Soulforge Legacy Series

The window vanished from view as I turned my attention to the wall. At first I didn’t know what I was feeling, just that there seemed to be spot that felt different. Off. Not right.

I pushed every other sense to the side as I focused as much of my attention the wall as I could. Sure enough, the wall here was weaker. Not a blatant weakness like a crack or loose stones. It wasn’t even a physical weakness. It was something subtler.

My senses searched through the surrounding stone for any indication as to what might have happened here. To see if any other sections near here had the same oddity. I found nothing. If anything, the sections around this spot were a tad bit stronger. Like they were taking up and distributing the load that this section was supposed to.

That meant one of two things. Either this was a known fault and they left the issue, or someone had been spending a bit of time to weaken this section. Nothing blatant that could be detected with the eye.

It almost looked like the person had been slowly degrading the glue that held the stones together. Not the mortar that held each stone to their neighbors. I am talking about the bonds that hold the stones themselves together.

And the outer section of the wall was the best off. Whoever had been doing this had practically destroyed the center of the structure. So much so that even the additional structural modifications to the surrounding section wasn’t enough to hold everything together.

Bits of magic wove through the structure. Thread after thread tied the various stones together. I am not talking about one or two dozen threads. I had the feeling that I could sit here and count the threads for days and still not be a tenth of the way through. There had to be millions of the things. Each doing their part to keep the façade up until the time was right.

My mental map reminded me of a massive tapestry made of the thinnest threads out there. A tapestry that looped perfect save for one dark spot. A series of rocks. Each missing a thread to tie them to one another. Each missing thread set in a jagged but obvious line. Unlike the rest, it extended to the surface.

Curious, I bent down to see what was there. A crack the length of my palm ran along one stone. The worst part was that it wasn’t hard to see. I could fit the tip of my pinky into the thing. It was the sort of crack that any guard should have been keeping an eye out for. Yet they hadn’t. Why?

Whatever the reason was, it only served to benefit me and those I would be helping escape this place.

With a push of will and as much mana as I could spare, I scored one of the stones enough to be visible, so long as you knew what to look for that is. Now to let the priest and the rest of the group know about the change in plans.

Judging by the sun’s position, it would only be a couple of hours until sunset. Sure, Xander wouldn’t be here with transportation for a bit longer, but something told me that no one in that room would care. Especially as they had been planning to escape on foot well before I had arrived.

As I turned back, I made my decision on what I would select in the racial screen.

Are you sure that you would like to select FoxFire as your primary tree? This cannot be undone.

Well, wasn’t that a pleasant surprise. Given that it said it would be my primary tree meant that I would be able to take at least one other option.

With my confirmation, the three icons connected to the FoxFire node sharpened enough to allow me to read the text below it. Of the three, two of the nodes were each connected to one other tree.

Unlike the previous nodes, these came with a bit more information.

Black Fire – No longer will your fire give off light by default.

That sounded cool, especially as I could use it to shoot fireballs from a hidden spot. Something that would bring my build closer to that of a rogue.

Silver Fire – No element is strictly meant to damage. After all, they make up every living thing. Fire is no exception. No matter how fast or long one's life is, it uses energy. Now take some control over how fast this occurs. Speeding it up and slowing it down as needed.

That sounded more like a body augmentation ability. But there was something about how it was worded. Like there was more to the ability. My eyes drifted to the one option that sat on its own.

Fire Bug – small flames cost no mana to create nor maintain.

Well, god damn. That was one hell of an option. Even if the flames it made free were no bigger than my pinky nail, it was big enough to intercept something. Maybe even serve as a decent distraction.

Hand in front of me, I attempted to conjure up the smallest flame I could. Dismissing each as I continued to condense the flames. Finally, I conjured up five orbs no larger than a grain of salt.

The pull on my mana was small but noticeable as the flames burned it for fuel. That was until I purchased the Fire Bug skill. The node went from a silver color to gold and the drain on my mana vanished.

Unfortunately, the ability didn’t solve all of my problems. Even without the need to provide each with a supply of mana, I still had to maintain some mental control over each flickering dot. So there went the idea of keeping a few of the little things at the ready at any point in time.

With a sigh, I returned to the screen. With that purchase, two more options lit up.

Pyromatic – Unless under the direct control of someone else, fire no longer burns you.

Sticky Fire – Allows you to decide how sticky your fire is. Should it slide down the wall and pool at the base, or should it stick to your target? You decide.

