Arcane Transmogrification

by Robert Harper

  Briefly looking at their content, Danny found that the vast majority of the archdruid’s collection of books did not hold anything revolutionary. There were a few surprises, though, and he took those to actually read first while he worked.

  The first book was written in what Danny could best guess was the dwarven language. The archdruid’s side notes gave hints as to what the book was about and what she had discovered. With this, he learned that obstinite was made from massive amounts of mana condensed into common quartz. This new material did not negate magic but absorb it and store it. The archdruid’s notes also spoke of a way to remove the mana from obstinite, but Danny was frustrated to find that she had not included specific instructions.

  The second book was on alchemy. The principle of the book was around the use of the sacred trees’ ascendancy to augment potions. For example, using leaves infused with Harmony Aspect in a potion would heal a person as if it had been cast on them. Danny saw much potential for this new information.

  The last book was the archdruid’s own notebook. It delved into the art of enterchanting, the art of enchanting by using interconnected runes. Only a solid object that is broken into smaller pieces can be used for this purpose. In the squirrel’s case, a single piece of quartz was broken apart, infused with massive amounts of mana to turn it into obstinite, and then enchanted. Normal enchanting usually involved a single uniform piece, like the blade of a knife, and a number of ever increasing concentric runes. The more complex the enchantment, the larger the rune one would have to visualize when enchanting. Enterchanting had the benefit of bypassing this large visualization requirement by breaking it up into smaller parts.

  His study of the squirrel was still underway. Cranny said that the archdruid had actually made a simple brain for the squirrels but that it was taking some time to unravel. Cranny admitted that the vault’s entrance barriers were easy to solve because there were only a couple dozen pieces. These squirrels contained hundreds of pieces, and he wasn’t sure that he would ever be able to understand the creature as a whole.

  With the archdruid’s notebook, Danny discovered Enchanting. By infusing mana into an object with the desired rune, one could create an activated enchantment. In other words, one would have to actively add mana to the enchantment for it to work. The archdruid used the mana stored in the obstinite and some method, still unknown to Danny, to keep the enchantments working.

  Having finished reading everything from the archdruid’s bookshelf, Danny began scanning the remaining elven tomes into his sanctuary’s library. When he next had a free moment, he would be able to read them at his leisure.

  *Hey Cranny, have I gained any levels since I last visited the sanctuary?*

  *Hmmmm, yes. Can’t talk much. Must focus on chanting. Check yourself. Lazy.*

  Setting aside the tome he just finished, Danny entered his sanctuary and came out of the portal into his skill room. The first thing he noticed was that his intelligence was almost at the next threshold. He went over to the console and figured out how to display only the recently acquired skill levels. The walls around him darkened, and then three hexagons were illuminated. The three hexagons displayed the same skill. “Enchanting” was considered a “Crafting” skill and had risen by three ranks. Each image showed his newfound knowledge in enchanting.

  Leaving the skill room he entered the small rune room to discover his “Runecraft” skill had risen to level seven. He really needed to go through and figure out what Cranny had gathered from their trip down into the archdruid’s vault. While he could see the runes in the barriers and squirrels, that didn’t mean he understood them. Fortunately, a good portion of them were covered in the archdruid’s notes and tomes.

  The mana room was last, and he was pleased to see Nature Affinity was now level nine. Ice Affinity was level three and Danny shuddered at the only reason he had used Ice Affinity.

  Cranny floated into the mana room, “Hey Danny, I finished the latest batch of sacred trees. We can move on to the next.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me Nature Affinity had reached level nine?” Danny asked.

  Cranny shrugged, “Nothing happens really, so I figured I would just tell you if you hit a new threshold on one of the attributes or max out a skill. I can’t wait to see what happens when one does!”

  “That seems fair. There really haven’t been a lot of skill gains lately,” lamented Danny.

  “Yeah, but we need to finish those books before the goblin army starts to move. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get caught up in something else and lose our access to them,” complained Cranny.

