- Location
- Home
I may have stopped there during two sittings. But basically Kass simply looked at him, will add a line to make it clearer.
Venturing the Wild (Sequel to Mould Breaking / Zelda: BotW)
- Thread starter Melakias
- Start date
- Crossover
I may have stopped there during two sittings. But basically Kass simply looked at him, will add a line to make it clearer.
Chapter 47
- Location
- Home
Venturing the Wild – 47
Magnus wondered if this was what his father grumbled about when he talked about the bad timing some perks could have. He looked at his finished set of clothes and properly observed them with the knowledge the small perk he had just acquired provided.
At the moment he worked by enchanting a whole piece of clothing, this perk introduced the idea of enchanting each layer of a piece. Of course this wouldn't extend to all clothing, a shirt would be a bit harder to create layered. But he could see another type of layer, that of steps in the construction of the piece.
Why enchant the finished product when he could enchant the thread, the fabric, the sewing, the buttons and finally the shirt. Not only would this reinforce similar intentions, but would also layer them in such a way that they would be much harder to reverse engineer. The enchanting on the threads would only be properly visible if the piece was un-woven. But doing that would break away the enchantments in the fabric, the sewing and the complete piece. But at the same time the complete piece's enchanting would get muddled by those layers under it, effectively obscuring it.
He still liked how the finished product looked, he had gone for a combination of the Sheikah Stealth set and their normal village clothes. Under all the layers he had set a dull, dark green bodysuit, the fabric was practically skin-tight and while it had a few spots reinforced, it was mainly designed for flexibility. He had skipped the normal shoes of the villager set and the shin guards of the stealth set as Solid&Firm would be covering those areas. The pants were loose and made in the basic cream color, though he had set a few armored plated over the body suit in that area. For the upper body he had gone with the combo of open jacket and sash, of course the sash was green instead of blue and had chosen gold for the trimming instead of red, there were a few visible armored panels on the shoulders, upper arms and the back of the hands. But there were more hidden under the clothes.
He had also reduced the times the Sheikah symbol appeared on the clothes, replacing the visible red eyes for sewn shadows made from the same thread the fabric was made. It provided an interesting effect as they needed specific angles to be visible. Though if he would be weaving the fabric he may be able to weave them in a pattern of the fabric itself.
Finally there was also a plan to add a scarf that could be used as a paraglider. But he wasn't completely sure about it as he knew magical flight shouldn't be too difficult for him, though maybe he would see about reinforcing it enough to be used as a shield in case of emergencies.
But that would wait, if he wanted to weave his own fabric he would need a loom, thankfully their design was simple enough to put together in a few hours. The resulting machine was impressively compact, barely one meter deep, two meters wide and less than a meter and a half in height, it was powered by Blue Flame and would produce twenty square meters of high quality, high thread count fabric per hour.
Of course he wouldn't be using normal thread for this, instead he was using something that the ship segment could produce. Permea Fiber had been a creation by his father, the material's name a play on permeate and permanent, as the material was excellent in absorbing magical qualities and then maintaining them for as long as it lasted.
He enchanted the fabric with three aspects, if they could be called as such, or maybe it was better to say two. One was a conceptual connection to himself, the other two were shapeshifting and self-repair, though they could technically be considered the same thing. Dying the thread was very simple as it took to colors in the same way it took to magic.
Access to the System and its high computing power made the production of the fabric very easy, especially as the System's connection with the magitechnical loom could control it to produce very complex knitting patterns; like what he had chosen as his own emblem. A silhouette of one of his furry hands from the back, four red claws on top of a gray circle. Neat and easy to recognize.
The fabric was enchanted before he cut and enchanted the sewing too. The concepts of connection and reshaping were strengthened along with the addition of general toughness and comfort. Finally he enchanted the completed piece, adding the Zora and Goron armor enchantments.
Given how much magic and materials he had sunk into the set, he wondered how bright it would look for others. Thankfully since it was his magic, it wasn't too different from the normal background magic he generated.
"Traveler's Garment." He named them after putting them on, the clothes practically breathed in the process and shifted minutely to fit him to perfection.
It was hard to explain the sensation of the clothes being an extension of himself, but it was interesting. It niggled a very old memory of his dad talking about something like this, if he was right he would need to extend the treatment to all of his weapons.
He turned his attention toward the pair of flute daggers. Though they weren't flutes anymore, while the concept had sounded very cool, it had been easier to modify their handles into harmonicas. They lay still unnamed, but they had been properly reforged to channel Light and Darkness better, along with changing the method they locked together to form a short sword instead of a double-ended dagger.
The best name he had come up so far was Smoke and Mirror, though he didn't feel like it resonated enough to bestow it upon the pair.
Next to them also laid the first example of his first shield. It was buckler-sized and could be quite useful even with its size. But the truth was that he had based it on the Ancient Sheikah Shield and when activated it would generate an energy barrier like a forcefield. Funnily enough, the Blue Flame construct could still generate runes as part of the design, increasing the toughness of the shield. Made him wonder why the design didn't do it already as he didn't notice any drawback; he hoped there wouldn't be any problems cropping up down the line.
Lastly was the still in-progress bow he was putting together, but that one would need to wait until he acquired the perk related to Rito crafting before he saw to finish it. For now, with new clothes, he had to go out to scout the area.
Magnus would make sure to get word to the village he would be going for a bit of scouting of the area. There was still a need to find the location of the ship segment.
Though he would wait until the morning, he had been working non-stop for two days, he needed a break.
Sitting under a tree at the peak of a mountain felt like the perfect place to craft the Goron mask. The round, rustic face that looked at him from his hands was simple in its features. But few from Hyrule wouldn't recognize the race it belonged to.
It was weird, but it felt like he shouldn't craft said mask anywhere near Death Mountain, and he liked to think that these hunches were his intuition being right. He quickly enchanted the mask, pouring his knowledge and experience when dealing with Gorons, the way they moved, they acted, they lived.
He blew the last bits of dust and splinters off the mask and fed it the necessary energy and materials. The mask quickly shifted, the grain smoothed and was replaced for a more rocky-pattern. The mask felt heavier in his hand, as if it had stopped being wood and was now granite.
He had taken care of a few Lizalfos and Octorocks on his way up, but nothing truly dangerous, honestly the Chuchus he had seen from the distance were the most threatening with their ability to explode into super-cooled air.
He finished the enchanting process and looked at the mask, once more he noticed it was a face he had never seen on Hyrule, and he could certainly remember every Goron he had met. He could only try it.
He tugged on his Darkness and his beast form before placing the mask on. Instantly he felt it resonate with him and mold onto his face, become his face. The change quickly spread through his body.
Funnily enough the first thing he felt was that he had shrunk a bit, maybe one or two centimeters; it was just different enough from his Zora transformation to become apparent. Though what he lost in height more than made up for in width. His body filled up and expanded, a pill-shaped body, along with very solid arms and legs to go with it.
His clothes shifted to fit his new form, so did Solid&Firm, practically molding up his legs to give them the appearance of solid stone. His face broadened and rounded up, his mouth enlarged. And most interestingly of all, his hair merged with his back, turning into an almost amethyst-like growth that covered his back, only the part near his head remained as actual hair of the same color.
"Hmmm…" His voice sounded deeper, gravely. The thought made him chuckle, the sound similarly heavier. "I wonder." He summoned one of the Forge Ant worker units and had it use its camera to look at himself.
His first observations had been on point, it seemed he wasn't a normal Goron.
"I wonder if my Zora form's also atypical. I will have to talk about it with them next time I visit." He thought out loud and cracked his knuckles, the sound was like stone breaking, very pleasant. "Let's see if I can get the hang of rolling."
He flexed his arms a bit, checking how far he could move. For a race of rock-like people, the Goron were quite more flexible than they appeared and instincts he was just discovering helped him curl into himself as he leaned forward.
Arms and legs against his torso as his gem back expanded and covered him as he started rolling down the mountain's slope. He picked speed very quickly, but even as he turned into a violet wheel of destruction, he maintained a pretty firm control and awareness.
He also felt the gem spikes on his back stand out more the faster he rolled, more than one small monster suffered the fate of roadkill. The spikes punched even through an unsuspecting Lizalfos as he utilized a rising slope to slow his advance before jumping off and landing on his feet; he felt a bit unsteady at first.
He reached for his back and pulled a half-broken Lizalfos horn that had ended between his spikes. Now that he checked, they appeared to have a certain amount of movement, but they would only stand up while he was turning.
He grinned, it was exhilarating to roll around like that. Though the moment felt twisted as a thought entered his mind. "They are so going to call me Sonic…" He laughed. "Well, there's worse things than being compared to the mascot that finally killed Mario."
He quickly rolled once more and rushed deeper into the mountains as he hummed Escape From The City.
Ramella hadn't been sure at first about the whole Merchant Guild, for years merchants on Hyrule had thrived by themselves or as small family lines. But organizing had provided not only safety, even if there had been a few events, but they had been doing great and not stepping on each others' toes when wanting to sell certain things in certain places was great.
Though it also came with new things to take care of, for example with the guild still getting its feet on the sands some roles were still rotating. And it was her turn to lead one of the caravans to Rito Village. Which was a bit further away from the area she usually worked, which was Death Mountain and the Zora Domain.
She did visit the Gerudo desert from time to time, but that was mainly visiting home rather than a business thing.
Traveling to the Hebra Region meant multiple days of road up and down the Tanagar Canyon, even with a good speed it was nearly a week and a half to get from Central Hyrule to Rito Village. Unfortunately the great bridge was simply impossible to use.
But they had arrived safely through the North path and settled outside of the Rito Village Stable, since it would be hard to settle in the islands themselves. It was an open-air market.
It was quickly filled with Rito looking to stock up on things that Winter and the distance to other settlements made harder to acquire. Being the one in charge meant she did have nothing to do and at the same time had to do everything. Her attention kept getting dragged around from little problem to little problem.
One of the stands had been set wrongly and they needed an extra pair of hands to fix it. Or maybe they had unpacked the wrong merchandise. Or they needed to unpack more because they had sold more than they had expected.
She also had to keep a good account of what was sold, what was requested, what didn't sell, what they would need for next time, rumors that would help them prepare for next time. Something may sell very well this time but not sell at all next time because there was just no need for it, due to saturation or simply because it wasn't the correct season for it.
It was very tiring work, they were practically breaking new ground and writing the rules for how to do things. If the guild was to survive, they needed to account for long-term gains and not just squeeze every possible rupee off the existing market.
Thankfully the winter was light and it was still early, she was a desert girl and she doubted she would be able to move if she added one more piece of clothing onto her body.
She took a moment to sit away from the hustle of the market area.
"Ramella?" A familiar voice made her turn, her eyes opened wide as she saw Magnus. It had been quite a long time since she had crossed paths with the young man. And she liked what she saw.
"Magnus, sa'oten!" She laughed softly, thanking the cold weather to hide the slight blush on her cheeks. "What are you doing here?" She coughed. "I'm sorry, that was rude of me, how're you?"
He laughed. "Sav'aaq, same as usual, looking for teachers and learning all they can offer." He answered. "And I'm doing well. How about you?"
The order of his answers made her blush again in embarrassment. "I'm good, thanks for asking. That's very interesting, so you learned all you could in Kakariko Village?"
"And from the Goron, the Zora and the two old Sheikah researchers, and I've kinda hit the plateau here too. I only have a few things to finish in the area and I will be moving again." He happily answered. "I only have the Gerudo left, do you know any way I could get a pass to learn there?"
She wanted to say there were ways, but she honestly didn't know any way to get him in besides problematic ones. She just didn't spend enough time in Gerudo Town to have the necessary clout or contacts. "I'm sorry, I don't think a voe will get access inside."
"Hmm, that leaves a letter of introduction from Impa. It's plan B if that fails." He mused.
"Plan B?"
"Yeah, if plan A fails I move onto plan B." He quickly explained.
"I get the idea, but what's the plan exactly?" She curiously asked.
"Gender bending." He answered as a matter of fact.
He smiled mischievously and she couldn't help but focus in his eyes. They were as purple as his hair… had they always been that color?
"Like this." His words made her look away from his eyes, only to notice her body.
"B-but, how?"
"I would answer that, but it would only lead to more complex questions. So let's say it's one of my many abilities." She answered as her whole posture changed, taking a very feminine display of her body that made Ramella hot under the collar. Though that could also be the many layers of clothing.
"Well, that way you could certainly pass, I doubt anyone that didn't know you would know, and even then…" She gave Magnus' body a look up and down. "Even I wouldn't be able to say otherwise if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. How… how solid is it?"
"Oh, it's my body, for all intents and purposes I'm female, it shouldn't be hard to maintain it for a few months if necessary, it's just…" She rubbed her chin. "Well, it's hard to explain, it's my body, but not."
Ramella's mouth twisted. "I can't say I understand, sorry."
"It's okay, I doubt many have come across a problem like this. For now I will keep looking for possible ways to enter Gerudo Town and keep this in store just in case." She nodded to herself. "Oh, almost forgot, since you're here should I hand you the merchandise?"
She blinked looking at her for a moment until it clicked. "Sa'oten! Beedle did mention you were the one providing us with those magic rings, they have become very popular!"
"That I can believe, though I imagine every household on Hyrule may soon have one." She said as she handed Ramella a wood box.
She opened to check. Inside there were lines of rings, tightly and safely packed away.
"A total of two hundred rings, half of them are ruby, the other half are opal and sapphire, they can produce about a bucket of drinkable water in a minute and freeze it in the same amount of time. I imagine that it will be great for food storage, especially in hot and humid areas." He explained, and was kinda surprised to see that he had turned back without her realizing it.
"That will certainly sell very well in most Hyrule, no matter the weather." She thought out loud. "You know you could get your way into Gerudo Town with just these, right?"
"I hadn't thought of that, do you think I could find more in the oasis bazaar?"
"That could work, though as long as you're a voe it will be twice… no, thrice as hard." She replied honestly.
"I will keep it in mind." He smiled. "Thank you, Ramella."
"N-no, it's okay, you've helped us a lot too."
"I would say you have helped me quite a lot more, so don't be afraid to ask if you need anything."
She laughed. "Well, if you could do something about the Tabantha bridge…"
Magnus chuckled. "Funny thing about that." He smiled. "I do have plans for it."
Though she asked, he didn't say anything, just told her to keep an ear open for rumors coming from the region. Even as she wanted to ask more, the young man had disappeared before she could question him more, leaving her wondering what exactly had he planned.
Magnus hummed an old tune as the worker units dug a ramp up the wall of the cliff towards Kaysa's fairy fountain. The ones in front cut the rock and removed the chunks, feeding it into his open inventory, meanwhile the ones behind painted the newly made steps with the alchemical paint. He was glad to have been able to restock on the necessary ingredients by buying the merchants' stock.
He couldn't wait to put the ship back together and start growing his own herbs to keep a more steady supply of said materials. He had built up a pretty steady supply of seeds to start large-scale farming once he put the ship back together.
He had acquired the perk covering all of the Rito's knowledge, even his local teacher had to admit he had taught him everything he could. He had thanked him greatly and offered to help if the older bird needed anything. The wizened master had laughed at him and told him to come in a few years once he had truly mastered his craft.
The knowledge on how to make bows would come very useful for one of his projects, the idea of mixing a high power bow, ancient Sheikah tech and his enchanting sounded very interesting. Though it still needed a few things to be tweaked.
His units worked hard at a speed of a few meters per minute, a veritable well-oiled machine. He took a moment to look back once he reached the plateau, the ramp was long, but wide enough to fit a moderate carriage.
He would ask Kaysa if she wanted him to install some lighting, he still had enough diamond chips for the whole ramp. Though he had other things to talk about with the Great Fairy.
He was only mildly surprised by how the area had flourished, Cotera had already explained to him the effects of the excessive amounts of magic he tended to pump into the Great Fairies. How the fountains acted as control nodes for them to spread said energy across the land, and given how he overdid it, a lot of it simply spilled onto the area around them.
