Savage Awakening 550. Starfield (II)

Zane headed back to find the starfield overrun.

He was baffled to find no less than thirty Empyrean auras crowding that field. But they weren’t like any he’d felt. Their auras felt dampened, somehow, and he saw the explanation for it as soon as he crested the ridge.

Astroliths, one after another, studded the starfield.

Then there were the biggest ones. Four ‘Greater Greater Astroliths’ clustered in the middle. Zane really wasn’t sure who named these things. But they bore slabs of slate like armor as well as back cannons. They stood twice as big as any normal Astrolith. He decided he’d call them GG Astroliths in his head. They looked to be the ‘Bosses’ of this field—an armor-clad, bigger, badder version of the ‘Greater Astroliths’ he’d seen farther down the mountain.

They were all as still as the boulders they were made of, eyes dimmed, heads tucked so they looked like ordinary boulders. Boulders cracked with starfire, at any rate. Their auras felt in deep hibernation.

He felt like he would’ve seen this many monsters crawling up the mountain. He’d been pretty active that night, going up and down…

“You’re still here.”

There stood Kain on the other side of the field, just a mile or so across. Zane could hear him just fine. He looked surprised.

“Yeah,” said Zane. He had to admit he wasn’t so pleased to see this guy either.

Kain just ignored him. Instead, he cast his gaze on the field below. “The Astroliths were meant to be the Guardians of this starfield, which was a sacred land at the birth of this galaxy… but then they were tainted with corruption and made monsters.”

He flicked his sleeves. “They still spawn here regardless. Every single night. If you mean to make use of this starfield, you’ll have to clear them every single morning. They lie dormant until they feel attacks in the vicinity, though attempts to engage the crystals with comprehension will also wake them. You should know, in case you were hoping to simply avoid them. Make no mistake, they are every bit as dangerous as a live horde. If you’re not careful with your strikes, you may find yourself with two dozen angry Empyreans on your heels. That is the risk of doing business here. Daily war.”

Kain’s eyes flashed. “If you cannot accept that, this is not the place for you… and if you think I will tolerate you freeloading off my clearing, you’re sorely mistaken. If you wish to spend time here, prove it.” He gestured to the field. “Half the field is yours to work. If you’ll take it up, that is.”

Zane was a bit speechless. He still didn’t know why this guy was so prickly.

At least it was a fair split.

“What will it be, then?” said Kain.

Zane turned around and left.

He heard a snort behind him.

A few minutes later, he came back and found a surprised Kain.

“Just went to pick up my ladder,” he explained.

“…Hmph.” Kain headed into the valley without another word and set his sights on the nearest Astrolith.

Zane did the same on the other end. He didn’t pay the guy too much mind.

He’d dealt with his fair share of arrogant folk in his short career so far. At least this Kain would shut up every once in a while.

He was honestly a bit surprised Kain hadn’t attacked him by now. Though if it were to happen, he supposed this next little stage would make for a good excuse.

There was something about Kain, something that had struck him on his walk back, besides his being generally annoying. Just some of his mannerisms. The way he snorted, or his eyes flashed, maybe? It felt like he’d known this guy from somewhere. The thought itched at the back of his mind for some reason.

He saw Kain swipe two gauze-wrapped fingers at an Astrolith.

There was a rumbling. Then a single pillar of furious light struck out of the blue.

It slammed the Astrolith precisely, not a speck of loose power flying away. A surgical blast. The Astrolith just had time to wake up. He saw its shadow jerk up, writhing in the blast. But five seconds and a great deal of Destruction later, it was done.

There was nothing but blackened coals where the Astrolith had been. A bit of crystal had been caught in the blast too, but that was undamaged.

Kain snorted at it, then moved on to the next.

It seemed to take him a little time to charge back up; that was quite some Destruction, Zane had to admit… it had to rival his own Destruction reserves.

The thing was, he was fairly certain Kain’s essence reserves weren’t anywhere near as big as his own. A few seconds passed, and Kain was still standing there, breathing heavily; it looked like that one blast took quite a bit out of him. Zane got the sense he wasn’t really a fighter. That didn’t look like a very efficient fighting technique. More just a clean pillar laced with Destruction… but there was some other Law in there too, making the core of that pillar. And he’d hesitated quite a bit before placing that shot.

Then there was one more thing.

“Do you plan on staring, or getting to work?” said Kain, still looking at his fingers.

“Was that Supernova Law?” said Zane.

“It is. What of it?”

“But that wasn’t just any Supernova. That was a Stormfire Supernova.”

Normally it wasn’t so easy picking apart exact Laws like that at a glance. But this one Zane was pretty sure of.

That stopped Kain short. “What would you know of that path of Stormfire?”

“…I’ve dabbled.”

Because of just how much Destruction he’d stuffed in, Zane’s own Stormfire didn’t present like most Stormfire, even in basic coloring. It was quite a lot more intense, more like a Tier 7 Law than a Tier 6.

It’d be a lot to explain his own Law to the guy, and he didn’t feel like sharing, or even talking that much to him, to be honest.

