Icarus Awakens

On the fifth day after their return, a meeting was held. There was no building large enough to host it, and even if there was it’d be used for housing. Instead, everyone met where the Roster had once stood. The billboard was still there, unadorned. Murdon’s careful planning had been upended on multiple fronts, and what was the point anyway? All matters of concern for this and every day afterward were focused on the final evacuation efforts. The sole item for discussion was the dragon.

Commander Murdon was in the center of the street, surrounded first by Lograve, Quala, and the other headmen. Others were nearby, and in a sense, the entire village was a part of this discussion. Word would reach those sitting on porches and along the streets who in turn would spread what was spoken throughout the village proper and the camps around.

There was no need to call for silence when the moment arrived. Those who were speaking did so in a whisper, not wanting to miss the start of the conversation themselves. What they heard first was a heavy, rasping sigh. “Alright. We’re here for one thing only. As you have been informed, there is a level six lightning dragon blocking the pass out of the Thormundz region. There are too many people here to sneak past or try and push through. The mountains surrounding us are too high and too infested to risk. The only way we can survive is by killing that monster.” Murmurs became louder as several games of telephone began. The miscommunication would cause issues, but there was no way of stopping it. There were no more secrets and it was impossible to keep this anywhere but in the open. Almost no secrets, Murdon corrected internally. “By now word must have spread of what was done in Roost’s Peak. I want to first stress that despite our victory, what we face in the pass will be a far greater enemy. Lograve.”

There was a space cleared in the center, around which those most important stood. Lograve concentrated for a moment, making use of his illusion power. A replica of the pass, focusing on the lake at its peak, was formed. He could have done this as well with Aquakinesis, but that had required much more practice and would have made a poorer representation.

While this happened, Rodrick asked a question. “It has been said that the fire dragon possessed Regeneration, among other things it should not have. Some blaspheme to the point of saying it possessed a soul. Disregarding that, it still would be an above average threat for its level. Would defeating the lightning dragon be so different?”

“I am getting to that. You see, uh,” Murdon’s eyes flicked into the air, annoyance coloring his eyes as he noticed someone levitating themselves to get a better view of the illusive map. “Briefly, that dragon recklessly exhausted its mana, leaving it vulnerable. This is abnormal as creatures with intelligence and wisdom this high retreat before that point. We have no reason to believe the dragon that guards the pass will behave outside the norms of its kind. Additionally, in that fight we had Kob.”

Lograve took up the explanation here as he adjusted the image, something else made easier due to his choice not to use Aquakinesis. “That changes our original plan. Broad strokes, we were going to load up Kob with every buff we could until they glowed brighter than the sun, then use them to occupy the dragon while the rest of us targetted weak points. The water of the lake is a problem, but if I commit entirely to freezing the surface I can make a contestable area of about this size.” Solid surface covered about a quarter of the lake.

“I’m guessing Murdon will need to fill in for Kob?” one of the other headmen asked warily. They’d all been taken by the Tyrant’s influence, and some were finding the transition back to undiluted reality difficult.

“Yes,” Murdon confirmed. “But I will be a poor shield for the rest of our forces.”

“Murdon cannot occupy the dragon’s attention as easily as he does yours,” Lograve added defensively. “To be clear, he is putting himself in the most danger and I do not agree with that part of the plan.” Contention passed between the two friends before Lograve reluctantly continued. “We face two major threats from this dragon and one main obstacle. Its flight is the obstacle, obviously. If half our people can’t hit the damned thing they might as well be carrying sticks instead of swords. As for the threats? Its collective assortment of slashing and bludgeoning appendages, and its lightning breath. It should go without saying that no one of our level can expect to live longer than a few seconds if directly exposed.”

“Then how did you survive when Jonus didn’t?” Everyone leaned forward with Rodrick’s question. Along with knowledge of the dragon itself, and Murdon’s secrecy, was spread the fact that Lograve had survived an encounter with a being twice his level. Honestly, the scars should have made that obvious, but there were plenty of other known monsters in the region that could have done that.

