Chương 38: 205. Tempering the Mind

Alex adjusted his grip on the small bar of chalk in his hand. The powdery residue it left on his fingers reminded him of his first few months as an awakened. In his crouch, he leaned forward to brace with his left hand while completing the last strokes of the ritual circle. The body tempering ritual that Eura had left for him was almost ready to begin. He still needed to place the reagents into the proper places, along with the mana stones required to power the ritual.

"How long do you think this'll take?" Robert asked, leaning on the carved entrance to the back room.

"Not sure. The body tempering I did a few months ago took a few hours to finish."

"And this will give you more stats? Can anyone do them?" Alex nodded while pocketing the chalk.

"As far as I know, everyone can perform a body tempering once per rank. When we get back to my place, we can look at getting each of you set up with one. It'll be up to you to obtain the required materials, but if you do, I can perform the ritual for you.

"Why come here, though?" Aisha asked. Alex looked over his shoulder to see her sitting on the floor, resting her arm on Luis's leg, who sat on a stool against the wall.

"Last time it left behind a weird residue. I think it was some impurities getting cleansed from my mana channels. And uh… the rituals can be painful."

"Painful?"

"Yeah."

"What's that got to do with… Wait. You wanted to be further from other people so they don't hear you in pain?" Alex shrugged, remembering Maelis's words from months before.

"Power comes at a price. I'm willing to pay it. I just don't want to make others uncomfortable." He was so focused on placing the reagents, he didn't see the look shared between the three.

"Well, we'll be here if you need anything," Robert said. Alex bobbed his head in thanks.

"I appreciate it. Just make sure no one disturbs the ritual; it can't stop once it's started. The backlash from a failed tempering can be very bad."

"Define 'very bad,'" Aisha said skeptically.

"Uh, severe crippling or death."

"Great," she said with a laugh. Robert chimed in with a shake of his head.

"Not really selling me on this whole body tempering thing, you know." Alex joined them in the laugh.

"I don't want to sell you on it. Either you want to push yourself for the power, or you don't. Think about it while I'm doing the tempering." He stood, brushing his palms against his pant legs.

"Seriously. Think on it. I've got a lot of people joining me lately, and I'm happy to use the resources I have to help people that I trust. Think about what you want to do and let me know when we leave the Rift. I'll help how I can." Settling down into a seated position with his legs crossed, he gave them all a genuine smile. Aisha muttered something in response, but Alex only picked up on a few words about being stupid, couldn't say, and Robert. However, she was interrupted by Luis standing and stretching.

He touched the long, straight sword at his hip, clearly pleased to have been reunited with his weapon of choice.

"Food," he said simply. The first time he said it, it was a statement. The second and third times were questions for each of them. Alex shook his head while the other two accepted. Aisha stayed where she was, but Robert soon stepped out to the front hallway of the building.

"I'll be out front. Take however much time you need." He stepped away from the doorway before pausing and looking back.

"And Alex… good luck." Taking a deep breath, Alex did what he could to steady his breathing. The closer he got to activating the ritual, the more his mind remembered the searing pain that had accompanied the last one. Aside from the pain, he'd had a constant worry in the back of his mind since deciding to do the ritual. You're sure it's not going to be a problem? Maelis sighed dramatically.

"Yes, kid. I'm sure. Look, do you remember when we discussed the different types of clones? Yours is a version that's seen, just not very often. Rather than creating something, body and mind, that is a reflection of you, you instead created a skill that splits a part of you. Both the mind and the body are still yours. Even the clone skill's name should be a hint to you for this. Trust me."

Alex found that he did trust the old rune master, but he was still a little sour that he'd taken the time to create new clones and balance their stats, only for Maelis to recommend he dismiss them before the ritual. He said it was less that the clones being out would cause an issue, and more that the skill might suddenly cancel during tempering, which could be awkward if a body suddenly disappeared, leaving behind a pile of clothes. All right, all right. I'm just making sure.

