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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/New_Delivery6734 on 2024-12-03 13:08:40+00:00.

Blurb: Valens Kosthal had lived a life of magical study and became the youngest Resonant Healer and Archmagus in the wide circle of the world. He had spent his years studying magic, going as far as to dabble in the forbidden Warmagic.

When his experiments are discovered by the Inquisition, he is branded a traitor and sentenced to die. But in his final hours, his mentor, Headmaster Eldras, slips him a strange black sphere, sparking an escape to a world ruled by a powerful System, one that allows him to control mana without relying on tools.

He doesn’t know how he arrived here, or why there’s mana flowing inside his veins, and especially what this grand System is that governs the whole world, granting people all sorts of skills.

Still, he soon discovers that all of his magical theory knowledge and the skills he gained after years of study puts him way above the others in this world. As an Arcanist, a master of all elements, he realizes he holds powers that make him unstoppable.

But nothing as simple as it seems, and to go back, he has to solve the secret behind this world.

[Previous Chapter] - [First Chapter] 

Chapter 16

The path led to a tight lane that slithered from beside the chaotic mess, separated from the thick of the battle by a long wall that stretched across the cave. It created a corridor of its own where dozens of Skeleton Warriors clad in broken plates and wielding weapons of rust and worn metal pressed into the men in shining armor.

From what Valens could see, the two sides were in a deadlock, even though the humans were clearly the stronger side. The Skeleton Soldiers made up for their lack of strength with numbers and a fervent state of mindless fury. They didn’t hiss when carved by a sword. They didn’t stagger when an axe chopped halfway into their chests. They fought, thrashed, and clawed at whatever live tissue they could see before their eyes.

They were a terrible bunch, Valens had to say, but at least they didn’t have any of those Wards and hideous monsters in the lane. Most of them were too large to fit into the small corridor anyway, which was probably why there was only a constant line of Skeletons being directed there to keep the numbers up.

Still dangerous.

If it had been his decision, Valens would have used the exit they came across on their way and joined the allied ranks from outside. That would take them quite some time, but it would have been the safest choice. Trouble was, it seemed to him that he was the only one thinking about safety in his group. Nomad and Celme scarcely had any intention to wait for a second longer.

It’s different here.

Master Eldras had once told him that calculated risk was a fairly common topic amongst the Magi of old. When situations forced their hands, Magi had to come up with a quick solution to at least buy some time. It was like managing a hasty knot around broken veins when one of his Wards broke during an operation. The time it would take to get another Ward and realign his senses to that of the wounded area’s Resonance just because he wanted to reattach the veins in a proper way could cost him the patient’s life.

Hence the importance of practicality.

That was why, instead of mulling over a decision that had already been made, he started thinking about ways he could provide himself and the group some relief in this grand endeavor. There was a terrifying line of animated corpses waiting a few paces ahead, and a constant trickle from the main horde that fed into their ranks.

Patch the wound.

Valens nodded as the apathy forced the reek of rot and the din of chaos away from his mind. What he was left with was a cold detachment from the surroundings that allowed him to focus on the path ahead. There was a tight gap in the corridor wall through which the Skeletons had to pass to join their stubborn companions.

“I’ll patch that hole,” he said as Nomad and Celme bounded ahead. When they looked at him, he pointed a finger to the hole. “That’ll cut their supply line. It’ll probably turn a few eyes toward here, so we have to act fast if we don’t want to be bombarded by that Necromancer’s foul magic.”

“You can do that?” Celme’s eyes widened slightly, her face blotchy pink with ungodly amounts of blood underneath the skin. The Resonance told Valens that everything in the woman’s body was boiling like a broth cooked in a human-shaped cauldron.

A simple nod was the answer he decided to go with. He hadn’t the time to tell the woman that the act of magical healing wasn’t something even an accomplished Magus could easily perform. One had to go through years of specific study and practice to even get the much-respected title of Healer in this field. Compared to that, performing a few spells wasn’t something worth a mention.

They had gods here, though, with ways to grant humans their blessings. I wonder how that works?

He shook off the nauseating notion that anyone could become a Healer through some godly ritual in this world and instead reached toward the gemstones stitched in his thigh. Only a few remained there, and only one of them was full of earth mana, but that would be enough to manage a simple wall for now.

His senses instantly locked onto the heavy mana in the jewel. The spell formulae for Gravitating Earth waited at the edge of his mind. Unlike Earth Magi, who had to imprint the shape or the dimensions of the piece they wanted to move into the spell diagram with perfect detail, he only had to project the vacancy in the long wall’s Resonance, which aligned seamlessly to the real gap in his vision, into the spell diagram, and move the earth mana to patch that hole in the Resonance.

“Get ready,” he said as they closed in on the gap. Already, some of the Skeletons were looking toward them with questions in their sockets. They hesitated, as if not sure this sudden intrusion was in part a decision from their Master or if there was an actual breach in their tight ranks.

Nomad’s sword made the decision for them, coming at the two who had just walked in from the gap with crushing force. Its tip gleamed with green fog as it hacked a smooth line across their waists, severing the bones and sending the body parts clanking down onto the ground.

“We move!” the Undead roared as he and Celme lumbered forward to the back of the Skeleton Warrior line.

Valens reached out to the mana and felt its tingle around his hands, a part of his mind focused on the gap in the Resonance. He sent the invisible threads toward the ground, right underneath the gap, and forced the bare patch of earth to move. It stirred with a grinding sound that sent a tremor across the wall, its edges perfectly aligned to both sides of the gap and rising slowly to close it.

Then a Skeleton Warrior jumped over the slightly elevated part, swinging a rusted sword at the Undead. The weapon clanked harmlessly off the armor, making the creature stagger back before a punch plunged into its face and splintered the nasal bone with a sickening crunch.

Valens frowned when the Skeleton Warrior’s strange Resonance interrupted the gap’s own frequencies. The part that was rising from the ground started to shift to match the difference, taking the animated corpse’s form, which led to bone-shaped empty streaks in its otherwise solid surface.

“I need you to keep the hole clean!” he called out when another Skeleton Warrior tried to barge in from the gap. “Keep that space empty!”

Celme’s eyes turned to him almost immediately, only to snap back to the hole when Valens jabbed a strong finger into her face.

“Keep that hole… Clean!”

“Understood,” the Berserker said, reached out with a hand, and clutched the Skeleton Warrior from the nape of its neck like one might hold a puppy from its scruff, then slammed it to the ground and crushed its skull with the heel of her foot. Green light burst forth in a rolling wave and pushed the other ones trying to jam their heads over the rising wall.

The Resonance restored, Valens focused on the earth mana and guided it slowly with his fingers. There was a heavy feeling to the spell, as if he was the one raising that part, and some resistance because of all the foul mana sprawling over the fighting mob. Even from this, he could tell the Necromancer’s mana pool was something beyond understanding, like an endless ocean that just wouldn’t dry out.

When the tip of the rising earth matched that of the long wall, the spell came to a grinding stop and a loud ding rang in his mind.

Ding! You have learned the skill ‘Gravitating Earth - Uncommon!’

Having expected that, he waved the notification off and joined the Undead and the Berserker as they moved toward the Skeleton Warrior ranks. Only a handful of them seemed aware of the closing threat, while the others further into the ranks were still occupied by the approaching human tide. That gave them the chance to grind the horde with two or three creatures at a time.

Nomad took most of the brunt. His armored bulk nearly blocked the greater half of the passage, which also limited his use of the sword to only fast thrusts and close swings. Celme didn’t have that problem. Her sleek form was like an eel as she moved through the Skeleton Warriors. She punched and kicked, and her fingers drill…

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