Asheron's Fall: The Power of Ten, Book Six

I pointed at the Bludgeon Cleaving Rune array. “It has a natural resonance pattern built into its crystalline structure that looks very much like a similar, natural version of this pattern, so.” I spun out the basic natural crystal matrix of the darksteel alloy, reflected it into a greater pattern, and yes, there was a distinct resemblance to what the lugian smiths had done in the Staff.

“Darksteel has a kinetic energy transfer mechanism which instills one hundred percent of any blow into what it strikes,” I explained to everyone watching.

“It’s using the rebound?” Kris caught instantly, her eyes lighting up. “That’s like a Shaping Hammer you can use to fight with?”

“Yes.” I turned to the Mick and watching scouts. “When you hit something, there’s a rebound. The math of it is, half the force of impact goes into what you’re hitting, the other half goes back into what is making the hit. That’s why hammers bounce on anvils, rocks that hit walls bounce back, and being big means your blows don’t jolt all the way up your arms as much when you hit stuff.

“Darksteel does that naturally with blunt damage. So, for example, let’s say you have a Greathammer that does 2-12 damage. Make it out of darksteel, and it will abruptly do 4-24, as it sends its half of the kinetic energy right back out. All it needs is a basic magical enhancement of any kind, and it starts the process.”

“No other kinds of bonuses? Strength?...” Kris wheedled, and I shook my head.

“No, it’s the potential within the metal, what its own mass is doing. External energy added largely goes right around it. Screwball alchemical physics and Weird Science, as is normal.”

“More importantly,” the Mick broke in softly on us, “can it apply to Swords and Spears and similar things?” he asked hopefully.

“With darksteel, no, it cannot.” I pointed at the crystalline structure. “That is what it is, it isn’t going to change for you.” My gaze returned to the Rune structure of the Bludgeon Cleaving effect. “However, this is a Rune Structure, NOT an innate crystal structure. It basically weaponizes what darksteel does naturally.”

“...Huh,” Kris said softly, staring at it. “Could you, like, infer what those simpler structures might be if you had examples of Cleaving of the other six or seven basic attack energies?”

“Or seven?” the Mick blinked as he repeated that, the other scouts doing the same until they realized what he meant, and also blinked in shock.

“Thunder is the fifth Elemental energy form,” I informed them all absently, without looking over to see their surprise at that news. “And yes, that means this is something that could work for other Weapons, be they in Elemental Phase or using stabs or slashes.”

The Mick looked at us, then craned his head around at his students. “Were ye doubting me saying that either she’s a grand liar, or a true blue Gharu wonder mage?” he asked them with a straight face.

They all looked overwhelmed at what I’d been showing them. “We’ll be having to take your word for it, sir, but they certainly seem legitimate to me!” the Roach Queen and titular second-in-command of the Scouts there Selena Arswick answered carefully.

The Mick nodded sagely. “So, ye need examples of the Cleaving patterns, which ye don’t seem to have.”

I shook my head. “Armor Cleaving is known, but is tremendously finicky and randomized back on Ispar, if you might recall. Looking at this far more elegant Rune Array, I can see why. Look at that Crushing Blow set, too, Highness.”

“Yeah, that’s a solid triple-power crit strength Crushing Blow. Obviously the Rune forms given to the Isparians were much less refined than the ones here, as Lord Mick’s Bunita displayed to us. Well, simple tricks for barbarians, as it were,” she sniffed knowingly, but her purple eyes gleamed. “So, this trick won’t help a mage much, but it will us poor savages with our needles?”

“Kicker effect. A token 1-6 damage carried along on the spell, something like what a properly configured noquar cap might do?” The Mick repeated the word noquar, shaking his head slightly. He was a very widely experienced man, but the two of us were just casually tossing out things he had no knowledge of, nor, he believed, did anyone else that he knew.

He had to wonder if the Empyreans and their undead remnants did…

“All right, I have to be about my Infusing, as do Princess Kristie and Lord Mick,” I said in no-nonsense tones, rising and pointing. Kris scampered off to get her own stuff to work on. “Get to work, Your Grace,” I told him, staring at him.

“The scamps doubtless have some more questions about what went on in the old world, lass,” he said, rising to his feet nonetheless. “Mayhap answer a few questions from their dry, dry history?”

“He only talks about the wars and Aluvia fighting for independence and the damn High Kings trying to make everyone bend a knee, Miss,” Selena stage-whispered to me.

“Well, I can talk while I work, sure, but only for an hour. There are things you should be doing, too, mostly related to supper and getting rest, because we’re moving out after dusk, and you’re going to need the rest.

“Also, I’m just a student of magic who heard the stories. I wasn’t actually there, like the Princess was, wading through the blood and gore and slit throats and poison and explosions and whatnot.” They all turned calculating eyes on the Princess. “If you put up a good dinner for her, I’m sure she’ll indulge some questions about that.”

