69 WinterHord (8) - Experiments, tests, and information.

The arc concluded on (P)(A)(T), and I wrapped it up with a 10k-word chapter.

By the way, there are three chapters ahead in the Devas and Hunter's story over there, in case anyone wants to check it out, all for just 2 dollars.

Well, I won't go on too long. Have a good day, everyone, and happy reading.

(P)(A)(T)/CalleumArtori

[...]---[...]

During the time Dylan and Melissa were conversing, I managed to discover some things about the interaction between nightmare energy, Mystic Symbols, and even my own spiritual energy and mana.

As Selina calmed down and erased the Mystic Symbols in the areas I had designated, I found that the Mystic Symbols I painted didn't interact with spiritual energy and nightmare energy in normal ways, as they did with mana.

It was something expected but undesirable; something I would really prefer not to happen just to make things much simpler and easier.

Well, it happened; it was never something straightforward.

Basically, when I drew the Mystic Symbols and tried to infuse something other than mana into the ink, be it nightmare energy or spiritual energy, the symbols either worked incorrectly or didn't work at all.

It was as if I were trying to fill the tank of a diesel-only car with regular gasoline.

Some cars were flexible and could run on both types of gasoline; in this case, the Mystic Symbols were not.

Well, that's what I initially thought, as after some more tests, I found out it wasn't quite like that.

Basically, with each test I conducted, it seemed like the Mystic Symbols themselves were trying more and more to use the other two energies to function beyond just mana.

I concluded that this happened for two reasons. The first was the ink I was using, made from Kimetsu's Scarlet Ore, which was filled with spiritual energy.

Second, and probably more importantly: my mana, or even better, myself, my adaptation.

I adapted; the same happened with my mana, which at this point had adapted to spiritual energy and, to a lesser extent, the new energy, nightmare energy.

With this new discovery, I went on to test another thing, which was: Is the Humvee's barrier effective against nightmare energy?

After all, the Deerclops' scream had managed to penetrate all the Humvee's protections and affect almost everyone inside the car.

Well, the conclusion I reached was mixed. Was the barrier effective? Not very, but it wasn't useless as I had thought before.

Whenever I placed my hand on the barrier and tried to push my nightmare energy through it, the barrier partially blocked the energy, I would estimate around twenty percent, more or less.

The same thing happened with spiritual energy, but more efficiently; the barrier could block more spiritual energy than nightmare energy. About seventy percent in this case.

The conclusion was obvious after that: my mana, along with the ink, or in this case, the ink's materials, could affect the functioning of the Symbols.

The Mystic Symbols had not been created to function with any energy other than mana, but thanks to my adaptation and the fact that I was literally using materials from other worlds to create the ink, the symbols worked, albeit in a flawed way.

This was a good sign, as all I had to do was keep trying and drawing the Mystic Symbols using my other energies, and eventually, they would work.

Or even better, as I discovered shortly before Dylan and Melissa returned.

If I mixed my mana with another energy, in this case, nightmare energy during the test, mana acted as a kind of intermediary, forcing the symbols to function.

It was a temporary solution, as I could see that the Mystic Symbols energized in this way lost a lot of quality and power, but in our situation, where we didn't have much time for me to keep creating more and more symbols until I could make things work, it was our best option.

Better to have a defense and weapons that worked poorly than to have none.

"This is strange..." Selina murmured as she looked at the Mystic Symbols I was drawing on a metal plate.

I used the plate because I didn't want to test something I didn't know would happen on the Humvee.

What if I painted a Mystic Symbol using nightmare energy, and all the other Mystic Symbols on the Humvee went haywire?

Avoiding problems was much better than fixing them.

Well, sometimes.

"What's strange?" I heard Dylan's voice coming from behind me, a bit distant.

When he approached, I could see that he seemed calmer, as if he had resolved something. Melissa also appeared more relieved, as if a burden had been lifted from the nurse's shoulders.

They sorted things out; excellent, family drama was bad, family drama in life-and-death situations was even worse.