His magic may be of mixed Elements, but it was heavily aspected for creation and when it mixed with the natural aspect of the fountains the result was as observed.
The grass grew dense and strong, plants grew larger and quickly flourished, trees grew taller than normal and grew significantly stronger. He could see large examples of some of the common herbs of the region and a number of some of the rarer ones. He didn't miss a small patch of Silent Princess near the fountain, obviously planted there by Kaysa herself given the care they presented and how they were growing under the constant shade of the fountain's petals.
He took a moment to open his senses fully to the area. Given the fact that a lot of what was running around had come from him, it was pretty easy to observe how it was flowing around. While the spot he was standing wasn't perfect, it still allowed him to see how far it extended.
A particular glow coming from the canyon surprised him, Dinraal apparently flew through the region. The sight made him remember he needed to finish the last test, another thing he would need to finish while retrieving the ship segments in the region.
Though that would be done soon, now he had to talk with the local Great Fairy.
Would be cool to see Ricks reaction to finding the Pokemon World along with arceus's reaction to Rick as well. Just finished rereading the first book for the 5th time love your stuff. Keep up the great work.
A few years later
Link: why are there so many convenient yellow pathways? These weren't here last time.
- Location
- Home
Thanks, and there's a stop at a Pokemon World in the second part of the story.
It is highly visible and anti-slip, excellent to pull yourself up. And yes, Magnus is kinda planning to do a lot of roads and such when he comes back.
Chapter 48
- Location
- Home
Venturing the Wild – 48
"Kaysa! I bring gifts." He announced himself as he stepped up the stairs of the fountain.
After a moment of silence the fountain bubbled in a familiar manner before the Great Fairy emerged, looking as stunning as the first time he had seen her, if not more. If he had to say, she looked well rested, and had a particular shine she had lacked before.
The giant woman yawned and covered her mouth before looking down. "Oh! Magnus, always a pleasure to see you." She greeted him, the Great Fairy leaned down on the edge to be at eye-height.
"I didn't know you needed to sleep." He prompted, causing her to laugh demurely.
"It's not really tiredness," she explained, "but your influx of energy to me to the area needs a certain amount of constant attention. I wish I could talk with the other Great Fairies and ask them how they have been dealing with it."
"Hmm, well Cotera didn't mention anything about it." Magnus mused. "Thankfully I brought something to fix your little problem."
He reached into his inventory and pulled a crystal ball. The perfectly clear glass sphere was installed on a dull gold cone-shaped structure.
"Oh?"
"This is paired with four other similar artifacts." He explained as he dropped the sphere down, instantly the runes and enchantments weaved into it had it locked in place, floating on the air. "One is with Cotera and the other is with Mija, the third will be delivered to Tera once I visit her." He tapped twice on the crystal ball and instantly a screen lit up in the air.
It was practically a movie theater screen, the image was cut in the middle and a Great Fairy was visible on each side. He noticed Robbie peeking on a corner by Mija and Paya doing the same by Cotera, the girl sneaked a wave when she made eye contact with him.
He gave her a nod before turning back to the Great Fairy in front of him. "One tap turns it on and will instantly connect to any other artifact that's currently open, two taps followed by the name will connect directly to said person. For them it will chime, in which case a single tap will activate it. Pressing it for a few seconds will turn it off."
"Pretty impressive." Cotera said from her side. "May I ask how did you manage it? Such connections usually require all of the artifacts to be made in the same place and be identical."
He smiled at the question. "Well, I cheated a bit." He admitted. "While they were made in different places, they all have engraved a very complex and custom-made rune, which is for all intents and purposes unique to all of them and completely identical."
Kaysa hummed. "Very impressive, the degree of craftsmanship to manage that is incredibly delicate."
It was now Robbie who laughed. "It would be, but thanks to my Cherry that work was a breeze, once young Magnus sent us the necessary designs, it was created without a problem." He explained.
"Would it be possible then to make more in the future?" Mija intruded.
"That's right. As of now the artifacts can work with up to two dozen units as long as every unit is given a different name. But if we wanted to expand we would most likely have to set up a server artifact, this would take care of organizing, coordinating and rerouting calls or working with large numbers of units." He explained, Robbie nodded along.
"And that's not all." Robbie continued the speech. "If you would touch the base for a couple of seconds?"
The three Great Fairies gave him a look before they did as he told them. The base quickly shifted and wrapped around their fingers, effectively becoming a ring with the crystal ball as a gem.
"Excellent, I'm so happy to see it worked without problems." The older Sheikah laughed. "This way you can take it with you anywhere if you don't want to leave it hanging in the air, it works just the same way. One tap to turn on and answer a call, two taps to call one of the other artifacts and a sustained touch to turn it off. Just tap the ring twice to release it."
Only Kaysa tried, turning the ring back onto the floating crystal ball.
"This is a very impressive gift." The Great Fairy in front of him noted.
"And if necessary you can contact us by calling 'Lab', that artifact won't activate unless specifically called. But it will connect to the DD network." Magnus explained. "That way you won't have to wait for someone to come around to pass the message."
They nodded understandingly, and while they had a few more questions, soon the Great Fairies were left to chat on their own. Magnus wondered how frequently they could actually talk like this.
He exchanged some messages with Robbie and Paya as he headed towards his next stop. The latter had received one of Purah's pads for herself, and another for Impa, and she was learning to use it very quickly. There was a plan to supply all of the large settlements' leaders with one to set up a communication network, though that would take time as not everyone was so quick on the technological up-take.
There was also the slight problem of the preconceptions many long-lived people on Hyrule held given how easily Ganon had taken over things like the Guardians. Magnus knew and understood this, it was why he rarely deployed large numbers of the worker units unless he was dealing with people one-on-one; a situation where he could explain things to them personally.
This would effectively be the first time he deployed them in large enough numbers that their presence would be hard to miss, even if the only ones that would see it would be those few that stayed in the stable a few minutes away from the old wood bridge. It was also why he was starting his work once the sun set; thankfully it was Winter and the sun set early.
He had never stopped constructing new units, he doubted Purah hadn't noticed. Though with only a Princess unit the number of deployable workers was limited, that's why had finally completed the Queen.
His inventory opened and out came her. "Queen Unit Ready." A monotonous voice echoed inside his head.
Different from a normal ant in a colony, the Queen would only create two types of units, Princesses and other Queens, and the second would still need his intervention to be completed. For this it was the largest unit he had crafted so far, standing at four meters at its tallest and about six meters long.
It was four segments long and had an extra pair of legs to deal with the added size. Only one of the segments was the Ancient Oven while the other three were pure processing power, mainly for the coordination of the lower ranked units and communicating with his System.
Two Princesses stepped after and a dozen workers for each of them, the other two with their respective workers would wait in the Inventory. Just to finish the bridge he had put a good chunk of his time into the production of the flying workers, these units would be indispensable to the completion of the bridge on time.
The workers carried the prepared materials, large blocks of stone that had been shaped in such a way they would lock with each other like Lego bricks. Just in case he had mixed a cement-like compound based on the same hardening agent he had painted all the pieces. And the bricks had been engraved with specific runes that would become active once the bridge was finished, these rune strings would confer the bridge greater toughness and an increased resistance to wind and water.
Once all the pieces necessary for half the bridge were deployed he ran towards the edge of the canyon and jumped. His cape inflated, the weave and the enchantment allowed the fabric to catch the air and arrest his fall, letting him glide down towards the bottom of the canyon.
With his first test of the glide cape a success, Magnus opened his inventory again and ordered the remaining Princesses to step out and start guiding the workers in constructing the main pillar for the bridge. The first step was to dig a hole into the ground to further solidify its foundation.
Thankfully the rock of the canyon was extremely solid, but nothing that Solid&Firm couldn't reshape into a hole deep enough. After that he sat back and watched, the darkness of the night not bothering him a bit as a column of stone four meters wide rose quickly.
Dabi yawned as he cleaned the sleep off his eyes. The sun was rising and he had to thank his wife Banji for taking the night.
"How many times I told you to not play by the edge of the canyon?" And there was Banji's voice, most likely scolding Ena or Sho.
"Morning, what happened here?" He asked as he approached the woman.
"Oh, morning Dabi." She turned to give him a smile and a quick kiss. "Ena was playing near the edge of the canyon, she was telling Sho there's something weird and wanted to show him, even when I told them to not play there."
"But I'm not lying." His daughter said. "I know you said to not play by the canyon, but there were a lot of noises and I was really curious and I decided a little peek to make sure nothing bad was going to happen and then I saw that the bridge was gone and that instead of the bridge-"
"Wait, wait, wait, what do you mean the bridge's gone?" Banji interrupted her.
"It would be a shame if the bridge finally fell, but it's been falling apart for decades, honey." He told her. Personally he was amazed people still dared to cross it in the state it was.
The woman sighed. "It would also mean we will have to move the stable." She grumbled.
"Let me go and check first." He offered. "Then we can talk about what we'll do moving forward, okay?"
"Okay, I will check on the goats and start breakfast, don't take too long." She told him before turning to their daughter and taking the young girl along without another word.
He shook his head, ignoring the looks of pleading his daughter gave him. But she set the bed and now she had to lay on it. He wandered down the road towards the apparently missing bridge.
It didn't take long for him to hear the sound his daughter had mentioned. It reminded him of Goron working, the sound of stone rubbing against stone, of heavy things getting moved around.
Her daughter wasn't lying, the bridge was missing, though it wasn't just that it wasn't there anymore. But that it had been replaced, or at least half-replaced as now a stone bridge was being erected.
There were dozens of things moving around, carrying slabs of rock the size of a horse. Some of them crawled, others flew, all of them working in some eerie coordination as they never even touched each other.
The most impressive thing was the column that extended from the bottom of the canyon all the way higher than the edges. It held the arching bridge which was wider than two carriages.
"Dabi! It's good to see you, I'm sorry for the surprise." A voice made him look around and his heart almost jumped out of his throat as someone was carried up the wall of the canyon by one of those machines.
"You… you passed by the stable some time ago…" He gave the young man a look. "I'm sorry, I don't know your name."
"It's okay, I did only stop for a few minutes to ask a few questions. I'm Magnus, I decided to do something for the bridge, it was in such poor condition I decided that replacing it would be the best." He explained.
"But how…? The bridge was still here yesterday."
"I work fast, it helps that the units can work tirelessly and I've practically prepared all the necessary pieces the bridge will have, so all I've to do is assemble it and make sure it's stable."
"Wouldn't the monsters be a problem?"
"I've culled the problems earlier and I calculate a bit more before the next Blood Moon, more than enough to finish it." Magnus answered. "After that I doubt they will actually attack it, not that it will do much given the magic that went into its making."
As he explained more of those machines climbed up the edge of the canyon and got to work on their end of the bridge. A number of the flying ones were already moving some of the pieces as the bridge was quickly put together.
It was downright hypnotic, Dabi could only watch as it was built in front of his eyes. As if the whole thing was no more than a children's toy.
"Dear?" Banji's voice made him turn around. "It's been two hours, I was getting worried… though seeing this…"
"I know." He answered honestly, he wondered where time had gone.
"It's frankly impressive."
He nodded. "And it was done in less than a day." He told her.
He had been entranced by the bridge being built, but in the back of his head something had started to grow. It was a curious thought at first, but it had quickly grown into something else.
If the bridge was repaired that meant people would use it. If people used it, that meant more people would come through the area. If more people came through the area, then more people would stop at the stable.
"Banji, I think we'll need to really talk once we go back to the stable. A proper bridge will change a lot of things here."
She nodded. "The South path's about half as long as the North path and much safer in comparison. I doubt the area will be abandoned as many people live in the area of the Tabantha Tundra and the Rowan Plains, but both areas are known to have a large number of wandering monsters."
They didn't say much more, both of them knew this would change things, and there were many people that relied on them as owners of the stable. Inside Dabi wondered when had been the last time Hyrule had seen such a large construction effort, he certainly didn't remember any in his life. Most likely it had been since before the Calamity when the kingdom was thriving.
He also wondered, was this the start of a new era?
Naming the bridge took more than a chunk of Magnus' diamond store and Black Bokoblin drops, if the ship segment wasn't producing more gems at the moment it would have been hard to invest the materials. But the effect had been magnificent.
The Tabantha Canyon welcomed the bridge, adopted it and made it a part of the area. The gray stone was dyed a light red, mimicking the iron-rich stone of the region. Finishing the bridge also activated the many runes engraved in the pieces that made up the bridge and tipped him over to acquire a new perk.
It covered weatherproofing, which was more or less what he had aimed to do with the many rune strings that had gone into the construction. It was another perk that would go a long way to improve how long things he made lasted and in which conditions they could work. Useful, though mostly passive as it didn't truly open too many new doors.
He stayed long enough to talk with the owner of the stable for a few more questions before heading back to Rito village; the Rito and the people from the nearby stable were also told about the bridge. He was pretty sure the rest of Hyrule would soon learn about it.
Meanwhile he saw to finish his latest weapon before departing towards the Hebra Mountain Range. It didn't take more than a few hours of travel before the temperature dipped so harshly that the use of Cold Elixirs became necessary.
It reminded Magnus of the snowstorm that had held the Lanayru Range hostage. It made him wonder if this was truly just a light Winter, how bad it could get. He thanked the weather for not being worse as he swiftly advanced through the snow and rock terrain while in the shape of a Goron; the trail left behind swiftly hidden by the falling snow.
Though more than once he had to stop when his senses twigged danger and stopped just in time to see the normal-looking snow collapse into a deep, dark and very cold pit. It wasn't like they would have stopped him for long, but it would have definitely slowed his advance.
His path took him North West, towards one of the four corners of Hyrule. With this he had visited more than half, though that was on a technicality given the shape of the South-East corner.
"User approaching ship segment."
"Perfect, start bringing it to the surface." He ordered as he didn't stop rolling.
"Ship segment seems to have discovered an underground cave, segment's scans show said cave can be accessed through a series of tunnels."
He thought about it and quickly ordered to be shown the path. It didn't take long to find the entrance, though he could see how it had gone unnoticed as the solid ice wall under snow would have been impossible to find for anyone else.
A careful application of Close&Personal and Forward clears the area of snow and reveals a deep tunnel into the ice. It's old, very old, effectively ancient enough he hopes he didn't release any ancient plague onto the land; just in case he lets enough of his Light out to deal with any possible danger lingering inside.
The ice's such a deep blue it appears the walls were made of aquamarine, and it's so cold it's basically a mineral rather than solidified water. The trident gives him enough perception to see how the tunnel he's walking down was made by something hot escaping out, melting the path as high temperatures and pressure looked for a way out.
At first he thought it must be a hot spring, he had noticed signs of a number of them dotting the region. But what he found in the underground chamber at the end of the tunnel changed his mind.
Purah had mentioned the Leviathan skeletons, but to find one in the middle of retrieving one of the ship segments was more than just luck. Any other person would have never found the entrance. Any other person would most likely have collapsed the tunnel behind the ice wall when trying to open it. Any other person would most likely have asphyxiated given the staleness of the air.
This beast of legend had died way before the tunnel, most likely the area had been different enough that it had laid down to die and had been frozen after they had expired. Such a being wouldn't have decomposed normally, it would have taken a lot of time, even now there was a weight to the skeleton that laid in front of him.
The tunnel had been created by the heat and pressure created by the decomposition of everything but the skeleton. And with the entrance pointing away from Central Hyrule, most likely no one ever saw it happen as it would have been hidden behind the mountain.
He stepped closer and placed his hand on the closest rib. It was completely fossilized, it was a rock through and through, no chance to ever get any genetic material without time shenanigans.
He quickly retrieved the segment, it had thankfully not damaged the skeleton. Though it had landed near a collection of small, loose bones that caught his attention. They didn't appear to fit any function on a whale-like being, if anything they reminded him of a wing's bones.
