Chapter 27
“Good! Tighten up those lines right here… here… and here… and you should be able to complete it. Remember, keep your focus on what you want to happen with the Fusion while you feed it with Mana, but also ensure that your formation doesn’t fall apart.” Larek helped to set up the portable walls around his student’s spot on the pillows, activating the Muffling Fusions on them as soon as the young woman told him she was ready. “Good luck; I’m looking forward to seeing your first complete Fusion!”
This particular student was the last one of those attempting to create a Fusion in his second class ever, as all of them walked in with extreme confidence in their ability to create a Fusion formation. At least that confidence was well-placed, as it didn’t seem to be borne of arrogance; they all showed an impressive control of their Pattern Cohesion and development of their formations. In fact, he’d only lectured for a short time before the first of them asked to make a Fusion, and Larek supervised him as he started the process, before leaving him to his efforts behind the muffled walls. They were tall enough to block out distractions, but when Larek walked by, he could peer in on the students to ensure they were doing fine, and so far everyone who had begun a Fusion was doing amazingly well. They weren’t exactly prodigies, like he had been when it came to Fusions, but for them to have understood the whole process and to start creating them in less than a week, that was quite impressive.
What was even more remarkable was the fact that their formations, or more specifically their Pattern Cohesion, was more substantial and seemed stronger than the Pattern Cohesion from nearly any other Fusionist he’d met before. Only his old Professors had “better” Cohesion than these new students, which was definitely saying something.
There were two main reasons he could think of for this difference. First, each of his students had all four of the pattern-related Skills that he could share with them. Pattern Formation, Pattern Recognition, Pattern Manipulation, and Pattern Restoration all built upon each other, naturally granting an understanding of patterns that most Mages didn’t possess. From personal experience, he knew how much of a difference it had made when he unlocked the newest Skills about patterns, and it seemed to have made a huge difference with everyone who also possessed them.
The second, and potentially more impactful reason, was because his students had unlocked their full potential. None of the other Fusionists he’d ever met had their Martial stats unlocked as well, and the relationship between his Body and his Pneuma had boosted his Pattern Cohesion to incredible levels. He’d asked Nedira and his friends if they saw a direct correlation between their own stats similar to his own, but none of them appeared to have the same boost to their Pneuma.
But that didn’t mean there wasn’t a correlation, though – only that it didn’t reflect in the same way as his own stats. He thought that the quality and strength of the Pattern Cohesion he was seeing being manipulated by his students was proof enough that there was a relationship between them, and it made sense: A stronger physical body could only help to make a person’s internal pattern stronger.
“Prof—Larek?” he heard from behind him, and he turned to see Lamarn – the first student to start creating Fusions – had finished and was standing up with a smile that stretched from ear to ear. “I did it!”
“Congratulations! Let me take a look at it,” Larek said, quickly moving to his side. The Fusion that Lamarn presented to him on the wooden block was well-constructed and complete, though he saw a few areas where he thought his student could improve upon the formation. As he communicated this to Lamarn, Larek couldn’t help but experience a feeling of pride in his student for accomplishing something that many Mages had felt was difficult, back in his days at the Academy.
“Pro—Larek?” he asked, forgetting to call Larek by his name instead of Professor. “I have a question. When I learned the new Fusion, there was something different in the description compared to what you told me to expect.”
Confused, Larek asked what it was.
“Well, you said that the Illuminate Wood +2 Fusion required 5 Pattern Cohesion to create, correct?” Larek had to think about it for a moment before he nodded. There was a fairly predictable progression of Pattern Cohesion costs when it came to increasing the Magnitude of Fusions. There was some variation on some of the more complicated ones he’d created, but for the most part, if a Magnitude 1 Fusion only required 1 Pattern Cohesion, then Magnitude 2 required 5 Cohesion, Magnitude 3 required 10, Mag 4 was 40, and so on.
“Well, mine said that it only required 2 Pattern Cohesion,” Lamarn explained. “Did I do something wrong?”
Larek’s mind screeched to a halt. It took him a few seconds for it to start working again, but when it did, it was running at high speed. “It’s only 2 Pattern Cohesion? Not 5?” he asked, wanting to be absolutely sure he’d heard the young man correctly.
“Yes, that is right. Why is it different?”
Rubbing his chin in thought, Larek stared through Lamarn as he tried to work through the situation. For some reason, the Pattern Cohesion requirement for his Fusion is significantly lower than mine, but why? Is it just his, or will all of my students see a change? Even if it’s just him, how is this possible?
