You created a card form: Force Shield-I. To complete the new card, move the form to the base and set it in place with mana.
Not expecting the message, the girl tripped, interrupting the harmony of the dance. The sounds of the surrounding world, not to mention Tailyn’s panting and the nighttime cold of the Gray lands, came crashing in on her. For a few seconds, the kids kept moving, but the dance was over. Both of them crashed to their knees as they tried to catch their breath. Blood pounded in their ears, stars danced in front of their eyes, and their bodies were practically exploding from the strain. But the next set of messages occupied their attention so fully they forgot how exhausted they were.
You were able to combine your consciousness with Valia Levor, becoming one with her for more than 10 minutes.
Skill received: Mentality — Unification (*).
Character modification ongoing.
Unification. Description: a unique mental skill given by the god in rare instances to those who are able to achieve maximum harmony with their other half. The skill is bilateral and cannot be received by one person alone. It can only be received once in a lifetime, combining consciousness with only one other person. Those who were able to achieve the unthinkable receive a unique bonus: the ability to speak with each other on a mental level. Such conversations cannot be intercepted or blocked. Unification even works in isolation cages.
Tailyn? came Valia’s voice in the boy’s head. Somehow, he knew it was her voice, and not his own thoughts. Try saying something. With your mind.
I think I got the hang of dancing, Tailyn thought as he imagined Valia. Since he didn’t know how unification worked, he was going on intuition. Maybe, I’ll be able to learn this, too...
“It works!” the girl shouted as she leaped to her feet. “More, tell me something more!”
Valia was glowing so brightly with happiness that she infected the boy. He began to smile, not even knowing why. As the ancient book popped up in his head, he decided to make full use of the occasion — he’d been meaning to tell the girl how he felt for a while. He just hadn’t been able to find the words. They seemed silly, insincere, clumsy. Tailyn didn’t think he’d be able to get half of them out without blushing or stammering, though thinking them turned out to be easier than saying them.
Valia, you’re the most beautiful, the most wonderful, the smartest girl in the world. I like you so much. I... Yes, I love you! Finally, I can say it. I love you like I’ve never loved anyone else. You’re more important to me than air, water, or food. You’re the person I care about most.
I love you, too, Valia whispered as she pressed herself against Tailyn. A warmth settled on her — her boy had told her how he felt, finally taking the step she’d dreamed of. But as their clear face shields banged against each other, not letting the pair kiss, they giggled. The tension of the previous few minutes receded into hysterical laughter.
Tailyn, I need arcane dust, ink, a pen, and card bases. Can you buy them? I think I came up with a new card.
The arcane dust Tailyn had once sold to the god for a hundred gold cost ten coins at the store, and it took three units to make a card. Everything else rang up at five coins — the ink, pen, and base all together. Figuring it wasn’t so expensive, the boy sent Valia everything she needed. He was intrigued. What had Sadil robbed him of?
Would you like to use your Force Shield-I form?
The card base was a small, rectangular sheet made of a thin, flexible material. Valia tapped yes, and the strange design that had popped into her head appeared on the sheet in the form of a transparent sketch that began to dissipate. A support with mana button appeared. When she pressed it, a hundred mana disappeared, the picture growing stronger before once again beginning to disappear. That was what the pen and ink were for. Valia got to work tracing the image with the pen, though something went wrong — the ink trickled off the base without leaving so much as a trace. An ugly blot appeared on the ground, and Valia cursed to herself. Without the right training, she was reduced to taking stabs in the dark.
I can hear you, Tailyn said with a laugh. Try mixing the ink with arcane dust. If you need it, I can buy some more.
That made sense. All three packets of dust were dumped into a small inkwell that turned out to be a bottomless well. Suddenly, the ink changed color, going from black to dark blue. After supporting the drawing with mana once more, the girl dipped the pen in the blue mix and traced the first line. The ink stayed right where it was. Not only that, it seeped into the base without leaving anything on the surface. It was like the base itself had changed, sucking in the liquid.
Nice work. Keep going!
Tailyn’s support was invaluable. Valia settled into her spot on the ground and got to work sketching line after line, pouring mana into the base every minute. If a stroke didn’t work out, the girl slipping over a line or leaving one too thick, the ink immediately dripped off onto the ground. The lines had to be exactly the same as the pattern. In fact, it took the girl an entire hour to draw the card the way it was supposed to be. Her mana dropped to zero, and her hands were shaking from the strain, but the result was something to be proud of — the drawing was done.
Give the card 5000 mana to materialize it.
Tailyn!
I’m on it. You’re going to have to drink a lot.