It wasn't only the fact they would have fit a bird on the side of a modest plane that showed the connection to the Leviathan, it was also the fact that they appeared to be just as fossilized as the rest of the skeleton.
Closer inspection also showed the back of the being had the necessary structure to support a pair of wings. A winged whale was certainly an impressive specimen. With the segment recovered, he spent about an hour studying the skeleton and taking pictures and video of it.
Before he left he picked a small bone splinter that had been laying on the ground, it felt like it was meant to be grabbed, and it saved him the worry about damaging the skeleton. With that he left the chamber, he made sure to seal the entrance before rolling back to Lake Totori.
With the segment at half-way point of collected ones, it also meant he was going to be leaving the Hebra Region. There was still one more month of Winter, but he couldn't wait for much longer, the joys of his conferred title.
There was only one thing left for the area, and that was to fight a Lynel; outside of picking the segment in the Forgotten Temple.
Their stay in the area had been fruitful, he had finished his boots, bow and shield, he had reworked the daggers and even created his enchanted set of clothes. He felt ready, time to fight one of Hyrule's most dangerous monsters.
Chapter 49
- Location
- Home
Venturing the Wild – 49
"Are you sure it can't see us?" Kass asked, his tone was calm, but guarded.
"Yes, don't worry, the Lynel is actually much further away than he appears." Magnus replied eagerly. "I'm just bending light a bit to create a magnifying lens effect on the image we see."
"We're also downwind from the monster," Teba noted, "while I don't doubt you won't be able to sneak on it, we're definitely far enough to be safe."
"I'll be moving closer before starting my attack, you two should remain here and watch, the lens effect will remain for long enough." Magnus explained.
Teba felt the temptation to ask the young man once more if he was sure about what he was about to do, but a single look into his purple eyes showed he was more than ready. Instead he simply nodded.
"Then good luck."
"Thank you." He replied and gave Kass a nod before he moved.
In an instant and a small flash, the man had left their position, moving a dozen meters before flashing again and cutting through the land.
"He's something else." Kass offhandedly said and Teba nodded.
"Yes…" The Rito watched as the young man retrieved a large ornamented bow from nowhere, as he usually did with most of his weapons. "And I still feel like I owe him everything for saving my son."
Kass laughed softly, though not at him. "And I would guess he wanted nothing for it?" Teba nodded once more. "Yes, that fits my understanding of Magnus."
The shorter Rito gave the bard a quick look before resuming his attention on the man in the distance. The fight started with an arrow, it glowed bright red, brighter than any fire arrow he had even seen used. It left a fiery trail visible even from their position kilometers away, it lingered in the air before it seemed to remember it was only meant to exist for an instant.
The Lynel was not caught by surprise as they had expected, it had quickly moved its shield in the way of the arrow and paid the price. The impact had caused the arrow to explode in a blinding ball of fire.
"You met him shortly after he arrived in Hyrule, no?" He asked, not taking his sight away from the action.
"Yes." Kass answered. "He was very different back then, barely remembering his own name, but he hasn't changed that much." The Rito laughed. "Oh, he has definitely grown stronger and more outgoing, but even from the start he didn't fear helping those that needed a hand and had an unquenchable need to learn."
The fight didn't stop for a moment, Magnus releasing arrow after arrow as he saw to maintain a distance to the monster. A veritable light show as the colors changed with each arrow.
"We've exchanged many stories." Kass continued. "He told me many stories, his own, his family, his land. Something I quickly learned is that his upbringing was like nothing we could even imagine. But at the same time he's as good a person as any other Hyrulean you may come across."
Teba nodded. Magnus had barely asked for Teba to present him to the village's elder in exchange for saving his son.
He winced as he saw the man cross blades with the monster, though against his expectations he held firmly. A sensation grew inside of him, a boisterous need to cheer for Magnus, though Kass beat him to it, and soon both were calling for him to beat the monster.
Magnus blinked twice before he retrieved his now bow, Deliver. The bow was technically half of the weapon, the other was the paired quiver. This hung from his waist, though instead of being filled with arrows, it was filled with materials. It was a prototype, but it would do until he could get really into designing something better.
The quiver was a miniaturized Ancient Oven capable of creating only blank arrows. These hollow ammunition were designed so the bow could inject the necessary rune strings, which would activate when shot out, effectively letting him unleash any elemental arrow he could program with runes.
The blank arrow was notched onto the bow and his System controlled the bow to inject the fire and explosion strings before he let it fly. The drain on his power felt minimal, but it was enough for the arrow to leave a visible trail as it flew straight, only being stopped by the Lynel's shield.
He took advantage of the cover created by the fireball to draw another arrow and notch it, ice and explosion being injected before he shot it out next. And the next was electricity, and then simply concussive force.
He rained projectiles, but even as it was showing to be effective, it was basically just chip damage. And that felt like the wrong way to go at it. He replaced the material cartridge in the quiver and retrieved Graceful as he blinked forward and clashed weapons with the Lynel.
His heart beat faster as he looked up to the monster. From close-up, it was even more obvious the Lynels were a monster to fear, four meters tall, nearly two meters wide at the shoulders, and about three meters from front to back. A lower body shaped like a war horse, an upper body shaped like a roided-up berserker, a lion's mane and face, and a pair of imposing horns.
He could feel the ground starting to crack from the force it was using to push down on him. A quick flex of his will and his boots shifted. He kicked away, helped by a stone pillar shooting off the ground under his feet.
The monster didn't go after him, surprised by it as Magnus took a moment to recover himself.
He took another moment to observe and measure the monster, its bulging muscles were covered in short, dense black fur, marred by dozens of scars. Its mane was a familiar blood-red, sprouting from a few other places like by the hooves and tail. It wielded a mace, though unlike his own, it was larger towards the end, increasing its swinging might; the reinforced spikes also promised to bite through most defenses.
And it wasn't the only weapon it wielded, he could see a heavy and massive and wicked broadsword, a complex bow and a bladed, silver shield. He felt glad to have waited this long to fight one of these monsters.
The Lynel snorted and growled, it seemed that he had gone from a pest to a bother. The monster's arms tensed and its hooves dug into the rocky ground before it charged towards him.
Stone Bell chimed and when the monster's weapon came down, it found nothing but a hazy afterimage as Tenlight slashed along the side of its belly. Even with the elemental advantage, the cut wasn't deep enough to get more than some blood and a deep growl of anger.
"Come on, that can't be all!" Darkness tinged his voice as he taunted the monster, opening his arms in invitation.
A heat haze formed around the monster's upper body as it breathed in, its chest expanding before spitting large balls of fire. Magnus quickly kicked the ground, raising a wall of solid stone as the blade was replaced by a trident.
The area was dry, but that didn't mean he couldn't bring his own water. A few barrels dropped from his inventory and cracked, releasing dozens of liters of water. A sweep of Forward dragged it all to him.
The half-melted stone barrier was used as a stepping stone, his body shot high up as another pillar of stone shot out from it. The monster appeared surprised to see him coming down, the trident practically a mace with the compressed water head.
Though the one most surprised was Magnus as the massive monster disappeared a moment later, the liquid hammer cratering the ground. The sudden stop forcing him to blink away as the Lynel's massive broad sword cut through the spot he had been.
He hadn't come out unscathed, a deep mark on his shield proved it had come out just in time, unfortunately, it hadn't managed to activate and it was mainly luck that it blocked the swing.
He quickly replaced the trident for his bat, holding it with one hand as the other activated the shield, thankful to see it hadn't broken. The Lynel glared at him, huffing and biting the ground with its hooves as it also equipped its shield.
The monster was multiple times his mass, he was dwarfed by the monster in ways the Hinox just couldn't do. He has gone past the level of a bother, he was a threat and the Lynel seemed to finally consider him something it would have to take seriously.
The signal was silent and invisible, but both combatants rushed forward. Weapons were crossed and shields were used. Slashes, parries, swings, trusts, dodges. A deadly dance between the two as a smaller fighter abused being hard to catch and the larger one took advantage of its greater reach.
Magnus' attention was split, not just in keeping up with the chimeric monster, but also in keeping the ground solid enough to prevent his feet from being nailed into the stone.
He couldn't call this anything else but exhilarating. Every second it matched his strength helped him push a bit further, and it wasn't being lost on the monster. Both of them pushed and were thrown back, making some distance.
"Come on, show me your might!" He screamed, a cackle bubbling in the back of his throat as he launched himself forward.
The Lynel roared back and parried his charge. Magnus used the redirected force to change Graceful for Deliver and rain lightning-aspected arrows; the shock made the monster's muscles tense. But it wasn't enough, it fought through it and launched more fireballs at him.
He blinked away twice and intercepted the third with an explosive rune arrow as Stone Bell chimed. Light bent, putting the area through a haze, giving him some safety for the next few attacks.
Deliver was picked by his remote hands as he retrieved Tenlight once more. The hands rained explosive arrows on the monster, giving him enough time to focus on his blade.
The words came to his mouth without much thought. "Selene reflects the Light of the sun, dispelling the fear of the dark," his blade vibrated, resonating, "Mirror Moon."
He was standing by himself, the only difference outside of standing in perfect reflection was the color-inverted Tenlight. The sight made the Lynel roar in anger as he moved.
Light blinked ahead, bending the perspectives and sneaking under the Lynel's arms, the blade stabbing into those steel-hard abs. It felt like cutting into solid rock for Magnus, but it was just a distraction.
Darkness took advantage, unseen it moved in the shadows. His blade stabbed up, as the Lynel raised its arms to hit Light, the blade buried into its armpit. It cut through the thinner muscles to sever the axillary artery and the tendon connecting the triceps.
The Lynel roared as Light and Darkness pulled his blade back, the monster's left arm shot up, incapable of lowering as Magnus attacked in coordination to sever the extensor tendons of the front legs.
Another roar from the monster as its front legs bend back, bringing it down to its knees. He jumped back as it swept with its usable arm. It was still a very dangerous monster even with half of its limbs useless.
Light blinked forward, blade aimed at the Lynel's neck as Darkness came from behind. A fireball forced Light to dodge, but his blade still found its target. It went in horizontally and slid between the cervical vertebrae and sever its spinal cord.
Light was still close enough to see the rage dissipate and acceptance appear in the monster's eyes. A small spark of something more before its figure started to break away.
Magnus let go of the split and was one once more, a bone-deep tiredness assaulted him. He quickly downed a stamina and health potion to help his body recover before Kass and Teba arrived.
"What was that?" Kass asked, looking very interested to know more.
"A L҉ i҉ e҉." He replied with a grin as his voice carried the Truth. His grin grew wider as both of them winced. "I'm sorry about that, I basically made Reality take my lie as a truth."
"You once more manage to surprise us." The blue Rito mused.
"I can't believe I would have seen someone taking out a Lynel in my life." Teba exclaimed. "This will make the area a bit safer."
"At least until next Blood Moon." Magnus joked. "Which if I had to guess will be next Full Moon given how they have been accelerating."
His words brought the mood down a bit.
Teba shook his head. "So you'll be leaving soon?"
"That's the idea, just in case I left a good stock of potions for what's left of the season and a bit more." Magnus said. "I will leave the house I built for anyone to use, it's reinforced enough to withstand even large monsters attacking it. So don't fear using it."
Teba nodded.
"I hope you're ready for the song I will compose in your honor." Kass taunted. "I will have to think of a good tune, but I feel like the lyrics are already on the tip of my tongue." His words made them all laugh, especially Magnus who blushed in a modicum of embarrassment.
"You should visit the village before leaving, I'm sure Tulin would be sad if you left without saying goodbye." The shorter Rito noted.
Magnus nodded as he finished picking the weapons left before they headed back, he would be visiting the village before leaving.
"So you're leaving?" Tulin asked.
Magnus smiled, he hadn't spent too much time with the chick. But he saw a very brave bird in his future.
"Yes, I still have too many things to see and do." He admitted.
"When will you come back?" His tone was hopeful.
"I… I don't know, I honestly can't promise anything besides that we'll see each other again." He answered kindly. "It could be a few months, or a few years. Though I can promise it won't be more than four years."
He didn't react when he felt a small warmth coming from the back of his left hand. The tattoos proved to be pretty interesting and people tended to ignore them unless he directly brought attention to them.
The boy pouted, but it did nothing for him. Magnus turned to Saki.
"We'll miss you around here." The mother said. "You helped a lot of Rito this season."
"Hopefully the elixirs I left will continue helping."
She laughed demurely. "I'm sure we'll make sure everyone knows they are for emergencies."
He nodded. "Then I wish you well, I should take advantage of the daylight."
After returning from the fight with the Lynel he had spent the whole night putting the house South of Lake Totori in order, storing everything he didn't want to leave. After that he had come to say his goodbyes once morning was half-way through.
He turned to Tulin. "Here." He knelt in front of the boy and handed him a delicately woven anklet.
The cord was made with a pretty striking purple thread, and it had three charms; one for each of the Golden Goddesses.
"These represent Farore, Nayru and Din, they are ancient goddesses that represent Courage, Wisdom and Power. Only by balancing the three aspects can one grow into their best. Courage to act, Wisdom to know what to do and Power to go through." He explained, pointing to each crest charm.
The young boy chirped in appreciation.
"Keep it safe, I promise to come back." He nodded eagerly to his words. Magnus turned to Saki. "I'll be seeing you all."
"May the winds take you far." The woman said and he felt a playful grin tug on his lips.
"And may they take you back to your home." He stepped onto the edge of the house as he retrieved his latest mask from his inventory. "Goodbye."
He saluted and jumped back.
Just like when he arrived in the area, Darkness wrapped around his figure as the mask melded onto his face. His arms grew, from the amplitude of his shoulders to the length of his fingers. Darkness wrapped around his body, forming deep, black feathers, and his cape melded against his arms. His mouth shifted into a beak and his feet turned into clawed feet.
Wind answered his call and he soared up, a shining, dark bird that quickly flew away from the village, garnering a few curious looks. Having properly adopted the figure of a Rito allowed him to fly, it would allow him to make a good time at the Forgotten Temple.
The strong winds helped him make good time towards the Forgotten Temple. However since it was the first time he used the Rito mask, he was forced to release the form once he was getting closer to his destination.
It would take some practice to get used to it and learn all the nuances of the form, along with identifying the exotic qualities of the mask. So far all he had noticed was a high concentration of Darkness in his feathers. But it was also noon, which made it a bit harder to notice the effects of this.
He glided down towards the temple's visible entrance. His cape allowed him to land safely down and peer into the large structure built into the canyon's end. A first observation showed the place was about as old, if not older, than the Zonai Ruins. The dry weather of the canyon had kept the stone from being eroded as much as the wind and dust seemed to be restricted to acting on the tougher outside.
It was also littered with immobilized, but still functioning, Guardians on the inside. It was almost a silly sight, he counted at least twelve Guardians and there may still be more deeper into the structure.
"System, start to hack and disable them." He ordered as he watched,
A soft chime sounded in his head as the closest two Guardians changed the color of their lighting before going offline. It wouldn't be permanent, most likely only lasting until the Blood Moon when the Malice in the air was strong enough to get it going, or if another of the machines entered into alarm mode.
Because of this Magnus quickly got to work, with the offline Guardians being sitting ducks, it wasn't hard to push them into his inventory; that would be more than enough for the moment. He would see to dismantle them properly later when he wasn't dealing with a bunch of ancient hazards.
He advanced patiently through the long, ruined temple. The construction was impressive, it made him wonder how magnificent it had been when in use.
In less than an hour he had collected twenty eight machines, making him wonder what exactly had caused Ganon to focus so much of its forces on the area. Has there been something stored inside? Or was it just hate for the goddess?
The flying workers were very helpful in scanning the temple's surfaces. Walls, ceiling and floors were carefully photographed and topographic information archived. Same with the standing columns, the fallen ones were left where they laid as he wasn't going to move things around at the moment.
