Days passed.
Zel continued shaking off what rust remained, and for once, she did so in seclusion, away from prying eyes. Deep, deep beneath the Bjorn longhouse complex, inside a vast natural cave in the permafrost through which a Primary Spring river ran. Constant popping and creaking accompanied the river’s sound, the vast mass of glacierglass struggling against the heat of the water and steam inside great pipes. The particular location where she trained was far from any operational equipment, of course. She had gone into seclusion after determining the exact date her and Red's duel would take place, leaving her six days to prepare. It wasn't as if she wanted to stay in Borea much longer, either; not for dislike of this land, but because her stay here had already outlasted the original plan by over a month.
In the time since her return from Eldartha, Carnifex adjusted its form yet further to better fit her. This, too, had been thoroughly recorded for future sagas. These were minute changes to its shape on the blade side, but its sawteeth transformed completely. The numerous, smaller teeth which it had been designed with changed to something more closely resembling the huge feather-like teeth of the form it first took at the Exclusion Zone's border. Each segment grew on its spine a daggerlike fang, slightly curved forwards, except the second segment from the front, which for some reason also developed a second, smaller fang.
Looking back, the reason couldn't be more obvious. Zel had kept the smaller sawteeth thinking that they would still be a better choice against hard targets, but she had overlooked something Fulguris thankfully didn't. These huge individual teeth would each act as warpicks to bite into a surface initially, and their oscillation combined with all other factors would combine to far outpace any advantage realistically-sized sawteeth still had.
With a supply of Fulgur they not only oscillated with incredible violence, but horrifying arcs of lightning leapt between them; the saw-side's ability to act as a saw had only grown. These larger sawteeth granted the extra advantage of acting as grips if she needed to engage in truly brutish cleaverwork, as they simply became dull when she grabbed onto them. Conversely, the blade-side became white-hot in moments and without much energetic investment, and could also perform sawing action just as she had planned when she drafted the segmented design.
For these mutations in its form, Carnifex Fulguris had gained the moniker of "Self-reforging Blade". Rumours quickly spread that a piece of the Forgemother was embedded in each of its segments.
Her Fog-breathing, regardless of technique, barely produced any visible exhaust by now, and the quantity of actual air she moved had dropped since Eldartha. By her estimate, her Fog-breathing now drew nine-tenths of its power directly from the Sea of Fog. Merely operating her breathing method to generate Fulgur caused little beads of lightning to emerge near her head, spontaneously forming from the tiny bits of Fog and the Fulgur-field which shrouded her.
The Fulgur which her body constantly, passively generated had also grown, as she had expected it to. It had taken some deliberation, but she was certain that her passive output now surpassed the maximum Fulgur she could generate at any point during the Willowdale Dungeon Incident, not accounting any uses of the Retributive Battery.
It very nearly felt like cheating, to be able to just throw lightning without having to do a breathing technique, even a basic one; though, admittedly, the Impelling Arm made it easier. As for her connection to the earthly spirits, it no longer felt as though a distinct internal reserve of Metallum with a hard upper limit. Whenever she reached out for Metallum, it was just… There. Waiting, offering itself up to her. She was now drawing from a bottomless well, and its only limiting factor was the failure point of her spiritual musculature.
More out of curiosity than desire for guidance, she checked her Tablet.
The Logic Automaton struggled ever more with each advancement she made. It had completely given up trying to guide her, only giving her surface-level trait and attribute readings. At this point, she barely paid attention to the attributes beyond a brief glance and a satisfied smirk at their expected growth since her blade’s rebirth. Finally, an S in Force. It barely meant anything. This rating system had been designed and calibrated in the Dark Age of Cultivation, after all.
Her traits had changed, too.
The Core of Earthly Iron was gone; rather, it had become something else.
By the Tablet's flickery messages, it seemed that her cultivation in Borea had advanced it to a further stage, and Eldartha had completely reformed the core into something new: The Hammerforged Heart.
