As the realisation falls into p her mind, so does a new flood of knowledge. Information flows in, filling holes of awareness in her mind and reinf her fual uanding of physics.
ˉˉˉˉˉ
Meiowledge learned: Basic Fields
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Quest pleted: The Four Fual Forces
[The Four Fual Forces]
[Rank:] C
[Description:] Learn and uand the four fual forces of physics.
Requirements:
-Learn 4/4 Forces (plete)
Rewards:
-Blueprint: Universal Transmitter
_____
As the new knowledge settles into pce, a fresh blueprint appears in Emily’s mind. Her jaw drops open in disbelief as she feels the information filling her cortex, and she quickly pulls up her system blueprints to firm.
ˉˉˉˉˉ
[Blueprints]
Tier 1:
{Please focus here to expand}
Tier 4:
-Universal Transmitter
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
[Universal Transmitter]
[Type:] Ultra Long-Distance Broadcasting Array
[Tier:] 4
[Rank:] C
[Description:] A high power data transmitter desigo broadcast information across dozens of light-years.
[Effect:] When activated sends a programmed message across all open transmission bands.
_____
“Tier four,” she mutters quietly as she stares at the window.
Reag up, Emily massages her brow as she processes the uedly dense information.
Capacitors, resistors, actuators, circuit boards. There’s so many ways to use electricity I never even sidered! I see why steam is the lowest tier possible. Hmm, I’ll need more spad infrastructure to make most of this. I ’t make anything this small without better tools.
Sighing, Emily stands up and heads bato camp.
“I think about this ter. I ’t make anything here anyway.”
She returns to watch with Enzo and Ivor, excitedly showing off her new space magic by casting switch a few times. The clearing is attacked twice by a few small groups of beasts as the sun starts to fade, but they are easily dealt with, and Emily is soo alone on watch as the others turn in. She settles into the now instinctual pattern of eartheion and infra-sight.
However, after only half an hour, she feels movement heading towards them from within the crack. Slightly nervous, she moves towards it, dropping down onto the slope and walking forwards into the abyss below, leaving the st rays of the moon above. The movement grows close enough for her to make out the approag enemies’ shapes iark thermal vision.
Emily sees three small humanoid creatures, with hunched backs and long arms scraping along the floor behind them, making their the slope towards her.
Ugh, groglers.
Her brow falls into a scowl at the sight of the grim monsters, a word far more befitting tha. Emily clearly remembers reading about them in preparation for alchemy. Their eyes are a semi-valuable magical catalyst, but they themselves are known for their brutal killihods, choosing to rip their prey’s limbs apart before feasting on their entrails.
I just have to make sure they ’t get close.
Calmly, Emily weaves a spell in her mind, and flying lightning appears from a dazzling magic circle curled around her right arm. With a practised motion, she whips the dart forward, her eyes trag the motion of her target in the dim light of the flickering on, and her spatial awareness faintly alertio their position. The dart punctures the throat of the first grogler. The other two g their fallehren, before hissing and scrambling forwards on their small yet surprisingly nimble legs.
Before they cross half the distao her, Emily has already pulled back the dart, curving its wires around her body as she redirects it and sends it sailing bato another foe. As the final grogler charges onwards, Emily doesn’t bother retrieving the dart: instead, she simply tosses the wire off her arm and takes a step back. Though she doesn’t see it clearly, her spatial awareness fres as her feel as the grogler swipes for her, missiirely and grabbing the loose wire.
Instantly, a spark of lightning tears out of the wire, lighting up and immobilising the monster. Emily shivers at the sight as she quickly moves forward to drive a Cw through its throat before it recng down into the cave, she pulses eartheion just in case. Certain nothing else is close, Emily quickly moves through the grogler corpses, choosing to use the fast-fadi from their bodies instead of a light spell to save herself from the sight of them.
