“So, is anything really changing because of this?”

Larek looked over at Nedira’s question, the exhaustion of the last few hours making the movement difficult. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that, while it is an additional obstacle, does the presence of this ‘Unspoken Response’ organization change our plans?”

The Fusionist snorted in disbelief, wondering how things could not change now that he knew assassins were being sent after him. But before he could tell her that, he stopped and thought about it from her perspective – as well as the perspective of the Volunteers as a whole.

Sure, these assassins were a huge danger to him, but from what little information he’d been able to gather about them from the woman he’d attempted to control as well as from Bartholomew, they weren’t technically a danger to anyone else. Unfortunately, the woman had died before he could get any more information on what exactly their plans were beyond killing him, and the former Noble wasn’t much more help.

“They were more of a cautionary warning than anything that I would consider real. Like, ‘Treat your citizens well or the Unspoken Response will see to it that someone who will do it properly will take your place.’ The only thing I really learned about them, other than them actually being authentically real, was that they took contracts from the crown and the SIC, and that they would only target a single person at a time. In other words, they weren’t an army that could be hired to attack a rival Noble’s domain, nor to act as an additional defense against a Scission’s monsters. They were… problem solvers, or so I’ve heard them referred as, and they removed specific, individual problems with a carefully executed response.

The only other thing rumored about them was that once they had a target, there was nothing that target could do to prevent their death – and they never failed. The fact that you survived their attack is probably one the first time that they didn’t succeed in eliminating their target, or at least the first time anyone has lived to tell about it. I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help.”

That was all that Larek had gotten from his old bodyguard, which was unfortunate, but understandable. The Unspoken Response assassins sounded like they were a relatively secretive bunch, so not everyone would know about them unless they were in a high position of power. But the fact that he didn’t know any more about them even while working closely with General Maxwell to help plan the closing of the northeastern Calamity told the Fusionist that there were only a few people who knew about them, which meant that there were only a few people who could rescind the contract out on Larek’s life.

It just made their entire plan to take out the SIC leadership even more important than it was before, if only because he didn’t want to die.

Fortunately, a flight around the city with his senses stretched to the max revealed no more of the assassins hiding anywhere, unless they had some way to camouflage or alter their magical signatures. While he hadn’t seen anyone able to do that, at least against his high Magical Detection Skill, he wouldn’t put it past a band of highly trained, professional assassins. Given that the female assassin had admitted that she and her team had been the worst of their shadowy organization, he wasn’t going to discount anything. A further check of the land for about 10 miles outside the city walls in every direction didn’t reveal any other assassins, either, so the woman’s claim that they were simply the closest to the city also seemed to be true. He would’ve liked to venture even further out in his sweep, but by the time he finished with what he’d already done, he was exhausted.

Of course, it was probably because his internal pattern hadn’t fully recovered at that time. His new Skill kept the damage to it from getting any worse, but it had still been only two-thirds of its full functionality, and he had pushed it to fly him around everywhere, as well as during the fight with the assassins. Fortunately, the recovery of his internal pattern restarted when he finally came back and talked to Bartholomew, before heading home when he was done.

He came back to find that Norde was asleep again, despite having just woken up… a few hours before, he realized. Nedira told him that he was feeling somewhat better but was drained from the emotional stress he’d been under, and while he wasn’t exactly alright yet, she had confidence that he would be. Larek considered that to be good news, as he really wanted his friend back; seeing him like that earlier had almost been worse than being nearly killed by professional assassins, as strange as that was to think.

Resetting his focus back on his betrothed and her question, he finally shook his head. “I… guess it doesn’t really change anything, other than to potentially speed up our timeline. Though with everything that needs to be done, we’ll be cutting it tight already, so I’m not sure how much leeway we’ll have to speed it up.”

Rushing toward the SIC headquarters to deal with the leadership there wouldn’t help anything at the moment, as there were things that had to happen before that. Plus, he wasn’t quite ready with an alternative to slaughtering everyone there, as much as he currently would prefer that outcome after the day’s attack.

“So, we continue as we’ve planned, though I think you now have some extra work,” Nedira said, poking him in the stomach playfully.

Larek was confused. “Extra work? Is it not dying? Because that’s an ongoing goal of mine, I’ll have you know.”

“Not precisely, but it’s definitely related,” she said seriously, sitting down in front of him and staring at him. “I know you already have a lot on your plate, but this is important.”

“What are you talking about?”

In response to his question, his betrothed suddenly pulled her hand up from underneath the table and threw a knife at him. He was so shocked and exhausted that he didn’t even try to move. The projectile was thrown quickly, but not quickly enough to get through his Automatic Ice Repulsion Field, which deflected it away.

They sat there looking at each other, Nedira with a raised eyebrow looking like he should know what that was all about, while he continued to be shocked and confused. After a few seconds, however, the import of what she’d just done finally dug through his exhaustion and clawed its way to the forefront of his thoughts.

“Ah. I see. Good point.”

