Amrydor's second-to-last challenge for the mushroom forest zone was to provide training for a foxkin nad Shuni. She had orange fur that started out dark at the base and faded toward the tips, creating a sort of pinkish haze around her that Amrydor thought was adorable. He also was wise enough to say nothing about it.
Shuni's interest was in his technique for cutting sothing beyond the path of his blade.
"Well," he began, "I am still trying to fully understand it myself. Part of it involves visualization; you have to be able to form a complex ntal image of both what is, and what will be, and then apply will and spirit toward changing what is into what will be. It's not just about imagining a cut happening at a certain distance from the blade; you need to sort of ntally twist reality so that there is no distance between the blade and the target, at least, in the weird direction you are imagining. Um, alright, that's starting to not make much sense."
He frowned as he thought about how to describe it better, then realized that he could just tell Shuni how he'd figured it out. "Oh, I have it! If you know soone who can shadow jump, or fla jump, or anything like that, and you have a way of tracking what direction they are from you, pay very close attention to what 'direction' they are when they are neither where they started or where they are going. They don't cross the space between; they cross a different space where those two locations are touching, or at least very close to touching. Fuyuko is most of how I figured it out, but I've also seen Carnelian Fla jump between fires as well. But not teleportation; that's doing sothing else I don't understand."
Shuni scratched at the underside of her jaw for a mont as she stared up at him, then nodded. "I'll have to figure out a way to do the tracking, but there are a few people I can study, and I should be able to ask for so help. Even a temporary spell would let study a little each day."
Amrydor nodded. "That should help. Um, so, the next part is sort of numberless math."
The expression on her face made him grin. "I know, it sounds weird, but we do it all the ti. Like, if one person throws a ball and the other person catches it, they are both doing math, but fast math without the numbers, and that math relies on how quickly those two people understand everything too. Things like catapults require the sa actual math, but the sizes and distances involved aren't the sorts of things that people are good at doing instinctive math for. That's why we do math with actual numbers in order to aim them."
Talking about it brought back so less than pleasant mories, and he grimaced. "I'm pretty good with intuitive, physical math, and I am fine with normal math, but the complex math for that stuff is frustrating." Mostly because it was slow; he wanted to get it done faster, instead of having to do it carefully, step-by-step.
"Alright," Shuni said, "how does that relate to your technique?"
"Well, rearranging how space and distance works in your head requires that sa sort of math. I think people like Mordecai and Shizoku learn how to do the numbers-math in their heads quickly when they cast similar spells, but for sothing like my technique, I think you have to do it intuitively. You do the math for a throw as you are throwing, based on the weight you feel in your hand and your estimate of distance. It's the sa thing; you make the version of space in your head change while you are striking. It's not a charge that sits on your weapon or sothing — it's all one action."
Shuni considered that for a mont before nodding. "I'm not sure I get it entirely, but you gave enough that I can study it, and see if I can understand it better."
"Good. Um," Amrydor hesitated for a mont, then said, "Give a mont, the final part is sort of weirder."
He considered several ways of saying it before settling on an option, though he wasn't sure if it was the best version. "You sort of have to change what your instincts are. That part is hard. It's almost an extension of using your will to make reality match the image in your head, but it's also a different thing."
Trying to explain it was hard because he felt like he needed to say all the pieces at once to make it make sense. "Rather than using your will to change reality, you also need to be certain that this is the way things should and will work. It has to make intuitive sense to you that the blade is connecting with the target, despite looking like it doesn't. Er, I think I should demonstrate at this point."
"Go right ahead," Shuni said.
Amrydor summoned a sword from his bracers; while the technique felt easier for him when using his war scythe, it worked with any edged weapon, and he was pretty certain that even the requirent of an edge was a limitation he should be able to get passed at so point.
"I'm going to use that mushroom as my target. Now, if what I want to do is have the blade's edge strike a target in front of it, that's pretty easy to have feel right. Everything is lined up properly, so in my mind, the change is not all that different." His slash cut through the air about a foot away from the stalk of the giant mushroom, yet the surface of his target sliced open all the sa.
"Now, if I want to try being sneaky and hit sothing to the side of my blade, it's harder to make it 'real' in my head, because everything isn't lined up in a way that makes intuitive sense. The numberless math is mostly the sa; it's just my mind that thinks of it as different."
For this example, he stepped forward, then sliced downward in an arc that just barely missed the side of the mushroom, but a parallel cut was scored into the mushroom flesh, anyway. "Oh, um, and distance is important too; it's harder to believe in the altered version of reality if there is a large gap between your blade and your target."
"Wait," Shuni said with a frown. "Does this an you can cut directly inside of a creature? Not having to deal with scales or armor seems like it would make everything easy."
Amrydor shook his head. "No, at least, not unless it's a lot weaker than you. Just like a mage can't create a fireball inside soone's lungs; that would be trying to directly affect the space occupied by their spirit and aura. They'd resist it and would have a large advantage. It's much easier to have the cut co from the outside, just as if you were not compressing space. Basically, you can't cut sothing that you couldn't already cut. It just changes where the cut happens."
"Ah, that makes sense. What are the limits of where you can make cuts relative to the blade?"
He shrugged. "None, really. Just, so are harder to make feel real. To the side and parallel is not too much harder than simply in front of the edge, but when you get fancy with it, your mind fights you. That's one of the things I am trying to work on. Here, I'll show you. Take one of those long, thin mushrooms, and hold it out behind my back. Not that close! I don't want to cut myself. Alright, here we go."
After glancing back to verify the distance with his vision as well as with his life sense, Amrydor took a few seconds to gather his concentration, will, and intent, then sliced forward, cutting through the stalk behind him.
Then he slid to one knee, panting. "That one is still pretty hard, and that's with it all lined up neatly. It doesn't actually feel quite right, and I had to push harder to make it happen."
