“SON OF A BITCH!”

I nearly screamed when I suddenly woke up, lucidity slamming into my body like a truck. So much pain shot through my brain that it felt like powdered glass had been sprinkled through my neurons. 

I could feel every thought, could sense that the pain was caused when certain memories and their neurons were triggered. I felt stinging along my spinal cord and burning in the back of my eyeballs, my ears feeling like they were ringing, so much stimulation running through my mind that I couldn’t hear Umara when she ran over. 

I couldn’t hear my own voice, just knowing that the sounds of agony I was letting out were definitely not making me look good. 

I tossed and turned, trying to find any other form of stimulation that didn’t make me feel like shooting myself in the head was an attractive choice. I knew exactly how long it took to start coming out of it and could graph a time curve tracking my pain level as it decreased, yet thinking about that only made things worse. 

It was about 98 seconds before I could finally hear my own voice, 130 seconds before I could start understanding the others’ words. At about 210 seconds I stopped writhing, and at 7 minutes I had finally composed myself a little. 

I continued to lay on the bed I was in, trying to stay as still as possible. Every little movement, even the tremors my heartbeat caused, sent pain through my head. 

There were several people around me. My eyes were closed but from their breathing and the sounds of their shifting clothes I could tell that Umara, Kwon, Song, Aki, Ilinca, Shadowbane, Feiden, Aria, and Blackblood were nearby. Anybody else was too far for me to bother trying to make out. 

They were quiet, until Umara finally decided to speak given a few more minutes. 

“What happened John?”

“…I don’t know. Feels like there’s shards of glass in my head.”

“I don’t see anything wrong with him…”

Ilinca muttered, and that’s when I finally sensed the spells being cast on my body. 

Then I heard Katta’s voice. 

“He’s probably experiencing Crystallization.”

“The fuck is that?”

I asked, immediately taking a guess at what it was. I could tell she was a bit worried. Nothing good. 

“It’s rather rare and mostly seen in higher Authorities. When people with extreme levels of Magika in their body take things too far and strain themselves too much over a long period, their Magika can crystallize in their bodies. Knights typically get it in their muscles, while Warlocks get it in their blood. I’ve only heard of a few summoners ever suffering from it for obvious reasons, but you’re experiencing about exactly what I’ve heard from those stories.”

“Fucking great.”

I shuddered, trying not to think about anything that would make the pain worse. 

Umara asked. 

“Is there a fix?”

“Nothing but lots of rest. It can get better, but if it gets bad enough, it’s permanent and it’ll only get worse. I know a lot of old retired people from the Order who can barely move due to Crystallization. They’re some of the most powerful people in the world but they can’t use any of it, not without experiencing both extreme pain and probably killing themselves. It’s like aging, but for Magi. It’s one of the things I have to be extremely careful of, the one thing besides money that prevents me from injecting all the serums I could want.”

I heard Umara sigh, my head swirling with the long term consequences of such a thing. 

Katta gave a reassuring tone. 

“Don’t worry, I manage these symptoms all the time. I’ve gotten pretty good at treading that line, so I’ll help with recovery.”

“Thanks.”

I muttered in response, Umara asking the question on my mind.

“Why isn’t this more well known? I’ve never heard of it.”

“Because it’s still rare. Pushing yourself so far isn’t easy, and most people who find themselves in the situation to go so far usually die anyway. Then, the ones that live usually take it easy after their first experience with it given how painful it is. The Crystallization heals with rest and they don’t really feel anything like it again. But there are some, like in the Order, that push themselves to those limits weekly or monthly, for years on end. The pain dampens as it gets worse, they stop thinking about it, and they figure out just how bad it got after they retire when they suddenly can’t walk or swing a sword anymore.”

Katta’s tone fell, her focus turning to me.

“I’ve heard about a summoner who retired and became a vegetable, one of the only summoners to ever make it on a Tier 1 combat team. He never summoned again, died a few years after retirement despite the rest of his body being in near perfect health. They said his brain was half Crystallized, ended up extracting it for study since it had never been encountered that extreme before. I’ve actually seen it. It was pinkish white, like a big chunk of stained glass, still active with Psyka and was about as creepy as you’d expect. Felt like I could see his memories just looking at it.”

