Chapter 188: Explain Everything

Chapter 188: Explain Everything

Tala had to begin her cooking by dumping an obscene amount of power into Kit.

The dimensional storage had taken quite a bit of damage from the griffons lightning, and only its increased internal and external manipulation abilities kept it from being outright destroyed.

And I didnt even notice.

-Well, you were eating yourself at the time.-

That made Tala feel a bit better, actually.

Kit was hardly the only part of her gear that had gone through the wringer, however. The through-spike had simply continued to drink deeply of her power and hadnt been permanently harmed in the least. I wonder if its draw negatively affected my defenses?

-Probably not? It shouldnt have taken a lot of power to maintain the physical form, and the spell-form wouldnt have been affected, directly.-

That was good, at least.

Her elk-leathers had only survived because they could draw power directly from her gate, and their regenerative abilities had a much easier job when compared to her own, since they were repairing non-living matter. Their armor effect had broken so quickly that Tala hadnt even noticed it at the time of the strike and was still recovering. Tala had never taken a hit so powerful that it outright broke the magical armored defense, so she was glad that it was recovering at all. And, even though it hadnt seemed to do much at the time, both she and Alat agreed that its presence had likely dulled the front edge of the hit, significantly.

Imagine if I hadnt had that defense, or the ending-berry power.

-That would likely have been the start of the endgame for us. Wed have been reduced to little more than dust. Our magic would have tried to rebuild our body, but I dont know that it would have really done anything significant with nothing physical to build off of or draw from.-

Tala grunted in agreement, choosing not to focus on that unpleasant possibility.

As soon as Kit was recovered enough for Tala to draw out her cooking supplies, she began the culinary process, continuing the infusion of power into the power-hungry item all the while.

-In case youre curious, Kit takes more power per day than the average un-Bound Mage can pull through their gate.-

So, even if it could be made en masse in this form, most Mages couldnt use it?

-Precisely.-

That was interesting, but not very pertinent.

-Also, Terry just ate the griffon wing.-

Tala jerked, almost spilling the pot she was working over. I forgot to grab that! She looked around, seeing Terry happily dancing between his feet as the last feathers slid down his throat.

The terror bird paused, regarding her, then swallowed and flickered to her shoulder before headbutting her cheek.

I could have sold that, Terry.

He trilled contentedly to himself.

Well, Im glad you liked it. We could have bought so much food with that money.

Terry hesitated briefly, then trilled happily again.

Still worth it, eh?

He bobbed a nod, then curled up against her neck.

She let out a defeated grunt. Well, its done, now. Please leave some harvest for me next time?

He shifted slightly in a motion that might have been a nod.

Good enough, I suppose.

Cazors glowing balls distorted and shrieked on occasion, demonstrating that the silmuk within them was still alive, if not well. Even so, the Archon dealt with each irregularity with quick efficiency, never taking his attention from the task for too long.

Tala had noticed that only the outside layers of iron were confined to a glowing red. The light occasionally flickering through showed ranges through yellow all the way up into white.

I feel like theres an obvious reason for that. Alat?

-Yes, you learned about the magnetic point of iron. The glowing red portion is just below that point, and it seems to be containing the iron that is hotter, past the point of being able to be directly manipulated by magnetic fields.-

That has to take quite a lot of finesse. He cant let the heat transfer outward, or hell lose containment.

-And it is likely only the extreme heat further in that is truly damaging the silmuk.-

Complicated indeed.

Cooking didnt take a lot of thought, especially when following the incredibly easy and detailed instructions from the Culinary guild.

So, what was this experiment you wanted us to perform with the ending-berry seeds.

-I think that the scripts that you had Holly put in place for the containment of scripts created in your lungs would contain the ending-seeds destructive power and allow you to exhale it as a breath-weapon of sorts.-

Tala froze, cooking implement halfway through stirring a portion of her food. You want me to detonate an ending-seedin my mouthfor a testbecause you think it should work.

-Not out here in the wilderness, but after Holly has considered and approved of the merits of the idea? With a healer present, just in case? Yes.-

And stuffed to the brim with ending berry power.

-That too.-

The idea had merit. Could this have helped with the griffon?

