PftA Book 2 - Chapter 44

Chapter 44 – A Harpy Mess

It took half a second to cast Barrier and block the cold. I quickly put on and activated a temperature control talisman to avoid spending extra mana before addressing my Space magic mentor.

“I thought we were going to St. Louis?” I said, confused about why she’d brought me back to the frozen tundra. “When you said you wanted me to collect material to make a new storage ring, I thought you’d take me there.”

Stella smiled mischievously. “Nope. The Space-dominant rift in St. Louis is still sitting at MT2. Nobody wanted to go there to adjust the rift after the third team got attacked by angry natives, so we decided to let the locals handle everything. I set up this one—” she motioned toward one of the two swirling orange portals “—specifically for you.”

It took me a minute to recognize the location because a few things had changed in the months since I’d been there. Had I not recognized the mountains in the distance, I would never have assumed our current location was the same one I’d been visiting for a couple of years.

First, instead of a single, yellow, Tier Two rift, there were two Tier Three rifts swirling with visible orange mana. At first, I was surprised to see two such rifts in such close proximity. After a moment, I realized the area had stabilized at peak-Tier Three and could easily handle the two LT3 rifts.

Aside from the additional rift, it seemed someone had cleaned up the accumulating mounds of dead creatures in my absence. The piles of frozen mobs that had littered the area on my last visit had disappeared, dramatically altering the landscape nearby.

On the rare occasion that I’d find one fresh enough not to be frozen solid, I usually collected and harvested them. But that didn't happen often with how close the rift was to the South Pole. Usually, any new additions were already frozen solid by the time I noticed them.

“Thank you. I really appreciate all the effort you’ve put into training me.”

Stella smiled brightly. “You are very welcome. It would have been a shame to let someone with such potential waste away without proper guidance.”

Her comment made me momentarily choke up as I realized, yet again, how far Stella and the others had gone to help me. I somewhat understood Master Kairos’s efforts. My successes would reflect well on him and the rest of the sect, so it made sense for him to invest in me.

Stella and Rhona’s actions, however, were harder to understand.

As far as I could tell, they’d get no real benefit from helping me any further than they already had. The initial help and training made sense since I needed to be stronger and gain knowledge to become more useful during the transition. My affinities, especially Space, were useful, and I’d been willing to work for them. It was a mutually beneficial situation.

But they’d continued to help, and Stella had added to my inheritance. It was humbling and made me feel slightly guilty about not telling them the truth about my experience.

But it was a fleeting sentiment.

I cleared my throat. “So, what can you tell me about the rifts?”

The violet-haired Mage tapped her chin. “Your old rift picked up some Ice attributes, and I think the creatures might have changed. I didn’t look around very much, honestly. I just popped in to make sure there was nothing dramatically different. I suspect some of the inhabitants will be capable of surviving in this environment. If not now, then definitely before the rift reaches peak Tier Three.”

It wasn’t unexpected. Given the sheer volume of ice in the vicinity, I’d expected enough mana would shift to influence the rift eventually. It didn’t always happen. There were plenty of underwater rifts on land, for example. But it happened often enough to be expected.

“The new rift is obviously the Space-dominant one,” Stella said playfully. “It’s more focused on resources than experience, but you still might want to start with the other one. At Tier Three, most creatures will have a decent resistance to their own type of mana. It’ll make it harder for you to fight without proper weapons.”

“I figured that,” I said with a frown.

I’d tested my weapons a few times since reaching Tier Three, and I was fully aware that my Tier Three mana was too concentrated for any weapons using mana cores. Even enchantments not using cores would gradually wear away until they eventually broke. It was like running 130 volts through a 110-volt circuit. It might not immediately fry the circuit, but eventually, it would stop working.

At least, that was how I understood it, but I wasn’t an electrician.

It wouldn’t matter as much with consumable talismans. If they got damaged from overloading, it wouldn’t be a problem as long as I was careful and didn’t shove so much mana into them that they exploded in my hand.

My melee weapons should be mostly fine, though I’d have to worry more about them getting damaged than I would if I used something of the proper tier. But it wasn’t like I had to worry about things breaking immediately. A lot of what I had would be fine unless I fought something with empowered natural armor.

Making my decision, I equipped a spear made out of peak-Tier Two materials and added a durability rune to both the shaft and the head. I added another enchantment for sharpness to just the head once the first runes were active. It would not be permanent since I only used mana and intent to create the enchantment. At higher tiers, that would be different. But at Tier Three, the best I could hope for would be something that lasted a couple of weeks.

It wasn’t the material that would cause the enchantments on my other weapons to fail. It was the lower-tier reagents used to control the mana. It was technically possible to add regular high-tier enchantments to low-tier materials, but doing so was considered a waste, and nobody would do such a thing unless they had no other choice.

“That was quick. I’m surprised at how good you are at Enchanting. It normally takes people years to learn how to do something like that,” Stella commented once I was finished. She had a little experience with Enchanting, but not much.

“I would say it’s because of the game, but we both know that’s not true. It’s too bad we can’t practice magic in the simulation.”