"My glasses can't detect part of what's happening with the mana inside these Mystic Symbols. It's like something is filling them, another energy that I can't see," Selina replied to Dylan's question in a low voice, as if she were pondering.

Her glasses were useful; I had seen part of the design of the matrices on them; it was well done.

I hadn't thought that I would need glasses like that, since the way I sensed mana was precise enough, but after she lent them to me, I ended up changing my mind.

As high as the precision was with my senses alone, seeing the movement of mana more clearly was something that helped a lot.

"I'm testing some things," I explained. "I managed to partially use the energy that hallucinations have; I'm seeing how it interacts with the symbols." It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either.

Selina and Dylan nodded without asking more; Melissa seemed to hesitate before asking.

"This energy, can we use it?" she pointed to herself and the other two.

No question about how I could use the energy of hallucinations, which was strange, but I'll assume it's because Dylan and Selina didn't ask anything, that she didn't ask either.

"Maybe..." I replied without being sure.

Theoretically, everything alive could evolve and adapt, some things more slowly than others.

I adapted more quickly thanks to various factors and could adapt to the other two energies; nothing prevented the Terrarians from being able to.

But I felt it would be time-consuming...

"I can test something, but I'll need a volunteer," I said while organizing some thoughts. "Nothing dangerous, I can assure you." I spoke after a few moments to ease their concern.

The first to step forward was Dylan.

"What do I need to do?" he asked without hesitation.

Melissa seemed to want to say something, but ended up staying silent and took a step to the side to watch; Selina did the same.

I extended my hand towards the guide. "Hold my hand; let's see what happens from there."

After Dylan held my hand as if greeting me, I moved my spiritual energy to my hand and pushed it gently into Dylan's mana.

"Do you feel anything?" I asked.

Dylan frowned as he looked at our hands and replied after a few seconds of thought.

"No... but something tells me something is wrong..." Subconscious, perhaps?

"And now?" I asked after "mixing" my mana with my spiritual energy.

It wasn't really mixing; I wasn't merging the two energies, but rather intertwining them like two separate threads.

"Yes... I understand what Selina meant before," he replied. "I feel your mana, and it seems like there's something intertwined with it, but I can't feel what it is." That was good.

I still didn't know if the Terrarians could use anything other than mana, but they could perceive another energy, or rather, this other energy interacting with mana.

It was like humans couldn't really perceive only oxygen, but could sense its absence.

"And this?" I asked one last time, this time intertwining my mana with nightmare energy.

Dylan answered, his face slightly furrowed. "Yes... I feel something; it's the same as before, I feel your mana intertwined with something, but it's different this time... It's like this time it's something else, more..."

He seemed hesitant, as if he were searching for the right word or didn't want to say it.

"More tainted?" I suggested, making the guide nod in agreement with a slightly embarrassed look.

"Yes..." Huh...

Just like spiritual energy, the Terrarians couldn't perceive nightmare energy, but they could perceive the gap it left in the absence of mana.

The only reason people from WinterHord probably didn't notice nightmare energy, or rather, the "gaps" it left was that there were no gaps.

If what I was doing was intertwining my mana with the other energy, like two ropes.

Nightmare energy and the mana in the air would be like two types of smoke together, where they still remained separate but practically indistinguishable.

Which, frankly, was kind of absurd...

At this point, the "world" inside the storm could very well be more of a "Don't Starve Texture" than a "Terraria Texture."

Withdrawing my hand from Dylan's hand, since the tests I wanted to do were over, I had some ideas.

Darnell had said he felt nothing when a hallucination passed through him, and they also couldn't sense the "gap" that the hallucination left in mana for some reason.

Probably due to the peculiarity, the human brain filled in things it didn't understand, would the Terrarian brain be prevented from doing that?

Well, I was just speculating at this point, but it didn't matter much what the reason or why the Terrarians couldn't perceive the "gap" left by the hallucinations.

What mattered was that, just like infrared vision didn't see the heat itself but rather the thermal radiation emitted by objects.

I just needed to do something, an item, be it glasses or an amulet that saw the "radiation" emitted by hallucinations, or the "radiation" of mana, hitting the hallucinations, creating contrast.

