Lurona city [southern shores of Fuminao Legacy Kingdom], local time [1793.12.28]
“Ummm… What is the most… nutritious food you have here?” he asked Irra with a nervous smile.
She looked back at him with empty eyes, but was too much out of it to respond, it seemed.
He turned to Makani, who was looking at him suspiciously.
“Want me to buy you a rake or something?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
“That... will do… if it's high in fat... I think?”
Makani’s face morphed into one full of worry. “What is happening?” he asked, standing up and stepping closer. “The Medic said that you were stable…” his slightly panicked tone alerted Irra, waking her up from the self-inducted trance. She blinked a few times as her gaze refocused.
“I am not sure… but I am infected with something and my immune system is struggling… or more like dying on me,” he chuckled nervously. “Look, just give me calories… It should be enough to keep things stable,” Zeph said, starting to panic internally himself. Makani’s mood was contagious, no matter how much he tried to stay calm. The last notification was only an hour old.
“I will be right back!” Makani bolted for the doors, wasting no time asking useless questions.
“Umm…” Irra hesitated. “Do you need any more iron?”
“No… I don’t know… just… can you send another messenger to inform Aisha and Kwan?”
“The last message from them said that they would bring everyone from headquarters. Your place is along the way, it seems,” she said worriedly. “I think they should be here in half an hour?”
No wonder… How long did I sleep?! He shook his head to clear his mind.
Gru vibrated slightly. This time Irra noticed, but he didn’t care. “Water! I need water. A lot of it.”
As the girl fumbled with a pipe sticking out of the wall above an abomination of a sink, Zeph tried to organize his thoughts and get a better picture of what was happening inside his body.
He didn’t have a fever—probably because of the Homeostasis EE—and he couldn’t feel any pain besides the physical damage his body sustained. Gru was too focused to speak freely with him, but Zeph wasn’t able to tell what he was struggling with.
His internal flow of Mana was as hard to read as always. Even if he could recognize that it wasn’t flowing as it should—forming loops in places where it wasn’t previously—that was the extent of his internal perception. He could, actually, learn more from the feedback his Soul provided, but both were working in the macroscopic scale. All he could ‘see’, were his broken bones, bruises, and damaged muscles.
At times like this, he vehemently regretted fusing his Spell, Will techniques, and Energy Enhancements into the Willforce Morphon. If he still had access to the ‘Lesser Metabolic Enhancement’ Spell, he was sure he could prod his body through it to learn more. Maybe even assisting in the stabilization efforts his body was struggling with.
But it was too late to worry about his past choices. It was the first time his immune-enhancing bacteria were triggered so utterly, which meant his body was in a total war right now, despite the unassuming symptoms. Thus, it was merely a logical conclusion that he contracted a potent, Mana-empowered infection.
Worse yet – it was, most probably, a biological weapon of some kind instead of a naturally occurring disease. And those were never simple.
He was sure there was no time for half-measures. Not when one of the creations of the Maddening Aurenus was losing field. I have paid over a million UP for this immunological upgrade, for Gods’ sake! What did that man put into me?!... No, breathe… Take it slow… he tried to cool down his head while gulping the water.
If I am to live through it, I need to stay calm, he negotiated with himself.
Indeed, using a biological weapon of this kind was the lowest of the low punches. And one of the worst possibilities in the context of weaponry. The idea of biological warfare has been explored deeply on Earth, and he suspected the latest few pandemic outrages back there were a part of it, but that only strengthened his convictions at the time.
Especially because he saw with his own eyes the backstage of the pharmaceutics industry that was supposed to fight them.
You dare to use biological weaponry, he thought, losing his cool for a moment. No… calm down…
If Zeph was a religious man, or his beliefs were to be considered in such context, that part would definitely be a cornerstone of his faith. There was no tolerance for biological micro-constructs dedicated to genocide in his mind. People going into that field should strive to prolong human lives, not to end them en masse prematurely.
In his mind, it was worse than nuclear weaponry. One small mistake could end the civilization. One big mistake could lead to the end of the human race – the only sapient race that humanity itself knew of.