“Says the girl who can dilate time outside the game.”

I grinned and stepped inside the portal.

= = =

Aside from a noticeable chill in the air, the forest hadn't changed much. I didn’t feel the cold, but I could tell from the slight drain on my [Barrier]. Instead of the familiar Toughskin Boars and Spy Foxes that I was used to seeing, I was met with Stonebears and Capmans, the latter being weird mushroom creatures that liked to dissolve their prey before absorbing them.

The first Capman surprised me, and it was only because I had a [Barrier] active that I was saved from having acid burn through my exposed skin. I wasn’t sure if my robes were acid-resistant, and I had no intention of finding out while wearing them.

Though I was sure the creatures were an excellent Alchemy ingredient, I was disappointed as I collected the creature's remains. Capmans were extremely weak to spatial manipulation, making them simple to defeat as long as they didn’t catch me by surprise.

Stonebears, on the other hand, were tough.

Their fur was layered like pointed scales, creating a formidable armor that I struggled to break through. While my Space magic was not directly countered, spells like Bolt, Crush, and Rend(a newer spell Stella had taught me that literally tore holes in whatever I targeted) were often resisted. Thankfully, the gravity aspect of Space magic was particularly effective, and given the creatures’ weight, I was able to hold them in place long enough to bombard them with overloaded talismans.

Hearing the waterfall in the distance, I was not surprised to find a river along the path. It was another new addition, as were the creatures that inhabited it. Most surprising were the strange, flying fish whose fins doubled as wings when they leaped from the water. The fish were partial to dive-bombing their targets, and I had to dodge several times to keep my [Barrier] from being drained of mana.

Assess labeled the creatures Starlight Fish, which I thought was a little odd. I supposed they might look like stars if one saw them flying at night… while drunk. They were kinda bluish silver, and their scales did look somewhat reflective. Those I could see swimming in the river almost looked like magical butterfly koi. They were quite pretty.

Thinking myself clever, I retrieved a spatial container from my ring and filled it with water before capturing several flying fish and placing them inside. I didn’t have a real purpose in the action. It was more of a whim than anything.

Regardless, I was quickly reminded that Intelligence does not equate to cleverness when the creatures’ thrashing destroyed the lower-tier container, releasing them from their short-lived captivity.

Stella laughed as I shook off the water before recasting my spatial Net and drawing the creatures back to me. This time, I simply killed them all before tossing them into my ring. The Net kept them from attacking individually and ensured their blade-like wings didn’t get close enough to damage my [Barrier].

“The mountain and river are new,” I commented as we reached the waterfall. The path remained obvious, removing any potential confusion about the way forward. However, I immediately noticed a problem.

“The Harpies are also new,” I added with a frown. I could already hear them in the direction the path wanted me to take. “I hate Harpies. They’re worse than Goblins.”

Stella’s countenance darkened. “We may need to reset this rift when you’re done. I don’t think anyone wants to let creatures like that take over an entire continent.”

I looked at Stella in surprise. “You didn’t know they were here?”

Though I hated Harpies just as much as the next person, I’d thought there was a reason they’d been allowed to remain in the rift. I knew there were alchemical uses for several of their body parts, so Stella’s implication that they had not been a known addition caused a moderate amount of concern.

She shook her head. “I didn’t spend much time inside. I really only looked out of curiosity.”

“How long has it been since the rift tiered up? Has anyone cleared it recently?” I asked. “I haven’t been here in months, but it didn’t seem unstable when we arrived.”

Stella raised both hands in a ‘who knows’ gesture. “I’ll report it to Rhona and let her push it up the chain if necessary. We have enough mid-tiers to wipe out anything that might have been released. It’ll just be a question of whether we find every one of them or not. You know Harpies are capable of parthenogenesis. It only takes one to create a nest.”

I shivered at the thought. “Hopefully, they aren’t immune to cold, and any that might have gotten out during a break will have frozen to death.”

We were not that lucky.

Seeing the creatures, it was clear the added Ice element had influenced them. Their frost-covered feathers and the shards of ice they shot at each other as they fought over the remains of one of their fallen brethren made their primary affinity obvious. Thankfully, they were mostly dark in color, with only streaks of pale blue decorating their plumage. If they had gotten out of the rift, they would be somewhat visible in the snow-covered environment.

“We should probably take care of this sooner rather than later,” Stella commented, creeping closer for a better view. “It’s a good thing there aren’t many things for the creatures to kill outside. I don’t think much lives this close to the pole.”

I nodded in agreement and added, “It’s a really good thing you had all the bodies cleaned up before the rift broke.” As I spoke, I kept my eyes on the horrid creatures fighting each other in the distance. There was a clear alpha, which was likely the new boss of the rift.

Stella grasped my arm lightly, drawing my attention. “What are you talking about?”

“The frozen bodies? They were all over the place from previous rift breaks,” I said before closing my eyes and taking a deep breath as the realization set in. “You didn’t have them removed?”

“No. I saw nothing like that when I arrived earlier this week to set up the second rift,” Stella said with tired resignation. My eyes met hers. We both understood the implication.

“Fuck.”