“Exactly. Now, you better get some rest, because I can see that you’re about to drop as it is,” she admonished as she came around, helping him up out of his chair, leading him to his bed. “It’s been a bit of a stressful day for everyone, and I care for you too much to see you push yourself too far unnecessarily.” Within seconds, he was in his bed, feeling the comfortable mattress under his body, thankful to be lying down again. He now understood why Norde was already back asleep, though his own stress had been more physical than emotional.

As he closed his eyes and began to fall asleep, he thought about what Nedira had said; more accurately, he thought about what she’d just done.

She wasn’t actually trying to hurt him with the knife when she threw it at him. Instead, she was not-so-subtly demonstrating that there was a huge difference between someone like her, a Mage with relatively new Martial stats and therefore weaker in that department, and someone like the assassins or even the Gergasi. Both situations had shown him pretty clearly that his current defenses, consisting of his plates of ice and his Multi-Resistance Fusion on his clothing, were sorely lacking when it came to fighting against more powerful individuals. Even against stronger and faster monsters, his defenses hadn’t been quite as useful as he’d liked, but he had always been able to overcome those obstacles, despite them not holding up.

But now that he was going up against the SIC and then eventually the Gergasi, it was inevitable that his defenses would catastrophically fail again. He’d been lucky to have survived thus far, but that wouldn’t always be the case unless he did something to change the status quo.

Clearly, he would have to find another way to defend himself as well as others. While it might be convenient to think that anything he might come up with was solely designed to protect himself, if there were other people – such as his friends and the Volunteers – who were going to face opponents who had many more years of experience and development, then he would need to protect them, as well. Chinli’s massacre of around 2,000 Mages and Martials in the Calamity was proof that there weren’t many people prepared to fight someone of her strength, and based on the powerful attacks of the assassins, it was likely that there were some strong individuals in the SIC that they had never seen yet.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Falling asleep soon after these thoughts flowed through his mind, Larek resolved to start on all this work waiting for him the next morning.

* * *

Stretching lazily as he woke up, Larek smiled as he felt thoroughly rested and ready to face the day. However, just as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed, preparing to get up, he was surprised by a wall of notifications.

Pattern Restoration has reached Level 43!

…..

Pattern Restoration has reached Level 55!

You have reached Level 57 and have 36 available AP to distribute!

Congratulations!

Due to your expertise of everything pattern-related, you have unlocked the Pattern Professional Specialization!

Requirements:

Pattern Prodigy Specialization

Pattern Restoration Skill of 50

Pattern Formation Skill of 50

Pattern Manipulation Skill of 50

Pattern Recognition Skill of 50

Fusion Skill of 50

Magical Detection Skill of 50

Mana Control Skill of 50

Intellect of at least 100

Acuity of at least 100

Pneuma of at least 100

The Pattern Professional Specialization also provides these benefits:

Ability to utilize Pattern Cohesion in unique ways

Ability to manipulate up to 50% of your Pattern Cohesion outside of spell patterns and Fusion formations

Ability to impart any Pattern-related Skill to those with the capability

Heightened ability to manipulate your internal pattern

25% reduction in Pattern Cohesion requirements for all spells and Fusions

Enhances the strength of all spells, Fusions, or pattern constructs by 20%

The Pattern Professional Specialization automatically replaces the Pattern Prodigy Specialization!

It took him a few seconds to read through the information regarding the new Specialization, and at first it didn’t seem too much better. Sure, it gave him an extra 5% reduction in Pattern Cohesion requirements and enhanced the strength of spells, Fusions, and pattern constructs by a further 5%, as well, but those were minor changes considering the requirements. It wasn’t until he saw something about a new ability along with the benefits that he thought he understood what this new Specialization was all about.

I can “impart any Pattern-related Skill to those with the capability”? What exactly does that mean?

“Good morning! I hope you got enough rest,” Nedira said, sitting down next to him on the bed.

Larek nodded absently, before he suddenly focused on her. “You already have Pattern Manipulation, correct?” he asked.

Confused at the sudden question, she paused for a moment before confirming that she had gotten it after Larek had taught her about it, but she hadn’t advanced it much.

He took her hands in his and thought about what he wanted to do. At first, he had no idea how he could simply “impart” the knowledge of a Skill to her, but after a few seconds, he just went with his instincts.

Looking inside of himself, he discovered that his internal pattern had been completely restored; if anything, it was even more resilient than it was before. Seeing this, he manipulated a small portion of his internal pattern and pushed it slowly out through his hands, where it leaked into Nedira’s until it interacted with her own. Nothing happened at first, other than their patterns brushing up against each other, completely unmixed and staying away from each like oil and water. With a thought, his pattern reached out and grasped Nedira’s pattern, causing her to gasp in surprise as he forced them to briefly mesh together.

This temporary joining was exactly what he was looking for, even though he wasn’t aware of it before then, and all it took was a simple push of knowledge about his Pattern Restoration Skill through the connection. Once he was done, he unwound the two patterns from each other and withdrew, before looking up into Nedira’s surprised eyes, which mimicked her open mouth.

