Silence - Chapter 21

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Felix's attempts at repairing his Bastion of Will went poorly at first. He hopped down to the broken inner bailey, an area dominated by a grassy field that had been ripped by what looked like massive claws, and set about  moving the massive blocks of stone. The smallest were three feet across, while the majority were all six foot square blocks of dark granite. Lifting them was awkward and difficult, both because getting a grip on them was almost impossible, and also their weight. It was only his over confidence in his Strength that he even tried, but while he might be able to punch them apart, given time, lifting them in one go was an effort in sweat and exhaustion.

All in all, it took him four hours to move thirteen blocks from the inner bailey up onto the outer walls. That included building a rudimentary staircase using the less uniform stones, which wasn't the best plan. He fell seventeen times, nearly crushing himself three times, and tore a muscle in his left shoulder that hurt like hell. But Felix didn't give up, and his Endurance let him continue long beyond the time a normal human's body would have died from exhaustion.

The blocks were set upon the battlements, roughly shoved up against one another in the absence of any sort of mortar. Felix wiped sweat from his brow and surveyed his work. The wall was fixed...ish. At the very least, one of the four walls no longer had a gaping hole in it—just a number of much smaller holes. The sky was still grey and the grass still dead, but maybe the wind smelled a little sweeter. Maybe.

You are going about this incorrectly, Felix Nevarre, the Maw interjected. It had been lingering near Felix the entire time, but he'd chosen to ignore the Primordial's unnerving gaze until it decided to attack him. Now he looked at with all the weight of someone who had sweat through their shirt, lightheaded, and was very hungry. Ravenous, even.

"I don't need your advice, Maw."

Yes, you do. If you plan to achieve anything, you need me. Alone you are nothing.

"Nothing? If that means being alone, without you? I'll take it," Felix snapped, before tuning the creature out altogether. He checked his Bastion's level, but it remained the same. Unchanged despite his work. However, he did have a few other notifications.

+1 STR

+1 END

+1 AGL

Interesting.

It wasn't exactly a surprise; he had learned weeks ago that the higher his stats rose, the more effort was required to improve them through resistance training. So until he could, like, bench press a car somehow, he was limited—

Now that's an idea. I'm too tired now, but later I could—Wait...what am I thinking? This isn't reality. This isn't my real body. Flexing his Will, Felix returned to the Void, expecting to see his changes dissipate...and yet they did not. His shoulder even ached exactly where he'd strained it in his Bastion. "What?"

Confused, Unbound? The Maw said, and Felix didn't even have to look at it to know it had a smug grin on its stupid face. I could enlighten you, if you wish.

"Hard pass," Felix said with a scowl.

Then be prepared to never know, imbecile. Stagnate in your ignorance!

Felix ignored it. Instead, he put his supposedly impressive Tempered Mind to the task, calling up everything he knew about Skills, core space, and his Aspects.

What is core space? Harn and...and Magda didn't really talk about it, he thought. But they also mentioned Tempering was kept a secret from many trainees in the Beginner Tier, or at least the specifics. Would they also keep the nature of core space a secret too? He snorted. Who am I kidding, of course they would. Everything is a secret technique or hidden training plan to get stronger than the other guy.

He just had to think on Atar for proof of that. The guy was stuck up and useless in a physical fight, but he'd developed his Skills and Aspects in a way that supported his impressive fire power. What Titles did he have that helped that out? What was his Born Trait? Secrets on secrets.

Felix shook his head and abandoned that line of thought. It led nowhere useful. He returned to the original question. What is core space? Then a memory resurfaced, a conversation with the Maw. It's a confluence of my Aspects, all of them combined together, just like the Mana Gates. Body, Mind, and Spirit all exist in the core space, which means...which means each one can be affected? Even in imagined training?

Felix tapped his lips for a moment before closing his eyes. He didn't cast himself down into his core space, but instead put together a daydream. Pure fantasy, all in his head, he thought of fighting against Skinks back int he Foglands. After a second, he backtracked and made it voidbeasts. They were less scary.

Yet no matter how he fought or what Skills he used in his daydream, there were no improvements, no stat increases. He felt no strain when he lifted a mountain in his Mind's eye. It wasn't real.

So...my core space is real? Everything that happens there is just as real as what happens out here?  He huffed a surprised laugh. How? That's insane.

