The problem with a fort constructed in a hurry is that many things are missing. This is especially true for the formations that would have made the place somewhat liveable. An environmental formation (which is vital in this frigid hellscape.) is the thing that is about to screw us the worst right now. The snowwinders can survive in this place but surviving is going to be very hard,
The one thing that everybody forgot to mention about this fort is that it is not the enemy that is our main threat but the environment. After all, right now it seems more likely that a person is going to freeze to death than fight an enemy.
Somehow even my words don't seem to do justice about our present situation. Still, I will try. You can think of our present situation like us sitting in an ocean of ice mana. Our vital mana is like a boat in this ocean, protecting us from drowning in this place. The soldiers are essentially a flimsy plank that is almost always on the verge of collapsing. I am much closer to the fisherman's boat, capable of surviving easily if things are calm. I am equally likely to drown here once things get even a bit more chaotic. I also need to make sure that I don't get too injured as well. That would be like springing a leak in the boat.
Shamon has been spending the last week trying to manage this problem as well as he can. While the man has not yet managed to make his men combat worthy, nobody also seems to be on the verge of dying of frostbite. The man is making use of coats that have been enchanted to stop the freezing mana. (Enchanted is a strong word. The runes are painted on the coat.) It is not particularly effective, but the people are managing with their more resilient physique. Somebody not adapted to the place would not have survived this place, even with the coats.
I have not interfered with the man and his work, because he seems to know what he is doing. Anyways, the man is doing good. I don't have anything to scold him with. I also have something else to focus on anyway. I am going to permanently solve the problem of the ice mana in this place. I am going to do that by creating the formation base.
This situation will grow a bit better once the formation base is set up. After all, once the other types of mana begin to flow into the place, it will start to push out all the ice mana. You can say that it will create a bubble around the place. It won't have the effectiveness of an environmental formation, mind you but it will still have a certain effect. I think it should at the very least reduce the dependence on those coats of theirs. That would certainly let them fight in short bursts at least.
To those who do not know of the formation base, you can call it the beating heart of any formation. Its main task is the management of mana that will be powering the system. It also is in charge of absorbing, storing and distributing mana from the storage to the formation.
That is why the formation base is usually considered the most complicated part of the formation. It is the most number of runes that need to be inscribed. That is why it acts as the base for the remaining part of the formation. It is also the first part of the formation to be built whenever we begin our work.
That is why I need the elemental nodes this quickly. The formation base of the formation that I am planning to build needs a stream of three mana nodes. One elemental node of the metal element, one elemental node of the water element, and one elemental node of the earth element. These are the elements that the copper bark tree has. It also needs them to grow.
You see that is the fascinating thing about druidic trees. Most of them can grow even from a single twig as long as you can supply them with the correct type of mana. The inscriptions that you build into the tree will also be able to grow and strengthen over time. The only problem with this is the fact that this process can sometimes take centuries.
That is one of the reasons that the druids fell in the first place. When it takes you a few decades to build a forward base, a battle of attrition is something that you have to avoid. The legion is if anything else, the master of a battle of attrition.
Anyway, getting back to more relevant matters. I need a few elemental nodes to make the formation base and start my work. Now, the process of capturing elemental nodes is also very fascinating. Normally, non-druids have to construct massive formations to redirect the elemental nodes. These formations tend to be massive, some of them even reaching class eight and beyond. Still, there is no guarantee that the elemental node will be redirected in the direction that you want it to go.
The druids make use of a simpler and much more nondestructive method of this. They do this by essentially massaging the stream in the direction in which it has to flow. Naturally, what I am saying is an oversimplification but at its core that is what we are doing. I have done this a few times before. Even now I remember my mana essentially cutting into the stream like a rock in the middle of a river, making the river flow in the direction I need.
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Well, leave it be. I won't be able to explain it properly no matter how much I try. The only thing you need to know is that I am sure that I will be able to make any elemental node flow where I want it to. I can even pull it off from fifty kilometers away as well. An actual master of this technique will be able to do the same thing from thousands of kilometers away as well. At least, that is what I have seen my master do.
