The Fourth Gate: Chapter Eleven

If Number One had offered me just about anything else, I would have told him to get lost. One was notorious, and the more I thought about him, the more sure I was that it was the right choice. I didn’t know much about him, but if the rumors were true, he had a lot of connections in creating and peddling addictive illegal alchemical substances. I’d bet that part of the reason he lived in the Tower-City was because the Space King had barred Meadow and many others from entry. 

If he’d offered me money, I could have walked away without remorse. If he’d offered me something powerful to ease my advancement to Arcanist, I could have left. Primes, even if he’d offered me some sort of natural treasure that could give me a Title early – something I was almost entirely certain was impossible – I could have stepped aside, though that would at least have been tempting. 

But he was offering me my life.

Even if I counted dilated time, not even a month had passed since my staff had almost killed me. And I hadn’t been doing something stupid, or pushing well past my limits, I’d done something that many mages did. Something Liz had done. I hated that I was seriously considering it, but I had to. It wouldn’t fix all of my problems, but it could very well save my life. What happened if I didn’t get a rose and when reaching for Arcanist, I overdid it? I got a resonance boost at Arcanist. Could I survive my staff getting more powerful, and possibly putting a greater demand on my spirit? Even if the ascension went well, the combination of my parasite staff and my channels meant that I was in a delicate state. 

I could fix one of those problems here and now. I wouldn’t even necessarily be doing anything bad to do it. I’d worked with Orykson, who had openly admitted to slaughtering his way through multiple kingdoms worth of people. But… I just couldn’t. 

“I’m afraid that I’m not going to be able to accept that offer,” I said carefully. “I’m in need, you’re right, but I have to think long term. What about the Arcanist tournament? I can’t have this come to light.”

In truth, there were stronger things I wanted to say, but I wasn’t going to declare a one person war on the man’s entire organization. I didn’t like it, but I had to stay within the bounds of propriety. 

“I see,” One said, his face calm. “Well, I hope you don’t regret that. I think you will find Corra to be a much more difficult foe than you may expect.” 

He rose, and his two cronies began to dismantle the screen that was serving as our privacy device. I watched for a moment, then teleported out the window, teleported through the streets for a while, and then into Dusk. I spent a while speaking to Kene, Dusk, and Meadow, making sure that my dad and grandmother didn’t listen in to that conversation. I didn’t think either of them needed to know. 

“I can’t say I’m shocked,” Kene said. “Buyouts in tournaments are pretty common. But I am surprised that it was someone who is that powerful.” 

“No, it makes sense,” Meadow said with a rattling sigh. “One has been growing his power to further challenge the Avatar of Sin and the Kraken Liege.”

We spent some time talking about the political situation around One, and his control over large swathes of some of the worst parts of the political underworld, before we turned the topic to things that were less dire, but more immediately relevant: my upcoming match.

“Do you think he was right?” I asked. “About not being able to beat Corra?” 

“She’s a mineral mage, and she uses a gun, as well as her arm, which she enchanted herself,” Meadow said, tapping her fingers on her cane. “That doesn’t sound awful, but she doubtless got a lot of power from her headstone. There are at least two telluric based enchanters in the Storm King’s collection.” 

I pursed my lips, frowning. I’d been a bit afraid of this. My headstone had been a good choice, and I didn’t regret it, but in terms of raw spellpower, Corra was doubtless well ahead of me. That meant I’d need to rely on a few other tricks.

“Are there any potions I can prepare ahead of time?” I asked. “Maybe false arrows, to bait her into tanking a hit from a real one? Some emergency, last minute spells?” 

“Babe, not everyone has your level of senses, but anyone could tell when the real, seventh gate arrow comes out,” Kene said. “That said, I think we may be able to do some things? There are acids that break down metal. We may be able to construct them? But don’t treat them like they’re going to just instantly counter it. In fact, destabilizing the telluric energy might set off the non-telluric, causing something like sunsteel to explode. It’s a tool, not a hard counter.”

“On the spell front, there isn’t as much to help you prepare as you may hope, but I do have a few suggestions,” Meadow said, which caused me to frown.

“What about the Five Forms spell you mentioned the Shepherd’s people use? Or the Bestial Transformation or Dryad’s Body?” 

“Short term, high power transformation spells take time to get used to, especially for someone who doesn’t have experience with them,” Meadow said. “At least, that’s the first issue.”

“The others, then? Purge Plant Toxicity, Spriggan Step, Fungal Shield, and Rapid Adaptation.” 

“We can work on some of those, but the second issue is your mana regeneration. With it so poor, your ability to train with and use fourth gate spells in combat is limited,” Meadow said. “For the tournament, I’d choose Spriggan Step.” 

“Why that one?” I asked. “Not arguing, I just want to know the logic.” 

“It’s a scaling cost spell,” Meadow explained. “It bends plants around you to assist with movement. On the ground of the arena, with only the protective grass? It should only drain small amounts of mana to assist with mobility. You’re good at mobility, and the small amount of aid should help. The fungal and transformation spells are quite magically draining, while Purge Plant Toxicity is an alchemy spell.” 