For the only sapient species to wipe itself out from the surface of the planet… It would be, in equal measure, the most hilarious and tragic way to go. In a way, it would have been a self-balancing act, too. The karma returning with vengeance.
But then, he would refuse to be associated with those Earthling idiots. It would be just too embarrassing.
It was, of course, a generalization of his race. But the idiocy of the whole predicament was more than he could endure mentally for the longest time.
At least now he had the mental capacity to accept the fact that a civilization built by individuals would always behave haphazardly – mistakes and stupid decisions happen on a daily basis. The fact that Corora’s culture was much more straightforward in certain aspects, that Gods actually helped to keep everything stable, and that people were ready for direct confrontations rather than silently killing each other, made it that much better place to live...
No wonder then, that this situation made him rage internally. He felt betrayed on too many levels to even express himself.
Right now, there is not much I can do, but the Shrine should be able to get rid of it. I would have to abandon some of my planned body upgrades… No, I shouldn’t think like that. My life is more important. But… If it really is a biological weapon, it’s almost sure I will get into contact with it again… It would be better to strengthen my immune system and let it do its job. The question is, how? I hadn’t seen anything better than Aurenus’s creations… Could Phleya be upgraded in that direction? It would take care of two problems – my immune system and a safe place to assure the colony’s survivability… I need to check if a mixed upgrade is possible. I would rather not have to have two different colonies, he mused silently. Irra, seeing his concentrated face, also kept quiet. She had to think over her own problems, either way.
A few minutes later, Makani barraged into the room, pushing the door with his back. He was holding twenty or so greasy wooden boxes, balancing the tower that reached his nose. “The stand owner said those are prepared specifically for physical workers on intense days. It should give you an energy boost like nothing else,” he said, kicking the door shut.
“And you bought twenty of them?” Zeph raised his eyebrow skeptically.
“Better too much than too little. It was a class-zero establishment, either way.”
He nodded reluctantly, observing as the mountain of fast food was placed on the floor near the bed.
“Are you able to use your hands already?” Makani asked, straightening up and reaching for the box at the top.
Zeph paled. “No… You aren’t going to feed me, are you?!”
Makani rolled his eyes. “It’s not the time to be picky! Here,” he said, lifting the lid. The smell of fried meat and overused oil punched Zeph in the face. “Eat!” Makani said, shoving a greasy limb of a small animal right into his face.
Was it not for his broken body, he would try to dodge. As it was, Makani just smeared some oil around his tightly closed mouth. “At least let Irra do it!” he mumbled through a half-opened mouth.
“And here I thought you had a logical mindset! Just eat it already, you moron!” He was about to shove the food into his mouth by force when someone grabbed his hand.
“Don’t use so much force. And I can feed him if he wants to.” Irra glared at Makani, but her expression didn’t change when she turned to Zeph. “I am not sure what is happening in your head, but you shouldn’t be this puny if you are to be my boss,” she declared, taking the peace of meat with her other hand. “Why is it even wrong for you? It’s just a medical procedure, isn’t it?” She said, presenting him the meat, the oil dropping on his trousers.
“Well… it just felt gross. I can eat myself if you just place the open box on the bed.” My Veil is more than regenerated, I can just lift the meat with Telekinesis Spell.
“Time is important,” she said, putting the meat closer to his mouth. “And it would be better if you don’t use Skills for now. Just eat.”
He reluctantly took a bite. Using his Will could have dire consequences, so he decided to cooperate after she took Makani’s place. Well… I asked for it, didn’t I?
Meanwhile, the Manacaster brooded mockingly. “Was it that hard to eat from a man’s hand?” he asked, pouting.
Zeph gulped down the first serving before speaking. “Aisha and Kwan are going to arrive soon with their entourage. I refuse to be flagged as man-inclined. The two of us are Heads of departments – I would rather avoid wild gossiping.”
