Chapter 28, Unseen, intangible power

I wait and recuperate for a while but when nothing seems to happen at the top of the ravine I decide to start experimenting with my new skill. I manifest a small crystalline marble before activating the skill and trying to use it and it’s one of the strangest sensations I’ve ever felt.

It feels like I can tell the amount of mana in every movement of everything around me. This must be this presumed kinetic mana and I feel it through almost everything in various amounts close around me, growing hazier and more difficult to discern the further away from me it is.

The skill seems tied to [Arcane Manipulation] as I’m sure the range of manipulation is about the same and it would make the most sense. Something feels off though and it takes me a while to figure out what it is. The mana I’m feeling all around me is naturally aligned mana or in other words mana I can’t really manipulate in any meaningful way.

Then how did I do it before? I must have done it since I’m alive and I got this skill. I try focusing on the small crystalline marble in my right palm and exert my will using the skill and something indeed happens. I guess it should have been obvious but everything seems obvious in hindsight.

Using both my manipulation and new skill I create my own arcane mana structure that overlays and interfaces with the natural kinetic mana structures while giving me full control. It’s like connecting to a small and isolated part of something that exists everywhere in different amounts.

I pull from my regeneration and push that power into the arcane mana construct as I will it to move. No, that's not entirely correct either. It’s more like I force the mass to a velocity of my choice with strength depending on the amount of power. It’s the difference between using a force to push an object or just telling the object which way and how fast it ought to be moving and seeing it realized.

The small marble rolls out of my palm and hits me on the ankle, managing to get me at a nerve and drawing a wince out of me. I stare at the small marble as if offended by the unprovoked attack.

But if I really master this skill to perfection, doesn’t that mean that anything managing to hit me is my own fault? That might be preferable but it will suck having no one else to blame.

My mind is racing as different possibilities flit through my mind at the speed of lightning. I have countless ideas on how this might be used both in and outside of combat but there’s one application that outshines them all.

Flight.

Can I use this to fly? I have no idea to be honest but it seems reasonable considering the skill description and the marble rolling out of my palm. It had always been a sore spot to not be able to use arcane manipulation to externally manipulate my vessel. Now though?

I’d somehow managed to manipulate the kinetic mana of my vessel using pure telekinetic force and this points towards flight being possible using this skill. I have no idea how much mana it will take or if my control is good enough to not simply rip me apart instead of defying gravity.

“Are you seeing this, Ari?”

“I am. I have no idea how you managed this during our fall but its applications seem endless to me.”

“I know right? We’re going to learn how to fly one of these days using this.”

“That would be so cool. But yes, now is definitely not the time for it even if flying could make our escape so much easier. We’ll probably need a lot more training with the skill before even considering attempting it.”

I focus back on the marble lying next to me as I begin my next tests. I move it around in different directions and it rolls across the fungi flooring without issue. Next I try exerting two different velocities at the same time but they only equalize into a new vector instead of tearing it apart as I’d first guessed. I’ll probably have to control two different arcane structures on the same mass before giving both of them a different velocity to achieve that.

Tearing the external module apart isn’t my goal with this however and I go back to manipulating the velocity to move it around in different directions. I have to constantly feed it power as the kinetic mana always diminish, spread or seemingly just disappear over time.

Then comes the true test and I feed the arcane mana structure the power and will needed to affect the kinetic mana, making it have an upwards velocity. Or that was my desire at least. The marble simply leaves the floor for a split second before settling back down. I’d seen the kinetic mana in the marble flare up before almost immediately dying down as gravity diminished its upwards velocity.

Trying again but this time using a constant stream of power I manipulate the marble to move upwards. The velocity is now as constant as my mana drain and it moves slowly upwards while drifting slightly to the side. I still lack control, not surprising.

As I stop fueling the kinetic mana it immediately diminishes before once again flaring up with new vigor as the marble falls to the floor. It’s all so fascinating and I have to focus hard not to get distracted by all the different kinetic mana in everything around me while I experiment.

“We’ll have to keep this skill active all the time, Zel.”

“Yeah. Another one to the ever growing list. I guess keeping it on and getting used to always sensing kinetic mana is the best option though.”