By the distinct absence of a second heartbeat, Zel wagered the name was not literal. She was ever so slightly disappointed by this fact, but then... Perhaps the Hammerforged Heart was in fact located inside her heart, just as the Necrobeast's Azoth Stone had been located inside its heart. She couldn't exactly sense something that might be weightlessly suspended inside flowing liquid, but since her blood flow had not changed, she didn't worry about it. There would be time to determine the physical consequences later.
The Tablet also implied another possibility that she had considered, this being Carnifex Fulguris possibly awakening whatever tenuous draconic blood had caused her eyes to be as they were. It showed as a trait with no effects, named "Dragonkin (Nascent)". At least the Logic Automaton came up with an advancement plan for this one: Consume refined draconic essence. In short, she would rely on the expertise of Makhus and Ozmir to make pills and elixirs for her. Zel couldn't imagine a particularly pronounced result, but even gaining the weakest possible Dragonstone, one equivalent to an Ankylodragon's, would be helpful. It would certainly add to her intimidation factor, that was for sure.
More interestingly for the moment, a new Skill Trait appeared: Fang-cleaver Expertise. At least, that was the name the trait manifested when Zel laid eyes on it. It showed up strangely overlaid overtop of Great-cleaver Expertise. She didn't mind.
Akaso
You've likely noticed by now that the manner in which Jorfr and Zelsys in particular interact with the magic system has changed over the course of the last arc.
By classical xianxia terms, you could say that they've broken through to the Golden Core realm. You will see just how much Zel's abilities have changed in her upcoming fight with Red, of course.
I plan on introducing a cultivation framework that will better express how cultivation works in the Fog-sea setting, since Koschei is now somewhat part of the main cast and will be able to elucidate some of the things behind the Three Kings Cultivation Framework.
If you’d like to read ahead, consider heading on over to the Patreon! You get up to 20 advance chapters for both Retribution Engine and Cherno Caster.
I’d also greatly appreciate it if you could rate my story, maybe even leave a review or advanced review! Advanced reviews count for more in the eyes of the algorithm, so that pretty much means they determine the success of my work.
For a link to the discord, check the synopsis.
Days passed.
Zel continued shaking off what rust remained, and for once, she did so in seclusion, away from prying eyes. Deep, deep beneath the Bjorn longhouse complex, inside a vast natural cave in the permafrost through which a Primary Spring river ran. Constant popping and creaking accompanied the river’s sound, the vast mass of glacierglass struggling against the heat of the water and steam inside great pipes. The particular location where she trained was far from any operational equipment, of course. She had gone into seclusion after determining the exact date her and Red's duel would take place, leaving her six days to prepare. It wasn't as if she wanted to stay in Borea much longer, either; not for dislike of this land, but because her stay here had already outlasted the original plan by over a month.
In the time since her return from Eldartha, Carnifex adjusted its form yet further to better fit her. This, too, had been thoroughly recorded for future sagas. These were minute changes to its shape on the blade side, but its sawteeth transformed completely. The numerous, smaller teeth which it had been designed with changed to something more closely resembling the huge feather-like teeth of the form it first took at the Exclusion Zone's border. Each segment grew on its spine a daggerlike fang, slightly curved forwards, except the second segment from the front, which for some reason also developed a second, smaller fang.
Looking back, the reason couldn't be more obvious. Zel had kept the smaller sawteeth thinking that they would still be a better choice against hard targets, but she had overlooked something Fulguris thankfully didn't. These huge individual teeth would each act as warpicks to bite into a surface initially, and their oscillation combined with all other factors would combine to far outpace any advantage realistically-sized sawteeth still had.
With a supply of Fulgur they not only oscillated with incredible violence, but horrifying arcs of lightning leapt between them; the saw-side's ability to act as a saw had only grown. These larger sawteeth granted the extra advantage of acting as grips if she needed to engage in truly brutish cleaverwork, as they simply became dull when she grabbed onto them. Conversely, the blade-side became white-hot in moments and without much energetic investment, and could also perform sawing action just as she had planned when she drafted the segmented design.
For these mutations in its form, Carnifex Fulguris had gained the moniker of "Self-reforging Blade". Rumours quickly spread that a piece of the Forgemother was embedded in each of its segments.
