NBB2 - The Chaos Rifts - chapter 18

The first thing Solus realized as he woke up was that the pain wasn't gone, but he was still lying on his back. He didn't smell anything strange, so that was a good thing. As he pushed himself up, his head throbbed dully.

So, sleeping didn't help much, he thought, the hope that it would have reenergized him shattered.

Perhaps he should try the thing he had done before, where his mind went blank. That had made him feel a lot better and quickly replenished a portion of his mana.

Sitting cross-legged took some effort, but he eventually succeeded. As he focused on the ground, he tried to think of nothing. It took only a few moments for him to realize that it wasn't going to work. The pain was distracting him, and at the same time, his mind was preoccupied with finding a solution to his current predicament. He also had the feeling there was something he needed to check, which wasn't helping either.

Knowing he had no other choice, he pulled up his status window and looked at his evolutions. After staring at the options for a long time, he shouted in frustration. None of them seemed like the one he needed. Looking down at the ground, he remembered the presence far below that constantly hounded him.

"You down there, why don't you tell me what I should do?" he roared, striking the ground.

There was no response, and annoyed and unwilling to give up, he stretched his senses down. The cold rock easily let his mind pass through, and he enjoyed the sensation when it felt like he rammed into a solid wall. His senses and mind rebounded, and groggily he shook his head. Something was blocking his way down.

Going back, he carefully scanned the substance. It was hard to see amidst the stone, but it reminded him of the gold when he probed it.

Grabbing his wrist, he saw the golden bracelet was gone—no surprise, with everything that had happened.

He began to examine the material, noticing that it was less pure and dense than gold.

Stretching his senses, he found that the material stretched far to the sides. There were small paths of stone, like a maze, that ran through it. Following those might get him down, but he faltered. What if his mind couldn't find the way out? Would it be locked inside?

He frowned and was about to stop when he found a small, loose chunk. Although embedded in rock, it wasn't connected to the rest, and he began drawing it up. The rock resisted him, his throbbing headache turning to a massive pounding. Gritting his teeth, he continued until the ground beside him opened up. A small stone platform rose up, and on top lay a grey, brown-tainted lump.

He picked it up, noting it was heavy, dense, and cold.

Iron- the name came with a massive amount of images.

The stuff the ancients build everything with, he thought, shocked at the number of images he got this time. On a whim, he tried to draw out more knowledge from his mind, but all he got was the word and the stream of images. Annoyed, he probed harder. When his eyes began tearing from the pain, another little bit of knowledge was added to his mind and, with it, more images.

It's a mineral!

Images of suits of iron, spaceships, and a host of things made from this simple lump played through his mind.

Getting excited, he summoned his status window and looked at the options. Suddenly, the Mineral elemental seemed a lot more interesting. There might not be a lot of metal on the surface, but there was a massive amount below the ground.

Unsure, wishing he had answers, he reluctantly looked to the ground again.

"If I change so I can mold metal as I do earth, would that be a good thing?" he asked, projecting his voice down and leaving the question hanging.

He didn't get a reply, and angry, he stomped on the ground creating a small tremor. Shaking his head, he sat down, holding the ore in his lap as he frowned at the options. The choice was more difficult this time. If he chose wrong, he couldn't just wipe clean his mana-field and try again as he had with Tatjie. If he tried, he would fall unconscious halfway, and then what? Images of iron and fire played through his mind for a while, and as he saw them, he wondered about something.

Getting up, the iron ore in hand, he rushed towards the wall. A tunnel opening appeared that led back to the massive cavern. When a small layer of rock separated him from it, he hesitated. He scanned, trying to find out if something was waiting for him on the other side.

Puss and bile!

The shaking of the earth still inhibited him from feeling the minute tremors of someone walking. Opening the last barrier of stone caused a gust of hot air to waft into the tunnel, accompanied by the sound of bubbling and flowing lava. He waited, annoyed at his feeling of powerlessness. After a few moments where nothing happened, he walked outside.