“It barely consumes any mana when just active and not in use. That’s something at least.”

“Mhm. I think this skill might become as useful to us as arcane manipulation when we get the hang of it.”

I continue manipulating the kinetic mana in the marble for a while before manifesting another one and trying both at the same time. It’s more difficult to control but not overly much so as both Ari and I have long since mastered the art of multitasking. I manipulate the kinetic mana to make the marbles collide with each other and spiral around in patterns before manifesting a third.

The morning passes and the sun soon reaches its zenith and I now have 40 different marbles floating around me in a calm manner, sweat practically pouring from my mind from the strain of keeping them all in a steady orbit. I suddenly drop all of them and they tumble to the flooring in a cacophony as I’d just heard the sounds I’ve been waiting for. The sounds of battle.

It seems like the adventurer expedition isn’t that incompetent at least if they’ve made it far enough to be heard from down here. I also hear the parasites down below me starting to move in more urgency and I guess they’re making their way towards the adventurers as reinforcements.

This is the moment I’ve been waiting for and I know I’ll have to act soon or my window of opportunity to sneak out will be lost. But how will I get out of here? Climbing the rock face of the ravine up to the surface is always an option but isn’t there a more exciting way to escape?

I ponder for a moment before deciding to crawl out of my hiding spot and take a look at what’s going on in the ravine. The noise just keeps getting louder as time passes and I can barely hear the fighting above from the echoing cacophony below. I crawl towards the edge of the cap to get a good look into the ravine and what I see drives any desire at finding a more exciting path of retreat out of my mind.

Far down in the now sunlit ravine the parasites storm towards the southern mountain and make their way up a path they must have grown out of the wall with different fungi. They all stream to the surface and I guess whatever the adventurers are up to really pisses them off. The worst part isn’t the parasites though as something else is starting to appear from tunnels and cracks on the ravines bottom.

The purple crystal glow and sunlight mix into an ugly color that displays the horrors moving up from the depths. Or should I even call those ‘horrors’? Horrors are like enormous amalgams with everything in excess and odd placings of limbs and whatever else. These creatures down below though…

“Zel, what are those things? They look vaguely humanoid but there are too many limbs and too many heads. Or mushroom caps are probably a better description as there are no skulls.”

“They must be fungi creatures born from the cursed mana and not made into parasites like all the creatures above ground. Fuck, there might be an endless amount of them below us. We have no way of knowing how large this infestation is and I’m pretty sure that whatever Howard and Julie are planning won’t stop these creatures from reaching the surface for long.

"They might have only used the region wide curse to swiftly kill of the occupying wildlife and make slaves that can do their labor for them. It’s possible that these creatures are much, much stronger than anything we’ve faced before and that everything nearly killing us up until now was their version of cannon fodder.”

Staring at the enormous humanoid funga creatures screeching at each other and gesticulating wildly I feel my blood run cold. These entities are definitely intelligent on some level even if I have no idea what they’re communicating.

“Zel. Let’s just go. Let’s just run for it.”

“Yeah…”

I manifest the same kind of climbing needles I’d used last time I needed to scale a rock face and rushing up against the wall I start climbing towards the surface. I spare no expense in my enhancements to make it to the surface 100 meters above me as quickly as possible. Steadily burning through my capacitor reserves in panic.

I’m worried about getting noticed by the creatures down below but no such thing happens. I’d been sure I would start climbing and get spotted within seconds but they’re probably too preoccupied. I reach the surface unharmed only a minute after I start my mad dash upwards and dispersing my climbing needles I take off running towards the east.

The sun had shown me the directions and I wouldn’t let myself get led astray this time. It doesn’t take more than 5 seconds and a few dashing leaps between mushrooms before I spot the first parasite, going straight through it and splattering its skull with a boot as I continue onwards. I won’t get bogged down this time no matter what.

I don’t go unnoticed for long and it seems like whatever collective consciousness are behind those glowing purple eyes have a few of its slaves in spare to throw my way instead of against the adventurer expedition. It’s probably pissed I’m not splattered against the ravine's bottom and have the audacity to start culling their number on my reemergence.