He soon reached the depths of the temple, there stood a massive statue of the goddess and in front of it a Sheikah Shrine. Just like all other examples of it he had seen, it was offline, and completely unresponsive.
A shrinking ray of light shone on the ancient statue, it came through a hole in the ceiling he was pretty sure he had indirectly caused. Right below the hole, he noticed a patch of disturbed rock.
"Start the segment retrieval." He asked the System. "What's this part for?"
"Segment's meant to cover the ship's engines, power generation, security systems and command center."
He nodded as he felt a small vibration deep underground, traveling through Solid&Firm. He walked towards the statue and walked around it. The statue may be the largest Hylia statue in Hyrule.
Even through the millennia of erosion he could see it had been repaired and lightly modified many times. But the general shape has been maintained pretty dutifully. Unfortunately the statue's back was too close to the wall for him to sneak a proper look to study the area. He may need to create smaller workers, maybe a scout model would be useful for things like this.
Once the segment had finally come out, he stored it in his inventory before leaving the temple. He wondered what secrets such an ancient structure held, unfortunately, he had other matters to finish, a schedule to keep to.
He would be heading East now, towards the Lost Woods, going along the South edge of the Lake that surrounded the great forest until he reached the Rauru Hillside. It wouldn't be too hard to reach the area's stable after that and then take the existing road towards Zelo Pond and retrieve the segment he buried in the edge of the water body.
There existed a temptation to just detour his path North and enter the forest, visiting the Great Deku Tree may not be a bad idea. But once more he had a schedule and once the ship was back together it would be much easier to get around the land.
But he had to get to the Spring of Power in the Akkala Region, and who knows what he would have to do there. Though he had a suspicion it was fighting some monster. Though he had no idea what would be awaiting him exactly.
Once he finished climbing the canyon he noticed a very familiar pile of bones. Graceful found its way to his hand, it wouldn't hurt to make some bone meal before the sun set.
He made good time in smashing the loose set of Stalnox's bones into a fine powder and small splinters before he resumed his path. He would not be sleeping in the wild, one night really didn't bother him, he may not even sleep until he reached Kakariko, depending on how the test went.
Shrugging off those thoughts of the future, he put the Goron mask on, it would help him move faster. Plus he could also use it more to get further used to it. The Zora and Rito mask would surely get used before he reached Kakariko Village. He really needed to finish the cherry wood mask, he just needed the proper inspiration, it would be useful. But he still didn't know its intended use.
He would have to wait and see.
Chapter 50
- Location
- Home
Venturing the Wild – 50
(Spoilers for Alan Wake II)
Saga Anderson dodged another swipe, the cell bar Scratch had ripped out cut through the air.
Internally she cursed her shortsightedness in the whole case. She had nearly handed him the Clicker and doomed the world, her daughter was most likely dead, Jakko was cooling on the floor of the prison cell, and Casey and so many dead from the Darkness taking over.
The area outside of the police station had turned sinister, the sky had darkened with the coming of the night and a sickly fog had fallen onto the area dimming the few light sources. She could barely see the streets outside of the area the FBC had enclosed to keep their equipment.
"Estevez, come in!" She called onto her radio. "Alan Wake was Scratch, how do I stop him?"
"Anderson? If Scratch is there then we're in a problem, the containment is not ready yet."
Sage cursed as she hid behind one of the metal containers to recover her breath, thankfully Scratch was taking his sweet time and just walking. It was terrifying to think it felt calm enough to take his time with her. She just hoped she could exploit it in her favor.
"C̵o̷m̸e̵ ̵o̵u̷t̴,̷ ̷A̶n̴d̶e̷r̸s̵o̸n̸" His voice sounded by her ear, sending a shiver down her spine and forcing her to move once more.
The metal twang of the cell bar hitting the metal container told her she had dodged a very dangerous attack. She turned and flared her light at the monster wearing the skin of a man. She unloaded two well-aimed head shots at the monster.
Unfortunately that only worked to slow it down as damage seemed to be only a temporary measure.
"Estevez, I need a plan, quick!" She called on the radio as she put distance between her and the monster.
"... the light array should be in position. There's three power generators around the area, start them up and I will turn the lights on." The FBC woman's clear voice came through the radio.
Saga looked around, it wasn't hard to follow the power lines from the tall, standing lamps towards the brightly-colored generators. She rushed towards the closest one, grabbing the starting cord's handle and pulled hard.
"G̴i̴v̸e̴ ̸m̴e̶ ̵t̸h̷e̷ ̶C̶l̷i̵c̷k̷e̵r̶"
The generator's motor revved up, but petered out a moment later.
"Come on." She muttered as she pulled again, the generator once more trying to start, but failing to do so.
The third time was the charm, but getting the generator running earned her a solid hit on the left arm from Scratch. She rolled with it, but she could feel the nasty bruise forming; it wouldn't be a surprise if the bone was at least partially broken.
"̷S̵a̷g̸a̴" The voice was like the scratching of a blackboard as one of the lights turned on.
The brightness helped, even when it mainly pointed out how thick the fog hanging was. It didn't appear to have much effect on the monster that smiled sadistically and continued his march towards her.
She winced and ran towards the furthest generators, it activated easily and fast enough she could once more keep her distance away from Scratch. But two lights weren't enough, not even slowing him down.
"T̶r̷i̶c̵k̷y̶ ̶t̷r̷i̸c̵k̸y̷." She winced as Scratch was suddenly by her side, forcing her to throw herself out of the way again.
"Fuck off!" She cursed and blasted her shotgun right on his stomach, causing the monster to double over for a moment.
But once more the damage was ignored as the darkness lingering in the air filled the damage and repaired it back to the blood-soaked pristine.
Saga was forced to look around, trying to find the last generator. But her run towards the second target had resulted in her losing sight of the last one. The search was even more difficult given the threat of Scratch steadily moving after her, step after step. It was like the inevitable coming of the night.
"Get out of my head!" She screamed and used one of the road flares she had found earlier. They didn't directly damage the Taken, but were very effective in slowing them down, even Scratch wasn't completely immune to them. The monster hissed and moved around one of the containers.
A moment of respite helped her recover her breath and a mouthful of painkiller, or two, to ease the pain of the earlier blow. She would most likely need a stomach pumping given how many drugs she had taken in the last few hours. She would be lucky if all she got was an ulcer at this rate.
"̵A̸n̸d̸e̶r̴s̷o̴n̸" Scratch's voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, hiding their location.
She couldn't wait until all of this was done and she could take some leave from work to spend with Logan, maybe invite Casey over, her partner would certainly get some time off from the injuries he had suffered.
She couldn't see Scratch anywhere, but ahead of her was the last generator. Hopefully once it was running she would deal with the monster and regroup properly.
She rushed ahead, barely looking at anything but the power generator. She knelt and grabbed the handle. She pulled hard, the machine barely revved up before choking.
"Come on, come on." She pleaded as she pulled again, her hopes were quickly drowned as the machine failed to start once more.
She could feel Scratch approaching even when she couldn't see him. She pulled again and again. Thankfully it started on the fourth attempt.
"Yes-" Her words were cut as the swift sound of air being cut made her jump away.
She dodged the metal bar swing, but she nearly screamed out as Scratch's attack hit the power generator. The sound of breaking plastic and crunched metal was accompanied by the motor petering out as it broke.
"Goddamit!" She turned and ran from the monster, looking around for another power generator. "Estevez, Scratch broke one of the generators, please tell me there's spares."
"Shit! Yes, there are spares. But none have been unpacked yet, and I doubt you will get the chance to do so." The woman's voice came in frantically through the radio.
"Fuck." She cursed again as she looked around, there had to be something she could do to power the lights up.
"G̸e̷t̸t̴i̸n̴g̵ ̵t̴o̷ ̶t̷h̴e̷ ̴e̴n̶d̶ ̶i̵s̶ ̸n̴o̴t̸ ̶s̵o̸ ̶e̴a̸s̸y̷,̶ ̶S̴a̶g̶a̶" Scratch's voice echoed in the parking lot. "J̸u̶s̵t̷ ̴g̸i̷v̵e̵ ̵m̷e̸ ̸t̴h̶e̴ ̶C̷l̸i̵c̸k̵e̷r̴"
She ran away from him while looking around, hoping to find anything to use. Even an outlet may be enough to get over the edge. Think, Saga, think.
Unfortunately her running around led her to step into a dead end between containers, and as soon as she noticed this the deadly sound of footsteps made her turn around.
"N̴o̸ ̴e̶s̴c̴a̸p̶e̷,̵ ̶t̷h̵i̶s̷ ̸i̷s̵ ̸t̷h̶e̸ ̷e̵n̵d̴ ̷o̶f̶ ̸y̸o̷u̵r̴ ̸s̷t̸o̶r̷y̸,̶ ̷A̵n̵d̷e̸r̸s̴o̴n̶.̷"
"Screw you, Scratch." She shot back, glaring as she emptied her bullets on the monster, barely slowing his advance.
The clicking of the empty weapon made her wince, especially as the fact wasn't lost on Scratch who's smile turned even more malicious.
Her eyes darted around looking for something, anything, she could use. She wondered if Scratch had written the situation, had he controlled the environment to set her up? She could see through the Story, but nothing said she couldn't still make the intended mistakes.
It sure surprised her when someone dropped between them, and it seemed to surprise Scratch too.
"Excuse me for dropping in." His voice was nice and clear, and she nearly spoke out loud in reaction to the pun. "Sir, I think the lady wants nothing with you, it would be nice if you left."
The situation had swiftly taken a very strange turn, especially as she could tell the man was smiling, even if he was at the moment looking away from her.
"W̵h̴a̴-̸ ̷W̷h̷o̷ ̶a̸r̴e̴ ̷y̴o̸u̶?̷" Scratch sounded completely surprised by this, had he not written this in? "D̶o̷e̷s̷n̵'̴t̶ ̶m̶a̷t̷t̸e̶r̴,̵ ̵g̸e̷t̴ ̵o̵f̷f̶ ̸m̶y̴ ̷w̶a̵y̵.̴"
"I'm sorry sir, I just can't do that." The figure spoke and waved a hand lightly. "I've been asked to help, and you staying here's the opposite of this."
Scratch scoffed at his words and marched forward, intent on making his way to her and the Clicker.
"Don't complain later that I didn't warn you." There was still that sensation the man smiled as he spoke, though it had gained a very dangerous edge.
His words were accompanied by a sweep of his hand and a short lived flash of intense light. Saga closed her eyes before the flash and by the time she opened she saw the figure of Scratch flying away from the spot he had been standing, a trail of smokey darkness left behind. She blinked the glare off her vision, only catching sight of something glowing getting flung towards the monster before the man turned around.
He was young, she would guess barely out of his teenage years, but even then his hair was perfectly silver, or at least it appeared that way in the strange lighting of the area. He had the most striking pair of blue eyes, they appeared to be almost glowing as he gave her a very kind and warm smile. She had to admit she may have blushed.
"Mrs Anderson, right?" His voice still had lost that dangerous edge, she nodded to the question. "Great, I would have been very troubled if I arrived late after Ahti asked me to help. You just have no idea how bothersome it can get sometimes when you just get a name. But one usually just has to follow the loudest noises."
"What do you-?" Her words were covered by the sound of Scratch screaming in pain and anger along with something attacking him.
"Oh dear, that's loud." The young man chuckled and turned towards the entrance of the container alley. "Please, deal with him further away." He called out before turning back to her. "You appear to be injured, Mrs Anderson, would you like help?"
"Saga, Saga's good enough, and it's okay." She lied. "I already took something for the blow."
The man shook his head. "Saga, I can see you've been under extreme stress on top of multiple injuries and definitely severe abuse of narcotics, please." He didn't exactly ask as he extended his hand to her.
She reached for his hand nearly unconsciously as she knew he didn't mean any harm. The moment their hands touched it was as if her whole body had been soaked in a warm bath that washed all of her tiredness, aches and general discomfort away.
"What? How?" She quickly checked herself.
"I'm really good at my job" He kept on smiling. "Oh, so rude of me, I'm Milo, Milo Andes, and though like my father I've accumulated a number of titles, I think I will leave them out of this. You wouldn't believe the size of the introduction card I would need if I was actually using all of them" He turned. "Now, let's deal with this pest before we resume our talk and fix the poor people inside the building, right?"
She felt lost as the man, Milo, turned and disappeared from her vision. A moment he was there, the next he was not, and just after a large flash of light washed over the parking lot.
Once it dimmed everything looked a bit brighter, the fog that had been covering the area was gone. And so were the noises of fighting.
Saga rushed out to see the result of the fight. By then it appeared Scratch had disappeared and Milo was picking something off the ground, though the position of the two made it impossible to tell what it was exactly.
"Unfortunately it looks like he ran away, if I had to say he wasn't exactly here, or maybe it's more correct to say he was meant to be somewhere else after." He shrugged and walked over to her. "Nevermind, I'm sounding like my grandfather, is there anything else that needs attention?"
"...inside?" She offered.
"Ah, right! Then I'll follow you." He said and allowed her to guide him.
She still felt lost, too many thoughts filled her head. Was this another of Scratch's plans? He certainly looked surprised by the appearance of Milo. She entered the building through the still open door to the prison cells.
"Saga!" Ilmo glared at her. "I told you he was a monster, and look at what happened…" The man's tone was defeated. "Jakko…"
"Oh dear." Milo's words surprised as he was suddenly standing in front of the deceased twin's cell. "That's a terrible sight, but nothing I've not fixed before. A little death shouldn't stop someone from just enjoying life, unless you're French, then a little death's just another way to enjoy life."
Before anyone could even react he opened the cell door without any sign of it having been locked. He stepped inside and knelt down by the body.
"Who are you?!" Ilmo screamed. "Get away from my brother, you-!"
"It's okay, I just have to do this and this." He placed his hand on top of Jakko's head and the man suddenly breathed in, sitting up.
"Who? What?" He cried out in surprise.
"Whoa there, easy now, you just died. But that's okay, I brought you back." Milo spoke kindly, once more maintaining a gentle smile. "Milo, healer, saint, and all around good vibes dude.
None of the witnesses knew how to react to what they had just seen.
"I also fixed that liver problem, I would recommend drinking less alcohol from now on." Milo continued as if he hadn't done a miracle. He stood up as he continued talking. "I also recommend less red meat, more fish, lay off the bacon, that stuff will kill you. Really, people say it's violent video games that kill, but the true killer is breakfast bacon" He helped the stumped man stand up. "Now, who's next?"
"Jakko? Jakko, is that really you?" Ilmo prompted as he pushed against the cell bars.
"What did you do?" Saga managed to ask.
"Nothing much, really. For all the blunt trauma the body had, the damage was quite small, really, he had done much worse by drinking so much coffee." Milo explained. "So I fixed it up, kickstarted the body and coaxed his soul back into place. Most people don't want to die, so it's natural they will get back up when offered the chance."
Nothing much he says. A miracle in front of her eyes and the source of it calls it nothing much.
In the time she pondered on those words Milo had moved to the other twin's cell, once more opening it as if it hadn't been locked until a moment prior. And she was sure of this, Ilmo had tried to force it open already.
"Bullet wound, stress, too much coffee and alcohol." Milo explained as he placed his hand onto the stunned man's shoulder. "Just like your brother, I recommend less red meats, more fruits and vegetables and try to up your exercise, even if it's just twenty minutes of a light jog, more sunlight would do you good, even if it's working by a window."
It didn't seem the man was listening, because the moment Milo let go of his shoulder he rushed towards his brother. Saga couldn't blame him, she wouldn't have been thinking straight if it was her daughter Logan.
She had dozens of questions for the twins, but right now Milo was walking away from the prison cells, most likely looking for more victims if she had to guess.
