Chapter 104: Mind

Chapter 104: Mind

Rain sat in the heart of Winter, feeding mana into his damaged armor as he tried to calm his mind and ignore the fact that his stomach was full of Fungiform Stumper. He was sitting atop the Watch’s administration building again, wrapped up in a blanket to block the light of the bonfire that was burning on the stone roof beside him. Three more days had passed since his conversation with Val, and, amazingly, things were starting to settle down. At least, fewer people had died yesterday—less than a hundred.

Rain’s services as a mana generator were also less and less in demand with the improvements to the barricade. The Watch, the Guild, and the nobles were now capable of protecting the walls without needing him to keep them fueled with mana. He did still help, of course, but he no longer felt quite as bad about taking a break now and then.

The ground inside the barricade had been cleared of buildings, except those few that the Watch maintained as defensive outposts. People were sleeping out in the open—the barrier took care of pesky issues like winter winds, ice, and snow, but the lack of walls and privacy was less than ideal.

The heat, at least, was being countered. The combined efforts of every mage with a Cold-aspect spell were really starting to make an impact. Large chunks of ice had been scattered everywhere. That wasn’t to say that the air was cold, however, or even cool. It was merely less unbearable. Muggy, but without the risk of heatstroke.

Fires and torches were kept burning constantly. The perpetual light took some getting used to, but it was vital for maintaining safety within the walls, so nobody was about to complain about it. They just made blindfolds for sleeping and carried on as best as they could.

Rain wasn’t sleeping soundly, that was for sure. It wasn’t the light—Aura Focus took care of that handily—it was the constant threat of monsters that made for restless nights. Plus, there was the fact that Velika had joined them two days ago. It appeared that even someone like her needed to sleep from time to time, and preferred to do so without waking up to a slime trying to eat her head.

It was common knowledge at this point that the unstable Citizen was just as trapped as they were. Velika spent her days generally wreaking havoc, smashing buildings, killing monsters, and otherwise venting her frustration. She spent hours each day attacking the barrier with powerful—and loud—shockwaves from her swords. For all Rain knew, it might even be having an effect. The integrity of the barrier hadn’t dropped from ‘fair,’ but neither had it improved.

One thing that the Citizen didn’t do, however, was talk to anyone, with the possible exception of Carten. She had no interest in defending the perimeter or scrounging through the city for supplies. Rain had tried to open a dialog with her, but she’d just ignored him, straight up. It had been like talking to a wall.Ñøv€l--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

He feared that she wasn’t helping because she was still considering her own escape plan—the one that involved the death of everyone else in the city. Talking to the other survivors would mean acknowledging them as people, not mere obstacles standing between her and her freedom. If she couldn’t find the resolve to kill them herself, then, well, all she needed to do was wait.

As for Rain’s own, less horrific escape plan, that was in progress. His people from the bathhouse and a bunch of new volunteers were excavating a path to the barrier stone, with Vanna in charge of the operation. Fortunately, the impact site hadn’t been far outside the barricade, and Bartum had ordered the perimeter extended to include the area. His Earth mages were helping with the excavation, too, but it seemed that the barrier stone was quite deep. How Velika had gotten down there, Rain had no idea. He hoped it would only take the workers a few more days to reach it. He wasn’t sure how long they could hold out before Velika snapped completely.

Food wasn’t an issue, at least. After his unpleasant experience with the Skiffun, Rain had thought that all monsters were inedible, but fortunately for everyone, he’d been wrong about that. In fact, some monsters were highly sought after as delicacies. Not Stumpers, though. They were edible, yes, but edible did not mean good. Their mushroom-flesh was bland, earthy, and very, very tough, even when cooked.

Rain had no problem with eating mushrooms. He liked them quite a bit, especially on pizza, but you try eating nothing but squidgy fungus for days on end and see how you do.

Variety was the issue. Toxic moss was growing everywhere now, and it had ruined most of the food that had been in the warehouses. Some had been saved, and it was in high demand. There was a thriving economy for spices, alcohol, and anything that wasn’t a mushroom. Mlem, in particular, was making a killing. He’d ventured into the city early on with one of the scavenging parties and returned with a magical self-driving cart full of coffee and other luxuries. Needless to say, this had been well-received by the nobles. So well, in fact, that the Watch had needed to step in to stop them from robbing Mlem blind and leaving his body in a ditch.