“…Which is to say that you’ll be doing absolutely nothing for the next week at least.”

Umara turned to me and chided a bit, sufficiently scared. I couldn’t really give a damn, but I agreed that I needed rest. 

I had no intention of turning my brain into a specimen of study. 

The only problem was my lack of power. I seemed to be the only one who could handle that Death Shrine as easily as it was but I was still only Authority 7. I was just so good at what I did, and my enemies were so weak against my attacks, that the detail was regularly forgotten. 

Now it finally came back to bite me in the ass. It seemed like not even magic was all upsides. I thought that it was just an external power of mine, that I could use it however recklessly I wanted and all I’d have to suffer for it was a bit of grogginess and some headaches, which could be solved with sleep. 

Now I’ve learned that I’d turn my shining intellect into an overglorified White Crystal if I wasn’t careful. 

I wondered how good of an enchanting catalyst it would be. Probably pretty amazing. 

I didn’t respond to Umara, just reaching out. 

“Water…”

“Here.”

She handed me a canteen, my body feeling so weak that my arm shook as I brought it to my mouth. Umara had to help me. 

After talking some drinks I suppressed a cough as best I could and muttered. 

“I’m a dying Victorian child…”

“Heh.”

“What..?”

Aki laughed, and Umara let out a confused sound. I could sense Kwon and Song’s amusement too. I was glad I had people to understand me a little now. 

“Nothing. How long was I out?”

“Two days.”

“All that sleep and I still woke up like this.”

“It’ll be at least a few more days before you’re back to normal,” Katta chimed, “The first time isn’t actually that bad condition wise. You’ve just never felt it before. It’s all the other times after that you have to be careful with, when you stop feeling so much pain and start thinking you can do it more frequently.”

“John, maybe we should fly out.”

“No.”

I immediately rejected Umara’s suggestion. 

“Not until I find and take control of every piece of data this place contains. I need to know everything before we return.”

She just sighed.”

“Yes, dear.”

“Thank you. At least I’m not feeling like someone’s constantly about to stab me in the throat.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry about that.”

Blackblood suddenly chuckled, making me roll my eyes. 

“Fuck off.”

“Your fault for acting like a psycho and reaching into my brain! Besides that, I’m thinking you’re doing this to get attention from the ladies. How do I really know you’re feeling all that pain?”

“You don’t. But I can give you an idea. Again.”

The SEER Knife appeared in my hand, glowing maliciously. That made Blackblood cringe, turning away. 

“Yeesh, Commander’s a buzzkill.”

“Fuck off, Blackblood,” Umara waved, “Go make yourself useful and prep dinner, maybe you’ll avoid watch tonight.”

“Fine, fine.”

Umara rolled her eyes when he walked away, the others finding something to do.

She muttered under her breath.

“Don’t know why he’s always pestering like that.”

“Well, I did poke everyone’s brains a little. I won’t say I don’t deserve it a little.”

“Yeah… Felt like you were going to rip out my memories. Were you actually reading our minds or did it just feel like it?”

“I got some glimpses. I don’t actually remember them now but I know it wasn’t a completely fruitless occurrence.”

“Maybe that’s an ability you should refrain from using.”

“Well, on you guys, yeah.”

I smiled a bit.

“The Scourge teaches as much as it destroys. If knowledge can be extracted even in death, there’s no reason why I can’t try and attempt to manage the same things. Reading minds and memories can only be useful.”

“Except you’d probably kill the person doing so.”

“Then it’ll be a good extraction technique for my own counterespionage.”

“And not something you should be thinking about right now. Get some rest. I’m not letting you touch any devices for at least a couple days.”

“Yes, dear.”

I acquiesced and was rewarded with a kiss, Umara going off to help with dinner. I just laid there, making plans for the near future. 

My eyes landed on the Heart above us. We hadn’t left the laboratory but the others had carved out a space over the last two days and cleaned some things up. The fog, previously the thickest we’d ever encountered, was now thinner and likely actively dissipating, albeit slowly. There were probably ventilation systems that I’d want to activate but that was for later. 

