Mana gates are the lifeblood of empires and the reason for their downfall.

We understand that these passageways are created by the System to bridge dimensions and worlds. The goal, usually, is to further conflict. This phenomenon has been observed countless times, such as resource-rich gates often opening along the borders between great nations, or a gate connected to an extremely warlike world being unleashed upon Integrated Earth.

Because of this—and the assortment of Quests that are issued in relation to the gates—the terms “Dungeon Rush,” “Gate Raider,” and “Gate War” have become mainstays in most societies. For some Pathbearers, their claim to strength and ascension to Master was solely because of their success raiding gates. Entire warbands, nations, and even societies have been created for the end of better challenging, capturing, or closing gates. In certain cases, Pathbearers argue the title of “Gate Lord” is more valuable than being the ruler of a village, town, city, or even kingdom, due to the sheer amount of resources they can obtain.

Due to gates being conduits and “mana veins” between worlds, even the weakest gate’s power far exceeds the mana contained within a singular Pathbearer’s soul, for the most part. As such, the designation for gates shares naming conventions with mana storms, starting from Category 1 and upward.

So far, the highest rated gate is a Category 15 gate located in the Kingdom of Lone Star, and can be spotted easily from even beyond the planet’s atmosphere. Most of Lone Star’s people have not-so-affectionately dubbed the gate “Perdition’s Anvil,” with it supplying over 92.44% of Lone Star’s economy, while its monsters remain the highest cause of mortality for its people…

–Gates: Worlds Between Worlds

36

Access

Shiv attacked the vampire from several vectors at once.

His Vitality Drain hit first. The high vampire let out a vicious hiss as he stumbled in agony. What followed were several brutal blows striking all at once. Shiv’s Biomancy was his strongest magical skill, but it paled in comparison to that of the vampire. Surprise, however, was a potent weapon for the weaker party, and Shiv had a lot more than just one surprise to offer. He drove his Biomancy field into the high vampire immediately. Now, the bloodsucker’s hiss turned into a gagging rasp. To its credit, it responded damned fast—Shiv only managed to briefly touch the high vampire’s heart before he felt its Biomancy respond, clamping down on his field.

Now it was Shiv that gave a silent hiss. A shuddering pain rushed straight to the very roots of his being. The feeling of using a weaker mana field to struggle against a stronger one was like getting your limb slowly ripped out of its socket—except the limb was both Shiv’s mind and soul. An aura of deepest red exploded out from the vampire as a complex series of weaving spells danced around him. Towering mushrooms and other organisms nearby began to melt into blood. Shiv could feel the grinding power of the high vampire crash against him like waves—and do nothing.

This was why Shiv chose to begin his magical offensive: He had no physical body right then, so there was nothing to lose. Despite this, his Biomancy was absolutely pinned in place. He was a lake being crushed by a sea, and despite all his effort, the high vampire’s field pushed through his own in practically a heartbeat.

And it still did nothing, to the high vampire’s building fury.

“Show yourself, coward!” the high creature spat.

Shiv pushed through his spiritual agony and turned to his other mana attunements. It took him a colossal effort to focus his intent enough to shape the simplest spell—and Pyromancy was far easier to direct than Psychomancy.

How the hells did Uva even last at all against Harkness… A burst of flame splashed across the high vampire’s eyes, causing its eyelashes to catch fire. It clawed out at all angles, striking blindly with its magic. Practically everything organic in a hundred-meter radius was splashing down into a lake of blood at this point. And now Shiv’s resurrective husk was condensing around him. He didn’t have long before he got an immediate sampling of another—

Shiv resurrected. And then Shiv died immediately. He barely managed a single breath before he felt himself come apart into rivers of blood. Broken Moon, magic is bullshit… Great. Now, I know the first high vampire I fought was little more than an Adept-Tier weakling at most. Shiv paused briefly. And now he was experiencing power inflation. Tran and most of the Slayers were awed by Adam hitting Adept-Tier while he was still in the academy. But compared to the actual monsters that walked Integrated Earth, Adept-Tiers were but lambs to the slaughter.

Tragically for the bloodspawn, Shiv was a lamb that could grow a wolf’s teeth once he got his neck torn open enough times.

