Ends of Magic

Nathan kept an eye on the walls of Ardglass while he chatted with his friends about the battle. There were a number of mages collected to watch them. If somebody had exceptional aim they might have been able to hit Sarah or Aarl with a [Disintegrate], but Nathan wasn’t actually that worried. They’d just watched the Heirs dismantle an entire army of undead.

Though Stella got most of the horde.

Anybody with two brain cells to rub together probably knew that Nathan was here, and that he’d single-handedly killed several archmages and Badud back in Giantsrest. The mages in Ardglass were probably hoping that the Heirs would turn around and leave now that the army was destroyed.

Sarah fired one more shot, dropping a final undead before her rifle disappeared into its dimensional pouch. "I think this target is dead."

The sunlight had spread from the single beam illuminating the wolfman to a large swath of light across the field of corpses. The piles of the dead didn’t look so monstrous in the light. They simply looked dead.

Khachi slowly got to his feet. He still looked tired, but not absolutely exhausted. His eyes tracked to Ardglass. “Shall we conquer this city? I am spent, but they are just as tired. The rest of you are fit to fight.”

“What are we doing with the mages?” Sarah said with a frown. “There are a lot of war mages over there.”

“I’ll tell them we’re freeing all of their slaves.” Nathan replied. “Some of them will probably attack us, and we’ll kill them. Then we tell the ones who are left that Hibril is joining the new administration of Giantsrest and ask if they want to follow him.”

“Do we worry they will attempt to take over in Giantsrest?” Stella asked with a cocked eyebrow.

Nathan shrugged. “We can imply that we’ll be around to correct them if they have any lapses. They're scared of me. That should buy Myrla enough time to get them used to a new normal and to put in contingencies. There's also the antimages. I wouldn’t put them up against any archmages, but together they should be able to take out some rogue war mages.”

Aarl was inspecting his new trident, seeming somewhat detached from the conversation. “Ok, Let’s go do it. Nathan, you’re blazing the path.”

“Sure," he said, and they set off towards the city on foot, climbing over piles of undead.

The mages atop the wall were visibly nervous as the Heirs approached, but none of them did anything but watch.

When Nathan was about fifty feet away from the main gate he stopped and pitched his voice to carry to every mage on the wall facing them. “You are mages of Giantsrest, but Giantsrest is no more. The Academy has fallen, most of the archmages are dead. Badud is dead, and the Founders have forsaken you. It’s time for you to make a choice. You can die with Giantsrest, or be part of something new. But either way I’m going to free every slave in Ardglass and send them to Giantsrest.”

He paused a beat, eyes flicking across the forces arrayed on the walls before him. There were a dozen or so war mages, mostly older men, but a few were on the younger side and there were two women. Then there were nearly fifty green-robed enslavement mages and a score of artisan mages. They were flanked by nearly fifty slave-elites, all of them with weapons slick with gore.

One of the older war mages snarled, then raised his hand. “You’ll burn.”

[Grand Fireball]

A dozen more mages joined in the attack, throwing various elemental attacks towards the Heirs.

All of them evaporated like a flurry of snow in the blast furnace of Nathan’s aura, and he punched out thin spears of antimagic to break the [Mage Armor] spells of every attacking mage at once.

Aura Control 3 achieved!

“Sarah?” He said, phrasing it as a request.

Pistols appeared in both of the [Sniper]’s hands. Each roared with flame as she shot the mages that had attacked. Most of them were clean headshots, but a few were hit in the neck and one got his ear blown off before a follow-up shot took him through the eye.

Spellslayer has leveled to 488! You have stripped the defenses from a dozen mages so your ally could kill them!

The cloud of gunsmoke cleared, and Nathan looked up at the remaining mages. They were all recoiling from the falling bodies, but weren't in a hurry to go on the offensive. Seven of the war mages were still alive, and he met their gazes levelly. “Hibril dho Bonaz has surrendered. He’s working with the freed slaves to build something new. You can be part of that. You don’t have to die here. My enemy is slavers, not all mages.”