Now, though, there was no point in staging any further scavenging expeditions for food. The moss didn’t spread quickly where there was light, and not at all in the cold. The illuminated part of the city was clear of the stuff—mostly. The dark section, however, was another story entirely.

Once the moss had taken hold, it had been followed by an orange fuzzy mold, creeping vines, and the beginnings of what looked to be the giant mushroom trees that grew in the Fells. Thanks to the Shift, a bizarre ecology had started to develop outside their little bubble of light.

Unlike in lairs, monsters in a ranked zone would actually fight and kill each other. Everyone maintained that monsters were not alive, but they did imitate life. They didn’t need to hunt or to eat, but they did it anyway. In the new ranked zone of Fel Sadanis, Razorspines were on the top of the food chain, and Coal Lurkers on the bottom.

Slimes didn’t count. Nothing wanted to eat one, for obvious reasons, and they were pretty much left alone.

Incidentally, Dozer had survived. Rain could sense the slime in the building below him, moving around the ground floor and probably being a general nuisance. The slime had just turned up on the second day after the Shift, none the worse for wear, a fact that had become even more astonishing the more Rain learned about monster behavior. While it was true that most monsters didn’t have an issue with Crystal Slimes, regular Slimes and Greater Slimes absolutely did. The two types of monsters absolutely loathed each other.

Vastly outnumbered, Dozer should have been overwhelmed long before he got to the stronghold. Rain was ecstatic that the Crystal Slime had survived, but the how of it eluded him. His connection to Dozer had been too weak to track the slime’s status from the other side of the city, and he’d also had other things on his mind, such as avoiding death. No one else had any insight to offer, either. After all, who would have been paying attention to a single Crystal Slime in all of that chaos?

Dozer would know what had happened, of course, but the slime wasn’t talking.

In other Slime news, Rina, the archer-turned-tamer, had discovered that Crystal Slimes happily sought out and ate the toxic moss that was attacking the city. After learning that yesterday, Rain had made it his mission to Purify as many Slimes as possible. There were now over two dozen Crystal Slimes inside the barricade, acting as bizarre gooey Roombas. Rain was planning to go get more later today. Most of all, he wanted to get a Greater Crystal Slime. He had Purified a few of them and knew that it worked, but he hadn’t been able to coax one inside the barricade.

After seeing the Greater Crystal Slimes, Rain had stayed up late last night, experimenting with Dozer. Unfortunately, he’d come up mostly empty. The only useful thing that he’d learned was that Winter helped immensely with obedience training.

Nothing he’d done had given him any clues about how to get the slime to level. Dozer was still level one, and still as dumb as mud, if slightly more obedient mud.

Tel didn’t work, and neither did Essence Well. When he’d tried it, the slime’s distress had grown quickly, turning to pain as he’d pushed harder. Rain had stopped, horrified by the feeling, though Dozer had soon calmed down and forgotten about it.

What Rain couldn’t forget was what had happened to the other, more expendable Crystal Slime he’d selected as a test subject. After around two thousand mana, it had exploded. Violently.

Rain sighed. He’d come up here to clear his mind, not dwell on the fact that he’d tortured an innocent slime to death in the name of science.

I am a horrible person...

He shook his head. To get his mind off it, he decided to review his status, as he’d yet to do that today. He pulled up his character window with a mental flick, then spent a minute futzing with his training overview until it showed him a summary of everything since the Shift.

Richmond Rain Stroudwater

CLASS

LVL

CAP

Dynamo

18

18

EXP

NEXT

TOTAL

12,749

22,750

514,832

Vitals

CUR

MAX

RGN

HP

600

800

100/d

SP

200

200

300/d

MP

4,684

7,642

2.1/s

Dark Revenant’s Armor

CUR

MAX

RGN

DUR

6,754

1,309

0

SAT

0

13,202

-92/s

CHG

0

14,209

0

Attributes

163/143

EFF

TOTAL

BASE

BUFF

SYN

STR

11.6

40

10

30/37

29%

RCV

4.4

10

10

0/15

44%

END

3.4

10

10

0/16

34%

VGR

14.1

30

10

20/24

47%

FCS

10

10

10

0/49

100%

CLR

293

313

200

113/93

100%

Resistances

0/?