Lograve looked around, met the eyes of a few, and laughed. “Pure, unadulterated luck.” The scar on his face stretched as his mouth opened wide. “In all honestly, it was Jonus who was as responsible as I for my survival. He drew its attention and I only got battered across the lake instead of cut in half. After that, I was able to encase myself in ice to blunt its lightning. A rather oversized bolt of ice drew it into the lake, where its lightning stunned it. Honestly, I can’t remember what happened next too well, but eventually I dragged myself to the edge of the village where some spearwoman I can barely remember saw me.” Janice shifted slightly where she stood behind Murdon.

“Repeating that feat will not be possible,” Murdon said, addressing what was probably going to be the next question from the audience. “Disregarding that the dragon may avoid flying too close to the lake in the future, we cannot provide suitable protection from the lightning for everyone. If it touches the water, anyone not on land or the ice Lograve provides will die. To say nothing that fighting in the water before that would be a tactical disadvantage for most already.”

“Why fight the fucking thing there at all, if the water’s so bad?” That was Tlara, leaning casually on the back of one of her wyverns that was perched on a roof. She’d been inseparable from them as of late. “Just bait it out or something.”

“That’s the last thing we want,” Murdon replied, to which Tlara stared in confusion. “We will need to dedicate most of our forces to fighting this dragon. At the same time, we have roughly 800 people without classes and children to guard. If we left them here with a token force, it would only take a handful of monsters to cause another tragedy.” A collective shudder ran through the village as this image was passed on.

“The lair effect,” William shouted, from where he too was perched on a roof. He and Tlara weren’t the only ones taking advantage of what was effectively stadium seating, although no one else shared Tlara’s spot.

“Right. If we’re close enough, the dragon will scare off other threats for us.” Lograve acknowledged. “But that means keeping the villagers nearby. It’s one thing to stay safe by a fire, and another to be within it.”

“What he’s trying to say is that part of this battle will involve keeping the dragon by the lake.” Murdon gave Lograve an admonishing look. “There’s no reason for us to believe that is where it lives, but it has claimed it as part of its territory. Moreover, the initial scouting team was not attacked until they reached the lake itself. As long as the lake is part of its territory but the approach to it is not, the lair effect will keep the dragon fighting us and not those nearby.”

“That is a lot of lives to gamble on an assumption,” Quala commented. Even she was showing trepidation at what was being discussed in the slightest rise of some of her feathers. “But I see no better option. This method allows us to send as many as we can to battle.”

“At this point, I should speak to the risks here.” Murdon cut in. “We are facing a level six opponent. Jonus, in terms of durability, was above average compared to the rest of us and he died in moments. There is no plan I can conceive of that will ensure everyone will survive.”

“And he’ll be at the greatest risk!” Lograve said pointedly to one of the headmen.

“So what do we do to minimize our risk?” Rodrick asked. “I assume we will discuss tactics with this map of yours, who to put where, and what powers will we use. You would have thought of all of this already and with Kob in mind. Why meet like this? A smaller forum could have ironed out details before being passed along to the rest. All we’re doing now is terrifying the village.”

“I learn from my mistakes,” Murdon replied. “My decision to keep the dragon a secret made it easier for the Tyrant to undermine me. Even if they are no longer with us, I realize where I went wrong. I owe honesty to those I would ask to fight with me, and those I would risk by bringing them this close to danger. But, there is another reason. For weeks now, most of you have been training harder than you ever have, advancing at what has probably been your fastest pace yet.” He broadened his shoulders and gestured to the audience at large. “I have a rough idea of what most of you can do, but that was before this training. What we need to know now is what has changed. Anything we can use as an edge in this fight improves our chances. Before we get into this, there is one development that should be discussed first. Daniel, Khare,” he beckoned.

…

This is what Daniel had seen when he had remade his Focus and investigated both the bodies of the sparkbats, and the other enchanted items in the village. The potential it represented had prompted Murdon to hold this meeting ahead of schedule.

Password?

