Immovable Mage

– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 216, Season of the Rising Moon, Day 78 –

Romana lowered her bow and stared at the carnage in front of her. “Wastes, what happened here…?”

“This village was completely fine a few days ago,” said Yancey in a low tone. The death mage was floating slightly above the earth and cyan lights flickered inside his eye sockets. “As fine as any waster village anyway.”

“Going by the corpses and signs on the ground, they must have been overrun by a large group of mana corrupted,” said Romana with a furrowed brow.

“If we had seen such a large group nearby, we would have kept an eye on it,” said Yancey.

“A large group of mana corrupted does not appear out of nowhere, does it?” retorted Romana. “This…”

“This was the act of a dimensional mage,” interjected Ying in a grave tone. He had canceled his own vampire levitation. “The space here was manipulated recently.”

“Why would a dimensional mage target a remote village in the Wasted Zone?” asked Yancey. “Is there a chance that the Disciple’s daughter has gotten wind of them wanting to join Syn City?”

“How would Ava learn about this?” Romana clenched her fists.

“I don’t know,” said Ying. “Search for survivors while I talk to Saul. Whatever is going on, we should keep a better watch on things.” Ying moved his gaze over the bloody corpses. After a sigh, he incinerated the bodies.

***

Very early in the morning, before the sun had risen, Terry walked out of his tent and towards the fireplace where Miguel was keeping watch together with two of Siling’s infatigable soul spirits: Grumpy for its life sense and Pricklybum for its tremor sense.

“Up already?” whispered Miguel. “I know that you also took the first two late shifts. My shift isn’t over yet, you can continue to sleep.”

“No need,” whispered Terry. “This is just my normal schedule. I always wake up at this time.”

“Knowing that, I’m surprised you’re relatively sane.” Miguel smiled wryly.

“‘Relatively’?” Terry raised an eyebrow.

“You voluntarily joined the masochist courses for resistance training, remember?” Miguel snorted. “Relatively indeed.”

“How are you doing with your spellwork training?” Terry noticed Miguel absorbing mana from a mana container.

“My coldfire-aspected variant of Burning Hands finally works more often than not.” Miguel smiled proudly. “A few more of these night shifts and I can give Gellath a surprise in our next close combat spar.”

“How was the company?” Terry glanced at the two soul spirits.

“Not very talkative.” Miguel shrugged.

Terry rolled his eyes.

“Nothing of note,” said Miguel. “Grumpy pecked a few times but only weakly. The Princess did not detect anything problematic either.” Miguel yawned. “Okay, if you are sure, then I’ll get some more shut eye. I’m slow enough in my rested state.”

Terry held Miguel back. “Thanks.”

Miguel tilted his head.

“For joining us,” continued Terry. “You don’t need to be a fast runner to be a great help, and you are a great help. So thanks. It means a lot.”

“No worries.” Miguel yawned again. “You would do the same if it was my pa. Jorg and Lori, too. Also, I still owe Jorg and Lori for beating up the bullies when I was little.” Miguel looked at the horizon. “In retrospect, that might not have been the same threat level but things sure seem different when you barely reach up to the other’s knees.”

Terry was not sure how to respond. He did not have much understanding about normal playgrounds since his upbringing in the Greenhouse was extremely supervised. “That happened?”

“Not my favorite time to remember.” Miguel shrugged and then he grinned. “Aside from the time that Lori jumped up and headbutted one of them right in the crown jewels.” He snickered. “That was quite the sight. That move has been firmly established on the playgrounds since then.”

Terry suppressed a snort in order not to wake anyone.

“Afterwards, the taller bullies thought twice about seeing dwarven kids as easy targets.” Miguel yawned again. “I believe one reason that Gellath is watching out for ‘Little Sister’ Thena is that he still remembers being the shortest person around back then. If I remember correctly, Jorg also called him Little Brother at some point.” Miguel yawned silently once more.

“Go get some rest,” said Terry. “I’ll keep watch.”

Miguel nodded, stretched, and went to his own tent.

Terry looked around the fireplace. He subconsciously smiled when he saw the traces of nightly training in the area. There were several burned patches of grass where Terry suspected Siling had practiced her Fire Arrow spell. Terry was impressed with how quickly she had picked up the new spellwork.

After their chat before their dungeon dive, Siling had first considered Fireball before eventually focusing on Metal Hammer. As soon as they had learned that they would go to the Wastes, Siling had shifted focus and instead of focusing on an advanced-level spell, she aimed to quickly expand her arsenal of different aspects by learning more lower level spells.