  CHAPTER 25

  The outskirts of over a quarter of the elven capital city were now composed entirely of sacred trees. The druids declared the mana crisis abated, for now. It had taken Danny only four days to complete this feat, and the goblin army had yet to make its move. The elven scouts claimed that the goblins seemed to be content to just train and breed.

  Danny still had at least three more full days’ worth of reading to get through the rest of the elven library’s collection. He had read through most of the practical texts and had entered into the individual tomes and notebooks left behind by deceased druids. He figured that these would be less likely to contain information of importance, though he did not doubt there were hidden gems inside the numerous volumes he had left to read.

  It was frustrating spending all that time and not receiving anything for it, but it would provide him with potential gains later.

  A soldier walked over to Danny, and saluted him, “Ascendant, we have what you requested. We were able to acquire three of them, unharmed. Where would you like us to put them?”

  Danny was still by the last few sacred trees he had grown and decided it best to not do this near the city.

  Traveling into the forest, Danny found a nice open area and switched to Earth Aspect. A long rectangular foundation of stone rose from the ground, nine meters long and three meters wide, and then walls rose up to a height of four meters. He made sure the insides of the walls slopes slightly inward. As a last touch, Danny added a staircase to the top with a walkway around the outside.

  Releasing Earth Aspect, Danny turned to the soldier, “Toss one in each, and post as many guards as you feel necessary.”

  The soldier saluted and quickly left.

  Danny would need more mana than he normally regenerated and didn’t want to use any of the elves’. He decided he might as well create a temporary work place. Grabbing three sacred tree seeds from a pocket in his robe, Danny buried each carefully. Switching to his Sacred Tree Form, he began using the last of his mana reserves to grow the three trees.

  Spiraling upward, the tree saplings were made to twist around each other. The process of growing the elven buildings had given Danny some ideas. Even the growing trees provided a small amount of excess mana he could steal to fuel their continued growth.

  The twisting trees rose a half dozen meters in the air before bulging outward to create a simple sphere. An opening had been left in the side of the sphere, and leaves had sprouted from the top of the trees to create a canopy in case it rained.

  The inside of the sphere had a flat floor and a few light bulbs for illumination. Any furniture could be grown as needed. For now, he just needed the mana regeneration the trees provided.

  Connecting to the the three trees with his roots, Danny waited and read in his sanctuary while waiting.

  Roughly an hour later, he emerged to find the soldier from before, patiently waiting.

  “Ascendant, they have been delivered, and four guards have been posted at the corners,” the soldier said.

  Danny nodded, “Thank you and please give my thanks to your team for your assistance.”

  “It was our pleasure, Ascendant,” the soldier saluted before leaving.

  Cranny mumbled, *Did we gain a military rank while I wasn’t looking?*

  *I gave up trying to stop them after the first few days of it,* Danny said, tiredly.

  Walk
ing up the staircase, Danny looked down into the stone pens. In each, a goblin had been placed. They were all awake and highly agitated. Danny noted they were all male as well. Were the females sending out males to scout, now?

  Danny had thought about conducting experiments on a few of the forest animals, but that just seemed too cruel.

  Cranny grumbled, *Except for the squirrels...*

  *Cranny...*

  *Uhhh, fine! No squirrels.*

  Activating Mana Aspect, Danny studied the goblins.

  Danny’s thoughts took on the clinical tone they did while working, *I have verified their connection to the source is gone. How did they accomplish this?*

  *A large surge of mana might have done it, but I don’t think that the ancient key missing in Diadem is a coincidence,* said Cranny.

  Danny thought back to when he was seven and the wizards had tried to unlock his already opened mana with one of these ancient keys. He had overheard one of the wizards worried about an ancient key that had gone missing.

  *If that is true, then what we are looking at is potentially fixable for all the ‘locked’ men back in Diadem,* Danny speculated.

  Where the goblin’s connection to the source had been now contained a faint dark void. Not unlike the one found in the flowers of the sacred tree.

