Chương 343: Chapter 8-341 – The Numbers Sum To...

My Force Reserve, complete with Holiness from being channeled through Noble, were going into a True Emperor Orb, and two thoughtstreams were Burning and Compressing it to 360x. My Mana Draw... was being split. Compression of 3600x Highpoint Mana was normally a six-hour affair. Accumulating enough raw Mana fast enough for that took a bit over half a minute, but then my Mana Draw had nothing to do but refill my Reserves or be allocated to my Contracted creatures.

I only had to allocate enough to allow my Highpoint Duostreams to be constantly busy, and I could use the rest as normal. I had a Wolverine King getting showered with glittering golden Celestial Mana and not knowing quite how to accept the fact that I was like a firehose of Mana he could assimilate with ease and speed. I was also giving him lessons on Mana Compression.

He had a lot of work to undertake before he could make even Lowpoint Mana reliably, but, hey, I was probably the best teacher on the planet at this point, which really made a difference... and any Mana he got from me was effectively Summoning Mana and could be absorbed and digested easily. He was ferocious, proud, didn't like Humans, and he was sucking in Mana almost haplessly, wondering just what was going on and so happy he was under someone whose mind could make High Emperors quaver.

Yeah, Old One-Eye could feel Flowing Silver hanging around, and just the idea of me palling around with a High Emperor was turning his world upside down. But then, he only had to look at my mind and it all made perfect sense. He could literally just snooze in his comfy contract space, safe from everything, and concentrate on Mana Refinement and Compression exercises.

I finally got to my feet and stretched out. Three Soul Orbs hovered around my head like Ioun Stones, just above my Tiara and field of normal view. There were little swirls of activity around them, fractal patterns blooming and changing as each began to accumulate Low, True, and Highpoint Mana, respectively, occupying six thoughtstreams as they did. Working out how to Enchant them to accelerate Applying Mana was what my Inner Artificer and Inner Alchemist were quietly kibitzing with my Inner Bard on.

I put Noble's default Disruption Orb back on him. I now had to reattune it to the Imperial Magic, so that it could channel Lowpoint, Truepoint, and Highpoint Mana to do so without having to swap out one of the Orbs around my head. That would take time, but I had three functional Orbs hanging right above me which could already do that, so it was just a matter of replication, which I was very, very good at.

Enchanting the Ioun Orbs as weapons would destroy the extra Mana in them, removing their ability to be used as capacitors. So, not going to do that. The other Low and True Emperor Soul Star Jewels I had would also have to be saved for use by other Sages, and not cannibalized to raise my Stars. I had combined up enough for 49 Tier-8 Stars, and had no desire to push for 343.

Any Soul Crystals I received were being used to drive for a Commanding Stars Tier-7 full set, and let's see what a Realm Lord did in the face of that! Although I did wonder if I could combine enough Soul Crystals to make a theoretical Tier 9 Star. I didn't know if that was possible, and if it indicated the power of a Realm Lord. I was pretty sure that doing so would break some sort of taboo or barrier, as it had definitely never been done before.

All of that was now basically an automatic duty, thoughtstreams who loved that sort of grinding build to power chopping away at it. Oh, it wasn't simple. None of it was simple. All of it required a knowledge and Awareness of Mana that was beyond the comprehension of basically any other Human on the planet.

The calculations that had to be done to make the Compression formations, the slightest of subtle adjustments for the smallest of biases in the Arcane energies that made them up, the incredibly delicate adjustments and Formation-wide changes as the last four Mana were integrated into a standing 36x to make a Lowpoint of Imperial Mana...

and all of it done fastfastfast, with absolute focus, no distractions, just getting the job done with a ringing focus that was making the Sublime Chords around me sing constantly without me even trying to do so... Yeah, it was a ferociously complex balancing act, taking place in five (six) parts right now, and all in addition to all the normal stuff going on in my head, in the Allegiance, and in Markspace, let alone my physical surroundings. The only signs it was all going on?

The shimmerings in Noble and the Ioun Orbs, and any mage or Beast would be able to feel the constant pull of Mana coming in to me through my Draw. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"YOU SEEM TO BE MAKING EXCELLENT PROGRESS ON YOUR MANA NOW," Flowing Silver Emperor commented. I could tell He wasn't really believing what He was seeing and sensing, but that was a matter for Him to overcome.

"WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO NOW?"

"Ah, I've been indulging in private stuff for hours. I figure I'll go down and make some Blocks for the Pyramid, then see what comes up, Your Majesty." I waved at Him, and Teleported off with a wave, heading to the cavern under the Pyramid where those working on the lines of Blocks down there were gathered. They were always amused to see me coming, as I'd rapidly take over setting the pace of who was doing what, getting them working together to put up sections of Blocks as I made whole series of them around them.