“Ha?! And you believe she would charge in at that very moment and—”
The door exploded in splinters with a perfect timing—just as Zeph predicted—and a heavy boot of his friend cracked the floor as she stopped her momentum. She looked around frantically, before focusing on the frozen trio. “Zeph, Makani, you idiots!” she bellowed, coming closer with heavy steps. People behind her were trying to squeeze inside too, but there wasn’t enough space to accommodate everyone.
Pavail hurried inside, forcing her way through the blockade of bodies. “Are you—” she fired her first diagnostic Skills, pausing in the mid of her sentence, “—oh my GOD!” she palled immediately.
Aisha looked like she wanted to hit him, her eyes bloodshot. Thankfully, she was able to restrain herself. “Zeph…” she started. Her tone was cold enough to freeze the city twice over, sending shivers down his spine. “Care to explain why two of our most important members disappeared suddenly and…” she paused for a moment, evaluating his condition, “one of them is practically dead?!” she shrieked in rage.
He was sure that if he died, she would find a way to bring him back and kill him again.
After gulping a mouthful of saliva, he tried to argue their case. “Look, we knew it was a trap. But we didn’t expect they would actually try to kill me… They wouldn’t be able to, anyway, if not for that assassin…”
Stolen novel; please report.
Her eyes squinted as she leaned forward, towering over them. Irra chuckled hysterically and backed away, placing the meat that she was holding back in the box. “It seems you need to talk, haha… I will just—” A heavy hand landed on her shoulder before she could take another step.
Aisha glanced at her from above, her face still directed forward. Her eyes almost glowed with a restrained wish for murder. “You are?” she asked in a chilling tone.
“I-Irra Turiel the Mmmmechalchemist a-and Bio-sciensis…scientist…” she stuttered, cowering instinctually.
Meanwhile, Pavail managed to squeeze through Aisha and started prodding Zeph’s body, lightly touching swelled areas and mumbling to herself in disbelief. Ghrughah also managed to enter the room by relocating a few people in his way. The people were so intimidated by his presence that they didn’t even argue when he was lifting them gently.
“Feed him,” Aisha commanded, her eyes turning to Zeph. “Explain.”
“We were attacked by a Death Squad,” Makani interjected, seeing as teary Irra started to feed Zeph again. “At least, going by their behavior – we didn’t manage to capture anyone alive. The assassin he is talking about was on the verge of Class Specialization. Light contamination, if I saw it correctly. The ring registered a Type 3, crippling Soul attack. The Soul-link was kept active by you-know-who even after Zeph lost it. The second registered part of the attack is the result of you-know-what,” he explained, somewhat cryptically, while handling her the item.
She took it and concentrated, probably reading the recordings somehow.
“He needs to go to the Shrine!” Pavail exclaimed suddenly, straightening up and turning to Aisha. “Something is crippling his immune system, he doesn’t have long!” She turned to Zeph. “Do you have enough Universal Points?” she asked worriedly, “I… don’t think we can cure it by ourselves…”
Aisha shot daggers at Zeph. “Is that why you are dying? Can we do something to alleviate other problems?”
“Not really…”
“Don’t worry,” he said placatingly, “I have more than enough. I actually thought some of my body upgrades could profit from taking care of it…”
“And they said I went overboard,” Ghrughah boomed. “I brought both, the materials and Phleya. You can go with the full upgrade plan all at once. How much time do we have, though?” he asked Pavail.
“It’s impossible to tell,” she shook her head. “His is in a semi-stable state right now. But that balance is very fragile…”
“Let’s not waste time here, then,” Aisha decided. “Take him to the carriage! You,” she pointed at Irra, “are riding with us.”
“Y-yesh…” she said timidly, her cat ears folding on her head.
“I will stay to investigate the battleground,” P’pfel’s voice came from somewhere in the back.
“Good idea, I will help,” Ghrughah nodded.
“Good. Now let’s move!” Aisha commanded.
~~~
As Zeph was force-fed by Pavail —half of the boxes were already empty and he struggled to take anymore, but he wasn’t left with any choice in the matter—Kwan and Aisha interrogated his prospective alchemist.