FLAT

PERCENT

HEAT

1.0

0%

COLD

1.0

0%

LIGHT

1.0

0%

DARK

With a sigh, he got to his feet and stretched. His pack was sitting next to the blanket he’d been using to shield his armor. He quickly ran an inventory in his mind, then decided to leave it where it was. It would be fine there, and he had everything important on him anyway.

The sudden sound of raised voices caught his attention, and he followed them over to the edge of the roof. Looking down, he saw Vanna facing off against Rankin, of all people.

Rain frowned. He hadn’t spoken to Rankin since the Shift, and for good reason. The temporary Guildleader was an ass. He crouched down to listen, wondering what Vanna was doing here and why she’d brought Rankin with her.

“So, he’s in there, huh?” Rankin said, pointing at the back door to the administration building, which was directly below where Rain was situated.

“I told you I would go ask if he wants to see you,” Vanna said. “Stop following me and just wait.”

“He is in the Guild, which makes me his boss,” Rankin growled. “I don’t care what he wants. I’m going in.”

“No, you aren’t,” Vanna said. “This is the Watch’s building, you’ll have to go around front and ask them.”

“Give me the damn key to that door. I know you have one.”

“No,” Vanna repeated, crossing her arms. Rain smiled as Rankin threw up his hands with an exasperated noise and spun away in anger, headed toward the main entrance.

Vanna looked up, her eyes searching. She spotted Rain, then smiled and winked at him. Rain smiled back. Good. Always look up. I am glad someone is listening.

He motioned to her to wait, balancing his stats as he watched Rankin stomp around the side of the building. He gave it thirty more seconds, then activated Force Ward and looked straight down.

Another reason he kept visiting this rooftop was to force himself to confront the fear of heights that had taken root after the chasm incident. He still felt that fear even now, irrational as it was. He bit down on his tongue, hard, making sure that Force Ward was active. Then, he jumped.

As he fell, he threw his arms out like a skydiver. It wasn’t that far, only four stories. He barely had time to orient himself before he face-planted into the packed dirt with a loud whump.

“Graceful,” Vanna said, taking her hands away from her ears. She extended an arm to him and pulled him to his feet.

“Thanks,” Rain said, checking his mana. He’d lost less than he expected. I keep forgetting about the forceweave. I really need to do some proper tests.

“So, I am guessing this means you don’t want to talk to him?” Vanna said.

“Not even a little bit.” Rain said, absently dusting himself off with Purify. “What did he want?”

“He wants you to stop working with the Watch,” Vanna said with a shrug. “He said if you want to do anything else for them, you need to get them to submit the request through the Guild.”

“Screw that,” Rain said. “I asked Gus. There’s no rule that says I have to go through the Guild to do stuff. I can do what I want.”

Vanna tilted her head, “You’re not showing a lot of loyalty there.”

Rain reached up to touch the bronze plate hanging from his neck, then let his hand fall. “Yeah, well, not to him anyway. Maybe if he was less of an asshole.” He started walking around the building in the opposite direction Rankin had gone, Vanna following. “What’s going on with you, Vanna? I haven’t seen you in a few days.”

Vanna shrugged. “I’ve pretty much been living in the pit.”

♫The Pit. I fell in it, The Pit. You fell in it, The Pit.♫

Rain shook his head, fighting away the words. With the way his memory worked, music tended to get stuck. “How’s that going?”

“Want to come see for yourself?” Vanna pointed as they rounded the corner of the building. “I left my brother in charge. Knowing him, he’s probably made a huge mess of things already.”

Rain nodded. Talking to Vanna was quickly putting him in a better mood. “Sure, let’s go. I think I might dig a bit, get some exercise, you know? I was going to go slime hunting, but I’m really up for anything.” Rain rolled his shoulder, the one that had been injured. There was no pain, only the stiffness from his soul.

“Hey, Rain, did you see Rankin?” Val asked, appearing suddenly beside him.