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Focus v1.1

Use of exotic material has added additional benefits to your Feature: Focus Enhancement. These benefits will be lost if your Focus is remade with other material.

• Level: 5 durability

• Function: Flashlight

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You have scanned multiple Creatures, listed below.

Scanned Targets:

• Sparkbat, Energized, Deceased (Whole) - 23

• Sparkbat, Energized, Deceased (Damaged) - 107

• Sparkbat, Energized, Deceased (Decayed) - 378

• Sparkbat, Energized, Deceased (Rotten) - 276

• Sparkbat, Energized, Deceased (Destroyed) - 154

You have met the requirements to unlock multiple Encyclopedia entries, listed below.

Encyclopedia Entries:

• Monster: Sparkbat, Detailed

• Formulae: Spineshard, Ammunition

• Formulae: Lightning Link, Armor

• Monster: Sparkbat, Extensive

• Formulae: Sparkshine Trident, Weapon

• Formulae: Lightning, Affix

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Analysis of Sparkbat, Energized has improved Formulae: Lightning Wings and Formulae: Lightning Bolt to Quality: Standard.

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Analysis of Items related to your primary profession has unlocked Formulae: Enchanting.

• Formulae: Weapon, Base

• Formulae: Armor, Base

• Formulae: Shield, Base

• Formulae: Spark Torch, Item

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You have accomplished Feat: Discovery.

This has unlocked potential for growth. One Advancement Potential has been awarded. You may assign it with Function: Settings in addition to expending potential through normal methods.

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Your Dexterity is now 17! You have gained Ability: Construct Projectile and Ability: Dodge Roll.

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Construct Projectile (Ability, Dexterity, Spell, Domain: Destruction, Cooldown, Level: 2):

You possess the Power to create and fire a projectile from nearby, unattended material. This requires a moderate amount of Mana and a sixty second cooldown when used. Damage from this ability scales with your dexterity. Projectiles from this ability do not gain special properties from the materials they are created from unless they are magical in nature. If such material is used, it is destroyed after the projectile strikes its target This is a Magical Ability that does not function in an area of Magical Suppression.

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Dodge Roll (Ability, Dexterity, Utility, Domain: Restoration, Level: 2):

You possess the Power to quickly reposition to another location within a short radius. This ability requires a minor amount of Mana and the ability to freely move. While under the effect of this ability you have an increased resistance to most types of damage. This is a Nonmagical Ability that functions in an area of Magical Suppression.

Of everything, the advancement potential was the least of Daniel’s concerns, though he’d committed it along with the other two he’d unknowingly received from the sparkbat battle.

He had done it. He had found a way to make his class make sense. At that same time, he cursed his Encyclopedia for not telling him about this sooner. All it had said was that additional entries would be unlocked through the scanning function. He’d thought that just meant more lore! The additional information on sparkbats had been interesting, covering things like typical swarm size, the occurrence of sparkbat strikes and how that converted them into a higher leveled variant that acted individually, even the creatures that commonly preyed on them. That was what he’d expected, and wouldn’t have been worth the effort of collecting all those rotting bodies.

But enchanting formulae? He’d have done it all by himself if he had to. This was the purpose of his class, something he preferred to do far more than put his own life at risk. In some of the battles he’d taken part in there had been electricity, rhetorical as well as literal. The feeling of being alive. Still, too much death came with it for Daniel to ever feel completely comfortable with hunting.

In the moments after he’d acquired the new formulae, Daniel had run back with every intention of trying one out. Halfway there he changed his mind, although not his direction. Running past Alost again, Daniel forced his way into the library and spoke to Lograve. The Arcanist’s annoyance at being woken lasted exactly five seconds into Daniel’s explanation.

The next day, Daniel made himself busy by creating an example of each item he’d learned to make, except for the spark torches. In addition, he’d hesitantly made copies of his previously shoddy formulae and found them to be vastly improved. It was a surprise, but a welcome one.

