“This is amazing, Larek. I don’t know how you came up with this, but it’s a genius method of combining multiple effects without compromising the Mana flow through the formation. Now that I see it, I can’t believe it didn’t occur to me to route it through…”
Larek found that he could talk with Carleton for hours about Fusions and their creation, and while he didn’t learn nearly as much as the Grandmaster Fusionist did in their talks and demonstrations, he did learn something. Namely, the steps that “normal” Fusionists took to achieve both Master and Grandmaster status, as well as the normal progression of formation complexity over time as the Fusionist’s Skills developed. It was the next step in his Fusion-creation foundation that he wished he had received a long time ago, and while it didn’t necessarily help him now, he was convinced it would’ve helped him in the past.
Of course, a lot of things were different now. With the unlocking of a person’s full potential, many things that were previously impossible were apparently within reach. This was made evident when the first Fusionists from the Sanctuary unlocked the Martial side of their potential and their ability to create Fusions increased dramatically. Even with a few points in their Body stat, their Pattern Cohesion was inherently stronger, giving the formations they created a sturdiness that they’d never had before, which equated to longer-lasting Fusions. Not only that, but they also saw a dramatic decrease in the time it took to finish each Fusion, surprising the first few who tried it so much that they nearly lost control of the Fusion when it finished in a third of the time it normally took, as well as decreases in the amount of Mana and Pattern Cohesion the formation required.
In short, it quickly became obvious – at least in those who could be classified as Advanced and Master Fusionists – that they were on track to follow in Larek’s footsteps. None of them could quite compare to his insane Mana regeneration rate, and they didn’t have the same instincts for Fusions that he did, but he could already see that, in time – especially as their Martial stats increased – they would be able to make many of the powerful Fusions that Larek could. Not necessarily all of them, as there were some, such as Illuminated Free Will and Traveling Gate, that needed a little bit more knowledge about the effects and energy that went into others, such as his new Multi-Purpose Arsenal on his halberd, but many of the others were likely accessible over time.
It made him feel slightly less special when he realized that the people of the Kingdom could’ve been doing this with Fusions the entire time if they’d had access to all of their potential; but in the end, it simply made him want to strive harder to keep advancing the craft. He had never really needed to be the special one, some sort of prodigy of Fusions that the whole world would look up to, so he was happy enough to share the spotlight – and the workload – with others.
Besides, he still thought he was pretty special, with his affinity for Fusions that allowed him to create ones that had never been seen before. He didn’t think that it was simply the fact that he had a greater Mana regeneration rate than others, nor simply his denser Pattern Cohesion; he had a genuine gift that allowed him to imagine Fusion creation in a way that no one else could.
Once the Sanctuary agreed to become the hidden refuge for all things Fusions, it only took 8 days for them to finalize the establishment of the center for training. After a Traveling Gate was installed in a completely separate cavern (as security was a rightful concern), students started transferring in, each of whom helped to build their own stone houses in the main cavern with the use of a Shape Material Fusion. A much larger complex was built with Strengthened stone that acted as a main training facility, and load after load of supplies were brought in, while larger fields for growing food were created.
Hundreds of Volunteers were working to get everything ready for the training to begin, while almost all of the Fusionists and Martials in the Sanctuary had been given a Gradual Aetheric Purification Array that allowed them to unlock their full potential. The families of those living there were also offered the chance, but most of them declined for now.
However, one thing they didn’t hold off on was traveling through the Gate. For the first time in years, almost every single person living in the Sanctuary took the first chance they could get to travel through the Gate once it was ready, seeing the sky for the first time in years. Larek was there with them as they emerged in Thanesh, and they were all immediately overwhelmed by all the people and the noise, things they hadn’t had to deal with in their isolation. Despite the initial trepidation after coming through the Gate, he could see the joy in their faces as they experienced being aboveground again, and each of them simply stared at the sky for nearly an hour before they were pulled away for a tour of the city.
Everyone who wanted their full potential unlocked, which was all of them with the Array, had to help clear some local Apertures with the help of transports and VREP staves. While they were worried about the danger of getting near monsters at first, once the first group went off to handle killing their targets from 100 feet above the surface in complete safety, the rest of them were eager to earn that Aetheric Force to finally become the best Fusionists – or Martials, in the case of the guards from the Sanctuary – that they could be.
Once they were all set in that respect, each of them went through the same 3-day course that all new Volunteers with fully unlocked potential went through, which included training Martial and Mage Skills so that they could Level up and increase their stats as quickly as possible. While many of them weren’t used to great physical labor, they swiftly learned that the higher their Martial stats, the better their ability to create Fusions – so the majority of them threw themselves into the training with a passion. It helped that they didn’t have to sit through the courses on casting spells, as they were all Mages already, so they were able to devote themselves fully to increasing their Martial Skills.
