Savage Awakening 575. War Plans (I)

Over the weekend, Zane and Reina gave their best effort at maxing out her Minor God levels, which she was quite close to. It was difficult work, but they managed it with some persistence and dedication.

***

Afterward Zane found himself in a familiar position—with a quite satisfied yet drowsy Reina on his chest.

Zane was happy to catch her up on what had gone down in those last few months in Pure Yang. He had to admit his last few updates hadn’t been all that interesting—it was mostly just the same training, day by day. She’d nodded along in her letters, happy to let him go on about the latest occurrences in the Yang League.

This latest update had a lot more going on, what with taking down the Astrolith King.

She perked up when he got to the bits about Hreinn. She started guessing just what Hreinn’s plans were and what Kain tried to do to counter, hanging onto every word.

Once he finished up his story, Reina gave a nod. She went a little quiet, brow furrowed, and started to think.

“There’s still a lot for me to learn,” she said at last.

“In terms of… how to use the System?” he asked. “Or do you mean in terms of strategizing?”

“There’s that,” she said, hesitant. “But… also just—I think I could be a little more…”

She pursed her lips as she looked for the right concept. “Firm? With those who come after me and the people I care about.”

She nodded, satisfied with that. “I think there’s a lot to be said about how thoroughly young Noughtfire took care of his opponent.”

“I don’t know if that’s necessarily the lesson I would’ve taken,” said Zane, blinking.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s just…”

He wasn’t sure how to phrase this in a way she’d like, but Reina didn’t need any work in that department, in his opinion.

She looked up at him, a little wide-eyed. “I’m not a spiteful person,” she said, a bit taken aback. “…Am I?”

“It’s not that,” he said carefully. “You come off as quite nice, actually, most of the time.”

He said it honestly.

“Mhm?” She kept blinking at him.

“It’s just that if someone crosses you… you definitely already seem amply motivated to try to bring them down.”

She considered this. Then she settled back in, pleased. “I don’t see what’s wrong with that.”

They just lay there for a bit. He felt pretty good about how he’d handled that. Then she brightened. “Oh! I haven’t told you—I’ve actually been in contact with Noughtfire. Not in person, but through correspondence in Dragonspire Command.”

“He did mention something about that,” said Zane. “He said you’d fill me in on what I’ll be doing in the war.”

She nodded. “I’ve actually been spending a fair amount of time in War Councils lately, mostly with representatives from Mount Thundercrest and the Cult of Eternal Darkness. The World Tree borders a few Great Factions, so we’ve got to work together to coordinate a defense… the maps are in the Evergreen Grove. I’ll show you in a bit?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

She stretched, sat up, and inspected the sunlight slicing through the curtains. “Looks like it’s just a little past noon,” she said. “There’s so much to get to…”

She gave him a grin. “Let’s get started.”

***

Before they went to check out the war plans, Reina changed back into her workout clothes and led him to the front yard. She wanted to briefly demonstrate a little of what she’d been working on this past decade and a half, at least as it pertained to him.

She cast a few Greater Blessings of the Mistress on him, just standing there in a tailored linen shirt she’d made for him—the elves didn’t have his size—and cutoff pants.

She made sure to clarify that these were still works in progress. He wouldn’t get to see the full effects of them until she finished her third ritual, broke through to True God, and gained more access to the World Tree’s Creation reserves.

The third ritual—also called the ‘Rites of Dawn’—would determine how attuned a vessel she could be by performing a final purification of her physique, and granting her a ‘Law Seed’ of the World Tree. If it succeeded it’d not just help her break through to True God, it’d also determine her potential with the World Tree.

It was also a ritual most Mistresses failed, and a ritual you could only attempt once. She could break through to True God without it, but it’d just mean sacrificing access to a large portion of the World Tree’s reserves. Something Reina wasn’t willing to do, which wasn’t surprising to Zane in the least. 

“The blessings won’t fully show their effects on a physique of your caliber yet,” she said to Zane. “Especially after you’ve hit the Fourth Titanform. I’ll need to access much more Creation to do that… which means I’ll first need to break through.” 

He nodded. “That’s fair enough.”

She did want to give him a preview, though. So she started happily throwing blessings on him. He inspected their effects on his body, intrigued.

The first one, Sanctified Physique, would immediately bring up the grade of a physique by several rarity grades—in its full form, at least. With Reina’s current Creation stack, it still felt like he’d instantly gained a level in his Fourth Titanform.

The mechanism was pretty interesting. It largely accomplished that rarity boost via its Creation aspects. He could feel extra Creation throughout his body, these pinpricks of warm light bolstering him in every physical respect—skin toughness, muscle fiber quality, and more.

It was kind of hard to tell exactly how much it’d buff him just standing there. He’d have to get into a fistfight with an Empyrean to know for sure. Still—“This is neat stuff,” he said, fascinated. He didn’t know she could buff his body with Creation, at least not directly. It’d be for the same reason he couldn’t take in Creation shards. There was some kind of interference between Destruction and Creation; they couldn’t mix.

He tried summoning a little Red Giant flame through his fists, which went just fine—Destruction and all.

The difference, he was noticing, was that the Creation wasn’t active. It wasn’t used in any Skills or spells. It wasn’t even a part of his soul, just his body—simply ‘woven’ into his physique, passively upgrading it.

“The higher-grade your physique, the higher-grade the buff has to be to match,” said Reina. She dispelled the buff, looking pleased with his reaction. “Which means after your physique hits Origin grade—maybe during this next training cycle—there won’t be any effect at all. Then I’ll break through so I can put World Tree Creation behind it, and we should be ready for the war.”