The Heart itself was still active, fluctuating, but the barrier was likewise just as strong as it had been for years. I had no illusions of having an easy time cracking it for no other reason than the fact that the Death Shrine had been at it for decades and had nothing to show for it, even after having taken control of what had to be all the data in the lab. 

I was hoping there were still salvageable systems. The Mantle likely left a crack to squeeze through, but if everything was destroyed then I’d be stuck with building a new system that could interface with what remained of the Heart’s systems and brute forcing the barrier, which would demand that I get help from the Wonderland teams. 

I preferred to keep the Heart a secret from even them, at least until I could determine what it was and what it could do. 

It all depended on how the Death Shrine fucked with the data and what happened to everything when it died. 

I pondered these things while eating dinner. After getting sustenance though I was out cold. 

It would be a long few days of doing nothing, but it was worth the time. We hadn’t been on the island that long so I was willing to spend the time to digest our spoils, even if I needed to send the others on missions to keep them occupied while I worked. 

So for now I just focused on recovery. I had no interest in feeling any of that pain again. 

……

…

A few days passed and as Katta said, I finally got back to relative normalcy. 

My brain no longer made me want to kill myself with pain and I was able to think clearly. In fact, I felt more powerful than ever. A benefit of pushing oneself to the limit was the recovery. Like training a muscle, training magic could lead to greater cultivation. 

Unfortunately, there was now a downside. I knew there was now a soft limit and a hard limit. Of course, I’d do everything I could to survive, consequences be damned, but it was clear that I needed to approach situations like the one with the Death Shrine with a bit more caution and planning. 

When I wasn’t being mentally attacked 24/7, of course. It had left me little choice. 

As soon as we had stepped onto the island, we had entered an unknown battle of attrition with all the Death Shrines occupying this territory. Ironically, I happened to be the most susceptible target in that battle and after entering the city itself, everything was against us. If I hadn’t solved that problem when I did, I would’ve gone mad and it would’ve been a bad time for everyone involved. 

After getting back on my feet we left the confines of the lab and went back to the surface so I could make contact with our bird. As soon as we reached the great outdoors we immediately noticed that the city was no longer flooded with that poisonous fog. It was still there, but significantly lighter and actively dissipating. 

After dropping a transmitter I got details from the bird and a confirmation that the scanning discrepancy had been resolved. They could now see both the true state of the island, at least around the areas we had explored, as well as us on the ground. 

One problem solved. Turns out it had been the Death Shrine after all. It wielded the fog let off by the countless hundreds of dead Shades, using their mental residue as an illusion and weapon. That’s also probably why the Shades were never seen around the Death Shrines, just their Shrikes. 

After exchanging data we went back to the lab and I got to work. While Umara sent out the teams to go do recon and clear Shades, I started poking into the systems that were still intact. Computers, storage, archives, power systems, machines, and anything else I could find. 

Thankfully, all data that the Death Shrine had taken control of was intact. It hadn’t messed with the physical storage devices, just blockaded them with its bioware, so I simply had to break in and take what was there. 

Because of that, I was finally able to take a look at what had caused such a stir with both the Mantle and the Scourge. 

The Heart, as it was codenamed, was more properly known as the Mana-Vigor Transmutation Core. Its purpose was as its namesake. This Core was capable of transmuting Mana into Vigor and vice versa. 

It was created not long after the Mantle had discovered and settled this island. Initially, the island was intended to act as a beachead so they could reach whatever continent lay beyond it, where the Kingdom and Church currently resided. Their presence here almost perfectly aligned with my guesses about it. Nothing new there. 

However, not long after arriving, they discovered that in the center of the island resided an anomaly of incredible power. It was a living system of the four crystalized elements of Mana. It wasn’t sapient, but its reach extended to all corners of the island, turning it into a paradise of nature. 

And one of the species living upon the island in symbiosis with the anomaly was the Lordbeasts, according to a translation from Kwon. 

The Paragon of Vigor resisted the intrusive settlement of the Mantle, and the Mantle seemed to take that excuse and run with it. They quickly launched an offensive against the Lordbeasts and the island as a whole, seeking to take control of the anomaly. Nothing surprising about that. 