"Selina, can I borrow your glasses for a second?" I asked the Steampunker.

Just like an invisible person walking on snow or dust, I didn't need to make them see the invisible person...

I didn't need to make them see the hallucinations.

... Just the footprints.

[...]

POV: Robyn Jheut.

"Have both of you been part of the Devas group for a long time?" the countess asked without looking away from the bookshelf.

We had been in the mansion's library for almost three hours, not just me, my father, and Annabel, but several mansion maids were also helping us look for... Well, whatever we were looking for.

At this point, it was any tiny thing involving this "Deerclops" that Devas had said was the monster in the storm.

We had spent these three hours practically in silence, focused, but it seemed that the countess had gotten bored.

Was she fishing for information? Because of curiosity from boredom or something else?

"For a while now," my father replied, closing a book he was flipping through and putting it back on the shelf. "Why do you ask?" he said without beating around the bush.

My father, despite being a successful merchant, was still not noble; we were not nobles, but that didn't mean we didn't attend high-society parties and gatherings.

My father was an excellent trader; contacts were not lacking.

At these parties, it was like a silent war at all times, where everyone sought information from everyone else, slip-ups, anything necessary to gain an advantage.

My father was an expert at this; he knew how to act when necessary, but in this case, it wasn't necessary.

Asking straight up what the countess wanted was the best option here.

The countess hummed, taking a few seconds to respond before sighing lightly and asking.

"Nothing, just got curious," she said, picking up another book from the shelf. I did the same since the last one, like all the others, offered me only information, nothing. "Curious about the rescue group that came to help us in the middle of this storm."

The countess gestured around, not to the library, but to everything, to WinterHord, to the storm surrounding the city.

"Curious about our leader, you mean," my father affirmed, making the countess tense momentarily.

"What makes you think that?" she asked, not showing anything in her voice.

My father flipped through the book in his hand a few times before answering.

"The Oakwood boy is the brother of the doctor, Melissa, someone who, from what I've seen, you have close contact with," my father said with the same tone as the countess.

Well, that was obvious, after all, no one would sleep in the same room as another person without trusting them.

"Selina, the same thing, as she is known to both, whom you can ask Melissa about," my father continued. "As for this old man here," he said, pointing to himself before pointing to me. "And my daughter, we are not that interesting."

Hey! Speak for yourself, I was interesting!... But I knew why he was saying that, after all, excluding everyone else, only Devas remained.

Compared to the leader of our group, I and my father were, as he said, uninteresting.

I didn't have much to compete with someone who could kill a hallucination... Damn! I didn't even know how that was possible.

The little show last night served to show that Devas was ridiculously strong too. Something my instincts already told me, but seeing, or rather, not seeing, was another thing.

Devas moved more than thirty meters in less than a second; I didn't even see him move; he just appeared somewhere else and killed those hallucinations.

Or at least I thought they were hallucinations, since I couldn't see them.

Again, he could kill hallucinations! How!?

He could also use his Travel Space from a distance, another thing that should be impossible...

He could have been taking my plug all this time...

Gah! Damn it, this guy!

"What remains is Devas," the countess replied, making me snap out of my thoughts.

"What remains is Devas," my father affirmed.

At this point, the maids around us didn't even pretend not to pay attention to the conversation. It seemed that three hours of just reading old books bored everyone.

"Well, Devas and Millia, but I think she's something apart," my father said, remembering the little slime.

That cute little thing was much cuter than it had any right to be. I wanted so much to squeeze her!

"That slime she..." The countess didn't seem to know what to say about Millia, I didn't blame her, Millia gave that impression when someone saw her for the first time.

"But you're right," the countess said, sighing. "Not that, as you said, you two aren't interesting, anyone who has the courage to come to WinterHord at this moment is interesting enough." Euphemism of the century.

"But yes, I wanted to know more about your leader," she admitted. "You can't blame me for that. Anyone would be curious to know more about him after the things he showed." Again, euphemism of the century.