Okay, two more decent options. Wait, what would happen if I made fire invisible and stuck it to a trip line? Or added it to something I threw at an opponent? That one ability would give me so many options.

As I approached the church, I made a decision and purchased the rest of the options I had unlocked. While it took the majority of the racial points I had somehow gotten, they would serve as a decent start.

Unlike the other options, the moment the selection was finalized, a wave of heat washed over me. With it came information. Knowledge on how to use each ability. Nothing too complex, but enough to give me a place to start.

Of the five skills I had, Silver Fire was the most powerful. With it I could feel my cells fire, boosting each cell to work beyond what they would have ever accomplished. Enough that my body would push well beyond the point of breaking.

Of course the damage would be healed by the very skill breaking it, so it would consume ever greater amounts of mana. Still, the ability made Body Fortification a bit superfluous. Even as I was guided to the basement, I couldn’t think of a reason to even use Body Fortification over this skill.

All of the thoughts and possibilities flew out of my mind as I reached my destination. Experimentation could wait until everyone here had made it out of the city.

As if he had sensed my arrival, the wolf materialized out of the crowd. His eyes were down as his mind worked through something that had him pissed off. As he came to a stop, his eyes lifted to meet mine. His expression lightened, but beneath the mask, I could still see the stormy expression. The clouds gathered as they prepared to release their fury upon the unsuspecting earth below.

“I take it the reconnaissance didn’t go well?” I asked.

“No,” his growl was low as he looked off into the distance. “It is as though they know that we are still here and what we are planning.”

“What makes you think that?” I nearly jumped as a soft-spoken priest appeared next to me. I had not even heard his breathing, let alone footsteps until he spoke.

“The number of patrols are increasing.” Lance didn’t seem as surprised by the priest’s sudden appearance. “I think our escape has to be now or in a few days.”

With a shake of my head, I pushed my surprise to the side as I spoke up. “One of my close friends…” Lance growled, but I ignored it as I continued. “Should be in the area sometime tomorrow. He is driving a transport that should be able to carry everyone here.” I hope. “That being said, I don’t think the gates are a good option.”

“They are the weakest part of the walls.” A well-muscled leonine man spoke up. He flinched back as Lance stepped between us, cutting off my view of the man and his toned body. Sure, I had been checking the man out, but not because I was interested in him sexually. I was jealous of his muscles. They were way more defined than anything I had ever managed to develop, even now with my stats so high.

With a roll of my eyes, I stepped around the stupid wolf and his misplaced loyalty. “There is a weak point in the wall not far from here.”

“Such a thing is not possible.” Someone cried out from halfway across the room. My eyes swiveled to look for the sound of the high-pitched voice to find a man sitting cross-legged against a nearby wall. In his lap was a book filled with what looked like handwritten notes and calculations. What they meant, I had no clue.

“Why?” I asked, curious as to how he could be so certain.

“Because the wall is checked and monitored daily by a specialist.”

“Yeah, I ain't doing that job right now Nicholas. I also haven't been allowed near the walls for the last month.” Someone else yelled from across the room. As soon as those words were uttered, every bit of color in the bookish man’s face drained away.

“But, but…” was all he could mutter.

The other man answered the unasked question. “It wasn’t for a lack of trying. I just wasn’t allowed near the damned thing. Got arrested every time I tried.”

Lance turned to me. “How long would it take you to break through the wall?”

I had to stop and think about the question. Sure, I could bust through the wall, but there was more to it than that. The section would need to be cleared enough to allow women and children a way through. Which meant that I would have to remove the debris as well as make the hole big enough. Then there was the fact that I had just gotten a bit of a power boost. How much it would help was yet to be seen.

So I ended up giving him a guestimation. “Five minutes, maybe ten.”

The answer, to my utter shock, caused his eyes to lift. “You do know that the wall is magically…”

“Reinforced by threads of mana woven throughout.” I interrupted. “Yes. But whoever has been weakening that section seemed to take that into account.”

“Then we leave tonight.” The older priest said from the hall. I was coming to suspect that he was the head priest or something. That belief was reinforced when the silent female priest gave him a slight bow. “Everyone, get as much rest as you can. No telling when you will be able to do so again.” Whoever he was, I had to hope that his idea of later was late enough for these two debuffs to disappear.

Everyone but the bookish man did as their best to settle down in preparation for tonight. For his part, he started to hastily scribble into a notebook as he muttered curses and obscenities. While he was quiet, the rest of the room had settled down enough that I was still able to make out a bit of what he was going on about. From what bits I got, it sounded as though he was doing math and trying to figure something out.