-Are you asking if it would have been a good idea to test out an unproven, dangerous idea against a magical creature?-

No. Im asking if it could have helped.

-In theory.-

Tala grunted. Next time, then. Next time, well have another thing in our back pocket.

-If it works.-

If it works. Tala considered. Worst possible outcome?

-Your head pops, your scripts rebuild it, and I refill your mind with who you are.-

Tala shuddered. Thatsunsettling.

-Why? You are a soul, manifesting in a body, tempered by a certain set of experiences. Your soul wouldnt be touched, your body would be repaired and your experiences would be restored exactly as they had been.-

Tala grimaced. I still dont like the idea.

-That makes sense. I wouldnt like the idea of you running my scripts all the way down before getting them reinscribed.-

I hadnt considered that as equivalent, but I can see that it would be.

-Ill help you keep your head, then.- Alat had a bit of a humorous bent to her tone.

Tala grinned in return. And Ill do my utmost to keep your scripts in top form.

Shed finished preparing her massive, one-woman feast as well as consuming it by the time Cazor was wrapping up. Hed declined her offers of food.

Shed made a lot, and she hadnt really savored it so much as ate as quickly as she could. Though, she did pay enough attention to write down her impressions of the dishes in the little book provided by the Guild.

For the most part, shed made a meat-veggie medley, taking dehydrated vegetables and preserved meats and cooking them in water with premade spice mixes poured in.

She also broke out some hard-tack, which she lathered in a cheese that was somehow made to be long-lasting without any external method of preservation.

While shed been eating, all of the spheres had been steadily shrinking, and one by one, their collapse had accelerated until they fully crumpled in on themselves, before the iron cooled enough to be moved over to join a different ball.

At long last, there was only one sphere left, and it was shrinking rapidly.

Less than an hour before, Tala could have stood inside it without issue, but now it was barely bigger than her torso.

Over the next minute, it looked almost like it ate itself. It was an uncomfortable reminder of how half of her scripts had worked on her so recently.

Finally, Cazor collapsed to a seat on the turf, all his iron streaming back to his pouches. Some was still dust, but much of it was irregular chunks of slag. Hed probably have some way of breaking them up at a later time.

One of those has to be a dimensional storage to contain all that iron. Maybe more than one, honestly.

The iron itself was interfering with her mage-sight however, so she couldnt easily tell which.

Cazor walked over, seeming quite satisfied with himself. Hey, youre not magnetic anymore. He hesitated. Wow, the griffon really fried you, didnt it.

Tala grimaced. Yeah, it wasnt great. And now I need to re-apply the iron paint. The two gallons that she had would only allow her to do one more full re-application. She needed to get more before she left on her next assignment. No delaying. I need to get more, today.

Even so, she felt it was a failure, so she cast it in that light in her retelling.

Holly sat in silence for a long, long time.

Well, it was probably just a couple of minutes, but it felt like a long time as she stared critically at Tala the entire time.

Well, your breath delivery of magic should work, and testing it here, with a Healer present is a wise move. She called out to a passing apprentice and had the woman send for a Healer. No time like the present. She flagged down another woman and had them source some trash.

Right now? Tala was a bit surprised.

Before you leave? Of course. If I let you leave, youll find a reason to test it yourself. I applaud your restraint in not trying something foolish with the griffon, but one does not bet on a miracle happening twice in one day.

Hey! Tala frowned at the rather pointed insult.

Hush. While they are arranging those things, we need to get you in the auto-inscriber.

What? Why?

Youve rebuilt most of yourself again, already for some reason."

Tala scratched the side of her head. It wasnt intentional.

Regardless, you need the next iteration of scripts and then, after our test, you need to EAT. When I say eat, you need to eat more than you did last week, but tonight. Then do that for every meal for a week.

Tala blinked at the Inscriptionist. What? Why? She thought that shed been doing a good job of eating what she needed as well as building her reserves.

Because these scripts are going to rebuild you again, and they are going to need a good chunk of that energy and nutrition, and you will need the rest to be safe on your next venture. She patted Tala on the cheek. Im not about to let you die on me. You are giving such amazing data.

Thank you? Tala wasnt sure if she should be insulted.

