RTA Book 2: Against Ruin's Fate - Chapter 4

Len checked the mana gathering formation that he’d placed at the opening into the mountain.

It gathered and routed the mana into the tunnel and rails-charging and powering the train and the enchantments added to it.

It also bled off into a charging station where cores had been placed, absorbing the mana. Powering everything was a bonus to reducing the mana density within the mountain.

The changed materials that had blown into the mountain had been cleared up and were being tested and organized.

Simmons squad were on watch—thankfully Halem forest had bee quiet since the storm earlier in the morning.

The mountain was unstable and Rick wanted to deal with that before they built a second firebase.

Which had turned everyone’s attention to other projects.

Ammunition lines had been set up again—producing stone rounds and turning to steel rounds as more material was pulled from the steel extruder.

That whole area had been opened up and several extruders were working to pull out more materials faster than ever.

They created steel stock, I-beams and rebar. Peter and Wilbur, Len’s enchanting students were assisting Captain Sam’s combat engineers—creating extruders and other enchanted gear to speed up progress in exploiting the iron vein they found on their journey through the Stained Mountain Range.

Gretchen and Harold, Len’s other students had helped him set up the mana gathering formations and the charging station.

Though everyone’s focus was on the project Rick and the civilian engineers under Christina and her father Joe Xinta had been working on.

The tunneller—a long length of enchanted steel secured to a wooden platform riding atop re-purposed cart suspensions and wheels was pushed onto the turntable.

It consisted of a single length of track, large enough to hold one train car in the middle of a hollowed out circle.

Wheels ran under the turntable’s track.

"Hold!" Captain Sam called when the machine was centered. "Secure the breaks!"

The crew checked to make sure the tunneller was secure before dropping down to join the other crew there.

“Ready to rotate!” Sam called out.

The two groups in the pit braced against opposite sides and ends of the turntable.

“Push!”

Despite the well-oiled wheels beneath, turning the combined weight of the table and tunneller required significant effort. Sweat beaded on foreheads as they pushed, step by plodding set—rotating the tunneller.

"A bit more!" called Christina Xinta from her position at the alignment markers. The young woman had emerged as one of their most valuable engineers. “Slow!”

“Stop!” Christina called out. The turntable came to a pause. "Lock it down!"

The turntable's position was secured with heavy pins driven into the floor. Christina made one final check. The tunneller nearly pointed back at the direction it had come from, but was off a few degrees, pointing at the stone next to the original tunnel.

Half of those in the turntable’s pit climbed back up onto the table.

“Release the breaks!” Captain Sam said.

They set to work as Rick walked over to Len.

“You got that mana stone?” Len asked.

“Here,” Rick dug into his cargo pocket and passed him the blood stained mana stone he’d pulled out of his body.

“How are the charges I gave you?”

Len opened up his pocket and Rick dumped it in—to join the shards Len had pulled out of himself and Rick.

“Should do the job nicely. Once we’ve got this all moved around, I’ll pop off the mountains face—should stabilize things. Can feel the instability just waiting for one failure.”

“You just like blowing shit up.” Len secured the pocket.

“Well, of course,” Rick grinned.

Len tapped the tunneller key in his other pocket. “Catch you in a ‘mo.” He walked towards the tunneller.

The crew unlocked the tunneller's brakes and moved it off the turntable onto its new alignment.

Len reached them as they slowed down before the wall.

Christina called out her orders and the turntable moved back towards the original tracks. Edward, Len’s father moved the train up to the edge of the turntable, waiting to drive onto its track as it rotated towards him.

“Ready for me to fire it up?” Len asked Captain Sam.

“If you could.”

Len climbed up on the tunneller’s platform. He put the ‘key’ into the tunneler, its enchantments glowed with power--compressing the stone ahead rather than pulverizing it—creating tunnel walls that were stronger than naturally formed rock.

“Forward!” Captain Sam said. Her people got the tunneller going again as Len knelt next to an enchanted box secured to the platform. He took out several mana stones and dropped them into the box. Power leeched from them into the box and the tunneller.