Siling’s current mana control was more than sufficient for intermediate level spells and she had quickly brought the first spell to a practical level of spell control. With death aura creatures in mind, she had given priority to the fire aspect. Fortunately, the spell structure for Fire Arrow was closely related to the structure for Ice Spike, which she was already familiar with.

Further back, Terry saw several spiked stone walls. The traces on the earth indicated that the stone walls had been moved.

Lori is getting better at quickly combining her spells.

Terry smiled again. The walls were a result of Raise Wall, Shape Earth, and Harden Earth. The spiky walls were then moved with Propel Rock.

There were no traces of Calam’s training, but Terry knew that Calam diligently practiced his force-aspected spells and mana foundation. Calam’s attitude had changed a lot since Terry had first met him.

Terry began to emit low-intensity mana pulses while trying to pull back and reabsorb his emitted mana when it reached the edge of his control. All around him, his naturalized mana was moving first away from him and then back towards him.

Next, Terry lifted one foot and began channeling mana into the divine hammer inscription on his legs. A thin sheet of golden, translucent mana appeared underneath his foot.

Terry tested how much force the sheet could carry.

Faster creation and a lot less brittle but not enough to jump off it yet.

Terry frowned and then shrugged.

No matter. Not the goal for today anyway.

Terry began creating sheet by divine sheet and slowly walked around the camp on layers of divine mana while continuing to emit and reabsorb his mana detection pulses.

Terry’s primary goal was not to increase the sturdiness or creation speed for the mana sheets created with the divine hammer inscription. Instead, his goal was to increase his subconscious control and to avoid the divine hammer inscription’s collapse with every lapse of his attention.

After Terry had walked around the camp two times, he retrieved two items from his storage bracelet and grasped one in each hand. Terry took a deep breath and then activated the resistance training devices while circulating his mana more consciously. Coldfire bit into Terry’s left hand and fire bit into Terry’s right hand. Terry managed three steps before his next sheet of divine mana collapsed before he could put his weight on it.

Terry took a deep breath and stopped his resistance training devices. He walked another round without them active and then tried another time.

***

Terry and the others appeared out of thin air.

“Where to?” asked Lori while looking around.

“We need to pass through the ravine between the two mountains.” Terry pointed.

Miguel squinted. “That looks to be inhabited. I can see buildings.”

Lori frowned. “I thought we needed to avoid inhabited areas.”

“Yeah.” Terry looked at the mountains with a grim expression. “No choice. Going around the mountains would take weeks. Going above would probably draw attention, too.”

Siling turned to Terry. “I guess I’ll postpone my summoning until we’re through? Avoiding attention and all.”

Terry nodded slightly.

“Any intel on the place?” asked Miguel. He looked at Lori and Terry.

“There is supposedly a crafter’s market there,” said Terry. “Not much else.”

“That’s not too bad then, is it?” said Calam. “Perhaps we’ll find something useful.”

“I have the money that Matteo gave me, but I think you should curb your enthusiasm.” Terry made a wry expression. “Crafter’s markets in Tiv are something of a let down. It is possible that the ones here in the heartland are better, but I would not count on it.”

“Not to mention that you can’t just buy whatever you want,” added Lori. “You need a permit or writ of approval for even the most innocuous magic items.”

“How about poisons?” asked Miguel. “Or weapons?”

“As far as I’ve read, non-magic poisons and weapons are not restricted.” Lori shrugged. “It’s only magic they have regulated harshly.”

Calam furrowed his brow. “That seems…”

“Like bullshit,” finished Miguel. He clicked his tongue. “Perhaps I can trade a few coldfire-aspected arrows for non-magic traps. That would be a great bargain.”

Lori giggled. “Are you trying to get us arrested?”

“Good point,” admitted Miguel.

“Stay close together and be mindful of your surroundings when we get there,” said Terry.

***

Terry’s group was walking on a stone road through the town inside the ravine.

“Why are so many people staring at us?” whispered Calam.

“Normally, I would assume that it’s because of Terry’s freakish mana signature, but he is cloaking himself.” Miguel warily observed the people in the vicinity. “And they seem to be staring at me even more. Strange…”

Terry closed his eyes with a sudden realization. “It’s because I’m an idiot.” Terry was scowling.

“O-kay…?” muttered Siling while glancing at Terry.

“What’s going on?” Lori asked Terry without moving her eyes away from their surroundings.