Well, the only reason that I am not doing all of this in the comfort of my room in the fort is because I don't know where the elemental nodes are. Until now I have visited five mines and I have not found even the trace of an elemental node. Normally, you can feel a small part of the node even if the entire thing has been disrupted. It is almost like somebody was here clearing the entire thing away.
Well, I have never seen a case where the elemental node disappears without even leaving a trace. I would have to assume that it has something to do with being this close to the northern wastelands. After all, I have heard that a mana desert can do weird things to mana.
Even then things are going okay. After all, there are still almost more than fifty mines here that I will be able to make use of. The only thing that is a pain would be the fact that I have to physically crawl in these tunnels. That means that I am trudging in tunnels that the dwarves would consider a tight fit. I can barely crawl through these tunnels. Still, I have to do so to reach the point where I can detect whether the place has an elemental node or not.
I don't need to be in the tunnels to look for the elemental nodes. I can find the elemental nodes from up there as well. The only reason I am down here is because reaching here above ground would kill me. Above the ground, this place is too close to the northern wastelands. The chaotic mana here can kill me in a matter of moments. The only reason that I am still safe is because I am presently in the dwarf's caves physically crawling to get where I need to go. The earth is the only thing that is muffling the storm of mana occurring upstairs.
Even down here, I can feel the violent changes in the ice mana occurring up there. They hit me sometimes like waves on the beach. I can feel the ice mana wash over me, trying to drown and freeze me but my vital mana is strong enough to shrug it off. Still feels like I am becoming a block of ice though. Makes me wish that I had those coats with me.
All of the dwarven tunnels are interconnected to each other for this same reason. The bastards essentially created a complicated tunnel system deep under the ground. As long as you enter one mine, you can go to them all. So it seems like I will be stuck in this place for a while. I am not too surprised about this though. Knowing the dwarves they must be even more fragile than me. There is no way that they are braving the storm above.
Right now I cannot help but wonder whether this storm will be able to destroy our fort. I mean I am not that far away from our fort. Even from down here, I can tell how violent it is up there. Well, Shamon seemed to be more than confident that the fort would be bruised up, but wouldn't be damaged significantly. We are in some kind of a dead spot it seems. The mana at the fort should be stable at least this early in winter. Looking at the storm though, I am struggling to believe those words.
Regardless, I have taken the man's word for it now since I do not have any actual method of protecting the fort should such a storm happen closer to the fort. The formations are the only thing that I have at hand and I am already doing my best to make those a reality.
Normally, this is not a task that I would be doing personally. I cannot exactly send the soldiers in here. Firstly, I am not sure how the head office could react to this. While revealing such small secrets shouldn't cause me much problem with them. I still have no desire to antagonize the head office more than necessary. The head office can be pretty petty if they decide that you are their enemies. You can already see me in my present case and I have no real enmity with the head office.
Secondly, most of the soldiers don't have any form of cultivation. They will freeze to their deaths. Ultimately, the best way to do this would be to do this personally. To physically crawl into these tunnels and find the elemental node.
Well, It does not help me to imagine the weather up there. I think it is wise to focus on the task at hand. Right now I am in a mine that the dwarves have built to extract an ore that they are calling “blue mithril”. I think they mean mithril that has had water mana flow through it. Any water-based formation spell inscribed on a weapon made from this will be able to show more strength. This is compared to the same formation made from other materials.
I assume that this might lead to an elemental node of either the water element or the metal element. If I am really lucky it could be an elemental node of both elements, though it is rare for such types of elemental nodes to coexist.
That means that I am left with a lot of crawling and cursing and shivering, none of which I have the desire to record so I will be taking my leave here. A dwarf's mine might look small on a map but they tend to be literal mazes I tell you.
On top of that, you can't be sure of the actual location of the node too. It will most likely be found in the region which has the highest concentration of the ore or you could find it right at the entrance of the mine. That means that I have to check out every inch of this place to make sure no elemental node exists in the mine.
Fuck, just thinking about the amount of crawling left is beginning to make me feel claustrophobic. Screw it, I will continue this log when I have finally found an elemental node.