Just then, an older woman caught his attention from across the room as she finished her own Fusion. “Congratulations, Mardyn!” He walked over to her, waving Lamarn to follow, as he inspected the Fusion. Just like the young man’s, her Fusion and the formation were quite well-made for a first attempt, simply with different sections that needed to be improved in the future compared to his. After he was done, he asked her what the description told her, and when she had the same result of only 2 for the Pattern Cohesion, he started putting things together.
“I think I see what’s happening here,” he said slowly out loud to his students. “From what I suspect, you’re encountering the true cost of creating these Fusions, which should have been like this from the start – at least for those who aren’t a Gergasi, or even half-Gergasi. The Humans in this Kingdom were the ones who discovered Fusions in the first place; unfortunately, until now, no one other than the Gergasi has had their full potential unlocked, meaning that creating Fusions was subjectively more difficult than they should’ve been. But now that your bodies, and therefore your Pattern Cohesion, are much stronger than any Mages’ in the past, the true cost of creating these Fusions is finally being seen.”
“Are you saying that they are even less expensive in terms of cost to create for us than what you have to expend for them?” Lamarn asked, his face and voice clearly shocked.
He waved his hand back and forth. “Sort of. I have a lot of bonuses to reduce the resource costs, thanks to my Skills and Specializations, but take those away… yes, it is much less than what I – and every Mage who hasn’t unlocked their Martial side – have to pay. Tell me, what are the Mana Cost and Fusion Time listed on the description you received?”
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
“Uh, it says 20 for the Mana Cost, and 7 minutes for the Fusion Time. What does yours say?”
I guess I was right. “75 for Mana Cost and 25 for Fusion Time.” There was a significant difference there.
But there was still a question as to why there was such a difference between him and the others – which Mardyn asked about a second later.
“I… can only assume that it’s something about the Gergasi that is affecting the costs. I can only assume that it might be even more expensive for a full Gergasi, as I haven’t heard of a single Fusion being used by them – or at least none that they have created directly. Plus, with the way they cast spells, at least from what I’ve seen, they barely even use their Pattern Cohesion to any significant degree. If I had to guess, their Fusions would last a fraction of the time that previous Fusions created by Mages would last. It’s still to be seen how long yours will stick around, though I imagine they will last for quite a while. Maybe they will not yet be permanent, but I have no doubt that at some point you might get there.”
“What do you mean? Aren’t these Fusions permanent? Yours don’t seem to be degrading or anything.”
Larek chuckled at that. “Ah, well, mine have always been a bit stronger than an average Mage’s. I think that I borrowed some of my Human heritage with the stronger Pattern Cohesion while also inheriting the detrimental costs from my other side. The combination inside of me is a bit broken, I believe, though not necessarily in a bad way when it comes to Fusions. Spells, on the other hand, are impossible for me to cast.”
Both of them inhaled in shock. Apparently, that was news to them, and he realized that he hadn’t gone over that when he introduced himself during the last class. “You can’t cast spells?”
Larek shook his head. “No, my spell patterns are too strong, and I can’t regulate them to be less permanent.”
“That’s… unfortunate. But you can use Battle Arts and create Fusions without any difficulty?”
He hesitated for a moment before he explained, “Well, I do have issues controlling my Stama properly, even with my Stama Subjugation at a higher Skill Level now. I had to create a special Fusion around my Stama to allow it to be controlled more easily; otherwise, handling it was more than a bit wild.”
“I see. So, what you’re saying is that the Gergasi, despite being physically and magically stronger, are less able to create Fusions with any expertise, while those such as the people of the Kingdom are weaker, physically and magically, but can produce stronger and more effective Fusions? And that you got a mixture of both the benefits and drawbacks to both races? Does that mean that other races might have other special qualities?”
Larek shrugged. “That sounds about right, though I have no idea about other races. I’m not sure if they’ve had their potential for long enough to know, but there is a good chance that is true.”
As the other students finished their Fusions one-by-one, he checked in with them to see if their resulting Fusion descriptions were similar to the first few that he’d talked to, and they all, invariably, were exactly the same. Unfortunately, there weren’t any students in his class that came from outside the Kingdom, so he couldn’t test the theory that other races might be different, but he thought he might ask Verne to create a Fusion to see what his said. Larek knew that it hadn’t been any different for him back when they were at the Academy, but now that his Martial side had been unlocked, he wondered if it would be different.
