80 Confidence

Chapter 80: Confidence

/The world of Chronagen is large. The continent of demons and devils to the west, Arterus, or the frozen wasteland Koriel in the north, where ancient ones still roam. Yet, even beyond those and the others, there is a vast sea, and we do not yet know what lies after it.

And even still, with a world so large, many places seem hostile to people. Humans largely have been confined down to the continent most of us are very familiar with, Damoy. It is the place where humans live, and in some more distant regions, there are also settlements of elves and dwarves, some of them even mingling in larger human cities, or in the guardian's nation.

On Damoy, humans have made many smaller countries, and a couple of larger ones have also emerged. There are merchant nations, aristocracies, monarchies, and even city states whose governance changes every couple of years. Many of these places are interlocked in strive, competing for resources, land, trading partners, and technological advances, all in hopes of catching up to larger countries, such as Liros.

Many of these parts will be elaborated on in future chapters, yet, for this humble beginning, I would like to first observe the conflicts which are currently going on, viewing them in light of socioeconomical and political differences which would promote skirmishes. Especially in the eastern parts of the Damoy, we are faced with many smaller wars going on, for example between Flinlet kingdom and the union of Jor-Mun.

The union is a reclusive collective of tribes living in the deepest parts of the Mahlar forest, on the western border of Nevarzahri, and to their southwest lays Flinlet. The king of their nation has recently taken offense, when a party of hunters sent into the woods to chop down trees were attacked, and sent back after being wounded. In response, the king demanded a sacrifice via a messenger pigeon, however, the bird did not return. In future negotiations, it became clear that the union saw the bird simply as food, and discarded the message, as sacrifices were only given to gods.

Ever since his message was ignored, the king of Flinlet saw it as his duty to carry out a further invasion into the forest of Mahlar, hoping to reclaim his injured honour from the tribespeople. Many small units were sent and many were lost, which eventually led the king to increase his war efforts and send in a whole battalion of knights, all equipped with the best gear their blacksmiths could make, and led by his second son, a brilliant strategist and general.

Soon after, the army began showing results and establishing base camps in the territory of Jor-Mun union, while their advances began seeing less resistance. Citizens were cut down, and the survivors retreated, sometimes before even being attacked, until one day, the second son found a village without anyone in it, ordering to take it over and have a campsite established, only to retreat to a base camp the next day and find it burnt down.

The Jor-Munnans had begun to fight back in small packs of elite hunters, hiding and taking the knights down when they were not wearing their gear. They poisoned drinks and fired arrows from the shadows, and one particularly hurt knight reported a nest of insects having been flung into the camp, which then went on to aggressively attack any knights.

Combat is still going on, but the union has begun fighting back against the Flinlettans, who have in turn begun to light patches of the forest on fire with magic, in an attempt to stop stealth tactics. The conflict seems to be escalating, and might draw more eyes soon./

An excerpt from the first section, "Wars", of "Nations of Damoy" by Cycilla Centr.

- - - - - -

"Mercury, what are you doing?" Yvette asked sharply, suspecting her former student of at least having some tricks up his sleeve.

"Whoa, whoa, of course I wouldn't be committing quite yet, we still have to set some more rules, you know," Mercury said, giving Yvette a confident nod. "We will be taking the mana percentually, of course, just to clear that up. It wouldn't be quite fair to compare my meager reservoir to that of someone as you, right?"

"I can agree to this condition," the monster said sweetly, still maintaining a kind smile.

"Of course we also have to agree on how the time will be measured. Will we be flipping an hourglass? Or relying on the movement of the sun, what do you propose?" he asked, trying to reel his adversary in further with the illusion of choice.

"The sun will do very well," it said, staring at the sky.

"Hey, we also have to limit items used!" Yvette interrupted, to which the creature nodded as well.

"That is fair," it said. "We have many resources, while you have few. We can see why it would be necessary."

"Good, good. Do we also need to restrict locations?" Mercury asked, curious. By now the thing was more than hooked, and he could tell that it wouldn't shy away from another condition. Perhaps its patience was ticking down faster after being taunted with a secret, and it had perhaps caught a glimpse of what ihn'ar was in Mercury's mind.

"Perhaps. Once we begin, we may not move from out spot. No one else must interfere either, none of your companions should feed you mana."

"Ah, that's true. Of course, since they both have larger resources, they could definitely help me out. No, none of that. This is just me and you, alright?" Mercury asked, once again giving a smile to Yvette and Lucia, before even winking at Iris. Of course, they were both shocked, with only Yvette staring at him with the knowledge that he was up to something. It had been a year since she trained him, and his mana pool hadn't improved very much at all, it was hard for her to even notice the difference, so certainly, the mopaaw would have a card up his sleeve.

"We are happy with the rules," the monster said again, before sitting down on the floor and tilting its head as it stared at Mercury, unblinking.

"Me as well," the cat replied. He gave one last nod to Yvette, with a look that told her they could still fight it out even if he were to lose it, and this bet gave them better shots than nothing. And after getting her nod, and seeing her begin whispering to Lucia, Mercury laid down, his head on his paws, and closed his eyes. "I'm ready. Begin?"

