Chương 50: Questions and a challenge

"So hundreds of years ago there was a colony down south, but when the stone dried up nobody stayed?" Blick clarified. The three sat around the campsite discussing what comes next. Paris nodded and added, "The economy was built around a single source. So when the money dried up the vast majority left with a final caravan for the central cities. From what I understand is the land wasn't fertile so there wasn't enough to sustain without imports. No money from the mine means no caravans would come for trade.

People just left." As much as Blick didn't understand the idea he was curious about the mining process. Apparently you could dig far enough to find mana crystals in large numbers. But a location that was empty wouldn't produce more for maybe a thousand years. That was a hard number to comprehend for Blick who could only recall maybe a handful of years. The concept made sense tho.

"So about the map?" Dax asked nervously. Blick sighed. He understood they needed it. But he wouldn't just give something this precious away.

"Stay with me for a couple of days and we will make a copy with a deer or bear hide. Either should work. And in exchange I want one of you to help me make a solid layer." Paris scrunched her eyebrows together at the wild idea.

"Blick you can't have more than seven drops. It's supposed to be exceedingly difficult to advance with so little. You shouldn't rush this." He responded with a small amused chuckle.

"I have five and I have been instructed to form the first layer with exactly that many." With that the two humans made eye contact with wide eyes.

"Blick that goes against everything we have been taught. Was it the outsider who told you that?" Blick just nodded before asking for the trade again.

"Copy the map and teach me how to make a layer?" Dax didn't even hesitate "Of course we will take the deal. Tho I'm a bit disappointed that you shook us for so long with only five drops. You're stronger than you should be. Have you been consuming drops?" Blick tilted his head in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Paris sighed.

"If you had grown up a noble with access to good resources someone would have informed you by now. Basically you can spend a drop to strengthen your body slowly over time. Nobody does it before the solid layer as drops are too valued that early. I have only spent a single drop on my body since finishing my first layer." Dax added "if you focus on a single drop you can push it to the edge of your core, then it will slowly disperse into your body and strengthen your bones and muscles.

The number of drops someone has consumed directly correlates to their muscle and bone density. It's why small animals grow large but never develop a solid core. Their core is usually too small to hold a whole drop so it gets constantly absorbed and almost all the mana they absorb becomes mass." This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Blick stood up and started dispersing the fire pit to return the area back to as close a normal state as possible.

"Ok so if you will go see if you can kill a large enough animal and bring it back I'll skin and tan the hide while yall prep the meat for the next few meals. I'll work on building this first layer." Paris stood and gave him a look of pity.

"Just know that if you can't form a layer with so few drops it's not a personal failing. You're trying something our people are convinced is not even possible." With a nod Blick climbs into his hammock. The process was simple. But simple did not mean easy. The next 4 hours were a mental obstacle course. As instructed Blick focused on the drops as individuals inside his core. They had a small repelling force that kept them separate.

You couldn't force them directly together the goal was for most people to hold 4 or more drops still near the center of the group and spin the rest in a circle around the central group. You had to push them slowly to the center as they spin. People used multiple drops as their center to make the formations end goal larger. It was like trying to swing a stick at a target. The larger the target the easier it is to make contact.

A single drop, while not actually a physical thing was theoretically the size of a single drop of water. Trying to hold a single drop still and force a spinning mass of others to bump into it would be much more difficult than having them collide with a handful of drops. So Blick focused. Getting the drops spinning took a lot of time. He hadn't ever tried to move any of the drops before. The sensation was strange. There was an awkward feeling as one drop moved but the others didn't.

This was where he needed to be careful. If he let the drop collide with the wall of his core it would be absorbed. But as a single drop was moved it was constantly repelled by the others around it. Getting four drops to spin smoothly around his core without randomly launching one out of the controlled spiral was so difficult. Spin four and push them to the center. As he pushed the gaps between the four closed and they pushed against each other. All it would take is getting two to collide. He pushed and spun.

Paris helped Dax drain the blood from the two deer they had collected. Strung up from a tree near their camp the two animals would serve as food and the potential success of their mission. Leaving the animals to drain she walked over and looked up into the tree where Blick had set up his hammock. Even from a distance she could see his body shaking with the strain of what he was attempting.

"He hasn't moved since we left Dax. Do you think something went wrong?" Dax cleaned his knife before returning it to the sheath on his lower back.

"No telling. Though id guess if he made a big mistake he would have just absorbed a drop, maybe two and given up. He will be ok even if he fails. He only has five. Thats not a lot of progress to lose." Then he reached over and gave her a smirk and a wink before she looked back up confirmed their third wheel was very distracted.

"We should go to the river and wash" she suggested with a wink.

"Oh yeah I could use a thorough wash princess." Dax responded as the two left the campsite for some alone time.