Chương 333: Chapter 7-331 – Reaching for the Blues

It was time. We had learned a LOT about Mana Compression and Refinement helping Babe the Blue Ox of Michigan build up his Mana Capacity. Normal Formations and magical devices just didn't function at the level of control and subtlety needed to purify the Mana to the level he needed to make Emperor. The towers and Seeds we used got to 4xMana, which was good enough for a Great Commander, but not for an Emperor.

Still, that alone saved him a lot of refinement time, enabling him to skip two full passes of refinement entirely, and of course being able to doze in vivic fires did wonders for burning out Dark Mana impurities from his system. His cross-Element demands for refinement and Compression were actually where the basis of most of my knowledge of the stuff came from.

Sure, Thunderbird and the Phoenixes and the other True Emperors were using 400xMana, but I'd not delved more deeply into the process since compressed Mana like that was completely useless to humans. Well, things change once you're a Sage-tier mage with nowhere to go but ballooning your Mana Reserves to just insane numbers. Moreover, refining Mana for someone else was a great, great way to figure out how to refine it faster for myself!

I couldn't apply Babe's Mana for him, but I started working batches of it at one time. What I did do is start visiting the friendly Emperors and asking them for a single Point of their Compressed Mana, to use as a sample and compression/purity guideline. All such Mana came with their own Biases, naturally enough.

All the Emperors were like natural Heaven Seeds, among the highest types of their own Elements attuned to them, and so a Fire Point from a Phoenix was different from a Luan, which was different from a Dragon, which was different from a Dinosaur or a Sunmane Lion.

It didn't take long before I was facilitating one Point exchanges of Imperial Mana between Emperors of various types, each such point of Mana a thing to study and seek inspiration on for their own advancement, possibly even outside their own Elements or if they were seeking comprehension to open up a new one. Even a hundred Points wasn't much of a sacrifice to an Emperor, but the insights that could be gained by studying powerful Points, especially something like The Sea Emperor's Dragon Water, were priceless.

It was more makework for myself, but I didn't mind, as it had benefited me as well. I was grabbing Points of each Element Babe had, taking the Earth/Air/Plant/Void Mana He needed to Infuse into them from either my Meditation flow or from whatever Tower or Seeds or Formation we were pulling from, extracting all the impurities therefrom meticulously, and then giving them back to him to reapply as fast as he could.

We were doing an easy four Points of 40xMana a second, taken out and filled back into their spots in a constant loop of accelerated, Burning refinement and purification that Babe himself just couldn't equal. He just put them back as fast as he could while I handed them to him, and together we burned through all of his Mana Capacity from beginning to end, incidentally locating countless impurities he'd missed here and there and purging them free.

He had about ten million in Mana, so it took over two hundred hours to accomplish, but he was anything but disappointed at the speed. He had been planning just to finish up his final pass, and here I had gone entirely through everything, improved on it further, and helped him finish up! He was topped off now, and he would need to advance to Low Emperor to keep advancing now. He was a half-Emperor, on the edge of growth and enlightenment to a higher Level, and ready to make the attempt.

It wasn't going to be nearly as difficult as the attempts of his predecessors. He had been sucking down Seeds constantly for years now, as well as drinking in colossal amounts of Void, Plant, and Earth Mana from the great Formation underlying most of Michigan. All of that Mana was stored inside his gut now, ready to burst out and imbue him with the raw power to change his body and grow to meet the demands of his new station. As for his comprehension of the Elements...

he was Marked and in the Markspace, with plenty of Human minds both inspired by his comprehension of the Elements and inspiring him constantly in new and unique ways with all the different approaches we had to magic. He already had the comprehension, he now needed his mind to advance to a higher stage so some of the things he knew he could digest and go beyond. In other words, he was straining at the limit, wanting to know more, and pushing at the barrier incessantly, finding a way around it to a greater road.

Associating with furless Monkeys for fun and profit!

I was done with my fourth trip with Sea Emperor, said missions occurring once every week. That gave those fighting time to recover more fully, time for vivus to be put in place as another delivery arrived, and enough time to move to the areas to be attacked, rounding up anything outside the areas and making sure nothing got away. This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

If it meant our targets Summoned up Undead or Shade Aquatics to join the fight, well, our opening rush was a wall of vivisized water that was like bathing them in concentrated acid, and they just tended to evaporate. The tainted Aquatics were more dangerous than the things they Summoned, once the Obelisk was in the area. Babe was also setting up for his attempt at Emperor, so why was I here, on the far side of Lake Huron, waiting just over the Lake's waters?

"You may as well come out. I can totally see you are there, and there's no way you're going to ambush me." I waited patiently, looking in a very specific direction, and finally a low growl sounded out of the ground. He flowed out of the earth like he was swimming through it, perhaps two hundred feet long from head to tail, long and low and just radiating predator.