Nobody responded immediately, and he gave them a beat to exchange worried glances before following up. "But things will change. Your slaves will be free. Giantsrest is gone, and if you attempt to recreate it…” He let loose a loud growl, making it clear what his reaction would be to anybody foolish enough to try that.

High-tier Battle Cry 2 achieved!

“Now, can somebody open this Endings-damned gate?”

One of the war mages cast a quick spell, and the gate swung open before them. Nathan and the Heirs marched into the city of Ardglass, heads held high.

Pretty different from how we entered Halsmet, isn’t it?

Void of Magic has leveled to 707! You have subjugated the city of Ardglass!

—

It took almost a day, and he had to hunt down a few mages who tried to hide within the city. He’d used his magical senses to find mages from a distance before, but it was still a challenge to scour an entire city for mages. The smarter ones didn’t cast any magic, requiring him to pick out their mana pools from the ambient magic left over from the siege.

Wizard’s Detection 8 achieved!

He didn’t kill them, just sending the artisans onwards with a warning and stripping the war mages of their magic.

Void of Magic has leveled to 709! You have chased down several War mages of Giantsrest who tried to escape your judgment!

He had several strained [Message] conversations with Myrla about the logistics and security of another group of mages and ex-slaves arriving in Giantsrest. But eventually, Nathan was comfortable leaving Ardglass. He was very aware that every moment they delayed was another moment that assassins could be catching up to them. In the end they left without fanfare, telling the few people who saw them go that they were going to eliminate some nearby monster nests. Then, they headed west. They quickly lost sight of Ardglass in the foothills of the mountains and paused to debate exactly where they were going next.

“Halsmet?” Aarl proposed. “It would be nice to see what occurs in that city.”

Stella shrugged, unenthused. “Most of the people we know from Halsmet are in Giantsrest now. Myrla, the antimages. Most of the elites.”

“The smart assassins may be lying in wait there.” Sarah’s face was shadowed as she looked down, inspecting her revolvers for the dozenth time. “All those we need to see are in Gemore. We should cut straight through the mountains.”

“Won’t the assassins be in Gemore too?” Stella asked with a tilt of her head.

“Yes, but it is a harder city for outsiders. And there are more Adventurers in the streets.” Sarah replied. “Hear me, but it’s also the only city we need to go to. There and Litcliff.” She shot a look towards Nathan. “Where the assassins will be as thick as constructs in a Fortress Foundry.”

Khachi made a thoughtful rumble. He’d recuperated with some rest and the near-worship of a bunch of freed slaves. “We might as well travel to the sight of the ambush, where we drowned the Giantsrest army beneath water. It is the site of our first great victory.”

“Our first?” Stella replied archly. “Not the victory over the Old Gemore constructs outside Tarren? Or the Agmon Legionaries? Or…” She cast around, clearly having a hard time picking between all the fights they’d been in and won.

Aarl replied with a snort. “Those were just skirmishes. Halsmet was a worthy deed deeds, but all in the past. We should look to the future, which means going directly to Gemore to make final preparations for Litcliff.”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“Right.” Nathan said. “Sounds good. That reminds me of something I need to figure out.”

Namely, what final Insights do I give to Sudraiel and the crafters. I told them ‘no artillery’ before, but I’m wondering if I should relax that restriction with the Ending on its way. A hundred years is about enough time for them to properly integrate industrial Insights.

Stella grimaced. “I would rather take up hydra farming than tell my parents I’m leaving the continent.”

“Hah.”

—

As they traveled into the mountains Nathan thought about Gemore, and the advance of technology. When he’d last left Gemore he’d laid some restrictions on Beatred, Poppy and Herdin to prevent them developing certain kinds of technology with the Insights he’d given them. He’d primarily been worried about Giantsrest gaining access to mass-produced rifles for their slave-soldiers, as well as artillery to supplement their mages.