Captain Sam's engineers guided the tunneller along its path. "We'll run parallel to the original tunnel for approximately half a mile," Sam explained to those nearby. "Then we'll cut across to connect back with the main passage beyond where the train cars are currently stuck. This lets us bypass the blockage entirely."

"And saves us having to carve an entirely new route to Goran," Len added. "We'll use the original tunnel from the connection point, as far as we can take it. Speed up getting us connected to Goran. In the future we’ll run a second track all the way with the first—allow us to have trains going in both directions.”

He hopped off of the tunneller. “Tunneller is all yours Captain Sam.”

“Thanks boss,” Sam smiled and braced against the tunneller, adding her own strength to pushing it.

Len turned to see the train engine sans tender come to a stop atop the table.

"Brace yourselves," Rick warned as they positioned themselves around the turntable again. "This one's going to be heavier."

The difference was immediately apparent. Where the tunneller had been merely difficult to move, the train seemed almost immovable at first. Muscles strained, faces reddened with effort, and for a worrying moment, Len thought they might need to offload weight from the train.

Then something gave—not the turntable, thankfully, but the resistance of inertia—and the mechanism began to turn. Degree by agonizing degree.

Len moved to where the tender was, a group of civilian engineers pushing it.

“’Scuse me lads.” He climbed up on the tender before pouring out the mana stone in his pockets into the tender. They’d enchanted it to gather and store mana—becoming the fuel for the train’s enchantments.

There were already several cores there already.

Len dropped from the tender the tunneller was making good speed through the mountain, leaving behind a perfectly formed tunnel with compressed walls that gleamed slightly in the crystal-light. The sound of its operation gradually faded as it moved deeper into the mountain.

Len crossed the ground to the turntable pit and dropped down, adding his strength to the push—speeding it up.

They rotated the train until it aligned with the new tunnel.

Christina verified the alignment three times before giving the all-clear. "Perfect! We're good to go!"

Edward didn't wait for further instruction. The locomotive lurched forward, its forward wheels compressing tracks directly into the stone floor as it entered the new tunnel. The sight of it disappearing into the passage—heading in the right direction—brought a spontaneous cheer from the assembled workers.

He’d catch up with the tunneller and push it, taking the strain off of the engineers.

“Tender next!” Christina said.

A group pushed the tender forward towards the turntable, people laughing joking and slapping one another on the back.

The path back to Goran—and safety—was finally under construction.

Amid the congratulatory back-slapping and relieved laughter, a panicked shout cut through the noise.

"Medic! We need a medic! Something's wrong with Mercer!"

The mood shattered. Len sprinted toward the voice. He threw himself up and out of the turntable pit, Rick close behind him. They found a small crowd gathering around a soldier. 

Corporal Mercer lay convulsing on the ground, his skin mottled with purple veins that pulsed with an internal light Len recognized immediately.

"Clear back!" Len ordered, dropping to his knees beside the man. "Give him space!"

Mercer's eyes were unfocused, pupils bloodshot. His mouth worked soundlessly as purple-tinged saliva leaked from the corner. The veins in his neck bulged with unnatural pressure.

"Mana poisoning," Rick confirmed grimly, grabbing Mercer's thrashing arms. "Hold his legs!"

Focus came back to Mercer’s eyes as he tried to lunge for Len. He grabbed the man by the throat, pinned him to the ground and kneeled on his closest arm the other raking at him.

A soldier grabbed it and pinned him down.

Len used Accelerated Healing on Mercer.

He thrashed even more than before, purple veins flaring across his body—his skin appearing ashy.

Mercer's back arched violently, a scream tearing from his throat as the healing magic fought against the corruption in his system.

“Healing potion!” Len yelled.

Someone passed him one and pulled off the top.

Len poured it into Mercer’s mouth—he thrashed harder and closed his mouth.

“Take this!” Len held out the healing potion. Someone took it and Len pulled out his blade.