Once they were back at the Sanctuary after their training, Larek surprised all of the Fusionists by imparting to them a full complement of Pattern-related Skills that they didn’t have access to before. This only amounted to Pattern Manipulation and Pattern Restoration, but even with those two added to their repertoire and the boosts to their Body via their Martial stats, they were already many times better than they were at creating Fusions than before. In the hands of a Fusionist who had many, many years of experience creating Fusions, Pattern Manipulation in particular was a potent tool, and every single one of them caught on to how powerful of a Skill it was immediately.
While these Fusionists didn’t have the same ability to manipulate their Pattern Cohesion outside of their body – at least, not until they’d increased their Skill Level quite a bit – they were already making great strides in using the Skill to make minute changes in their Fusion formations, in order to perfect them without having to start all over. It was incredible to see them progress so quickly, and it was already looking like they would be able not only to handle the production of some of the relatively “weaker” Fusions that he’d created within a few days, but also would be able to assist in teaching the students that were already living in the Sanctuary.
In addition to unlocking their full potential and acquiring the two Pattern-related Skills that Larek could impart to them, learning the Focused Division Skill was their next priority, and the veteran Fusionists picked it up faster than anyone he’d attempted to teach before. Within a day or two, they were already splitting Basic Fusion formations, though only into 2 separate Fusions at the moment, but that would increase as their Skill increased in Level. Strangely, it was this Skill, even apart from the Pattern-related ones, that Carleton stated was the one that would change Fusioncrafting forever. The ability to mass0produce Fusions was revolutionary, and would make them much easier to create and distribute to the wider world.
The addition of three new Mage Skills that none of the Fusionists had access to before wasn’t just beneficial to their Fusion-creating ability, but also allowed many of them to push through to another personal Level or two within the first few days. Some of them had been stuck at a certain personal Level for years without any clear way to advance their Skills, and the sudden influx of additional Mage stats was exactly what some of them needed to start pushing their stagnant Skills, such as Fusion or Pattern Formation, past what they had been working with. The advancement was incredible to see. In little more than a week, with the new Skills and the unlocking of the Martial side of their potential, it wouldn’t be exaggerating to say that most of the Fusionists became three times as powerful as they were before.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
That was certainly saying something, especially when it came to the Master Fusionists who lived in the Sanctuary, but it was blatantly obvious with Carleton, the Grandmaster who had thrown himself into the changes with an energy that he’d probably not shown in decades. Larek wasn’t sure how old the man was, but he wasn’t the only one to notice that with the unlocking of his Martial stats, the leader of the Fusionist Sanctuary appeared to get younger by the day. It wasn’t necessarily an age reversal or anything, but the energy and enthusiasm he expressed in even the simplest things made him seem half his age, and his health had improved to the point where he didn’t look like he would collapse if he ran a few hundred feet.
When all of the Fusionists had obtained their new Skills and had at least rudimentary training in them, Larek wondered if they could learn some of the Guardian Skills that he possessed, such as Energetic Transmission or Primal Essence Mastery. It quickly became apparent, after attempting to impart the concepts behind these specific Skills, that none of them – not even the Grandmaster Fusionist – were at a point where they could learn them; it was almost as if they weren’t quite strong enough to handle the load that the Skills would pile upon them. He came to that conclusion when Carleton and a few other Master Fusionists seemed to physically wilt when he started teaching them about the Skills.
It was strange, but not wholly unexpected.
Each of the Guardian Skills required knowledge that they didn’t necessarily have access to yet; they might have been expert Mages, but their experience with the new Martial side of their potential was still severely lacking. He thought that, if they worked to bring their knowledge of Stama and Battle Arts – as well as greatly increasing their Martial stats – up to the same level of expertise as their Mage side, they would be ready to handle the load that the Guardian Skills represented.
After everyone was settled and began developing their Skills even further, classes began in the training facility – and it worked so much better than Larek could ever have dreamed. With over a hundred trained Fusionists basically on staff, there was no lack of resources for the students to connect with for answers to their questions, and there was more than enough room to allow each and every student a space to work in without interruption – and they were already making major strides in their development even a few days in.
But that wasn’t the only thing going on. Larek also spent a day teaching the veteran Fusionists about the insight he’d had regarding pulling ambient Mana into themselves from a distant location. At first, they struggled to understand what he was trying to convey to them, but within a few hours, the first of them – and one of the youngest of the Fusionists in Sanctuary – succeeded in pulling in ambient Mana from a few feet away from them. It turned out that youth translated into a faster understanding of the concept, which he determined was because they were open to new ways of doing things and weren’t as stuck on how things should work.
With the first success of applying the concept came a flood of others also breaking through an invisible barrier of acceptance of what was possible, with greater physical age delaying the process significantly. The Grandmaster, despite being one of the oldest members of the community, somehow managed to catch on to the concept much faster than his contemporaries, which somewhat disproved Larek’s theory, but the old man was insatiably curious and open to new ideas – so he figured his theory still stood well enough.
