NOVEL SIMPLE Book Five: Diplomacy - Chapter Five: Poisoned by the Energy
We wait until the alcaoris indicates that the flood of Pure Energy has begun to subside by slowly moving closer to the hole. The moment the ‘plug’ lowers enough, the Pure Energy which had pooled above it drains away just like it was in a giant bath.
It leaves a glimmer on the surface of the rock which vanishes bit by bit. Closing my eyes and activating my ability to see connections, I am almost blinded by the sheer brilliance of the remaining Pure Energy.
Once I get over that, I see that it’s seeping through the brown earth magic suffusing the rock. I think part of it combines with the magic that is already there, but it’s so overwhelming that it’s hard to see either way. Then it goes and joins something that I don’t even dare look at straight-on for fear of it burning out my eyes. My non-physical eyes, anyway. If that’s possible.
Opening my eyes again, I see that the glimmering is pretty much gone so I step carefully forwards, ready to leap back if I even get the hint that I’m about to put my foot in an invisible pool of Pure Energy.
Apparently it’s all drained away, though, as I make it to the edge of the hole. Seeing that I’ve made it through with no issues, Bastet quickly hurries to my side – she needed to be warier than me as I at least have my boots to offer a barrier between me and any potential remnants of the Pure Energy. She has nothing between her talons and the ground.
We peer down into the tunnel below. Aingeal, bobbing over my shoulder as always, doesn’t need my instruction to brighten a bit, just so the Pure Energy starts glittering like a river of liquid diamond. I do ask it to descend a little into the tunnel as otherwise there’s too much left in shadow.
I see that the river of Pure Energy hasn’t yet fully abated. It’s reduced from where it must have been before – the weight of the other tunnel’s worth of Pure Energy forcing it to begin flooding here – but it’s still pretty high. I guess that, because the exit tunnel is so small in comparison, it will take a bit of time to drain.
The tunnel that I can see looks much the same as before, perhaps the end where it narrows is a little damaged. Closing my eyes and looking with magical sight, I take care not to look directly at the Pure Energy. That little glance confirms that the tunnel has been expanded a little further down: the earth magic in the stone is more compressed than it was the last time I inspected it.
Switching back to normal sight, I spot the dark cable which the alcaoris has been clinging onto throughout this time. It leads down into the Pure Energy itself, the ‘plug’ holding the eggs now just a dark shape beneath the radiant liquid.
Since there’s still some time before we can find out whether my solution is helpful, I figure I might as well spend the time planning what to do in the next few weeks.
There are lots of things to accomplish before this whole samuran meet and greet event. Ninety days might feel like a long time, but I know from past experience how quickly three months can pass when I’m busy.
And busy is definitely going to be the word to describe things.
Not only do I have my personal projects such as creating metal weaponry and tools, but I’ve got lots of magical experiments to try. I also want to create a new home down this way – since it’s near the Pure Energy and the village – and I’m hoping that Kalanthia might be willing to join us. Which, if she is, will mean I have to find a way to help her and the samurans coexist peacefully. And maybe the alcaoris if he decides to stick around. That will be fun. I’m going to need to take a trip up to the cave anyway – I need to get the stuff and the Bound I left up there. And the cubs. I bet Bastet’s missing them even more than I am.
Then there are all the things I need to do with the village itself: changing the way they run things – hopefully without creating some sort of backlash by changing things too fast. I’m familiar with how change can affect a company; I bet a village isn’t much different. Plus, if I want to impress the samurans at the meet and greet – enough to leave us alone, at least – I need to make sure the villagers I take with me are sold on the changes I’m introducing. That means I have to make sure the changes are having obvious, beneficial consequences on the village. It might be a bit hard to convince them at the moment considering my first action as leader has led to two dead Warriors, but I’ll have to find a way to make it work.
But before I can do any of that, I need to finish stabilising the situation in the samuran village by Binding the rest of the Warriors. That would be easier if I have another level or so beneath my belt – fortunately, I have a helpful source of Energy right here.
Actually, on that point, I check my status screen – the last time I was this close to raw Energy, I was poisoned by just staying in the area nearby.
Name: Markus Wolfe
Race: Human
Class: Tamer
Level: 15
Energy to next level: 76%
Energy absorption rate: 1106u/hr
Energy towards debt: 112% (232)
Intelligence
34+1 (+5%)
Mana: 615/615 (15u/IP)
Wisdom
40+2 (+5%)
Mana regeneration rate: 1050u/hr
Willpower
60+16 (+27%)
Health regeneration rate: 76u/hr
Constitution
25
Health: 364/365 (375) (15u/CP)
Strength
20
Stamina: 120/120
Dexterity
21
Stamina regeneration rate: 210u/hr
Special: Fire Affinity (25%)
Class skills
Dominate – Initiate 9
*Companion Bond
Tame – Journeyman 2
* Alliance
Fade – Initiate 5
Inspect Fauna – Novice 9
Inspect Flora – Beginner 8
Inspect Environment – Beginner 9
Elemental Bonding - Beginner 1
Non-Class skills
Flesh-Shaping – Master 1
Stealth – Novice 5
Animal Empathy – Journeyman 5
Meditation – Journeyman 9
Energy Manipulation – Master 2
Sensation Management – Beginner 9
Spearmanship – Novice 4
Archery – Beginner 9
Blunt Weaponry – Novice 1
Short Blades – Beginner 9
Fire-Shaping – Novice 7
Earth-Shaping – Beginner 2
Most of my status screen is much as I expected it to be. The Energy I’m earning per hour is a very healthy figure and has already increased my store by four percent from where it was before the Pure Energy was unplugged. I see that I’m missing a single health point, but as I watch, it ticks up again to full before ticking down again a little while later.