“I made a mistake.” Terry clenched his fists. “I forgot to tell everyone to get their items cloaked.”

Walking fortunes.

“I’m an idiot,” cursed Terry again.

“Why would we do that?” asked Calam.

“Ahh crap,” cursed Miguel with a grimace. “Now that I think about it, it seems an obvious precaution.”

“Why?” asked Calam “I always thought of cloaking as a waste of money,”

“In Arcana, that may be true,” said Miguel. “But here, this means unwanted attention, doesn’t it?”

Not only from bandits. Terry’s expression became grave. “I’m sorry, everyone. This is on me.”

“It’s on all of us,” said Siling. “Like Miguel said, it seems obvious in hindsight.”

“Yeah, we could have noticed that as well,” said Lori.

“But I knew,” stressed Terry. “I just did not think of it. Even though I’ve been repeatedly warned when I was in Tiv before. I brought you all here. This…”

“What’s done is done,” said Lori. “We’ll deal with what we have to.”

Terry clenched his fists and nodded. A sharp glint entered his eyes.

***

Miguel squinted casually behind his back and towards the town they had just left. “I don’t see anyone.”

“They realized that we had spotted our tail when we were still in the city,” explained Terry. “Not only have they cloaked their mana, they have also used some means of invisibility.”

“Still three life signatures.” Siling pointed out.

Terry nodded. “I can also detect their presence in my pulses.”

“Bandits?” asked Lori. “Why else would they tail us beyond the town’s borders?”

Terry glanced back at the town.

Crafter’s market…

“It’s also possible that they wanted to avoid an armed conflict with people around,” said Terry. He added grimly: “We’ll see. Let’s get some more distance from the city first.”

While everyone prepared their equipment, Terry recalled the intensity of the mana signatures before they had been cloaked. Afterwards, he aligned with the others on a plan.

They slowed down and Terry walked further in the back. Suddenly, Terry burst his mana and dashed towards one of the hidden presences. He stomped hard into the location at chest height and then darted towards a second location.

Terry slashed his spear while channeling mana to summon a barrier. Terry’s arm came to an abrupt halt and Terry heard a gulping sound as a human man became visible. The man’s neck was trapped between the detached barrier and the spear’s tip. There was only a small distance between his throat and the spear’s blade. Terry moved the detached barrier to press the man’s nape further forward until there was no distance at all.

Terry stared coldly at the man that had the strongest mana signature before.

Further to the left, the woman with the second strongest mana signature among the pursuers was already caught unprepared by the tight embrace from the jumpscare soul spirit. A sharp beak threatened the back of her head while the tentacles wrapped around her head with only enough gaps for her to see Siling and the purplemist lynx soul spirit staring her down. Both Siling and Muttonchops had an arcane shield and two arcane bolts ready. Additionally, Siling’s skin had a metallic sheen due to her metal coating ability.

The third pursuer was an elven man who had found himself trapped in stone before he could get up. Lori was glaring menacingly down at him with two short spears equipped.

Miguel remained in the back with his arrow aimed and ready. Next to him, Calam aimed a crossbow while keeping two force-spells primed to rush forward.

“S-sorry to d-disturb you,” stammered the man whom Terry was threatening.

Terry ignored the man’s stammering and searched for recognizable insignia. He suppressed a frustrated groan when he recognized a familiar symbol on a badge. He thought back to what Sigille and Matteo had told him in the past.

“P-please let us go,” stammered the man. “We d-did not mean to offend. Only our j-job…”

“You’re imperial censors, correct?” asked Terry in a loud and flat tone. Loud enough for the others to hear and intentionally flat to prevent his thoughts from leaking into his voice.

“Th— Ahem. That’s right.” The man corrected his stammering and suddenly spoke firmly with a tinge of haughtiness. “I demand that you let me and my colleagues g-go.” The man’s tone broke down when Terry and the others failed to demonstrate the reaction he had hoped for.

‘Acting weak in front of the strong and strong in front of the weak.’ Terry inwardly scoffed while recalling the words that Sigille had used to describe one kind of people that were drawn to the imperial censor position. She had also said that there are fewer but stronger imperial censors the further away you move from the capital.

These three do not seem that strong.

“What makes you think that you are in a position to demand anything?” growled Terry while trying hard to suppress his uncomfortableness with the role. He intentionally undid his cloaking and flared his mana for the man’s mana sense to grasp.