The narrow head of a member of the Weasel Tribe was unmistakable, the dark fur that looked almost to be made of stony wire had a unique pattern, and for this guy, there was a gouging scar across his left eye from where a team of Wolverine Hunters had chased him out of New York state fifty years ago after a devastating raid by him that had killed over five thousand people. It was Old One-Eye, the Wolverine King, now the highest-ranking member of the Great Tribe that King Magogo had once dominated from Africa.

"I was there when Magogo was killed and turned into Undead, I helped put him down," I told the Wolverine King who was snarling at me from the shoreline. The species was fearless, but he wasn't stupid. He could see the intents on Noble as clearly as anything, and knew he had absolutely no chance of survival if he attacked me first. Just Thunderbird's Token alone would have dissuaded him from taking pre-emptive action, although if he could have tricked me into attacking first, he might have made the attempt.

"You've come a long way from the north, King One-Eye. Why are you here? You know the humans across the water are the best in the world at fighting your kind, and if you cross, I will be on their side, and we will kill you... and rather embarrassingly quickly." He was probing me with his Awareness, trying to judge my power, and for a second I let my Astral Ward down and allowed him to sense my strength.

He actually flinched backwards, freezing in place as he realized my Tokens weren't the reason I was not afraid of him.

"I have been recognized by High Emperors, King One-Eye," I stated calmly, drawing myself up as I drifted in closer to him, totally unafraid of him, and all his steel-hard fur was rising on edge with my proximity.

"You are no threat to me. Explain your presence here." I was sure the very thought of it made his heart quiver, and he was contemplating suicide rather than doing so... but in the end, his head dropped, his back drooped, and his legs bent as he submitted under the natural hierarchy. Wolverines and the Badgers were some of the most obdurate and feared of all Beasts, totally capable of mixing it up with nobler Bloodlines and creatures that should have been more powerful than them...

but that was only by a rank, maybe two if the other was a weak species. Hopping multiple Tiers of Emperor? He was going to get owned, and he knew it. There was fearlessness, but that was futility, like declaring war on the sky!

"THE OX SEEKS TO USE THE FORMATION OF MY ANCESTOR TO BREAK THROUGH TO EMPEROR! I CAN FEEL IT BRIMMING WITH POWER, READY TO HELP HIM ASCEND! IT WAS NEVER MEANT TO HELP A MERE SLAVE BEAST TO HUMANS TO RISE IN POWER!" His growling and frustration were heartfelt. Humans had killed the last Wolverine Emperor over a century ago, Bunyan and Babe leading that fight, a legendary battle that was known across the world. It had made Michigan the Human's land that it was.

Being a Wolverine Hunter was one of the highest accolades in the world of Hunters and mercenary mages as a result. The Badgers had no other Emperors, and no other Kings at this time. They were an unruly bunch at best, and, well, in a world full of nasty powerful Beasts, that was a quick way to get your life ended if you picked the wrong fight, which the overconfident buggers were totally willing to do too often. Still.

"I understand. You yourself are nearing half-Emperor, are you not?" I asked him kindly, drifting closer without fear. If he tried anything, he quite literally was probably going to lose most of his head. His one black eye watched me approach, sensed my complete lack of fear, and his unwilling submission continued. His Awareness read my Aura like a massive blade approaching, ready to cut him apart, and enough strength was the only thing that a Wolverine might bow to. Even Bears couldn't shake them off...

but I was no Bear.

"YES," he answered gruffly.

"Very well," I nodded to him.

"I will clear this with your Emperor." I waved my hand, and to his utter and complete shock, a two-hundred-foot-tall Portal opened behind me, with Thunderbird Emperor looking over His Demesne clear in the background, His full True Emperor Aura radiating out from it. With one beat of His Wings, He could slip right through and be standing here beside me. Old One-Eye kept his head down as Thunder echoed once in the air, the Emperor of North America turning to regard me and the visitor I was speaking to.

"HEALER FAE," He addressed me first.

"WHAT BUSINESS HAVE YOU WITH THIS WOLVERINE?" Old One-Eye had the distinct impression the Emperor would barely have acknowledged him being there without me obviously doing this because of him.

"Your Majesty, Old One-Eye here seeks to come to the land of Michigan, as he senses the brimming power of the Salt Formation underneath it. It seems that is a thing made by prior Wolverine Emperors to help them evolve to a higher stage. He can sense that Babe the Blue Ox is ready to attempt his Ascension, and was entertaining thoughts of disrupting it and seizing the chance for himself.

"I have disavowed him of that possibility for the present time, but I was wondering if Your Majesty would desire to see another Wolverine Emperor claim the mantle. We can rebuild the Formation and boost it as we did for Babe, and in merely another decade, could help this Wolverine take his Ancestor's place." Thunderbird's feathers ruffled strangely.

"A STRANGE AND GENEROUS OFFER YOU GIVE HIM, HEALER FAE."

"I give him nothing. I leave the choice to You. Your Majesty lost an Emperor to Humanity, it is fair to give one back to You."

"THAT IS INDEED FAIR," Thunderbird conceded.

"YOUR THOUGHTS, WOLVERINE?"