He’d also wanted to prevent Gemore from going down the same path that Earth had, with industrialization reshaping the world in ways both great and terrible. He’d been afraid of machine-guns that would let a single fighter mow down hundreds of people, or artillery that would be used to level cities.

But that had been before he saw the Questors in action, or the unleashed power of the war mages of Giantsrest. There were already ways on Davrar to be extremely efficient at killing - as well as things that demanded that much firepower to kill.

Just look at the army we just fought. Thousands of smaller monsters and a couple enormous ones. I don’t think an artillery barrage would be overkill for a Grave Tangle. They’re slow-moving but dangerous to almost anybody who can see them, so artillery would actually be a perfect counter if you didn’t have an elite Adventurer on standby.

The more Nathan thought about it, the more he was starting to change his mind on his technology restrictions. Giantsrest was gone, so he didn’t have to worry about them benefiting. And while spreading Insights for [Regeneration] and antimagic would help individuals be better fighters, spreading Insights of industry would help Gemore as a whole fight better.

In fact, it’s probably better for Gemore’s development. An elite Adventurer does not in principle require a civilization to support them. They can be a nation unto themselves, killing without consequence unless somebody stronger can bring them to heel. They’re not really incentivized to keep civilization around for practical reasons, just emotional ones.

But if those same Adventurers needed ammunition or repairs of industrialized weapons, then they’d require the support of civilization. Additionally, the very nature of the weapons sort of inclined themselves towards teamwork. It was hard to be a lone murderhobo when your weapon was an artillery piece. It was also inarguable that Gemore had enemies deserving of that kind of firepower. Not only were there thousands of dungeons still on the surface of Gemore, but Badud had hinted that there were more below ground and hidden in the sky. That was not a particularly pleasant thought.

And even if I prevent the Ending of History, all of those dungeons still need to be cleared. Even if that means hitting them with a few thousand pounds of explosives from ten miles away. Honestly, that’s probably a pretty good way to do it.

The Heirs had threaded their way past dozens of dungeons in the deep mountains, and were making camp on a sheltered ledge when Nathan let out a heavy sigh as he considered the dilemma before him. He’d just convinced himself to provide Gemore with more Insights, and now was the time to plan that out. He noticed Sarah shooting him a curious look. Nathan raised an eyebrow at her.

She shrugged. “You’re done with Giantsrest. Take the victory for a moment, instead of looking ahead to the next target. The Questors are far away. We have a sea trip ahead of us first.” Then she frowned. “And our parents. The Caxol’s are the worst, but dad won’t want us to leave the continent either.”

Nathan shook his head in response. “That’s not it. I’m thinking about what Insights to give Gemore before I go. Not just the Adventurer Archive, but also the crafters. I’m going to open up the manufacturing of guns, and I’m trying to decide how much more to give them.”

Aarl joined the conversation. “They’re already in your debt. How much more could you get from them?” He paused. “How much more could you give?”

“I’m not sure.” Nathan replied. “Some of it might not translate well to Davrar, with magic and skills. But other parts might be pretty trivial to accomplish here with the right enchantments.”

I’m pretty sure a tank would be a deathtrap, but they might be able to make airships pretty easily. Stella’s shown that air magic can separate out atmospheric gasses pretty easily.

His mind ran through the history of chemical industrialization as he considered what to try and give Gemore. Nathan blew air out of his cheeks, eyes going distant as he considered the implications of the magic his friend had developed. Aarl and Sarah exchanged an amused look and went back to preparing the camp as Nathan mused on the potential of magic in industrialization. He hadn’t previously been interested in trying to build up an industrial base in Gemore - he’d thought it would lead to bad things. But that had been before he’d understood the skills of the crafters and the potential of enchantments.

Magic can extract pure oxygen from air. Presumably it can do other purification similarly. That - changes everything. I laid out the Bessemer process to Beatred, but you could easily revolutionize steelmaking by bubbling pure oxygen into the smelter instead of straight atmospheric gas. And all that would take is an enchantment on the intake pipe.