"Wait." She rushed after him. "What did you mean by Ahti sent you?"
Milo turned. "Yeah." He answered. "He's a sort of old acquaintance of my father, hard to say. You met him, right? Old dude, comes to the town for vacation. I heard he got a good assistant at his job so she's taking care of the place while he rests."
"Old Finnish man, likes to sing and dress like a janitor, right? What about him?" She asked.
He chuckled. "Man, ha! I mean, he looks the way, but…" He pushed open a door and walked directly to where Estevez had holed herself up. "You know what, don't worry about it, if he wanted you to know more he would have let you know. Let's just say he's a janitor that tends to deal with large messes. I was passing by and he asked me to help, I didn't have many reasons to ignore the favor. Overall he tends to do good for humans."
"Passing by? If you were here for Deer Fest why would you cross paths with him? Or maybe it was in Watery?"
"He looked me out, and no, I know nothing of a Deer Fest, outside of the signs around." He answered. "Nice thing, though I prefer deer in the wild, most wild animals like to have me around." He sighed. "You've no idea how much my siblings called me Disney princess, I think they were just jealous because most animals just don't like them. I think it's mainly my brother, but my sister only gets along with sea creatures."
Saga wanted to ask him to shut up for a moment, he seemed to have little to no filter, or to ask him to explain things better. She pulled herself into her Mental Palace, she needed a moment to understand.
She was standing in her personal place, looking around, nothing seemed out of place besides a new picture on her desk. She stepped up to it, Wake/Scratch's profile felt like it had more to give, but she wanted to look into the young man first.
Who are you? She prompted the profile and dove into it.
She sucked in hard through her teeth as the area shifted. The wooden walls peeled off, giving way to an idyllic green play with a few water lakes. As if an oppressive sensation disappeared or a weight was lifted off her shoulders, Saga breathed in; it surprised her how fresh the air smelled. Smelled.
"What happened?" She asked as she looked around.
"You poked my mind." Milo was suddenly there answering.
"This never happened before." She said, "I could connect to Thor and Odin, but they are family and have a similar ability to me."
"Interesting, a type of psychic ability, most likely coming from a bloodline." Milo pondered. "You're lucky you didn't push further, this is the first layer and basically where I meet people who poke me, it's safe and used for social interactions with other mind readers or similarly capable people, it also helps that time passes much faster here."
"How?"
"Oh well, when you grow up in the next thing to a hive mind you sort-of develop certain practices to keep a safe mental space. I've seen and learned things that most people would just break from knowing, so I've to do a certain level of self-control and safety, you just have no idea what kind of memetic dangers and psychological hazards lay inside my mind. Just this time I met this curious psychic that didn't take the warnings into consideration, let's say things went Scanners, have you seen the movie? Well, just like that scene, thankfully I could fix the mess afterwards. But you never forget the first time you see someone's head pop like a balloon filled with paint."
She winced as the barrage of words felt like a hammering against her brain.
"Okay, please, slow down." She pleaded. "Can I ask who are you exactly? Or better yet, what are you?"
"As my brother says, we're one of a kind. I will keep the details short, I'm someone here to help." He kept on smiling and thankfully kept it short.
"What did you do with Scratch?"
"Scratch? Oh, that guy…" He rubbed his chin. "It has to do with an elemental thing, have you ever played a game where water beats fire? It's like that. Most things have at least one element, Scratch embodies Darkness, while I have Light, ergo we're opposites, it was just that I'm much stronger in that department."
"Life's not a game." She replied.
"So it's a story instead?" He shot back, his smile a cocky grin.
She hated to not have an answer to that.
"Don't worry, I'm not part of the story, his reaction should tell you that much. I literally come from outside and I'm working with Ahti's blessing. I'm sure you have more questions, but there's a lot to do around here and I do have a time limit to bringing people back." He explained and she felt herself being pushed out.
A moment later she noticed she was once more walking behind the young man as they entered the room officer Estevez was recovering.
"Greetings ma'am." Milo said. "Code Theta-Ducky-Eightyfive-Outsider."
The FBC woman froze. "What kind of hell are we facing when someone like you got sent to help?" Saga could tell the woman was doing her best to not curse.
"Not completely sure ma'am, just doing my part to help when asked." He offered.
Estevez sighed. "Better than nothing, what can you do?"
"Complete control over Light and healing, and that should be enough for the current situation." Saga blinked as she could hear a capitalization right there, she had been sure it had been an effect of her Mental Palace before. "With Scratch having retreated I will get the officers back up, I should still be in time to recover all those that died here."
"You-?" The woman froze. "Nevermind, go do your job and then return here, you too Officer Anderson, we need to discuss how we will continue with this." She nodded unconsciously.
"Everything in a day's work." Milo mused and placed his hand on the FBC woman, healing her injuries before turning and leaving the room.
Saga looked at the woman, practically asking what that was all about.
"As you can imagine, the FBC has to deal with many entities that exist outside of what we consider reality." She explained. "You should feel lucky we're getting help from one that looks human and actually wants to help." She sighed. "Believe me, I've seen things."
Saga nodded before heading out of the room, she still had a lot of questions for the Koskela brothers. I do wonder, did this become harder or easier? It's certainly nothing like what I imagined it would be when I got the case.
Found-family, supernatural powers, the possible end of the world… she really didn't expect a possible serial killer would lead to this.
Magnus was glad to see the beautiful reds and oranges of the Shadow Pass once more, after a couple of days of constant traveling, he finally felt like he could slow down. He had retrieved the greenhouse segment and barely stopped on the three Stables that were in the way.
The masks did help a lot in moving faster, even if he could certainly have run the whole way, it was less eye-catching. With exception of the Goron mask, a rolling amethyst was hard to ignore. Meaning he mostly used the Zora mask to traverse the water and the Rito mask to fly over obstacles.
He did fight a few monsters, but nothing truly worth noting.
The sun was barely coming out, meaning he would make it to the spring about mid morning. Magnus stopped just outside of the Shadow Pass, he could feel the presence of the spring in the distance.
It felt like a powerful fire or the strong sun beating down on you, it was overwhelming even from a distance. He could have certainly gone around the quarry and skipped dealing with the flying Guardians. But it felt incorrect when he was visiting the Din's spring.
Though nothing said he couldn't do it smartly and quickly disabled the machines, practically letting them fall into his open inventory. Half a dozen flying machines he would be studying later. He had the blueprints, but there was a difference between that and working examples.
Just like the other springs, this one wasn't just out in the open. In this case it had been built in a sort-of deep basin, it was obvious the whole area had been constructed this way a long time ago as the ring of water around the rim of the basin had a series of equally placed waterfalls that fed the spring.
Like the Spring of Courage, two ancient trees guarded the goddess statue. He also noticed a series of columns and platforms eroded by the water and the time.
He glided down to land on the water.
Traveler, you who have completed two tests.
The moment he touched the water the familiar voice echoed in his head, he could see the sky high above clearing as a sinuous figure appeared from over the volcano.
Follow the Spring's Attendant and defeat the sealed beast, show your Power.
He didn't have much time to ponder on those words as the dragon started moving, forcing him to leave the spring and follow. Just in case he messaged Robbie and Purah, there was no reason to scare them with what was about to happen.
The alan wake/ control universe make a lot of sense with what we know going on with Rick and his kids. wonder if he all so found any scp Worlds that place is crazy with a lot of intriguing things. Also if your going to show all the stuff going wrong in the oldest house/ main story of the control game? fun read.
- Location
- Home
Yeah, the Remedy Verse is pretty cool. Though I won't show more, these chapters are peeks at what the other two siblings are doing, basically a parallel story that we only get a few pieces here and there; mostly to scratch an itch when I get an idea.
Each sibling also has a type of World they will most likely visit. Milo gets any that has ghostly, supernatural or some kind of crime against nature (e.g. he will most likely get one or two chapters in RE). Claire gets mostly Shounen and similar, especially those with some comedy mixed in (which usually clashes with her succinct personality). Magnus' is the one we see the most, he'll be the more varied, but he's mainly looking for Worlds with interesting things.
There's also the fact that some Worlds they visit due to obligations.
- Location
- US
Just wanted to say I really enjoy these peeks at other worlds, and I think the way you intersperse them into the main story really lets us get a feel for the abilities of the others without having to explicitly show them. It feels very seamless, very very well done.
- Location
- Home
Thanks, that was the idea. The hardest part is not running out of ideas for possible places to throw them through.
Chapter 51
- Location
- Home
Venturing the Wild – 51
He flew towards the region known as Deep Akkala, he noticed a Lynel in a valley below in the way. He ignored it as the dragon was still moving ahead of him. He passed Rok Woods, Tempest Gulch and Skull Lake before he noticed the dragon's flight shifting in the direction of Gut Check Rock.
He had heard of the area, considered to be behind Death Mountain, it was a series of hot springs forming a moat around an island with a tall stone spire.
The dragon started to fly in circles, obviously waiting for him to take the challenge under him. He landed a bit further away and let a special princess unit out, this one had its construction capabilities replaced with a dd network terminal.
After a moment of initializing the connection he spoke. "All of you can see well?" He prompted.
"I'm glad you're warning us before taking the last test, but are you sure you want to broadcast it like this?" Purah's voice sounded in his ears.
"I'm certainly going to record this anyways." He explained. "So there's no harm in letting you guys see, it will hopefully keep you from panicking as hard when things start to heat up."
"So sure about it?" Robbie asked.
"Nine out of ten that it's a giant monster."
"Hyrule has records of many giant, sealed evils," Symin's voice came through clearly, "the ones that come to mind are Grinnex and King Dodongo given the location."
"While knowing more could be useful, I doubt Dinraal wants to wait for me to go through the records." Magnus joked.
"Don't die, kid." Robbie told him. "I don't think we'll be able to get you to the Shrine of Resurrection."
He chuckled. "Don't worry, I won't."
With that said, he muted the idle messages as he stepped forward. His intention wasn't lost on the dragon above and they released a fireball straight down. He could feel something strange in that sphere, but any detail was soon lost as it hit one of the hot spring pools and steamed it dry.
It didn't end with all the water dissipating in steam, the ground started to crack and break. The earth under his feet shook as something seemed to stir.
A second fireball was shot down by the dragon, whatever had been sealed there had been very well sealed. The rocky ground broke further, large slabs of rock rose and shifted as the shaking grew stronger.
The tremor slowly grew louder until it was obvious it wasn't just a tremor, something was roaring and pushing up; it made the whole area vibrate. It even woke up a sleeping Hinox that had been lying in one of the nearby pools of hot water.
The dumb, dark-skinned monster wandered over to the breaking ground, ignorant of the danger. Though not for long as a massive, reptilian head shot out of the ground and instantly bit down on the cyclopean monster.
Its dark scales were only interrupted by lines glowing orange, given the flaming horn on top of its head just in line with its large, orange, single eye, it was definitely a fire aspected monster.
Though that notion was quickly wiped as two more heads shot from the ground, one sporting a cold-bleeding ice horn and lines of blue while the other's horn sparked with power and were colored yellow.
He noticed one message from Symin calling it a King Gleeok, and a lot of cursing going in the messages, many calls for him to retreat. But he didn't think it would be that easy.
He watched the Hinox get torn apart by the hydra-like monster's maws before its three eyes focused on him and released an earth-shattering roar. Or maybe it was its two massive wings and tail it used to dig itself out. The hole left behind was quickly filled by the steaming water of the hot springs.
The Lynel had been a danger, this… this was a threat. He could feel it, he wasn't getting out of this conflict unscathed, and he couldn't help but relish the idea.
Even with his shield resting on his left arm, the moment he saw the monster's chest swell he blinked away. Three lasers of pure elemental destruction sliced the ground he had been standing on. The hot water froze, steamed and crackled with electricity.
"Laser breaths." He couldn't help but chuckle as the shield on his left arm activated, a fractal of glowing, blue runes appeared around the golden disc.
With each step from the King Gleeok the ground crumbled further. As more and more water flooded the underground chambers the ground rumbled and several geysers shot up high into the air, adding to the apocalyptic sight of the creature.
He momentarily wondered what the people watching thought about the situation. But he honestly didn't and couldn't care as he was forced to move forward. He roared back at the monster as he drew Forward, the trident quickly dragging the water from the area.
Behind him remained Dexter&Sinister, the remote hands handling Delivery and providing back-up as he kept the monster's attention on himself. The monster prepared another breath attack and Magnus shot himself up by the use of his boots, water trailing in thousands of liters behind him.
He aimed it right into the ice mouth, as the monster's maw was right open and not entirely focused on him. He shoved only a fraction of an Olympic pool-worth of water into its open mouth, but it was enough to fill its throat at the same time it released its freezing breath.
It instantly tried to clear its mouth by shaking its head, of course it didn't end with one head and the attacks from the other two shot out wildly. Thankfully his shield could withstand the fire laser without much trouble even without changing its configuration.
He changed the trident for his gloves before rushing ahead, Delivery was being used to harass the ice head to keep it from clearing the ice from its maw as he once more shot up and uppercutted the middle head right in the chin. The shield swiftly shifted back on, the general string of runes changing to those covering electrical damage as the third head released another attack at him.
A laugh escaped his throat as he couldn't help but feel alive, his whole body saturated with energy as his cape arrested the fall; he rushed back in just as fast as he was blown away.
The ice finally cracked and the Gleeok roared in anger, three massive eyes focused on him. Different from the Lynel these didn't hold the same intelligence, it wasn't a dumb animal by any means, but it was not as tactically wise. And it didn't need it, it was destruction incarnate, three natural disasters mixed in one being.
Darkness fed onto his gloves, the normal flames grew dark and wicked. He pulled his arms back as he blinked forward, stopping practically a meter away from the monster before his hands closed together and slashed with them like a giant maw.
Dark scales cracked and the beast bellowed as Darkness sank into the beast's body. A burning bite mark was left on the monster's torso as he was forced to blink away twice and dodge a tail whip.
"Come on! That can't be all!" He laughed.
The beast roared and flapped its wings, hurricane-like winds swept the area and the monster started to lift off the ground. It seemed to grin as it once more released its breath attacks, forcing Magnus to move around and dodge them; thankfully they were easy to predict.
All the chaos had more than reactivated whatever underground thermal waters that existed. He took full advantage by keeping an eye on the area with the use of his boots, his dodges getting him in the perfect position to get launched up by the sudden geyser of steaming water.
While the pressure was amazing, it fell short to get him to the monster, forcing Magnus to blink the last bit of distance and land on the monster's back. His fist quickly swung down to punch the Gleeok's spine in.
Any other being would most likely have been left paralyzed, but the King Gleeok's spine was made of tougher stuff, forcing him to change the plan before he was shaken off. His gloves were exchanged for Graceful as he settled his position and channeled his Darkness through the weapon before unleashing a swing at the monster's wing.
He received a nasty crack as reward as the monster roared out once more, though this had a hint of pain as it started to move. The damage was obvious as its body wasn't as stable as before, wobbling back and forth as he turned around and swung towards the other wing. The resulting crack wasn't as strong as the first, but it was obvious the Gleeok was now having a harder time staying on the air.
A tingle on the back of his neck got him to move. But he wasn't capable of reacting in time, faster than even he could react, the monster's tail whipped around and wrapped around his body. The appendage's natural weapons acting as teeth that bit down onto his clothes, they didn't tear through. But certainly locked him in place.
The monster let out a laughing roar as it swung its tail down before allowing itself to fall, Magnus was forced to brace as he watched the ground approach quickly.
"What just happened?" Paya asked from her side.
"Calm down, niece." Purah said. "You can see he's still there, or the machine wouldn't be working." She kept a calm tone, but she couldn't shake her worries off.
A King Gleeok was something that could be put in the level of danger Ganon presented, the only advantage the Calamity had was its ability to spawn other monsters and take control over the Guardians. It was just the sight of the gloves she helped program and the particular bow floating in the distance that calmed her down.