I don’t bother killing them all though and only splatter the ones in my path towards safety. There’s probably close to 300 chasing me after only half a minute of sprinting through the fungi forest with more moving to block my path with every further step I take. I don’t let them as I crack skulls, slash through bodies, limbs and wriggling mycelia.

5 minutes after I started my mad dash I finally break through the infested lands to the east but I don’t stop running for a few more minutes. As I reach the end of the valley holding the infestation I slow down and look back. A few thousand parasites and amalgams are still chasing me and I decide that I’m far enough away to not get bogged down with an endless stream of reinforcements.

I really do appreciate the combat training of these always adapting monsters as long as there’s a limit to their number and I grin as I launch myself into their midst once more, starting the slaughter.

I’ve kept [Basic Arcane Telekinesis] active all this time while escaping but I don’t really focus on it until now as I dodge, cut and crush in a violent dance with my foes. I can’t spare all my attention to it as the parasites and amalgams around me seem to have remembered their adaptation towards my fighting style and it’s only getting more difficult as time goes on.

I still catch glimpses of kinetic mana in action in those short moments when time seems to slow to a crawl as I execute a difficult maneuver to not get sliced apart while still dealing out damage. My mind is taking it all in and slowly starts coming up with ideas on how I could manipulate all that telekinetic force to my advantage in battle. I don’t act on the impulse to try it yet as there’s still a few thousand enemies around me and I don’t have room for failure or wasting mana.

As I continue the slaughter for another 10 minutes I get more and more accustomed to reading the kinetic mana around me and I can almost tell the velocity of everything moving even when out of sight. As a limb goes straight for my stomach in an attempt to pierce me I finally act on my impulse and I add a sideways velocity to the kinetic mana in the tip of the limb.

I might have overdone it as the limb tears to my left in a speed greater than its forward piercing momentum, unbalancing the body it’s attached to. Woops.

I suppose using close to 3000 mana in telekinetic force was a little too much. I scatter the crania of the unbalanced parasite before dodging a few more attacks and retaliating in turn. I want to try that again but I’ll have to be careful with the moments I pick as I can’t afford to make mistakes.

The next attack I try redirecting is a slash going for my outstretched right arm as I’m upside down in a spinning backflip, kicking a skull and sending it flying. I could just retract my arm but I instead manipulate the kinetic mana in the limb to add a sideways velocity like before. This time I only use a tenth of my previous attempt and it’s just the right amount to redirect the sharp blade away from me.

Slashing the limb in two before finishing my spin and landing in a crouch I’m emboldened by my second success and I grow a little reckless in my next attempts. I don’t make any serious mistakes though and only add a little too much or too little telekinetic force in not quite the correct direction. A few shallow cuts and torn clothing reinforces my mistakes and only makes me try harder instead of giving it up.

There’s only a few hundred parasites left as it all comes to an abrupt end. I’m now able to redirect half of the attacks coming for me but I can’t really make proper use of the openings they give me as redirecting them takes too much of my focus as of now.

I don’t even get to practice it either as a huge explosion of fire and melting fungi goop covers me from head to toe. I almost miss one of the surviving parasites slash at my back as I’m just too shocked by the sudden explosion.

I redirect the limb and using a little extra mana pull it forwards, unbalancing the parasite as I jump up and knee its descending skull hard enough to almost pulverize it. I kill the last remaining 6 monsters in a similar fashion to get the most training using telekinetic force as possible.

As the last one falls I look around to take in my surroundings. Something must have caused that explosion and it wasn’t a fungus, that I’m sure of. And sure enough, through the gore dripping down my forehead I can see a pompous looking mage standing on a hill not far away. I can’t see their expression but the posture is doubtlessly one of pride at their handiwork.

“Hey! Why did you steal my kills?”

My indignant shout is quite childish as they might have just been trying to help but I’m having a hard time seeing it as such. They should have realized I had it under control just by looking at the field of thousands of carcasses littering this whole area.

“Steal your kills? Seriously? I just gave a helping hand as it seemed like you needed it.”

“What’s up with this guy? Kick his nuts, Zel.”

“Hush, Ari. We don’t even know his level.”