“Ah!” Rain gasped, whirling.

Val grinned. “Finally got you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Rain said. That’s it, I’m using Detection all the time from now on, no matter where I am.

“Hey Val,” Vanna said, smiling warmly at him.

Val smiled back, grinning from ear to ear. Rain blinked as Vanna maneuvered past him so she was walking next to Val.

He raised a pitiful excuse for an eyebrow. “What’s that about?”

“Nothing,” Vanna said. She reached out and straightened Val’s jacket casually.

Rain stumbled to a stop, looking between them. “Wait, what did I miss?”

Val looked at Vanna, then shrugged awkwardly. “We, uh...”

“You two hooked up?” Rain asked, incredulous.

“What does that mean?” Vanna asked, stopping to look back at him.

Val coughed and cleared his throat. “Never mind that, Rain. You know Rankin’s been looking for you since yesterday, right?”

Rain smiled and started walking again. Good for them. “I saw him. He didn’t see me.”

“You can’t keep avoiding him, you know,” Val said. “Take it from someone who’s a master of bad plans.”

“I know,” Rain said. “I’m just not great at confrontations. That’s Carten’s department. And yours, I suppose.”

“Carten is Mazel’s nephew, right?” Vanna said. “The loud one with the beard and the shields?”

Rain nodded. “Yeah, that’s him. You seen him lately, Val?”

“I ran into him yesterday in the tavern,” Val said. Rain didn’t need to ask which tavern. There was only one, and it was less of a proper bar and more of where all the barrels of alcohol had gotten stashed. Khurt had set it up.

Val sighed and rubbed at his neck. “He said Velika dumped him.”

Vanna looked startled. “Velika? Citizen Sadanis?”

Val nodded. “Yup.”

“Dumped?” Rain asked uncertainly. “You mean like...broke up?” And she didn’t kill him?

Val nodded. “That’s what I said. Dumped. Broke up. No longer seeing each other. Is this a translation problem? How would you say it?”

“The same way,” Rain said, shaking his head. “That’s what caught me off guard.” Did she really dump him, or did she just start ignoring him like she’s ignoring everyone else?

Val shrugged. “What was that language of yours called again?”

“English,” Rain said, absently. Well, if Carten and Velika really are done, then at least I don’t have to worry about him saying something stupid to her anymore.

“And where do they speak...English?” Vanna asked. “You never did tell me where you were from.”

Rain hesitated, then smiled, though he quickly hid the expression. “They speak English in What.”

“Where?” Vanna asked.

“No, What,” Rain said.

“What?” said Val.

Rain lost it, breaking out into a grin. “Exactly.”

“Punch him, you think?” Val said, looking at Vanna.

Vanna shook her head. “He’s wearing armor. I was thinking trip him.”

Rain laughed and raised his hands. “Fine, fine, I’ll stop. Remind me to do Who’s on First for you sometime. That should be easy enough to translate.” I suppose I have to explain baseball first. Now there’s an idea. Maybe I should try to set up a game. People could use a distraction. He made a fist, squeezing tightly, feeling the strength in his fingers. I bet I could smack the shit out of a ball now, and with Velocity, running the bases would be easy.

“Uh oh,” Vanna said.

“Agreed,” Val said. “He’s got the look.”

“What look?” Rain asked.

“You know what look,” Val said.

Rain sighed. Damn it, I got distracted again, didn’t I? Since when do I have a look?

He shook his head. “Anyway, back to Carten. Is he okay?”

Val wiggled his hand. “He’s taking it really hard, but she didn’t injure him if that’s what you mean. Best thing for him, actually. I mean, I could kinda see them working, before all of...this.” He gestured vaguely. “She’s totally lost it now, though.”

Rain nodded, not about to get into a commentary on the Citizen’s mental state. “Yeah, Carten really liked her, though. I’ll track him down later before he does anything stupid.” I should have talked to Carten about Velika earlier. He might know something about what she’s thinking.

“Probably a good idea,” Val said.

The group reached the edge of the excavation, and Vanna climbed the lip, then pointed. “There’s Smelt. I’m going to go say hi.”