"Robbie, can you see anything from your side that we can't?" She soon prompted.
"Not yet, the telescope is still shifting." He grumbled. "I can't believe it's barely been a couple of minutes since that fight started. I can see the clouds of dust from here quite well. Thankfully he got the monster down before it flew too high, I don't doubt many would have panicked badly if they had seen such a beast in the air."
"They may still do, I don't doubt you're feeling the ground shaking over there."
"A bit." The man nodded grimmly.
"There!" Paya screamed and everyone turned back to the screen.
A dark figure had appeared a dozen meters away from the monster, given the dark colors she was glad to see it was that strange fox form of his. She let out a breath she had been holding. It was him, but he hadn't come totally unscathed from being used to cushion the monster's fall.
Purah wanted to smack him in the back of the head because she knew he was enjoying things. He was giving them a heart attack, fighting a monster from legend and having fun.
They soon lost sight of him again as a thick fog started to fill the area. It seemed to surprise the monster as much as it did to them, it started to release its multi-colored breath attacks, hitting nothing but water and rock.
"What is he doing now?" She grumbled. She could understand not being seen, but she doubted that was the whole plan.
Before any of them could deduce what was happening, the dark figure of Magnus came out of thin air. He descended like a falling star, that dark chunk of metal he called a weapon swung down with his added speed. A nasty crack echoed in the recording as the monster's wing finally broke.
The sound that came through the video made her wince, especially as it came accompanied by the monster's roar of pain. She could feel it in her chest and it was happening dozens of kilometers away.
"Fuck that, I could hear that from here." Robbie grumbled.
She watched Magnus retreat as the monster started to charge its breath attacks again. Though this time instead of blowing forward, it shot them up.
The first that came down was a literal lightning storm, the power electric discharges hit the area at what appeared to be random. Rock and water exploded the same. Magnus was forced to move around as ice came next.
It wasn't hail, they were blocks of ice the size of Guardians and they seemed to be trying to corral him in place. She wanted to scream at him to get out of the way, but she knew he was ignoring their messages.
It wasn't just necessary to dodge the massive pieces of ice, the moment they hit the ground they exploded and showered the area with sword-like shards of ice that grazed him multiple times.
Fire came down next, and she thanked him for being behind Death Mountain. She really hoped it hadn't gotten high enough to be seen from afar, because it was practically a meteorite coming down. A giant fireball dropping as if in slow motion.
She felt at a loss of words as she saw what happened next, Magnus drew his trident and all the water in the area started to move. What worried her was how unnaturally dark it looked. It seemed even the Gleeok was surprised because it could only watch as a massive mirror of water formed above the young man. Or maybe it was invested in controlling the attack.
She had expected the mirror to act as a shield, but instead it started to shift. It quickly adopted the form of a bowl before it rushed to close around the attack. A massive bubble of Hylia knows how much water held onto the air before exploding into steam and pressure.
"He's saying something!" Paya pointed out loud and Purah forced her vision down, trying to find him in the image.
She grumbled. "If I had to say, he's either taunting him, or he's gone completely bonkers."
"Can be both." Robbie chuckled.
"That's mean." Her niece complained.
"Nah, we're all a bit crazy." She said before chuckling. She nibbled on her flute's mouthpiece. "I think he's pulling all stops."
"Both are." Robbie pointed and she turned to look at the King Gleeok, it certainly appeared to be preparing a charge.
She would bet her glasses it wanted to grab him and blast its multiple breaths at point-blank range.
"Is that a mask?" She asked out loud as the young man was holding a blank mask that reminded her too much of the Yiga Clan.
"I don't think he mentioned anything about masks before." Robbie mused.
She focused her eyes on his lips, it seemed like he was speaking. She could almost hear him speaking. Though the thought of reading his lip was lost completely as he placed the mask onto his face and-
"What in Hylia's name?!" Robbie screamed.
Pure darkness exploded from his body and the video they were watching seemed to be having trouble focusing on what was happening. Colors flickered all over the screen and the image seemed to deform as the visible figure of Magnus started to expand.
He let out a wild roar in response to the Gleeok as he grew to match his size and beat it. Ten times his size, easily over fifteen meters of height and beating the Gleeok's twelve. His mane grew expanded, the familiar and rich purple dotted with black locks, it was a literal protective mantle that covered his back.
The mask he had placed onto his face had molded onto his features, dying the upper half of his features white and only allowed his two purple and striking eyes to be visible as they glowed with power.
His shins and forearms were dyed white too, as if gloves and socks had been added to his clothes which had shifted with his body, covering his torso and part of his limbs. His size tricked the eye and made the massive symbols that had formed on the back of his hand appear tiny.
For a moment the danger she had been worried Magnus carried had come back. But she quickly squashed it down. She knew better now, the young man would never use this against them. She just had to trust him.
Magnus' maw was full of fangs and he gleefully showed them towards his enemy. The sensation of the cherry tree mask on his face was as if it wasn't there. He locked hands with the charging Gleeok and looked down into its three eyes.
Hyrule looked so different like this, a layer had been gently taken off reality and he was allowed to peer underneath it. He could see how the area would change in the future and that was the Truth. He could see that the dragon above was made to act by something else and it was the Truth.
He could see the monster in front of him was old, ancient, it had been sealed for so many eras before no one even remembered the legends written about its existence, it had been sealed before the Calamity, before Ganon, it had been sealed during an era where there had been no hero, no princess, no great evil. The people of the land hadn't been able to defeat it, and had been forced to seal it.
But such a monster couldn't be sealed without side-effects, there was a reason not many lived in the Akkala Region. Even unconsciously not many wanted to settle in close proximity to the sealing spot, Goron City only existed thanks to the protection cast by Death Mountain.
Darkness and light coated his fangs as he pushed forward and crunched on the thunder head's neck. The Gleeok roared in pain but he didn't pull back, instead redoubled the strength of his jaws until he felt the monster's tough spine crack under the effects of Light and Darkness eating away at it. The rich flavor of the monster's blood coated his tongue and fed on his bloodlust.
Funnily enough, electricity still presented the largest danger for him against the other two elements. That's why he quickly broke the monster's neck to take the head out. Bits of flesh and scales were left between his fangs, occupying his tongue to clear the nuisance they presented.
The two other heads charged up an attack and he was forced to push the monster away and block with his forearms. His fur held on better against fire than ice, but the latter mainly chilled the arm to the bone while creating frost all over the surface.
"Nice trick, let me show you mine." Darkness and Light vibrated and he was suddenly behind the monster, his claws alight with a dark glow.
The slashes cut through the monster's dark scales, carving deep trenches that exposed bone and quickly started to bleed. He didn't stop the attack there, he stepped onto the monster's broken wings, pinning it in place as his hands grabbed the two remaining necks.
He cackled as he started to pull back, putting all of his strength. The King Gleeok trashed around, slamming its tail against his back, but his massive, mantle-like mane of hair cushioned the blows. His claws dug into the monster's neck, digging between the scales as he tugged harder, he could feel the heat with his left hand and the coldness in his right one.
One of his feet shifted, from the already tattered wing onto the center neck as he twisted his body until he felt the monster's middle neck tear under the strain. A sickening pop and the middle head went limp just like the left one.
Turning his attention towards the last head, he gripped its head with both hands and forced its jaws open until they went unhinged.
He charged a bomb from Light and Darkness, the sphere grew to the size of a small house before shrinking to the size of a car. He force fed it down the monster's broken maw before forcing its jaws close and holding them like that.
The Gleeok's last living head wasn't for too long, the explosion inside its throat wreaked complete havoc inside its neck. Its single eye gruesomely popped out. The most minute show of mercy made him swiftly twist the monster's neck and put it out of its misery by breaking its damaged spine. Or maybe it was just making sure it didn't try anything else.
The head dropped limp like the other two. It surprised him to see that the monster wasn't breaking into miasma and Malice clumps. It showed how ancient it had been.
Magnus peered up, the dragon looked down and something observed through their eyes. He hoped that had been good enough to pass the test.
Your Power glows brightly
Three tests passed, return to the spring for your reward
He relaxed and slowly started to pull back. Reality sighed in relief as a weight was lifted off the area. He pulled the mask off his face, the use had changed it. Not as much in the visual sense, the wood had smoothed down completely, the marks that showed it had been assembled from smaller wood pieces had disappeared. But the main change was on the spiritual sense, it had gained a weight to it, a connection to his nature; he would have to study it further.
He turned towards the body and sighed, at least he maintained access to his massive strength in his base form. He pushed the body into his inventory, it would need some proper butchering and study, who knows what he could get out of it.
A few stamina and health potions were consumed. He could feel things knit back together and more than one thing moved back into place. The fight had given him quite a beating, and he relished it.
He ignored the many messages from those watching as he turned the broadcast off and stored the princess unit before starting his way back to the spring. By foot, he didn't feel like flying after that.
It took him a bit longer to reach the spring compared to the time it took him to get to the hot springs from said spring. The dragon was flying in a lazy pattern above the spot when he jumped down into the pool.
He could tell it was just waiting for him. He walked towards the goddess statue and picked the dragon horn resting on it.
The moment the last crest formed on the back of his hand he heard the voice once more.
Three tests passed, a proper reward given, fragments, memories, things that were, proof of great deeds
Along with the last crest, three golden diamonds were drawn to enclose each crest. The resulting design displayed a larger triangle with their position. It surprised just how much power the mere image that had been drawn on the back of his hand had. It was an imitation of something greater and still held enough weight to make itself be felt.
Three great perks entered his mind, each one linked to a Golden Goddess and their aspects.
From Farore he got not only a comprehensive understanding of any skill someone on Hyrule could achieve, it didn't make him a master by any means. But he would be able to be a good builder, farmer, general, king and anything in-between. It would also make him capable of picking up any kind of tool and use it (mostly) correctly, or at least not hurt himself with it.
From Nayru he got an encyclopedic knowledge of the many tools and artifacts that had been created in Hyrule and how to recreate them. From the basic Deku Seed Slingshots to the Wind Waker's Wand. It wasn't just that, it was also a different way of enchanting by infusing magic and meaning on tools, objects and consumables like potions and cookies.
Din's was the most interesting one. It covered the construction of building fortresses and dungeons, filling them with traps and security measures. But it wasn't just everything that covered basic and mundane construction, or as mundane as multi-layered, shape-changing, puzzle-locked constructions could be. It also covered a way to do so with magic, just power through the process with magical might and bring them into reality.
It felt very fitting for the Goddess of Power.
He thanked the three of them and quickly collected the rewards from the dragon. The spring's attendant was already flying away, their job done.
He checked his System, while he had expected to see a large list of messages from those that watched the fight, it surprised him to see an update on his class and a possible update to his job.
Measuring things he decided to get to the Akkala Lab and go from there, he still had a good number of messages to read through before he started to update them on what had happened.
gatewaewanderer
Wandering Fool
- Location
- East Coast, USA
So. Now Magnus's friends have a much better idea of how much he can handle combatwise. Makes me wonder if this change how they view him any. In many ways, this will likely make him comparable to Link in their eyes. Also have to wonder how many of them will feel if / when it comes out that he's basically a Demi-God. I don't think he's admitted that to anyone other than the Great Fairies, at least since he remembered it anyways.
- Location
- United States
Is that mask supposed to be Fierce Diety or Giants? It feels like it's supposed to be related to FD but the power seems a bit low if it's correct.
- Location
- California
The Cherry Tree mask seems to be some sort of maybe Naurto-esque sage Mode/Nature Empowerment mask cause while physically it made his Zororark Form Huge and empowered Magnus it also seemed to give him an instinctual knowledge about the land and its history. Which kinda fits with the game lore and theories about Satori and Satori Mountain being Satori was a Sage who ascended to become The Satori Horse Spirit and that Satori Mountain is either the land he was a sage of or his tomb after he ascended to become the Lord of The Mountain.
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- Location
- Home
Magnus at this point is nearly unmatched in Hyrule, I fought a lot with the thought of keeping him balanced or upping the setting. But at the end I realized it would stifle the story. At this point the only dangers to him would be a straight Deity or a full power Ganon, on the other hand rehydrated Ganon's biggest problem would be the collateral. Though Drag(an)on gets an extra level of danger given his sheer size.
The Mask's a Lie, the huge form was his Titan form. Though the Mask ended up becoming a vessel for some techniques later, but by itself does nothing, it's literally empty of any enchantment outside of his connection with it and its exotic nature.
I mean, cool ideas, but I will admit the mask is just cool mask most (I'm only half joking, the Mask has a meaning, but one I haven't been able to fully write into the story).
Chapter 52
- Location
- Home
Venturing the Wild – 52
Magnus thanked Jerrin for the tea as he sat down with Robbie, the woman joining them with her own mug.
"Okay, good enough," Robbie grumbled, "will you answer now?"
He smiled. "Sure, what's your question?"
He could see Purah and Paya watching from their respective screens.
"What exactly was that?" The Sheikah researcher asked. "And no roundabout answers."
He nodded. "That was my Titan form." He started to answer and went on to explain. "I don't think I've seen mentions of Titans in Hyrule's mythology, in general they are akin to gods. Depending on the mythology they come from, they may be world creators or at least have come before gods or even gave birth to the gods. They rely less on worship and have a stronger connection to aspects or domains, for example a very common Titan through many worlds is Gaia who represents a common planet called Earth."
"Wait, then why are you a titan?" Paya asked, sounding lost.
"Dad was adopted by a version of Gaia, her existence is a whole 'nother story I will leave aside." He answered. "And when beings in that weight category adopt you it shows. Dad became half-titan, in his case and through his deeds he became a Titan of Worlds and Creation. Similarly my mother was adopted by another Titan, Nix, who covers the Night. Though this was on another World."
"So what does that make you?" Robbie prompted.
"Unique." He joked. "Technically it should have diluted, even if I was getting half-titan from both of my parents. But dad did decide to fudge things around and allowed me and my siblings to develop into proper half-titans."
"Would that mean your domains are what? Light and Darkness?" Purah theorized.
"Nothing so simple, I'm actually the Titan of Truth and Lies. Light and Darkness are my elements and technically both hold those concepts intermingled between both of them."
Symin came into the picture. "I've heard about Light revealing lies and Darkness hiding truths, but never the other way around."
He nodded. "It can get a bit philosophical and hair-pulling, but Light is excellent at presenting Lies." He showed by raising a hand and creating a visual illusion. "Darkness can be a bit harder, it relies more on the fact that Darkness sometimes it's where the Truth is, not hidden, but just there."
"So being a Titan allows you to grow big and strong, and gives you access to those domains, right?" Purah questioned him.
"More or less, I can technically access all the abilities while in my normal form. But it can be frustrating to use super strength while a meter sixty. Unless I'm tricking physics I lack the proper way to get leverage and move things. Also I've been using my domains unconsciously for a lot of things, my illusions being just one of the basics." He continued. "For example I'm lying about the state of my clothes, they are severely more damaged. But since magic will fix that I can lie about their state until it's no longer a lie."
"Couldn't you just kill someone like that then?" Paya asked.
"Most people can actually fight back against that kind of Lies, now if they were weakened, dying, practically on death's door and at my mercy, then I could Lie about them being dead and make it true." He answered. "Funny thing, I actually helped someone escape a pretty bad situation by lying about them being dead and them not fighting it."
"You said your siblings are also Titans, no?" Jerrin asked.
"Yes. My sister Claire's a Titan of Oceans and Abyss, while my brother Milo's the Titan of Life and Nurture." He explained. "And before you ask, I turn into a giant fox because the Zoroarks are a race of illusionists. Meanwhile my brother becomes a giant cat who's believed to be the ancestor of all Life in its World and my sister becomes a leviathan, Lord of the Oceans."
"Your family's weird." Robbie joked.
"I know!" He laughed. "But that's the family I was born into and I wouldn't change them for anything." He said in full honesty.