"We begin."

And right on signal, Mercury began to absorb the mana around him. There was no chance to be picky about things anymore, he simply commanded each and every ystir he could summon to reach out and drag whatever they found into his core. He tore and grasped at every tiny shred of magic that came into his vicinity, ripping it from its place and shoving it into the gaping maw that he was, using <Meditation> to block out any outside interference.

It didn't matter how far along his opponent was. He was, as of right now, doing the minimum required, and he had no thoughts to waste on anything else, as he began to attempt splitting his mind in two. He didn't get to practice it much recently, with so many problems swirling around in his head, but he had done it once before. Yet, as soon as he even attempted it, <Intuition> began to ring warning bells in his head. He was being monitored.

Yeah, perhaps splitting his mind wasn't a secret he needed to expose. At least for now, something like that would need to wait. He had all the time in the world, after all.

A couple hours later, Mercury felt himself getting drowsy. His mind had been strained quite a bit, even without him attempting some more fanciful techniques.

Of course, the cat embraced sleep without any hesitation, and only moments later, there he was again, on a green plains under a warm sun. In reality, the moon was already on the rise, and the sky tainted dark blue, but not here. There was a citadel of fire to the north, and a small fountain down south. To the east, mountains towered high, and to west, there was a castle of glass.

And of course...

'Welcome back, young Mercury,' he heard as soon as he woke up, facing the bizarre construct of mana veins that constituted old Dreamweaver.

'Hey old Uunrahzil. It is good to see thee again. Apologies, but I am in a bit of a hurry this time. I have made a bet to regain a companion of mine, and need to absorb as much mana as possible.'

'Mh, this one sees. To reclaim what is lost is worthwhile. What did thee bet?' There was a hint of curiosity, and respect towards Mercury.

'I had little to offer, and thus I bet the secret of ihn'ar,' Mercury said dejectedly, expecting to see Dreamweaver's anger to flare up, but nothing happened.

'You bet ihn'ar, young Mercury? Doth this mean thee have mastered it?' there was a slight hint of amusement instead of rage, alongside the gentle patience of a teacher.

'I- no. Of course not. Are you not mad?'

'And why would I be?' old Dreamweaver asked with a complacent tone. 'This one hath trikko thee because of trust. If mine student bets their teachings, it must mean they doth be confident in their victory. Tell this one, young Mercury, how doth thee scheme to win?'

The cat couldn't help but smile. 'We set a time limit,' he said. '24 hours, no more no less. Yet, I have the gift of time in this place, and the mana here is more dense than where our bet hath been made. They are good conditions for my victory over the monster,' he replied, shining a thin confidence, but also worry. It was not something he could afford to lose.

"Leyren. It is what thee have bet on, an amicable choice. This one will grant you a gift, not one of victory, for it is still yours to claim. But it is a gift of leyren, of patience, of time. It is one that I will not be able to reverse, and it will only grant you a few hours. Use them wisely, young one, and succeed where you wish to,' old Uunrahzil thought, and Mercury could read once more. There was once more pride in his mentor's mind, and an existential sense if calm that was thick enough for it to even layer onto Mercury.

Then, the air around the ancient one brimmed, not with excitement or energy, but instead it seemed to... twist. Mercury could so clearly perceive things shifting, the very fabric of this reality distorting.

'Watch closely, young one. This beeth what it means to weave the lo-pac. To shift the way things are,' old Dreamweaver explained, and Mercury could read some more. The old one was happy to be able to show off in front of their student, and there was a happiness even deeper than that one. It was the excitement of stretching after a long period of inactivity, like cracking bones, shaking off rust, yet much deeper, like the first breath of fresh air after a hundred years of staleness. It was perhaps what a dinosaur would feel after being reanimated from their fossils.

"This one will grant thee a full extra day. It will make me wahk, perhaps for a little while, but it will grant thee the time you may need to compete with the faceless.'

'What?' Mercury asked confused. 'You know what that thing is?!'

'Good luck young Mercury. I have faith in thee,' Uunrahzil replied with a last smile, and then they faded, leaving behind a dream whose essence still rung with stillness, vibrating with a profound, thick energy. It was strange, but Mercury immediately knew what they had done. His time was sped up. He had, in fact, been granted a full day.

The cat shook his head a little. His old master certainly seemed to have an allergy to providing full explanations. Well, next time they met, Mercury would get the answers to his questions. Leyren, Uunrahzil would probably tell him. To be patient, as always.

With those worries pushed aside to a later date, Mercury began to focus again. He had been gifted with time. The perfect opportunity for him.

See, he had been confident for more reasons than his extended time. Of course, having maybe around 3 days total now gave him a huge advantage, but Mercury had one more card up his sleeve.

The incredible focus he had attained over 37 years of life, the ability to focus even while his thoughts drifted, and the hyperfocus he had learned during overtime hours. To be an accountant for a large firm meant extra hours, extra hours meant unpaid time, and unpaid time meant he wanted to go home fast. If Mercury had confidence in anything, it was his ability to go through a slog of focusing for much longer than his adversary.

