Chapter 274: Furnace and Fire (1/2)

Helios tapped the side of his head, ”You wish to start that today? Right now?”

I gave him a thumbs-up, ”Yes, I do. Come on. Let's go.”

I floated him along to Springfield, each of us crossing over the woodlands of Michigan. Once near the beginnings of Springfield, we viewed the aftermath of our battle with Yawm in its full light. Many of the buildings were collapsed, several gigantic craters sprawled across the city's surface. New kinds of fungi and mushrooms cropped up, filling in some of the voided wildlife from before the porytian's arrival.

By now, the forest crept into the town, no one coming back to this ghost town. Well, not most. My guild explored here often for the dungeons, most of them higher level than usual thanks to Yawm. Springfield was a breeding ground for stronger rifts, and its proximity to Mt. Verner made it the perfect place to train up veteran dungeon clearers.

We looked around for one of those dungeons, trying to get one large and secure enough for an elemental furnace's fallout. It took a few minutes before I found the sewer system, exploring it once more to find a dungeon still there. I waved at Helios,

”Here, we'll use this.”

Helios followed me into a tunnel leading to a jungled expanse. This was one of the first dungeons I ever entered, and I fought against two random mercenaries here. They used arcane magic, my first introduction to the violet beams of death. Initially, I wondered why those guys came to Earth as they had. After discovering how valuable dungeon cores were, it all made sense. They would have made a killing if they hadn't met me.

Since then, the sewers evolved entirely. New, vibrant, and toxic growths splurted out of every surface. The entirety of the space expanded, along with the denizens that occupied it. When I came last time, I hadn't even recognized that I'd waltzed into a rift because I thought every dungeon was like my first.

Instead, I discovered that few dungeons were guarded by Sentinels, and even fewer locked you inside and wouldn't let you out. By comparison, this was average, only a steeled gate keeping the wildlife in. Of that wildlife, some new kind of mole species moved in, and they expanded the tunnels beneath Springfield. Their claw marks on their many burrows exposed their weapons of choice, along with their dominance underground.

At the same time, they warred with an insect colony of some sort in the distance. I could hear the sound of claws and keratin clashing, the insects and moles tearing each other apart. These ants were armored on their fronts, extra limbs growing out of their backs. These mirrored a praying mantis's limbs, ready to grab and hold down anything coming nearby.

These armored ants defended their queen lying deep in their colony center. The moles kept their leadership dispersed, the strongest of them deciding how to approach the situation. These moles used creepy, finger laden noses to cast fire magic and enhance their healing. They matched with one another well.

This stalemate showed itself within the dungeon's layout. Many tunnels led to other tunnels, each haphazardly spread about. This left the place in a state of utter disarray, most animals here needing to burrow just to move around. In these hallowed halls, life thrived amongst their chaos.

The roof of the dungeon sported some glowing fungus, likely some variant from Yawm's invasion. These spore pods showered everything in a green-blue light.

If an animal swooped near a pod, it burst, coating the creature in gunk that quickly congealed. Soaking into the victim, the goo created these zombied, fungal creatures that served the greater fungal good. They fought over the corpses, the fungi benefiting from the mole and ants war.

Helios and I stepped into this veritable lion's den, several ants passing us without realizing what we were. A few carried spore pods on their backs, each of them working with the fungus to eliminate the moles. On the other hand, when a mole rose from the ground beneath us, it noticed us right away. With a nose covered in squirming fingers, it wriggled as it dashed at us, its mouth opened wide.

Helios raised a hand, but I acted first.

”Stop.”

Like Yawm before me, the creature caved under the pressure of my voice. In the distance, the ants and moles ceased fighting, many of them beginning to hide. Helios scoffed,

”Cowardly, aren't they?”

I shrugged, disintegrating the mole in front of us with Event Horizon,

”Eh, these guys don't have a chance in hell of fighting us. Giving up is wisdom here.”

As the mana wafted to me, Helios eyed the stream of energy, and he shook off some discomfort,

”Hm, perhaps.”

He stared at the mana without needing to see it. In fact, Helios gestured about with a natural air that was downright uncanny once I thought about it. After all, the guy was blind. I wasn't trying to be mean spirited here, but I believed blind people wouldn't understand facial gestures well. Either way, Helios shattered that idea entirely, so I wanted to figure out why.

