Chương 34: More Power = Better?

The shell screamed through the air, the whistle changing as it reached its zenith and then began its descent. A point of concentrated flux was painfully visible in the sky, the quartz discs glowing through the iron. It cratered through the tree tops, branches snapping. The air ran, the ambient flux fled with it. A giant ring of concentrated energy spread from the detonation point, smashing through the trees one by one. Another ring formed higher up. And another ring.

Three rings of force reduced the bottom to the center of the trees to naught but shavings. The entire forest patch was now just tree top canopies brought low and scattered wood shavings. This will be incredible! I can destroy their ships in a single hit, from bottom to top. I wonder what effect this would have on landed soldiers? Firing into dense ranks? Urban-warfare will be almost disgustingly simple if I can just bring buildings down. The crowd stood silent.

Shocked into quiet by the devastation, they awaited her orders.

"Load the first alchemical shell in. The forest patch might be… gone, but we still need to do some testing." She commanded. With extreme caution, one of the chemical shells was loaded. Nythera did everything she could to reduce the flux in the blasting chamber. We DO NOT want this blowing up in the cannon.

"Fire" She almost whispered. This time the cannon fired directly at the patch of land. The shell exploded forth with too much firepower and slammed directly into the ground ahead, letting out a massive cloud of noxious white mist. The flux snaked like the tendrils of some hungry monster. The trees instantly wilted and decayed on the spot, leaves falling to ash. Blackened husks were all that remained of the trees, as if scorched by flame.

"Edwin, what did you put in that?" Nythera asked.

"It was filled with a compound brought back from the forests of eastern Myrraval, an anti-life-flux toxin." Edwin explained.

"This is the first test of the substance.".

"You never thought to warn me you put anti-life compounds into shells?" She pressed.

"Well." he looked away "Us alchemists so rarely get a chance to explore the properties of these compounds, it seemed like a fantastic opportunity…". Nythera's eyes drilled holes through him.

"Load the next chemical shell, be careful not to get too close to the… test site." Nythera ordered. The culverin was loaded in short order and the workers backed up even further this time, leaving Nythera standing alone in the vanguard.

"FIRE!" She commanded, waving her Siege Rod toward the Culverin like a conductor of death. The projectile roared toward the blackened patch of land, sending dirt flying as it slammed into the ground. And all the dirt, ash, and debris flew up into the air. Bigger and bigger chunks of dirt and rock were flung up into the air in an arc, landing in a nearby field in a shower. Flux streamed and pulled the material up into an arc. What in Kronan is going on here? Did Edwin give me some kind of force alchemical?

Slowly, the effect dissipated, leaving the last few bits of debris to fall. The patch was now clear, a barren expanse of dirt. And the nearby field was now full of rock, dirt piles, and crooked branches. She cast a confused look at Edwin. He coughed "Ahem, that was a unique substance found on a distant, yet unexplored island, it was gifted to me from Kravin, I was looking for a good chance to test its properties." Edwin explained sheepishly.

"I believe the properties are based on gravity, I do have more of that particular plant in storage if you wish to acquire more shells." he added. Rowen's head whipped to Edwin at the mention of Kravin "You tested something from Kravin? Are you mad?". Who in Hel is Kravin? I don't have time for this shit. Does this thing… change the direction of gravity? Can it be controlled? Or is it random? Flinging enemies into other enemies sounds like it could be effective.

"Alright lets head back, we are done here. Edwin, tomorrow you're to report back with more of that anti-life compound, Borris, I will need you making quartz discs." She issued her commands, they both nodded in assent. The crew dropped off the remaining supplies and broke up for the night, Nythera crashing in the forge. She brushed off the system notifications. I'll handle it in the morning. …

Borris arrived in the forge early in the morning, after all making refined quartz discs was not an easy process, especially if he wanted enough to fill the heavy shells. Nythera was already hard at work, pouring over diagrams. Without sparing so much as a glance "Borris, I want you to refine these pieces into five more heavy shells, when you're done report back to me. I need to assess the viability of several more materials." Nythera commanded.

"Aye, will do Milord." Borris said. Nythera mused over a new puzzle piece, under her hand rested a familiar chunk of quartz. The eyes of the quartz golem, twinkling from refracted forge light. These would probably make a very good piece of equipment, but do I want quartz-based equipment? It doesn't really fit my artillery, and I bet if we used them as a component we could make some incredibly powerful shells…. But only twice.

Rowen strode in "Nythera, I think you need a break, even one of your standing needs to rest occasionally, as used to manual labor as you are, it is still important." his voice was tinged with worry.

"Ah, perfect, Rowen go get me more metal, melt the farmers tools down if we must, and make sure Edwin gets up here with more of that anti-life substance. A lot of it." she ignored his remarks. Rowen stood silent, unsure how to respond to being ordered around. Stolen story; please report.

"Oh and ask Edwin if he can devise any kind of alchemical blasting powder." She added, then turned back to her work. Rowen took a step back "Nythera, you need to stop and take a break." He said affirmatively. Nythera turned on a dime, coming face to face with him.

"Rowen get your ass to work or get the flux out of here, I don't have time to waste on snivelling noble brats." She said and immediately turned back to her work. Nythera noticed her system begging for attention again. I should just deal with this now so it fucks off. Flux Sight (lvl 8 > 10) (1 tokens) (Capped) Grand Administrator (lvl 4 > 5) (1 tokens) Far-sight (lvl 4 > 5) Shellwright (lvl 4 > 10) (Capped) Heat Resistance (lvl 3 > 5) Manufactorium (lvl 1>2) Wow, That I did not expect.

