Chapter Six Hundred And Forty One – 641
You cant just rip open the walls, Laur said, pushing forward as if Felix were about to do exactly that. The wards will detect it and send word to the nearest citadel. See? This array cluster, here.
Felix did see, and he lowered his hand. How fast do they respond?
Typically they inspect ward failure as soon as it occurs. Distance from the citadels differs, of course, but the clans hold the Low Roads sacrosanct and they still reel from the Titan, Tzfell said. They will come with a swiftness born of pride and fear.
Felix gritted his teeth at the mention of Imara, but pushed the feeling aside. Locked it away inside a house inside his Mind. Okay. Then can you push them aside? Like with the ones before?Witness the debut of this chapter, unveiled through Ñôv€l--B1n.
Yes, Laur answered without hesitation. My experiences upon the Undermount have grown my Skills. A rare occurrence, but welcome. This I can do.
As Laur started in on the indelible barriers, Archie stepped close. How do you do he made whooshing gestures with his hands. that stuff? Its a Skill?
A number of them.
Seems like cheating, making the ground just move around.
Felix raised an eyebrow, but didnt stop watching Laurs work. Says the guy who can walk through rock like its water.
Well, yeah, but thats it. I cant make it into a bridge or even burrow a hole. I cant even pull others through with me.
Is that normally a concern? I thought you were the lone wolf type?
Archie scratched his black beard. Yeah. Guess so.
Laur twisted his hands, the thrumming nature of his Chant changing pitch as Felix observed. Sigaldry wasnt changed, but it was bent, the forces it channeled turned aside through the matrices of stone and gold and mithril. Layer upon layer, until there was nothing more beyond his Manasight but the shadow of deep, untouched earth.
The Elf stepped back, brow beaded with sweat. It is done.
Felix licked his lips and lifted his dark hands once more. My turn.
Stone Shaping.
Affinity-sounded and Intent-shaped, the Skill pattern thrummed within Felixs core space. Mana rose from his dual cores, tangling among the waveform world within before shooting outward, through his pathways that etched a gilded road among his Body, Mind, and Spirituntil finally, a thick liquid power issued forth from his palms, and the hard tunnel wall was turned soft. Like wet clay formed too thin, it bent, folded over itself until a hole opened before them. Oddly shaped chunks of metal splashed down, separated from the more common stone around them, before Felix nudged them aside. The hole deepend, turning into a tunnel in its own right, and a barren floor of hard packed dirt beckoned them all.
Get in everybody, he said without strain. This, at least, was a common usage for his Skill. Ill go last.
Vess and Yintarion went first, followed quickly by the Chanters and Archie. The Eidolons plodded through, carrying their riches, a sleeping Harn, and the still glowing elemental core. Evie was right behind, eyes never leaving the injured warrior, while Beef took up the rear.
He looked a bit nervous. Its safe?
Yeah. Ive done this before. Felix nudged the Minotaur teen with his elbow. You good?
Its just a little tight and Im justbig now.
Ah. The Eidolons had slipped in without an issue, but Beef looked truly unnerved by the darkened tunnel. With a flex of his Will, his shaping expanded, raising the roof of the tunnel. Hows that?
Better. Beef smiled. Thanks Felix.
He was thankful for those advantages, however. The stone they broke through was not common Tier I rock as it was outside the Archons Domain, nor was it Tier II or III. Every bit of it was Tier IV, requiring either an Adept Tier Skill to budge it, or to be a stat hoarding cheater like Felix. Lucky for him, he had both.
Chunk of heavy metal up ahead, Archie warned after a time. Not sure the type, but itll slow us down.
Thanks.
Felix changed direction, the shaft ducking below the metal deposit and curving along its bottom for perhaps half a mile. The metal wasnt familiar to Felix, but it resisted his Ferric Shaping and wasnt worth the hassle of trying to burrow through it. Once Archie gave the all clear, however, Felix reoriented back upward at a severe incline. It was a sharp ascent, but Felix shaped stairs out of the ground and kept going. Their goal was the surface, and he had no idea how far underground they currently wereall he could do was head up and hope for the best.
Often they encountered pockets of bad air, as Archie described it. Not quite poisonous gas, just a foulness that the Delven had run into before. When Im Stoneswimming I dont need to breathe, but Ive seen what happens when you suck up too much of it, he explained. More than a few smugglers get retired early due to Status Conditions like Lung Rot. Were better off being safe.
Felix didnt disagree, and they diverted around those too.
Stone Shape thrummed in his core, though none of what he did pushed it in any significant way. It was a single level from Master Tier, and he hoped that if he could get a few shaping Skills to Temper then maybe he could evolve them. The last level of Adept Tier, however, was a veritable wall. On the other hand, it wasnt the only Skill he had to employ.
Ferric Shaping is level 71!
Storm Shaping is level 61!
Every once in a while, they encountered metals Felix could handle. Deposits of iron and tin and zinc, common enough and diffuse through the compacted stone and dirt. Those he shaped away with Ferric Shaping, expanding them into softened strings that flowed through the sludge walls. The air, meanwhile, he pulled through the ever-lengthening hole connecting them to the Low Roads. It was increasingly difficult to provide them all with enough breathable air in their moving dirt capsule, consuming a full third of Felixs ongoing Mana pool as they dove farther and deeper into the unknown earth.
He didnt mean to dive deeper, of course, yet hazards necessitated detours. Again and again, he came against high Tier materials and empty patches of foul gasses. Not interested in risking his friends, he moved around them over and over, but each delay strained him. The airflow was getting harder to manage and the more Skills he pressed at once the more that buzzing hum increased between them all. It wasnt quite a complete song; the Shaping Array that contained all of his shaping Skills still lacked that certain something that would allow him to combine them. Instead it was like a poorly secured load on the back of a pickuphe rattled.
More foul air ahead, Archie said. His little ruby eyes gleamed. Its a large cavern, but it's packed with the stuff. We gotta go around.
No, Felix growled. He was more than annoyed. Fire leaked through his chest, a scourge across his heart. We go through.
What! We cant!
Felix didnt listen. He thrust his hands forward and split open the stone ahead, revealing a wide opening into darknessand a thick, yellow fog rushed toward them all.
Chthonic Tribute!
He seized the poisonous fog with his Will and opened his maw wideit flooded in, all of it pouring into his mouth in a torrent.
Foul. Mmm. Hunger sounded disgusted and then conflicted. Then pleased. Good. New.
The fog vanished, leaving the deep cavern utterly empty save for the whistling suction of air from behind them.
Oh. Or you can, I guess, Archie said, stepping into the cavern. Yousucked up the bad air?
Felix grimaced. More or less.
You can do that?
He can do that, Vess said as she passed into the cavern. Felix. We should take this time to make camp.
Felix looked at everyones faces, lit by the cool glow of his light rods. His chest felt tight, but he couldnt be sure if it was from the poison fog he just ate, Pits Mote of Frenzy, orsomething else. ...Fine. We can all use some rest. Just make sure we check the cavern. He bared his teeth at the dark. Who knows whats out there.
