PftA Book 5 - Chapter 3 - New Assignments

“I know you’re currently assigned to Garnet City, but since it’s already been attacked once, it’s unlikely to be targeted again,” Anya began once the door to her office closed behind us.

She motioned for me to take a seat on one of the chairs in the small sitting area just inside the door.

Once we both got settled, the Fate Mage continued, “I’d like you to shift your efforts to scouting. We still don’t know where the Collective’s base is, but it has to be somewhere in Alliance-controlled space.”

“I agree, which makes it odd that you don’t already know where they are.”

I’d given a lot of thought to how the Collective was moving so many people directly into Alliance cities.

Given how many people were being brought in, it was unlikely they were relying on teleportation for all of their movement.

However, invaders were teleporting away when they felt like they might lose. Devices capable of such things had a limit, and that limit certainly didn’t extend all the way to Collective space.

While Space Mages might be capable of moving someone that distance, artifacts and talismans were almost universally not.

Part of the reason I’d chosen the Epikairos Sect’s teleportation platform for the E3’s recall location was because Hadier was one of the most centrally located planets in the Alliance. Only Atlantis was more perfectly situated.

Even so, I’d warned the recipients of the E3 talismans that the escape aspect wouldn’t work properly if they traveled beyond the talisman’s range.

Portals were different, and while it was possible enemy Space Mages had used Portal spells to transport the invaders to the Alliance cities, they certainly weren’t using them to retrieve the invaders.

So, if they were using artifacts to escape, they had to be going somewhere relatively close by.

“I mentioned they’re using really good obfuscation enchantments,” Anya said with a hint of annoyance at my implication.

“So, you need me to find them,” I said. When she nodded, I asked, “Why not some other Space Mage? Surely, you have more than one of them at your disposal.”

“That’s true, but I don’t think they’d have as much success,” Anya replied. “I’m not even relying on foresight. You’re unmatched in your ability to locate habitable worlds thus far, and you’ve barely been putting any effort into it.

“Some of the strongest Space Mages we have focus on mapping the galaxy almost full-time, and they haven’t had nearly the amount of success that you’ve shown in a fraction of the time.”

“That’s not really a fair comparison,” I pointed out. “If their goal is mapping the galaxy, that’s totally different than looking specifically for habitable worlds. It’s far easier to find something when you are actively looking for it.”

“Perhaps that’s true,” she admitted. “But I’d still like you to be the one to search for them. From the glimpses I’ve gotten of success, it’s always you who finds them.”

“What do you see?” I asked, leaning forward. I couldn’t help but feel curious about the Oracle’s visions.

“It’s not much. Just you somewhere underground, followed by a notification that the war is over.”

“Well, that at least gives me a starting point,” I commented quietly before directing Lisa to map out the cities that were attacked.

Maybe if I could see everything represented visually, I’d have a better idea of where to look. Hopefully, the locations would be somewhat clustered instead of spread throughout the galaxy.

“Don’t put too much weight into the vision,” Anya said, pulling my attention away before I could examine the map Lisa had started to create. “Just because I saw you underground does not mean that is where you’ll find them.”

“It doesn’t not mean that, either,” I pointed out, wincing internally at the double negative.

“True,” Anya conceded. “But I’ve often found that providing that kind of detail often leads people astray. They tend to hyperfocus and overlook things they would have normally seen.”

“So, why mention it?”

“You asked,” she replied simply before her eyes unfocused and her expression shifted to a grimace. “It looks like I’ve got my own assignment to deal with.”

At my quizzical expression, Anya said, “I suffered a bit of backlash for not taking part in the defense during the first attacks. I think the realm was warning me not to sit out the fight when I’ve promised to put genuine effort into progressing as fast as possible.”

“You made an agreement with the realm?” I asked with genuine surprise. I didn’t think such things were possible.

“I signed a system-enforced contract with Lance to help him avoid forced ascension until I could join him,” she clarified.

“So, Kai’s advice worked, then?” I said, strangely pleased by the news.

While I didn’t care much for her magic or her manipulations, I didn’t dislike Anya as a person. I’d felt bad hearing that her husband might be forced to ascend without her.

I’d hoped that Councilor Lance and the other leaders of the Alliance would be able to figure out a way to avoid being forced to ascend. Not only were they presumably our strongest defenders, but they also basically ran the Alliance.

Having most of the senior leadership simply disappear would be devastating for society.

It wasn’t that I worried warlords would suddenly pop up and start slaughtering people – such things were mostly prevented by the Accords. However, I was worried that the added instability might be detrimental to the Alliance’s long-term survival, especially at the onset of a war.

“It worked for us.” She glanced away almost guiltily. “Others were not so fortunate. In fact, we lost three council members because they tried to create contracts that the realm disapproved.”

“I’m assuming they were forced to ascend instead of killed,” I said with a wince.

“Correct,” Anya replied. “Most people aren’t aware that we’ve lost so many. Only Raen’s forced ascension during battle has been made public, and that’s only because it happened openly.”

I’d heard about the elven councilor’s ascension from Lisa, who was actively tracking any news about the war. I had not heard anything about other councilors ascending, so their information security must be pretty good.

Still, that was almost half of the councilors who were no longer I the realm. Though there were quite a few Pinnacles who were not members of the Council, it was still a huge blow to the Alliance.

“What about the other Pinnacles?” I asked. “How many have been forced to ascend?”

“Too many,” she said darkly.

Unfortunately, our conversation was cut short by the appearance of a Space Mage at Anya’s door.