”Hey man, before we get to practicing, I wanted to ask something.”

”You will no doubt assault me with a plethora of questions, so do digress.”

I lifted my hands, ”You're blind, right?”

”Yes. You've seen my eyes. Your point?”

”How come you still make facial expressions, even under your mask?”

Helios raised his eyes, ”Ah, I see. That's a strange question. I expected something else rather than bringing up my disabilities. How polite of you.”

”I'm not trying to knock you down here. I'm genuinely curious.”

”Then I'll give you a genuine answer. Facial expressions are not taught nor learned. They are largely instinctual. To that effect, I often articulate them without meaning to. If anything, I've had to learn to numb my expressions for the exact reason you mentioned. They are obvious to those that see beneath my mask.”

Helios raised a hand, ”I learned long ago that those capable of interpreting my facial expressions could read me easily. I've taken my nonverbal communication under my control because of that fact, and this means enacting a measure of control over my actions.”

Helios pointed at me, ”In time, my adaptations and awareness gave me newfound abilities. For instance, unlike most, I am often able to tell if someone is lying or telling the truth. Sentients often focus on the face when telling lies, not the sounds in someone's voice. Hearing those gentle differences in tone and inflection, I can tell if someone is lying. My blindness makes spotting those fluctuations second nature to me.”

Helios crossed his arms, ”Even with my sense for mana, I oftentimes find other people's faces muddled as well. Their facial expressions don't distract me for this reason, and I see the truth of what they're saying instead of their faces.”

I raised an eyebrow, ”Damn, so you're like a lie detector?”

”In some ways, yes. I can also read the mana around me with great detail. That is why I can often read you with ease, though you've lied rarely if ever.”

I pointed at myself, ”Do people look different because of your mana? What do I look like?”

”Your mana is blinding compared to what's around you, especially when you release it. This makes you easy to spot and makes your outline far more definite and absolute. Most look faint by comparison.”

”Man, I never knew it was that involved. I thought you just used something like echolocation.”

Helios sighed, ”Hah, echolocation is a method I've considered. However, controlling mana is far harder than controlling sound. For that reason, using sound as a second method for sight is fickle. If someone placed a silencing spell over me, I'd be unable to comprehend my surroundings if I relied on sound. Fighting in a vacuum or underwater would expose this weakness as well if I relied on something so unreliable.”

Helios made eye contact with me right after,

”This is why I use the will of other's minds to find them.”

”So why do you make so much eye contact then?”

Helios raised a hand, ”Most species find a lack of eye contact uncomfortable. I find that people associate a genuine connection with eye contact alone. I abuse this factor to the fullest. In reality, eye contact dictates very little of someone's genuine emotions. As is the case with me, someone could mimic eye contact to trick someone into thinking they care when they, in fact, do not.”

I frowned, ”Oh, so you're pretending you give a shit?”

Helios gave me a sarcastic grin, ”Ah, you've found me out. Perhaps you aren't so blind after all?”

”Alright wise guy, could you teach me to do that?”

Helios tilted back, ”Do your eyes not serve you well enough?”

”Not all the time. Plus, it's always good to have several ways of finding someone. I know I end up with my head blown up in fights more often than I'd like. Being able to sense mana without my eyes might be helpful then.”

Helios crossed his arms, ”You would need to suppress your other senses then focus on the life force and mana around you. Remember, mana is your will and intellect manifested in the physical world. Only strong minds manifest mana, and most creatures will barely register at all.”

He shrugged, ”Outside of that, search for your own mana amidst the dessert of it floating around you. It shall shine like a sun in the middle of night, and that shall make finding it easier. Perhaps you shall uncover a hidden talent.”

He smirked, ”Perhaps not.”

I pulled out my elemental furnace,

”I'll give that a shot later. Let's get this lesson started.”

Helios lifted his gauntleted hand, pointing at the cipher encryptions,

”You believe you'll be talented at this?”

”I do. I can feel it.”

Helios raised his eyebrows, ”There's much that is required for furnace work, and few can handle it. What makes you believe you're so different?”

There were several reasons, honestly. For starters, I used blood magic, meaning I was used to converting stuff into mana already. At the same time, being a dimension might help me out here. So far, working with the cipher was more straightforward than usual for me for that reason. That's one of the main reasons I learned the inscriptions on my own when a genius like Torix couldn't.