Enchanting itself was tiring. When his Encyclopedia had called the process “effortless” it must have only referred to the mental effort involved. Physically, it involved hours of concentration and manipulation of the material he was using. There wasn’t any hesitation or second-guessing involved. To Daniel, it was like following the recipe for toast. As long as he had a heat source and some bread it was foolproof.

As far as specifics, Daniel’s crafting power followed a fairly simple series of events. First, he visualized what he wanted to make. It was like how he’d focused on his family photo to make his Focus, though there was some variability here. For example, he could make armor for various types of creatures, even ringcats. The amount of material and time needed did scale with the size and complexity of the final product, so Daniel had refrained from making anything for Hunter at this point.

Then, he slowly infused mana into the target material until it became fully charged. Using the heliorite added the extra step of converting the material to the appropriate level. This had benefits, like the improved durability and flashlight his Focus now had. The last step was fully separating the infused material from the rest of the source and finalizing its shape.

The strangest part was the violation of conservation of mass. When he’d made the example armor, he’d pulled a full copy of his leather armor out of a palm-sized piece of the heliorite. That had taken him ten hours, by far the longest of the projects. If he hadn’t had Craftsman’s Repose he’d never have finished everything in time.

Daniel’s mouth was dry as the time finally came. Amidst the bickering of the meeting’s initial moments, he could barely hear the words. He shuffled forward, taking the space of the illusion as it was temporarily dismissed. Khare was there too, primarily for their storage power. Daniel had made good on his promise by delivering a lightning dagger to the gestalt, which also commemorated Khare’s recent advancement to level two. It wasn’t anything special, made only with the basic level two enchantment all enchanted items needed, as well as the lightning affix which either converted the damage type to lightning or added additional lightning damage to the base attack. He wasn’t too sure about how it mechanically worked since no flashing numbers popped up when Khare had thrown the dagger at a training dummy. At least the gestalt had nodded approvingly.

Lograve continued his explanation as they entered the center of view. “Daniel has recently become able to create magical items and has a rather useful material to work with. We need to decide as a group which of these are most useful to us. Daniel, in any order you prefer.” Silently, he added, It’s ok. Just describe them, that’s all we need.

How did you know?

You’re shaking harder than a man with a bad bladder. I guess public speaking isn’t your thing?

No. Daniel, now conscious of his trembling, locked his knees and clenched a hand.

Didn’t you yell at Alost’s group after shooting out a dragon’s eye?

Daniel didn’t answer that. It was stupid, the anxiety he was feeling now compared to what he’d done, but that didn’t change anything. He looked at Khare. “D-dagger first.”

The gestalt hadn’t changed like Kob had after leveling. They were still roughly person-sized while a vine ball, having also recovered fully from Roost’s Peak. Khare hadn’t commented on what new powers they’d obtained and Daniel hadn’t thought to ask to see them through Identify Creature. Otherwise, Khare’s ability to assume the upper form of a humanoid while maintaining an amorphous lower mass was the only development Daniel had seen, and that was before Khare had reached level two.

Standing with Daniel, Khare reached inside themself to pull out the danger they had been gifted. It wasn’t particularly embellished since it was made as an exact copy of the original. The difference was that it was level 2, glowing, and yellowish-orange. One might even say it looked like it was made out of gold. It didn’t have a color pattern unique to ringcats and Daniel’s Focus, but looked like solid gold from the blade to the hilt.

“I learned how to make weapons with a general lightning enhancement. Uh, damage buff.”

“How the fuck’s lightning damage supposed to help us?” Tlara called from the middle distance. Strangely, that helped. Daniel had been so inoculated to Tlara’s personality that all her attempts at needling did was calm his nerves.

“I made it from heliorite. That ore has some special properties. In this case, it makes the damage bonus radiant instead. I think I can stop that, but in this case it’s useful.” There were some mixed looks, mostly hope or surprise from those who knew the true value of that material.

William grunted, first to speak. “Good. It’ll have resistance to normal weapons. Enough of those and we can skin it alive.” He wasn’t sharpening a knife when he said this, but he really should have been.