He was pretty sure the answer was 'magic' but that was annoyingly non-helpful. His eyes flicked to the Maw, and its stolen face looked at first troubled before settling back into disdain.

Felix very nearly dove back into his core space, intent on checking a few other things, when he knew that Bateo needed him. There was no voice, no build up of call and response, just a sudden and unquestionable knowledge that the hawk-like Korvaa was downstairs and waiting. For a moment, Felix even felt a light twinge of need, as if his own voice was telling him to get up and walk down the stairs. That ended with a flare of Willpower and Alacrity, his Harmonic Stat for mental feats of strength. Whatever Skill was being used on him cut out, hitting the wall of his Will and folding like a paper airplane.

Though it failed, Felix was not a fan. It wasn't a particularly strong coercion, but anything that touched his Mind was off limits. He'd reserve judgement, for now, but if that happened again they were gonna have a talk.

"Pit? You gonna wake up, bud?" The tenku merely grunted melodically at him and rolled over, even going so far as to extend a wing to over his face. Felix snorted, but stopped short of a real laugh. "Oh, I'm sorry your highness. I'll let you take your rest."

If he were being honest, Felix was a bit more tired than he expected. His head was even a touch dizzy, but that could have been because of a number of things. Pushing his discomfort aside, he made to stand up, but found his legs as wobbly as a newborn foal. Tremors shook through him, setting his muscles trembling under the modest strain. "Whoa, whoa...why...why do I feel so weak?" Felix asked in an unsteady breath. His eyes found the Maw's again, and this time it had a sneer ready and waiting for him.

Do you still not need my aid, Felix Nevarre? Or would you rather rely on your own...Strength?

Felix glowered at the Primordial and forced himself to his feet. It was painful and difficult, but he did it. He felt at his bond with Pit, but the chimera seemed entirely fine, if sleepy. No trace of the weakness Felix felt. Pride and stubbornness managed to fuel Felix's walk out of his room He even made it down the first flight of stairs before his knees gave out completely.

What the hell is going on?

Felix had started to panic. His stats were unaffected, he had no Status Condition, and his Health and Stamina were both only a few points shy of full. Nothing was wrong with him, except he felt weak as a newborn baby, and his pulled muscle was a white hot pain that took all his concentration to withstand. His Body, Mind, and Spirit felt sore and strained, his core space—

It feels...empty?

Dipping down there for only a moment, Felix realized the grimy darkness between his floating Skills was somehow less. It made no sense, since it was basically just trash-filled nothing in the first place, but the feeling was potent just the same. Everything else seemed normal, save that one of his Skills was flickering with a fitful light.

Ravenous Tithe. The Skill I learned when the Maw stole my Gourmand Title and Lessons of the Past Skill. When my Godeater Mind took a bite out of the Primordial itself.

Ravenous Tithe (Epic), Level 2!

Consume completely an object or creature which you have claimed and can physically touch. Uses Mana to power conversion. Chance of gaining Skills and/or Memories from target if applicable.

The Skill itself looked as if it were going to blink out at any moment; a neon light on its last legs. If Felix wasn't mistaken, it's pattern almost looked like it was reaching out. Attempting to grasp the darkness around it and...do something to it. Sparks gathered at the edges of his vision, before a notification snaked across his senses.

Ravenous Tithe is level 3!

A wave of sound rushed from the murky depths around him, traveling horizontally as a brilliant tide of colorless energy. It swept through his Skills and Felix, leaving them untouched as it proceeded to strike the ball of flame at the center of his core space. The sun flared and bubbled, releasing scorching prominences of blue-white flame before a ring of golden-azure light exploded outward. The new light soaked into his core space, all of it directed right at his Ravenous Tithe Skill. Its grasping pattern pulled at the light, hungry for it, until it was consumed entirely.

Just like that, his legs regained their strength and his skin ceased tingling. He was fine.

Somehow.

Great. More mysteries. Felix groaned. Ravenous Tithe was providing him a sort of energy, and likely...that came from eating monsters, like the Harrowing. Did I just not have enough of it left after learning Abyssal Skein? And it just—Felix's eyes widened as some combination of Intelligence and his Apprentice Mind snapped the puzzle together—it used my own power to fuel my growth. Which is why I felt so weak!

Felix put his hand to his head, considering the implications. There were quite a few, but ultimately it meant that he had to eat. And more than just breakfast.