Everything seemed the same as before; the oppressive heat of the cave, the distant glow of red at the back, and the broken stalactites on the ceiling.

Carefully, and keeping his eyes out for any threat, he headed back towards the lava. The closer he got to the lava, the hotter it became, and almost there, he stopped. The memory of his legs as they burned in agony made him shiver. Even now, the flesh around his legs was scarred and painful.

He looked around for any of the lava beasts with a soft growl, but they were all far away. The closest was no more than a small figure, appearing bussy with lying in the lava and doing absolutely nothing.

Solus moved to the bank, and the soles of his feet burned from the heat of the stone. Trying to ignore it, he looked at the iron in his hand. After a moment, contemplating how he should go about his little test, he created a small stone arm and put the iron-ore on it. Ignoring the increasing throbbing inside his head, he lowered it in the lava. It began crumbling around the edges immediately, but he only had eyes for the iron ore.

Nothing happened at first, but then the outside of the clump started turning dark red, and the color slowly went from orange to yellow.

He had to reinforce the stone tendril a few times before he raised it back out. The iron-ore had turned into a white-yellow liquid that sluggishly flowed across the stone hand.

So iron melts in lava, he thought sadly, as he dropped the tendril and molten metal in the lava. He wasn't sure if he should be happy or sad, but it did answer one of the things he had wondered about.

Turning around, deep in thought as he walked back to the nearest side of the cave, a heavy thudding came from deep in the cavern. He stopped, staring into the distance from where he heard it. His eyes didn't pick up anything, just the slow encroaching darkness, but his stone-sense told him something slammed into stone repeatedly, cracking it.

Should I go check it out? He hesitated for a moment, then turned away. He was curious, but with so little energy left, he knew it might be too dangerous. Memorizing the location, he walked back into the tunnel.

When he arrived in his room, his head was thumping in rhythm with the pounding on the stone. He was trying to ignore it but somehow couldn't anymore. He sat down on the stone bed and summoned his status window, navigating to his list of evolutions.

Magma elemental, he thought without any more hesitation. Immediately his mana-field flared into existence, intense dark-grey and filled with bright green lines. Too large for the room, the top sections disappeared through the roof.

He shot upright as a burning heat filled his bones, not painful exactly, but not comfortable either. He felt agitated and jittery, as if every part of him was trying to move at the same time. The clarity of his mind faded, and a chaotic mismatch of memories and thoughts swirled through his mind.

Trying hard to keep his focus, his gaze darted around as he attempted to watch every inch of his field at the same time and see what would change.

The deep grey began turning a dark red, then orange, almost like the iron had done. The green lines, bright at first, darkened and deepened as they changed, lines and symbols extending out. An odd sensation came from his nose and throat, quickly increasing to painful levels. Opening his mouth, he belched. A thick plume of black, dotted with glowing red embers surged out, while streams of black smoke trickled up from his nose.

A sense of wrongness flooded him, panic rising with it. The heat in his bones increased, and his mana-field turned bright yellow, almost white. Pain in his mind and from his body rocked him, and he crumbled on the ground, his jaws clenched so tight he couldn't even howl.

His conscious thoughts dimmed as his mind became a swirling mass of chaos. He barely felt the stone he lay on heating up. Time turned irrelevant as he flailed on the ground.

"WRONNGGGG" the deep voice from below bellowed in his mind. It carried worry and fear.

Even throughout the chaos and pain, Solus felt something heavy press down on his mind, and then the immense presence flooded the room. The turmoil in his mind seemed almost scared of it, and for a moment, Solus could think clearly.

“NOTTTT LIKEEEE THATTTTTT”

The inside of Solus' mind seemed to expand outward from the power of the voice, and it felt as if he was blasted away, hurtling across a massive distance of nothing. The last thing he heard before blacking out was the voice, soft and blurry as if speaking through a long tunnel.

