Immovable Mage

– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 215, Season of the Setting Sun, Day 84 –

“This should be far enough from the settlement,” said Lizzy. “Unless you have ramped up the threat-level since last time.”

They were in the middle of a sparse forest.

“No no no,” replied Elvis. “At least we had no such intention.”

“Devon?”

“No folk signatures aside from us.” Devon was wearing the flowery dress again.

“Excellent.” Elvis turned to Poppy. “Let’s see how our latest iterations perform.”

Terry smiled at the familiar ear-wiggle. Then Terry retrieved his own prototypes for testing.

Elvis held out a U-shaped device to Devon. “You must not point the open end at any of us. Not under any circumstances. No matter if you’re channeling mana or not.”

“Got it,” acknowledged Devon. He stepped away from the others.

“Alright. This concept is still in the early stages. It is better to channel mana slowly for this one.”

Warning bells went off in Terry’s head. He remembered Devon’s first attempt to fill a mana container.

“Uhm, maybe—”

*Buzzzz…* Devon had already pointed the open end at a tree and channeled his mana into the inscribed device.

*KAZAP!* A blue lightning bolt hit the tree, and it splintered into pieces.

Devon looked down at his stomach. His flowery dress was mending itself in several places where he had been hit by wood shrapnel.

“Good robes,” mumbled Devon. Some of the daisies were now bloody.

Devon sniffed the air. The remnants of the tree had caught fire. Devon quickly created a sheet of netherfrost below the tree to contain and extinguish the flames.

“How is the hand?” asked Elvis.

“Stings a bit,” said Devon.

“Okay, translated to normal people, that means it hurts like hell,” commented Elvis. “The core inscription itself seems to work though. Congratulations, Poppy!”

“Good squiggly line.”

Devon moved his hips from side to side and scrunched up his face.

“Is your butt itchy?” quipped Lizzy. “If I did not know any better, I would think your pants don’t fit, but you are not wearing any.”

Devon poked his stomach. Afterwards, he walked to Terry. “Could I borrow your dagger?”

“Sure?” Terry channeled mana into his inscribed sheath to release the dagger.

Before Terry knew what was going on, the dagger had already been plunged into Devon’s stomach.

“What the—?!”

“Ugh, gross.” Elvis averted his eyes. “Dev, sometimes— Uff, it is getting worse.”

Devon had removed the dagger and started rummaging around in his own intestines. It was a gruelling sight.

“Found it.” Devon pulled out a piece of wood. “Pesky thing.”

The flowery dress mended itself. The blood remained.

“Devon, seriously,” exclaimed Lizzy in dismay and disgust.

“Hm?” Devon was nonchalant. “What?”

“That image is going to haunt me,” said Terry with a distraught expression. He shook his head forcefully. Unfortunately, the scene refused to fall out.

No handing out items willy-nilly!

Terry exhaled a sharp breath. “Focus.” He retrieved his notebook and pen to document his own experiments.

“Shield and slabs first,” mumbled Terry. He retrieved a new shield that had a pointy spike embedded in the middle.

Terry walked up to one tree and held the shield with his left arm. He pushed against the shield to examine how far the spike would enter the tough wood. Next, he picked a fresh spot and activated the Immovable Object spell in the grip attachment.

After the shield had been transfixed, Terry pulled at a small lever hidden in the back of the shield near its edge. The lever caused a metal ring to rotate. Once the gaps in the ring had moved to the right place, the compression coil spring did the rest.

*Krchk!* The spike pierced into the wood.

Terry examined the result. “Not bad.” He deactivated the imprint again and pulled the shield out of the tree.

“Too bad that it’s a pain to compress the coil spring again.”

Thank mana for the boulder and its weight!

Terry wrote down his findings and then picked up a tertium slab that had handles, a hole, as well as a thicker area with similar openings to the metal ring before.

Terry walked up to the tree and cast the Immovable Object spell on the slab. Afterwards, he retrieved the second essential part. It was made from a sturdy metal and looked like a big screw with a spike on one end and a hole that was orthogonal to the spike at the other.

He placed the new part on the ring opening and then rotated it into the tertium slab. Threads had been cut both into the slab and into the pointy part. The slab contained female threads like a nut to match the male threads in the screw.

Terry put a metal rod through the hole at the other end. Afterwards, Terry used the metal rod as a lever to turn the screw and the spike pierced the wood inch by inch.

“Nasty little idea,” remarked Lizzy, who was watching Terry from the side.

“Got it from a dungeon,” said Terry. “Spike creepers are nasty little constructs.”

“Remind me to stay in your good graces,” quipped Elvis.

*RUMBLE!* Devon had downed another tree with one of the early prototypes from Poppy’s arsenal.