Felix furrowed his brow at the stairs.But first, we talk to Bateo.


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If Bateo had been surprised at how long it had taken Felix to come downstairs, he didn't show it. The farmer was sipping a steaming cup of saf, which was the local approximation of coffee or tea. Felix passed on a cup after sniffing it nearly burned out the inside of his nose. The food, however, he more than happily devoured. Again it was a lot of voidbeast meat, but this time mixed with a decent amount of the potato-like cnop until it was basically a sort of hash.

It was very good.

Status Condition: Mana Regeneration II!

Mana Regeneration II - 10% boost to Mana Regeneration for the next three hours.

Huh. That'll be useful. He could see his Mana ticking ever closer to full.

Health: 860/864

Stamina: 871/873

Mana: 1311/1458

Felix almost felt normal, a far cry from his Ravenous Tithe induced weakness just minutes before. It was a relief.

"Come, Felix. You might only be here until your boat is fixed, but until then you'll need to know how things work," Bateo said. He beckoned him out onto the large, covered porch. There they could see over all three islands that made of the Korvaa's farm. The two smaller islands floated lower and were chained to the central,  "home" island they stood upon, and the raised nature of the house meant they had quite the vantage point. "Before you is all my family has built over the course of generations. The lower island contains the pens and grazing grounds for the voidbeasts, while the higher has our limited crops and storage."

"What about the cages I saw beneath the house?" Felix asked.

"Those are for any wild voidbeasts we might find," Bateo said with a wistful look in his eye. Korvaan expressions were difficult to read, but Felix was warming up to it. Lacking a truly flexible mouth, it had a lot to do with posture, feather "fluffiness", and their eyes. "The wards aren't perfect, nothing that relies on Mana is in the Void. So we lure new stock when we can. Tenebril, Skeeling, or even the smaller Vroll are easy enough to capture if they come around."

"If they come around? I've seen packs of the Tenebril out there," Felix said. "I'd think you'd see more than a few if you're placing out food for them."

"Predators are picking off more and more, and—" Bateo let out  a sharp squawk. "Harrowings. They're the bane of any voidfarmer. They strike from the dark, invisible until they've already slaughtered half your herd." Bateo shook himself, ruffling the feathers around neck and shoulder. "Come, come. I'll show you your duties."

Those duties were to first check on their crops, which apparently required a lot of attention. The potato-adjacent cnop and mushroom-like paroo grew in neat rows atop the second island, which covered an expanse the size of a Little League baseball diamond. Not massive compared to Earth farms, but more than impressive in the Void. At first Felix was utterly confused how anything was able to grow on the barren rocks of the Void, but the answer was both remarkably simple and confusing. The System.

Bateo possessed a number of Skills that would have made Earth farmers drool: Summon Water, Humus Among Us, and Encourage Growth. The first did just as it said on the tin, and was able to manifest water from nothing but Bateo's core and channels. Using it and two spare Manabladders to recharge his pool, Bateo was able to water all of his crops as efficiently as any irrigation system. The second Skill, Humus Among Us—apart from having a name that made him laugh—would somehow break rock down into nutrient rich soil. The last was more esoteric, at least as far as Felix was concerned. Bateo explained it as using his Mana to gently coax his plants to grow more efficiently, even without any sunlight.

Not that mushrooms need sunlight, if I recall correctly,  he thought.  But potatoes do...right?

"My truest dream is to plant a tree," Bateo said later. His eyes almost glittered at the thought of it. "I've heard so many tales of the Continent, of the sun and winds and water from the sky. But trees always captured me." He laughed. "It's a bit silly to you, I imagine."

Felix grinned. "Not silly at all. I think a tree in here would liven it right up."

"I wouldn't even know what to do with it, truth be told." Bateo shook his head, chortling. "Ah, dreams. They're good to have, even if they don't make much sense."

Bateo couldn't really answer his questions on how his Skills worked, except the one about rocks. If he was turning it all to soil, wouldn't the island eventually erode? Turned out that the farmer would regularly go and collect floating stones in the Void and bring them back to be crushed and spread out among his fields. Simple.

After seeing Atar conjure fire from the air something like Summon Water shouldn't have shocked him, but it did. It also answered the question of where fluid came from in the endless Void, and how anyone was still alive.