"LIKEEE THISSSS"

---

Warm, comfortable, and wrapped in a secure embrace, Solus resisted when he began waking up, desiring no more than to remain as he was now. Something enormous nudged him, pushing him away into the cold.

"LEARNNN" A soft rumble in his mind said, sounding joyful but tired.

Feeling his mind shoot up, away from the warmth of the other, Solus felt a loneliness he had never felt before. He also sensed something else. The other was dieing… a concept almost too unfathomable for him to understand. Not ending, as the undead did, but something else. The loss of something that was now unique in the whole galaxy. The loss of life.

Feeling the presence fade as he shot up at a speed so fast he couldn't understand, he saw a green light in his mind.

With a gasp and a cough, Solus shot up on his elbows. The room around him was empty and quiet now, a pungent odor lingering everywhere. Black smudges and deep lacerations marred the merrily glowing green walls. A soft ping started him, and slowly what had happened began registering.

It is alive…! Solus barely understood what it meant, knowing only that it was what all things had been before leaving the galaxy. He also knew it wouldn't be for much longer, the life it had draining away, no longer nourished by this world.

Still, even with this knowledge, Solus felt content as he lay on his back. A soft heat was bubbling up from deep inside, not chaotic like before, but warm and nurturing. It wasn't life; he knew that right away. It was a mixture of his cold undead energy, combined with the chaotic heat he had felt before blacking out. Curious, he summoned his status window.

> New sub-race pattern detected within mana-field

> Near match found

> Registering mutated variant of Pseudo world elemental

> Congratulations on finding an as-of-yet unknown pattern!

> Opening shop window

> ERROR no connection detected

> Limited system use

Would you like to sell the information on the newly found pattern? Please be aware; scanning the pattern will destroy your undead minion. A new minion will be supplied. Due to limited system availability, there are only three reward options.

YES / NO

The question caused him to shiver in fear, and he quickly selected no.

> If you change your mind later, make your way to our nearest field office.

> New evolution type detected

> Calculating category…

> ERROR - cannot determine category or type

> Please head to the nearest major outlet for further instructions

Name: Os Solus

Age: 1

Sex: male

Race: Pseudo world elemental [Mutation]

Type: ERROR

Class: Stone shaper

Strength: 48/58

Constitution: 39/49

Dexterity: 24/31

Endurance: 90/99

Intelligence: 34/41

Wisdom: 23/43

Charisma: 9/20

Manafield: 14000/27000

Physical density: 19000/41000

Skills: 2

Inscriptions: 5/9

Mana generation: 45

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Error? Solus shook his head in wonder at what the World Elemental had done. At least he expected it to be a world elemental, as it made sense. Shaking his head as he wondered at the world of the ancients, where undead were destroyed on a whim, he inspected the rest of the status window.

Smiling contently, he looked at the increase in wisdom. It was far more than he had anticipated, having almost doubled. A bit more, and it would be as high as his constitution. The feeling he got from his own body now made sense, though. He felt a bit stronger, and the pain had left him, but most of all, he felt ready to take on the world. The prospect of breaking through the lava invested stone above and finding a way to end the chaos-rifts from forming didn't feel as insurmountable.

With the calm came the realization he had forgotten about something. He called up his skills section, and his grin widened as he saw the list of options from which he could choose.

> New skill options have been unlocked based on World elemental race and class combination

> Racial skill: Mineral manipulation

> Passive: Mineral sensing

> Active: User can separate and manipulate the individual mineral components of stone.

> Race skill: Curving throw

> Passive: Minor manipulation of gravity

> Active: When throwing an object, its trajectory can be changed slightly while in mid-air. Mana cost depends on weight.

> Race skill: Updraft

> Passive: Minor manipulation of gravity

> Active: Can manipulate the gravitational pull of an object to slowly lift it up. Mana cost depends on weight.

> Class skill: Super dense constructs

> Passive: Mana cost reduction when creating stone constructs

> Active: User can change the density of stone constructs at the cost of more mana. If stone is compressed beyond its normal ability, mana drain will be exponential.

