The Third Step: Chapter Seventy-Eight

I took a deep, slow breath, and let it out, then reached for Burn Future. The spell couldn’t harm me unless I over-drew from it, and took mana that I couldn’t pay back. Using it in measured, safe ways like in this competition was radically different from leaning on it to win every fight I was in. I didn’t know why I was so afraid of over-using this spell. I’d torn up my spirit plenty of other ways without it, and done more than enough damage. This spell wasn’t some inevitable death button. I actually had one of those in the Ascending Death Crystal, and I was less scared of it than I was of Burn Future. 

That was probably something I should unpack with the mentalist I spoke to on occasion. It had been ages since I’d last spoken with them, since before Crysite. But while I could unpack the why later, and go through the processing of it, this was the safest place for me to actually face that fear head on, apart from just using it in tiny amounts in my room. But that would feel a bit like I was doing nothing. This was actually using it, rather than just casting it. 

I reached for the spell, and drew mana in. My cracked channels sparked and fizzed as power was vented out into the air, and I sighed before letting the flow go. Dusk gave me an approving nod, and I teleported away, landing in front of one of the bronze constructs. I slapped my hand on it, and it teleported away. I vanished, spreading my senses out through the trees, until I caught a hint of a psychometric trail, then teleported closer to follow the impressions. A silver construct, trapped in a pile of fallen wood, caught my eye. I cast Foxswap to exchange places with it, then leapt out of the pile with strength that the weak constructs didn’t possess, slapping in on the corner of its head and sending it through the portal. 

That was when I felt something new happen. A power surged up, and battered against my null-ranunculus based spatial lock. It pushed through, not out-muscling me, but with more skill. The attempted teleporter poked at one part of the lock, then at a different section, then a third, before returning the first, where it found that the stabalizing effect of the null-ranunculus weakened. They, without using their mana senses, somehow managed to identify the spot where their poking had created the most chaos in the spatial weave, then teleported right through. 

Perhaps if I had the true Spatial Lock spell, I’d have possessed the fine control to focus the lock, but I was relying on plants. For all that Enhance Plant Life was a marvel of spell engineering, it was not raw plant manipulation. That didn’t exist as a spell, not as far as I was aware, though there were always groups trying to develop a true manipulation spell for things like fire or healing. 

I shook my head and spread out my senses again, teleporting in front of another group to steal the silver construct that they’d found. Their spatial mage was quick on the draw, though, and the instant I appeared, a Spatial Lock bloomed around me. It was an advanced one, too, one that would even disable access to things like spatial pockets, demiplanes, and astral planes, which meant that as I slapped the construct, nothing happened. 

I was fairly certain that in a true fight with life-or-death consequences, my spellbond with Dusk would have let me out-muscle the opponent long enough to retreat into Dusk’s realm, but it would have been costly. Not the kind of thing I wanted to do just for this. An instant later, the senses of their knowledge and mental mage crashed into me. I might have been able to defend against them normally, maybe even steal but between maintaining the Impel Senses over the dropoff location, spreading it over the forest to look for constructs, and working on scanning for any psychomantic trails, I was already spreading myself thin. 

Instead, I turned and leapt away, throwing myself away from the group. It was a bit embarrassing to lose what was effectively twice in a row, but these were professionals. Most of them possessed more raw power than I did, as well as years more experience. 

I screeched to a halt as I passed a shadowy place, then channeled mana into Witch Eyes. The illusion piercing spell wasn’t the most commonly used part of my kit, but it was one of those spells that paid dividends when it did come up. Sure enough, there was a silver construct within the shadows, in some sort of pool of water that seemed to form a shadow based veil around my physical and magical senses. I tapped it, then teleported elsewhere, spreading my senses wide. If I could find another gold or two, or better yet the last jade, I thought I stood a really good chance. Dusk had collected more points of her own, and I felt like we had to be near the top. 

The easy pickings were gone, though. I needed to shift my strategy. I released my Sensory Network, as well as my Mass Enhance Plant Life that was powering the null-ranunculus, then unfurled my senses as far as I could in every direction. And with my advancement to fourth gate stable, I could reach a good distance. Then I cast Mass Harvest Plant Life. 

Power trickled into me in a thin wave. My ungated mana was instantly restored, my first gate life mana filled quickly enough, and my second gate started to slowly refill, but it wouldn’t be so much that I could have just offset the casting of Burn Future. I’d needed more than life mana, for one. For another, the trees here were ordinary, ungated trees. I’d long since moved past the level where those could be useful to keeping my mana going, and the only reason I could harvest this much from them was the fact that I was draining from a massive number all at once. 

Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that most of the trees here were ordinary. There were a few that had veiling properties, after all, intentionally grown or transplanted here for the purposes of spicing up the competition. Sorting through the feedback for the ones that were providing more than rote life mana with tiny traces of other powers was mildly difficult, but as soon as I’d found one, I teleported to it, reached into the hollow of the tree, and transported another silver into Dusk, and thus into the portal, then returned to looking for trees that had properties that would disrupt divinations, senses, or psychometry. I found a gold trapped beneath the roots of an old abnegation-fueled pine, and a pair of bronzes in a circle of mental mana infused oaks, and a silver in the high branches of a spinning knowledge and tempest tree. Through my bond, I could feel Dusk rushing through the forest, utilizing her dominion, nascent truth, and legacy in conjunction to resonate with the world and look for constructs of her own. 

Then there was a flash of light across the sky, and a horn rang out across the landscape. The power of the shepherd reached out across space and grabbed me, as well as all of the other contestants, and we appeared back in the waiting room. For an instant as we all appeared, our spells were raging, and the room was a chaotic mess of sensory spells, spatial magic, and winds rushing through the area, before things settled down. I reigned in my own senses and let go of the spells I’d been powering, before 

“Congratulations to everyone who participated this year,” the announcer said, clapping, while one of the recording enchantments spun, getting a look at all of the contestants, before focusing on the announcer, who smiled broadly.

“I’m sure all of you are chomping at the bit to know the results of the contest! The second place spot in this contest has shifted between Vinopae and the Plegarium for the last three tournaments, and of course, we all want answers to the question of if Team Elohi’s five-tournament streak has finally been broken…” 

He waited for a beat, and I was sure that they were doing it to build suspense. The organizers probably even added music or a drumroll or something like that for the people watching on the communication mirrors across the world. 

“Well, allow me to lay that to rest! In first place, we have an independent! That’s right – for those of you watching at home who might not have encountered the term, it means that this young man and his familiar is not competing for any corporate or national sponsors. Tell me, Malachi, how does it feel to have upset a twenty-five year winning streak?” 

“I did?” I asked, staring at the announcer, dumbfounded. I knew this event was well suited to my high-mobility, high sensory abilities, but it was basically just Dusk and me. I thought I might have gotten top two, but certainly not first. 

“So humble!” laughed the announcer. “Young man, why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself. You came in second for Sensory Sphereoids, and that little event has gotten a good bit of chatter. You said you nearly died?”  

My brain stuttered, and I opened my jaw, then shut it. Dusk was finally the one to jump in, explaining that I’d attempted to overclock my growth item, which had pushed my spirit to the breaking point, since I’d already been over-using some of my own enhancement elixirs to push that hard. It was a lie, but sounded true enough. Contestants overreaching with their limits, utilizing addictive potions, or illegal elixirs was a tale as old as time. 

“Right,” I agreed. “I might not have the traditional build for this, but I have more mana types than average, all of which have sensory spells working in concert, and my legacy helps empower my teleports. But really, I didn’t expect to win. 

That one wasn’t even a lie, since Mana Mirror did upgrade Foxstep, but it was certainly a misdirection. Still, if people thought I had some truly impressive legacy for teleportation, like Deep Voyager, then it would stop them from digging too deep. 

The announcer asked a few more questions, before panning over to Team Elohi, who had come in second, and then to Larkbridge for third. I just sort of sat there, feeling dazed, even as Dawn donated some mana to help pay off what I’d taken with Burn Future, and I drew a little from the more mundane plants of Dusk’s realm. I’d still need to spend time paying it off tomorrow, rather than training, but… I’d won. As the recording spell shut off and I was ushered away to be given my medal and prizes, it finally sunk in. 

The entire reason I had initially decided to come to the Elysian Mastery Tournament was to let me continue my training with Ikki and Orykson. And now, I’d done it. I’d secured myself a spot in the Arcanist Tournament, training with my mentors, and had commissioned the Craftsman to create the artificial soul needed to free Kene. 

There were still things to do. I needed to find the blood mage who probably had the earring that the Sekhem Court wanted.  My spirit was still in terrible shape, and it would need a lot of effort to heal back together. I wanted to place higher. To place high enough for a Herediment Headstone, to get a Spellbinder Rose, and to win more side competitions and collect rewards, not to mention that Dusk wanted to claim some of her own. 

But in a way, the first half of the tournament had closed, at least for me. 

I looked up into the sky and gathered my spirit. I had a day of rest tomorrow, but after that, it would be time for the second half of my Elysian Mastery Tournament.

End of Book Six...