Ruwen squeezed his temples and rocked back and forth in pain. He pushed Last Breath away, not wanting to interfere with his Cleverness attribute as it pieced all these unrelated memories into a solution.
The memories swirled in Ruwen’s head the sensation like razors shredding his mind. The pain became so intense that even the memories all blurred, and he rocked in place, groaning in agony.
With a sudden snap, like a leather belt pulled tight, the memories formed into an idea and his mind turned so cold it burned like magma. He gasped at the unbearable pain and passed out.
Chapter 78
Ruwen opened his eyes to find Sift shaking him. Sift sighed in relief and then narrowed his eyes. “What is wrong with you?”
“I have an idea,” Ruwen said.
Sift nodded. “Well, that explains it. Even your own body is trying to stop you now.”
Ruwen glanced at the timer. His idea had taken fifteen minutes to form, and he’d blacked out for another five. He only had eighty-two minutes to make this work.
The faces around Ruwen all looked concerned. He understood why, but for the first time he had hope, and didn’t want to take the time to explain. Instead, he would just show them.
Ruwen pulled on his Overseer’s Cowl, stood, and faced a direction with no people. He triggered Glow, increasing the ability to its brightest setting. Although there were much better options than this ability, he figured many of the Workers would have it.
Reaching down, Ruwen grabbed a crystal off the ground. The crystal was an inch thick and the length of his index finger. It looked flawless.
With Mend Tool, Ruwen attached the crystal to the left forearm of his Overseer’s Tunic of Faith. The crystal grew bright as it focused the light from Glow. In the dark, a faint finger of light would have emanated from the tip, but in the daylight nothing was visible.
Ruwen opened his Void Band, the portal just a few inches from the shining crystal. He channeled fifty Energy into Harden and placed his right hand over the area between the crystal and portal.
The light, condensed by Harden, formed a visible narrow beam, which fed into the back of Ruwen’s Void Band. He had no idea what light weighed, so he used twenty Energy to force it out the other side of his Void Band, just like if he’d wanted to fire a boulder.
A blinding beam of light, the width of a hair, started at his Void Band and disappeared into the crystal forest. Everything in the light’s path was sliced apart almost instantly.
Gasps and shouts of disbelief came from behind Ruwen. He stopped the demonstration and turned back to everyone. “This will only work once. Dust, fog, mirrors, and hundreds of other things will either cancel this or weaken it considerably. My prayer is that this surprises them just as much as it did me.”
For the first time, Xavier showed intense interest in what Ruwen did. He released the crystal from his tunic and handed it to Tremine. “Xavier, maybe you could help the librarian with the math. There are thousands of crystals scattered on the ground, but I don’t know which size works best. The better the optics, the less Energy we’ll need to use.”
Ruwen used Chat to address his three Worker groups. I need all the Void Bands to join me near the dungeon portal. Form two groups, one for those with at least one point in Harden, and those that don’t.
Bliz stepped up to Ruwen, his eyes wide. “What was that?”
“Hardened Light,” Ruwen said.
“You need a better name than that,” Bliz said. He thought for a second. “How about Crystal Razor.”
“Nice,” Sift said. “You can call it Crazor.”
Ruwen shook his head. There was no way he would call his new spell Crazor.
Bliz looked at Sift. “What a fantastic name. The Crazor!”
Before Ruwen could protest, the name Crazor spread through the crowd.
Bliz faced him again. “Have you thought through the implications? Crazor has massive utility.”
Ruwen hadn’t thought about anything except his immediate problem, which consisted of burning through a gate and igniting the methane sacs of the enemy. “Not really. Can you help me make it better?”
Bliz smiled.
Of the one hundred sixty-eight Void Bands, a hundred twenty-three had at least one point in Harden. Of those, thirty-six didn’t have Glow and needed shakers or some other light source. Xavier floated across the ground, lightning crawling through the crystals, testing hundreds of them at the same time. Tremine followed, collecting the ones that produced the best beams.
Ruwen spoke with the Chief Clapping Brawler in charge of the dungeon portal’s protection and made sure the area toward the mountain remained free of creatures. For each new crystal found, Ruwen helped outfit another Worker, and set them to practicing.
Bliz discovered another use and showed it to Ruwen. Bliz’s ingenuity amazed Ruwen, and he immediately approved of the idea. Bliz grabbed the forty-five Workers without Harden, and paired each of them with a Worker who had been practicing with the Crazor.
The Workers with Crazor turned Glow on and off, causing short bolts of light. The Workers without Harden would catch these bolts in their Void Bands. Bliz had discovered Crazor beams with the same length stacked, and they could control the length of the beam with how long Glow remained active. It gave the non-Harden Workers the ability to store Crazor like crossbow bolts and contribute to the coming fight.
All the Workers had practiced at least a little with the Crazor, and Ruwen glanced at the counter. Only thirty-six minutes remained. They would leave as soon as the Commanders reassembled the teams to assault New Eiru.
Ruwen prayed the new spell Crazor would get them into New Eiru, and if it did, he needed to save the temple. That meant either moving it or stopping those attacking it.
If
