Book 3, Chapter 71

Storage crystals and mana crystals had a lot of similarities in function, but diverged in construction principles. Mana crystals were, for lack of a better word, a more intimate creation. At the end of the day, a mage who wanted a mana crystal had to build it themselves. It had to be tied to their core, and they were the only one who could use it. There were ways to subvert this, but it was practically never worth the effort.

Mana crystals had a delicate construction, almost like weaving a basket. Each strand of mana had to be placed just so, in the right spot, at the right time, in the right order. Individual strands had to be spun out whole, else weaknesses would be introduced into the crystal’s structure. Inefficiencies would build up, and the transference loss when moving mana to or from the crystal would reach a point where it was no longer worth it to even use the device.

Storage crystals, by contrast, were much, much simpler. They were more like building a reinforced box, where I just took the base material and wrapped it in layer upon layer of mana via transmutation spells. They were quick and easy to build, even if they couldn’t hold nearly as much mana and had poor transference ratios.

Simple math indicated that I’d still save more mana filling my mana crystal, teleporting back home, and draining it there than I would making dozens of storage crystals to fill, but math didn’t account for other people needing access to that mana, too. Besides, I didn’t need to teleport. I’d created a permanent portal for the brakvaw not an hour’s flight away, and it wasn’t like they could stop me from using it.

So I spent a few days making storage crystals and filling them, one after another after another. By the time I was done, I had more mana stuffed into my phantom space than my home village had tithed to the Wolf Pack for the entire twenty years the cabal had been in control. It was enough to power every single mana battery in Sanctuary for the better part of a decade, and it only took me a torturously dull half a week of my life.

I traveled to the brakvaw portal with a simple flight spell, slightly slower than using an air elemental form, but infinitely more sustainable since the magic was easy enough to apply lossless casting to. An hour later, I found the ledge the portal was set into. It was currently closed and not designed to be opened from this side, but as the creator, I knew all its hidden secrets. I powered it up and, twenty seconds later, stepped through to meet a pair of very surprised brakvaw on the other side.

“Don’t mind me,” I said. “I just needed a word with Grandfather.”

It was hard to say what a bird’s facial expressions meant, but I could distinctly sense annoyance from the brakvaw. I wouldn’t categorize it as outright hatred, but it was clear they were unfriendly toward me. That was about what I’d expected, which was one of the reasons I’d avoided using the portal until now. I’d essentially bullied them off what they considered their ancestral hunting grounds, even if I had provided access to someplace even better.

This time, my return trip home included a warning for their people, which meant a conversation with Grandfather. Since I was going to end up coming to Eyrie Peak anyway, I figured I’d save myself the price of three teleportation spells. Even with the beacons reducing the cost, it was a lot of mana.

The brakvaw could glare at me all they wanted, as long as they didn’t try anything. Diplomacy wasn’t my strong point, and when something that big attacked me, I would almost have to respond with lethal force by default. It would be a mess to explain and could easily cause a war to break out between the birds and the humans.

Maybe they were thinking something similar, because other than giving me slightly murderous looks, they didn’t make any threatening actions. One of them lifted a wing and pointed up to the peak of the mountain where Grandfather lived, and I took that as permission to be on my way.

I made it halfway there before Grandfather’s projection appeared in front of me. “Keiran, I didn’t expect to see you again so soon. I was under the impression you were busy in the land of mana on the other side of the portal.”

“I was,” I said, coming to a halt and floating in mid-air. “Things are in a bit of a lull right now. My allies over there are working on a project that I can’t do much to speed up, so I’m back to check up on things.”

“That you can’t speed up?” Grandfather repeated. “Somehow I doubt there’s nothing you could do to help.”

“I could, I suppose, but I don’t have a lot of incentive to.”

“Besides the fact that they’re your allies.”

I shrugged. “It’s a loose alliance, one that might turn sour sooner rather than later. I’ve learned just about everything I needed, and I suspect my future goals will run against their own.”

“Truly, if all humans are as cold-blooded as you, it’s a wonder your kind haven’t taken over the entire world.”

“Probably for the best that they aren’t,” I said. “But that’s not what I’m here to talk about. How are your people adapting to using the portal?”

“There are some who resist change, no matter how beneficial it is,” Grandfather said with a heavy sigh. “I do not blame them for wishing to cling to a way of life they have always known to work. All but one flock have rejoined us here, however.”

“Where’d the last one go?”

“Far to the west, past the borders of this island.”

I nodded. “Good enough. Then there should be no further conflicts between the humans here and your flock.”

“Let us hope.”

“Now then, the reason I came to speak to you. I’m sure you know of the tower in the middle of the new hunting grounds.”

