Freezing cold water splashed across my face as the room around swam back into view. l was floating in front of , holding a bucket. I coughed and spluttered, having accidentally inhaled so of it before getting out so words. “What the fuck?” I asked, the profanity slipping out where it normally wouldn’t. Apparently, unexpected ice water baths were still very much not a favorite thing of mine. A mory of a winter when my kids were young flashed, but I pushed it aside for the more important matters at hand. There would be ti for reminiscence later.
“Sorry, sothing seed wrong. You’ve been down there mumbling and shaking fer nearly an hour. I ain’t never seen a fortification take that long. Y’all right?” l said, looking actually apologetic. Had I managed to permanently remove his glare finally? I thought that seed unlikely, but anything was possible.
“I don’t think anything was wrong. I had sothing called an affinity evolution, and the ability it gave seems pretty great,” I said, standing up and looking for a towel, still not happy to be soaking wet.
“Yer kidding, right?” l said. The glare was half back. I knew I hadn’t beaten it.
“Nope, how would I be? I didn’t even know what core fortification was before I started,” I said, not thinking l actually doubted , just surprised at my revelation.
“What was it?” He asked.
“Mana Tinkering. Let just read the exact description for you ‘Through the use of your engineering skills, your core has managed to evolve in a way that allows you more easily alter mana channels and flows. Further ranks allows for a greater control and understanding of how mana flows work.’ Like I said, it seems pretty useful,” I said, watching l’s jaw literally drop the more I talked.
“No one, and I an no one, ever repeats what Dave just said! You two understand ?” l roared as his glare turned to the couch that the brothers had moved to at so point.
“I wasn’t really following what he said. I’m still pretty out of it, but I’m sure Cecile will agree,” Elicec said groggily.
“I guess. I don’t really see what the big deal is, though,” Cecile added, clearly not enthused with it. Which, honestly, was entirely fair. I had no idea just what l was worried about. Was this due to how rare it was for people to really play around with their own mana channels and core? Then again, how rare was it really? I only had the archives books to go on and l had made it clear there were gapingly large holes of knowledge within it.
“Dave, I know yer about to ask for yerself just why we need ta shut up but don’t. We can discuss this later once we have a nice secure room sowhere, and fer now, yer welco to play with it all ya want. Just do not say what exactly it is. If anyone ever asks, tell them you’ve got an affinity for raw mana manipulation or sothing. That should be similar enough fer now,” l said, and I could tell this was more of an order than a request.
“Good, because I’ve got so ideas I want to try out. So what’s next on our agenda anyway?” I asked.
“The three of ya are gonna spend the remainder of the day resting. Timon should have the bus ready tomorrow. Then he’s gonna take yer asses ta the persistent desert dungon. I want ya in yer simulator on the trip, don’t push anything, but make sure yer mostly back where ya were, if not at least a little higher. I’m gonna stick around here and prepare fer our trips outta here. The mont y’all get back, we’re leaving. I know I ain’t the best at saying it, but y’all’ve done pretty great, and I’m proud of ya, so I swear if ya manage to die now, I will pay soone to resurrect yer asses just to yell at ya even more,” l said, surprising with a smile.
“Good, because I really need so more sleep. Between everything I’ve been through in the last two days, I’m surprised I’m even able to think. I guess that says sothing about how I’m progressing, I suppose, but it doesn’t stop my brain from trying to force its way out of my skull,” I said. The headache had returned, not nearly as bad as it had been before the fortification, but it was back nonetheless, and I was sure a nice nap would help.
This text was taken from . Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Yeah, go get so rest, ya two also,” l said, looking from to the Twinoges. I didn’t wait to see if they argued; my bed was calling, so I made my escape, and soon my head was on my pillow.
“Hello again, Dave. How are you doing?” a voice said. I bolted awake at the sudden sound and quickly spotted who it belonged to. In the chair on the other side of the room was a man dressed as a circus clown. I was reasonably sure it was a clown I had once t as a child, and with that realization, the mory of the last dream eting returned to . How had I forgotten it? Was I going to forget this one as well?