“Although, if I really do fall out of your good graces, I can call my little sister to protect me.” Elvis chuckled. “I believe she still has you beat.”

Terry retrieved his next set of items. The first one looked similar to his throwing needles, with the only difference being that there was no real grip. Instead, there was a smooth rod of metal that was shorter than the grips on his normal throwing needles.

Right behind the bladed front of the needle was an octavum sheet. The octavum sheet was linked to the front of the needle with a latch. Terry called this an anchored needle.

He prepared to throw, cast the Immovable Object spell on the octavum sheet, pressed a trigger, and threw the anchored needle.

The Immovable Object spell activated, and the needle was transfixed in the air. A short moment later, the triggered mechanism released the latch. A coil spring propelled the bladed part away from the transfixed octavum.

“Curious,” commented Elvis. He had looked up from his own – less martial – prototypes to follow Terry’s experiments.

“It’s going to be a pain to get the timing right, though. It also won’t work against tougher armor…” Despite his complaining, Terry wore a wide grin on his face. “Basic idea works. I’ll leave the detailed material and spring rate tests for later.”

“Lizzy, could you help me with the next one?” asked Terry.

“Sure, what do you need?”

“A disruption discharge. One moment.”

Terry picked up a similar throwing needle. In contrast to the previous anchored needle, this one had not only an octavum sheet, but the needle itself was also made of octavum.

“Uhh…” Terry hesitated. “Hmm, right, I had not thought of that.”

“What’s the matter?” asked Lizzy.

“Well, I figured that a disruption discharge would disrupt imprints in the order it hits them, which was the basis for this one, but…” Terry grimaced. “I would have to throw the needle at you for that.”

“I appreciate the reluctance.” Lizzy giggled. “Don’t worry about it.” She enlarged a shield from her belt of miniature metal items. “Show me what other nasty idea you have come up with.”

Terry was relieved by her response. He activated the two imprints in rapid succession, pressed the trigger, and hurled the needle towards Lizzy. The needle became transfixed in the air.

“Now!” shouted Terry.

Lizzy unleashed a disruption discharge at the needle. The disruption wave hit the first imprint that was located close to the bladed tip of the needle.

*Thwish!* The bladed part of the needle was propelled away from the octavum sheet that was still transfixed. It flew towards Lizzy and impacted on her shield. *Ting*

“Interesting idea,” commented Elvis.

“I get what you meant before about the direction of the discharge,” said Lizzy. “That problem aside, it could work as a counter. Normally, a cultivator would not expect their own disruption discharge to act as a trigger. After the first attempt, however, the surprise won’t work anymore.”

“Fine with me if they then become more hesitant to use discharges,” mumbled Terry. “And if I get the timing of the two imprints right, it would still act as a regular anchored needle.”

Terry retrieved another item. “Hmm, I need a target again.” He looked hopefully at Lizzy.

“Did I somehow become the second Devon?” Lizzy blurted out. “Fine, as long as it doesn’t explode or anything.”

“You have my gratitude!” Terry was beaming at her. “Uhm, just try to run, I guess.”

Lizzy raised an eyebrow. “Okay?”

Terry channeled mana and then hurled a pair of bolas at the running Lizzy. The connecting cord wrapped around Lizzy’s torso, but she continued her movement.

“Hugh!” Lizzy was pulled to a sudden stop when the imprints in the octavum weights activated and became immovable.

Lizzy tried to wiggle out of it. When that did not work, she unleashed another disruption discharge and disentangled herself from the bolas.

“I like this one,” said Lizzy. “The faster the target, the bigger the pain.”

“As long as I manage to hit the target,” mumbled Terry. “The connecting rope is a weakness, too.”

“Any more needs for a guinea pig, or am I dismissed?” quipped Lizzy.

“Thanks, Lizzy,” replied Terry. “I’ll have to act as the experimental subject for the remaining ones.”

*Puff!* An ocher smoke was created from the latest test of one of Poppy’s contraptions.

“Ugh, disgusting.” Lizzy held her nose.

Elvis was hurriedly retreating from the smoke. Once the smoke had reached Terry, his eyes became irritated, and he instantly felt like vomiting. The stench was gut-wrenching.

Good to know that your sense of smell has recovered from being surrounded by Alricks. Although right now, this recovery appears somewhat regrettable.

You still need to buy a scent mask.

“Reminds me of the tower smell,” said Devon, and sniffed the air. He remained unperturbed and continued standing in the thick of it. “A mix of sulfur and molten flesh.”

“What was that thing supposed to do?” asked Lizzy.

“Good squiggly line,” murmured Poppy.

“Good?!” Elvis was flabbergasted. “Was that supposed to happen?”