“Woah! Got a feisty one here!" Rick cackled. "Watch his leg, lad!"

Len could cut his stomach but he was writhing. Less muscle to get a line in.

Need needles and IV bags. Len stabbed mercer between the ribs and cut an opening. He cleansed the knife and held it out.

“Take this, give me a healing potion!”

Items were exchanged. Len put the open potion bottle into the incision he’d made. Mercer thrashed but they had the man pinned down completely now.

“Knife!” Len called out.

The knife was slapped into his hand, he took it and activated the mana blade enchantment, cutting the base off of the healing potion.

“Healing potion, trade!”

Len deactivated the enchantment his knife taken and a healing potion given.

“Keep giving me healing potions.” Len swirled the potion and then dumped it into the back of the first bottle-acting as a funnel.

The skin around the potion funnel returned to a healthy pallor, spreading throughout his body. The area around where Len held the man’s neck was returning to normal too.

His body torn apart by too much mana now being pulled back together.

Finally, his eyes rolled back and he went limp.

"He's out," Len confirmed, checking the corporal's pulse. "Stable, but weak."

He used Diagnostic, the mana that had been tearing apart his body from the inside retreated back into his mana channels. His body tempering enough to be able to contain the power within his body.

Len poured in the last healing potion—letting it fully drain before he took out the potion-bottle-turned-funnel. He pinched the skin together and used a flash of Mend Flesh to seal up the wound.

"We caught it in time," Len said, sitting back on his heels, sweat dripping from his face—the mana expenditure for such healing was substantial. He looked up at the circle of worried faces surrounding them

"And that, kids, is why you don't eat weird crystals!" Rick muttered. Looking a bit pale himself. He’d been channeling Accelerated healing into Mercer too. 

His light tone belied the seriousness of the situation, but it successfully broke the tension. A few nervous chuckles rippled through the crowd.

Rick stood, his expression growing serious. "That was mana poisoning. We were lucky—we caught it before it progressed too far. Mercer will recover." He paused, making eye contact with several soldiers. "But this is exactly why we need to be vigilant. We're pushing hard to build our defenses, to get back to Goran but we need to take care of each other in the process."

Rick made eye contact with the squad leaders.

"Anyone with healing affinity, even minor—pair up with someone. Check each other regularly, and check your squad members. Mana poisoning can progress rapidly, but the early signs are detectable—headache, discoloration around the eyes, metallic taste generally lethargy. Report any symptoms immediately. When healed the person will be in pain. If your in pain when you get healing—you need healing."

The crowd nodded, suitably sobered by the demonstration.

"For now," Rick continued, "everyone get a meal in you. We've been working nonstop, and fatigue makes you more susceptible. Squad leaders knuckle onto your guys, thirty minute lunch break."

As the crowd dispersed, Zannish and Herrera moved to Len and Mercer.

“Keep hitting him with healing spells every fifteen minutes or so, ten seconds worth,” Len said. “If he is in pain, keep healing and feed him a healing potion.”

“Got it,” Zannish said as Herrera laid down a stretcher and opened it up.

They got him onto the stretcher and carried him to the makeshift infirmary.

Everyone had dispersed, leaving Len and Rick relatively alone. The tender was atop the table where they’d left it.

Christina got her people back into motion and they put their hands against the turntable and started rotating the tender to follow after the tunneller and engine.

"Those healing potions from Tenebrook are proving their worth," Len observed, voice low enough that only Rick could hear. "We were lucky he sent us off with cartfuls."

Rick nodded. "They'll help Mercer recover faster. But we're going to see more cases as we work in this mana-rich environment."

"If we were to control the amount that people were getting hit with—we could increase their mana cultivation and body tempering.”

"Risky," Rick countered. "One wrong dose and we're facing a cavern full of Mercers, or worse, people mana mutating."

“We’ve done it before, if you can thread the needle,” Len said.

“Healing enchantments?”

“I can get some low powered ones set up. Was thinking of putting them in the sleeping area—help people recover and alert us if anyone’s got mana poisoning,” Len said.