Her Fog-breathing, regardless of technique, barely produced any visible exhaust by now, and the quantity of actual air she moved had dropped since Eldartha. By her estimate, her Fog-breathing now drew nine-tenths of its power directly from the Sea of Fog. Merely operating her breathing method to generate Fulgur caused little beads of lightning to emerge near her head, spontaneously forming from the tiny bits of Fog and the Fulgur-field which shrouded her.
The Fulgur which her body constantly, passively generated had also grown, as she had expected it to. It had taken some deliberation, but she was certain that her passive output now surpassed the maximum Fulgur she could generate at any point during the Willowdale Dungeon Incident, not accounting any uses of the Retributive Battery.
It very nearly felt like cheating, to be able to just throw lightning without having to do a breathing technique, even a basic one; though, admittedly, the Impelling Arm made it easier. As for her connection to the earthly spirits, it no longer felt as though a distinct internal reserve of Metallum with a hard upper limit. Whenever she reached out for Metallum, it was just… There. Waiting, offering itself up to her. She was now drawing from a bottomless well, and its only limiting factor was the failure point of her spiritual musculature.
More out of curiosity than desire for guidance, she checked her Tablet.
The Logic Automaton struggled ever more with each advancement she made. It had completely given up trying to guide her, only giving her surface-level trait and attribute readings. At this point, she barely paid attention to the attributes beyond a brief glance and a satisfied smirk at their expected growth since her blade’s rebirth. Finally, an S in Force. It barely meant anything. This rating system had been designed and calibrated in the Dark Age of Cultivation, after all.
Her traits had changed, too.
The Core of Earthly Iron was gone; rather, it had become something else.
By the Tablet's flickery messages, it seemed that her cultivation in Borea had advanced it to a further stage, and Eldartha had completely reformed the core into something new: The Hammerforged Heart.
By the distinct absence of a second heartbeat, Zel wagered the name was not literal. She was ever so slightly disappointed by this fact, but then... Perhaps the Hammerforged Heart was in fact located inside her heart, just as the Necrobeast's Azoth Stone had been located inside its heart. She couldn't exactly sense something that might be weightlessly suspended inside flowing liquid, but since her blood flow had not changed, she didn't worry about it. There would be time to determine the physical consequences later.
The Tablet also implied another possibility that she had considered, this being Carnifex Fulguris possibly awakening whatever tenuous draconic blood had caused her eyes to be as they were. It showed as a trait with no effects, named "Dragonkin (Nascent)". At least the Logic Automaton came up with an advancement plan for this one: Consume refined draconic essence. In short, she would rely on the expertise of Makhus and Ozmir to make pills and elixirs for her. Zel couldn't imagine a particularly pronounced result, but even gaining the weakest possible Dragonstone, one equivalent to an Ankylodragon's, would be helpful. It would certainly add to her intimidation factor, that was for sure.
More interestingly for the moment, a new Skill Trait appeared: Fang-cleaver Expertise. At least, that was the name the trait manifested when Zel laid eyes on it. It showed up strangely overlaid overtop of Great-cleaver Expertise. She didn't mind.
Akaso
You've likely noticed by now that the manner in which Jorfr and Zelsys in particular interact with the magic system has changed over the course of the last arc.
By classical xianxia terms, you could say that they've broken through to the Golden Core realm. You will see just how much Zel's abilities have changed in her upcoming fight with Red, of course.
I plan on introducing a cultivation framework that will better express how cultivation works in the Fog-sea setting, since Koschei is now somewhat part of the main cast and will be able to elucidate some of the things behind the Three Kings Cultivation Framework.
If you’d like to read ahead, consider heading on over to the Patreon! You get up to 20 advance chapters for both Retribution Engine and Cherno Caster.
I’d also greatly appreciate it if you could rate my story, maybe even leave a review or advanced review! Advanced reviews count for more in the eyes of the algorithm, so that pretty much means they determine the success of my work.
For a link to the discord, check the synopsis.