Combine that with my ability to work with high volumes of mana, and I had every tool I needed to succeed here. Helios didn't need to know all that, though.

”Eh, I just have a feeling.”

”Very well.” He turned his gauntleted hand, giving me a better view of it,

”This is an elemental furnace. Simply put, you siphon mana into it, it splits atoms before converting the raw energy into usable mana. This requires a burst of energy to begin, then very slow trickles of it to maintain the ongoing reaction. Few would do so given the explosive volumes of mana these generate.”

”So it's kind of like lighting a fuse?”

”In some respects, yes. A bomb is an apt comparison since a simple mistake in this energy generation process results in a colossal, nuclear explosion with you at the center of it.”

I peered at my black jade, ”Sounds...fun.”

”Oh, it is. I've known seven others who've died from pursuing this venture. Be careful about this. Your success is my path to redemption, so your death would look unfavorable for me.”

”I'll keep that in mind. Now how do I make the generated mana useful?”

”That depends on you. The mana this object creates is untamed and wild. It requires tremendous willpower to contain it, and if one lacks that willpower, the mana will diffuse throughout them. In the end, you'll lose your mind in the process.”

The more he talked about this process, the more tailor-made I seemed for the whole thing. I nodded,

”That makes sense. What next?”

”Once the magic is contained, a firm constitution is required. Without a durable body, the mana flow will result in the destruction of a person's entire being. They will boil their blood and explode, unable to utilize the mana generated. That is why I and Obolis both have invested heavily in both constitution and endurance. Many Fringe Walkers are the same in that regard, at least those with access to a furnace.”

I raised my other hand, making it glow with mana, ”So the mana flow would be like this, right?”

Helios paused.

”Uhm...yes, like that. Perhaps you are right. You do seem built for this.”

”Is there anything else to it?”

”Ahem, so you...you must then wield the mana as if it were your own. If you cannot hold the mana in place, you'll be unable to restrain your spellwork. This can result in misfiring a cast, which will likely result in a horrific death.”

”So, if I'm already used to using large volumes of mana, I'll be able to work with this no problem?”

”If that were the case, it would certainly help.”

”And that's it?”

Helios grimaced, ”I understand your confidence, but do not let it run wild. You could get us both killed, along with this ugly, ancient town we walked into. Schema wouldn't even know why you brought us to this disgusting, filthy place just to perish in nuclear fire.”

I scoffed, ”Come on, it's not so bad. This was once my hometown.”

Helios stared up, ”Ah, it has fallen into disrepair, it seems. Where you unable to protect it perhaps?”

I frowned, ”Yeah, for the most part. I didn't exactly help keep this place maintained.”

Helios shrugged, ”Each of us has limits. We must accept that and move on with them in mind.”

I lifted my elemental furnace

”Well, let's figure out my limits here.”

Helios took a few deep breaths, composing himself. Helios raised a hand,

”Wait a moment. We must first detail a contingency plan if the elemental flow of energy isn't contained.”

”I doubt that'll be an issue. Worst comes to worst, I'll throw it into my dimensional shield.”

I spawned the shield before rolling my shoulders,

”Here it goes.”

Helios looked around, trying to find cover. Before he could, I channeled some mana into the furnace. The ancient runes kicked into high gear, my mana clinking in place to fuel a preset series of commands. Giving the device way too much energy, the runes glowed, and the jade shook in my palm. The air around me shifted dark, an umbral tone infesting it. This cloud crackled and popped with an eerie foreboding.

I clanked my teeth together, ready for the onslaught of mana. As the aura around me snapped into the jade, a vast, enormous wave of power poured out from the device. It rushed into my frame, filling me with energy and vitality. I devoured much of the mana, my armor grinning with glee. My blood boiling, I trembled at the feast.

Seconds passed, and my armor glowed a bright white. I poured more of the energy into my cipher runes, and they engulfed some of the incoming rushes of energy. These sources of reduction proved incomplete, and the energy poured into my mind like a waterfall crashing onto me from overhead. It was as Helios described - wild and untamed.