"Look, you wouldn't cast a buffing spell or eat stat buffing food in here and be worried for your clones, right? Whenever it's dismissed, it will reassimilate with your natural state, and the next one created will assume a new form based on that." The logic made sense, but the concept itself gave him pause.

His eyes grew slowly wider as the implications settled on him, and a new idea formed for the direction he wanted to take his skill He took a full minute to calm his breathing and order his thoughts, pushing aside the ideas of future advancement and returning home. With his eyes still closed, he mentally called on the System. He performed a quick check of his stats before pulling up the prompt to advance or evolve his main class.

Even though he knew that he'd choose to advance Spell Weaver, he decided to wait and see if the evolution option changed, as it did with the previous rank advancement. The window he was looking for appeared next. The one that congratulated him on reaching level 60 and offered to ascend to the next Rank. He accepted the prompt and felt himself being lifted from his seated position.

Alex knew that if he were to open his eyes, he'd likely be hovering about a foot off the ground, with golden motes of power forming around his body and drawing to his skin. The final, flashy gesture of the rank advancement came in the form of a brilliant golden beam of light shooting toward the sky. Guess in this case it's a rocky ceiling. The corner of his mouth tugged upward, only to have his thoughts interrupted as he was abruptly returned to the ground by gravity.

Wincing, he shifted his position and tried to look dignified, but his mind quickly moved on to other topics. All three of his Parallel Minds took off in different directions, thinking about home, Edwin, Olivia, Valtherion, Sam, and Mark. Another shot off to think of future progression and the idea he'd gotten from Maelis just moments before. His main mind attempted to rein them in, before it too got distracted by the blue windows lingering in his mind's eye.

The idea of advancing or evolving his [Feather Step] skill pulled his focus.

"Pull it together, kid. You knew this would happen." Right. Of course I did. I knew this would happen. That's why I prepared. All three of his minds snapped back to attention and thought through the ritual setup. He knew he needed to start the process, but he marveled at the speed at which his mind was processing information. The rational side of his mind knew that his body and mind had changed with the advancement to C Rank, and it was simply more receptive to the massive amount of Willpower he had.

The stat, often referred to as mental agility, made his thoughts process faster. He made the analogy of a computer with all the speed in the world, which was unfortunately lacking the Intellect, or processing power, to keep up with the speed. With the focus of someone trying to herd wild cats, Alex reined in his mental chaos and initiated the ritual. Pulsing his mana, he felt the mana coalescing around him, so thick it caused his skin to tingle. His muscles flexed reflexively, bracing for a pain that never came.

Instead, it was his mind that felt an instant reaction to the ritual. A spike of pain so sharp could be felt at the top of his head that he instantly saw spots. When he struggled to keep his eyes open, he realized his head had lulled forward. A groan escaped his lips as he straightened his back and opened his eyes. Aisha was still watching him, but from a different point in the room. Her eyes went wide when she saw him look at her.

Just as they made eye contact, another lance of pain shot through the front of his head. He grit his teeth and clamped his eyes shut.

"What the fu—" He sat up again, realizing this time that he'd slumped to the side. Looking around the room, Aisha was closer now, Robert by her side. They both looked worried, and when he sat up, they moved closer to the ritual. Alex raised his hand.

"Stop. Let it continue. Whatever you do, do not stop this ritual." Both of them stopped where they stood, clearly wishing for some action to take. His mind threatened panic, worried that if he wasn't able to maintain consciousness, the ritual may fail or have diminished effects. When the next wave of pain hit him, he fought to retain consciousness, pulling in his focus to a singular point— to his desired outcome.

Thanks to Eura's letter and their talks from more than a year ago, Alex knew what the ritual was designed to do. His stats had been restricted by his trait for so long that he'd literally had dreams about putting Free Points into other stats. While this wouldn't fix the problem, it would allow the first of his other stats to scale proportionate to his Willpower. To him, this was the best-case scenario. It allowed him to keep his insane Willpower stat weight, while letting a balancing stat grow alongside it.