She decapitates all of them, before kig their corpses back down the slope into the unknown and climbing back up to the camp. By the time her watch is over, the colle ler heads o her has grown to ten, each head housing six to ten grotesque gssy white eyes with no eyelids to hide them. She leaves the heads behind at the entrao The Waters and moves to Ivor’s tent to wake him.
He climbs out to greet her as Emily casts a small light spell, floating a wisp of light above her hands to unicate with.
“The cave has groglers.”
“Shit,” Ivns back with a disgruntled look on his face. “So, night attaow?”
“Yep,” Emily firms with a sad nod.
We got lucky that there aren’t many noal beasts oskirts of The Gde. These caves are going to be a nightmare for watches. We may have to switch our system.
“Good luck. I left heads outside the crack. eople if you need help. Watana closely.”
After he agrees to her advice, they part ways and Emily heads to her tent to rest. She spends the rest of the night breaking apart the universal transmitter blueprint into its small pos, slowly solidifying her uanding of them and gaining ideas to implement in her own designs.
As dawn breaks and the camp slowly es to life, Emily leaves her tent, feeling refreshed, with both her cores ready for a. She heads to the tre of the camp, where everyone is gathered around a small fire Dante is tending, and sits dowo Oscar.
“You want to switch how watches are done, don’t you?” he asks the moment she sits down, before she even has a ce to speak.
“Yep. You talked to Enzo and Ivor already?”
“I didn’t o: I saw the heads,” he responds with a grim look.
Emily raises a brow at his uedly stroion.
“Were you not expeg groglers?”
“his is a bad sign.” Oscar pauses speaking as the carriers bring around some freshly cooked ocex, only tinuing after they leave. “The Salvia family haven’t sent an expedition to this entran around five years now. But, two years ago, we did sell a Guide Pose to one of our allied families, the Poiias. Their expedition never made it baot a single survivor. We were hoping it was just inpetehat got them killed, but seeing groglers here whe successful expedition here never saw them? Not a good sign at all.”
“Oh well, I guess things just got a little more iing,” Emily shrugs. “It’s not like we ’t kill them.”
She fixes Oscar with a grin which he returns after a few moments.
“Let’s start with better night watches from now on. How about switg to two people at a time: oh the ability to scout; and one who create light?”
“Sure. I don’t need anyone else on my watch though.”
Oscar frowns at her and opens his mouth tue, but she raises a hand to stop him.
“I talked to Callum yesterday and finally made a breakthrough.” She closes her eyes and mas space. Opening her eyes again and looking at Oscar through the distorted reality between them, she tinues. “One of the bes of finally uanding space is an increased spatial awareness. I basically see anything close to me with my eyes shut. Fighting in the dark is easier than ever.”
She drops the maion and waits for Oscar’s shock to fade so he respond.
“Okay, as long as you’re certain you’ll be safe. I already feel like we’re making you do too much.”
Emily shrugs off his s and they tinue discussing the best options fht watch as they finish eating. After everyone fihey begin breaking camp, and Emily joins Enzo and Ivor as they wait at the entrao The Waters, with Callum and nearby, removing eyes from the disgusting grey grogler heads.
They wait in silence, all staring into the darkness below with varyiions. Soon, the entire group is packed up and waiting behind them once again, ready to brave the depths of the unknown in the pursuit of knowledge.
“Right, everybody, today we finally ehe Crystal Waters,” Oscar says just loud enough to be heard, but not shouting now that the sound barrier has been taken down. “As you’ve already seen, we’ll probably be running intlers quite quickly, so keep yuards up and be prepared for anything as usual. This is our target, so we will start taking breaks to gather materials. Please alert everyone if you spot anything wathering. Let’s go!”
He nods to Emily, and she turns with a grin, hopping down the small ledge and stepping into the pooling darkness below. They slowly move down the solid stone slope, unfortably pg each foot forward into the unknown, sihe ground is obscured by fog. They quickly find themselves in darkness as the light fades unnaturally quickly. Only a hundred metres in, Emily o longer see the fog swirling around her ankles.
She raises a hand to signal fht before realising it ’t be seen and l it, gd for the cover of darko disguise her blunder.