> Class skill: Stone scribe

> Active: User can leave inscriptions in stone constructs that manipulate their movement based on triggers. A construct needs a steady mana supply for this.

> Class skill: Duststorm

> Active: User can change nearby stone into minuscule particles and propel them in a single, chosen direction.

> Class skill: Stone radar vision

> Active: When focusing on this skill, movement, and objects within a stone area will be outlined.

Solus' eyes widened as he stared at the mineral manipulation one. Would that mean he could manipulate metal? Scanning through the list, he quickly went back to see how many skills he could pick. Five? He frowned as he recalled that it had been three before. Somehow, something was taking up more skill slots. What had the world elemental done to his pattern?

Shaking his head, he pushed away from the desire to examine himself further. First, he wanted to wrap up what he needed to do. Five out of nine left skills left him with four open slots, but he would leave two for later.  Besides, he only had his eye on two for now.

Quickly turning back to the list of skills, he selected Mineral manipulation. His manafield surged out of him like a multitude of waves. It was grey again and darker than before. The redness had disappeared as it had never been there. The symbols were all green, but many of the lines connecting the major pattern had turned a glowing yellowish gold.

Gaping at the parts of his field that didn't pass through the walls, he saw that his main pattern had increased in density up to the point that he could barely distinguish the individual parts. It had also grown to cover two more sections. With this, it covered three of the five available sections. The status window pattern, now no longer the densest he had, glowed brightly and lines spread from it to a nearby empty region.

As he watched, a new, intricate pattern emerged on a free section, and when it finished, the mana-field faded slowly. It almost seemed to linger, not wanting to disappear completely, until it finally winked away.

Wondering how to use the new skill, Solus examined the glowing green rock around him. Nothing seemed to have changed, and curiously he spread his senses outward. His mouth widened as he stared in shock at the wall that had been nothing more than green rock mere moments before.

A multitude of different little crystalline shapes now made up the rock around him, weaving an intricate network of forms. It reminded him of the symbols in the patterns, but less organized and more chaotic. Stretching out his will, he tried pulling in one of the types of crystal shapes, and they responded immediately. Like a stream, they filtered through the rock, and to his surprise, traces of metal particles were dragged with them. Falling from the ceiling and walls, Solus drew them to his hand, where they clumped together. After a little while, he stopped and stared in wonder at the blood-red clump of rock in his hand.

Gemstone… the word popped up together with an image of a white stone sitting on a gold ring.

Wondering what they were good for, he raised it in front of his eye. He could see the wall through it, all red and hazy. The rock wasn't particularly heavy, and after a second, he brought his hand down to put it in his waist container.

He started when he touched his skin and looked down to see his bare naked legs. They were still dark grey and partially covered in thin green hairs and perhaps just a little more muscled. Shrugging, he focused on the ground below and drew stone towards him. He didn't separate the different crystals, and the grey rock flowed around his legs and waist. It set into an armor similar to the one he had before, leaving his lower legs bare.

The process was smooth and easy, and with a smile he put the gem in his pouch. Wondering what the other skill would bring him, he sat back down and called up his status window. Scanning across the list, he wished he could just try them all to see what they did. But he couldn't, and what he needed was something to get rid of one of his weaknesses. Selecting the Super-dense construct skill, he quietly sat back as his manafield sprang into existence again.

When it had finished, he focused on a patch of stone in front of him.

Density? That's proximity, he thought. He wasn't sure if it was the increase in wisdom showing already, his new race, or a lingering benefit from being in proximity to the massive earth elemental that made it so, but the concepts flowed smoothly through his mind.

Ignoring the multitude of different crystalline shapes, he forced the stone closer together. He had done something similar to create the wall around this room, but at that time, he had only removed the empty pockets between the rock. Now he was causing the rock to diminish in size because the particles clumped closer together. The rock section ripped loose from the rest with a loud crack as it shrunk to half its size. It clattered down and rolled out of the hole it left behind. Curious, Solus picked it up.

