Shielded by Seals [Chapter 27] (Patreon)

ToC: https://www.patreon.com/posts/132353583

The tongue of the snake flicked out. Its body was large enough that it could twist around my neck and squeeze until I popped. Strange, vivid orange patterns drew sharp contours across its scales.

It’s presence had a physical, violent heat, even restrained in the dome of emerald seals.

Delvers… must be those individuals who travel beyond the edge of the seal wall. A tremor ran through my hands as I glanced at the three individuals. Then my focus shifted to the shirtless young man. And this guy… just like Argyle. A Chosen. 

“The threat of Hellspawn is not their Level, although that elevates them from ants to genuine pests,” The attendant said. He stepped forward and stood at the edge of the dome; as he neared, the Viper lashed out. Again, the dome repelled its attack. “No, the issue is that it’s Mana has become corrupted. Rubro, if you will.”

The muscular young man with the tattoo gave the attendant a sidelong glance. “Do not say my name so casually.”

Yet then Rubro waved a hand. The dome of seals began to shrink. The viper hissed and moved back and forth. After thirty seconds, the space was barely large enough for the viper to curl up in the middle. And the dome kept shrinking further, becoming a scale-tight barrier that wrapped around the viper.

I watched as the dome settled down into the body of the viper. The emerald seals flared to life and burned its scales. Yet my eyes widened because I could detect, just a whiff, of another aspect to this process. There was something-

My Mana Pool contracted, unease.

The monster writhed and rocked back and forth. Then, before my eyes, it began to shrink. The notification above it changed.

Common Grass Viper Lvl 5

The emerald dome vanished. The seals faded. A small snake blinked around, seemingly confused by its situation. My brow furrowed. The dome targeted the thing’s Mana Pool? So the reason it became a Hellion…

The attendant stepped forward and grabbed the small snake behind the head. Lifting the snake, he gestured. “Follow me.”

I kept my suspicions quiet, for now. I suspected today’s demonstration was exactly to answer the questions I had.

They brought us through the forest until I could see the fogged energy of the seal barrier. I was surprised how close the villas were to the edge, but I recalled how small the domains of the Fang Family appeared on the map. Likely the cost of maintaining a larger seal wall became exponentially greater. When we reached the edge, the muscular young man carefully stretched out his hands and placed them against the barrier.

After a few seconds of concentrating, a hole emerged. As he was waiting for it, the attendant threw out the snake. The hole snapped shut and the muscular man released a pulse of emerald light. That emerald light hit the rust colored air that had flowed through the hole and annihilated it.

Due to witnessing a strange Mana varietal, your Role Genius has gained Proficiency. Proficiency +20%.

Holy shit, 20% Proficiency at once?

Simultaneously, the attendant knocked against the barrier. “Watch closely.”

The snake curled back up into a tight spiral after being thrown. It looked around pensively. For a second, it gazed at the barrier, but then it turned away; compared to the barrier around the manor, I could feel how much more sophisticated this one was. When it didn’t detect any more threats in the area, it released a low hiss and began to slither away.

For a second, I wondered what I was watching for, but then a tremor stopped the snake’s movements. It writhed on the ground for a few seconds but the ominous sign was the bubbling along the snake’s skin. Its flesh rippled, as though it wanted to tear itself away from its body.

And tear it did, into limbs and claws and ferocity, until the newly born muscles quivered and a creature lifted itself off the ground. On the one hand, I had felt cocky and somewhat unimpressed; after all, it didn’t take a genius to understand that exposure to the energy outside of the seal wall was dangerous and transformed anything into a powerful monster. Yet despite understanding that aspect of it--

My eyes widened. A strange, crablike creature the size of Toad looked around at the world with angry eyes.

Twice-Turned Hellion Creeper Lvl 129

“An unending spring of danger lurks beyond the seals,” The attendant said. He spoke quietly, but the children had completely ceased making noise. “It is not enough to defeat opponents. Even crushed and pulped, flesh will be remade by the touch of Hell. Humanity may glean experience from the process… yet our foes come back stronger every time. For that reason, only through Primes and their seals can we survive. And the Feng Family Prime possesses the most sophisticated seals of all. Also…”

The attendant smirked. “Death is nothing in this world, children. Fear hell, above all else. Because even if you die, hell will not grant you rest.”

I rocked back on my heels. Is he implying… if a human dies beyond the seal walls-

“What’s our Prime called?” Vernika whispered.

Not only the attendant, but also the muscular Rubro and the others who helped gave the young girl sharp looks. She flinched. The attendant weighed her with his eyes, seemed to consider, then shook his head. “You need to earn that privilege. Come, children. For today, we are done.”

As we walked back, Toby fell into step beside Toad. He stared at the ground as we moved through the forest. Gradually, the light in his eyes grew. “A whole world filled with monsters…”

“Careful,” I could almost see the self-destructive resolve forming in this kid’s chest. “This isn’t a game. Outside the sealwall… well, we are very far from being able to play heroes out there.”