"Fair enough, but you could have asked him yourself at breakfast…" My father's voice faded away until it disappeared as he focused all his attention on the book he was reading.

It was an old book, older than the others, and it had a leather cover, making it look even more worn.

"I think I found something..." He said, showing the book to everyone, holding it above his head. I ran to him quickly.

Finally, damn it!

Even Lili and Kiki, who were sleeping on the shelves, woke up and ran to see what was in the book.

Upon closer inspection, the cover of the book was entirely painted with Mystical Symbols and other symbols that I didn't recognize.

The symbols I didn't recognize, unlike the Mystical Symbols, seemed to be carved into the leather of the book rather than painted, giving the book an even stranger appearance.

"What's in it? Read it already, old man." I exclaimed to my father, who was looking at the book with a confused look.

I'm sure that if I didn't say those words, the countess would. She only restrained herself out of politeness, but she seemed just as interested.

"I..." He hesitated. "Can't read it."

I blinked a few times, absorbing the words he had said.

"Have you finally gone senile?" I joked about it, but if my father were getting sick, I would be worried.

"No! Why is everything for you me going senile?" He grumbled before sighing and handing over the book, placing it on the table for everyone to see.

"It's in a language I don't know, actually, I've never even seen this language before." It took just one look at the page open in the book to figure out what he was talking about.

They weren't words in the Terrarian language; they were completely indecipherable scribbles, as if a child had tried to create their own language by simply brushing a sheet.

"I don't recognize this language either..." I heard the countess murmur.

"Before you ask, here..." My father said, turning the book's page and pointing to a drawing on it. "...This is why I said I found something."

If it took just one look to figure out that the book was in a completely different language, it took less than that to figure out why my father said he found something.

It was as if the description Devas had given in the Humvee had been drawn.

The image, painting, was of a creature resembling a deer beastkin, as Devas had said, but the similarities ended just there; it was half deer.

Everything else was different; the creature had only one huge eye and seemed to growl in the image, showing its irregular and sharp teeth in its mouth.

For a moment, just for a moment, I could almost hear the scream of that thing again as if it were coming to get me.

I didn't like the shiver that ran down my spine; it wasn't the good kind, it was the kind that told me to run and hide.

Damn, this was just a painting!

In the image, the creature was emerging from a forest, as if coming to attack whoever was painting, the scariest thing of all, it was as tall as the trees.

This thing was immense; the pine trees near WinterHord, well, they existed before being frozen by the storm, had an average height of twenty meters.

This thing was as big as the trees, not to mention its antlers, which exceeded the height of the flowers.

Worst of all, this thing was slightly bent, as if about to hit the hands on the ground, a ground that was stained black, as if the shadows were growing...

As if they were alive...

My vocabulary at this moment was limited; I knew that if I opened my mouth, what would come out would be a scream of frustration or a curse.

We were in a library; it would be rude of me to shout.

"Fuck..."

Cursing was allowed, especially a murmur as low as I had just done.

Let's take this book to the others; Dylan had that weird innate magic of his, and Devas already knew the legend of this thing.

One of them probably knew how to read, or at least translate part of this text.

If not, well, at least we had a more accurate estimate of what was coming to knock on WinterHord's door...

[…]

POV: Devas Asura.

Bad, average, and good results.

Somehow, in these few hours when the four of us tested things, we managed to obtain all these results and then some.

First, the bad results: Trying to use Nightmare Fuel was a futile effort, almost useless.

Apart from trying to create ink with the material, I had no real way to shape it into anything. I didn't have the tools for it.

The most I could do was use my own nightmare energy to try to shape the Nightmare Fuel into something.

Basically, I squeezed several of them, trying to condense them, and then refined, making a spear.

It was something ugly, like a giant sharp twig; the stream didn't even consider it a weapon when I analyzed it, just a structure made of condensed Nightmare Fuel.

I lacked forging techniques, not only for Nightmare Fuel but for everything else; I needed to learn to forge myself.

Well, still, my "Oversized and Evil Toothpick," as (CHAT) called my attempt to create a spear, wasn't entirely useless.