“I have not seen it personally, of course, but I have been made aware of it.”

“I’ll be tearing it down sometime in the future,” I said. “It’s a festering wound on the planet’s surface, one that has struck all the way to the core. When I’m done, mana is going to surge through the area. It’ll be unstable, almost certain to break the portal on that side. I would strongly advise any brakvaw in the area to return home immediately at that time until things settle down.”

“And how long will that take?” Grandfather asked, his voice serious. “We need that hunting ground to provide us with food. If it takes years to return to normal, or if this mana surge kills all the prey there, we’ll need to make arrangements to find alternative sources of food.”

“Good points,” I said. “Some of the weaker monsters will definitely perish. There’s no doubt in my mind about that. I believe the stronger ones will weather the change. My hope is that it should only be a matter of weeks at most between the destruction of the tower and me finishing my work there. At that point, the world core should begin functioning normally, and will push mana up in all directions like it used to.”

Grandfather’s gaze sharpened. “You’ve truly done it then?”

“I’ve found the cause, yes. Breaking the tower is only the first step, of course. Fixing the damage it’s caused will take more work, and until I get a chance to study it in depth, I won’t have an exact timeline of how long it’ll take. I’m telling you this now so that your people aren’t surprised when it happens. It probably won’t be for years down the road. Hopefully it won’t be. I have a lot of preparations to make. But if things go wrong, it could be in the next few weeks.”

“I will have my flock begin making preparations and make sure our traditional territories have had as much time to replenish the herds of prey animals as possible,” Grandfather said. He paused to study me, then added in a soft voice, “Are you sure you’re capable of handling this on your own?”

“This part? Yes. It’s what comes after that I think I’ll need help with,” I confessed. “I haven’t gotten a close look at the damage yet, but to repair it… I could do nothing but collect mana for a decade and it wouldn’t be enough to fix the hole in the mysteel shell that surrounds the world core, let alone fix the core itself.”

“The warning may be a bit premature then, but still, thank you for thinking of us. My flock has not always done well by you, and you were under no obligation to warn us of a possible impending crisis.”

It had cost me nothing to keep Grandfather informed, and if it helped secure peace between humans and brakvaw, it was worth a bit of time spent, especially since I’d be depleting Sanctuary of its population soon enough. The last thing I needed was to hear about brakvaw eating those people, or trying to drive them out of their homes.

“You’re welcome,” I said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll leave you to spreading the news and making your plans. I have a village full of humans to speak to next.”

“Farewell, Keiran,” Grandfather said. His projection faded away a moment later, leaving me alone in the sky.

  *

“You’re back already?” Father asked.

“I come bearing gifts,” I told him. “Some much-needed mana for your new farming town project.”

“How much mana? Not that I’m unappreciative, but you’re just one guy. And I know you need it for your own purposes, too.”

Father was underestimating both me personally and how much ambient mana I could collect in a short time frame. Boring it might be, but I wasn’t my sister. Her efforts were praise-worthy for her level of ability, not because of the raw amount of mana she’d collected.

I pulled the first storage crystal out of my phantom space. It was an oblong boulder about eight feet in height and wider than two adults could reach their arms around together. It was also filled to the absolute brim with mana, giving it the appearance of a velvety black sky studded with stars. Father jumped when it thudded into the ground, then regarded it warily.

“I… stand corrected. That’s quite a bit of mana,” he said. “We can definitely get up a building or two with that much.”

“I have thirty-four more of them for you,” I told him.

“You mean smaller ones?”

“No, this is about the average size.”

Father’s jaw dropped. He was no proper mage, but he knew the value of mana. I could see him counting it up in his head, weighing it against what he needed. “That.” He paused and cleared his throat. “That is a lot of mana. Are you sure about this, son?”

“Positive,” I said. “The sooner you get this new village going, the better.”

“Why?” he asked. “I know food’s a bit tight, but I think we’ll be fine for a while yet.”

I glanced down at the trees below us. “We’re going in another direction with the mana cultivation project. This thing with getting the trees into a surplus just isn’t working. Pretty soon, the valley is going to be uninhabitable. I’d prefer you all had a new place to live before that happens.”

Father’s eyes widened. “When you say uninhabitable…”

“We’re turning the entire forest to stone,” I said. “There won’t be any foraging or hunting in it to supplement the crops you produce up here, and even those are going to be adversely affected by the changing mana density.”

“Oh.” Father looked back at our house a quarter mile away. “I… hadn’t expected everyone to need to leave.”

“Sorry,” I said.

He reached out and patted the storage crystal. “I guess I’d better see about putting this to good use while there’s still time.”