"So tell me again, you said you fought in a tournament made by the system? When were these implemented?!" Phanthu asked as we called through his bustling settlement full of aspiring warriors training their skills. Almost everyone here was dedicated to combatives, save for the healers here and there. Some of them used daggers, though they'd clearly adapted their styles to their mage-heavy environment by casting their skills out of their blades. It felt like a sort of Elysium if we never got our hands on swords and the training to use them. It was…homey.
"Oh uh, I'm not actually sure? I figured you did one as well to be honest." I answered, ignoring the bowing praises of his people who noticed us. It was the only way I could resist screaming at them to stand on their feet, feeling fully fed up with being idolized by total fucking strangers.
"No, no our trials remained at home unfortunately. But, that does sound like a tremendous opportunity to gain knowledge over your potential foes, as well as an understanding of where your own skillset stands." Phanthu replied. A tinge of remorse for his situation wriggled through the back of my mind.
"Well, our goal going into the tournament was to impress the gods themselves, something many tried and failed miserably to accomplish." I replied, recalling how worried I'd been to not have been a god's Chosen after Korbin eliminated me.
"And you? Did you impress a god?" Phanthu asked. I almost instinctively answered honestly when it occurred to me what kind of god Perunious is. While he's been relatively good to me, he also brought me to space to show me his Flodhest while offhandedly destroying an entire planet in the background.
…shit.
Not being able to think of a single other god, I lifted up my twinblade hoping to imply it was whoever the god these belonged to.
"Oh? I didn't realize Galenthelos took on a Chosen. Then again, I have little knowledge as to how he enjoyed the wondrous peace he's imposed after his conquests. Congratulations, my friend." Phanthu said as we started heading up a flight of stairs leading into a well lit room filled with fountains of crystal clear running water. A natural pool sat at the end of the room with lit candles lining the walkway.
The tranquil ambient chorus of drizzling water nearly distracted me from Phanthu's mentioning of the god who apparently owned the twinblade I've already soulbound to myself.
"Wait…what exactly do you know about Galenthelos?" I asked, realizing I had a chance at a better understanding of my blades. Plus, it was strange to refer to a god of 'serenity' or whatnot as someone who apparently performed conquests.Phanthu smiled as he stepped into his sanctuary, taking a deep breath through his nose. Given the redolent purity of water mana shifting through the air here.
"As much as we had records of before Vashi's destruction of our home, back when my father still lived and worked with the Lithomancy priest. We heard tales of Galenthelos's journeys to worlds binded by their wars, and ending the fighting by himself and leaving planetary sanctuaries in his wake. Much like the one I had created here only far, far larger. His work was a core inspiration of my fathers and the other priests before Vashi ever even arrived when they unified the Enlightened here." Phanthu explained reverently, walking down the aisle of candles.
"That makes sense. From what I've gathered, your father and his friends alone killed about every soldier on the battlefield, regardless of their allegiances." I replied, recalling the beginning of that graphic fucking introduction projection.
"Yes, they simply wished to replicate what your Patron has carved a path to Godhood out of. Unfortunately, my father along with our people learned the hard way that you cannot trust others with comparable power to your own, even if they've earned it. Which is why we're here, in this puny simulation of what Galenthelos can achieve on a global scale. Pathetic." Phanthu scowled as he glanced around what could easily be my favorite room of all time. The sheer quality of water mana circulating could only be rivaled by the Water Arena at the Placement Tournament. Plus, the gentle sounds of dribbling water reminded me of the soft drizzle of rain on a stormy night, which was always when I got my best sleep growing up. Frankly, if I didn't know this was all just system made constructs with a predetermined apocalypse looming, I'd genuinely consider staying here.
"Simulation or not, this room alone is quite the achievement in my eyes. I always wanted something like this back home, but I haven't had the time to even choose a dedicated house to set my own roots. Let alone create such an absolute haven for a water user like this." I said, walking to the end of the room. At the end of the pathway was a pool of clear water, with a gentle waterfall streaming in from the rocks behind it. I closed my eyes taking in the surplus of my favorite mana type.
"You're attuned to the water affinity as well? I see why Galenthelos would choose you." Phanthu said, making me open my eyes to see his grin.
"Wait, why is that? I imagine you're a dual affinity user as well?" I replied, recalling the disgusting nature of his deathly dark water.
"Well yes, however I used water and death affinity's. You, on the other hand, are a Lightning user as well, just like Galenthelos himself. If I may, what form of Lightning does he use?" Phanthu asked as his eyes lit up in wonder.
"Uh, I haven't actually asked. My patron and I…don't speak very often." I answered, seeing an opportunity at lying through honesty.