All in good fun, of course...

Flowing Silver watched Healer Fae disappear in a silent exclamation from the field of magic, always sad to see her go, while wherever she popped up, the magic instantly started singing again.

She was maintaining five separate versions of a Mana Draw while Compressing and Applying Imperial Mana; teaching two Classes in Markspace; guiding a team of alchemists in a revision of a production process; dictating a set of Sage spells for Cameron Dow to puzzle over and work with; going through purloined records of the Synod to root out more of their agents in other countries through the eyes of a team of forensic investigators; engaging in constant tests of Will with Sama and Briggs; and reading along with a couple of others through ancient documents to craft a more accurate rendition of history from the manipulations of the Synod, Black Curia, and other parties.

And now she was going off to Shape Blocks at the same time, forming Runemagic items at such a high degree of skill and a level of detail below the cellular that merely making them properly empowered them, much like a proper magic spell or Formation. There were no Humans in the Beast World, and Flowing Silver could finally understand why. The little Monkey had no transcendent or divine Bloodline, no perfect and mighty physical form already at the apex of evolution.

Yet in a mere decade she had gone from having almost no power at all to even forming a completely new branch of magic for her Tribe! It was one shared by no other Beasts, but finally breaking what He understood to be the last great hurdle of magic for them: being able to Overcast spells with multiples of magic to magnify the effect. And now, now she was gaining Mana at an impossible rate, accomplishing in minutes or seconds what would take Emperors hours or more!

She was making Lowpoint, Truepoint, and Highpoint Mana, all at the same time, despite not being able to use the latter two yet, just preparing for when she could! There was no way ALL Humans could do this. He had seen her mind when she was in the Beast Realm, and the minds of the Humans at that stage of power around Him were nothing like hers even back then.

Still, He'd also seen those many minds growing at astounding speed under her influence, their power escalating at a pace that rivaled the greatest Bloodlines of Beasts, and all without Bloodlines of their own. Just intellect, focus, drive, and choosing the right path and techniques along that path! Any Human could potentially become one of their Sages, if they but knew the path to take! The thought was mind-boggling. Like the idea that any Beast could become an Emperor, something patently not true.

Most Beasts simply didn't have the potential. Humans... just needed to get smarter and stay focused on their path! Personality and drive were far more important than inherited genes for Humans to attain their power! With no road ahead to follow and no true advice, Healer Fae had simply bulled ahead and made a road of her own that was going to take her to the full magical power of a High Emperor, and not just the quality level or better of one.

If she were like so many of the random Humans on her homeworld, that would be cause to be very afraid at this point, and, indeed, High Emperors might move to either test her power or outright kill her as a threat. It was probably far too late for that, however. Those foolish Dragons could likely still best her in a fight with Mana Quantity and physical superiority, but they'd not be able to contain, cage, or catch her... and her ability to recover her Mana eclipsed theirs by at least an order of magnitude.

If they fought now, she would eventually kill them, and they had realized it, as had He!... Such a wonderful little vassal He had!

The Archangel Gabriel, Miss Afione; Ruronalee, the Fallen Angel of the Acropolis; and Mok Fan, the man with the most Elements in the world, all shook my hand once before entering the Portal to the planar Conduit they'd once been riding in. They would exit almost immediately somewhere in eastern Africa, just as they were supposed to, and re-enter the world and all its magical events and schemes, exactly as they were meant to... except they very much weren't the same people anymore.

Miss Afione had lost her Light Magic Element, and thus was no longer attuned to her Wings like before. She could still use their power to tap their inherent Light magic, but she could no longer use her own power through them... and they, in turn, had completely lost their grip on herself and her soul.

The beings who were going to use that link to turn her into the prophesied Savior and puppet were not going to find that out until they tried it and it didn't work, instead instantly destroying the Wings and reducing them quickly to a bunch of Karmic potential to dump into another magical item. Miss Afione was looking forward to upgrading her Scepter with that power, her new Silver Magic very, very ready to defend herself! Ruronalee was no longer tied to Shadow and thus to the Netherworld.

Her Dark Compact, already in disarray since she'd lost her Contracted Shadow Knight, was gone and had no grip on her anymore. It meant relearning her secondary Sword skills, but her Void Magic would be absolutely fine for doing such a thing, and she had already been busybusybusy with using her new Divination Element to find out things people didn't want her to learn.

The fact we could and did Ward against such stuff annoyed her, but there was the whole rest of the world that was less than optimally defended against someone who could Scry and had a terrible thirst for secrets. Both of the women were now Sages and wizards, the Whispering Shadows Sage and the Avenging Heavens Sage, their Auras carefully restrained, and sure to be a surprise to their rivals and enemies...