Chương 50: Chapter 2-49 – By the Numbers, People!

Their eyes flicked, catching the pattern.

"Yes, this is the Seven Stars Universal Elemental Pattern, from highest Light to frozen Ice, the energy descending one step at a time, then rising back to the top." I'd had some friendly Beasts recovering from injuries test it out in the Beast Realm, and it worked wonderfully for getting their Mana back.

"You will continue this process on the Stars of the Element you represent until each Star is Tier-4 to a different Element.

"You will then repeat this process on your second Element, one Core at a time."

"Once that process is finished and completed, those of you who are ready to break through will do so. You will throw the Seven Elements Mana at your inner barrier, and it will crumble.

"You will then proceed with your Tempering of your Starfields, just like your companions are.

"Mick, Red, once Big John and Bjorn have broken through, you may begin applying your Cores to all of your Stars. You will follow the exact same procedure of each type of Mana you are filling them with, until all your Tier-4's are completed.

"The same applies to the rest of you. If you complete all your Tier-3's in both Elements, begin on your Cores and Tier-4's. Rotate what kind of Mana you fill them with in series, with no deviations." I hopped on my own Disk, which rose into the air above the center of them, Noble across my thighs. -All right, gentlemen, - I /said to them psychically, making them twitch with the power and clarity of my thoughts. -Follow along. I will attempt to make this as non-invasive as possible.

We are building a vortex of strength to help you all out, and you are going to be pushing to form it and pulling the Mana in with me. -Begin drawing your Elements. - I pursed my lips and began to Whistle in the Sublime Chord, and the Magic began to Sing around us. The rush of each Element coming to their call became the rush of all the Elements doing so, building on one another. I could feel their surprise, but they settled down, their delight showing. -All right.

Red, put your hand on the Mick's shoulder and Push a touch of Mana over to him, like this. - He had no idea what to expect, so he just visualized what I did, and pushed some of the incoming Light Mana over to the Mick, who in turn grabbed it and pushed it on to Big John. So it went around the Circle, a little awkward in execution as each one of them pushed away the hostile Mana and let some of their own go with it, traveling around the Circle as it did so, and starting to bend the incoming Mana as it did.

-Continue with the second circuit, - I /said as it returned to Red, now a complete set of Elemental Mana, all wrapped up together, and so it was almost familiar as Red took it and pushed it onwards. The Mana flow bent with him, and slowly began to spin in its wake. The men were astonished as they felt the Vortex start to form, and the Mana Draw strengthen. Without even trying to draw in more, they could feel more and more energy coming in to them, drawn to the even cadence and their combined Wills.

It spun around them seven times, building as it did. The Mana was actually sparkling over them, and felt like rushing waves to them now.

"You may begin. Fill your first Tier-4 star with Light Mana." They obeyed wordlessly, and found, to their utter astonishment, that they could do so. The mixed Mana with each of their touches on it obeyed their wills and flowed into the 'wrong' Element in most cases, and the newly expanded Star took it all. I was doing much the same thing, although I was applying Elements in turn, and faster than they were. I'd gotten my initial Tempering done, but I had a lot of filling up to do, and Crystals to apply myself.

I called out in time as they finished, and they all pressed Cores to their foreheads, pulling out the spiritual energy and applying it to their Stars, opening up a nice expanded space in them and starting to fill them with Lightning. And so it continued, as Mana swirled so thick it could nearly be tasted in the air. Tox, down in the middle, was getting the same benefit of the others, his double Light draw for Plant only helping the start of the process maintain its momentum.

The night stretched out as first their prime Elemental set filled, then their second Element. I could feel the crystallization when all were done, a sense of gathering harmony that hadn't been there before. -Alright. Big John, take the incoming Mana, as much as you like, and push it against your boundary. Everyone else, push and maintain the Vortex. - This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

The Sublime Chord rose, and everyone's Stars trembled in expectation. The short and chunky Big John barely restrained himself from shouting in exultation as he took all that energy and it crashed over his burning Fire Stars, slamming into the boundary that had denied him once before. His spiking Aura of new energy told everyone what had happened, even if he didn't scream out in excitement, barely wavering, but automatically holding to the Cadence of the Chord. -Bjorn, swamp it!

- The big darkly-bearded man grit his teeth, but there was no fear, only expectation as seven Elements powered through and around his Water Starcloud, and then against the barrier restraining them. With an internal roar, the wall into his Starfield shattered and collapsed, and he gasped as he sat there, wavering and barely holding on. -Alright, temper your Stars, and start filling them, everyone. Mick, Red, start with the rest of your Cores, Formation Element first, and in the Universal Pattern.

- It wasn't ideal for Red, but he didn't hesitate, putting a Core to his forehead as everyone else bent everything to filling their Stars up with speed in their own Elements, but it made no difference to the Mana Draw, their combined power keeping the flow and Vortex of it spinning, always giving them enough to work with. I Sang overhead, centering them, calming them, and keeping them at work.