I flick the gore off my daggers before sheathing them and dispersing my torn clothes, letting Ari wipe me down before manifesting everything back in place and styling my hair. I give the man on the hill to the north one last look as I start moving east. No need to get involved with the adventurer expedition now since they’ll be running for their lives or be turned into parasites soon enough.

My obvious desire to not associate with the kill stealer is ignored however as I hear the mage running after me. I sigh but don’t stop moving as he shouts for me to wait up, he can pick up his pace if he wants to talk this badly. I’m barely even jogging as of right now.

As I climb around the mountain that the adventurers made their camp at he catches up to me, wheezing and out of breath. He should have spent a few more points into his physical stats. I study him as he catches his breath, finally stopping to hear him out as I honestly can’t stand him wheezing in my ear any longer.

He’s an elf of sorts with long black hair falling down his back and dark eyes with bags underneath them. He’s about as tall as me, that is to say around 170cm. His skin is a darker shade, almost gray and he’s got a little more muscle on him than normally seen on elves without warrior classes.

He wears a black robe with red and orange trimmings in depictions of strange flowers that almost seem to flicker like dancing flames. A crystalline orange and yellow ball the size of an apple inlaid with golden runes orbits around him lazily.

I inspect both him and the strange crystal ball as I’ve never seen anything quite like it before.

[Fire Mage - ???]

[Fire Magic Focus]

Focus? Does he increase his spell's range or damage with this thing? I’m honestly itching to question him about the strange artifact but he’d approached me for some reason or another. Better not let my ignorance show.

“Well? What is it? Speak up since I so kindly stopped moving for you.”

He gives me an ugly look that tells me how unamused he is by my kind actions.

“Who are you?”

Did he really just chase me to ask me who I am?

“I’m sorry? Did you chase me to ask my name? I know you must have gotten a good look as I didn’t bother hiding as I freshened up, but seriously?”

“I couldn’t care less about your body. Answer me!”

“Why? Who are you to demand anything of me?”

I’m honestly quite baffled by his attitude.

“I’m Fehviltás of the Burning Horizon party. Now answer me!”

“I’m sorry who? I’ve never heard of you. Well I don’t really care about you knowing my name either way. I’m Zelaria. Are you satisfied?”

He narrows his eyes at me while scowling harder than ever.

“I don’t care about your name, idiot! I want to know who you are as you didn’t come here with our expedition but left the source of the curse from the same spot they entered through earlier today. So tell me. Who are you and why are you here?”

“You really don’t have any authority to demand anything of me but I’ll humor you to get you to stop following me.

"I came to this place a month before all of you did and I’ve been here killing these fuckers for all this time. Why did I leave the infestation? Because I’m fucking done with this place and I’m not going to face what’s coming.”

He’s slightly taken aback by my succinct answer but seems confused by my last statement.

“What’s coming? Do you know something we don’t?”

I sigh wearily and wave my hand in the general direction of where the expedition went in.

“The expedition going straight in and heading towards the source has made them quite angry. I saw things exiting from below the earth in the ravine. Things that aren’t like the parasites. I’m guessing this is more like the undead invasion than a mere incident that will stay localized.

"Haven’t you seen how they’ve expanded their territory day and night using those cursed crystals? They’re probably looking to conquer and I’m not staying to fight whatever's coming. I might be able to kill a few thousand of their slaves but not their army.”

I only get a stupefied look in return and it takes a few seconds before he realizes what I already know to be true.

“Then, the expedition… Most of them are already doomed. Is that what you’re saying?”

“Probably, diamond ranks like Howard or Julie might make it out just fine but the others? From what I’ve seen they’re probably already dead. If you don’t mind I’ll get going now. Bye.”

I start running away from him at full speed this time and he has no chance of catching up to me. Not that he even tries to hold me for more questioning. He bolts straight towards where their camp must be located to pack his bag or inform whoever else stayed behind the initial charge of what I’ve told him.

I’ve barely run for another 5 minutes before the blue sky is tinted with a purple flash much stronger than anything I’ve seen before. I look behind me and see a shockwave of cursed mana rolling out and splashing against the mountains like a purple and translucent sea crashing against a rocky shore. It moves faster than I can run, frighteningly soon smacking me in the back with enough power to make me immediately collapse.