“Wh-What did you just do? I unlocked a Skill? How is that even possible?” she whispered, her vision looking through him as she looked at her own notifications.

Chuckling at her reaction, but also pleased that it worked, Larek explained what had changed about his Specializations, revealing that he could now impart Pattern-related Skills to others with the capability. He assumed this meant that only those who had Mage potential could learn them, but fortunately that included just about everyone he knew.

“This is incredible! It’ll make learning about patterns so much easier, especially as Pattern Manipulation is extremely difficult to acquire in the first place.” The Fusionist had to agree with that, given that he only learned it because of desperation, and teaching it to others required a dedicated period of time to develop it. It would certainly come in handy when he began instructing potential Fusionists in the Volunteers in the future.

Of course, this whole imparting Skills development didn’t help with his current workload, which was what he started shortly after breakfast. Norde joined them for the meal, having woken up just after Larek, and while the young man wasn’t back to his normal self, he certainly looked better than he had the day before.

“I missed you, Larek. I know I couldn’t even remember you until you helped to free my from that—” Nedira’s brother started to say during the meal, cutting himself off before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. “Anyway, thank you for taking care of my sister. I don’t know what I would do without her.” A grin lit his face for a moment. “I also heard that you’re betrothed? Is that right? Should I be calling you brother now?”

Larek chuckled at that thought. “Only if you want to. But I would be honored to call you brother, as well.” He got up and gave Norde a quick hug, which he broke off quickly when he could sense that some of the emotional stress was seeping back into the young man.

I wish I could kill Chinli again for what she did to him. I guess I’ll have to settle for enacting justice on all of the other Gergasi.

Nedira took Norde out after that, leaving Larek alone for a short time before Kevara, his assistant in his Fusions, arrived. As he settled himself into his veritable throne of pillows, ready for another day of creating Fusions needed by the Volunteers, he rechecked his internal pattern to make sure it was ready for the work session. He kept checking on it because its recovery was almost impossibly miraculous, as he knew how incredibly close he’d come to destroying it completely. Again thankful for his new Skill, he withdrew and opened his Status, as he had just acquired another 36 AP to use. It was going to be a while until he hit Level 58, as he had to increase his Skill Levels another 35 times, so he wanted his points to be placed where they could do the most help right now.

Since he was going to be creating Fusions, including some brand-new ones, he decided to stick 14 in both Intellect and Acuity, bringing them both to 290, and then threw the last 8 in Body, bringing it to 288 and his base Pneuma to 10,368 when he was wearing his boost Fusion. The additional mental stats would be beneficial for the next little while, as he had a lot of Fusion-creation on his schedule, and as soon as he felt the changes settle into him, he pulled out the list of Fusions he had been given of the Volunteer Militia’s needs.

“Kevara, do we have any more of the thin steel wafers—”

“Right here, sir. While you were, uh, incapacitated, I took the liberty of acquiring and preparing plenty of materials for you,” his helpful assistant informed him, waving around the large, warehouse-like room.

For the first time, Larek really looked at everything around him, and he saw that the different wood and metal staves, blocks, and plates that he used for many of the bulk Fusions were neatly organized and ready for him – and that there were, in general, more than he’d seen before.

Looks like I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me.

Rather than him seeing it as being a chore, as he had dozens of steel wafers that were used as a medium for the Illuminated Free Will Fusion (which was the one in the most demand) arrayed in front of him already on his lap desk, he eagerly began preparing the familiar Fusion formation. With a responsiveness and control that shocked him at first, his Pattern Cohesion quickly flowed out of him and almost seemed to snap into place with a thought. As he recovered from the abrupt change in the normal creation process, he checked it over to make sure it was correct, as he hadn’t even consciously placed all the lines into the formation. After triple-checking it, not only for accuracy but also for consistency, he couldn’t see even a single flaw in its creation. It was as if his thoughts had treated the complicated Fusion formation as a pattern construct, which he’d grown quite adept at creating by that point, and it instantly formed.

Of course, he still had to fill it with Mana and focus on the different Effects that it needed to accomplish, but even that went quicker than expected, as his Mana seemed to flow more smoothly than ever before, and there was almost no downtime as it filled completely within 20 seconds. Overall, it only took him a minute to create a dozen of the Fusion, and that was only because he spent some time looking it over and ensuring that the formation had snapped together correctly. He could now create even more than that with his Focused Division Skill, but he wanted to start relatively slowly, since it had been a little bit since he’d made any Fusions.

As soon as he was done with them and the Fusions snapped into place, he again checked them over to see if they were done correctly. From what he could tell, they were perfectly fine despite the formation having been formed almost instantly. As Kevara took them away to a newly formed ‘completed’ pile, Larek shook his head, amazed at what his new Specialization had done for him. He figured that it couldn’t be anything else, as this hadn’t happened before now, but he supposed that it was normal for a Pattern Professional as he was now.

Maybe this won’t take nearly as long as I was expecting.

He sure hoped it wouldn’t, because he knew he would need all the extra time he had to figure out designs for the new Fusions he had to create.