“Assuming we survive long enough to use them,” someone else argued. The murmurs about a new source of enchanted weapons grew louder with the arguments that formed over the new resource. It was Murdon who shouted them down.

“Enough! There will be time to discuss this when we have gone over everything. Until then, hold your comments. Please, continue Daniel.”

“Right. Uh, armor next,” he said softly to Khare, who pulled out the armor he’d made for himself. Despite being made from metal, it flexed like the old leather set. “Alone this is just level two armor. Uh, I should mention I can also make level one armor but not level three armor. Anyways, the main enchantment is called ‘Lightning Link’. It kind of works how the sparkbats do, spreading lightning between them. It-” Someone started to say something and was stared down by several people. “It’ll help resist lightning damage if you’re close enough to other people with this kind of armor, and the bolts of electricity going between you will damage anything without the armor. It can’t generate the current on its own and if too much builds up?” Daniel gulped. “One of the armors will explode, purging all the energy in the circuit.”

“Circuit?” someone asked.

“Group. Everyone close enough to be linked. If that happens it’s… you’ll probably die.” He paused, and added meekly, “Oh, the heliorite gives a small resistance to radiant damage.”

No one debated the merits of the armor after that presentation. Murdon had chastised everyone, but the thought of armor that could kill its wearer had chilled the blood as well. In the face of that grim thought, Daniel decided to go with the one he was most excited about next. The armor was brought back to wherever Khare stored those things, and instead out came a harness with what looked like folded jet wings off the back. In this case, only the wings themselves looked like they were made from the heliorite.

Those unfamiliar with Earth technology, that being practically everyone present, couldn’t guess what the device did by sight alone. “These are lightning wings. They can’t make you fly, it’s more of a gliding thing, except, hold on.” Khare assisted Daniel in putting the wings on, multiple vines performing the task far more rapidly than would two hands. Murdon and Lograve had a disapproving look on their faces but didn’t interrupt. “Thanks. The heliorite’s made this pretty useful but I didn’t have the time to test this yet since I made the armor first.” He realized there was a fair number of blank looks in the audience. “Sorry. I’ll just-”

Daniel knelt, opening and closing his hands once. The two pieces of metal attached to the harness shifted into a swept wing shape, and the bottom of the pack began to glow. A few seconds later, a sunbeam shot from it and sent Daniel high into the air, the Artificer Jumping at the same time to gain extra height.

“He was supposed to save that for last,” Lograve said in a put off way as he joined everyone in glancing upwards.

“Guy!” Thomas, standing next to Quala, started shouting to Tlara to go up and save him.

“It’s fine,” Murdon sighed. He did wait for a few seconds to make sure Daniel didn’t start plummeting after the apex of the launch before continuing though. “Lograve, could you explain while he makes his way back?”

Lograve held up a hand dramatically, palm up. “Well, I suppose that’s up to me now, isn’t it? It’s not exactly armor, but it does protect from gravity. Someone wearing that can still fall to the ground normally if they want to, but otherwise, ah, just look.” Daniel was twisting in the air, obviously in control and perhaps, maybe, having fun. “That launching effect is from the heliorite. It takes an hour to recharge and requires direct sunlight to do so. Otherwise, there is no persistent propulsion.” It began to be clear that Daniel was not taking the fast way down. “I think you’ve shown them enough!” Lograve shouted up to him, but the soaring Artificer didn’t seem to hear him. Daniel had gone just over one hundred meters in the air. When that didn’t work, Alost fired an arrow. It bounced off the heliorite and didn’t hit Daniel which was probably the intent.

Daniel reached the ground a half minute later and spent a full one jogging back to the village center. “Sorry,” he said, a little out of breath. “The wings, uh, they don’t-”

“I already explained. Next,” Lograve instructed with half-feigned impatience.

“Right.” Daniel didn’t take the wings off and instead just took a trident offered by Khare. The gestalt seemed bemused, Daniel could tell by the slightest way the trident was pulled back before it was handed to him. “Sparkshine trident. And, yes, it has to be a trident. I don’t know why besides the name. Kinda similar to the general lightning weapons but using it underwater won’t shock you with the lightning it generates, only the target. Except the heliorite makes it radiant damage.”