A mental alarm went off, and I glanced at my Detect Time. -Bring it down. We're done for the night. - There were soft moans and groans of disbelief, along with some half-hearted complaints about not being finished. The vortex slowly broke apart, the enhanced Mana draw faded away, and they all left Meditation with grunts and groans and the shifting of limbs. They were a bit surprised to find they weren't stiff and aching after holding the position for so long.

They blinked and turned around, looking at the light streaming in the windows in disbelief.

"Yeah, it's eight AM. That was ten hours of solid Meditation. Good job, everyone."

"Wow," Big John blurted out, looking at his hands.

"I, just, wow..." His head of curly black hair turned up to me.

"Thanks, Miss Fae. I-I don't think I ever would have broken through with Fire without you..."

"And it was so damn easy!" Bjorn had a big shit-eating grin on as he called up the Water around his left hand.

"Nothing like the first time with Earth!"

"It's the reinforced Stars," I informed them as my Disk slowly came down, their own floating back to make room for me.

"The Formation will prove equally as useful when breaking through to Mage. If you have a Vein, you are practically guaranteed to do so." I turned to Red and the Mick.

"How far did you get on your 4's?"

"About two-thirds," the Mick said, glancing at Red, who just nodded.

"That is really, really fast compared to my normal speed," he admitted, and everyone else nodded along.

"Next time, you'll all be full Adepts at the start. Should be at least fifty percent faster. As everyone fills in their Stars, the speed will only increase in proportion. It's restricted by the slowest among you, so as they catch up, everything will only move faster for everyone."

"That was like a week of Meditation, done all in one go!" Glenn grinned widely.

"It's how you should have been Meditating all along, but didn't know how to," I interjected, before he could say something stupid, like skipping his normal Meditations.

"What's more, once you've got at least one Element tagged with the Universal Mana on every Star, you can set up a personal Vortex and increase your own Meditation speed. So, keep at it! We're all going to be doing this every night until you're all at Tier-4 on all Stars, no excuses!" I met the eyes of each and every one of them, and they all knuckled under quickly.

"Right. Now, get your stuff, we're going to your vehicle's wreck site next. Shouldn't take too long."

"How are we going to get there?" Driver Sam asked.

"I'm going to Teleport to the place I arrived here at, which should be about five miles from your ride. You're all going to pile into my Pocket, and then pile immediately out of it. Then you're going to drive us to the vehicle, we'll grab whatever needs to be grabbed, and then I'll Teleport us back here.

"Then, I believe, it will be time to grab breakfast, and we can head down to Dallas." They all stared at me, and I raised an eyebrow.

"You're ready to go? No? Then why are you just sitting there looking at me?" There was a flurry of movement as they ran for their stuff. I shook my head and headed outside to wait for them.

"Okay, this will literally take thirty seconds. Just stand there, hold your breath, and you'll be out again almost instantly.

"If you're not out of there in thirty seconds, that means I'm in a combat situation and can't drop you immediately, but I will, just bear with it.

"Everyone ready?" I lifted my hand, and, all lined up, hands on one another's shoulders, they nodded. With a pop-pop-pop, they all vanished in turn, and then I spun through the motions of a Teleport, reverting to an earlier place in time along my Lived-line... right where it started on this planet, actually. There was a swirl of dimensional movement accommodating a shift in position to an earlier point in time.

I blinked, fighting off the disorientation, the pressure acclimation, the gravity differences, the jerking of Mana, and the feeling someone in the mirror had walked over my own grave, always an interesting sensation when traveling along your Lived-line. There were some creatures around, but the area around me was completely clear of any Spider corpses, burned down by vivus and gone, nothing to eat or see here. The torn-up ground was now covered by a swiftly-growing expanse of prairie grass and scrub.

The biggest influence seemed to be the giant foot-long Shale-Shell Ants who cleaned up after everyone around here. They didn't get close to Human territories because of the Wardstones, which would literally make them too weak to move, but they were frequent prey of stuff out here, and fed on everything, in the end. Nothing close by. I pulled, and all the boys popped out of the Pocket at once.

They looked around quickly, blinking and orienting themselves, swearing as they realized they really were back out here where all the fighting had been, but wow, there weren't nearly as many signs of it as they expected. I waited until they collected themselves, which was hastened when the Mick shouted, "Quit gawking like schoolgirls, the Lady is watching! Everyone into formation! Sam, get to it!"

Chagrinned, they got into their guard formation, while Driver Sam tensed, pulled up his Earth Wave, and sent us into motion. Everyone noticed he was moving us faster and more smoothly than before, the ground flowing past on either side of us at a brisk thirty mph or so. Meditations for moah powah!