"Really? I suppose that makes sense, given his busy reputation." Phanthu replied.
"Maybe, I'm not sure. To be honest, it rarely occurs to me." I said, realizing how little I've felt the need to call upon Perunious.
"Hey, since you're his Chosen, it's fair to assume you've unlocked the meditation skill, no?" Phanthu said, slapping my shoulder.
"Oh, I mean I got the skill before he chose me but, yeah I have a meditation skill. Why do you?" I asked, a tinge of excitement at finding someone else with a system recognized skill for essentially relaxing with intent.
"Really? I'm thoroughly impressed. And yes, I developed the skill on my own as well. The reason I ask is because I wanted to be certain we'd be able to practice mana manipulation, as we do not have a steady supply of mana potions after losing our alchemical records long ago." Phanthu replied before taking a seat on the ground in front of the clear pool in front of us.
"Wait, what's 'mana manipulation'?" I asked, crossing my legs beside him. Phanthu's brow furrowed as he turned to face me.
"You're joking, right?" He asked.
"Not really. I've heard an alchemist mention that she was manipulating energies in her cauldron, but I didn't really understand how she did it." I replied, remembering Terra working in her shop the last time I visited. Damn, I hope she's doing okay…
"Wow. Well, it's not often the Chosen of a god I actually respect shows up at my door. Tell you what, we got a few hours before I plan on laying siege to Andolis's hidden settlement our scouts located this morning. How about I show you a few tricks?" Phanthu offered.
"Yeah, yeah that sounds gr-…wait, what?"
——————————————————————
This is…fucking impossible?!
My eyes strained having forgotten to blink trying to even begin to comprehend Andolis's Suspended Divination Equation carved across the stone wall. The characters alone were difficult to discern, even with the legend he provided me before going off with Korbin and Cass. Lonni elected to hang back with me, having struck up a conversation with the lead miner, a towering Khotunn who's name I hadn't quite caught when he introduced himself. Frankly, I couldn't care less, after what Andolis showed me.
"You see, being capable of seeing the history of mana records stored in matter such as this copper alone will serve you well, if you're merely a connoisseur of knowledge over Lithomancy. For practical use, however, one must be able to bring this state to the forefront of its present form, through a means known as Suspended Divination." Andolis said, after seperating horribly corroded copper from shaved zinc. He'd even returned the zinc shavings to a ball, all in the palm of his fucking hand. Based on his brief summary before entering political talks with Korbin or whatever, this equation required several runic symbols activation in near unison, something he'd apparently learned to do on the fly through hours of practice since he was of age to read.
The issue was, his methods were unlike anything I've ever read in my studies back at Elysium. Rather than directly influencing the mana active in a given stone, he addresses their history directly without even caring about its current state. From there, he'd outline his runic formations according to whatever state he sought to augment the stones mana in. Me? I simply removed all of which I didn't want to be active in any given rune, replacing it with void mana if necessary. It was fairly simple, though it did prove wasteful when dealing with especially reactive combinations of stones. This, on the other hand, is an entirely different fucking language.
How the fuck did this guy come up with this sh-
"It's something else, isn't it kid?" Andolis said from behind me, placing his hand around my shoulder while reading over his own equation.
"It's borderline incomprehensible, I can't wrap my head around it." I said, not taking my eyes off the second runic symbol trying to attain some semblance of its meaning in context of the dozens of different symbols scattered across the wall. Andolis's chuckle snapped me from my focus, turning to find him holding his belly hunched over.
"Ahh, I recognize that look. It's the same one I'd give my father as he worked before I discovered the equation." Andolis said, wiping a tear that had formed after laughing so hard from his face.
"He didn't teach you? Wouldn't that have put your research years ahead of where it is now?!" I asked, feeling a rising anger at the lost potential progress.
"My father was a very gifted man, though his burning passion for knowledge I inherited came later on in life, after he met my mother. This equation is a calculated interpretation of a skill my father was born with." Andolis replied, sighing as he glanced over his work etched into the stone wall.
"You're kidding?! That just seems totally unfair. How long did it take you to discover this equation?" I asked, eager to know what sort of workload I had in front of me. Andolis smiled as his eyes trailed off in thought.
"It took me years to realize what my father knew intuitively, that all things with any sort of mana flowing through them holds the echoes of both the previous forms mana has taken on, as well as their vessels in the midst of cycling from medium to medium. Meaning, life itself operates not only on a schedule, but by routine. This must mean aspects of creation itself are inherently formulaic, and therefore replicable." Andolis excitedly explained, as I glared up at the etchings across the wall like a child would meeting a superhero.
"While I have next to no comprehension over any of what these runes truly mean or how they function, there's one thing conceptually that bothers me." I said.