A grin formed on his face as he closed his eyes and began to feel the mana around him. Still, he wasn't on overtime yet, and for now, he simply needed an extraordinary amount of focus. Luckily, he had more than enough practice in this world, and in another. His hobby of real time strategy games had given him the ability to focus on many things at once, and his mana practice had only furthered that trait.

Mercury dove into his task with relentless confidence. He had managed his job when all he risked was getting a thorough yelling party by his shitty boss. But this time, something real important rode on his bet. For once, Mercury wanted to be reliable for someone, to make up for the disappointments he had made others suffer through before. To not be dead weight, not slow his companions down, to beat someone on his fucking playing field.

All that in mind, Mercury bashed against the walls of his mind with a roar, trying to take it apart, using focus sharp enough to slice a hair to split his mind. Two of him would be the fucking least he could give. He smashed through the resistance that had stopped him before with pure determination and will alone, assisted by his <Limitlessness>. It was time to finally go past the walls that had towered over him for so long.

Everything on the line, Mercury used all he had. His focus, his mind, his limitlessness, his meditation. And after only a moment, he smashed through the wall, and his mind was in two. One carrying 32 ystirs, the other none but itself.

Whoa. This was... weird. It felt almost beyond description, no, not quite. Mercury couldn't describe it, not because he lacked the words, but because he lacked the focus. His mind in two parts couldn't think something so straightforward, it was harder to simply think, and easier to methodically divide up tasks. Such as gathering mana.

See, Mercury himself felt strange. It wasn't like two people suddenly inhabited his body, nor was there a room to decide who would take over. It was still all Mercury, all him, but he could just... think two things at once. Not like with ystirs, which simply obeyed orders, but like two fully independent ideas swirling around in his head, grasping at any thread of thought, and if he didn't keep up, one would fall apart and he'd be back at square one.

That's why splitting ones mind, zeyj, as Yvette would later tell him it was called, was so hard. The sheer volume of processing power required an incredible amount of focus to maintain, and that focus could come nowhere but from both of his minds. To maintain zeyj, he had to think faster, and it was incredibly disorientating and fatiguing. Unfortunately, there was nothing to it but to do it, and thus, Mercury went to work.

He reached out with all of his mind, at the mana in the atmosphere around him, though perhaps he couldn't even call it that, and dragged it towards him. He simply devoured every single little piece of mana he could come across, letting new triz flow in before devouring those too. Like a bottomless hole, any bit of magic that came close to him rapidly accelerated towards his core, becoming part of the puddle he had already stored inside.

And thus, an hour passed.

After just that amount of time, Mercury was feeling the strain on his mind as he attempted to expand the operation even still, trying to establish ystirs with his second zeyj, watching the constructs form and break down as he tried again. The headache didn't matter, the dizziness didn't matter. Here, he was unmonitored, and out there, it must just seem like he was sleeping. Perhaps his companions were cursing him out.

Thinking of them put a smile on Mercury's face, and he redoubled his efforts, using <Breath> to push his stamina up into his head, minimizing the effort required with <Warmed Up>, all to think just a little faster. His lungs heaved up and down, blood rushing through his body, as the pupils behind his eyelids dilated as though he was using drugs.

He was so focused, using every speck of his ability, drawing out all the benefits he got from <Talent>, that he didn't even hear the system.

[The individual's will has been recognized. Initiating temporary side quest.]

-

[Side Quest: "Bet".

Condition: win the bet.

Reward: additional Main Quest slot, <Steady Heart> Skill, 1 level up.

Failure penalty: <Talent> decreases by 1, level decreases by 1, inventory slots decrease by 1, <Meditation> decreases by 10%.]

-

Time continued to pass as Mercury kept increasing his mana, not even sparing a thought to whatever the people outside his mind were doing. If they had faith in him or not, none of it mattered.

After two hours total, his head was pounding, and after four, his mind felt like it was splitting apart once again, not in a good way. But there were still just about... what, maybe 62 hours left? He had spent 6 hours out there, and 4 in here, so there was a worse headache to come... Well, nothing to it but to do it.

Mercury clenched his teeth and pushed the headache aside, keeping his minds to occupied as to even think about it. He barricaded the pain behind layers of distractions, instead directing his attention to all the thinking work he had to do.

But as time went on, things started to become harder. His head hurt, and the pain started to spread throughout his astral body, even his <Intuition> whispering slight hints of danger into his mind. But Mercury was on a one-track road, and he was not planning to leave it. After 8 hours inside his head he was still going strong, with <Focus> really proving its worth, the slog becoming harder, feeling like he had to reach through a thick mud just to get more mana, with only his own mind and that one skill left to cut through it. Perhaps in these cases, the opportunities the world granted him weren't so bad.

[<Focus> has levelled up! <Focus lv. 9 -> 10>]

[<Focus> has met the necessary qualifications for evolution. Evolve?]

Oh fuck yeah once again!!