Makani was just absentmindedly looking through the window.
They were riding in Ghrughah’s carriage, so there was more than enough space for the six of them.
The ride was slow, as Aisha told the driver to be gentle.
Zeph had time to finally look at his Interface. The fight, for better or worse, brought some levels his way. If he understood correctly, they had gained an equivalent of killing five people, but it was mostly thanks to Gru who was snatching the ‘positive Soul wound’ fragments from the vicinity.
Going by the amount, though… It seems we cannot just power-level on a battlefield…
It was an old question. If Gru could just snatch every ‘positive Soul wound’ fragment from the vicinity, they could, potentially, level up ‘passively’ by being close to the fighting. As it was, during their latest fight almost twenty enemies had perished. Even if only half of them sent a ‘positive Soul wound’ fragment—which was the average he managed to calculate after their other fights—it should be double their actual gains.
This meant that besides the distance limitation and the need to be perceived as an enemy—which formed a weak Soul-bond that allowed Gru to navigate the Soulscape—there was another factor.
I will need to ask him, but it seems my Veil is quite important for the process, no matter how dispersed it is. If it’s not about physical distance, but physical contact with our Mana, it would explain a few things. Power-leveling on a battlefield would be difficult, he sighed internally. The interference of others’ Mana was just too restricting.
He gulped the last serving of the meat, almost gagging because of the fatty contents, and turned his head away from Pavail. “Have mercy… If you don’t want me to return all of that food right at you…”
She wrinkled her nose. “You need all the energy for the implanting procedure. Taking into account your state, you should eat until you burst!”
“Har. Har. Why don’t you try to eat one of those?” he deadpanned. “It’s not your typical meal, you know. Makani! Say something!” He looked in the direction of the Manacaster.
His lazy gaze was telling enough, but instead of ignoring Zeph’s plight, he actually tried to help. “You know, I never tried a dish like that before…”
Pavail frowned and looked down at the box suspiciously. “Why would you even give it to him, then?”
“He was starving. I just bought the most energizing food available. I think we should test it,” he said, rubbing his hands.
She gave him a disapproving glare, but didn’t comment otherwise.
As they started the taste-testing, Zeph opened his notifications.
Congratulations! Your [Profession] [Shaman] leveled up!
Major upgrades:
Shaman [+1]
==> Memory [+1], Allocated [Flexibility] [+2] [+3]
==> Matrix space [+5], Mana capacity [+46], Mana generation [+4]
Congratulations! [General Skills] leveled up:
[Survival] is now [T1] [L76]. (+4)
[Mixed Enchanting Arts] is now [T2] [L31]. (+2)
[Explosives] is now [T1] [L97]. (+16)
[Close combat (Mima)] is now [T1] [L49]. (+26)
[Will manipulation] is now [T2] [L84]. (+12)
[Soul] is now [T1] [L66]. (+7)
Jesus… No wonder Mima never leveled up during the sparring with Aisha. The System is serious about practical application, it seems. Hmm… Going by the level-ups, the remote activation of the explosives was a major milestone. If only it wasn’t that bad for my Will…
He analyzed the results some more, seeing as his two caretakers fell comatose from overfeeding after finishing the first box.
Even if the System didn’t communicate it directly, there was a lot to unpack. Firstly, the levels in Survival. It seemed the Skill contained knowledge that could help him with his Soul defenses. He couldn’t see any other reason behind its leveling-up than the assault on his Soul. This changed the priority of reading his Skills. Second, Will manipulation and Soul. It seemed that after gaining the Willforce Morphon, the two were interconnected on a more basic level. Only after seeing the notification, he started to seriously consider what his full-body upgrade meant for him. The so-called Willforce—which were just semi-Magicules, semi-micro-Spells—was the cornerstone on which his upgrade worked. He should have learned more about them; try-and-test, like he did with Spells.