He focused on that. On the goal. His muscles relaxed at the same time that he clamped down on his thoughts. He drew on his mental control to narrow his mind to a tunnel. Nothing happening to him or around him mattered— only the goal mattered. Alex felt the mental assault brought on by the ritual, but he didn't black out again. Hanging on by a stubborn thread, he weathered the storm. It was impossible for him to tell how much time had passed, as after a while, even the pain had subsided.

He convinced himself that he was a rock in a storm and the pain was nothing but the temporary splashing of waves against his immovable self.

"Kid! Hey, hey! Snap out of it, brat!" The voice sounded from a long way off, but it was enough to remind Alex of the goal. Not the goal to survive and weather the storm, but the goal of completing the ritual. Slowly, he loosened his grip on his mind and felt the world around him return to focus. He was surprised to find the room empty and more dim than when he'd started. The only sign that anything had changed in the room was a cold plate of food on the floor in front of him, just outside the ritual circle.

A small smile crept onto his face as he leaned forward and pulled the bowl across the rocky ground. One of the first things he noted was that his [Parallel Mind] skill had deactivated. He wasn't aware of when it had happened, but the three lines of thought that were in his head at the start of the body tempering, recombined into his normal train of thought. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Concerned, he quickly pulled up his status before letting out a sigh of relief.

His stats were whole, and he'd returned to 100% of the values that he expected to see. He did wonder what that meant for Scout's clone, and how that portion of his mind had returned to him even through the Rift's natural barrier. Pushing the thought aside for the moment, he made a mental note to look into it more later. If there was something to allow his mind or body to pass through the Rifts, then there was even more potential in the skill than he'd thought.

He was pleased to note that there was no foul-smelling black sludge on the floor at the conclusion of this ritual. And was even more pleased to see the huge leap in the Intellect stat on his status and the accompanying blue screen. Congratulations, you have gained a new Trait. {Cunning Intellect} - Your Intellect has been tempered by the sharp cunning of you mind. Your Intellect will scale by a portion of your Willpower. Looking over the changes, he took a bite of the hard loaf of bread.

Status Name: Alex Moore - Level 60 Class: Spell Weaver (Novice) + Advancement Offered HP: 1000/1000 MP: 1960/1960 Traits: (2/3) {Primordial Will} {Cunning Intellect} Titles: < The Magician > Pathfinder Unbound One Against Many Control Freak Journeyman Ritualist Gifted Mage The Magician Integration Champion Iron Will King Slayer Physical Stats: Strength: 29 Agility: 50 Constitution: 100 Vitality: 31 Magical Stats: Intellect: 479 Willpower: 1281 Mana: 196 Wisdom: 169 Bond Skills: [Mana Siphon] (Journeyman - Level 16) Primary Stat Shared - Mana Active Skills: [Mana Thread] (Journeyman - Level 18) [Mana Infusion] (Journeyman - Level 6) [Feather Step] (Novice - Level 20) + Advancement Offered [Fractal Body] (Novice - Level 12) [Parallel Mind] (Adept- Level 2) [Intimidate] (Novice - Level 5) [Spell Storage] (Novice - Level 18) [Shrug Off] (Novice - Level 17) [Running] (Novice - Level 17) [Meditate] (Novice - Level 15) [Mana Blade] (Novice - Level 5) Passive Skills: [Sleep Resistance] (Tier III) [Efficient Rites] (Tier I) [Spell Weaving] (Tier II) [Mana Conduit] (Tier I) [Quick Recovery] (Tier I) Bound Items: D Rank Growth Item (Unique) - Spectral Eye of the Celestial Sage D Rank Growth Item - The Magician's Cap Unique Identification Item - [Manifest Planetary Title] He choked on the bread when he saw the change in his Intellect.

The choke turned into laughter after he removed a plastic water bottle from his spatial ring and took a drink. It was crazy to think that if he had a similar ritual to be applied to his Constitution, he could be as tanky as Kinley was in their fight. With his stat jumping several hundred points in the evolution and body tempering, he was eager to begin testing and training.