"Heavy!" He muttered and froze. His voice, which normally caused a rumble, even when muted, was softer and gentle. The stone around him didn't shake or shudder from it.

"What is going o-" Solus said as a test, slowly increasing how loud he spoke. The sound quickly ramped to such levels that the walls began shaking violently, and he stopped mid-sentence. Long fissures shot through the roof, debris and dust falling down. Blinking, he muttered something unintelligible in a normal voice. Nothing happened, and he grinned.

So, I don't have to be afraid to break everything all the time.

Turning his attention back to the rock, he focused, compressing it more and more. When it was a fourth of its previous dimensions, he started feeling a slight drain. Frowning, he continued, and when it was an eight, he stopped. The rock was gleaming dully, laying on his hand heavy and solid. There was a constant drain on his mana, and as he released the tension, the rock grew again until it was a third of the initial size. Then it stopped. Clenching his hand, Solus applied pressure. His eyes widened when nothing happened. Only when veins popped up on his arms did the rock shatter in his hand, stone splinters flying everywhere.

He focused on the armor on his legs, compressing it while drawing more earth from the ground to make up for the size difference. The bulky, thick stone leg armor shrunk until it was only half as thick and a smooth dark grey.

This will need some experimentation, he thought as he felt the drain. Releasing the tension, he waited for the stone to come to an equilibrium.

A host of ideas, things to attempt played through his mind, but those had to wait. He had been here for far too long, and the others should be with Scathia already. Taking a last look in the direction where the large underground cavern was, he shook his head when he remembered the massive pounding. There was no time to find out what it was, but he would come back.

A circular opening sprang up above his head, and a platform of stone surged up with him on it. Staring up and keeping his senses ready, he sought for any signs of lava.

After a while, the stone above him turned hot, and the small crystalline shapes flitted about faster and faster. The platform stopped, and a tunnel appeared ahead of Solus. He ran forward, small stone platforms appearing below his feet, propelling him on.

Creating the tunnel was effortless, and with a grin, he scanned ahead and above as he searched for a way through or around the lava.

--

In the middle of the wasteland, with nothing but dusty grey rock insight, something stirred. A circular hole opened, and a blast of air came out, blasting dust in the air. Heavy thudding came from deep underground; then something shot out of the hole.

Landing on his feet, Solus slowed down, sealing the hole behind him. He wasn't sure why, but it seemed like the right thing to do. Staring up at the stars, he noticed small particles of sand and stone crystals swirling through the air. Curious, he drew them down, clumping them together until a small pebble formed on his hand. There was even stone in the air? Somehow it felt like that was wrong, but he couldn't say why. Annoyed at the things he was finding that he couldn't explain, he tossed the pebble away.

Trying to orient himself, he knew it was the middle of the night, and it would be a while until the sun rose. He would have to wait until it did to know what direction he had to go. He could have just stayed and explored the cave if he had known, but he didn't feel like tracing his way back.

After a second of wondering what to do, he smiled as he focused on the stone surrounding him. A shudder went through the wasteland, and dust and small stones rolled away as a massive structure rose in the air. A tower formed, growing higher and higher until it was twenty times as tall as Solus. It resembled another he had once made, but as he focused, the walls began glittering. Lines of red, glistening gems appeared across the tower surface.

Laughing, he created a pattern on the tower. It was the first one he had ever gotten, his stable skeleton form. Looking around at the vast emptiness, he nodded. More tremors and shaking followed as stone trees grew formed around the tower. With thin branches and grey leaves, they grew until they towered over him, a third of the height of the tower. While they still grew, Solus moved through the gem-covered arch and into the tower. A circular stair led up, reminiscent of his wyrm tower.

Following it to the top of the tower, he stepped into a wide and high room with many windows. Standing in front of one, he stared at the ever-expanding forest. He still didn't feel much of a drain, and he only stopped when he couldn't see the edge of the forest in any direction. Then he sat down, staring at the forest, waiting for daybreak.