Of course, the boy could have taken the easy route and bought a large mana flask for 5,000 coins, but that was just out of his price range. Each of his elixirs cost two coins, and choosing between spending 200 or 5,000 wasn’t all that difficult. Valia, for her part, didn’t argue, though she began taking long pauses after the thirtieth flask. The mana she was drinking took too long to soak in. Ultimately, it took almost half an hour to drink everything, though it was worth it. As soon as she activated the last button, the sheet became real, a rough rectangle appearing in her hands.
Template for Force Shield-I. Description: epic card. Creates an energy shield with a surface area of one square meter 150 centimeters away from the outstretched arm of the card owner. The shield can absorb magic attack damage of any kind. Works until completely exhausted or until the card owner drops their arm. Includes 50 charges. Each use costs 2 mana. Requirements: Wisdom (8). Can be recharged. Creator: Valia Levor.
“Wait, so that’s not the card?” Tailyn asked in surprise.
“No, it’s a template you use to make empty cards. Then, you have to charge them with mana — that’s your job. Tailyn, it worked! I came up with a card by myself!”
“Want to check it out?” Tailyn asked, and Valia had a card ready a second later. It only took 500 mana and the template. Easy as pie.
“Epic cards burn so much,” Tailyn muttered when he saw how much it was going to take to charge it. Even with all his alchemical upgrades, it cost 3,250 mana to give the card fifty charges. And that was a full half of what he had. Seek quickly dropped out of his active deck — the new card was much more valuable.
Let’s give it a try. Ka-Li! Tailyn said in his head and raised his hand. A meter and a half away from his palm, a small, shimmering field appeared to follow his hand wherever it pointed.
Boo! he heard the girl say, and a fireball came flying at him. With barely enough time to turn his hand toward it, he was pleased to see the shield work perfectly, though it did disappear completely. Valia had stronger magic attack than Tailyn. In fact, a few drops of plasma hit the boy — all that was left of the girl’s fireball.
Again! Electricity this time. Ka-Li!
Boo!
Once again, the shield was knocked out, though the boy didn’t twitch the way he usually did when he was hit with electricity. Vargot was able to completely absorb the girl’s hit without passing anything on to its wearer.
“Why is your activation phrase so strange?” Valia asked as soon as Tailyn had restored the two charges. “You spend too much time on two words, and that extra second could cost you your life.”
“Actually, it used to be ‘Alchemist Tailyn Vlashich,’” the boy s
aid with a laugh. “By the way, I like ‘boo.’ I think I’ll use it, too.”
“That would make it easy for us to trade cards,” Valia replied, smiling.
“Hey, speaking of which, make another one of those cards. I have just enough to charge it for you. Actually... Make seventeen of them. We’ll jump straight to level three! That would be fantastic — five hundred charges of extra protection.”
“Where are you going to find that much mana?”
“I have a couple crystals, so I can boost my card saturation. We’ll think of something. You just worry about making the cards, and...”
Suddenly, Tailyn trailed off and tensed up. Raptor showed six red dots approaching their camp.
What happened? Valia asked mentally.
Red lixes. Six of them. Level thirteen. Warriors, no shamans. Here on big furry things, but I don’t think they’re here for us.
The children were incredibly lucky they’d picked a spot away from the most obvious choice. Valanil had taught them that. Meanwhile, the lixes set up camp and flopped down to relax, leaving one warrior on guard. Activating a protective barrier meant they were hidden from the rest of the world, only Raptor didn’t have that problem. It went right on showing the twelve red dots mere meters away from the kids’ own protective barrier.
“Hit them with fire?” Valia said. “I don’t want them just hanging around.”
“Agreed, though I want to try something first. Give me a couple minutes.”
Raptor’s scanner didn’t just show the lixes and their yaks; it also pulled up the devices Tailyn could get access to. There was the generator for the protective barrier as well as one level one suit of armor. Apparently, the squad leader was wearing it. Tailyn tapped Raptor’s icon.
Would you like to hack the level 1 protective barrier generator? If you are unsuccessful, the owner will be informed of your attempt.
It wasn’t the most satisfying of explanations, though Tailyn had to doubt the red lixes even knew equipment could be hacked or that it was important to protect against hacking. Speaking of which, the boy made a mental note — he needed to look into protection, as well. Sadil was presumably going to try to hack him and grab his logs.
Your Hacking level: 18. Generator protection level: 10.
Replacing device owner.
A control panel popped up for the new device. Tailyn grunted in surprise — it turned out that every piece of equipment had its own protection level, some initial value that depended on its overall level. And that meant the boy had gotten lucky that the lixes didn’t have anything above level one. But he didn’t stop with the generator, as an interesting idea hit him. What if he hacked into the commander’s armor and blocked it? If he could do that with the generator, he could presumably do it with the armor, too...