“When you’re sleeping your not focused on the state of your body,” Rick said.

They stood in silence for a moment, both remembering horrors from their original timeline—evolved dungeon creatures that had decimated entire military units before anyone understood what they were facing.

"For now," Rick suggested, "we could try adding small amounts of healing potion to the food. Test if anyone’s poisoned. We know how it twists the mind and people stop reporting what their stats are actually at."

“Contract should allow us to get through that. Can’t lie to their officers and leadership,” Len said.

“That’ll be helpful,” Rick agreed.

***

Len stood ten or twenty meters back from the mouth of the original tunnel, leaning against the compressed wall as he gazed across the turntable cavern. The gaping wound in the mountainside framed a view of the churning sky beyond—still unsettled after the mana storm’s passage.

The train, pushing the tunneller had connected back to original track and was speeding its way through the Stained Mountain Range to the point where it would divert for Goran.

Its been a busy day. Yesterday he’d been heading down into Halem forest to deal with the dungeon and the obelisk at its heart. This morning dealing with riled up mana mutated horde, a mana storm and this morning building the turntable. Now it was time to deal with their defensive problem.

“The higher mana density will keep enchantments charge,” Gretchen bit her lip, running numbers in her notebook.

“But the issue lays in the material,” Harold said.

Len gestured for him to continue. They were both his students, they still used his enchantment designs but they were curious and eager to learn.

“The more mana flowing through a material, the stronger it has to be. The higher mana density means it can sustain more mana. Though that wears on the material and can cause it to warp and the enchantment to fail.”

“What can you do to compensate?” Len asked.

“Create enchantments that repair the material—stop it from degrading. Have to do that with steel as you can do two enchantments,” Gretchen offered.

“Make it big. The more material, the higher the density, the greater amount of mana it can take,” Harold said.

“Correct, dense stone for the larger gear that doesn’t need to move, steel for anything that needs to be smaller. Now notably, the spitter rounds and shoulder cannon rounds will be steel and because they’re supposed to be broken we don’t need to worry about stability.”

“Thankfully Peter, Wilbur and the rest of the engineers with them have been working hard to draw out more metal from that iron vein,” Gretchen said.

The two enchanters in question were still working deeper in the mountain, creating extruders that made the reinforcing materials the new firebase would need. As well as the metal stock that was being used for everything else.

"Once we have a steady supply of processed steel stock, we can transition to more advanced designs,” Len said.

“I’m looking forward to that, but the barrel design—is that even possible?” Harold asked.

Len's mouth quirked slightly. "Rick was quite specific about his requirements. The exact quote was 'big enough to fire a misbehaving private through.' When you’re talking about firepower, There’s no such thing as overkill."

Harold chuckled. "Sounds about right."

Len glanced over Harold’s shoulder, Christina Xinta moved among her engineering team, clipboard in hand as she checked off items on her list. The young woman’s organizational skills complementing her technical expertise. She caught Len's eye and gave a brief nod—her team was ready.

“How long will it take the train and tunneller to reach Goran?”

"Much faster than our first journey," Len replied. "The mana cores and mana stone we've loaded provide significantly more power, and the tracks themselves are absorbing ambient energy from the environment. I’d estimate my dad can get the train moving at its true cruising speed."

The implications weren't lost on any of them. Reconnection with Goran was now merely days away rather than weeks.

A sharp, two-toned whistle cut through the ambient noise of the cavern, instantly commanding attention. Rick walked towards the tunnels.

"Final headcount!" he called out. "Team leaders, sound off!"

The procedure was familiar by now—each section leader calling out numbers, accounting for every person under their command. Christina confirmed her engineering team, Len spoke for the enchanters, Adrian reported for the military personnel.

As the final count was verified, Rick nodded in satisfaction.

“Stay inside the tunnels and be ready to pull back if you need to.”

He nodded to Len who nodded back to him, then walked down the other tunnel.

“Fire on the mountain! Fire on the mountain! Fire on the mountain!"