Since Intellect was the stat to govern magical power and the ability to understand concepts of higher-tiered magic, he wondered if grasping the intent of more complex runes would suddenly become easier. His thoughts were pulled away from daydreaming by the sound of shuffling behind him. Looking over his shoulder, Alex saw Aisha sit up from a small pile of blankets in the corner of the room. She rubbed her eyes and looked at him.

"You're up. Glad to see you made it through." He gave her a smile around his mouth full of bread.

"Yep. Thanks for the food."

"Luis brought it for you this morning."

"This morning? How long was I out of it?"

"You started the ritual yesterday afternoon. Hard to judge time in here, but it's been more than a full day." Alex's eyes grew wide.

"Damn, that's a lot longer than I was expecting." She shrugged in response.

"It gave everyone some time to calm down. A lot of the humans split right away, but those who stayed hunted Kinley's men and went a little crazy, tearing down parts of the arena. Now though… they're more interested in you. Honestly, it's most of us who were better adjusted to our situation. You've got quite the fan club out there, you know?"

"Really?" She nodded and stood.

"There are only a few blankets here. Do you have more of that camping gear you lent us in the hollow vein?"

"No, that was most of it. Probably all ruined from Kinley's men tearing through the camp. It's not worth going back for, I'll get better stuff when we go back home anyway."

"Okay. Well, you should get some rest. I'd suggest you sleep here, rather than back at Shael'quir's. You going out there is probably going to cause a bit of a stir."

"A stir?" She nodded and started walking toward the door.

"Come look." Rising, he joined her in the short walk down the hall and looked out of the cracked wooden door. The open space surrounding the cliff-carved room was full of shadowed figures. The Koru'qai looked to be twice the size of the small cluster of humans and didn't bother to sleep under a blanket. There were easily fifty people there, spread out and asleep. Robert stood to the left of the door, barely visible from the cracked door. Aisha tapped Alex's shoulder and motioned for him to step back.

"I'll relieve Rob so he can get some sleep. You can stay in here and get some rest. The Koru will want to greet you in the morning." Scratching the back of his head, Alex agreed.

"Okay… I guess. Just come let me know when it's morning. My sense of time is all kinds of messed up right now."

"Sure thing," Aisha said. With that, Alex returned to the back of the room and made himself comfortable in the few fur blankets she'd left behind. Once he was settled, he activated [Parallel Mind] and split his consciousness into two streams of thought. It made him giddy with excitement to see the Magician's Cap effect working.

Since the bound item prevented his Intellect Stat from ever being reduced, even though his intellect should be split by the skill, the item took priority, essentially multiplying his intellect. Both halves kept the new, full 479 Intellect. He gave the hovering blue windows in the corner of his vision a longing look, but pushed down the desire to advance immediately. His mind and body were both a wreck, and he knew he'd need more to coordinate their exit and safe travels home.

His main mind quickly drifted off to sleep while his second began to re-explore concepts he'd already spent countless hours pondering. The first subject he was most eager to revisit was the greater runes he'd been learning from Maelis to recreate the elven ritual. A mental prodding pulled him from his sleep, dragging both eyes open.

While his second mind wasn't able to see around the room, memories of sounds and smells came back to him in an instant, and he knew that Aisha and Robert had come down the hall and were attempting to talk quietly just outside of the large room before waking him. He pushed the furs off himself and stood, still dressed from the night before. The air around him moved as he stood, wafting the stench of sweat and blood to his nose.

Glancing down at his clothes and then feeling bad that he likely dirtied the furs, he held out both of his hands. Threads of mana fell down to the ground as he wove a spell circle. He formed the spell faster than he'd ever been able to before; the cleansing rune fell into the area spell circle in a second. When he activated it, his eyes went wide, the effect so pronounced that a ripple of radiant golden light flooded out from where he stood at the center of the circle.

In a single pass, his clothes and the blankets were cleaned of grime and dirt. Slightly more alarming was the floor, which was made of stone and naturally had several layers of dirt atop it. At least, before the spell went off, it did. After the cleansing wave passed over the surface, all layers of age-old dirt were gone, floating into the air as small sparkles of light. He raised an eyebrow at the unintentionally powerful display of magic.

