Chapter 504: Fractures (1/2)

Ilea was standing in the large hall where the blood ritual had taken place.

The space around her felt almost alive, twisting and turning, under such tensions that she feared reality could break at any moment.

It was just an illusion of course. She knew that the fluctuations were temporary and minor in the grand scheme of things. It simply required incredible brute force to break through realms with so little finesse, that much she understood just looking at her surroundings.

Ilea was getting somewhere. She could tell that whoever had designed and executed this spell had only little knowledge of the spacial fabric connecting everything. Enough understanding to rip through but not nearly enough to create something stable.

The only impressive thing about this phenomenon was the sheer amount of power it took to create and sustain it. It was less impressive when one knew the cost.

She was juggling Hector around with her space magic, teleporting him through the room with ease and using force to push him into and through the walls. The second tier of Space Awareness had not disappointed.

‘ding’ ‘Space Awareness reaches lvl 20’

‘ding’ ‘Space Awareness reaches 2nd lvl 1’

Passive – Space Awareness – 2nd lvl 1 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

You become more aware of the density and shifts in the fabric of Space itself.

2nd stage: Further understanding of the spacial fabric allows you to manipulate its forces with greater ease and higher intensity. You learn to perceive even the tiniest ripples in space. In the case of active fissures, you find yourself able to peer into the other side.

Category: Body Enhancement – Perception Aura

Ilea had already tested the new abilities for the last twenty minutes.

The most obvious change was the increased power and ease of use for her Space Magic abilities. Even Hector had a hard time resisting Displacement and Force for long. His resistance was admittedly at a low level still.

She could activate the spells far quicker, both their intensity itself and her precision increasing by half, if not more. The distance and cooldowns weren’t affected however, nor could she move or stop more objects than before.

It gave her third Class spells a major buff, bringing them into more than just supportive efficiency, at least against lower level opponents. Flare of Creation became stronger too but mostly in how easily she could cover the ashen constructs connected to herself. The strength of the flames were wildly different depending on which monster she used it on anyway.

“Do it again,” she said, watching with full concentration as Hector teleported to the other side of the room.

There were hundreds of ripples she could see in the hall. Hector had just added another one. It was still difficult to discern his spell among all the others, especially within the ritual hall, but Ilea was getting better.

Most teleportation abilities were near instant but with this newfound perception, Ilea could see where people went. The ripples remained for a while too, meaning she could theoretically follow someone who used a few teleportation abilities in a row to get away.

“So you’re saying I’m just condensed into a small pocked space before I’m physically moved somewhere else,” Hector commented.

“That’s my current theory. I only have your spell and the Mantis’ to go on,” Ilea said.

She couldn’t observe herself during her teleportation after all.

From time to time, she would try and peer through the fractures around her. Despite all her resistances and healing, the effort made her nauseous quickly. The feeling went away as soon as she stopped trying.

“There’s trees on the other side,” she said. “More insect creatures are close by and there’s snow in the distance.”

She had to interpret the blurry and fractured images that came to her whenever she used the ability. Her sphere and increased eyesight were anything but helpful, muddling the confusing experience even more so.

“Are they frenzied too? Do you see mountains?” Hector asked after a while.

Ilea shook her head. “I can’t really tell. I’d say no to either.”

“You said this ritual… this fracture, it needs incredible resources to be kept open?” he asked.

“As imperfect as it is, it should’ve collapsed the moment it was created,” Ilea said. She knew it to be the truth. Space was not something one could bend and warp like this. There were rules and limitations. Her own skills showed as much.

“Then why is it still around?” he asked. “There’s no more people around here to sacrifice or supply it and I don’t see or feel any mana flowing towards this place from Nara. Quite the contrary.”

“Exactly,” Ilea said. “Something on the others side is keeping it open. Something so powerful that the mana density in a third of the city is vastly higher than it should be. The trees, grass, and roots growing through everything, I think it’s part of it too.”

“You’re starting to sound a little crazy too,” Hector said as he glanced at her. “You gained all this understanding just from a perception aura?”

“The aura is good but no, it’s just that this place is absolutely incredible. I imagine it’s easier to study lava magic inside an active volcano than anywhere else,” she said.

“I’d think so too, other than the getting burnt up part of course,” Hector confirmed. “So this is like an active volcano but for space magic?”

Ilea nodded.

“Spacecano. Volspace,” the man mused before he was pushed into a nearby wall.

Most of his defenses weren’t active to benefit more from the training. Ilea doubted even her improved space magic could do much against his pressurized sphere of water.

“And it nearly doubled your spell power,” Hector said as he worked his way out of the broken wall.

“How much stronger is your water because of your manipulation skill?” Ilea asked, thinking of her own ash. There were so many skills working together to make it the honed weapon and near perfect defense that it was.

“Fair enough. Just wish I had something like that for my summoned creatures,” he said. “Neely with twice the power.”

“Can we collapse it now?” Hector asked as another being came out from a fissure.

A wildflower ant that was immediately cut apart by a thin beam of water.

Ilea nodded slowly. She had gotten her second tier and while she would have liked to study this place for longer, it was a risk to keep the ritual as it was. They had work to do.

“Do it,” she said, watching the man as a sphere of water formed around him, a dozen beams cutting through the stone floor like knifes through warm butter.

The ritual immediately winked out, the runes no longer supporting this side of the fractured space.

Ilea watched with fascination as the space stabilized, the wisps returning to normal near instantly, as if a vacuum was filled once more with air.

‘ding’ ‘Space Awareness reaches 2nd lvl 2’

A nice farewell gift, she thought before turning to Hector.

He had an apologetic smile on his face.

“What?” Ilea asked.

“I might have cut a little m-” he started as a loud groan echoed through the hall, the whole room suddenly turning before it crumbled to the side.

Ilea blinked outside, watching as the whole top third of the large stone tower slid off, falling with an almost perfect quiet before hundreds of tons of stone crashed onto the city below.

Hector had appeared next to her. “Also a way to do it.”

“No,” Ilea said. “No, it isn’t.”

The man snickered, dodging the ashen spheres she shot his way, not that they would penetrate far into his sphere anyway.

A wave of air brushed past them as the dust below expanded through the streets. The damage this guy alone can do in seconds.

“That’s why you don’t build high,” he said and shook his head in a sagely manner.

Ilea understood the appeal at least. A good view was certainly desirable. She herself had chosen the spot for her house mainly because of that.

“Looks like my little mistake didn’t go unseen,” Hector said and pointed towards a distant hill outside of the city.