Youre welcome, dear. Hollys words seemed genuine.

So a compliment?

-She does give them on occasion.-

Holly pulled out a few little booklets, then hesitated. Alat, was it?

-Yes.-

Yes. Tala answered for her alternate interface.

Good, look up the next set of manuals for these series of scripts. She held up the three small booklets, which Tala read, but didnt bother to process.

-Got it.- There was a moments pause. -Oh, interesting. Okay. Let me rearrange this for youandHere you go.-

A book appeared, hovering in front of Tala, and she took it, not bothering to consider its unreality.

She also did her best to not notice Holly reacting with interest to her movements.

It was a simple read, and she finished quickly. Huh, so it really is just a next step.

-It seems so. Metaphorically, we are building a house. The first set we got was the foundation, then the set we currently have, and which weve been soaking in power, until we forced them to rebuild us, were the supports and the roof. Now, this next set is the walls and the real meat of the structure.-

How many more small modifications are there in the sequence?

-After the one were about to get? Just one more.-

What then?

-I dont know. We dont have access to whatever that is.-

So, these improve base muscle power, bone density, and strength, natural healing, and biological system efficiency overall?

-Thats correct. There are two parts to each change. The first is the forced physical change within your body, and the second is the imposition of magic that augments the physical. The idea is to force that into your natural magical pathways as well, for increased augmentation as well as maintaining augmentation even without scripts to that end.-

Yeah, this cant be unrelated to Refining. She knew from experience that Holly wouldnt tell her, though. Alright. I think I understand the difference.

Holly leaned closer. Fascinating. You didnt imbibe the information any faster, Im monitoring your inscriptions as we speak. The information was simply shuffled around, and only the parts you needed were presented to your conscious mind. Increasing efficiency rather than raw throughput.

Yes?

Wonderful. Now, inscribing time! Were refreshing everything while youre here. No reason to have some of yours run down.

Holly pulled out the auto-inscriber and helped Tala get inside it before it tightened.

You are clear of all iron, so that griffon did you a favor of sorts. She cackled a laugh. Without its work, you wouldnt have been ready for the next modification for months, so it did you all sorts of favors.

Tala grimace. I suppose so, yeah.

I assume you prefer unconsciousness?

That would be preferred, yes.

Are you sure? I really do recommend that you stay awake.

Why?

Holly grimaced fractionally, then shook her head. No reason.

Unconscious, please.

Holly obliged.

* * *

-Ding-

-Conscious disabled for reinscribing.-

-Reinscribing complete, consciousness restored.-

Tala returned to consciousness like the snap of her fingers.

She had a lingering soreness across her body, but it seemed more mental than physical. Or, magical? In addition, she felt a building hunger. Oh, yeah. Food soon.

She waited. Alat? Are you there?

-Yes, Tala.-

Why the ding again?

-Weve been over this, at least in passing. When you lose consciousness, my base nature takes over until consciousness is restored and normal brain function is reported.-

Right. That makes sense.

How are you feeling? Holly was sitting off to one side, the auto-inscriber already put away.

Fine? I think.

Good. I left you unconscious for a bit longer this time, to let the inscriptions set a bit longer. I think it was the right call. They seem to be incorporating nicely.

-Correct. The extra time without power flowing through them increased their acceptance by at least 10%-

Seems to have worked.

Good, because the Healer just arrived, and I had them set up a side room for the test.

Tala blinked at her, processing the flow of words as her mind continued to attempt to wake up.

Holly just smiled back. Shall we?

One moment. Tala tossed Kit against the wall and walked through almost before the door could fully manifest. She found what she needed right inside, opening one of her cast-iron barrels and eating great handfuls of halved ending-berries as quickly as she could.

After less than a minute of what was, admittedly, gorging, Alat interrupted Talas one-food feast.

-Thats about enough. Were actually approaching our capacity with this power and I dont want to see what happens if we pass that.-

Tala licked off the bits of juice that were on her hands before wiping her mouth with those hands and repeating the process.

Waste not.

That done, she exited Kit and grinned towards Holly. Lets do this.The initial instance of this chapter being available happened at N0v3l.Bin.