The mana slammed into me like some insane phantom wishing to possess my body. It's entire being lacked anything uniform or coherent, yet the sheer size of its mind was behemothic. It was nothing like battling with Torix, more mirroring a mass of unleashed thoughts. These babblings and urges wanted to overwhelm me, pulling my concentration in a thousand different directions.

If anything, this entity of pandemonium mirrored an Old One, its mind profound with depth. These alien desires weren't made for this world, however. They were the results of the cipher converting energy into something usable by a mind. This didn't make it easy to use, however.

Despite this struggle, I'd wrestled with similar sensations before, both with Eonoth and Etorhma. My essential mind magic helped hold me together here as well. It allowed me to suppress this incoming, volatile entity. I took it head-on, tearing it apart from many angles. For the main rush, I stayed in place, unable to move or think of anything else.

It consumed me. It reminded me of when I was young and angry. My rage would be so blinding, I wouldn't even be able to move. This was similar, the strain stretching me to the absolute limit of my mind's ability to defend and my will's ability to endure.

Yet endure I did. I planted my heels, and I tightened my fists. I narrowed my eyes, staring forward at this monster. That monster, the untamed mana, stared back at me and roared. Having condensed it, I waved Event Horizon over the mana. It shivered, the uncentered mind screaming out in agony.

I crushed it under my heel, telepathically roaring at it with the might of a dimension. I shattered its unformed soul, giving it only one place to find peace. It found that sanctuary by relenting, the energy assimilating into my frame. The mana converted into my own will and into my own wishes.

It gave me energy everlasting. It emboldened me with thoughts of madness. It whispered thoughts of eternal life and power. I quieted those voices, tempering the new ideas and will as if it were my own internal demons. As my battle settled down into a light whisper, I contained the mana with one last burst of will.

I won.

Falling back, I crushed rock underneath me while letting out a gasp. If I could sweat, I'd be drenched at this point. My heart pounded in my chest like a sledgehammer against stone, and I could feel my pulse in my ears. Helios gawked at me in the distance. At first, horror spread over his face. As I looked at him, he shook that off.

The albony whispered, his voice wobbling ever so slightly,

”Hmmm...That was a first.”

I lifted a thumb, ”I didn't expect it to be that hard. You were right. I should've taken it slow.”

Helios let his hands flop against his sides, ”You're ability to listen is perhaps a skill you should invest more time into. Despite your hubris, we're alive. Thank Schema for that.”

I let out a deep sigh, my mind's exhaustion fading, ”Ah man, I definitely need to put in less mana than I thought.”

Helios shook his head,

”It is strange. I've never seen that done before.”

”Someone nail the furnace thing in their first try? How else can it be done?”

”You either succeed or fail in a fire. I wasn't speaking of the furnace. I meant you forming a mythical skill with such ease. You must have formed a backbone of trees and experience for it already. Otherwise, this should be impossible.”

”Huh. A mythical skill, eh?”

I opened my status, and sure enough, Helios was right.

New mythical skill gained! 1,000 skill points rewarded for the skill's creation. Matter Conversion(lvl 10) - By defying the will of matter, you've used the energy stored in the atoms around you. You harvest ash into light, and you enliven that which is most still.

Well done.

I raised a hand, a grin popping up on my face. This was an absolutely massive boon for me. I'd been working on a few tasks that I wasn't skilled at recently. That slowed down my skill gain by several orders of magnitude, but despite that, I still made progress. Matter Conversion felt like something I was born to do in comparison, much of the difficulty involved similar to containing my own mana flows long ago.

It was like I was going into a battle I'd fought a thousand times because of that. That meant this wasn't me getting a skill for free. If anything, this was just putting a name on something I already understood deeply. Mana was a mind's will manifested physically after all. To rule it, you must contain the flow with your own mental direction. For that, I had plenty of practice.

Every time I used blood magic, it was using a process similar to this, but the scale and scope of mana production were entirely different. Before, I was working with pebbles, and this was like working with boulders. It required far less investment in health yet more focus from my mind. I imagined a furnace burning without my experience, and the idea made me shiver. That would be nearly impossible.

Turning to the guy, those realizations instilled newfound respect in me for Helios. To use a furnace, he risked his life and mind. That took some serious dedication, and he did it without needing to. Ambition and guts got him here, and I had to give props to that. I stared down at my jade,

”So, you've been doing that for a while now?”