"Now what will you do?"
"Same as I had planned, head South, pick up the Ship's segment by Zora's Domain before passing by Kakariko Village, then the swamp, across Central Hyrule and head directly to the Gerudo Desert." He explained. "Once there I will see about confirming if I will hide my gender or recover the last segment. Whatever I do I think it will be at most two months before I'm back in Hateno Village and putting the ship back together."
"...I have another question." Paya quickly spoke up once he closed his mouth. "What was that mask you used?"
Magnus retrieved the cherry wood mask. "When I passed Satori Mountain the Lord of the Mountain requested my help with a Stal infestation. In exchange he gave me some knowledge and a large branch from the tree that grows by their pond." He explained and drew the Rito, Zora and Goron masks. "They help me improve my transformations and make them more real."
He put them away, not feeling like using them at the moment.
"And then there's the corpse." He resumed. "I will most likely head somewhere dry and cold to properly clean the body."
"It left a body?!" Purah cried out.
"Yeah, it surprised me too. That King Gleeok was ancient, it had been sealed in place for at least a few tens of thousands of years. I honestly doubt anyone but the goddess knew it was there."
More than one shivered at the thought of something like that existing under Hyrule's ground, even more if there were other evils like that. They talked a bit more before he thanked the married couple for their time, wished them good luck and departed South, even when they invited him to spend the night.
He traveled through the night until he reached the North edge of Zora's Domain. Only then he equipped the Rito mask to fly up the cliff wall and fly over the large reservoir, the morning air currents allowed him to relax as he glided towards Rutala River.
He arrived at the place he had buried the segment by the middle of the morning and left before noon in the direction of Kakariko Village. His stay in the village was momentary, barely accepting Impa and Paya's invitation for lunch.
The old woman hadn't used the Age Rune, yet. She had stated that she would use it after retiring from her position. Over the meal he retold the fight with the Gleeok to the old woman, and received a good number of glares from her in the process.
He promised Paya to talk more and show her the Gerudo Desert through the dd Network once he got there.
His next stop was by the Bottomless Swamp. The spot was strange, or at least the massive skull-like rock helmet half-sunken into the sludge was a curious sight. It was also full of monsters to quite an impressive degree, nothing too dangerous for him, if not outright easy. But it still took him almost an hour to clear the area while the segment dug itself out from the ground.
With some downtime, he also sat down to finally inspect the information that had been revealed after the Gleeok fight. He didn't feel too different, but it was also true that he had slowly been improving since he had woken up in Hyrule.
Full name: Magnus Andes, it was nice having a surname again, not that it was a thing in Hyrule so he hadn't felt out of place in that department. With his surname he also filled the image of the rest of his family, he wondered how soon until he had to bring up the fact he was a marquess.
Class: Twilight Jaeger, another part of himself returned to where it fit. His unique and very personal class, a derivation of his father lazily named Class. But it fit and he honestly liked it. It covered the large list of adaptations his body had been given and added the many developed during his stay in Hyrule.
Under it also fell his domains, his titan form, his beast form, a number of inherent abilities he had kinda forgotten he had and would need to get back into the training rotation, and a few things that had truly not developed yet. But if he remembered right neither of his siblings had reached that stage of their development yet; his dad sure had something about pacing.
Though the most interesting part was the open upgrade for his Job. From Journeyman Forger to Forger Traveler. At first sight the naming appeared to be a side-step. But given that his father had originally been given the class Forger Guru, it was more of an acknowledgment of his title. This would mean the title would gain some extra weight no matter where he went, people would feel the correctness of it when used to refer to him.
It also wasn't the last step of Job advancements, his father had taken three extra upgrades in his life, the last just a few months before he had left. Though in his case they had more to do with roles he had adopted. In his own case, Magnus doubted he would be seeing an upgrade unless he got into some World-breaking incidents anytime soon.
He didn't doubt it and took the upgrade, not wanting to start thinking about what-ifs and possibilities. He felt right and that the choice was the correct one, that was enough for him to go ahead.
"User's become Forger Traveler. Minor Dexterity Improvement has become Dexterity Improvement. Learning Improvement has become Savant Learning. Magic Improvement and Basic Aura have become Magic, Soul, Body as One. Basic Magic Sight has become Magic Senses. Basic Crafting Intuition has become Forger's Intuition. Basic Crafting Acceleration has become Crafting Time. A Perk has been consumed to create All-Weapon Master A tiny fragment of Creation has been acquired. Magic Sight has become True Sight. Larger Perks can now be acquired."
Some of the changes went unnoticed, his newly improved intuition and crafting acceleration would need him to engage with some proper work to come into play. He honestly couldn't wait to see
On the other hand the dexterity improvement had definitely worked something in his body, it would need some proper testing. Because he was pretty sure his nerve system wasn't entirely physical and was instead running with his magic. It would require some training and experimentation to see how far he could push his reactions now.
Magic, Soul, Body as One was interesting, the three aspects were perfectly harmonized, and any of them could be empowered by one or two of the others. Funnily enough there was no Mind for him because his mind ran in his Soul.
The perk that had been consumed, or well, repurposed was the one that helped him learn the use of weapons by observing. Now he didn't need to observe anyone, as long as the weapon had been used before, he would have the ability to wield them like a master. Swords? Check. Flails? Check. Whip-swords? Check. Meteor hammer? Check. Bench? Check. Guns of any kind? Check. Basically if it was a weapon he could pick it up and fight with it.
The fragment was the most vague element, the best way to describe it was a memory of Hyrule's creation. There was nothing truly useful in it besides its very existence. But that was more than enough, just having that intangible piece of the World would go with him everywhere. It would affect whatever he created, adding a bit of the World's magic.
Maybe one day it would grow into something greater, like a seed it would be planted, cared for and helped develop. But for now it would remain in his soul, an invisible mote going around his suns.
The Ship's segment finally dug itself out, a quick check revealed it was medical. While he felt curious about the contents, he was in a rush. So with the segment stored in his inventory, he started to travel across Central Hyrule.
The area was actually quite safe as long as one followed the roads as it was flat enough and mostly barren of constructions. He passed a few copse of trees and the ruins of a few small settlements, farms and a few Guardians in the very distance.
It was impressive how he could always see the castle North of his position, it was obvious it had been constructed in such a way that it oversaw the region. Once more he felt a temptation to just take a detour and go visit it, wander through the abandoned hallways and explore the many rooms. From what he had learned it was actually quite safe as long as you took into account the patrol routes used by the few Guardians still active in the area.
Many fortune hunters wandered into it every month for the last few decades, most even got out with one or two things. Only a few were unlucky enough to join those that had died a century prior.
He did stop by a set of ruins to give the spell he got from Din a try. It was weird, as if he wasn't using it in the right way at first. The feeling didn't last, however it wasn't as if he had corrected the use, instead the spell corrected for him. Darkness spread over the land and swallowed the ruined house, as if the solid ground had turned into the swamp he had just visited.
He had to concentrate a bit after that, designing the result in his mind before assembling it up. Nearly half an hour of work and all he had managed was a small cabin, a couple of rooms and nothing too special about it. Outside of how reinforced the stone and wood were.
It was a good first try, he would have to go larger next time. But for the moment he resumed his way across Central Hyrule.
The sight of the coliseum marked his arrival to the Aquame Lake, which he followed South until he reached the Great Plateau and then headed further West. Though this time instead of heading North towards the Hebra Region, he took the South road where it split.
Thankfully the bridge towards Gerudo Canyon was in good enough condition; he didn't feel it would need to be rebuilt anytime soon. Or at least it could certainly wait for some other regions to get their proper attention first.
The Tabantha Bridge was doing quite well, word of it had spread very quickly as even Robbie had heard of it being talked about in the stable South of his lab. It was a good thing in his opinion, Hyrule needed hope to get ahead and beat the Calamity, it needed to think about the future, about growing into better times.
Magnus munched on an apple as he crossed the bridge, looking to the water below and checking the map of the region, he pondered once more why there wasn't more travel through water.
Outside of basic Chuchus and Lizalfos, there weren't many monsters that fared the rivers of Hyrule, and definitely no more than those that wandered the roads. Though he would admit there were enough waterfalls that some spots could be considered hard to access.
He had already thought about a few types of boat lifts, maybe now that he knew more on construction and on Hyrule's geography he could plan something more. Though there would be a big need to connect some bodies of water, even through artificial rivers if it was going to work.
Not that he could think about water for much longer as the humidity in the air plummeted hard and fast the further he went through the long and sinuous Gerudo Canyon. Even as it was still the early afternoon, the height of the canyon walls made the area darken even faster, especially as it was still Winter. Not that it provided any greater difficulty for him to see without a source of natural light.
He still lit a torch as he went on, even as deserted the area was, he still crossed paths with more than a few travelers, the number of Gerudo slowly increasing as he went further. The light source wasn't for himself, and more to warn others of his presence.
He restricted himself to nodding in greeting as he kept on walking, reaching the stable at the end of the canyon by near midnight. Deciding that venturing into the freezing desert in the middle of the night may not be the best idea, he took the chance to sleep after about six days of skipped sleep.
While he slept about three hours, he still waited until dawn lit the golden sands of the desert. If he wasn't who he was, he would have complained about how quickly temperatures rose as the sun's rays started to beat the dry ground.
Instead he thanked the man in charge of the stable and joined the small caravan of merchants heading towards the Kara Kara Bazaar. He hadn't gotten any new lead in the stable and all he had besides switching his body was Impa's introduction letter.
Going along the caravan was more for the caravan's safety than his own. It was nice to be social from time to time. While he liked dealing with people, he just liked it more to busy himself with his own projects to the point he only talked with people from time to time when not related to his latest obsession.
The oasis the bazaar was constructed in was quite the beautiful place, a few large rocky and a large number of palm trees cut the harsh sunlight, the large body of water in the center brought a refreshing sensation to the atmosphere, and the few buildings constructed around the area provided cool locations to recover.
Even then many travelers and merchants wandered the area, talking, bartering and simply hanging out. Not many would continue towards Gerudo Town, most would sell their ware in the oasis and head back towards Central Hyrule.
Still with no luck as he wandered around, asking a few questions to any merchant that wasn't occupied when he approached them. Finally he tried his luck with the general store. A Gerudo woman manned the small stall.
"Sav'otta." He greeted and it seemed that just that improved her day.
"Vasaaq, didn't think a voe would know the language." She answered.
"I know a few words." He admitted, though it was a bit of a lie as he could technically speak the language.
She laughed. "Hmm, better than most out there." She said, "What brings you to my modest store?"
"Information mainly," he answered, "I wanted to know if there was any possible way I could gain access to Gerudo Town as I want to learn from the craftswomen who live there."
The woman laughed. "That won't be possible, no voe has stayed in Gerudo Town for more than a couple of days. I doubt you would get past the door looking like that."
He raised an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"
The Gerudo woman laughed again. "You're too pretty." She said as a matter of fact and Magnus nearly felt insulted for some reason. "I'm used to men from having worked here for years, but younger Gerudo would just go crazy if you were around. That would lead to problems and the easiest way to deal with them would be kicking you out." She explained.
He sighed. "So no way that I can do it? Not even get in contact with the town's leader to talk it out?"
"Lady Riju's the chief of my people, but she's still young, so the day to day's taken care of by Buliara, and she's very conservative. You'll have more luck hunting for a craftswoman wandering through Hyrule, but that's pretty rare to happen."
He wanted to grumble, but decided to keep some decorum. "I see, then I will keep on looking." He thanked the merchant and turned around.
"Wait." She called out, making him look over his shoulder. "I shouldn't be telling you this, but there should be a woman in the bazaar that should help you, she's half Gerudo. Hope that helps."
Magnus nodded, but didn't think he would be looking for them. Instead he retrieved some white silks he had bought earlier and covered his head before he started his trek through the desert.
His body started to shift once he was far enough, his hips and chest expanded and his shoulders' width shrunk a bit. The features of his face softened just enough and his gait changed a bit with the slight movement of her center of mass.
Walking through the desert with the sun right above wasn't the smartest thing. But that was for other people. Magnus' body was having no problem quickly converting all that excess heat into potential energy.
The shifting sands would have slowed her advance, but the pair of boots on her feet held those grains together and provided a solid ground to walk. She was pretty sure most people took longer to advance through the desert and were forced to take much more care of the shifting dunes. But to her the way was pretty straightforward and there was little chance to get lost unless space itself was being twisted as the System provided the mapping as guiding.
Soon the sight of construction appeared in the distance after a particularly tall dune. She didn't rush, keeping her steady advance as she approached the North door. Two tall, Gerudo women guarded the door, both wielded a spear for their weapons, which they used to bar the door, and held their hair in a ponytail.
They looked surprised to see her approach at the hour, apparently most people waited until the sun started to set and temperatures were more bearable.
"Sav'aaq." Magnus greeted.
"Sa'oten!" One of them exclaimed. "Sav'aaq for you too, what has pushed you to wander the desert at this hour?" She asked.
It was true that they were outside too, but the two guards were standing under the shadows of the gate and they had a few water bags hanging close by.
Magnus removed the silk she had wrapped around her head and smiled. "It's okay, the heat doesn't really bother me much." She said and mentally added 'or at all'. "I wanted to enter the town and look for a master to learn the craft."
The other guard gave her a look. "Well, you don't appear to be a voe, I see no reason to not let you in."
"If you're looking for a teacher, you may want to start by looking for Starlight Memories, I don't know if Isha will take you. But she's the best craftswoman we have." The first offered her.
"I will keep it in mind." She also asked for directions for the inn before she thanked the pair and stepped through the gate once they pulled their weapons back.
Gerudo Town was a beautiful settlement, while the main construction material was very pale, many areas were enriched by the beautiful and colorful mosaics and fabrics, flowing water and plenty of green plants.
She wandered through the main area of the city, taking in the sights. The fact that many eyed her wasn't lost on her. But she was also a stranger and an eye-catching one.
Magnus stopped at a fruit stand to buy a snack and ask for directions. The Starlight memories turned out to be a jewelry shop, said shop was easy to find given the large ornament on top of the entrance's colorful canopy.
After finishing the fruit she had bought and making sure she was clean, she stepped into the shop.
- Location
- Home
Why would they attack him? Right now they are divided between 'do not fuck with' (those that had the 'luck' of seeing him get moderately serious), and those 'that think he's the way to bring Ganon back'.
I meant attack in the sense that they will attempt something. Wether it is a way to influence him, or attempt some kind of magic.
- Location
- Home
Ah, nah, they're currently in internal conflict. But it won't come up to be seen until the third part of the story when Magnus returns to Hyrule.
Chapter 53
- Location
- Home
Venturing the Wild – 53
The inside of the store was much cooler than the outside. It wasn't just the fact that all windows were currently closed, keeping the sun from beating through and heating the place. But there was also the hard material the houses were made from.
The rock and clay cooled during the night and their light colors kept them from absorbing too much heat during the day. It also helped that the floor was about half a meter below the ground outside.
While there was no natural light coming in, the store was very well lit with a large number of lamps. They decorated the place, along with the colorful rugs and pillows. These softened the harshness and angularity of the hard construction material.
"Sav'aaq, welcome to the Starlight Memories." The dark-skinned Gerudo woman standing behind the counter straightened when she noticed him.
"Greetings," Magnus stepped forward, giving the jewelry pieces on display an appreciative look before turning back to the woman, "I was pointed to this shop when I asked about finding a teacher to learn the Gerudo's craft."
"Ah," the woman looked surprised by the request and proceeded to look regretful, "that won't be possible. Isha's currently occupied with some personal matters."
Magnus' mouth twisted. "That's bad news, do you have any idea of who I could question next?" She asked.
Before she could reply, a scream of frustration came from the back of the store before a lighter-skinned woman stepped out.
"Cara!" She moaned and plopped against the woman that had been standing behind the counter. "I can't do it, I've no idea how they did it! It's so frustrating!"