Myself, I just turned and walked to the nearest wall to sit against. To no one's shock, the damned wolf followed me. Sitting next to me, not saying anything as we watched everyone else settle back down.

He was the first one to break the heavy silence that hung between us. “If you want…”

“I don’t.” I had an idea of what he was going to say and there was no way I was going to take him up on his offer to use his lap for a pillow. The last time was a mistake. While it was not my choice, it was not something I wanted to repeat.

“But surely…” He tried to point something out.

“No.” Again, I interrupted him. “Get this through your head. The only reason I am even letting you near me is because you have been helping these people and they will trust what you say. After we get out of this city, you will leave me alone or so help me…” I let the threat hang between us.

Given how his ears drooped, it looked like I finally got through his thick skull. Seeing it brought me a bit of shame as I had been the one to put it on his face. Which was stupid. There was no way I cared for this stupid man.

But then, why did I save him from Linda and her minions? At that time I could have dropped a massive fireball into the middle of the hole and killed most of them in one go rather than nearly dying in a fight I could have avoided. Was it because I felt bad seeing him in such a state? Or was there a bond between us even then? Was it affecting my emotions and decisions when it came to the wolf, preventing me from outright killing him? Maybe it was time to send Inari my first question.

‘How does one get rid of a mate bond?’

I hesitated for a moment before clicking the send button. Her reply came in two forms. While the text appeared in the window, a tiny fox walked out from behind it. Before I could read her response, the little thing spoke with Inari’s voice. “Why would you want to get rid of your bond?”

My body stiffened as I waited for some reaction. Surprisingly enough, none came. So either he was playing possum, or he couldn’t hear her words. I had no doubt that if I spoke, she would hear me, but a tiny part of me did not want him to hear any part of this conversation.

‘Well first off, I want to return to being male. Second, I could never trust him. Not after all he did.’

“While under the control of another.” She oh so helpfully pointed out. Still, I didn’t care.

‘Is that supposed to make it better? People still died, some might have even done so by his hand. If not for our current situation, I might have just killed him and been done with it.’

“Now, now. No need to go that route. Sure, it would sever the bond, but not in the way you want.” A paw lifted as I moved to type, stopping me. “But, I will tell you what. Give the bond a full year. If you feel the same way at that time then I will personally deal with it.”

‘A YEAR!?!’

“Yep.”

‘That is too long. I can do a week. A month max.’

“Nope. And before you complain more, a year is nothing. Not when you will live at least a couple hundred years. More if you keep pushing as hard as you have been.” Her words caused my mouth to drop open.

‘What do you mean I will live at least a couple hundred years?’

“And here I thought you had taken some time to learn about Kitsune after being changed into one. Sure, the stories have some issues, but there is enough there to at least give you something to go off of.” Her paw spun through the air. “As you know now, given that you have a second tail, congratulations on that by the way, we gain our tails by completing various trials.”

‘Which makes no sense. Surely you didn’t gain your tails via the system. I mean, you are a god and all that. Nothing should be more powerful than you.’

Inari’s avatar dropped to the ground and started to roll around. Her barks of laughter were broken up only by her words as she tried to speak. “Nothing more powerful than me. HAH! That’s funny. Most of the gods up here could squash me. A few would if given a chance. My scrappiness and other abilities are the only thing keeping me safe. Well, that and the threat from creatures that make the entire pantheon look like children playing house.”

She took a moment to compose herself before continuing. “But you are correct. I did not gain my tails from a system. That does not mean I didn’t go through various trials though. It is just that the requirements were unknown. Back then, every family horded knowledge in a bid for more power. It was only luck that I happened to be the first to succeed. It wasn’t long after that when people started to worship me. That worship eventually led to my transformation into a goddess.”

While I couldn’t see her eyes, the avatar almost looked like it was staring off into the distance as though recalling some long forgotten memory. Something jerked her back to the present. “Anyway, back to your initial question. No, I will not tell you how to break your mate bond. Come back in a year.”

‘And what about making me male?’

“Reach five tails, then we can talk about it.” With that, her fox avatar slunk behind her text, vanishing. While I could still send her a message, something told me that I would regret it. If not now, then later. Especially as I finally had a path to my goal. I just had to push to grow stronger. Something I had already planned to do.

To my right, I found that Lance had his head down and eyes closed. His breaths were slow and deep. And he wasn’t the only one. From what I could tell, most of the room was out for the count.

Taking that as a sign, I quickly followed suit.