Biomancy > 47

Pyromancy > 9

Psychomancy > 8

The high vampire turned, slashing out with clawed hands and cleaving through the dissolving spill of blood where Shiv once stood. Once again, he started draining the vampire. Once again, the vampire threw its head back and howled in agony. The monster’s focus shattered. All the dancing spells orbiting around its body dissolved and vanished, and the world darkened once more. But rather than trying to burst the high vampire’s heart with his already strained Biomancy field, Shiv unleashed his Psychomancy instead. Focusing his intent, he tried to rip and tear at the vampire’s mind, but the spells he shaped seemed to have no effect. The high vampire staggered, gathering its bearings, and Shiv cursed. He adapted. He focused his will and poured his deepest desire into the vampire: “Stay distracted!”

This time, the high vampire’s eyes widened, and Shiv felt the bloodspawn’s mind lose focus. The mind’s not like the body, Shiv realized. I can’t attack it the same way. I need to think mentally… attack him as I was attacked mentally… The vampire started recovering again. Shiv drew on the closest experience he had and came up with a plan.

A plan that was probably going to make Uva pretty pissed at him later.

Once more, he shaped a spell—but this wasn’t a spell meant to strike at another’s mind. At least not immediately. No, this was the spell Shiv was the most familiar with right now, because he did it practically every time he got intimate with Uva. Shiv tethered his thoughts and feelings to the vampire, and the damn monster immediately started spasming and shrieking in torment. Shiv frowned. Come on, asshole, mana strain doesn’t feel that bad… Does it? It’s like a three out of ten next to getting burned alive in the teleportation anchor. Oh, wait! Shiv drew on his teleportation anchor memories and dumped them all into the high vampire. The shrieking stopped, and the vampire promptly blacked out.

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Psychomancy > 9

That didn’t mean Shiv was done. He kept dumping more of his recently experienced pain into the vampire, until the enemy was just twitching and jerking on the ground. Just as Shiv sensed no more brain activity in the blank-eyed monster, he resurrected once more—and immediately extracted the vampire’s heart before tossing the organ down into his cloak. Using his Biomancy hurt badly, but Shiv wasn’t messing around with this monster. Without Psychomancy, Shiv really wasn’t sure how this fight could have gone.

Thank the System most mages have a hard time developing Magical Resistance. If this bastard had 811’s Magical Resistance, I would have probably experienced a good ten deaths or more… Not that it sounded too bad in retrospect. He was close to his Skill Evolution for Biomancy now. Maybe a few more would have pushed him over the edge. Good thing I kept my Perfect Semblance up too. If I just dropped the guise and started fighting, they would all probably be on alert right now. With the vampire dead, I got a chance to keep this infiltration run going. I just need a new face.

“Not bad, Master Shiv,” a voice came from behind.

Shiv spun—only to see Still Water staring at him from behind a tree with a single dagger drawn. “Still Water,” Shiv greeted, bidding his racing heart to calm. “A warning could have been good.”

“That defeats the purpose. Remember, Master Shiv: This is a sneaking mission. And right now, I think the mission’s got a new lease on life.”

Shiv grunted as he pulled his own severed head out from his cloak. “Good thing I managed to decapitate myself. And that the damned orc swung so hard it covered this entire place with dust and debris.” As if the world was agreeing with his statement, a chunk of land that had been thrown up particularly high impacted and made the ground shake somewhere far away. “Things could’ve gone pretty bad if my body dropped into the fissure. Or if they noticed me casting my spells.”

“Yeah,” Still Water said, looking around. “That, and if one of their patrolling Adepts didn’t go missing in the forest due to no one in particular, they might have come running to help their friend just now.”

Oh, she’s here to boast, Shiv realized. He chuckled. “Thanks, no one in particular.”

The Weaveress gave her own silent laugh. “Don’t worry about it, high vampire. Now. Let’s see what that mask can do.”

Shiv took the Mask of False Paths off his original severed head. He then tossed the head on the ground and pulled out five more of his own stored corpses from his cloak.

“I… am not sure what you’re doing, Master Shiv?” Still Water said. She discovered the answer a second later as Shiv harvested all biomass unrelated to bone from his corpses and used it to assemble an even bigger, denser exoskeleton.

“I’m going to need a thicker shell around me for my next round with the orc,” Shiv said as he ripped off the vampire’s mask and studied their face. Hmm, not too ugly. Other than the teeth…

“The point is to not have a next round with the orc,” Still Water said somewhat sarcastically.