The first woman, Cara, looked a mix of regretful and embarrassed as she patted her coworker's arm, whispering a few words in their language. "… that's sad news, Isha. But we've a customer in here." She pointed out.
Isha jumped up and straightened as she blushed quite impressively. "Please, forget you saw that." She pleaded and Magnus chuckled.
"I saw nothing." She promised.
The one that had been behind the counter first sighed. "What was this time? And how will it cost?" She asked.
Magnus felt like she should have left, but something prodded her to stay.
"It shouldn't cost too much, I was using some of the leftover opals, I thought that starting with the water-generating rings would be the most useful around here." She explained.
"Would it be correct to guess that you're talking about the enchanted rings that have been going around?" Magnus prompted.
"Yes!" Isha cried out. "They are like nothing I've seen before. But at the same time they work very similar to my own jewel pieces. It's like some strange mirrored effect, instead of taking effect on the user, their effect happens on the outside and in an opposite manner."
"Then I think we can help each other." She said, keeping her features schooled. "I'm the maker of those rings, I came to learn from the Gerudo's craft." Her tone did turn a bit playful. "I think we can help each other."
While Isha looked ecstatic, Cara looked like she was planning a little murder. Magnus was pretty sure the woman was not too happy about her coworker being so interested in her craft.
"Would you? Really?" Isha was practically pulling herself over the stone counter to get closer to her.
"Yes, I've no problem." She replied. "Honestly, I would like it if more people knew how to make them given how useful they are. It's become a bit of a bother since I've to invest my time in making more and more of them."
Cara sighs. "You two should head to the back to talk about this, I will see about closing the store and joining you in a bit."
Isha nodded and ushered her to the back of the store. It was pretty much what she expected for a jeweler's workshop. On a corner there was a small forge meant to work with soft metals like silver and gold. But it was obvious the main working area was the large table covered in chisels and gem splinters.
Before the woman could barrage Magnus with questions, Cara appeared through the door and put a stop to the Gerudo's energy. She had the three of them sit down and calm down. She wondered if the woman had this kind of problem before.
"Okay, I don't think I will be able to stop Isha from taking you as a prospective student, so I think we should start by talking things out." She spoke calmly. "I'm Cara, I usually deal with clients, and here is Isha, she takes care of the jewelry aspect."
"I'm Magnus, Traveler. I like to wander and learn from the locals where possible." She explained. "So far I learned from the Goron, Zora, Rito and Sheikah. Gerudo are the last on my list, and I've no problem teaching you about how to make the magical rings in exchange for learning from you."
The truth was that she kinda already knew the craft, the fragment of Courage had given her an understanding of every craft and skill existing on Hyrule. The truth was also that not going the full tour and finishing with Gerudo Town felt lacking, a proper traveler didn't skip a destination just because they had seen pictures of the place. It also helped if he could share some of her knowledge.
"It's also pretty basic enchanting, that's why you must be having problems with it." She explained. "While everyone on Hyrule's pretty magical, most have no clue on how to tap on it besides each race's basic abilities. Zora swims really fast, Goron can roll, Rito can fly, etcetera."
"Wait, you learned from all other races already?" Isha grumbled. "I may ask you a few extra tips then."
Magnus laughed. "No problem."
Cara looked a bit defeated, but apparently decided to be the adult in the situation. "Okay, we'll work on a schedule. But first, have you settled down yet?" She asked.
"No yet. I honestly just arrived and since it was early I thought it would be better to ask around. I honestly wasn't expecting to find a teacher so quickly, so I thought I would wander around, ask a few questions until nighttime and head to sleep." She explained.
Isha and Cara nodded before the latter spoke.
"Staying at the inn long-term would quickly become pretty expensive." Cara noted.
"Oh, I wasn't thinking about staying at the inn, honestly I would just need a patch outside on the desert that no one's using and wouldn't be troublesome for me to inhabit and I can construct a place to stay."
"How?" Isha was the one to prompt the question.
"Magic, specifically construction magic. I've enough power in me that I should be able to easily reshape a modest region." Magnus explained, closing a fist and calling on her Light, just enough to light up her hand.
Her hand opened and resting on her palm was a small version of one of the houses outside. It was empty, but all the visible details were identical and functional. Just at a tiny fraction of its actual size.
"Sa'oten! I want to learn that." Isha claimed.
"I… I don't think you can actually do it. No offense, but my magical reserves and power generation is entirely on another level to even above average people." She apologized. "It would also take more than a few years, and that's without entering into the necessary architectural knowledge."
She pouted quite childishly.
"Isha, don't ask for more when the oasis has already sated your thirst." Cara reminded her and the woman nodded with a sigh. Cara then turned back to her. "A question about this ability of yours, does it need to be on the surface?"
"No, it should be capable of digging into stone. The only disadvantage is that it would take longer as I would need to make sure the whole process doesn't destabilize the area."
"Then we should visit the palace in the morning." Isha explained. "A good part of Gerudo Town actually extends underground to get away from the heat of the surface. But expansion is slow as the sands above are ever-shifting. As long as your construction magic is permanent…"
"It is." Magnus stated.
"…then I don't see why they wouldn't be up to allow you to stay for free in exchange for your services, especially since you've planned to move." Isha finished.
"I've no problem with that, I'm always glad to help."
"Good, then I would recommend you head to the Inn and get a bed before they all get taken and come here early in the morning." Cara offered. "After that we can work on a schedule for you two to teach each other."
Isha and Magnus both nodded. She thanked the two Gerudo women and left the shop, thankfully she had asked for directions to the guards, so heading to the Inn was simple.
With the standard fee for a bed paid, Magnus wandered the city for a while longer before retiring for the night.
The Yiga spy had to do a double take when he saw the Traveler. There was no member of the clan that hadn't been informed about the person of interest. She had seen the image and properly memorized it, so when she saw them walking through the Gerudo Town plaza on an early morning.
The spy had to do a double take because that was definitely a woman walking along two other Gerudo, as she was pretty sure there was no one else that shared that kind of hair color and style.
She had a pretty good eye for costumes, and honestly couldn't tell what the traveler was doing to appear so naturally as a woman. There were none of the usual signs of someone cross-dressing, even the men descendants of Gerudo had a harder time hiding it.
She took a moment committing the sight to memory, not just of her target but the two women with her. Isha and Cara were well-known for their shop being one of the most lucrative in the area; not that there was much to sell in the middle of the desert. The spy knew she had thanked the earrings she had bought there more than once when finding herself in a tough situation.
Part of what she had learned from the Traveler was their liking to learn, the last she had heard was that they had moved to the Hebra Region to learn from the Rito, so seeing them here meant they had left the region a few days prior. Unless there was a second one of them and she didn't want to continue that train of thought.
Of course she couldn't just run off and inform the clan, there was plenty of information gathering she needed to do first. Meaning she would need to move quickly if she wanted to overhear what was going on in the palace.
The spy calmly, but quickly, finished her duties in the stalls before moving towards the castle. While entering the palace without a good reason would have been a good way to get captured. But there were a few spots on the outside that she could use to peek inside.
She wandered off the main street and moved towards one of the back alleys, the same ones that headed to the 'outer' area of Gerudo Town, aka the zone reserved for the married Gerudo women with their husbands.
Her way to the area had her come across the usual bunch, young married Gerudo gossiping, old married Gerudo gossiping, unmarried Gerudo peeking around, children playing under the view of the guards.
Not that she was going to enter the married quartets, instead she slipped behind some boxes. These were used to climb up to the roofs unnoticed. From there it was as easy as keeping away from the view of those below and making way along the waterways towards the palace.
The last hurdle was climbing up the palace's wall towards a, normally, unreachable terrace. Once inside all she had to do was keep to the shadows and would go practically unnoticed unless she made a noise.
It seemed that she had missed the first few minutes of the meeting, Riju and Buliara were holding court and the traveler with the two other Gerudo had already presented themselves.
"Stop, there's no need to strip to prove you're a woman." Riju cried out, looking a mix of embarrassed and surprised by someone actually following the usual threat to show people who were dressing.
It further confused the spy.
Magnus just shrugged and fixed her clothes, she had gone nowhere close to actually showing skin. But her body language certainly pointed to her honesty in her actions.
"Anyways, I hope you understand my confusion given the rumors I've heard of you." Riju continued.
"I would think I look like any other female, if not better." Magnus answered playfully. "And I don't want to start any troubles, just stay here for a month, maybe two and learn the craft before I move on. I'm not against helping and offering my services, I'm a deft hand at crafting, magic and medicine."
"It would certainly be helpful to expand the walls and the underground." Buliara mused. "It's been more than a few centuries since Gerudo Town's walls have been expanded."
"Really?" The chieftain asked.
Buliara nodded. "Urbosa had planned to start the project before the Calamity escaped."
Riju nodded. "Such a project would take time and need a good investment of guards when expanding the walls. We'll also need to consider getting Gorons for the construction." She mused out loud.
"Oh, I can do it by myself." Magnus interrupted her train of thought. "My magic's capable of replacing workers and time investment, with the material for the wall technically already there it should take me a few hours to finish it."
The spy nearly fell off by that comment, and given the gobsmacked look of everyone below she wasn't the only one.
"That can't be, that amount of magic…" Riju mumbled. "I'm pretty sure you should be radiating magic like no one ever."
"Oh, that's simply good manners, it would be terribly unrefined of me if I blasted everything with the amount of magic that exists inside me." She explained. "It would also burn every color around. But if you want a taste of it."
Before anyone could say anything the air congealed in her lungs, shadows writhed and light bent. The Yiga spy barely held herself from falling over the edge of her hiding spot during that fraction of a second that something was suddenly filling the area with its overbearing presence.
Was this what Master Kohga had meant when he had stated that Magnus was the key to reviving Ganon? Yes, she could see it now. She controlled her breath as she tried to keep her heart from beating out of her chest as people below slowly recovered.
Having to remain hidden at the threat of losing her life helped her recover faster than everyone below, after her the first one to recover was Buliara who quickly helped Riju as Magnus helped the two other women.
"I apologize for that, it's indiscriminate, and keeping its reach restricted seems to have made it stronger than I had expected." She explained.
"… I think I can trust your word." Riju said after a few moments of recovering her breath and wiping the sweat off her forehead. "I'll have to talk with some people to discuss about the possible expansion."
"I will look into Urbosa's old expansion plans." Buliara added.
Riju nodded. "A messenger will find you when we can proceed." She said, "You can leave for now, I will make a room available for you to stay, and hope you find shade in your travels."
The three of them thanked them before turning away.
The spy left quickly too, she needed to get back to the clan's hideout quickly and inform everyone about all she had seen.
With the most administrative details taken care of, Magnus quickly dove into both learning from Isha and teaching the woman. It was very easy to fall into a role that was so much hers as being male in a way, Magnus didn't really feel like a woman, but could certainly pass by one; she just hoped to leave before some pointed questions came up.
Teaching Isha wasn't easy, but that was mainly because she was teaching the Gerudo woman about tapping on her natural magic, which few on Hyrule could actually do consciously. The woman was also a bit older than most and started to learn the craft and was set a bit in her ways.
On the other hand, learning the Gerudo's craft with gems was a breeze for her. It didn't take more than a couple of weeks before she had the related perk in the bag and moved to teach Isha full time.
She was glad that her inventory froze its content in time, because she had kind of forgotten about the small hill of a corpse the Gleeok made in her inventory. At this rate she would butcher it in the ship, maybe that was for the better.
In the meantime another Blood Moon came and went, thankfully the desert was quite bereft of monsters as the heat was deadly enough already.
Thankfully soon the messenger from the palace came, and Magnus' presence was requested by the young chieftain. There she was presented with the plans for the expansion of the settlement.
"Looks good." She mused, committing everything to memory and making mental calculations of how deep she would have to dig to get all the stone and how to reinforce the material. "Anything in particular you would like to request?"
Riju looked at her confused.
"Water sources, extra reinforcement, I could easily install some proper air circulation system into the construction." She explained.
"I…" She sighed, but quickly focused and thought about it. "Reinforcement for the outer walls sounds smart, another water source would be useful for such an expansion and the underground should have such, yes."
Magnus nodded. "Okay, please stand back, the ground may shake a bit." She warned before placing both hands on the ground, even if it was mostly for show. "And don't worry, this is all me."
She focused with a breath and allowed her Darkness to spread out, covering the surface she would be working on. Every loose grain of sand was swallowed by the darkness before it expanded down, away from the sun and the eyes.
All the material fell into a temporary space inside her shadow as a framework of Light rose up. In seconds the skeleton of what would be was erected, a ghost of her ideas. More stone was fed into the shadow before her magic started to twist and mold said material.
Her knowledge on how to reinforce natural materials was easily utilized by her fragment of Power. The truth was that this method allowed her to create matter straight from her power, but it wasn't natural, so utilizing the rock, clay and sand that already existed in the area would provide the strongest walls, structures and foundations.
She would still create some extra that wouldn't need as much reinforcement. Straight-up creating it from her magic also allowed her to cheat and create materials in forms that would have been extremely difficult in reality, like sponge-like ceramic to act as thermal insulator inside some of the reinforced walls.
She had a bit of trouble at first creating the opal for the water sources. She was failing to figure out how to do it until she realized she had to just let it happen. Just feed magic and allow Hyrule recognize its intention to create the material. She wondered if she could use this method to harvest some materials, though she felt there was some kind of limit; something to experiment later.
Small runes were drawn along the ventilation shafts and a specific chamber below the rest was dug to act as natural cooling for the air that was drawn from the outside before it flowed through the underground.
As the underground was dug, the material was dragged up and used to construct the new walls. It wasn't just from the underground as part of the existing walls was also cannibalized by the process, taken further out from the center of the village. Not completely, as the existing walls would be left thinner, for aesthetics and organization.
The outer walls rose quickly, filling the Light frameworks, the material becoming stronger than steel by the end of the reinforcement process. And just in case the inside was engraved with long strings of runes that would absorb the heat and energy from the sun and power further reinforcements.
Riju was waiting for her with Buliara by the time she finished. But given her worked up breath she had definitely rushed back once Magnus had finished the construction.
"It's… incredible." Buliara breathed out as Riju nodded.
"I agree, it also means Gerudo Town has a chance to grow and prosper for the first time in a hundred years." Riju said, she then turned to Magnus. "Sarqso," thank you, "you've done us a great favor here."
"It's part of who I am." She told her honestly. "I like Hyrule, so I want to help where I can."
She nodded. "Buliara, I want the place checked and start moving people inside."
Magnus interrupted her. "I would wait for at least a few hours, if not until tomorrow." When the chieftain turned to her she continued. "The temperature underground right now will be cold, very cold. The digging process was fast enough that the stone is very much under freezing temperatures, you can actually see how cold the stone is by the moisture condensing on the walls."
Riju nodded. "Then we'll wait until the morning."
"On the other hand, there's a room marked underground that should naturally stay slightly below freezing point, so you should be able to use it to freeze water for ice." She added.
"Ice? In the middle of the desert?" Buliara cried out.
"Yes, it's actually not that hard if you understand the proper thermodynamics, it helps that the nights are cold enough to keep the system going mostly untouched. It should be able to freeze a few tons of ice daily, which should provide plenty of refrigeration for the town."
Riju rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "We'll have to look into it, ice is more than just a commodity for us." She turned to her and smiled warmly. "I may be too young to have the proper experience, but I promise to find the best way to use this gift from you, Magnus." She bowed.
Magnus bowed back. "If you need more help just ask, I will stay around for a few more weeks."
Riju nodded and thanked her once more before they parted ways. She felt good about this, though she would keep the reinforced Light metal bars inlaid in the outer walls, they would hopefully fight the Malice in the air.
For the moment she would focus on teaching Isha before heading towards the Fairy Fountain in the South-West corner of Hyrule. Now that would be quite a trip.