“Light!” she calls back quietly.
She hears a muttered t from the tre of the group before a spark of golden gmour floats to sit above their heads, illuminating the group along with a couple of metres ahead and behind them. Emily frowns slightly at the cut-off.
Thought so. Just like the fog from outside is a magical phenomenon that’s hard to clear, the darkness in here is too.
heless, she starts moving fain. Their steps echo out into the cave, returning with the faint sound of dripping water and mixing with the hiss of their quiet breaths. Emily’s steps fall calmly in rhythm, fully fident in the footing before her due to her spatial awareness, but her teammates’ footfall is irregur: most nervous about not being able to see the ground, and a few even tripping occasionally on imperfes in the rock below.
After ten minutes of walking, they e across a split ih, with ounnel tinuing straight, and the other brang off to the right.
“Which way?” Emily asks Oscar as they halt at the impasse.
“I don’t know,” he ao her surprise.
She turns away from the front to gre at him. He raises his hands pgly with a helpless expression on his face.
“I told you the st successful expedition here was five years aght? Well, the tunnels down here move over time, so I have no clue if the path they took st time will take us anywhere.”
“Of course they do,” Emily says with a tired sigh, turning back to the front. “Then we just pie and run with it, right?”
“Yep. They both tinue down.”
“Straight ahead it is then.”
They tinue in a straight line, ign the brang path and walking for just over ten more minutes before they run into a three-path split. Seeing another choice so soon, Emily shrugs and chooses a random path, fident that her perfect memory will allow her to retrace their steps whenever she chooses.
Unfortunately, just as she goes to step oh, Oscar taps her on the shoulder aures towards Ivor. He’s standing with a hand up, asking to pause, with his eyes shut and a dull brown magic circle glowing around his feet. After a few moments, he opens his eyes and starts signing a message frantically.
“Six groglers on the left, four ahead, three on the right, and five behind.”
“Shit, why are they coordinated?” Oscar pins while direg everyoo battle stations.
The whole group moves back slightly, setting up iunnel before the paths in front of them split. Emily and Dante fidently stand at the front, brag themselves and preparing for the ining foes.
“If only this cave was narrower, we could wipe them out in one go,” Dante ments quietly after finishing his preparations, a rge red glowing circle floating before him.
“Clearly, you need more explosive spells,” Emily ents dryly as the groglers step into her infra-sight.
“Of cou-“ Dante is cut off as Emily releases the magic circle she prepared, sending a bolt tearing through three of their oning assaints.
Dante looks to the front as well, frowning as he ’t see the monsters yet. Trusting in Emily’s judgement, he releases his spell anyway, a flurry of fmials shooting forward and b the darkness before him. The bursts of red light up the tunnel, giving the group glimpses of hunched grey forms, staring through gssy white eyes as they scurry towards them.
Two of the monsters at the front of their charge colpse, overwhelmed by fire. The remaini atta, but a wave of dark glitter bursts from ac, standing behind Emily, making them stumble as their energy quickly fades.
Emily wastes no time, finishing a juring of flying lightning as her teammates hold the groglers back. She quickly begins cutting down enemies from the safety of Oscar’s barrier, and the monsters soon fall to the fshiric bde, a flurry of fmials, and a few orbs of water that burst their skulls.
After the front calms down, Emily go the back of the group and sees five dead groglers stig out of the fog, half-submerged in the ground by a spell from Enzo, either scorched or cut to pieces.
“I didn’t think we’d have to deal with mroglers this m,” Oscar mutters quietly as they take a moment to rest and harvest the spoils of their fight.
“Why not?” Emily asks curiously, watg popping out another eye.
“Well, after you killed some st night, Ivor only had two more attacks, and Enzo one. I thought that’d cleared out those he surface.”
“Fair py. I’m not pining though. These things are easy enough to deal with as long as you don’t let them get close.” She kicks an eyeless corpse aside, walking back to the front of the group. “I’d be happy to wipe out the lot of them.”