“There’s going to be a next round,” Shiv insisted. He hesitated before confirming the vampire as his new Perfect Semblance. Kneeling down, he asked Still Water to keep watch as he looted his kill. To his disappointment, the high vampire didn’t have much worth taking, other than a pouch filled with gems, some kind of overly decorated nightglass dagger, and a diary of all things. Shiv took all those—but in the process, felt a strange hardness hidden along both the vampire’s arm sleeves. As he pulled off the vampire’s gloves, a grin spread across his face.

“Well, I was just looking for something like this.” Shiv didn’t manage to find the focus staff that one of the slavers was using yesterday, but what the vampire had on him might just be better. A set of focus crystal bracelets were Shiv’s true reward, and he fastened them to his own arms. Immediately, his mind cleared—the feeling was uncanny. It was like it drank away the drift and distractions from Shiv’s thoughts. I got to ask someone about these crystals when I get the chance…

“Someone’s coming down the road. Five hundred meters,” Still Water called out. Shiv grunted his acknowledgement and assembled his new exoskeleton over himself. He was now two skeletons denser than normal, and it was starting to feel awkward to move in. Shiv made some final adjustments to the armor so it didn’t feel that unbalanced. As he solidified a cluster of five skulls to become his new helmet, he stared down at the vampire’s face and chose them as his new Perfect Semblance.

Just like with the slaver, the body of the slain combusted, and the fire and ash fused around Shiv to create a new identity he could wear. He examined his hands, now shrouded in a thick shawl of shadowy fabric. He then wrapped his head like the high vampire used to, leaving only his eyes showing.

Giving his Perfect Semblance status sheet a brief look, Shiv took in a few of the essential details and gawked at just how many Adept-Tier Skills the vampire had. That’s a damn wall of skills… And he was 145 years old? Well, the System must’ve hated him, since it set us on a course to collide.

“Well, that’s not something you see every day,” Still Water breathed. She peeked past the tree again and hummed. “Three hundred meters. They’re coming into sight. I’m going dark. I’ll let the others know the operation is still on—and that you got a new face.”

“Yeah,” Shiv said. “Don’t engage, though. This group’s tough. Between the orc and all the others, I don’t think we can achieve a clean ambush with what we got.”

Still Water vanished into her cloak, but kept speaking. “I’m inclined to agree. So, best tag that weapon so we got something to track in the worst case. Best, we’ll find an opening, and we can pick more and more of them off along the way. Oh, and one more thing: what was the vampire’s Awareness?”

Shiv checked the high vampire’s status sheet and chuckled. “Initiate.”

The Trapdoor Weaveress sighed. “Paranoia. Looks like it got to me.”

“Better to have it than not,” Shiv said.

He stepped out of the woods and proceeded back along the wide ebony path. He tried to remember what the vampire’s personality was like to get into character. Shiv needed to be impatient and agitated. Develop a short fuse, maybe. That, and keep to himself most of the time. Except the orc seemed pretty friendly with the high vampire. But the vampire was pretty mad at the orc… Isaiah. Isaiah Galtadore is the vampire’s name… What kind of name is that?

And then there was another thing that drew his notice. A notification lingered before him, asking him if he wanted to steal an Initiate Skill from the high vampire. Or maybe replace his Adept-Tier Skill. And with the buffet the vampire offered, he wasn’t short on options.

“Isaiah!” a female voice snarled from afar. “Bloodspawn! Where are you? I told you to watch the damned orc! I told you he was your burden. Does that mean something to a spawn of the Court? Was that the reason they cast you out?”

Shiv bit back a groan of annoyance. And already more personal lore was flying at him. He didn’t have time to dig through this status sheet in detail, and Blade Whirlwind was… not that effective. Momentum Core already gave Shiv a pretty extreme option for dealing physical damage, but what he needed right now was more flexibility, more subtlety, more subterfuge.

And that’s why he found a choice that went perfectly with his mask.

Replace Stolen Adept-Tier Skill [Blade Whirlwind] with [Umbral Shadowalker]?

Shiv agreed.

A second later, he held back a gasp as all the memories associated with Blade Whirlwind were torn out of his mind and replaced with Umbral Shadowalker. As the furious woman kept calling out to him, Shiv remembered stalking through darkness as other vampires hunted him. They wailed in sorrowful outrage, demanding he return to let them take and stake his heart, that he didn’t deserve his gifted blood for the patricide he committed…

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