Rain looked down into the pit, forcing himself to join her on the edge. The bank below him was surprisingly vertical, the earth barely sloping at all. The workers had made astonishing progress, digging a hole ten meters down, and at least twice that across. Rain knew that Bartum had sent some Earth mages to help, but still, it was impressive.

The entire pit was lit by torches and was swarming with activity. Heavy equipment had no place here, just buckets, shovels, wagons, and lots and lots of volunteers. Construction by flash mob. Rain saw no sign of any Earth mages at the moment, though there were a few Watch officers standing guard on the far side of the rim near the barricade.

Val glanced at the sloping entrance to the hole, which was a distance to the right, then looked straight down. “Rain, are you thinking what I’m thinking? Wanna take the quick way? You can cover all of us, right?”

Despite himself, Rain smiled. “Yeah. I’ve got plenty of mana. Let’s do it.”

“You mean jump?” Vanna asked, taking a step back from the edge and looking at Rain uncertainly. “I know you said it works on other people, but you’re, well, awakened. I’m not.”

“You don’t have to jump if you don’t want to,” Val said. Rain blinked and looked at him. Is he sick?

Vanna took a deep breath, stepping forward again. She glanced at Rain. “You’re sure it’s safe?”

Rain nodded. “As safe as it can be. You’re putting your life into my hands, though. Walking would be the smart thing.”

“No, it’s fine,” Vanna said, shifting closer to Val. “Should be fun, right?”

“That’s the spirit,” Val said, grabbing her hand.

Rain activated Force Ward, then nodded. It was his turn to feel nervous. The trust they were showing him was ridiculous, now that he was thinking about it. “Safety check before we go. Vanna, punch Val in the head.”

“What?” Vanna said, then shouted as Val’s fist flew at her face. It struck Force Ward harmlessly, the water-drop ripple in the air clearly visible.

“See?” Val said, laughing at her reaction. Without warning, Vanna slugged him back, creating a second distortion in the air.

She looked down at her fist, then back at the laughing Val. Then she looked at Rain. “Can you lower it on him for a second?”

Val stopped laughing, holding up his hands in mock surrender.

Rain bit his own tongue hard, just to make sure he was covered as well. He crept closer to the edge, then fought off a sudden bout of vertigo as he eyed the dirt at the bottom. “When you jump, really throw yourself out there so you don’t hit the side. Spread yourself flat while you fall, or you’ll stick in the dirt like a pencil. For future reference, the normal range of this spell is about twenty-five stride. It wouldn’t be an issue here, even if I wasn’t jumping with you, but all the same, never do something like this unless you’re sure I’m ready. Talking to you, Val.” He looked back at them. “Everyone ready?”

“Wait,” Vanna said. She waved her arms, calling down to the workers below, some of whom were already watching. “Hey, watch this!”

Many more faces pivoted up in their direction.

Val laughed. “Uh oh, Rain, now she’s done it. Everyone is going to want a turn.”

Rain sighed resignedly. “Don’t I know it. Come on, before I think better of this. Jump when I get to three. One. Two. Three!”

He jumped, hearing the others follow him. There were three solid impacts as they plowed into the dirt amid cries of alarm from the spectators. He got up quickly on his own while Val helped Vanna to her feet. She looked a little green, but she was smiling and unharmed.

“What the fuck, Vanna!?” Smelt shouted, pushing through the crowd. “Are you insane?! How are you not dead?!”

Vanna laughed and hugged her brother, then released him and pointed at Rain. “Perks of having an adventurer for a boss.”

Rain snorted as the crowd broke out into cheers. “Do it again!” someone shouted.

Rain shook his head. No way am I making this a regular thing. I’m not a carnival ride.

“Hey Rain, clean me off, would you?” Val said, gesturing at his dirty clothes. All three of them were filthy from the impact.

Rain shook his head, looking up. “One second.”

“Why? Oh,” Val said, after following his gaze.

Dozer was flying through the air, having flung himself from the lip of the pit. Rain had noticed the slime following them shortly after they’d left the administration building, unhappy at being left behind.

Dozer hit the ground like a cannonball, leaving a sizable divot in the dirt. Under the influence of the spell, Dozer’s body didn’t deform at all, landing more like a meteor than a puddle of goo. Rain was pretty sure that the slime would have been fine without Force Ward, but he wasn’t going to take any chances.