  Danny turned to the nearest guard, “Please secure this one so he doesn’t move.”

  Two guards dropped down into the pen and squatted down to hold the arms of the goblin on either side. One of the two guards also managed to get the goblin in a headlock, securing him even further.

  Danny entered Mana Aspect, floated down to the restrained goblin, and then started pouring mana into the void sitting above the goblin’s stomach.

  A few minutes later came a brief moment when the void stopped accepting mana, and the goblin’s connection to the mana source was restored.

  *More than half of our total mana reserves used, just like the flowers,* reported Cranny.

  *Fortunately, unlike the flowers, he doesn’t automatically have access to his mana,* Danny added.

  Cranny speculated, *It’s possible the sacred trees have their mana unlocked naturally once their connection is established, like the elves who are born with their mana unlocked.*

  Danny decided to continue the test but wanted to avoid endangering the guards. Switching to his Earth Aspect, stone rose from the ground like vines to wrap around the goblin’s body. The guards removed themselves as the stone finally secured the goblin. After making sure that the stone around the goblin was going to hold, Danny ordered the guards back to their posts as he released his Earth Aspect, returning to normal. Pulling on just the minutest amount of mana from the goblin’s source, mana started flowing through it’s body.

  *It all works... We can save them,* Danny breathed a sigh of relief as the goblin collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

  Bringing reality back into the equation, Cranny said, *That is if we can stop the goblins from killing them all first.*

  Danny nodded to himself, *Just one more thing to try, but I suspect we will need more mana.*

  Doubtfully, Cranny said, *I don’t know if we have enough right now.*

  *Do you remember how much it was?* Danny asked.

  *That’s the thing. It was barely as much as we used on the flowers. I think it has to do with me concentrating it. I figured after all your wounds were healed, the rest of the harmony magic would be released like free mana.*

  Danny sighed, *Well then, I guess we have enough mana. Let’s try repeating exactly what you did last time with this goblin.*

  Danny could feel a large portion of his mana leave his body, only to watch it move outward to surround the trapped goblin. The the mass of mana condensed around the goblin’s shoulder before Cranny activated Harmony Affinity. There was a blast of light such as Danny didn’t think could be possible when not using Harmony Aspect. Then, the goblin started to writhe around and scream in pain from inside its stone restraints.

  *Danny, it’s vitals are fluctuating wildly like yours did.*

  *That’s what we expected. Let’s see if we can guide it through the change.*

  Danny grew stairs down into the pit and, once there, activated his Nature Affinity, but this time he took on the form of a goblin.

  He probably could have used his elven or ghost leopard forms, but he figure this couldn’t hurt.

  Reaching out, he touched the changing goblin for maximum effect.

  *Cranny, are you maintaining his organs so they do not shut down?*

  Cranny spoke, as if through clenched teeth, *Yes...but it is nowhere nearly as easy as it was with you. I am burning through a lot of mana right now.*

  Danny looked over the wall of the pen toward his intertwined sacred trees, *Alright, hang on. I will see what I can do.*

  Danny’s switched to his Sacred Tree Form, and his feet became bark-like. He extended roots through the stone pen’s foundation, tapping into the sacred trees so that he could absorb their excess mana.

  Twenty minutes later, Cranny yelled, *It’s reached his source, and it’s now spreading even faster. We probably should have cast it somewhere near here to begin with.*

  Cranny’s control over the goblin’s body started to slip, and then its organs started failing left and right. The goblin soon lay unmoving in the stone restraints. It had fainted from the pain before it took its last breath.

  Cranny dejectedly said, *It wouldn’t have mattered where we started. Once it hits the source, there is no controlling their bodies anymore.*

  ***

  After restoring his mana to full, Danny left his Sacred Tree Aspect and left the first pen. Walking over, Danny stopped as he stared down at the cowering goblin, shivering in the middle pen. It was fidgeting and constantly looking around as if a way out would suddenly appear.

  *Variant ascendant, this time?” Danny asked.