“Hey, thank you for taking a different form. It’s appreciated. But why couldn’t I rember our last eting until just now?” I said, worried this creature was about to be a problem, and I really had enough of those to last several lifetis at this point.
“I don’t know, but I ca to you with a warning. In my journey to discover myself, I traced the path your mind took when I encountered you the first ti, and I found the world of your origin, frozen under the power of the magic I saw within your mory. In the deep darkness far out from your ho, I felt other presences that had also beco aware of it. I cannot tell you for sure what their intentions are, but I believe I experienced what you know as fear when I tried to observe them,” the clown said. So there was a new problem, just not from it.
“Do you have any idea what the presences are?” I asked, not sure that it even mattered. If I forgot this conversation when I woke up again there wasn’t anything I could even do about them.
“They swam across the blackness, their teeth tearing and rending at the blackness itself, and when one of them saw , I fled, as I said. That is all I know. What their teeth were attached to or how they swam is unknown to ,” it said.
“Well, great, so there's a new mystery monster out to devour the Earth that sounds like sothing of a Cthulian horror. Maybe it’s best I won’t be able to rember this, as I don’t think there’s anything I can do about it,” I said, entirely understanding why this being fled. I was sure I’d have done the sa. Hell, I’m not even sure I’d have approached them at all to begin with.
“There is one more thing, as my awareness grows, the faintest mories belonging to neither of us have started to stir sowhere deep inside . I do not understand where they ca from or what they an, but there are flashes of things. Dave, what am I?” They asked as though I had any idea. Wait, did I have no idea? I an, I certainly didn’t know who they were, but perhaps I knew what they were.
“Wait, you beca aware of during a very bad mana backlash event I suffered that nearly killed . Is it possible you are the consciousness remaining from another extre mana backlash? It’s possible you are soone from the Spiral who suffered the fate I managed to recover from. It might explain why you are so drawn to ,” I said. As far as I understood, mana backlash wasn’t particularly rare, so the possibility did nothing towards identifying who they may have been previously, but it was a start at least.
“That is a reasonable idea. I will need to dwell more on these flashes and see if I can piece anything together. Will you assist the next ti I visit?” it asked.
“Yes, and for now, stay away from whatever the monsters are. Hopefully, they aren’t an imdiate problem with how far away they are, but even if they are, I don’t think there is anything you can do about it, so don’t risk it,” I said, preferring that this being stay alive for a future eting, especially if I still couldn’t rember this dream when I woke up. How does one plan for sothing they can’t rember? I felt myself start to stir with that thought and tried desperately to hold onto the slippery dream as my eyes opened.
The headache had mostly vanished after my nap, and I was glad for it. If I had to spend the trip in and out of the simulator, I needed to keep my brain as functional as I could. I also had another plan I wanted to work on, and I was going to need Corey’s help for that one.
I was tired of fighting up close with my mallet. I wanted to be able to easily cast spells and fight at the sa ti. With my new ability, was it possible to place the dungeon core into the mallet and, perhaps, even give him the Imbuing mana orb? Would he be able to fight alongside ? I had a feeling I’d have to find a way to extend my own mana channels into the mallet, but for so reason, this all seed more possible since I had gained mana tinkering. It was refreshing to feel so confidence in the idea of engineering sothing again. It felt like it had been forever since that simple joy had entered my life.
The giants, it turned out, were only the beginning, and now that I’ve learned of what they call the System’s path, I am forever changed. The fantasies of youth have returned at the simple idea that I could be soone who could wield magic like the wizards of folklore. I’ve made a new friend who has promised to help form what he calls a core. I am honestly not sure I’d have made it this far without the help of Grom. He was one of the first people who didn’t treat with utter disregard.
Ronald Tamn’s Personal Diary
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