“I, we have never heard of an active empire in Ispar,” Selena spoke up for all of them as they crowded in on the Disks I’d waved up for them.

“Ah, well, there are certain mild-mannered and easy-going Aluvians who you just don’t want to piss off, and you especially don’t want to be a blue-skinned entitled reprobate who insults and threatens the daughter and family thereof, or so I was told about how the whole mess started. Then it exploded into the Massacre of Viamont and Ispar has a new Emperor and Empress, long may they reign.” I sighed in some exaggeration.

“They are ALUVIAN?!” Polita Venertolen, a fiery redhead, squealed in clear delight.

“DAMN RIGHT!” the Princess called out over her shoulder, and instantly had a fanbase starting.

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After chasing them off to do the chores and get some food going, mostly for themselves, I settled down to do my Infusing, the noble Lord Mick and Imperial Princess Kristie doing likewise.

Stained by association, the Royal Scouts were careful to give me the same careful respect, although they definitely knew other powerful Casters.

Not ones with a Power of Ten Matrix and magic like mine, of course.

Today I was finishing off my Minstrel/Bard cross-Levels with my last Lyric Theurge Levels. Tomorrow I would start on Lore Theurge Levels, which was the Heartsong/Arcane Theurgy. Today, however, I was adding Druidic Theurgist.

Normally it required Druid Caster Levels, but Bard Caster Levels, which used Druidic magic, were perfectly acceptable. To wit, when Casting any spell that was on the Druid Spell List AND on any other one you had, your Druid (Bard) Casting Level was added to the CL of the spell.

Transferred nicely through layers of Theurgy, too.

It was very nice for multiple useful spells, such as Healing spells, Shaping Stone, Dispel Magic, and weather control effects, among other things. Druids and Arcanists shared a LOT of spells in the Elemental area, after all, even if Shards were not some of those spells…

Having an overpowered Dispel Magic came in so useful in so many times and ways, after all!

Lyric Theurgy also came with the Extra Spells Known I could tack into my Minstrel Levels, taking spells off the Bard/Druid List and giving them to the Minstrel list. A nice way to get permanent access to some popular and universal Druidic spells.

I’d already taken the Bloom Cantrip, Entangle, and now I added Heat/Chill Metal to the assortment.

My Exemplar Surge spell had naturally been Haste, with the nice little lightning add-ons from Thematic Spells to drive the point home that they were coming in very fast, very hard, and those lugians were completely hosed if it came down to a fight.

Well, maybe not, but they weren’t prepared for Kris or the Mick, and the other scouts would have soon been fighting way above their level against the severely wounded and thoroughly cowed lugians at that point. Another round of Chained Shardrays, and they were meat on the plate.

The Mick knew something had definitely changed, not knowing exactly what, but noting that I was definitely capable of pulling off something that no War Mage he knew of had ever been able to do.

Isparian magic was mostly single-target, and didn’t do AoE’s very well. Power of Ten magic was far more versatile in that respect, and if default Isparian higher Scarab effects were stronger… Matrix magic just kept stacking the more you knew and the higher your Caster Level was.

The fact I could now send out a whole lot of Shard attacks without needing Perpetual Spell was pretty broken on the face of it. In counterpoint, the things here were so ungodly tough for their power that it was needed.

Kris had a lot of work ahead of her bringing these people up to parity against things that were that hard to kill.

Of course, if she had the full power of a Sage of Swords, well, these things weren’t going to enjoy what she was capable of, even given the incredible power of the manafield hereabouts. Just teaching them the mageblade disciplines would definitely boost their strength considerably.

Artificer magic, Infusions, would do the same.

Work to do. Once again I fought down the urge to go straight for Levels and instead built a more solid foundation.

Mira was keeping up with all my Isparian side stuff, and we were about Level 46 or so equivalent in Invested Karma there, with tons more to go to satisfy our waiting Karma… which seemed to be going up, not down.

Well, we were getting involved in stuff over my Level, one of the main reasons I was boosting my Caster Level as much as possible. If I couldn’t overcome magical defenses, I was basically worthless except as a Support Mage… which totally wasn’t a problem for me to be, but if they needed firepower, I had to be ready to deliver.

It was what Aelryinth was best at, so I had inherited that level of competency, at the very least.

The Infusing of Kris’ Necklace continued apace. Still, it was a long term project that was going to take months to come to fruition.

As for me, I still had my own question on how to proceed, since my way forward on Isparian magic seemed blocked.

Whatever my third taper was, it wasn’t one part of the cycle. That had implications for the potential Pyreal or Platinum tiers that Lord Mick had spoken about: if I had an outsider taper for Gold, it stood that I’d have something strange for the higher Tiers, if they existed.

Adding to that the implications of a changing manafield, and how everything was changing and integrating to some extent. It was completely possible that the Isparian spells might just fold into aspects of the Matrix system, if that was acceptable here.

More worries, but there was so much to learn and do here, it was plain that this job Mithar had dumped me into the middle of was not something that was going to be handled overnight…