I have a feeling I know what’s going on, but flick over to my notifications to check.
Sure enough, there are two messages waiting for me.
Warning!
You have entered an area of high Energy density. Your level is too low to safely absorb this Energy. Time until Energy poisoning begins: 0:10:00
Next Message / Close messages
Warning!
You are in an area of high Energy density. Your level is too low to safely absorb this Energy. Time until Energy poisoning begins: 00:00:00
You are being poisoned. Your health will drop by one unit every 72 seconds until either you leave the area, increase your capacity to absorb Energy safely, or expire.
Close messages
Closing my eyes, I quickly work out a bit of mental maths. Finishing my calculation, I marvel at my ability to keep big numbers in my head – that never used to be the case. It must be a reflection of whatever changes were done to me when I increased my Intelligence stat.
My suspicions were correct – I am being poisoned, but it’s not having any real effect on me because my health regeneration rate is higher than its rate of poisoning. If I recall, last time I lost more health over the hour, and I didn’t have anywhere near as high a regeneration rate. Not to mention that I couldn’t use my healing Skill at the time because of what the Pure Energy had done to my Core. I’m significantly better off this time.
However, I suddenly have a thought and flick over to my Bound page. Finding Bastet’s entry, my stomach drops as I see that she’s already lost a quarter of her health, and it’s continuing to tick steadily downwards.
“Bastet, you need to go back to the surface,” I tell her urgently. “You’re being poisoned by the Energy.” She fixes me with a mulish look.
I’m not leaving you alone here.
Abruptly, I realise that she knew – of course she knew, who would miss the pain that losing a quarter of your health causes? But she didn’t want to do anything about it because that would mean leaving me here.
I sigh.
“Alright. But I’m healing you now and you need to tell me whenever your health dips by more than ten percent.” She cocks her head in confusion, apparently not understanding my reference. “Uh…more than might be caused from a play session with the cubs and Lathani,” I tell her instead. That’s probably a bit less than ten percent, but I’d rather keep her topped up.
Fine, she agrees and comes towards me. I’m grateful that she has: even if I’ve worked out how to heal from a distance, it’s always harder and less efficient to do it that way.
Sinking my magic into her system, I try to search for what needs healing. A frown creeps onto my face as I realise that I can’t feel anything wrong with her body itself.
I suppose that makes sense – it’s not a poison which has been injected into the body, attacking the organs, the nerves, or the blood itself. This is Energy poisoning, which probably means that it’s attacking the Energy channels.
The problem with that is that I can’t access my Bound’s Energy channels – not yet, anyway. I add that to my mental to-do list – find a way of healing the damage the alcaoris’ acidic mana did to my Bound’s internal matrices. I’ll need to formalise the list on my display’s notepad function later, but now is not the time.
However, even if I can’t actually heal the damage which is being done at its source, maybe I can heal its effects. Bastet needs more health as the first priority. I managed to transform my mana into health before when dealing with my soul damage. Perhaps I can do something like that for Bastet?
After all, health is just another form of Energy – I worked that out. And mana is another form of Energy too. I’ve managed to convert mana to health without going through Flesh-Shaping for myself; it can’t be too much harder to do it for Bastet.
*****
In the end, it’s not too much harder, but it does take me some time to figure it out. Enough time that I’m getting to the point of having to decide whether to send Bastet up to the surface regardless of her preferences by the time I manage to get it working.
It turns out that there’s a…quirk to the health transformation when I’m doing it to someone else. I guess that makes sense – it’s not like it’s possible to have a blood transfusion with just anyone, and we’re different species from different worlds. If there wasn’t a difference in the form of our health, that would probably be more surprising than the fact that there is.
But by sinking my consciousness deep enough into her blood to practically become part of it, I discover a way to transform my mana into something far more similar to her own, to the signature that runs through her veins.
And there, I think I also find a way to find the Energy channels. I’m not certain, but the deeper I got into her system, the more I started to sense the glittering, golden lines almost within reach. It’s worth exploration.
But not now.
The Energy flood has abated, the alcaoris’ voice rumbles in my head. I pull away from Bastet.
“Are you sure you want to stay down here with me?” I check again. “I might have been able to replenish your health, but it might be doing more damage than we know. I certainly haven’t been able to heal the effect of the poison itself.”
I’m staying with you, she replies firmly. I send her a mental hug, always appreciative of just how much support she offers me.
You care about them; they are not just tools to you, the alcaoris asks, his voice oddly quiet and tone a little strange. I realise when Bastet doesn’t react that it’s a private message – they’re not so easy to identify along a Tame Bond in comparison to a Dominate one.
I do, I reply in the same way. Some more than others, I admit, but I take responsibility for all of them.
The alcaoris is silent, but moves forward so that the bulk of his body is at the edge of the hole with us. Putting his head down into the hole, I see him using acidic mana to carefully melt away the dark coloured substance around the egg. Slowly, one by one, the blue-green eggs are revealed.
Moment of truth.