The spell was flashier than he remembered it being, visible to the naked human eye and not at all subtle. The light show caused Aisha and Robert to both poke their head into the room.

"You're up," Robert said. They both entered then, eyeing the floor beneath his feet with interest.

"I am," Alex affirmed.

"The rest was needed. Thank you for letting me get some sleep. We really shouldn't waste too much time here, though."

"What's the rush?" Aisha asked. He looked at her, quickly processing how much her attitude had changed toward him in the last couple of days.

"Two reasons. The first is that a lot of the people who were stuck in here with you made a break for the exit almost as soon as they were released. It hasn't been a full day yet, but all of them can find the exit, since the Rift exit seems to call to all awakened. That means very scared and likely traumatized people are showing up in the normal world right now.

While I gave the HA a heads up, I don't want any of them to snap at someone or cause issues for themselves because they don't know how much the Safe Zone has changed. If we can get there and play a bit of middleman, or at least explain the situation better to the HA, they're more likely to get the help they need. We do have the benefit of the time dilation in here, compared to them out there, but still, the more time that passes, the more chance there is for something to go wrong." Robert nodded along with him.

"And the second?" Alex looked at Aisha again before shrugging and following his gut.

"Aisha, I have a skill that allows me to make a clone of myself. The three teammates you saw me with when we first met were all my clones wearing disguises." Her eyes slowly grew larger.

"That means the teammate who went with Danae and Anthony to wait outside the Safe Zone was a clone. Unfortunately, when I did the body tempering, the System automatically ended the skill. That means whatever they were doing, it's likely that Scout's armor just fell to the ground and his body poofed out of existence." He made a little gesture with his hands to emphasize poof.

"Wait… so that means?" Alex nodded.

"Walter was just a clone. You weren't leaving him to die?" A shake of the head. Aisha sighed and rubbed her face.

"Then why didn't you—""He doesn't want to share his secrets any more than we want to share ours," Robert said gently. There was an awkward moment of silence.

"I'm sorry," Aisha said simply.

"It's okay. I've still got a lot to learn about using this. I've only been thinking about the advantages so far… a situation like this clearly highlighted a downside to keeping the clones a secret. However, I will need to ask you to keep the information to yourselves. Only a very small group of people know that I have the ability to create them, and some of that value will be lost if word begins to get out."

"Don't worry, the secret is safe with us."

"Yes, of course," Aisha answered along with Robert. Alex nodded and contemplated taking some time now to create the clones, but dismissed the idea. With the immediate goal being to exit the Rift, he'd need to recreate them after leaving anyway. He coughed, feeling a bit awkward at their looks and serious response.

"So, should we get going?"

"Ah, about that," Robert said, his eyes darting to Aisha.

"Just as a heads up, some of the Koru who stayed and want to follow you— well, I just wanted to prepare you."

"For?"

"Well, they're going to treat you like the new Chief." Alex raised an eyebrow.

"That's uh, interesting. I guess it'll work, though. They're going to swear an oath to me and come back to live at my place, so them thinking of me as their boss is fitting."

"About that," Robert looked a bit pained.

"How do you plan to house them? They don't live in normal buildings like we do. I mean, I guess they could, but they don't build normal constructs. They carve, and mine, a lot of their culture is based around worshiping and singing to the earth." Alex rubbed his hands together.

"I have a plan for that, don't worry. Come on, let's get moving. We have a decent walk to the Rift exit, and we can always chat more then. Let's get out there and start organizing some of the Koru and humans who want to come with us. Those who want to, can swear the oath. The Koru'qai will be required to swear it, since it's the only way that they can leave the Rift. I want you guys to spread the word that the other humans don't have to, but if they want to, I won't stop them.

Just make sure they understand it's system-enforced and is binding."

"Right," they both said, falling into step beside him. Several hours passed as he administered oaths to nearly forty Koru'qai. The group was larger than he expected, and the implications of stepping out of the Rift with such a large group of non-humans started to settle on him. Plans would need to be made and steps taken to prevent them from being harassed or worse.