"What's that?" Andolis asked.
"If you're able to view the history of mana flowing through a particular vessel, and you can return the vessel to a state outside of what it is presently, why can't you use the mana records to change its vessel entirely?" I asked, not seeing why he couldn't create anything the mana inside of any rock cycled through. Andolis's head bounced up as a chuckle bursted from his mouth.
"Yes, that's something that troubled me greatly for the majority of my latter teen years. You see, in order for that to occur, two major factors must be present. One; the mana state's vessel you're choosing to transform the current vessel into isn't a greater potency than its present forms." Andolis began.
"I'm..not following." I replied, confused at the stipulation.
"Well, let's take this silver ore here, that was relatively lackluster in mana potency. If after Divination I discover it was once mana circulating an enchanted steel ingot, I'd naturally wish to transform said ore into the steel one, right?" Andolis prompted. I nodded, gesturing I was following.
"The problem is, the vessel's present state doesn't contain enough mana to transfigure the full records of its preferred state. By the time you've used up the small amount of mana within the iron ore, it would barely have begun breaking down past a few preliminary runic formations. Not nearly enough to complete the transformation process." Andolis thoroughly explained.
"I see. In theory, could you not just add a greater mana potency to your present vessel?" I asked.
"Unfortunately no, as the transference of records has only functioned with itself. The amalgamation process of mana with differing natures is still very much a mystery, at least to me." Andolis answered, completely killing several ideas I had cooking for when we got back home.
"Damn. Okay, well what's the second factor that's keeping you from vessel transformation?" I asked, eagerly.
"Well, to put it simply, there's no way to remove matter at the rate it would require to allow the records of previous mana states to fill in the gaps." Andolis answered solemnly, his eyes falling To his feet. Clearly, this one bothered him the most. Though as I sat trying to decipher the second runic formation on his hauntingly long equation, a realization of what he'd just said brought a wide grin to my face.
"Hey Andolis, what if I told you I only knew how to remove matter?" I asked, earning a rather confused look from the Lithomancy scholar.
"I'm sorry, come again?" He asked. Grabbing the copper from his hand, I tossed it onto the ground, before using a Void Sphere on it. The copper all but disappeared, being a bit larger than the golf ball size sphere I casted without charging more mana into the skill. Looking back at Andolis, his jaw hung agape staring down at the copper.
"Derrick!" Cassi's voice echoed throughout Andolis's stone chamber as I whipped my head back. She stood by the entrance, waving for me to come over with Korbin and Lonni standing beside her.
"Damn, hey I got to go, but we should workshop th-" Andolis suddenly leaned in, his face not more than an inch from mine.
"If you can show me how to harness this power, I can promise you the full range of my knowledge will be at your disposal. We must seek out this breakthrough, mine and my people's lives depend on it." He whispered, his eyelids spread wide as he frantically spoke. I slowly leaned my head away, feeling uncomfortable not being able to recognize whatever aroma exuding from his hot breath.
"Yeah, yeah of course. Just uh, let me go see what my own people need from me. I'll be back." I said, slowly backing away from the rather crazed looking prodigy of a lithomancer. After getting a solid 7 feet away, I turned my hips and walked straight to my squad.
"Hey, what's going on?" I asked Cassi, who waved me to follow her through the exit. Confused, I walked out as Korbin and Lonni followed behind. Stepping back out into the hidden settlement, Cassi pulled me to the side.
"Is everything okay? Why are we hiding?" I asked, hoping to get some sort of verbal response with one of my questions.
"So we can talk in private." Cassi replied in a hushed voice.
"I get that, but what's the reason? Did your negotiations not go well?" I asked, feeling a building frustration at her ambiguity.
"No, they went perfectly. We agreed to command his forces in exchange for our temporary fealty." Cassi replied.
"Okay? That sounds like a win to me, why are we scurrying away over this?" I asked, with frustration billowing in my chest.
"It's not that simple, these people ar-"
"Genius? Ahead of their time? Potentially the relic replications of an ancient form of Lithomancy lost at the hands of power tripping gods?" I interrupted, angrily.
"Losing." Korbin casually interjected.
"What?" I asked, turning to face him.
"None of their soldiers train combatives, they place all of their focus solely on honing lithomancers. They have nearly 0 healers, as all of those magically inclined were immediately forced into studying Lithomancy. This settlement was his father's creation, someone who balanced military priority far better than Andolis." Korbin coldly explained. Confused, I peered back into Andolis's chambers to find him hunched over his Lithomancy table, staring blankly at the remains of his ball of copper. Turning back, Korbin stood just behind me, nearly making me jump out of my boots not having heard him move as he spoke a sobering phrase.
"They're losing. Really, really badly."