The man gulped. “I— Honored Sir, my apologies, I—”

Terry rapidly dismissed the barrier and took a step back. He rested the short spear on his shoulder and glared at the imperial censor. “My companions and I are just passing through. No need to concern yourselves with us.”

“Ahem.” Now that the spear was not pressed against his throat, the man straightened his back. “I’m afraid that’s not—”

As soon as Terry sensed the slightest movement of mana, he stomped the man’s chest hard while simultaneously unleashing an intense disruption discharge from the foot that hit the chest.

The imperial censor rolled on the ground. When he came to a stop, he stared at Terry with fear in his eyes. He did not even try to retake control of the mana in his body that had turned chaotic from the intense disruption.

“Arcana!” shouted the elven man of whom only the head was spared from the rock entrapment. He had noticed the symbol on Terry’s Academy bag. That one word intensified the terror in the eyes of the imperial censors.

“Al-already all the way here?” muttered the woman that had been entangled by Peekaboo.

“G-good Sir.” The human man tried to get to his feet but when he saw Terry moving a step forward with his spear pointed towards him, the man stopped. Instead, he remained in a kneeling position. “We have heard that a bastardly person has plotted against the b-barrier, b-but if you’re here to— There are rumors about Arcanians visiting our Tiv Empire to av— I wonder if you know about that?”

Terry’s mind raced until he thought he understood.

Might as well make use of whomever from Arcana has inspired such dread around here.

“I suggest you make sure we’ll never see you again instead of fishing for intel,” said Terry coldly. He turned his back and carefully observed all movements with his mana sense to follow the man’s reaction.

“Y-yes, my lord, thank you for the advice.” The imperial censor slowly got up. After a moment of hesitation, he shouted to the others: “We’ll return. We haven’t seen anything.”

Terry nodded to Siling, who ordered her soul spirit to let the woman go. After the woman had distanced herself, Lori released the last of the imperial censors. When Terry and the others had left the town a good way behind them, everyone exhaled a sharp breath.

“That went unexpectedly smoothly,” said Miguel. “I expected worse.”

“Well, we did not give them much of a choice,” said Lori.

“Stay sharp,” said Terry. “We need to keep an eye out in case they send someone else or come back with reinforcements. Killing them would have meant definite trouble, but if I judged their characters incorrectly, trouble may still come for us. We should quicken our pace until we are in range to use the next scroll.”

***

An elven man with a feather hat and a blue cape was sitting inside a spatial barrier in the sky.

Below the elven man, countless mana-corrupted beasts were arriving through a dimensional gate. One after the other, the mana corrupted beasts turned their attention to the mouth-wetting life and mana signatures in the distance.

The beasts charged towards the village when another dimensional gate appeared in the sky. This gate was placed horizontally and a flood of lava spilled through it onto the heads of the mana-corrupted beasts.

The elven man frowned and searched for the source of the dimensional gate.

A figure in a grey, hooded traveling cloak appeared right beyond the reach of the lava. The figure was wearing a white face mask and the hood covered the rest of the head.

“I hope you can pick a different location for your revenge, Arcanian.” The masked man spoke in a cold tone. “Your revenge is with Tiv, isn’t it? These villagers have already agreed to join my Syn City.”

“I’ve never heard of a Syn City before,” said the elven man with a raised eyebrow.

“You’re free to visit if you know how to behave,” said the masked man. “Wasted creatures are not acceptable as plus ones.”

The elven man silently examined the masked man’s dimensional gate in his mana sight to get a grasp of his abilities.

“I don’t have any interest in meddling between the affairs of Tiv and Arcana,” said the masked man. “I find your grievances with Tiv understandable. Nevertheless, I would appreciate it if you could give me some face and avoid the towns and villages out here.”

“In exchange, you’ll have my word that I won’t interfere when you are targeting the areas further southeast,” proposed the masked man. “I’m sure there are better uses of your time than a duel with a dimensional mage whom you know nothing about.”

“Are you speaking for yourself or for everyone in this ‘Syn City’?” asked the elven man after some thought.

“Just for myself,” admitted the masked man. “Some in our city have friendships with people in Tiv and I can’t speak for them. However, if you avoid the larger settlements and the frontier cities, there is little chance of creating grudges.”

“I’m afraid that’s not negotiable,” said the elven man indifferently.

“I’m not going to stop you,” said the masked man. “If you avoid the towns and villages here, I won’t interfere with your revenge. Even if others from Syn may choose to try, I will stay out of it.”

***