133. Progression Isn't Just A Fantasy

Lukas woke much later than his usual time the following morning. Mira had woken him in the middle of the night for a second round of lovemaking. Tier-three Body Pillar came with incredible stamina, and they had carried on for much longer than expected. When he climbed out of bed, she was still fast asleep under the covers, limbs widely splayed across the bed. It was simultaneously a beautiful and alluring sight. Lukas didn’t recall feeling as romantically content since his time with Minarv, but swiftly reminded himself not to draw parallels. It was far from healthy.

Instead of dressing in the bedroom, he carried his clothes out into the attached sitting room. The last thing he wanted was to disturb her. Weeks on the road, fights with disturbed local wildlife, and spying on the Jotun camps had left Mira exhausted. Lukas wanted her to get as much rest and relaxation as possible before they returned to the road. He also wished to investigate the book without distraction, which Mira was even when she wasn’t trying to be, to no fault of her own.

“Aren’t you a smitten kitten?” Zwei joked when Lukas entered the study.

“Shut up.” He wandered over to the desk. The clone sat with the book open in front of him alongside several texts borrowed from the Shadow Seeker guild’s library. Zwei had also made extensive notes. “Decide. Are you going to give me shit, forcing me to dispel you and go through all the memories on my own? Or am I going to get a quick summary?”

“You’re no fun.” Zwei chuckled, leaning back in his chair and stretching. Loud cracks ran down his back. “I’ll summarize. Do you want to sit?”

Lukas shook his head. “I’ll stretch. You talk.”

“I don’t know how much of our initial confluence research you remember—actually, I do, and it's jackshit. So let’s summarize.” The clone drew in the air using shadows in the same way Penelope did with azure flames. He started with the number one and a human body whose shape had an uncanny resemblance to Xander. “There seems to be three general types of confluence abilities. First, we have the physique.

“I don’t think it needs explaining. Morph has observed Xander’s changes over the past six months. It’s all in the pursuit of the best possible body, pushing it well beyond the natural limits of what shard abilities can achieve.” The silhouette of the human body exploded into Shadowfire, then reconstituted itself. “We’ve read about elemental physiologies. People turning their entire bodies into fire, ice, blood, or whatever their confluence ability’s affinity is, so I won’t go into it.”

“Next,” Lukas said, gesturing for the clone to move on.

“We might as well call the next one Ultimate Super Flashbang Sur—” The clone paused when Lukas cleared his throat. “Fine. Just Ultimate then. It doesn’t need explaining, in my opinion. It's a super ability with high costs that’s supposed to change everything, calling down the wrath of god, causing a natural disaster, or raising an army of the dead. I’m probably simplifying things, but you get the idea.”

“Physiques seem to use the Body or Heart Pillar as the foundation primarily. Ultimates rely on the Mind. Then, we have the domain confluence.” Zwei tapped the book Penelope had given them. “The foundation of these starts with awakening something the author calls a soulspace. The journal only touches on combat ones, but they seem to involve creating and calling forth a region of space where the creator has set a unique rule. Domain Expansion. Ultimate Bladework. Reality Bubble. I’m sure you get the general idea.

“The utility or support domains seem to focus more like a home for summons, tamed beasts, spell preparation, and storage space, or similar. The owner of this journal turned their soulspace into a druid’s grove of sorts. They grew medicinal herbs, food for themselves, tamed beasts, and trees that stored powerful space. This woman went on to build an entire ecosystem with prey and predator animals. I’m not sure if it had a purpose or she just got carried away and had fun with it, creating a separate world within herself for the sake of it. It's clear she had a whole lot of fun doing it. I think her endgame was to turn it into a rainforest that she could also use for combat. Drop her foe into a space full of poisonous plants and beasts that she commands and then overwhelming them.”

“Interesting.” Lukas grabbed the book and leafed through it. Intricate drawings, spell scripts, and diary entries filled it. The author hadn’t just logged the creation of their confluence ability, but appeared to have poured a piece of themself into it. “Physique is probably the quickest way to godhood, but I don’t think it's the path for us. Ultimate sounds great and all, but if the specialized clones can have their own confluence, I’d rather they end up with something of the sort.”

“That leaves us with the option of a combat or utility domain,” Zwei said. He dug through the untidy papers in front of him and pulled out a few sheets. “I put together a proposal that I believe you’ll appreciate.”

“Shadowsteel Keep?” Lukas raised an eyebrow, reading the title.

“We don’t have to call it that.” The clone shrugged. “It’s just the first thing that came to mind. You build the soulspace and structures out of the things shard and conjunction abilities provide. Shadowsteel felt like the logical material for the structure. We can have bits that use Dracosteel, too, especially around the Storm Energy core.”

“Core room,” Lukas read out loud. “It serves as the center of the structure, gathering and producing energy before funneling it to all sectors. It is the heart of the keep.”

“All domains need to start with an energy source at their heart. Using the Heart Pillar for that feels like the natural step.”

“Perhaps, but why stop there?” Lukas asked. He summoned Assistant Spindle. “Let’s not go for a basic core like the wanna-be druid. We’re Spellweavers. We use arcane threads.”

Zwei grinned. “I like the sound of that. We’ll build outwards from there. Storage and smithy.” He pulled out another paper, showing off a rough plan. “I left a space open for an alchemy workshop and growing space. Then we’ll have training grounds. Eventually, we could add a wizard’s tower on top. Perhaps also a portal room.”

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“What’s with the cannons and mecha?”

“I got carried away. Just in case, we eventually add a combat element.” Zwei’s eyes glossed over. “Can’t you imagine it? An awesome fort or just a gate with cannons, flamethrowers, maybe even a railgun on top? How cool would that be?”