He let one line of thought think through possible solutions and worst-case scenarios, while his main mind taught them how to swear the same oaths that the mana spinners had sworn. All thirteen humans asked not to swear the oath but agreed to follow him and formally promised loyalty. Alex didn't blame them and stressed that fact while they all prepared to move on from the village.

They'd only just gotten their freedom back, and it was likely that the idea of swearing a binding oath to someone else in such a way would feel like they were giving it all up again before they even got out of the Rift. Many of the Koru'qai that didn't swear to Alex were still helpful and deferential to him. They helped prepare supplies for moving the large group across the Rift section, setting aside even more once they learned about the trip that they'd need to make from Philly to Jersey.

He was just beginning to review the stockpile when he was approached by a small group of the Koru'qai. He recognized Shael'quir and the large, darker colored Koru that had been close with Droq'shan during their testing assault. Looking past them, he saw many of the others watching.

"Hmm, Chief. The People have prepared a gift for you."

"A gift? What do you mean?"

"Mmmore of a fulfilled promise," hummed the bulky one.

"Yes. A promise. Droq'shan was one of our most powerful singers, and it saddens me that he did not get to see the removal of the old Chief. The air is rich with rhythm once more." There was a pause, and several of those present hummed a low tone.

"Come, we show thanks with Droq'shan's promise." Confused, Alex followed behind them. He expected to walk a short distance, but instead, they made their way toward the mine shafts one last time.

"Can I ask what all of this is about?"

"We don't know what your intention is. But as a show of gratitude, the entire tribe has participated in the song." More confused than he was before, Alex followed silently. Knowing that all of his questions were likely to be answered shortly. When they turned a corner down a tunnel, the side opened up to create a ledge overlooking an open cavern. The sides of the space still had old mining equipment and raised wooden platforms. Though his mind barely registered any of that.

There, in the middle of the cavern, was a twenty-foot-tall, jagged blue crystal. To his normal eye, it was a brilliant blue, with small lines of a lighter white that seemed to move diagonally across its surface. It reminded him of the beach foam on the tops of waves crashing near the shore. As they descended, he couldn't take his eye from the stone. His left eye saw the mana swirling in the air around the monolith. Approaching it on ground level, he took in its massive size.

It was easily ten feet in diameter, and even taller than he'd originally thought. The height was difficult to gauge in the dim light of the cavern.

"Hmm, Droq'shan promised to sing you a stone if you freed The People. He could not sing you a stone, but the tribe was willing to grant his wish." Alex's mouth dropped open as he realized what this was. Well fuck me, that's a little big to be a mana battery. He thought of trying to carry it around in his spatial item and dropping it on the ground in the middle of a battle as a portable mana source. The thought almost made him laugh, but the seriousness and genuine gratitude in the Korus' voices made him keep it in.

"Thank you," he said solemnly, his eyes roaming back and forth across its surface. He rested a hand on the stone and released a slight amount of mana. Without an enchantment or any testing, there was no way to know the efficiency. But the stone accepted the mana he gave it, and through his left eye, he could see it ripple outward, joining the moving waves beneath its surface. He exhaled at the wonder of the gift.

"Thank you," he repeated.

"Is it okay if I take it now?"

"Hmm, it is yours," Shael'quir said. Alex closed his eyes and willed the stone to enter his bracer. It took an effort to do so, but the stone vanished in the blink of an eye, stunning several of those gathered. Before moving, Alex sent his mind to the bracer, curious to 'see' inside the spatial warehouse. The stone took up a massive portion of the available space. It would greatly limit the supplies he could carry while it was in the bracer, which would change his immediate plans for the group.

"I think we're going to need the Koru to carry some of their own supplies," he said a bit guiltily.

"Hmm, that will not be a problem. Pulling carts is a part of life that all people know." Alex scratched his head and smiled at them, thanking them again as they all began to leave the mine and make final preparations to leave the Rift.