“That definitely sounds like a plan…”

Zane was still considering his fist. He was thinking about all those Creation shards he still had leftover—Creation shards Reina didn’t need for her own practice. If you could temper Creation into a physique… maybe he could do it with his Titanform?

He’d have to ask the Barbarian Sage about it later, he decided. The Sage would know.

“There’s also the Buff of Endless Vigor,” she said, slapping him with another buff—this one crimson, infused with a few shards of Creation. “It should let you fight for days at near-maximum capacity, if you have to, without incurring any soul or body fatigue… it should come in handy if you’re ever the choke point in a war.”

She was talking about a scenario where he’d have to play a war role like the Spartan 300 for days on end—which had happened a few times last war.

She showed off Blitz Sinews for him as well, the skill he’d seen yesterday. In its current form, it only granted him maybe a 5% explosiveness boost, but it’d be several-fold that once it was done.

“It’s just meant to be a preview,” said Reina, putting away her staff. “They’re all considered works-in-progress until I finish off my True God breakthrough.”

She grinned at him, coming back over. “What do you think?”

He got the general ballpark sense that the total stack would give him a 20-40% across-the-board durability, regen, and power buff when he was done. Solid stuff. He quite appreciated her taking the time; he let her know that.

“Of course,” she said.

“I hope it wasn’t too much hassle,” said Zane. He was a bit amused at how proud she was of herself.

“You’re not the only one who’s a quick study, you know.”

Then, a little more seriously, “It’s just something extra, just to make it that much harder to take you down. Before you say anything, Zane, I know you don’t need any help there. But with the kinds of Endbringers you’ll be facing, it’ll be good to have an edge.”

Most of her free time had still been spent working on her Concepts, learning mass spells which she’d cast on her elite troops, and prepping for her final ritual.

She showed him that tailwind movement technique he’d seen yesterday, which she generated with her Concept of Aerosphere. She was still putting the finishing touches on it, but she felt confident she’d have it down before the war began.

***

She’d also been busy in her role as Mistress.

Recently, she’d coordinated the production of a new batch of ‘Boundary Breaker Elixirs’—these almost mythical Origin-grade elixirs that would significantly help stagnating half-step True Gods break through the bottleneck to Empyrean. She’d had to convince a few Grandmaster Alchemists to come out of retirement, charm them into working together, and get all of those eccentric geezers on a strict years-long timeline. Then she had to personally come in and grant each produced elixir a World Tree blessing.

So far, they’d been able to make thirty-six of those elixirs, which she’d had shipped all over Dragonspire. She proudly showed one off to him too.

“It won’t just help stagnating True Gods,” she told him. “It’ll help ease the breakthrough for any True God. You could use one when you get there yourself, Zane.”

“I still don’t get how you find the time to do all this,” said Zane, admiring the gold-flaked elixir.

“I don’t run any of the day-to-day operations myself, you know,” she said playfully. “It’s not as much work as it sounds like.”

She’d put in the most competent elves she could find—Institute heads, generals, and grand alchemists—and placed them where she felt they fit best.

She’d spent decades identifying the best talent she could, instituting across-the-board reforms, and cleaning out the Arandor nepotism logjam, which she said had been the real work for her. That had all been finished over a decade ago. Things were less hectic for her now, she told him, even with her war council involvement.

She made sure to carve out at least eight hours every day for her own personal training even as war prep ramped up.

There was something he wanted to address—something that’d been a bit of a concern for him lately, especially after the King Astrolith fight. That’d been a bit of a gut check for him.

“Reina...you know I like fighting with you,” he said. “But the power differentials won’t be like last war. Empyrean ramps up fast. With how much Destruction’s involved, some fights could get out of hand.”

He was thinking of just how many shards of Destruction some Empyreans had. 

“Every time you jump a tier it feels like an entirely new power level,” he explained. “But if I start going up against peak T1s, or even higher, there’ll be risks involved that just weren’t there last time. I just…want you to know what you're getting into.” 

“I…” Reina paused to gather her thoughts. “It’s a reasonable concern. And…I’m with you. I’m not you, Zane, and I know that. There’ll be challenges you take on that no other True God can manage, even if I have the World Tree at my disposal.” 

Zane nodded. He was glad she took it in the spirit he meant it.

“At the same time, though… every Empyrean Mistress has always been in the Hegemon Top 5 ranking,” she said. “The Mistress has always been one of the strongest in all Dragonspire, and that’s because of the sheer Creation reserves she can access from the World Tree. And I don’t know if you’re aware of this, Zane Walker, but I happen to be one of the most talented Mistresses in recorded history. Once I finish my ritual at just the start of True God, I’ll be able to draw several plates’ worth of Creation, and that’ll only increase as I unlock more. So don’t you underestimate me either.”

She gave him a grin, like she was trying to show him she wasn’t actually upset. “I know you’re worried about me…Zane, I appreciate that. But if I do my job right, I’ll be able to handle myself. Just like every other time we’ve fought together. I'm not saying I could fight that King Astrolith like you, but you won't have to worry about me going down to some grunt either."

She gave him a look. “If you start treating me like I’m some delicate flower—" 

“You know I won’t do that.”

She lifted her chin. “Then good.”

***

They decided to postpone their war plan review until tomorrow since Reina got a message back that Evan and Avery would arrive later that day.

He and Reina had a few more hours to kill, so they snuck off to do some more Leveling. Granted—both of them were maxed out level-wise, but they agreed it was important to keep up diligent work on the Skill.

That evening, Evan and Avery touched down on the World Tree.