When they attempted to apply this theory to their Fusions, or more specifically to the Mana Cost section of their formations, the results were a bit more haphazard. Only about a third of those who could apply the concept to their own ambient Mana were able to accomplish the same thing with a Fusion – at least at first. As they practiced with it more, additional Fusionists were able to somewhat get it to work, so Larek figured it would only take practice before the rest were able to figure it out.
However, even the youngest and most adept Fusionists who had learned the distant Mana absorption concept could only get it to work at a distance of a few feet, with the best at just over a dozen. This, Larek concluded, would likely increase with practice, as well as an increase in their Magical Detection Skill, which seemed to be a primary part of extending the range – at least within his own experience.
It was yet another Skill for them to train, but none of them seemed disappointed at the prospect. Higher Skill Levels meant more power, after all, and more power meant better Fusions.
Larek liked the way they thought.
In addition to all the Skills and concepts, he also provided clear, unhidden examples of nearly every single Fusion he could create, with each of them available for both the students and the veteran Fusionists to study and learn from. The only ones for which he didn’t provide examples were Traveling Gate, Multi-Purpose Arsenal, and Transfer Potential. The first was because the Fusion required knowledge of Primal Essence, which no one was yet ready for, while the latter two were because the Arsenal was too dangerous of a Fusion to have lying around, and Transfer Potential was entirely too touchy of a Fusion for anyone to see. He almost wished he hadn’t even created the Fusion in the first place, as it just felt wrong to use, but he had needed to see if it would work against the Gergasi.
It didn’t, as he’d discovered, but that didn’t mean his creation was a complete failure. It could still work against assassins, though he fortunately didn’t have to worry about those any longer now that the Unspoken Response had essentially been obliterated.
It didn’t take long for the first of the “easiest” Fusions to be learned, and the Fusionists in the Sanctuary began the process of mass-producing them for the Kingdom. As compensation for their efforts, they received just about anything they wanted, which turned out to be food. Meat, in particular, which had been in short supply for years inside the Sanctuary, but they also requested luxurious additions to their homes and workspaces, which essentially included soft pillows and other comfort items. Some of the finest cooks with high Cooking Skills were invited to produce incredible meals for everyone inside Sanctuary, and the luxurious goods were produced by crafters throughout the Kingdom and brought there for the Fusionists and their families, making them feel almost like Nobles and royalty with all the attention spent on them.
Fortunately, despite all of the benefits they received from creating Fusions for the Kingdom, none of the Fusionists in Sanctuary let it go to their heads. Just like Larek, the only thing they were really interested in doing was learning about and creating new Fusions, as it was their passion and the reason they became Fusionists in the first place. The extra stuff was nice, but what they most enjoyed were the increases in their lingering Skills and the ability to do more than ever before.
Larek was a part of the entire process from start to finish, as he wanted to ensure that not only were the Fusionists taken care of properly and not exploited, but that everything would run smoothly in his absence. Nedira and his friends had also been important in coordinating everything in such a sudden project, and he couldn’t have done it without their input and assistance.
By the time only two weeks had passed, Larek was fairly confident he could leave the Sanctuary running as it was, and they would eventually be able to recreate most of the Fusions he left behind for them to study and learn from. He also fully expected them to create their own unique Fusions that could benefit the people of the Kingdom, and he was looking forward to what they would eventually develop.
At the end of the two-week construction and set-up period for the new center for Fusions inside the Fusionist Sanctuary, Larek set aside 3 full days to make Fusions. These weren’t new ones, unfortunately, but ones that were desperately needed by the Kingdom and were ones that only he could create – at least at this point in time. Hundreds of thousands of Illuminated Free Will Fusions for those who wanted to be free from the threat of mind-controlling bugs or the Gergasi joined thousands of Void Pocket bags to help with transporting goods all over the Kingdom. Tens of thousands of high-Magnitude Omni Boost Fusions were created for many of the fighters in the Volunteer Militia, as well as thousands of Protection of the Void defenses for them. And finally, he spent the majority of his time creating Gradual Aetheric Purification Arrays to allow even more people to unlock their full magical potential.
He created millions of them, which severely ate into his Aetheric Force reserve, but it was more than worth it to give so many people an opportunity that normally wouldn’t be provided to them.
With all of that done, most of the responsibility that Larek had felt weighing him down for weeks evaporated, and he now felt like he could work on the things he wanted—no, needed—to get ready against the inevitable, upcoming confrontation with the Gergasi. Unfortunately, just as he got some rest after his marathon Fusion-creation session, Nedira woke him up from where he’d been sleeping in their home in Thanesh.
“Larek, wake up,” she said softly but insistently. He was almost fully awake in a few seconds and sitting up a few seconds later.
At the worried look on her face, he asked, “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Something bad is happening in the northwestern part of the Kingdom – and it’s only getting worse.”
Uh, oh… what now?
