“Magma, we’re underground.” Jaxon interjected cheerfully. “Almost literally in the flames.”
Joe’s quill quivered as he worked to keep his hands away from Jaxon’s neck. “Thank you, Jaxon. We can work with a building that simply maintains this place. Something that drains and directs the lava. I just don’t know what it should be.”
“Joe.” The Major met his eyes. “Anything is amazing. A lava-proof shack? The best thing I have ever heard of. It means we get to live, remember? This place will be under your control if you save it, you know. Any Candidate that takes a major fort is given their first acquisition to run. Got anything extra nice for you that you have plans for? Something that would work?”
Joe looked at the briefcase, which was actually a storage device that could only hold various forms of paper. “I… might. The problem is, I don’t know if we have the time to make it happen. Or the resources.”
“Tell me what you need. I’ll make the logistics happen.” The Dwarf promised grimly.
“I need mana. Lots of it, and repeatedly. I need to set up a ritual, and I need everyone in the entire volcano to be on board with getting it going. Start getting people into circles now.” Joe’s words made the Major go pale, but she nodded stiffly. “Also, all of the Guardian, and any parts of the Prismatic Evergreen that you can get. Pile them as close together as possible.”
“As you say… Candidate.” The Major saluted him, much to his surprise, and marched off, already shouting orders.
“You’re so cool, Joe. Can you sign my chest?” Jaxon lifted his shirt to tease his friend. Joe slapped the exposed ribs, getting a yelp from Jaxon as his skin turned red instantly.
“Handprint. Kinda like a signature,” Joe laughed as he pulled out a folded paper and laid it out over the entirety of the circular table. “Look at this with me, and pretend you understand it. I need someone to bounce ideas off of. This is an alchemy building, and as far as I can tell… this was their backup plan if the Prismatic Evergreen failed to produce the results they were looking for.”
“Oh! So you already have a building that will save us all?” Jaxon wiped his forehead. “Thank goodness. I was trying to stay positive, but I was getting pretty freaked out there, Joe. You know-”
“It’s Artifact-ranked,” Joe stated heavily, his head spinning at what he was planning to do. “I have ten hours to have it ready, which means I can only draw the ritual and hope that everything goes smoothly. That’s an Artifact building, and an Artifact blueprint, that I’m trying to build with a student-ranked ritual. I don’t know if I can make this building by using this ritual, but I literally have no choice. Thanks to Elfreeda, I at least have the Core I need for the building itself.”
Joe raised a hand that was holding a Core too bright to look at, even with his hand fully wrapped around it.
You have found a Master Core (Artifact/Immaculate)! Absorb it for 14,927 experience?
Joe dismissed the prompt with a bitter mental shove.
“Hmmm.” Jaxon rubbed his chin and tapped at the blueprint. “I see, what if you…”
Joe stared at the man as he trailed off. “What if I what, Jaxon?”
“Huh? Oh. No idea.” Jaxon shrugged and stepped away. “You told me to pretend I understood.”
Having half-stood in excitement, Joe collapsed back into his chair. “I changed my mind. Go tell the Major that I need items or material at the Artifact rarity and lower to make this happen. Anything will suffice.”
Jaxon walked out, and Joe got to work. It didn’t take a terribly long time for him to finish the ritual perfectly, but then the ‘fun’ started. He began encapsulating the massive blueprint in the ritual diagram, transferring the data from the blueprint to the ritual. For six hours he worked at it, and at the end it was all… glowing grey?
All except one small part that was black. Joe looked at the blueprint and the ritual side by side, finding that there was a single small line that he had thought was an eyelash on the blueprint. He connected that line on his blueprint, and the entire thing flashed gold. “Oh! Tatum! I can see truth and falsehood again!”
That skill had faded pretty slowly after Tatum had been locked away, but it had eventually vanished. Now, it was back in full force, and it couldn’t have had better timing. The ritual was as ready as it could be; all that remained was to obtain the building materials. He stood and hurried out to the site they had chosen for the building, but blinked at the changes in the area. The buildings that had been destroyed were all vanishing, leaving huge piles of building materials behind. Joe hadn’t thought it would be an option, but he diverted his gaze to the space where the Prismatic Evergreen had stood, and gaped at the stacks of crystal that were under guard.
It appeared that Major Infraction had anticipated his desire to have an important building constructed in the best protected area of the fort, because Joe had needed to vault over ring after ring of Legionnaires as he approached the space. He located the Dwarf in question right away; she was arguing with another bearded Officer that Joe didn’t recognize.
“I gave the order to dig, Major! Why are these soldiers just standing around?” The bearded Dwarf was bellowing in her face, but the Major didn’t flinch.
“The success or failure of this mission is resting entirely on the shoulders of Candidate Joe, and he needs these troops and