“Well done, everyone! I’m extremely proud of all of you, and I’m excited to see what you can all accomplish when you continue to learn in this class and beyond. Did anyone raise their Skill Levels as a result of your Fusion today?”
Everyone raised their hands, with grins on their faces.
“Excellent! Continue building up those Skills, because they will be imperative to learning how to tackle more advanced Fusion concepts and formations.” He looked around at the rapt attention of the individuals who had surprised him with their accelerated development and abilities. “I mentioned this to some of you while we were looking over your Fusions, but I want to recap what we’ve recently learned….”
Larek went on to explain to everyone what they had discovered about the abilities of the people of the Kingdom and the Gergasi, as well as expanding upon his own special qualities and limitations. Some of them already knew about this, such as Lamarn and Mardyn, but to most of the others, this was news to them.
“So, what does this mean going forward, you may ask? The most obvious development from all of this is that it should be much easier for you to create Fusions than any other Mages in the history of the Kingdom, which, in turn, will lead to faster Skill increases, and therefore, stronger Fusions. But what it ultimately means is that the future Kingdom will be forever changed by what you do. Yes, I’ve made quite a few Fusions in my time here, but I’m also only one person. I can only imagine what you will accomplish when you have the opportunity to experiment and develop your own unique Fusions, many of which will likely compare to or surpass anything that I’ve created.
“I look forward to that day.
“That being said, there is still a lot for you to learn about Fusions, especially Intermediate, Advanced, and more complex varieties, but you’re already well on your way to success with what you’ve done today. I’ll be passing out some formations for you all to study in just a moment, and I want you all to continue creating Fusions on your own time, as long as you feel like you can do it safely. Don’t push yourselves to the edge of your capabilities right now; just work on repeating the Fusion you’ve created today and perhaps increasing the Magnitude, or even one of the other Fusions on these sheets. I can tell that you all have a fairly solid grasp of the basic concepts of formations, so I trust you to take that grasp, couple it with your instincts, and raise those Skill Levels!
“We will have more classes in the future, though I’m not exactly sure when that will be. I’ll be leaving here tomorrow, and I’m not sure where I’ll be back.”
Lamarn raised his hand. “Where are you going, P—Larek?”
Chuckling slightly at his student’s inability to remember not to call him Professor, Larek answered. “I have to go deal with the SIC. I don’t know how long that will take, however, which is why I don’t know when I’ll be back to teach you more. Fortunately, I’ve left you all enough information to get by for a few weeks at least, and I want to see all of you at Level 25 in all of your Pattern-related Skills by then.”
He wasn’t sure if they could reach that Level in such a short time, but he figured it was good to have a goal. Well, as long as they don’t push themselves into dangerous territories by doing too much, too fast. For some reason, though, he didn’t worry about it too much; observing them at work, he could see that they had an instinctive control over their Pattern Cohesion that even he didn’t have at that point in his educational career. Besides, he was sure they had enough knowledge by this point that they could forcibly halt a Fusion that was beyond them without permanently injuring themselves or others.
Whether or not they figured they could reach Level 25 in four different Skills seemed irrelevant as he dismissed the class, because all of them had the enthusiasm to see that it got done. It wasn’t the enthusiasm of youth, as they were a variety of different ages, or even arrogance, because they had the ability and the knowledge to back up their confidence; rather, it was more of the enthusiasm of what lay ahead of them in the future.
He was now doubly glad that he had started teaching Fusions to the Volunteers, as now there would be a legacy that he could pass on to later generations. While being the only one in the world to make such powerful Fusions was a bit of an ego boost, once he was gone – hopefully far into the future – the world wouldn’t be bereft of those who could do something similar to what he could do. Of course, it would likely be a while before they got to that point, and whether or not they had the same instinctive sense of Fusions that he possessed was still to be seen, but he could only hope that they could rise to the same expertise in Fusions that he enjoyed.
At the very least, he might actually have a group of colleagues to talk to who loved Fusions as much as he did. Other than Grandmaster Fusionist Shinpai, he hadn’t really met anyone who had the ability to keep up with the ideas and concepts behind the Fusions he’d created or ones he had plans to create – which he hoped to eventually cultivate within the students of his class. It might be a little selfish on his part to want someone to teach people enough so that they could trade Fusion ideas with him, but that was just the way it was.
Heading home, he realized it was still early enough to see about finishing a few more of those ideas he had for offensive Fusions before he had to finish making copies of the Protection of the Void Fusions, and then to get some good sleep.
Because tomorrow, he was finally going to pay a visit to the SIC leadership.