It wasn't a good weapon overall, but when I threw it and impaled an hallucination, it died almost instantly and was absorbed by the "spear."

Having another weapon that was effective against hallucinations was good, even if only I could use it.

I also found that Shadowflame liked Nightmare Fuel more than it seemed to like Aqua's hair strands; the flame practically had a fit when it saw the material.

Obviously, I didn't give anything to the flame, just like I didn't give the hair strands. As long as that miserable thing didn't submit, it would be fed only with slime cores.

I'm not crazy enough to give something that has small threads of divinity or literally condensed "evil" to eat before making sure it wouldn't attack me.

Shadowflame hissed a few times and even seemed aggrieved, but didn't accept submission, even if it seemed to be considering that possibility.

I tossed a few slime cores to the flame before tossing it back into the VoidBag.

As for the average result, that came from the other three, Dylan, Melissa, and Selina.

After I explained my idea of the glasses to them, Dylan almost slapped himself, as he seemed almost offended for not having thought of this idea before or something similar.

He even asked to let him make the glasses, and I could keep updating the Humvee to save time.

I didn't refuse, obviously, since, as much as Dylan and the others couldn't feel or see the nightmare energy, to make these glasses, it wasn't really necessary.

So, while I put the idea I had thought of before on paper and started drawing the Mystical Symbols on the Humvee, Dylan and Selina brainstormed to adapt the glasses to see these "holes" that hallucinations created.

Melissa, from what I had gathered from the three, was the worst with Mystical Symbols, but she was there more to be a battery than anything else.

She energized the symbols for the tests they were doing.

In summary, the glasses worked but were not excellent, and my modifications to the Humvee were good.

As for the glasses, they had managed to modify Selina's glasses to amplify how the glasses saw mana; if before it was something smooth that barely, now mana stood out in a tremendous glow.

Which was good and bad at the same time, since seeing the nightmare energy in the air was simple, as the holes it left were like thousands of black dots on a white screen, with hallucinations being large black blotches.

The problem was that you couldn't see anything else; the mana glow was so much that it was like looking only at this stained white screen, and it was even worse when you looked at another person, as if that person had a lot of mana, they shone even more.

"We succeeded, but it's still a flaw," Dylan grumbled looking at the glasses.

It was a prototype, obviously, something created in less than thirty minutes; improving these glasses wouldn't be difficult, but I stopped them.

"Leave it like this; it's fine," I said putting on the glasses. The view was terrible, but it would do.

"How is it fine? You can't see anything!" Selina exclaimed.

"Of course, you can. Watch this," I took off the glasses and held a lens over one eye, leaving the other eye uncovered.

One side of my vision was white with black dots; further away, in the city, I could see the hallucinations.

The other side, the uncovered one, was normal since I wasn't wearing the glasses.

"Okay, I get what you mean, but why? Dylan and Selina can improve this quickly. Why improvise something like this?" Melissa asked, placing her hand on her waist.

I could see that both Dylan and Selina also had this doubt.

"In how much time can you make the matrix of these glasses?" I asked returning the glasses to Dylan.

"Five minutes? Less, why?" He replied.

"It's not just us who will need to see the hallucinations. Well, by 'us,' I meant them, since I could already see them.

"The guards!" Selina exclaimed, clapping her right hand with the closed fist on the open left palm.

They all seemed to have understood what I meant; they were smart.

"A functional prototype that can be made quickly, something for mass production, as we don't have time." Dylan looked at the barrier.

We didn't know when our little deer friend would come knocking on WinterHord's door.

"And we don't unnecessarily have to use them; we can refine it and create something better, something whose creation is time-consuming but only for us." Melissa concluded.

Basically, make several of these prototypes for the guards, as we don't have much time, and they can improvise using just one lens from the glasses. And for the group, which was my group plus Melissa's group, they could update the glasses.

Dylan and Selina could teach the Symbol Masters of WinterHord this prototype matrix as well, thus expediting the creation of the glasses while they updated them for their own use.