Ari completely disassembles my body, making my legs fold beneath me, trying to get rid of the curse infused mana tissue and bone before it spreads. She gives up after only a few seconds and instead rips the soulcore from my skull and starts manifesting a new body from scratch.

She expends a lot more mana than needed to speed up the process but neither of us want to get hit with another one of those curses while our core is unprotected. I have no idea if my mana regeneration would be able to handle the cost of preventing the curse from spreading through the core but it’s better to not have it tested.

“What the fuck was that? Did they destroy the source or was that a defense mechanism?”

“Don’t know, Zel. But no matter what it was, we can be fairly sure that anything living in this region without enough resilience will have already died and birthed new parasites. That probably includes all adventurers and maybe even Howard and Julie at the epicenter.”

“We got out just in time didn’t we? Let’s keep moving though. I don’t want to stay here a second longer if we can avoid it.”

As my toes finish regenerating I flex my muscles and wait for the senses to return back to normal as Ari recalibrates everything before setting off in a sprint once more. I vault over boulders and jump between trees in the valleys to speed up my journey and even though I know of the tragedy just having taken place behind me I can’t help but smile at the fact I’m still alive and came out of it stronger than ever.

“I love you, darling. I’m so glad we made it out of there in time.”

Ari sends her own feelings of deep affection my way as confirmation that she’s also feeling the relief settle in. I think I can even make out some ill timed lascivious undercurrents going through it all. She will have to wait a little longer though.

It isn’t long before I start seeing a few parasites making their way towards the curse’s source and there are even a few human skulls in some of them. Probably adventurers having heard of the new and exciting happenings in the region who came to explore like me. They weren’t prepared for a tsunami of cursed mana though. I take the time to kill every parasite I come upon and even get some use out of them for training my growing capabilities with using telekinetic force.

As I push off from the trunk with both legs and crack it in half with the force, I fly towards the parasite 20 meters ahead of me. It moves its head to the side and out of my path while lifting its front limbs in an attempt to run me through on my own momentum.

I grab a hold on its head and front limb with telekinetic force as I manipulate their velocity to reverse directions. It takes a lot more mana to completely reverse its momentum than merely altering the direction slightly and I feel myself losing over 700 mana from that short expenditure. It works as planned though.

The head that had been going to the left is now returning to the right and the front limbs which had been going up are now going back down. My own high velocity lets me smash through its perfectly placed skull with a boot, scattering it between the trees, before I grab a hold of my own belt's kinetic mana and pull myself towards the closest tree.

I don’t yet dare use telekinetic force on my own body but who said anything about not using it on something attached to me? The expenditure for pulling me sharply towards the targeted trunk is huge but I still manage the landing with one leg before I kick off once again, going for the next parasite 200 meters away from me. It takes five more jumps before I reach it and smash it apart in passing. No basic arcane telekinesis needed to finish it off this time.

The sky is still clear as the sun disappears beneath the horizon, heralding the coming of the night. There probably won’t be any cursed rain without clouds and I find a nice hill in a valley, surrounded by trees and a brook running past out of sight.

It sounds loud and lively as all this rainfall must have made these mountains collect a lot of water. I lean back against one of the trunks of the few pines dotting the top of the hill before manifesting a good sized campfire.

I’m close to the border of this region and I highly doubt anything still living will be drawn towards the light with malevolent intentions. The parasites born out here would have already made their way further in as of now and I therefore assume myself to be completely alone.

The unnerving, absolute silence underneath the creaking of branches, splashing water and rustling bushes swaying in the wind is all the proof I need. Nothing living shares this valley with me tonight.

I idly start picking up branches with my telekinesis, spinning them around a little before dropping them into the golden flames, listening to the crackling pops of their fibers snapping and the slight fizzing sound of steam leaving the burning wood.

The kinetic mana of flame is fascinating to say the least. It moves in patterns I can’t make out and their velocity is never steady in any direction. It’s like a puzzle with invisible pieces, pieces I can’t even touch to make out their shape. My guess is that these pieces of the puzzle are other natural forces like kinetic mana that govern all interactions around me.