Toby giggled. “Play heroes? Ossi, you say the strangest things…. Playing heroes…”

I had a sinking feeling in my chest that speaking up had backfired, when he just kept saying playing heroes over and over again on the way back. Well, whatever. We were still just in this daycare facility. The time we would be called on to venture beyond the seal wall were (hopefully) very far away.

On the way, an area of the forest we moved through had changed; where before it was just foliage, now a half dozen teenagers moved around with saws, culling some of the trees. They paused in their efforts for a moment and glanced at us, but quickly returned to their labor. I felt extremely small next to these teenagers. They had logs large enough to squish me slung across their backs. 

When I noticed that the teenagers weren’t all the same age, I hurried up to the attendant and asked. “Are they a specific group? They seemed to be different ages.”

“They are those who have chosen an apprenticeship in forestry,” The attendant grunted. Then he waved a hand. “Zero-leggers don’t have apprenticeships; you need not worry about it.”

I fell back, but because I was who I was, I still spent some time speculating.

Because the activity was relatively short, we were brought back to the solarium before noon. While Toad trotted back over to his newly created clothing pile to nap, I looked at the attendant by the door. “Is there a schedule for the excursion days?”

The woman peered at me for a few seconds. This wasn’t an attendant I had seen before, and she seemed to be considering her response. The rest of the kids streamed past and raced to be the first back to the various toys. When I lingered there and gave her my attention, she appeared to relent. “Yes, I can show you.”

There was a small rack next to the door that my eyes had just skimmed over in the past. From it, she pulled a scroll and unrolled it for me. I saw a basic calendar every ‘Sunday’ there were various activities listed. I pressed my lips together. Two out of the four Sundays in the month were lecture days. Between the lecture days was apparently a sponsored trip out to the market. Yet the final week was different, with a rotating activity. This one was labelled as “Sealwall education”, which felt like a very generous way to describe frightening kids and then sprinkling on some Fang Family propaganda.

I moved down the scroll to next month. Frowning, I looked up at the attendant. “What is this?”

The attendant looked at my finger. The Sunday slot had no label, just an ominous star. She smiled, just slightly. “Ah. Next month… will be a special event. You can look forward to it.”

With this very unhelpful information, I gave the calendar back. I sighed and rubbed my eyes. At the very least, I could now plan around my Sundays. Maybe a month from now I would have another focus, but for now, I would continue training.

I returned to my corner. I activated Emit Mana several times, allowing the chaotic energies to thrash and grow inside my body. Concentration helped blunt the worst of the pain. Goose pimples proliferated across my skin. I breathed in and out as those piercing branches of ice began to melt. When I had recovered, I settled my body into a squat and practiced the explosive rotation that would guide me to finish this move.

Training settled into a cycle, albeit with one rather concerning aspect. My body became more and more used to the useless, strangled bulges of Mana within them. It took a shorter and shorter time every Skill attempt to disperse the Mana in my body. In addition, I earned quite a bit of Proficiency for the adaptation. It wasn’t to the point that Mana-Adjusted Physique would increase a Proficiency Tier in the short term, but it was quickly becoming my highest Trait by a decisive amount.

Of course, the corollary of this development was that, to gain Proficiency, I had to activate my Skills in a more dangerous manner. I had to upend a significant portion of my Mana Pool into my flesh, my muscles whining of the dangerous energy spat and froze and congealed inside me.

I would grit my teeth, sweat running down my face, and sink deep into Concentration. I would endure, no matter how my muscles shook, how much my mind wanted to just quit. Because-

Because honestly, the situation beyond the sealwall… is even worse than I thought. A few times in the next week, I woke up from a nightmare in which I was petting an adorable grey tabby cat… right up until the point it became a monstrous scorpion and drove its tail into my gaping mouth. 

Just recalling the dream made me shiver. I needed power.

I knew of no method to make it there but through repetitive effort.

At the end of the week, I had continued to mimic the movements in my head and raised my Learning Trait to 75%. Here, the disparate images I had received faded away and left the whole; from crouching, to twisting, to moving, it was a miniature movie. So now, I had to assemble an effective movement.

It was the morning of the next lecture day and I paused in my training to wipe sweat from my head. The kids had grown used to Toby and I’s actions, so they just ignored our corner of the solarium and continued their playing. Or at least I thought; I was surprised when I scanned the room and found Vernika looking at us with a strange expression. She flushed and looked away, pretending like she wasn’t staring.

If you want to train, you can do it too, I shook my head. Well, these kids were young. Honestly… I looked sideways at Toby. This one is the weirdo, for having the resolve to commit so fully.

Toby’s face was scrunched up into a look of concentration. He hopped forward on one leg, interspersing whatever movement he was supposed to be learning with kicks. I couldn’t guarantee whether the resulting mishmash would be any good, but… at least Toby came to his nonsense through hard work.

Meanwhile… My lips twitched as I saw my Tamed Beast, Toad. It crept along on the tips of its hooves, looking like a fool. Yet I couldn’t mock the hog, considering how much it appeared to be concentrating. Did you see us and want to join…? But why the hell, as a hog, would you try and learn a move that’s so dainty? Just charge.

“Children, come,” An attendant called. “It is time for your lecture.”