”When necessary. I use it in large battles to fuel equally large incantations. I'm surprised you handled that surge of energy earlier for that very reason. For a beginner, that was an immensity of mana. How did you control it?”

”Well, I've been making a lot of mana for a long time. To control it, I've needed to direct and control that mana on my own. This isn't that different, though I have to admit, I almost bit off more than I could chew just now. That comes with the territory of trying new things.”

Helios furrowed his brow, ”You create mana with your mind. The mana from a furnace is like a beast by comparison. The device surges mana into your mind before you must tame it at that moment. That nameless monster it summons cannot be reasoned with. You must make it obey, else you'll be consumed.”

Helios tilted his head, ”This is often a desperate struggle for most since their own mana works differently. That is what I don't understand. How is the chaotic entity a furnace summons like your own mana? Are you too aimless and hateful?”

I shrugged, ”I mean, my mana's always been like some monster as far back as I can remember. It took a lot of work, but once I got it under my control, it was mine to wield. This furnace is no different, honestly.”

Helios shook his head, ”But mana is generated through thought, not suppression. You sound as though your mana is made elsewhere apart from your mind. How is that even possible?”

”Heh, it might be because I'm a dimension. I know I use blood magic, so that might be why.”

”Perhaps the sacrifice is similar, somehow?”

”Yeah, I think so.”

”Then this is merely an extension of what you already do. That explains why you've got a handle on it so quickly.”

I flipped the furnace above my hand before catching it, ”Eh, I still have a long way to go. Let's see just how much mana I can make.”

Over the next few hours, I worked with Helios on a more subtle use of the black jade. It took a while, but we worked out a few kinks in my application. I found that almost no mana was required to get the furnace started, and it generated a lot of mana even with next to no matter. That was good since I had every intention of having the device going full blast all the time.

After all, it would feed my cipher runes at a pace I couldn't match. Balancing that influx required a lot of effort, however. This meant handling other tasks at the same time was pretty much impossible. Working around that caveat would require practice and creativity. Having the jade out all the time also meant someone could steal or smash it too. We brainstormed a few solutions to the idea.

My first idea centered around a gameplan to keep the elemental furnace safe. From here on out, I'd use my dimensional shield anytime I fought with anything. This was partly for practice using the skill, but it also let me throw the dark jade into my pocket dimension before combat. The stasis would protect the gemstone from the rigors of battle thereafter.

Every other waking moment, I placed the gemstone on my chest just below my neck. I covered it with my armor, creating a reinforced metal cage that surrounding the jade. From there, channeling small amounts of matter into the furnace required next to no effort. It wasn't like using my own body as fuel was new to me in that regard. The jade was just a far more efficient method of getting mana than my own innate abilities.

My armor even stopped the crackling sound from escaping, keeping the magic somewhat hidden. According to Helios, anyone who could sense or see mana would pick up on this process from a mile away. He even mentioned that detail as if he was watching something outright horrific. I didn't know what he meant, but if that was the cost of using the device, then I counted it as worth it.

Still, Helios wasn't the only one horrified by me using the dark jade. The most obvious manifestation of that was the eldritch in this rift. They were outright terrified of me while the furnace fueled my inscriptions. I expected some of that, but they huddled into the deepest holes they could find. The moles and ants crushed each other trying to get out of here, and it threw me off a bit. I'd talk to Amara and Hod about it later since it might help with Blegara. For now, the furnace took priority.

After a bit of tweaking the flow, I maxed out my armor's draining abilities and my cipher rune's absorption rate with the device as well. This meant I could keep the furnace burning all the time to fill out those passive bonuses. It didn't even require my own natural mana production, so I steadily added gemstones to my pocket dimension all the time now.

Of course, I wasn't revving the device full blast, but I could keep it humming at all times. If I went over this base limit, the mana flowed right into my head, and before I knew it, I was fighting some formless specter trying to control my mind. It was a risky venture since overdoing it would render me paralyzed as I fought the thing off.

To gauge if the furnace was worth, I checked out my status. All my doubts faded in an instant as I saw an absolute motherload of mana coming in from the tiny gemstone.

The Living Multiverse(Lvl 15,000 | Current Influence: The Rise of Eden)

Strength – 46,576 | Constitution – 66,872 | Endurance – 141,686