Bateo paid a lot of attention to the crops, fiddling with the levels of water and soil before using his remaining Mana to reinforce the fugi and tubers. Felix did very little except watch, his own Skills not a good fit for the task. Now, if the farmer wanted his crops violently ejected from their island, Felix was the man to do it. He had a feeling that wouldn't be appreciated though.

From there, the two of them went and checked on the livestock. In this case that meant Tenebrils. Lots and lots of Tenebrils.

"The trick is to not let them sense your fear," Bateo explained as a half dozen barbed tentacles roamed over his extended hand. He had pushed it through a small flap built into the access door. They were as gentle as lambs, not even dimpling the birdman's skin. "Or, in your case, your Mana." He offered for Felix to put his own hand into the flap, but the Nym hesitated.

"Hm," Felix hummed skeptically as Bateo pulled his hand back. "I've had some run-ins with Tenebril. They were more than happy to tear me apart to get to my juicy Mana center."

Bateo trilled a laugh and tilted his head back in revelation. "Of course. You still have your native Mana composition. They likely find it far more appetizing than my own."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"No no, there's no reason you would have known of this," Bateo said before releasing a small arc of Mana vapor from his left palm Mana Gate. It sparkled, white light streaked with a variety of colors. "I have never had a true core. I was born in the Void, which means I was born Manaless. The only source of Mana has been the bladders of voidbeasts, as you've seen me use several times now. And voidbeasts—"

"Have undifferentiated Mana," Felix said, biting the inside of his cheek. "So if your core isn't...how do you use those earth and water Mana Skills?"

"Voidbeast filter Mana from the things in the dark. Other beasts, the Void itself? It is unknown how. But the Mana they collect has many types within it. Elemental potential, we call it. We learn at a young age how to harness the pieces we need to meet our needs."

"So the rest, the bits that aren't the type you need?" Felix asked.

"They are wasted, sadly," Bateo admitted. "What the Void does to us...we are broken sieves. The Mana will always escape us, to be eaten by the Void itself."

"And I have that to look forward to," Felix said, guts sinking. "Joy."

"Not for many years, Felix. The record of my great-great grandsire says he retained much of his core well into his second century. But it will come," Bateo paused and seemed to consider his words. "The Void steals into us quietly. It breathes through our Gates, into our channels with every Skill and spell. It cannot be stopped."

Great.

They continued to check on the Tenebrils while Bateo continued to explain the relative unresponsiveness of the System in the Void. It still functioned, clearly, but advancing Skills was rare and difficult, and learning new Skills was all but impossible. Another topic that he Conference was working on an answer. Each time they were mentioned, Bateo's voice lifted and he mentioned the strides they had taken toward escaping the Void.

"One day," he said, and those two words had such hope.

Once the enclosures were mucked and Tenebrils fed, they moved onto repairs of the outbuildings and checking on a few arrays Bateo maintained to keep his stock of butchered meat and stored crops clean and preserved. Those, as everything else, required Mana to be provided. Unlike his own reserves, Bateo couldn't just pour out a Manabladder onto the array and refill it. Instead, he filled the reservoir of the pole he'd used in his little boat, and then used it's sharpened end to transfer Mana into the small arrays.

Felix found the arrays particularly fascinating. They looked like classic magic circles from Earth fiction, filled with circular lines and rings of squiggly runes. Sigils, he reminded himself. A few he could even identify, such as cold, heat, and light, though he had no idea how they worked or functioned as a greater whole. When he asked his host, Bateo only shrugged.

"These were built by my great-great grandsire. Most of the arrays, including the one around the settlement were built back then. The knowledge and Skill for such things has sadly died away. The best we can do now is maintain them."

So it was with many things. Maintenance and upkeep. Washing and cleaning and mucking. The Void actively broke things down, turning rock to dust and dust into nothing. It didn't happen overnight, but in tiny increments that were easy to overlook, so repairs were constant and neverending.

It was labor intensive, but Felix almost enjoyed it. Having reached the First Threshold with his stats, lifting and scrubbing and moving items even Bateo struggled to budge wasn't hard to much as time consuming. Yet Felix found himself with an abundance of time. He was stuck in the Void, not in immediate danger (if you didn't count the Maw's constant talking), and had plenty to eat and drink.

It was almost like a vacation.

At the end of the day, he would rest for a few hours at complete ease. No sudden monster attacks, no immediate doom. It was...nice.

Felix decided he could get used to nice.