Poppy tilted her head. “Devon’s robes have a fragrance enchantment. I wanted to try, too.”

Devon pulled up his dress and sniffed. “Good robes.”

“Ugh, seriously.” Lizzy evacuated the area while holding her nose.

“Amazing,” exclaimed Terry. “I hate it.” He quickly packed up and followed Lizzy’s lead.

***

In the late evening, Terry sat down on the floor in his room. He had finished his juggling exercise, and he wanted to think about how to improve his mana crafting skills before switching to ring training.

Terry had encountered a roadblock with his mana crafting. He had mastered the exercises that Aunt Brynn had instructed him to do, but now what? The curriculum did not account for being thrown into the next empire without prior warning. He was missing the guidance from his instructor.

Terry had even asked Poppy and Elvis for advice. Unfortunately, Elvis had little interest in magic beyond the minimum necessary for complementing his mechanical contraptions, and Poppy had apparently started out directly with her own version of rune inscriptions. Even their cloaking was based on Poppy’s runic system. It did not follow the regular mana crafting path.

“Hmm…” Terry tapped his pen against his temple.

He could carve basic directional lines, but he had no idea how to create a pulse generator. Nor did he know how to go about carving mana lines for chaining different imprints.

He was able to create stamps for a regular periodic shielding based on tiles, but quasi-periodic and crystal-based shielding were still beyond him. For three-dimensional stamps, he would first have to figure out how to use the tools to create the proper shape. For quasi-periodic tiling, he knew a few examples, but he did not know the rules for picking the right basic shapes. The very idea of quasicrystal shielding was giving him a headache.

“Hm…” Terry pondered. “When stuck, start at the beginning.”

Beginning of what?

“Problem. When you have a problem looking for a solution, first make sure you have really nailed down the correct problem.”

Terry smiled when remembering Instructor Samuel and Instructor Brynn.

And?

“For the crystals, I have to fiddle with the tools. Thinking alone won’t help. What’s the problem with the quasi-periodic tiling?”

That it is hard?

“Why is it hard?”

For one, you don’t know how to pick the right tile shapes.

“Why is that important?”

If the shapes don’t fit properly, you will run into a dead end.

“Point taken.” Terry tapped the floor with his pen. “Why do I need to pick shapes at all?”

Because you only know a few examples and you can’t use those shapes.

Terry continued tapping on the floor. “Why?”

Why what?

“Why can’t I use those shapes?”

Because they won’t work for your ideas.

*Tap* “Why not?”

Because those tile shapes would yield a set of specifically shaped tilings. If the area in the item you want to shield is different, they won’t work. You will reach a dead end.

*Tap* *Tap* “True.”

Terry rubbed his chin with his free hand. “Why does the area in the item have to be different?”

Is that a trick question?

Terry snickered.

“Hmph, it is difficult because I don’t know how to select the tile shapes for a specific area.”

Terry scribbled the statement down in his notebook. Afterwards, he searched his memory. He was not the first person to ever hit a roadblock and some members among the elder generation of his family had shared their stories before.

Terry mumbled: “Don’t be fixated on finding the right answer. If stuck, search for a different arrangement of information that will provoke a different way of looking at the situation.”

Terry tapped the floor again. After a while, he raised an eyebrow and tilted his head.

“Flip it?”

Which part?

“If I can’t match the tiles to the area, I will have to match the area to the tiles.” Terry puffed his cheeks.

That’s cheating! Also, that kind of limits the options for items, doesn’t it?

“Yeah yeah,” grumbled Terry. “But it could work for armor. Instead of finding tiles to match an armor piece, I could test scale armor and match the scale shape to the tile shapes from the examples.”

Sounds more like a mid-term project.

“Fine with me.” Terry retrieved one of his old throwing needles that had not been imprinted. “I can experiment with aspecting again in the short-term.”

Terry had repeatedly tried his hands at aspecting items in the past. However, he had never crossed the threshold for the aspected mana to become self-sustaining. He had consulted with Miguel and discovered that Miguel never had to throw that much mana at an item. Terry had even started to wonder if oscillating mana could really be used for aspecting.

***

“Alright, iteration three,” mumbled Terry.

“I hope the shock absorbers work out,” said Elvis. He was looking forward to the results of their brainstorming together.

“Rumble.” Devon and Poppy had downed another tree in the nearby forest.

Terry equipped a new pair of bracers and boots. They were still early prototypes and trimmed down to the basics.

“Are you sure that you want to test them out together?” asked Lizzy. “Wouldn’t it be safer to test them individually first?”

“Where is the thrill in that?” Elvis laughed.