“It’s one I’ve been using for ages, I took it way back when I just opened my fourth gate,” Kene said. “It helps strip away excess arrays and energy in a plant with far more power and control than just Harvest Plant Life. Your potions will be more effective. Once you ingrain it, some of the stripped out toxicity actually gets recycled into power for the needed arrays.” 

“Ghostmind,” Orykson said, folding into existence next to me. “That is the one and only death spell you should be learning for now.”

“What about Analyze Legacy?” 

“Fine in the long run, but for now, you need focus, not breadth. Analyze Legacy will somewhat empower your senses, true, but more important is the ability to split tasks off to Hannah and Arthur,” Orykson said, then frowned. “You have infected me. They’re just ghosts, I shouldn’t need to know their names. I shouldn’t know them at all.”

“Heh,” I said, grinning at him. “But alright. Ghostmind has been talked up quite a bit. I can see how useful it is. Anything else?” 

“At this point in the tournament, you’re allowed to bring arcanist level items you made in,” Kene said. “That opens a few options for you. Namely, spell sealing. If you can get your hands on the right plants, you should be able to construct a potion that seals her access to Enhance Mineral.” 

“Won’t work,” Meadow said, shaking her head. “She has likely dedicated her entire headstone to empowering the base spell, as it’s the core of her fighting style. A false Arcanist potion won’t be enough.”

“Backed by soul mana, it may be enough, and he may be able to manage it if he spend, but there is another issue there,” Orykson said. “Namely that it seems likely she's bonded to the arm, or at least to some portion of it, meaning there's no actual guarantee that would work. Resistance to sealing is one of the most common side abilities for bound spells to develop, though it's obviously not a guarantee.” 

“On top of that, it would be his first Arcanist level potion, and only his second soul mana backed one at that,” Meadow said. “No offense meant to you, Malachi, I'm not sure you co

“I’m going to need to spend a long time after the tournament and sepulcher dives catching up on my alchemy and other skills, aren’t I?” I asked.

“Yes,” Kene said bluntly. “But for now, what about a soul mana backed firebomb potion?”

“It’s a good idea,” Meadow said. “It’s a simple design, massively overcharged. It should be a surprise, at the very least.” 

“And with the extra soul mana the headstone gave me, it shouldn’t be at a loss,” I said, only for Orykson’s eyes to slice over to me. He scanned my spirit, and a crooked half-grin spread across his face. 

“Well. Shame we don’t have that rose and time dilation room right now. But regardless, yes, that is good. You lost some of the more esoteric gains that would have helped smooth your advancement, but you have gained a significant amount of soul mana.” 

“Wait, back up, what esoteric gains? Did I make it impossible for me to ascend?”

“No,” Meadow said, waving her hand. “Many people have ascended without a headstone, especially in ancient days. You didn’t even make it harder. It’s just less easy.”

“Quite,” Orykson said. “The Amethyst Mask didn’t manage one before his Arcanist ascension, and he is comfortably in the top ten most deadly people on the planet.”

“Who else is in the top ten? Who is the most dangerous?” I asked, half expecting him to say himself. 

“The Storm King. Even with centuries of stagnation, there is nobody I would care to face less, at least on an open field of battle.”

“There is no official ranking, of course,” Meadow said. “Much of it comes down to practical factors. Within my garden, I could kill many Magi. Outside of it, I’m likely weaker than even Vivian.” 

“No,” Orykson said. “My ex-apprentice doesn’t live up to half the potential she once had. Regardless, Meadow is correct. Even with new counter-strategies, I’d likely struggle within Meadow’s garden, but if we were to fight in an open field, I’d have a massive advantage. Ikki is more dangerous in an outright fight than I am, and could defeat me eighty-six times out of a hundred in a duel, but he lacks many things that could actually kill me.” 

“Atsila and Ama are perfect examples of this as well,” Meadow said. “Seperate, they’re significantly weaker, but when fighting as a unit, they are one of the few forces that could potentially match the Storm King, despite only being a bit over three hundred.” 

“And none of this even touches on contingency plans,” Orykson said. “Given the destructive nature of what can happen when two Titled fight, we attempt to restrain true combat. Often, someone isn’t a winner because they’re stronger, but because they’re spending less resources, plans, and high gate spells than their opponent. After all, what good is a ninth gate desolation spell, if it takes days for you to recover all the mana you used to cast it? You kill your first target, then die in the dark because you’ve burnt your trump card.”  

Kene coughed slightly, and Orykson glanced at them, giving a nod. I didn’t know if Aerde had seeded the thought in my brain, or if I’d just gotten really good at reading Orykson’s emotions, but he seemed to be radiating a sense of ‘See? This is how you politely interrupt people, Malachi.’

“We’re getting off track. There’s something else we can do to empower Mal,” Kene said. “The bath he got should help charge his full-gate spells. Can we gather the components in time?”

Orykson, Meadow, Kene, and I refocused at Kene’s gentle chastisement, working on a plan to reach as much power as I could in three days, without straining my spirit.