His eyes went wide at the possibilities as they unfolded inside his mind’s eye. He’d always been interested in the science of industrialization, even if most of the implementation was outside of his grasp.

Heat enchantments can almost certainly reach the temperatures required for the Haber process, though they'd need a source of methane. Natural gas probably isn’t an option on Davrar. Electrolyze water to make hydrogen, then use the Sabatier process to make methane from carbon dioxide? It’s probably easier to turn charcoal into methane with gasification. All you need is heat, pressure and a little bit of oxygen. Or hell, they could do gas separation of the air coming out of the sewers.

But once they have bulk ammonia then you can get nitric acid with just heat, oxygen and water, and then you can make ammonium nitrate by mixing in additional ammonium. Great for gunpowder production, or just apply the nitric acid to cloth or other organics for more complex explosives from dynamite to guncotton.

He internally shrugged, eyes tracking to Stella as he thought. If this was going to work, he’d need to get her to write down some of the Insights she’d figured out to facilitate gas separation. Then he’d need to give the Gemore crafters a crash course on the periodic table of elements, basic chemistry and the reactions that would be most useful to them.

All of the Heirs were looking at Nathan now, though their faces were more resigned than wary. This was hardly the first time he’d gone off on a train of thought and they were all waiting for him to return and share. But Nathan’s gaze went past the rest of them to Khachi, who was watching Nathan with a guarded expression.

I’m not sure if I’ve just convinced myself this is a good idea just yet. I decided not to do this before, so I should be careful before I change my mind. This is a huge decision, even if it's the right one.

“Khachi.” He turned to face his teammate, setting his shoulders.

The wolfman returned the address with a questioning tone “Nathan?”

“Before we left Gemore, I decided to withhold many Insights from your crafters. Insights that rule my world.” He paused, trying to figure out how to communicate the immensity of what he was considering. “Insights that let us convert one thing into another, to make nearly infinite amounts of things we need. Including weapons and explosives.” He gestured towards Sarah’s weapons.

“But there was a price. A lot of these processes make toxic byproducts, and the factories where they happened were not good places to work.” He chewed on his lip for a moment.

“I held the Insights back because I was afraid of Giantsrest stealing them. And because I didn’t understand the capabilities of your crafters, or the potential of magic to overcome a lot of the problems. Now I’m thinking of turning over those Insights. But - can you help me decide?"

Khachi met Nathan’s eyes squarely, gold looking into blue as he considered the question.

They were interrupted by a shaky breath coming from the side, looking over to see Aarl sitting down as he watched with wide eyes. “This is it, isn’t it?” He gestured out over the desolate mountains all around them, lit by the night sky overhead. “Where you two decide the future of Gemore. If it develops like Earth did, or on its own.”

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Arcane Nullfield 7

Permanent Talent 2: Immortal Body 5

Permanent Talent 3: Airwalking 7

Class: Void of Magic level 709

Deepened Stamina: 21570/21570

Void of Feeling

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Implacable Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Magic Anathema

Airborne Agility

Hand-to-hand Expertise

Voluminous Aura

Denial of Wizardry

Mana Severance

Class: Spellslayer level 488

Regenerative Focus: 3791/4980

Catastrophic Blows

Battle Stealth

Mage Infiltration

Forgettable

Sneaky Blow

Antimagic Stealth

Magical Manipulation

Lethal Index

Wizard Resistance

Magic Jammer

Controlled Failure

Utility skills:

Wizard’s Meditation 9

Inspiration 8

Acceleration 10

Wizard’s Detection 8

Alertness 10

Wizard’s Understanding 10

Effortless Dodge 10

Mental Vault 5

Tutoring 5

Parkour 8

Visibility Control 4

High-tier Disguise 3

High-tier Battle Cry 2

Aura Control 3