“So, we’re talking about a crafting, training, research, and storage base that eventually turns into a mobile, summonable fortress?”

“Is that not what you wanted? Would you prefer a combat domain?”

“No. This is perfect. If this can be turned into a place we can escape into, bring in allies, and then use to travel long distances, it's precisely what we need. Who doesn’t want a personal pocket universe?”

“Anything else?”

“I polished off the spell script for you.” Zwei grinned. “You ready to create a new specialization?”

“Do you even need to ask?” Lukas claimed the offered script. “You tidied it up nicely. What’s the travel time like?”

“See for yourself.”

Lukas shot a shadow projectile through the open door at the distant wall before channeling magic through spellform. He fell to the ground at his feet and emerged from a shadow more than halfway to the impact point. The journey felt almost instantaneous.

“Took a second and the range is marginally improved,” Zwei said, holding up the pocketwatch. “That’s the best we've got so far.”

“Magic consumption is still a bit too high for my liking,” Lukas said. “But it will do for now.”

He cast the spell again and used Shadow Clone as soon as he fell into the shadow cast by his body. The journal vibrated as soon as he exited at the projectile’s impact point. A puddle of darkness lingered on the wall around it.

The Stalker specialty has been upgraded.

Shadow Clone has progressed to rank 5!

Minor ability upgrade available.

Please choose from the following:

• Double Trouble: Gain the ability to grant clones two shard abilities. At least one of them must be from a shard you can personally access. The cost of clones is doubled, and they must be summoned while completely covered in natural shadow.

• Not So Unique: Gain the ability to summon up to two clones with shard abilities gained through Empowered Copy II.

• Super Clone: Gain the ability to summon a super clone with four shard abilities. One of its abilities may be from a shard you can’t personally access. The super clone may summon up to four clones with any specialty and grant them its Body, Heart, or Mind ability. Only one may exist at any given time.

“Double Trouble, please,” Zwei said. “I know you value quantity over quality, but I'll be so much more effective with Spellweaver and Stormdragon's Eye. Each of us can also train two abilities simultaneously.”

“It's certainly tempting.” Lukas read through the options again. “Repair Clone, and the other one disappeared. It's like the Pillars learned that I have no interest in them.”

“Or these are the possible ultimate versions of Empowered Copy, and you'll receive a fresh pool of options during the next tier. It would be foolish—”

“Your insistence is pushing me away from Double Trouble.”

“Well, that's stupid.” Zwei fell silent when Lukas glared at him. The clone mimes zipping his lips shut.

“If you really want to talk about quality over quantity, Super Clone is the one to pick. He would be the ultimate Flukas and also have the power to make four more clones.”

“I was worried you'd say that.” Zwei sighed.

“Assuming I'm reading this correctly, if I gave him Biomancy, he could possibly pass it onto all four clones.”

“Or four of me to accelerate production,” Eins added, ascending the stairs. “I heard the commotion and checked the journal. Super Clone is the better option, boss. Strategically, at least. We need greater numbers across the board.”

“But access to more abilities means we can train them harder and faster,” Zwei protested, his tone whiny and almost childlike.

“We could say that Super Clones can do the same but take a more focused approach,” Eins said. “And it won't be limited to the main shard abilities. Biomancy. Arcane Chronicling. Joybringer. All of them will benefit from it.”

“And Arcane Smithing,” Zwei said, eyes narrowed. “Don't forget Arcane Smithing.”

“Oh, right.” Eins smiled. “I forgot about that.”

“Not So Unique isn't even worth consideration,” Lukas said. “Journal. Are these one-time offerings or will these appear again?”

The essences have added too many variables. Predicting future possibilities, especially after adding another essence to the ability, is impossible.

“Screw it. Super Clone it is.”

“Come on, boss. Help a brother out. We—.” Zwei dissolved into shadows before he could complete his thought.

When Lukas summoned the Super Clone, the magic drain almost turned his knees into jelly. Eins had to rush to Lukas’s aid so he didn't fall down the stairs.

“Remind me not to do that in battle.” He groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Spellweaver didn't do shit to help with the mental strain.”

“Holy, dragon sauce, boss man,” the super clone gasped, rolling his neck, followed by his shoulders. “Is this what it feels like to be you? Bow before Zwei Prime.”

“You're the new Flukas.” It was a strain for Lukas to get words out. His mouth tasted stale, and he felt faint. Eins helped him to the sitting area outside the bedroom. “The Arcane Chronicler is the new Zwei. If I make a Super Clone out of Morph or Eins, then we can add Prime to the name.”

“All hail the one true Flukas!” The Super Clone yelled only for Lukas and Eins to shush him and point to the bedroom. They all fell silent for a moment, ears pricked. A collective sigh of relief followed when they didn't hear Mira stir. “Do I get autonomy?”

“Within reason,” Lukas answered. “For now, you and your minions can focus on the confluence ability project. Figure out how to awaken the soul space.”

Flukas threw up a mock salute and marched to the study, making clones as he walked. Each of them saluted too before falling in line behind their summoner.

“I'll bet our collective right nut that he's going to go mad with power and lord the Super Clone status over the rest of us.” Eins sighed, fetching Lukas a glass of water.

“As long as he can function as a decent stand-in for me, I don't care,” Lukas said. “This is a significant upgrade. Hopefully, we'll get Spellweaver to tier three soon. The spider says it'll make breaking free of Silverspine’s grasp easier. If we're lucky, Joybringer and Arcane Chronicling will also be where we need them by then.”