When the best solution wasn't easily applicable, improvise.

While the three of them were busy again, I went back to the Humvee.

The idea I had was simple: the barrier of the Humvee could partially block the nightmare energy, which was good, as over time it could block everything like it did with mana.

The problem was that we didn't have that time, so my idea was: If a barrier can partially block the nightmare energy, all I have to do is create other barriers.

Not only that, if I created similar but different barriers, with various "frequencies," so to speak, if I made the barriers tremble, thus acting as a filter?

The idea was good on paper; taking it off paper, it was still good, but not simple to achieve.

The size of the matrix for the barrier was something that took up space, space that the Humvee didn't have.

If I were to put this into practice, I would need to rearrange all the matrices of the Humvee, also ignoring that the mana cost would skyrocket to the heights, a cost that was already not low.

So, I decided that if I couldn't have more barriers with the same efficiency, I would make several weaker barriers, but with their quantity compensating for it.

Quantity over quality wasn't always good, but here it was the best I could do without needing to dismantle everything.

After a few hours of effort, I left the Humvee with three external barriers with defensive power equivalent to seventy percent of the original barrier.

Added together, they were like two barriers and a little, two hundred and ten percent. They also trembled, which would help in defense, spreading the nightmare energy.

It wasn't the best defense, but it was a good defense; the Humvee had gained a good enhancement.

I didn't even need to use the prototype ink made with Nightmare Fuel, ink that I was reluctant to use, as I wasn't sure how it would interact with Deerclops' roars or his presence.

While I was finishing updating the Humvee, with Selina and Dylan watching what I was doing, with the former drooling when I opened the car hood and the latter giving some advice, Melissa went to find Annabel to inform her about the creation of the glasses.

Only then did I discover that the storm also partially interfered with the EcoMirror, even inside the barrier.

A bad signal connection, basically.

It didn't take about five minutes for her to come back, not only with Annabel but with Gilbert and Robyn as well.

"Something happened?" Damn, don't tell me Gilbert's earring detected something?

"Yes, but not what you're thinking." Gilbert signaled that it was nothing and pointed to the earring. "All normal here, we just found something." He lifted the book he was holding.

What caught my attention in the book instantly were the runes engraved on the leather cover.

It was the first time I saw runes in Terraria, outside the dungeon. They were poorly made; I could see that from afar when compared to my own runes and much more compared to the runes in the garden mansion.

"What's the information?" I asked, taking the book Gilbert offered.

Aside from the runes, it was a common book, with Mystical Symbols painted on the cover? Yes, but common.

The Analyze: Item said something else.

[239480 SP required to fully analyze the item: "War Diary of a Fae Soldier"]

A Fae's diary, how wonderful, a soldier nonetheless.

I refused to Analyze: Item since I didn't want to spend SP; I could very well read the diary.

"That's the problem; we don't know." Robyn was the one who answered me. "It's in a language none of us can read." Another language?

Opening the diary, I could tell it

was another language, one that, thanks to the stream, I could read easily.

Interestingly, to everyone's surprise, including mine, I wasn't the only one who could read this language.

It wasn't Dylan, who seemed as confused as everyone else, unable to read a word.

In fact, thinking now, it was kind of obvious that she should know how to read this language; after all, she called the damn Fae Empress Aunt.

"I can read! I can!" The little slime that was in the pocket of my hoodie jumped and climbed onto my shoulder, writing quickly while creating a little hand and pointing to the book.

"It's Faeric, Aunt Alice taught me to read!" She seemed excited to be able to help.

As for the others, they seemed confused by the events.

"Faeric from the Fae? Weren't they a myth? A literal fairy tale?" Dylan was the first to recover and asked completely confused.

Oh, my guide friend, if you knew half of the things I know...

[...]---[...]

I'll be quick here not to take up too much time, so onto the chapter!

Well, as I mentioned, this was a bit of a milder chapter, with information, tests, enhancements, and everything else.

The next one is, as I mentioned, the beginning of the end of the WinterHord arc.

Well, that's it. Good day, everyone, and happy reading!