Both Manufactorium and Grand administrator leveled? Is it because I've been telling people what to do? Shellwright capped really fast, I'm going to need to evolve the skill or ascend my class to fix that. By noon, Borris had produced three Heavy Quartz Shells; given she had eighteen of the Small Quartz Shells left, she felt her armory was coming to completion. He had also finished his analysis of her altered leech ring.

"Yup this is a Greater Leech Ring now. why in the blazes you would waste a hammer on something like this, I don't know." He sighed.

"The xp decrease is now far stronger, but you'll get an extra free stat per level, even from your profession too, and I don't think I read it correctly but…" he scratched the back of his head.

"Spit it out" she said.

"Yah can't ascend until level 110, guess that'll give you more stats, but who knows how long it'll take. Level past 100 tend to level incredibly slow, unless you go around cracking strata three skulls it could take years. Well you did this to yourself. I sure as Hel can't remove it now, unless we amputate." Borris suggested. What the, what is level 110? She eyed the ring with suspicion.

Rowen returned with a barrel half-filled with extremely deadly toxins and a cart full of scrap metal that had been collected from as far as Halsbury.

"Edwin suggested we exercise additional caution when working with such an amount and left me in charge of ensuring safety on-sight with the alchemical." He puffed up. At least he went and did his job, turns out nobles can do something. Nythera and Rowen worked as a team, filling shell after shell with the anti-life compound. Thirteen toxic shells were created without incident. During which Borris finished the remaining two Heavy Quartz Shells. She wiped the sweat off her brow.

Hours later the crew finished with the last of the new shells.

"Alright everyone, get out, I need some space. We are done here. Borris, I appreciate your help, I'll be sure to swing by the shop sometime." She said.

"I must go report today's happenings, I will be back by tomorrow. Please await my arrival here before you depart." Rowen stated and left with Borris. Nythera shuffled about the room, shoving shell after shell into Boxy. Hunkering down on the bed, she cracked it open and checked the interface.

[40 Rations] [13 Quartz golem hearts] [1 Quartz golem heart] [2 communication arrays] [44 Sparks] [10 Embers] [6 Rubies] [11 Emeralds] [12 rolls of parchment] [5 bottles of ink] [3 quills] [Seeker skill tome] [Cinder Quartz Band of Greater Strength] [2 Quartz guardian brain cores] [98 assorted pieces of golem quartz] [12 High purity aetherite chunks] [Aetherite mine report] [3 skill tomes of the dead moon] [2 evolution tokens] [3 upgrade tokens] [3 fusion tokens] [18 Quartz Ordnances] [13 Thanaphyte Ordnances] [5 Heavy Quartz Ordnances] [2??? Quartz Detonators] Welp, this list is getting kind of long, and look at that. Huh, the chemical shells are called Thanaphyte, wonder what's going on there. And the??? by those newest shells… She smiled. The smile turned into an avaricious grin. I'M filthy RICH! I should really consider using one of those evolution tokens. I should make a new primary skill, I can't upgrade Aether Culverin any further until I ascend my class to the First strata anyways…

"Consider carefully, you have many resources now. Any skill you choose to evolve will be part of your permanent toolset. To properly make use of them, you will need many upgrade tokens, multiple evolution tokens, and possibly several augment tokens over the course of your journey." Talvik's voice boomed throughout the room, but she knew it was only in her head. Her head snapped up. Talvik was hanging from the roof like some bat. What a weirdo, but I guess he has a point.

She flicked open the status, hungry for a skill to upgrade. And closed it five minutes later. I can't figure out which one I should evolve, Aether culverin is fucking capped and I'm concerned Synchronized Thunder could spike too much in cost. None of my subskills are obvious evolution targets.

"You could also wait, for a mentor capable of teaching you will soon come." he pruned his feathers upside down.

"Yeah yeah, so you say, but I have a war to fight now, not later." She retorted. Ordnance-smith (lvl 1) (0 tokens) Your understanding and ability to design and make artillery pieces increases by +1% per level. Your manufacturing speed increases by +1% per level. I do not have time to go about designing new artillery pieces right now. I wouldn't even know where to start. She sighed. A glint caught her eye, something on one of her workbenches. A cult ring. Damn it, not again, what do they want this time?

A small note and wooden box lay next to it.

"You have been accepted for Candidacy as The Mother. We look forward to seeing what you will achieve or whose growth you will fuel should you fail." The note read.

"Lovely, just wonderful. After this fucking war with Damien I'm going to go hunt every single blasted cult member I can find." she muttered and opened the box. A ring lay in the center, silver with woven golden strands. A small note rested just under it.

"Frost tier, Ring of Rejuvenation: the healing efficacy of [Health] is increased by 30%." This is… actually really good. And it's a frost tier item, so it'll lower my heat back down. She put it on, marveling at the craftsmanship. A chill spread through her body, cooling the heat she had gotten so used to.

"The cult is quite generous, perhaps I should watch them more closely." Talvik's murmured in her ears. Nythera finally collapsed onto the bed, desperate to find no more shocks or hidden surprises. And drifted off just moments later. …

"Hello Miss, oh wait no, Miss Lord, excuse me, good morning Miss Lord Nyth… Lord Miss Nyth? Miss Nyth Lord, maybe, but that doesnt sound right, lets go with Nythlord, I like that sound of that better, well good morning, lets get going, no time to waste, Rowen sent me to wake you, he said you wouldn't wait for him or something so he sent me and he said you got enough sleep and that you barely did anything productive for days, so I'm here to help!". Kronan damn it, Leo…