“No need to worry,” said Terry. “I kept the mechanisms separate. These bracers only include the pearls. There are other bracers for the rest and there is no need to step up too high for this round.”

Terry could not help but smile. “…and I really want to experience how it feels together.”

One last breath and then Terry dashed forward.

While running, Terry stretched out his arm and jumped. In the air, he activated the Immovable Object imprint in the septimum pearl embedded in his bracer.

The septimum pearl was embedded in another layer of metal in which it could rotate freely. The complete sphere was surrounded by compression coil springs that acted as shock absorbers. There was significantly less strain on his arm than with the previous iteration.

Terry kicked out in the air, and his momentum caused him to rotate around the imprinted pearl. Next, Terry activated the imprint in the septimum pearl inside the second bracer. The two immovable pearls created a fixed rotation axis and he could swing himself around it.

Terry activated one imprint in his boots. The imprinted layer was slightly sunk into the sole. It was a single piece of septimum. It looked like two open arrow symbols merged into one with a single strip following most of Terry’s sole. At each end of this strip, there was the open arrowhead for balance. The layer became transfixed, and the attached extension coil springs brought Terry’s rotation to a gradual stop.

Terry waited for the imprints in his boots to deactivate and then allowed himself to rotate into an upright position so that his soles were pointing at the ground again.

Terry disrupted the transfixed pearls and simultaneously, he injected as little mana as possible into the extension layer imprint within his boots. Immediately afterwards, Terry jumped.

Terry could feel the resistance from the extension coil springs, but the resistance vanished as soon as the imprint in his boots deactivated again.

Terry was grinning from ear to ear and continued his air jumps.

“Terry!” shouted Lizzy in a stern tone of voice.

“Ah, right, not too high.” Terry cleared his throat.

Terry allowed himself to fall again and activated a second imprint in another layer of his boots. The transfixed layer pressed against compression coil springs.

“Hmm…” Terry thought about what to try next. “Direction change.”

Terry first tested walking in the air. While he still had to get used to the proper timing and coil spring resistance, it was already more fluent than his old boots.

Terry jumped again. Afterwards, he rotated himself ninety degrees and then did another air jump, which changed his movement direction in the air.

Next, he rotated himself opposite to his movement direction and activated the imprint in the second layer again. After he had come to a stop, he rapidly switched imprints and jumped towards his original position.

Terry did a few more tests with his imprinted pearls. He also incorporated transfixing the outer shell of his bracers, similar to how his old bracers worked.

“Workable,” exclaimed Terry happily.

He let himself fall to solid ground again.

“That looked like fun,” said Elvis.

“The shock absorbers really helped,” said Terry. “I can try to add pearls to the boots with that. The compression coil springs in the soles don’t seem too useful though. The opposite direction switch still made my knees groan.”

“Well, they’re springs, not miracles.” Elvis chuckled. “If your space is limited, you have to pick a higher spring rate to cushion the force and you’ll have to share the pain. You could try moving them to the shins or calves to increase the available space.”

“That would make the shielding even more difficult, among other things.” Terry frowned slightly. “Hmph, well, can’t win them all. I guess I’ll drop the compression layer.”

Would have been a temporary crutch, anyway. No help but to cultivate!

“The extension layer seems fine as is. The fixed layer can stay as before.” Terry scribbled in his notebook. “Next one.”

“The dangerous one?” asked Lizzy.

“Only if it doesn’t work,” replied Terry. “And I do have a backup with the roped rings.”

Terry equipped his old familiar boots. Afterwards, he put on a new pair of bracers.

He stepped up into the air again.

Boring! Jumping was more fun!

Terry smiled wryly.

When he judged the height high enough, Terry transfixed a roped ring in the air as backup. Afterwards, he deactivated the imprints in his boots and allowed himself to fall.

Terry activated the imprint in his bracer. Another embedded pearl made of septimum was transfixed into the air. The outer layer was attached to an extension coil spring.

The spring’s resistance brought Terry to a gradual stop.

After Terry had reached an equilibrium, the extension coil spring pulled him back up. Terry’s weight alone did not keep the coil spring extended this far.

“Good. I’ll just have to get the timing right.” Terry used his boots to step up again. Up there, he repeated his previous preparation and allowed himself to fall again.

This time, Terry simultaneously activated the imprints in both bracers. Two coil springs were extended and afterwards pulled Terry rapidly into the air again.

“Workable,” muttered Terry, and used the roped rings to return to the ground.

Terry was walking towards his notebook with a cheerful face when he saw that Devon and Poppy had joined up with them. The others were wearing grave expressions.

“What’s going on?” asked Terry.

“Devon sensed something at the Bulwark,” said Lizzy. “We need to inform the Captain immediately.”

***