Nothing happened for three seconds.

Don’t tell me the remote enchantment is broken. 

Then a deep, bone-rattling tremor shook the mountain. A notification flashed in Len's vision:

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Skill: Mining

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Level: Master

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You can select 6 Mining Abilities

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+2 to Body

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The skill update distracted him for only a moment before reality demanded his full attention. The rumble escalated into a roar, and the mountain began to move.

Tons of rock thundered down—some natural, some altered by the mana storm. The landslide grew in intensity, boulders the size of houses crashing into the lip where the firebase had been.

Rocks piled up, covering the hole made in the side of the mountain and blocking off the late afternoon sun.

The ground beneath them trembled with each impact, dust billowing upward in choking clouds.

As the dust cloud billowed toward the tunnel entrance, Len extended his hand and Condensed Liquid. Compressing the moisture in the air into a shimmering, transparent barrier across the tunnel mouth. The dust swirled within the water, blocking the view, while also stopping it from filling the tunnel.

For nearly five minutes, the mountain continued its controlled collapse, each impact reverberating through the stone around them. Then, gradually, the thunder subsided. The last echoes faded, leaving behind an eerie silence broken only by the occasional settling of smaller rocks.

The crystal lights embedded in the tunnel walls cast a harsh glow over the assembled personnel, all staring at where the entrance had been. Len cast Cleanse, allowing them to see through the water film he’d created. They had successfully sealed themselves inside the mountain, cutting off the most obvious access point to their position.

Rick’s hammer tapped out as Len dismissed his water barrier.

Rick moved forward, tapping the ground as he went.

He turned back to the waiting crowd, his grin visible even in the dim light.

"Bring up the rebar and beams!" he called, his voice echoing through the tunnel system. "We've got a firebase to rebuild!" With that, he strode purposefully towards the rubble pile which had been mountainside a few minutes ago.

The original firebase had been exposed, vulnerable to both creatures and elements. This time, they were building within the mountain itself.

“Alright, lets get moving,” Len picked up two large lengths of steel stock. Gretchen, Harold, Christina and her engineers gathered their gear and followed.

Christina moved up to Len as they exited the tunnels. 

“I’m thinking of getting the spitter ammunition assembly lines along that wall. Shoulder cannon rounds I’ll put between us and the wall—that way we can quickly put steel coming through the tunnel into both to keep them operating.” Christina gestured at the area she was talking about.

“I’ll put the barrel production line next to the tracks.” Len used his will to create an outline in mana of the area he was talking about. “If I can I want to have them roll off onto the train cars—make it easier to move them up to the firebase. They’re going to be heavy.”

“That’s fair,” Christina looked up at the ceiling. “Be good if we can get a crane in, allow the trains to be unloaded faster.”

“These will be temporary, we need the weapons and ammo as fast as possible. Otherwise we’ll have the raw material side of the assembly line up against the tracks to feed the factories. Then the complete products come out the other side to be used here or shipped back to Goran.”

“Temporary becomes permanent quickly,” Christina smirked.

“Don’t I know it,” Len let out a suffering sigh.

“Come on!” Christina yelled to her people, moving to talk with her foremen, they split up to the areas and Len slowed when he reached the area he’d use to build the barrels.

He used his Form ability with his Will Manifestation—carving an outline into the ground.

Around him, the cavern was transforming into a construction site. Soldiers and engineers moved with purpose, unpacking equipment and arranging materials according to the plans they had refined during the day. Steel beams were being hauled over to the pile of rubble, work crews started breaking clearing away the mutated materials and enchanted crystals installed to provide consistent light.

Most importantly, Len noted, the mana density was already decreasing to safer levels. The gathering formations they had installed throughout the tunnel system were drawing in the excess energy, pushing it through the tunnels to the train, any excess pushed into the core charging room.

Len set down the steel stock. “Okay, now we just need to create some massive molds to put stone into and compress. Make enough of those and stick them together and we’ve got a barrel.”