Still—if this fellow was studying Stormfire…

Kain recovered his composure quite quickly.

“You would hardly be the first to try the path of Stormfire,” said Kain. “Were you hoping that would gain you some credit with me? It’s not unpopular among to dabble in it. But very few indeed dare to see it through to the end.”

…He really hoped this Kain wasn’t the fellow Noughtfire wanted him to contact down here. Zane would much rather give him a wedgie than work with him in any capacity.

Regardless.

“Let’s just get going,” said Zane. He’d had enough talking to this guy for a day. Maybe a lifetime, if he could help it.

He broke out his axes.

They started work on opposite ends of the field.

Kain would recharge, blast, and recharge again. He seemed to be trying to get every shot clean and final. Every kill took a solid few minutes to execute, but when he did it, it was always a one-shot.

Zane, meanwhile, saw it as a good chance to practice his new Star-crushing Slashes. He’d gotten enough back soul-wise by now to give them another go. His first few tries were a bit messy—he hacked at an Astrolith, only chipped its head, and managed to get it angry at him. Three more solid single slashes put it down, but the commotion woke up two of its neighbors.

He heard Kain give a snort, which he ignored.

Maybe he could’ve wrecked that thing a lot cleaner with his hammers. But he was testing out a new theory, something he’d been working on since last night. Something he thought could crack this whole skill open.

He felt it was all a matter of timing.

His Nine Slashes made a growing storm of essence within. And there was a little window, every revolution, that he could harness some of it. If he overshot it, the storm broke loose. If he undershot it, he underpowered his blow…

But the closer he got to fitting that window exactly, the better he could carry all that momentum and keep that storm going—all while charging up a whale of a blow.

He liked to think of it like a rhythm game. If he hit the timing right, he’d charge a certain ‘power bar’ to the maximum.

He tested his idea on a few more Astroliths. A few were waking around him, roused by the battle.

He dodged a blast of starfire from behind, whirled on an Astrolith, and chained it into a swift second slash.

This try didn’t work as well as he would’ve liked. His blow was still pretty strong, enough to cleave off an arm and a leg, bringing it down to stumps. It also sent cracks rippling up the Astrolith’s face, cracks riddled with Red Giant colors.

But if he timed it right, he truly felt he should be able to get his second slash strong enough to one-shot that thing.

Still, he felt himself locking down that timing, closer and closer. There was a moment when he felt that vortex of essence within 'open'; it brightened right before, a clear marker. Then there was a moment it had to 'close,' or he’d lose it. A split second separated the two markers.

He finished the Astrolith and took on a newcomer. Three slashes—a one-two-one—took it down. This time, his second slash was a pretty chunky one, but he’d still rushed it just a bit… but now he was pretty sure he had the timing down pat.

Another rumbled toward him. Its maw lit up with starfire as it prepped another beam.

He turned on it.

Now!

He chained in his second slash.

The storm surged him with strength, pumping that vortex of Law and essence and fury within as he cranked his axe all the way back—

He cut it off right at the peak.

And this time he knew, even as he threw it, he’d gotten it exactly right.

His core blazed with Red Giant heat, the heat of his heart coupled with the heat of his Law—energy shotgunned out of his core, screaming up his arms, into the slick of the edge.

He turned and brought it down on a sleeping Astrolith.

A bloody red arc lit up the field. A thick, massive swathe of an arc.

It split that big pile of rocks clean in two. And the Star-Crushing Slashes showed their namesake. That aura was crushed immediately.

It was his first Empyrean one-shot.

He grinned.

He was pretty proud of that, actually.

Skill up!

Nine Star-Crushing Slashes I -> II

He had to do it right to gain the level. Made sense.

He wondered if it went up one slash per level. If he unlocked a third slash, would it boost him a level there too?

He found Kain staring at him wide-eyed.

The thought did float through his head to say ‘Do you plan on staring, or getting back to work?’ But he ended up just giving the fellow a wave.

Kain shook his head and went back to ignoring him. Zane just shrugged.

He was pumped now to keep going.

With his new one-two, he started making quick work of the rest of the field.

Sixteen Empyreans down, and he started exploring the thought of that third slash. But he wasn’t even close right now; it grew pretty clear pretty fast. First, he had to carry that inner storm through another full revolution. Then the timing grew even more intense… he set it aside. He had plenty of time to figure it out.

For now, he put down his axe and surveyed the scene. He’d worked up a light sweat.

He’d also absorbed a ton of essence, though he wasn’t sure if that actually went anywhere. It certainly didn’t show in his levels, since he’d hit a bottleneck. He’d never really asked—he hoped it didn’t go to waste. Now that he was slaying Empyreans, there was quite a lot of potentially wasted essence he was taking in… surely that had to go to something? He made a mental note to ask Noughtfire, or maybe Reina, next time they met.

Before long, he’d cleared his half.

On the other side, Kain was still only halfway through his lot. In the meantime, Zane figured he’d check out the ones in the middle.

Everything had been cleared except for the big slate ones, the cannon-laden ones in the middle. There were four of them in total.

Greater Greater Astrolith (Monster King)

Essence Level 716