Universe's End

Liquid Pneuma was something Rory had thought about often ever since he'd learned of its existence from the Trial of Space. It was a state of pneuma that Rory had only had small amounts of success with forming. Basic pneuma existed like the atoms in the air, invisible and almost entirely dispersed. Evolving past that was gaseous pneuma, something he utilized from time to time and was most prominent in its usage as the 'starting fuel' for the original Stellar Forge.

Liquid pneuma was leagues more advanced, and depending on whether it was neutral pneuma or aspected, it made handling and harnessing even more difficult.

Of course, that was what Rory was intending to do: to take the concentrated form of renewal-aspect pneuma and energize and condense it into liquid.

For once, the question wasn't of how, just of the magical muscle involved. Truthfully, the problem was the state of the latent pneuma permeating the environment. Even in the city where the pneuma felt thickest, it was still far less dense than anywhere within the volcanic region, the location where he'd managed to manufacture liquid pneuma in the past. If he wanted to recreate that here, he would need some rather robust pneuma crushers; trying to force it purely with his own magical might wouldn't cut it.

Orrrrrr…….

A new idea suddenly sprang up in his mind, a place where the pneuma would likely be thickest, a location that might even rival the volcanic region.

Well, except that it's not a physical location. At least not yet.

The heart of Ehkorrus, the very center of where the pneuma of the city flowered, would likely have a sort of 'field' surrounding it that could match what he needed.

The problem was that after the initial 'installation' of the pneuma heart and the conduits throughout the city, it had metaphysically integrated itself, no longer physically present.

In theory.

While a physical 'heart' may no longer exist, there was a chance he could force it to become physically present through the establishment and connection of a physical location representing all the concepts at play.

"Now, where would be the best place for that? Why am I asking? Anyone who's ever watched a movie knows it's always in some deep underground catacombs."

The problem was that they didn't have a deep underground catacomb.

Yet.

A gleam in his eyes, Rory walked past the traumatized Scourge Mites, arms crossed as he stared at the dirt wall opposite the staircase, from which he'd descended into his basement dungeon.

Lab, damn it, I will not start calling it a dungeon.

"Well, either way… that'll work."

With a map of modern Ehkorrus overlaid and viewed from a secondary mental thread, Rory began the process of tunneling into the earth, made far easier with the use of Seams Unseen, Earth Soul, and the attributes of a high-tier seven. The earth seemed to shift around him, almost as if it were flowing, carving through dozens of feet of earth in seconds.

Easier than expected. At this rate, it should take less than an hour to dig a mile, maybe two or three hours to dig down a few miles, depending on how quickly the earth hardens.

There was one other element easing his ability to shovel through the earth, and that was the fact that for quite some distance, the land was 'recognized' as being a part of Ehkorrus, and as the 'leader' of Ehkorrus, he had the privilege to 'ordain' the construction or tunneling that might occur.

In other words, even if someone else had the same skills as Rory, they'd find the earth pushing back against them rather than freely flowing.

Continuing almost exactly on pace, even as the earth began to harden, heavy with harder rocks and denser pneuma infusion, Rory was still able to carve his way through until, almost two hours on the dot, Rory slammed his shovel into the earth.

Perfect.

Deep beneath Ehkorrus and only reachable from the tunnel he'd carved from his tree basement, Rory had dug a medium-sized room. Within there was, well, nothing, just dirt and rock and a somewhat higher level of innate pneuma saturation, but that wouldn't be the case for long.

"Step one, gotta get the 'mojo' all set."

Recycling the dirt and stone he'd carved through and dumped into his inventory, Rory reshaped them, a flex of his will transforming the material into earthen pillars that he planted through the empty room in a dodecagram.

Next, channels.

Carving channels between the earth pillars, a web of channels soon formed through the floor, which Rory etched runes into. On their own, they would break down, but Rory wasn't intending to give them the chance. Bathing them in a stable flame he conjured, the compact channel walls between pillars were flame-baked.

With the channels laid, Rory then retrieved several monster cores from his inventory, gently placing them within the crest of each person-sized earth obelisk. They weren't doing anything magical yet, but for now, what mattered was the intent and impression, harmonizing reality with concept.

For a moment, Rory considered whether it was worth weaving some blood crystals through the obelisks, but dismissed the thought after a moment. The problem with the blood red crystals he could create was that, in reality, they were nothing more than fancy projections; they lacked a permanence that would be useful.

Grabbing several rods of promethium from his inventory-

What project was I working on that required me to have specifically rods of promethium here? Ehh, I'll remember one day.

-Rory began spearing them into the very center of the room, arranged in a fashion that looked like they were meant to be holding something up, like the claps of a piece of jewelry.

Hmm, nope, still missing something.

Thinking for several more minutes, Rory added several more channels into the ground, this time flowing into the very center and circling the promethium rods almost like a bound circle. Then, almost as an afterthought, Rory snatched a vial of bottled starlight from his inventory, a vial he had grabbed on his way out from returning Astra.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Hey, I run this place, sort of kind of, so I'm allowed to take stuff.

Uncorking it, Rory was about to pour it into the circle surrounding the promethium rods when he had a new idea. Slashing his palm, blood began to quickly drain from him, landing into the bottled starlight as he began to swirl it around, the drops of blood faintly carrying traces of foundational concepts as Rory blasted with his version of essence projection.

After nearly a minute, leaving Rory as tired as if he'd been undertaking laborious effort for an hour straight, Rory nodded to himself before pouring the concoction into the circle. With a flash of light, the liquid flowed outward, racing through the channels as if there was far more of the substance than what he had poured out. Flowing through, they eventually raced up the obelisks before the cores lit up with a dim red and silver glow.

Most importantly, from the very center of the room, it was as if a strong breeze was suddenly gusting outward, as Rory both heard and felt a strong thump beating out.

And then another.

And another.

With each thump, it was as if a ghostly apparition was becoming more and more real by the second, clasped between the rods of promethium in the very center of the room. At the tenth and final thump, the ghostly image in the shape of a highly polished core turned real as Rory received a notification.