Finally, the lack of any Mana-related level-ups. What he did back then, by activating the beads without a Mana tentacle connecting to them, was outside of the purview of Mana manipulation. It was his Will and Willforce Morphon working together, if he had to guess. The exact mechanism had to be studied.
He could no longer stay ignorant of his own abilities. Not after another close call.
That last fight almost ended in his death. No, that’s incorrect… I should have died back there… he thought depressingly. I can believe some mistakes happened, but that guy… he seared through my armor and skin without any problem. If he did the same on my head, on my eye socket, I don’t think he would have problems with reaching my brain… But, if he was truly trying to keep me alive, and taking into account the Soul attack, doesn’t that mean that the infection he inflicted on me should be more insidious? What was his plan?
He mulled over the problem for some time as they were getting closer to the Shrine. It seemed like the infection was supposed to play another role. Maybe it got out of hand because the Soul attack failed? … Well, there is one way to find out.
He started humming a song—Metallica was as good of a choice as any—while looking out of the window. After making sure the people in the carriage, especially the ones that didn’t know about Gru, started ignoring him, he tried to communicate with him. The vocal component, no matter how small, simplified the process. Things he was going to ask were too complicated for the simple non-verbal communication they had developed, though.
‘Can I help somewhere? We need to talk.’
A vibration, harmonically matching his humming, was the answer. ‘Stop circles in lungs!’
Zeph focused on his internal flow of Mana. He could see what Gru was talking about, but modifying this turbulent flow was another thing altogether. Shrugging, he started the Stabilize Spell, directing the Mana-L back into his body through his nostrils. It was slightly uncomfortable, but he left enough space for air to flow freely. Moving Mana-L through his body directly would cause other problems, anyway. After his lungs were sufficiently suffused with the Mana, he started to move it through the tissue to block the oscillating Mana currents around. Mana-L was a perfect conductor for his Mana, so he used that property to short-circuit the neighboring swirls to make them interfere with each other.
It wasn’t a pretty work, and he could feel that something was damaging the vicinity of his lungs, but the majority of the currents started dispersing.
‘Will that be enough?’
‘Gra! Speak possible.’ He could feel as Gru relaxed slightly, while he was straining his mind to keep the process constant.
‘What happened during the fight? I heard someone attacked my Soul?’
‘Yes! Bugs! One big bug!’ Gru started to send him a convoluted set of impressions and explanations. It seemed he destroyed the Soul of whatever entity the gray-robe injected into him. But from that point, things started to turn for the worse.
A part of the infectious mix started mutating rapidly. The less important part—practically dead now—was consumed in the process. The problem was, the newly formed microbe was not only able to overwhelm Zeph’s immune system – it started to grow directly in Gru’s body and inside the canals of his appendages. Only Source Net was clear of the thing for now, for unknown reasons.
It was as much a struggle to keep Zeph alive as it was to stop the thing from gaining ground. Gru had found out, through trial and error, that Crystal-Magicules were deadly for the thing. Those Magicules were inherently available for him, alongside the cantrip after he gained a Class. But he wasn’t producing enough from his Soul-contamination. As so, he was creating them constantly with a Spell, using the Veil-free space around Zeph’s abdomen, and manipulated them back, into his own body and into the Source Net for safe-keeping.
We fucked up on so many levels… Zeph thought depressingly. I will have to teach Gru about bioengineering. That mistake could have killed us both. It would be, probably, much easier to deal with that thing if it stayed alive. Destroying its Soul was a mistake…
As he contemplated on the results, they arrived at the Shrine. Aisha and Kwan lifted him on a primitive stretcher, made by P’pfel from spare clothes and wooden sticks, and took him to the lobby through the black-and-gold halls.
You seem unwell.
—was the greeting he received after touching the black hemisphere.
‘Yes, thank you. Can we drop pleasantries and get right into the issue?’ he sent, rolling his eyes.
[Body upgrades]?
‘Indeed. May as well use the occasion. Can you modify Phleya to work with the new material AND be able to live in my body? Helping my immune system?’
Calculating….
Finished.
Yes. We can arrange something like that. But it will cost a bit more…