Shuni studied the cut stalk thoughtfully. "If you could do that quickly and easily, it would be very useful in combat."
Amrydor dismissed his sword back into his bracer and nodded. "Yeah, and there's no reason that every ti I cut, I can't make the cut happen anywhere near , at any angle or direction. Well, other than it being a lot more tiring. But I can't make it work yet if it doesn't feel close enough to being correct. It has to make sense in my head first."
He sat down on the soft and spongy fungal matting, the earthy scent wafting up around him. "I'm going to rest for a little bit, that's probably as far as I should push myself right now. But we can still talk if you have more questions."
Shuni grinned, her sharp teeth flashing. "You have wisdom, it seems. Lord Mordecai just let know that he didn't want you doing anything more like that right now."
From there, Shuni moved on to trying to copy what Amrydor had done while he observed her, but she was only focusing on a single strike a few inches away from her target. Doing the sa movent repeatedly was letting her focus on the rest of her ntal state, and every once in a while she paused to ask him a few more questions.
While she practiced, Amrydor's final challenge of the mushroom forest ca to find him. It was Crizdirk, the shaman who led the no-longer-elderly group of kobolds originally from the nearby clan, and he wanted to talk about what Amrydor had been studying in the library.
Crizdirk didn't have a lot to add directly to Amrydor's research, but he proved to be very good at asking questions that Amrydor hadn't thought of and challenging the way that Amrydor looked at things.
The conversation was more about the philosophical side of life and death, and it didn't provide Amrydor with any real answers, but having a broader view of things seed like it would probably be useful.
Even just learning about how different cultures perford their burial or similar rituals could be helpful in the long run, and Crizdirk knew a lot about the other tribes in the area, such as the tengu. Amrydor hadn't known that the feathered jewelry so tengu wore was made from the feathers of deceased friends and family. It seed a little morbid, but it was a way of keeping mories alive.
That phrase created its own discussion about what 'alive' ant. Amrydor certainly hadn't seen anything he could describe as a mory or thought that was alive, but maybe he could only see the type of life that he at least partially understood. Which made him think about how fire in the smithy had seed almost alive as well.
Sohow, the conversation left him confident that he was more likely to recognize odd forms of life than before, while being less certain about what being alive really ant.
When Crizdirk handed him the token for completing the challenge, Amrydor asked, "Um, how does this equal the other sorts of challenges I have been doing?"
The kobold shaman laughed, then grinned up at him. "Thinking takes energy too, young man, though that is not all of it. In our conversation, I have learned and gained insight on topics to think more on later. What I learn and understand becos available for the whole nexus, whether inhabitant or core. Your abilities have great potential value, and anything that brings the cores closer to being able to replicate your sense of life and death is thus also valuable. Lady Kazue especially hopes it might help her ensure the life and safety of others. Though I believe Lord Mordecai is also hoping that it an ability he can learn; if it is sothing that must be innate to a body, then only future avatars would be able to have it."
Crizdirk seed rather amused at that idea. "If that is the case, then it might be sothing for the future avatars of the ladies to acquire, but Lord Mordecai is not inclined to create a new avatar for a very, very long ti. All of this is to say, the energy exchange alone may not be in the nexus's favor, but the total value of the conversation is a very good deal for Azeria as a whole."
That made sense, and Amrydor certainly felt a little wrung out from that conversation. He considered making his way to the next zone so that he could get so sleep, but he decided that an hour of ditation here would do him well enough for the mont, as this zone was a good opportunity to study life that was unusual to him.
After his ditation, he rose and simply began wandering while pushing his senses out as far as he could. Azeria was so densely packed with layers of life that it was much harder to 'see' deeply than it had been in Svetlana's territory. It wasn't that his life sense was blocked, but it beca so overloaded that most life was an indistinct blur if it wasn't near him.
There were exceptions, and Fuyuko was the stand-out example there, but that was a combination of his familiarity with her, the bias his feelings gave him, and the amplification from their empathic bond.
In sharp contrast was Danitsa. She was the one divine agent that Amrydor had not been able to see clearly, ever, and most of the ti he couldn't sense her at all. This was creepy and a little terrifying, and he refused to tell anyone about it lest it get back to Fuyuko, because Amrydor was certain that Fuyuko would imdiately seek out the celestial fox and beg for lessons in how to hide herself that way.
But right this mont, the most interesting beings that Amrydor was trying to comprehend were Sarcomaag and Krystraeliv. The giant fungal raid boss was everywhere, and the crystalline world tree was just as omnipresent. He had known this for a while, but he hadn't really been able to 'see' the continuity between all the different parts of them before.
He certainly couldn't see the whole of either of them, but their networks were clearer to him amidst the noise than they had been before, along with the pulses of life that flowed along and between them.
After a while of wandering and studying, Amrydor decided that he wasn't learning or understanding anything more from them right now. But there was one more very unusual life form in this zone. It only took a mont for him to find a mound of fungi that were actually an extension of Sarcomaag pushed up past the surface. "Sarcomaag," he said, then waited a mont to ensure that the fungal lord had the ti to notice he was being addressed. When the fungi shifted colors, Amrydor continued. "I have been studying different life to deepen my understanding of its nature and my own abilities. If Klastoria is willing, I would like to talk with her for a while, and study her with my senses as we talk."
A mont later, colors on the fungal mat shifted again to spell out the word [wait].
I have an official announcent about the release date for my first volu!
Book 1's title is "Down The Rabbit Hole" (naturally), and the release date is November 3rd. It can be found for preorder now on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Bookshop.
PATREON:
patreon /c/zagaroth (remove the spaces if you need to use this instead of the link) r/NoNeedForACore
Early chapters, so excerpts and short stories, and more art!
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