“Of all these items, this is the least suited for our upcoming fight. You can move on Daniel,” Murdon said. It was drawing close to noon and his impatience wasn’t feigned. They still had much to discuss. The glowing weapon, more powerful than the vast majority of all others assembled amongst it, was unceremoniously shoved back into the plant person. Lastly, Daniel took out two bolts, both made of shining metal. The only difference was one had a purple tip.

“It’s kind of weird with these two. I can make bolts or arrows, anything used as ammunition. Maybe even ballista bolts? Normally, they both deal magical lightning damage, but, obviously, radiant.” Daniel held up the spineshard bolt, which was pure gold. “This one stays in the target and acts as another relay for the lightning link armor. It’ll also explode faster than the armor, unless you make a ballista bolt I guess. It’s a size thing. That would be good, except this one is-”

“Radiant,” several people said tiredly. Daniel was stretching out what could have been a brief demonstration with his residual nervousness.

“Yeah. I’ll make some with just the lightning if I can. And, uh, if we want to.” He held up the purple-tipped bolt in his other hand. “This one explodes on its own. A previous version did that whenever it was dropped from high enough, but this will only do that if willfully fired. Thank God-s,” Daniel tacked on the s after a glare from Lograve. “It’s shorter range though. It’ll explode on its own after a certain point, and if it hits something before that it’ll be too slow to do any damage. You can probably guess about the damage type?”

“Anything else?” someone asked.

“Just normal +2 weapons and armor.” More blank looks. “Uh, level 2, or level 1 since I can make things below my level. And optional radiant damage or resistance.” Daniel walked out of the center of attention and felt relieved. He still had the lightning wings on as well. They were slightly heavy and he couldn’t wear a backpack at the same time, but flying? That had been amazing. If they didn’t settle on what they wanted made in the next hour he was going to go again.

He listened dully to the conversation, busy with the one in his head. Hunter, I gotta make you a set of these.

No.

Oh, come on. You can’t say you don’t want to try this.

Don’t like heights. Daniel blinked at Hunter’s aura, a good distance away from him.

You climbed down a waterfall!

Never said I liked it. Hunter’s tail lashed against the floor of the house he was in. Both he and Tak were absent from the discussion, getting rest from their second long night of hunting. The ringcat was closer to level 2. No matter what they decided, Daniel was going to make armor for Hunter too. The heliorite was his, even though the rest of the village would take it from him if he kept it all to himself. Whatever they decided he’d abide by, though some of the material was reserved for his use.

He dipped back into active listening just to see where they were. Several people had figured out the obvious strategy with the lightning link armor and the spineshard bolts, although others were balking at the risks. One contingent just wanted the explosive arrows, and they were led by Alost. A couple of times Daniel was asked to estimate what he could make from the remaining material. Even if he hadn’t already done the math, Quick Mind would have for him.

Only one person wanted a trident, not seeming to understand how bad of an idea using it would be even though a lake was within the field of battle. They were quickly outvoted as democracy was established as the means by which the heliorite would be rationed. It wasn’t egalitarian, only those with level three or a position of status had their vote counted.

First, they deliberated on whether an item should be created at all. The trident lost. Beyond that, no one was confident enough that the other items wouldn’t be useful. The lightning wings, for example, only provided one burst of flight. Against a dragon, that could be the difference between grounding it and remaining impotent on the ground.

Matters turned then to who would get what. Despite its cost, a majority reluctantly agreed a full suit of armor should be made for Murdon to use as a new Focus. Given his size, that would take 3% of the metal, just underneath what Daniel would need for Hunter. That was making it at level one, which would seem a strange choice if Daniel hadn’t discovered something else when he’d regained his Focus. Ammunition was then agreed to, although that was the point Daniel left to start work on Murdon’s armor. It’d be the only thing he’d be able to make today.