“I would love to stay and chat, but battle calls,” Anya said as she shifted her clothing into something more fitting for combat. “Start looking. Report anything you find to Lance. He’ll be handling the intel gathering on our end.”

With that, she and the Space Mage disappeared.

= = =

[Assignment updated: Locate the enemy's hidden base. Report any findings to Councilor Lance.]

“Yeah, yeah. I got it,” I said as I dismissed the notification.

It wasn’t a system quest, but the system still tracked official assignments from the Council. The implied authority was part of what gave the Council and its members as much power as they had.

I entered the pod I’d set up as a permanent home within my new pocket dimension and took a seat at the table. It had been a while since I ate anything, and my stomach was rumbling.

It was probably psychosomatic since I didn’t think my body required food anymore – at least, not like it used to.

Even so, I enjoyed eating, and I had no desire to give it up.

Not bothering with the MealMaker, I removed a preserved dish from the storage section of my demesne with a flex of will.

I took a few bites as I looked over a holographic version of the map I’d asked Lisa to create.

There were a couple of clusters along the easternmost border of Alliance space, but it was nothing definitive, given the sprinkling of other locations.

“Can you highlight them chronologically by the time of the attacks?” I asked my helpful Interface Assistant.

I suspected the Mana Intelligence that I called Lisa was becoming (or already was) sapient, though it was hard to tell with how advanced her programming was.

Lisa didn’t bother manifesting her avatar to reply, she simply made the change. I watched as the cities lit up in quick succession.

“Aside from the attack on Ascendence, the first set of attacks were all near the eastern border. The other attacks came later. Does that mean the base is over here somewhere?” I made a circle around the initial cluster. “Or is it some kind of red herring?”

I tapped my fork against my lips as I watched the animation again.

Lisa’s purple-skinned avatar materialized on the opposite side of the table, arms folded across her chest. She was dressed in battle robes similar to those I’d just seen on Anya.

“They could have multiple bases,” she pointed out.

“That’s true. Or they might have a single base and a few hidden outposts for when they need to escape. Anya only mentioned a single base, but she did say hyperfocusing on specifics could be counterproductive.”

“Perhaps focusing on another important task would help provide clarity.”

I looked away from the map, my eyes meeting what served as the semi-solid mana construct’s eyes.

“Is there something in particular I should focus on?” I asked.

Lisa looked at me with amusement. “You have a dagger you wanted to examine, didn’t you?” she pointed out. “Anya did imply that examining it and figuring out the enchantment was of moderate importance.”

“Not more important than stopping an undead attack.”

“The undead are not an immediate threat,” she countered. “Bell’s recovery, however…”

Her words trailed off, but the implication was clear.

My sister-in-law was still frozen in stasis within my demesne. She’d suffered from significant soul damage from using a formation designed to send a copy of her memories back in time.

The formation should have created a time branch, allowing the piece of her soul that carried her memories to join with her past self.

But something had clearly gone wrong.

Right after she’d used the formation, the very fabric of Time had shaken. Immediately afterward, everyone received the alert that sparked the war.

It declared that our timeline had only survived by the grace of the realm guardian, then decreed that no more time branches would be created and large-scale time magic would be restricted.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the notification came with a low-key warning to Pinnacles, telling them not to delay their ascension. Since then, every Pinnacle had felt a metaphysical pressure to ascend, with the strength increasing the closer one got to the end of their natural lifespan.

For those who’d gone beyond it, the pressure was apparently pretty difficult to withstand.

As far as I knew, only me, Bell, Kai, and maybe Anya knew that we were responsible for the change that sparked the war.

I wasn’t certain Anya knew, but she had warned me to put Bell into stasis instead of seeking out a Soul Healer right away. She’d warned us before Bell had used the formation, which implied she’d foreseen at least some of the fallout.

By now, I could probably get away with taking Bell to see someone since the enemies were using soul-damaging weapons.

At least, I assumed that was what the dagger I’d retrieved from the spy did.

[Tier Nine Soul Shearing Dagger – Powered by a Soul Core and Enchanted with an Advanced Soul Shearing enchantment, this manasteel dagger is capable of damaging the soul of any being cut by its blade. The Soul wounds inflicted are resistant to healing, making this weapon particularly effective against those you wish to see suffer.]

“That’s pretty messed up,” I muttered after reading the description.

The kastet wasn’t kidding about having a weapon that let her fight up tiers.

Being careful not to touch the blade, I examined the enchantment itself. The obscuring overlay was sloppily done, making it easy for me to bypass it with my Reveal Enchantment spell.

“Honestly, this looks less like a true enchantment and more like an anchored spell,” I commented. “I’m not sure this is something I can copy or reverse-engineer.”

“Examine it through your demesne instead of relying on an inferior spell,” Lisa said with a hint of smugness.

I blinked several times as I processed her instruction before looking up at the smirking avatar.

I did have god-like power within the soulbound space. While I hadn’t used it to examine unknown enchantments, I had used it to reveal information about other items in my demesne.

With thoughtful focus, I tapped into the metaphysical connection between my soul and my demesne.

“Ah,” I breathed out slowly. “I can see the spellform. That’s a bit unexpected.”

Unexpected but insanely helpful. By being able to clearly observe the spellform, I could not only create my own Arcane version of the spell, but I could also adapt it into a functioning enchantment.

Spellforms and enchantments were fundamentally different, but they had enough in common that someone with the right knowledge could essentially translate one into another.

It would take a while to figure out, but with the twenty-times time dilation, I was feeling rather hopeful.