Get ready. The lixes are going to go crazy in a second, so hit everyone who jumps up with a fireball. Don’t touch their commander.
Replacing device owner.
Warrior’s travel set-I blocked.
Protective barrier turned off.
The lix commander’s enraged roar split the night. He was suddenly locked inside his own outfit, unable to move a single one of his extremities. All he could do, in fact, was yell wildly and throw his head back and forth as he tried to figure out what was going on. And just as Tailyn had predicted, the rest of his squad jumped up only to be taken out with five fireballs in a matter of seconds. Neither their simple armor nor their personal shields turned out to be any use.
Thanks for the tip! Boo is definitely better, Tailyn said to the girl before heading over to the screaming lix. There was practically no loot to be had — the boy sold everything right away, only picking up twelve gold. Half of that amount headed over to Valia automatically. A while before, Tailyn had finally figured out how to set the store up so the money he got for selling equipment was split evenly between group members. That list had previously included Forian and Valanil, though the boy had removed them. He wasn’t about to just hand out gold or coins for free.
Access received to logs.
Access received to personal information.
Note received: Halas’ order.
Note received: Mu-Ro-Din’s letter.
I, Halas, high commander of the lixes, summon to join my army all the tribes capable of holding a spear. The lixes of the Gray Lands will join to become a force greater than can be imagined, and humans will be wiped off the face of the earth! The assembly will be held on the longest day of the year. If any tribes do not heed my call, they will be named enemies of the lixes and destroyed.
“The lixes are getting ready for war!” Valia said with a gasp. “They’re going to attack the empire, and the longest day is just six months from now. We have to spread the word!”
“I imagine the emperor is already aware. He’s a function, part of the System, after all. Oh, wow, look at the letter from the shaman.”
To all crystal fences! Halas, high commander of the lixes, offers you twenty crystals for each mage. The exchange will take place in the red lix camp two weeks before this year’s longest day. In order to gain free access to the Gray Lands, your caravan should be flying a red, triangular flag. All others will be attacked.
“I know when and where we can find Berad Gor,” the boy said thoughtfully.
“Tailyn, no!” Valia could tell what he was getting at. “We have our orders. The meeting will be in six months, and we’ll be back at the academy by then. We can tell the dean, he’ll send out an attack group, and they’ll take out all the crystal fences at once. A hundred high-level mages will be able to handle them just fine. But not us!”
Tailyn sighed heavily, already picturing himself the great warrior who rid the planet of its scourge. But Valia was right — a couple twelve-year-olds were no match for hardened killers. Heading back over to the lix, the boy checked out his personal information and logs. There was nothing of interest to be found. The creature was decidedly and unpleasantly ordinary.
“Tailyn, don’t kill him,” Valia said suddenly. “Forian mentioned we might have some squads coming after us, so we should put them off the trail. Look, here’s what we’ll do...”
Valia’s plan seemed like a good one. Once the camps were deactivated the next morning, two groups set off in different directions. One, which was made up of two horses, five dead lixes, and their commander, who was bound hand and foot, headed deeper into the Gray Lands. Tailyn was sure the lix would be able to work himself free and head off in the direction he needed to go, taking whoever was tracking them along with him. If anyone was tracking them, of course. The other group — six hairy yaks and two children — trotted off toward the red lix camp only to turn sharply in the direction of the ancient city a few kilometers later. Without even realizing it, Valia had saved the pair’s lives. Several hours later, an enormous detachment of lixes came across the yak prints, though they didn’t pay them any attention. Who cared what a few warriors needed off in the mountains? Perhaps, there were tribes hiding up there who didn’t want to join Halas’ army. Every lix had a job to do, and that group of six was no different.
Over the week the pair spent getting to the mountain range, they had to fight off wolf packs three times — the creatures apparently thought the yaks and presumably weak little humans were easy prey. Dealing with them wasn’t a problem, though Tailyn earned himself such a serious setback that he spent days without making a sound, his expression darker than a rain cloud. After taking out a few opponents, his companion, the dragon Li-Ho-Dun, had reached level six.
Your companion reached level 6. 2400 experience until next level.
Your companion reached a threshold (next threshold: level 15).
All companion parameters increased by 50%.
Companion abilities upgraded:
Tough bones became Tough bones-II.
Protective aura became Protective aura-II.
***
Tough bones-II (passive ability). Description: your companion’s body is tougher and more res
istant to all types of damage, its shield level 5 times higher than the standard. Its body is also more flexible and less prone to damage from impacts caught by its shield.
Tears of Alron (The Alchemist Book #3): LitRPG Series Page 13
