 2

Jumping 2

Affinities:

Goblinoid F

Iron E

Steel F

Magnesium F

Mendau Wood D

Limestone E

Cobalt E

Deep Lead E

Nickel E

Copper E

Pex Oil F

That was simply a stupid amount of ‘+’ signs stacked on top of Volatility. Five levels of depth applied to a singular ability I wasn’t supposed to have in the first place and one I couldn’t level through use.

If Jassin’s interpretation of the System through his Dominion magic was correct, then the System was currently carving pathways through my body to make way for my abilities, but it was a slow, methodical process. This, however, was anything but that. I barely ‘had’ Volatility at all. If the pathways for my other abilities were gentle streams, growing wider and deeper over time, as was natural, Volatility had just gone from a tiny rivulet to a giant fissure where water went and was never seen again. Once I used it a bit and completed the depth increase, who knows what might happen? Would I have more brain bleeds to look forward to?

Grimacing, I checked the new description.

Volatility: &@Attract. Inject_ #$&U. Convert()(#*. Release**

Right. That was supremely unhelpful and disturbing.

I let out a long, calming breath and closed my eyes. There was no need to dwell on it, at least not now. I’d deal with the aftereffects when they arose. Hopefully near a hospital.

Plus, there were two other abilities I didn’t quite know the ins and outs of just yet.

State Change, I’d gotten when I’d reached level 15 and, as yet, had not found a whole lot of use for it.

State Change: Change the state of matter using magical means. Mana cost is directly proportional to energy difference in states.

Yeah. I could use State Change to turn iron into liquid or mercury into fun little cubes, but the ability’s uses were limited for now because of how expensive it was and how pliable I could make metals already. Why would I need to liquify copper if I could already mold it exactly how I wanted it with a touch? What use I had for molten metal in the palm of my hand, I didn’t know either, other than gaining familiarity with the beds in the burn ward. Oh, did I forget to mention that? Using mana to change a metal’s state came with all the associated temperature changes too, and let me tell you, molten iron is hot.

I did have to admit that turning lead balls into plasma was pretty fun at first. I couldn’t deny that. Sure, those experiments were less than practical, and I had to use a few full mana tanks on the Automated casting bowl to turn the tiny BBs from a solid to a plasma. That made the expense less than practical if I wanted to mass produce exploding plasma balls, and as plasma was wont to do, it had a tendency to shed its electrons and react to pretty much whatever was floating around in the atmosphere at the time… violently. Thank Constance for blast shielding.

Change State was probably far from useless, I knew, but using it would probably remain a ‘future Ryan’ problem. I needed to do more experiments and make a new casting bowl for said experiments since the last one met an unfortunate end.

The newest ability, the one I’d gotten at 20: ‘Collect,’ looked like something present Ryan would like to play with.

Collect: Align Shaped materials to gather ambient mana into associated Triggers. Rate of gathering affected by material composition, material affinities, Animator’s affinities, ambient mana density, and material surface area.

If I was reading the description correctly, it was now possible for my creations to reach out and grab mana on their own and stuff said mana into whatever Trigger I’d built into it. The aiming arms of all the turrets could collect a portion of their own mana and use that to locomote as opposed to all of the power coming from my Automated smart cards or from myself. If anything, it would take the edge off of the mana cost of operating a turret.

What’s more, if I let something like, say, my sword charge itself over time, I could afford to Trigger something cool with it once or twice a day. Maybe a shape change or maybe cast its own version of Willing Edge.

Wait, no. I was thinking about this all wrong. If I could get my material to collect ambient mana to fill Triggers that changed the materials’ shape, then I would effectively be converting supernatural energy to something like kinetic energy. The mass would essentially be moving in space, powered by mana.

There was a name for something that converted one type of energy into another type. I’d worked with them my entire life.

Engines in everything from vehicles to powertools to electric toothbrushes… I’d tinkered with those. They all converted power into motion. If I was right, I might be able to make magic powered engines.

My fingers twitched. The urge to do was almost irresistible.

I looked down at Samila one last time, smiling slightly at how sweet it was for her to wait with me while I… how long had it been? Had this been a nap or a coma?

Either way, the compulsion I was feeling wasn’t going away. In fact, I could barely sit still. My body and my mind needed to do. Right now.

If I’d been out for longer than expected, that just meant I had less time to do this before I’d be leaving. That made it the perfect time to slap all of my five points into Mind. I was going to need some brain power.

Quietly, I slipped out of my bedroll and touched my bare feet to the white glass floor. It was cold but not overly so thanks to my higher Body score. My boots weren’t anywhere around here to put on anyway, and they’d make more noise. Samila looked like she needed the rest and, if I were being honest with myself, I liked having her here, even as a passive presence in the background.

With great care, I gathered up my bedsheets and spread them over the dragonkin girl, making sure all of her was covered and cozy. Almost instantly, she seemed to unclench and fall deeper into a restful state, curling up in the warm bedding and snoring quietly.

I took up one of the little sticks of chalk and leaned on the workbench. I needed to do this right. With direction.