Several minutes of chaos followed. Rain allowed Dozer to clean off a few people before he used Purify, knowing that the slime would be distraught if he didn’t. Crystal slimes ate filth, operating under much the same rules as Purify did. Dirt on the ground outside was not filth. Dirt on someone’s skin was. Judging from the state of the workers, the slime was going to have its work cut out for it.

Looking around, Rain noticed clear signs that the Earth mages had been plying their craft. The floor of the pit was mostly dirt, even at this depth, but he could see large outcrops of stone here and there, shattered into manageable chunks by Earth magic. A quick pulse of Detection told him that most of it wasn’t bedrock, merely boulders. In the deepest section of the pit, however, there was a flat section of rock that extended down further than Rain’s scan could penetrate. If over a hundred meters of solid stone didn’t count as bedrock, he wasn’t sure what did.

He shook his head. They shouldn’t need to dig through all of that. He couldn’t boost Detection’s resolution high enough to distinguish crushed stone from solid, not without hurting himself, but it should have been easy enough to follow Westbridge’s path through the rock by eye. He looked for Vanna, spotting her talking to Smelt, then walked over to them.

“So,” he said without preamble. “Why is the pit so wide? Weren’t you following Westbridge’s tunnel?”

“We lost the trail two days ago,” Vanna said. She pointed at the exposed bedrock. “We were digging there, following the disturbed earth, but it vanished when we hit stone. I thought Westbridge might have gone sideways or something, so we spread out, but we haven’t been able to find anything else.” She looked at her brother. “Did you find anything while I was gone?”

Smelt shook his head. “Not a thing. It’s strange.”

Rain frowned, walking over to the area that Vanna had indicated. The stone was mostly smooth, but there was one place where it looked like it had been crushed and shattered, perhaps by an Earth mage. Rain pointed at the spot. “What about that?”

“What about what?” Smelt said, moving to stand next to him.

“The crushed stone, there,” Rain said. “Was that an Earth mage? Did you try to dig through?”

“Crushed stone?” Vanna said, joining them. “What are you talking about?”

“That, right there.” Rain pointed at the shattered rock.

“Just looks like the rest,” Smelt said. “We didn’t try to have the Earth mages break through this. Not after we lost the trail.”

Rain blinked. Something strange is going on here. “Seriously, you can’t see this?” he said, walking into the center of the crushed area. He bent and picked up a small stone, holding it out to them.

“Woah!” Vanna shouted.

“How did you do that?” Smelt said, staring at the rock. “Nobody is that strong.”

“Do what?” Rain asked, looking at the rock. It was just a rock, no bigger than his fist.

“You just ripped that rock out of solid stone with your bare hands,” Smelt said, pointing at it.

“No, I didn’t,” Rain said, pointing at the ground. “There’s tons of them. I just picked one up. I think there’s some kind of illusion. You really just see smooth stone?” He activated Detection, tightening the radius so it was less overwhelming. Then, he began boosting the intensity gradually. Smaller signals started splitting from the larger fuzzy sense of ‘rock’ as he did so, but he was forced to stop as it became overwhelming. The results were inconclusive.

“Well...yeah.” Smelt said.

Huh. It has to be an enchantment. Maybe something the Majistraal did to protect the artifact. Why can I see it, but they can’t? Is it because they aren’t awakened? Rain looked around until he spotted Val playing with Dozer, then waved to him. “Hey, Val, come here for a sec.”

“Yeah?” Val said, walking over. Dozer trailed after him, full of dirt and as happy as could be.

Rain pointed at his feet. “Am I standing on flat stone, or is it all crushed?”

“Uh? Flat stone?” Val said.

“Wait, really?” He gestured at the ground. “What does it look like to you? Is it just flat rock like the rest?” He held up the rock he was holding. “You don’t see a bunch of shattered rocks like this one? What about something weird, like a magical barrier?”

Val shrugged. “Doesn’t look like anything to me,” Val said.

Rain froze. “You did not just say that.”

“Say what?” Val said.

Rain looked down at the crushed rock, seriously questioning his reality. Okay, someone is messing with me.