I can’t get any closer to the truth hidden in plain sight no matter how I study the flames and I guess Ari was right in saying that I shouldn’t look too deeply into it. I’ve got enough going on with mastering one of these forces and it will be a very long time before I’ve explored every possibility with it.

Bringing a stone closer while still tossing sticks into the fire I alter its velocity to stay still in the air while moving towards me. Raising my hand I put it in the path of the stone, feeling the kinetic mana converting into what must be the force responsible for pushing against my hand. I keep my hand still with the stone pressed against it as I increase the telekinetic force through the arcane mana structure interfacing with the kinetic mana in the stone.

I can feel the pressure the stone exerts against my skin increasing linearly with the mana invested and it isn’t long before the stone overcomes my unenhanced strength and pushes my hand backwards. It looks like the kinetic mana in the stone converts to some other force before it gets converted back into kinetic mana in my palm as it starts giving way.

Or is it all kinetic mana and I’m only balancing the vectors of velocities against each other? It’s hard to tell but I’ll probably figure it out some day. I’m more curious as to how much telekinetic force I can impart at once to give it a high velocity away from me. I remove my palm from the stone and redirect its velocity out in front of me as I impart as much mana as I can in a quick burst.

I lose over 4000 mana before the stone leaves my range of manipulation and it all happens in under half a second. Its velocity has it flying a couple hundred meters into the air before smashing against a boulder situated further up a mountain.

“That might be quite unpleasant to get in the face. Or what do you say, Ari?”

“Um… yes?”

“Thought so. Looks like we can weaponize any shrapnel we find laying around a battlefield now.”

I continue my telekinesis training through most of the night. Smashing down trees with stones and exploding sticks against boulders. I can drain my mana reserves at a frankly ludicrous rate by imparting this much telekinetic force.

“We should check the notifications again, Zel. We’ll probably forget it when we reach the capital otherwise.”

“Good call. What about the 2 new class skills we haven’t checked out yet?”

“I think we should delay going through them until we’re about to continue our adventure out of the capital. We won’t be able to really get any use out of anything before getting there anyway.”

“If you say so.”

Ding! You have slain [Fungus Parasite - 61]. Less experience awarded.

Ding! You have slain [Fungus Amalgam - 114]. Less experience awarded.

…

Ding! You have slain [Fungus Amalgam - 187]. More experience awarded.

Ding! [Mana Machine v. 2.3] has leveled from [177] to [181]. +[40 AP].

Ding! General skill [Identify] has leveled from [40] to [41].

Ding! General skill [Aerial Acrobatics] has leveled from [47] to [59].

Ding! General skill [Running] has leveled from [84] to [87].

Ding! General skill [Sprinting] has leveled from [90] to [94].

Ding! General skill [Jumping] has leveled from [118] to [124].

Ding! General skill [Dodging] has leveled from [197] to [212].

Ding! General skill [Throwing] has leveled from [11] to [19].

Ding! General skill [Small Blades] has leveled from [155] to [167].

Ding! General skill [Dual Wielding] has leveled from [178] to [191].

Ding! General skill [Unarmed] has leveled from [93] to [102].

Ding! General skill [Basic Arcane Telekinesis] has leveled from [12] to [93].

Ding! Skill [Passive Power] has leveled from [451] to [477].

Ding! Skill [Arcane Manipulation] has leveled from [492] to [504].

Ding! Skill [Capacitor] has leveled from [274] to [286].

Ding! Skill [External Modules] has leveled from [146] to [163].

Ding! Resistance [Curse Magic Resistance] has increased from [68] to [76].

Ding! Resistance [Fire Magic Resistance] has increased from [5] to [8].

“Attributes into wisdom?”

“Yes.”

Ding! Attribute [Wisdom] has been increased from [670] to [710].

Attribute Points: [0]

Strength: [110] -50%

Constitution: [110] -50%

Vitality: [110] -50%

Agility: [110] -50%

Dexterity: [110] -50%

Intelligence: [163] +300%

Wisdom: [710] +295%

Mana: [6520/6520]

Capacitor: [17864/17864]

Mana regen: [2804] / Minute