However, after the Mantle had carved their way to the center of the island, the King of the Lordbeasts made a last ditch effort and sacrificed itself to the anomaly. The Paragon of Vigor became one with the anomaly of Mana, and the two wiped away the Mantle from the island. 

Of course, the Mantle soon returned. By that time there was no more resistance to be made. The Mantle took control of the Anomaly, but it had changed not long after their first defeat. The Anomaly and the Paragon had combined into a system that could freely transmute Mana and Vigor. It was an ability unheard of to the Mantle. 

Under normal circumstances, Magika was the combination of the three energies: Mana, Vigor, and Psyka. White Crystals were tangible sources of these powers, and any of the three could come from a single White Crystal. 

However, transforming one of the three into another of the three was unheard of. More important though was the implication. 

If Mana could turn into Vigor, and Vigor into Mana, then they could do the same transmutations with Psyka. In the end, it was a recipe for generating Magika, the penultimate power. Further than that, such technology could be used to generate White Crystals. 

Currently, White Crystals could only be sourced from Black Crystals, which relied on the Scourge and a purification technique. The Church currently held a monopoly on the perfect technique, the Kingdom possessing an imperfect version. 

But if this technology was developed, it would lead to a method for directly generating White Crystals, completely bypassing the need for both purification and the presence of the Scourge. 

The Heart, the Anomaly of Mana and Vigor, was real proof that it was possible. 

My hands nearly shook when I discovered that fact. 

This information would change everything. It would upend the entire dynamic between humanity and the Scourge. Such technology would rebirth the entire system of magic. It would become the origin of a whole new line of magitech and, given enough time, would turn this world’s civilizations into, dare I say, a galactic superpower. 

There were no limits to science, and yet magic was like a key to the shackle on reality. However, in the back of my mind, and in the minds of those who were qualified enough to think about it, there had always been a question of the thereafter. 

When the Scourge was defeated, where would humanity source White Crystals? The most important item in all of Magic society hinged on combat with the Scourge. But when that source ran dry, what then?

The short sighted fools would think that we needed to keep the Scourge alive, keep them on the planet as a perpetual source of Crystals. People like me would have originally said that it was only a matter of time before the technology was gradually developed anyway. 

Unfortunately, I wasn’t betting on the majority of the elite population to think like me. I would bet that, in their greed, they would attempt to manufacture a status quo with the Scourge. White Crystals would never cease to be generated and in their hubris, they believed that they could defend their territories forever. The entire population of humanity would become the fuel by which they perpetuated their magitech. Every single Crystal, as it was until I created the Iron Legion, would be paid for with the blood of entire generations. 

That was likely the answer in their heads. Except now, I had the catalyst for change right before me. 

The key to the future of humanity, created by the greed of intellectuals, destined to be entomed in this hell for decades, unable to be used by them as a tool for advancement due to the very corruption that created it. 

And ultimately ending up in my hands. 

It was fucking biblical. 

Unfortunately certain questions could only be answered once we investigated the mainland. I wanted to know why the Scourge forgot about this place after eradicating the Mantle. They obviously knew the island existed, had sent a Broodfather to take the place over. But they had left everything here to rot in perpetuity. Perhaps they didn’t care about anything they could find. They could already create Crystals, after all. They wouldn’t care about a downgrade, especially if the Mantle had actually managed to hide intelligence about its true nature from them. 

With nothing interesting being here in the Scourge’s eyes, they likely decided to simply not care, not even about the soldiers they sent to take the place over. They cared for nothing more than eradicating humanity, so as long as that job was done, they wouldn’t even care about the kin they had sent to carry it out. Why bother wasting the resources to bring them back?

It had been up to this Death Shrine, the last remnant of Scourge intelligence, the only thing that managed to discern that there was something here. But it never managed to break down the barrier around the Heart. 

It had failed. The Mantle had failed. 

I would succeed where they hadn’t.

It would take some time to go through all the data and take control of the systems. Only then could I begin to attempt to crack the barrier. I couldn’t know how long that would take. 

But I wouldn’t leave here without doing so. This was too important to risk. 

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