  *Yes, this one should be a little easier,* Cranny said with more than a little relief.

  Danny studied the goblin, asking, *Do we want to go straight for our end goal and try creating one of the dual affinities?*

  *Sure, but which one? Nature Affinity can actually be used to heal. If Nature Affinity works, we won’t know if the other affinities would kill someone by just attempting them,* Cranny replied.

  *So…what about Ice?* Danny suggested.

  *Yes, that works for me.*

  Danny called the guards, and they repeated the process of confining the goblin in stone. The goblin thrashed and fought as hard as he could, but the stone was unmovable. Danny then used over half of his restored mana reserves to unlock the goblin’s connection to the source.

  Then, Danny started sending ice infused mana directly into the goblin’s connection. Cranny had come up with this theory based on the fact that creature in the forest must come across dense sources of magic with natural affinities. His theory was that variant ascendants were sort of accidental ascendants. Though the process seemed more natural, Danny believed the archdruid, for instance, had grown steadily, infusing herself with so much mana that she reached ascendancy. It wouldn’t surprise Danny if this was a painless, albeit lengthy, alternative to his own shortcut.

  The second goblin soon collapsed unconscious in its stone restraints, and Danny quit sending it mana.

  Activating his Mana Aspect, Danny watched as the goblin’s source began to give off waves of ice mana that gradually changed the nature of its being.

  After waiting a few minutes, Danny was flung back as the pen and surrounding area was hit by an expanding aura of ice that coated the stone of the pens in a thin layer of frost and ice.

  Danny looked down in shock at the ice goblin still trapped in the stone restraints, *It worked!*

  Cranny scoffed, *Of course it worked. It was my idea after all.*

  Looking closely at the unique way the mana moved through the creature’s body, Danny asked, *I wonder if we can change their aff…*

  Danny’s thoughts were interrupted at the sound of something
cracking. Then the stone restraints around the ice goblin began to break and fall off. The ice goblin was not even free for a second when it flung its arm out as if it was throwing something. Short spears made of icicles formed and flew toward Danny’s position.

  Danny had barely managed to move out of the icicles’ way when the ice goblin collapsed onto the ground. The freezing aura it was giving off moments before started to wear away.

  *What, just happened?* Danny asked in confusion.

  *I wasn’t paying attention to the goblin either,* Cranny confessed.

  A dark red stain on the ice started to spread slowly outward from under the ice goblin’s neck. Looking over to the guards, he didn’t see any of them missing or looking out of place.

  Looking at his guards in a new light, Danny muttered fearfully, *Did you just see which one did that, Cranny?*

  Cranny’s voice, matched his own, *No, is this what the elves are like when topped off on mana? What have we created…*

  Danny floated a little ways over the edge of the last pen to see the third goblin sitting in a far corner, frozen solid. The goblin’s finger was buried deeper than Danny thought possible, inside its nose.

  Danny frowned, saying, *Well, looks like that is that. I got all the information I needed. How about you?*

  *What a way to go…,* Cranny mumbled, before replying to Danny’s question, *What? Oh yeah, I’m good.*

  CHAPTER 26

  “Danny! The guards tell me you have been up to some interesting experiments,” Elder Breeze called out as he walked out of the forest with Elder Frost and Cardinal.

  Danny turned to the guards, “Please have everyone move back to a safe distance.”

  The guard hesitated, then bowed, before seeming to disappear. This time, Danny’s magically enhanced scans showed the guards using Air Affinity magic to move at impossible speeds.

  Cranny moaned to himself, *What have we done…*

  Before the elders could get any closer, Danny activated his Lava Aspect, and the entire stone structure he had created, not hours before, started to melt into the ground. Danny stood standing on the wall, as it continued to melt, and allowed it to lower him to the ground. He could not feel the heat, and where his flesh touched the lava, there were no obvious adverse effects. The goblin bodies eventually caught fire, and smoke filled the air behind him. It didn’t take but a few minutes, and there was nothing but a slowly cooling pool of lava and no trace of the goblins.