NOVEL WEB Chapter 10 - Granite Crust
53rd of Season of Fire, 56th year of the 32nd cycle
Newt could not believe it, but he got the Granite Crust on his first attempt. The technique was identical to Magmin Scales, but instead of covering him in fire-aligned spiritual energy, a solid shell of earth-aligned spiritual energy crept across his skin.
“Well, I never expected you would do it correctly on your first attempt, but it makes sense. If you have a natural water affinity, mastering earth and air should come easier than fire. Good job.” Magmin’s words were pure nonsense, but actively learning spiritual techniques was a foreign concept to a first realm serpent whose abilities were all instinctive reactions and hereditary traits.
“Thank you.” Newt thanked his teacher before asking about a concept he had been mulling over for the past two days. “Can Granite Crust protect me from Magmin Flame?”
“To an extent,” Magmin confirmed Newt’s guess. “But it will do an inferior job. Granite Crust increases the toughness of your skin against physical harm. Unlike just about everything else, heat passes right through granite, and after several moments, you would have an equivalent of a searing rock stuck to your skin.”
“What happens with the heat once I dismiss Granite Crust?” Newt asked, thinking of an obvious loophole.
“It remains where it was, just like the objects embedded in it. Broken fangs and claws will fall to the ground, but if someone is trying to clench their maw shut on you and you dismiss your protection, it will hurt. I imagine suddenly releasing a lot of absorbed heat next to your skin would not feel pleasant either.”
I will have to think of another way to use Granite Crust and Magmin Flame at the same time.
“Grow, train, I will gather the rest of the spirit gems you require, then we will slay the pterodactylus.” Newt could hear the impatience in Magmin’s hisses as the serpent slithered out of the cave.
Newt obeyed. He consumed the spirit gems, and when he checked his realm, he confirmed he was close to fully forming his sixth layer.
“I can consider alternatives while erecting Magmin Pines,” he mumbled and closed his eyes.
As hours passed, he created ten trees, before noticing a difference between his Magmin Pines and Magmin’s.
“The bark of my trees is smooth like a column, but Magmin’s have a rough bark.” He paused, thinking. “They almost looked like rocky scales.”
Suddenly, his eyes shone with realization, “Or Granite Crust!”
He summoned the technique without thinking and checked his skin. Sure enough, the crust appeared identical to the bark of the trees covering Magmin’s realm.
“Damn that snake!” Newt cursed. “He didn’t tell me I could reinforce Granite Crust by cultivating the fire-earth tree’s bark!”
The principle was similar to what his father had done with a field of swords in his second realm, from which the former patriarch of the Blazing Salamander clan empowered his sword techniques.
Newt went back to his third layer and the original fire-earth trees he had erected, his body still covered with Granite Crust. He looked at his arm, then focused on the tree. The already formed layer resisted his will, but gave way after a few breaths. The smooth bark grew rough, splitting into black scales with a pattern of jagged cracks, which Newt realized were too regular.
“You are a fool.” Newt jumped at his uncle’s venomous whisper, and the transformation stopped.
“You really are a petty piece of—” Newt grunted, and his heart demons screeched in laughter.
“You just cost me a few moments of focus, you know?” Then he clamped his mouth shut. Stop acknowledging them. They may pose a danger to me. What if I’m about to figure out something and they strike at that time, distracting me or making me forget what I was thinking about.
It was only then that Newt realized he had been keeping Granite Crust active for minutes.
This is great. I can practice my techniques inside my realm, and hopefully make them easier to comprehend with my real body. Now…
He examined Granite Crust and found the cracks and etchings covering it identical, differing slightly in size, but nothing else.
I will have to make them uniform later. It should be like cutting and polishing gems, increasing the durability or something. Now, back to the trees.
Newt shifted his focus back on the trees, and one by one changed their barks to match his Granite Crust.
The endeavor took hours, but Newt found it easier as he moved into the newer layers. Then he tried erecting a Magmin Pine inside the sixth layer. The ground cracked and the wide pole surged from the ground, but crumbled before reaching five feet in height, leaving behind a small pile of debris.
Newt frowned, then tried again, achieving an identical result.
“I can’t cultivate a layer before it fully forms?” he guessed, scratching his head.
Newt could not begin to fathom why not. The land was there, the energy was there, yet the tree refused to take. He tried once more, his attempt ending just like the last two, before giving up on the idea, and focusing on another.
He once more willed Granite Crust to cover his skin, and examined the difference compared to his physical body. First off, the technique did not require him to summon spiritual energy. Second, it used no spiritual energy to remain active, but it did seem to tax Newt’s mind just like it did outside his realm.
What does that mean? Newt wondered, struggling not to speak his thoughts aloud. I can train here and perfect the form of my techniques, maybe even make it easier on my mind to maintain them. I can also experiment here. I just need to follow Father’s advice and be careful not to injure my body with uncontrolled bursts of spiritual energy.
He started slowly, covering himself in Magmin Scales. He examined his armor, and found each scale had an etching, just like Granite Crust. The design was different, but Newt knew they were made for the same purpose, one representing fire, the other earth, or an aspect of it.
Where do I—
“Struggling is pointless. Just die in the mines already.”
Newt breathed in and then out, letting the anger wash over him and ignoring the laughter. Then he focused back on his thoughts.
Where can I etch this glyph? It needs to be related to fire, but all I have fire-related is heat, which can’t bear any marks, and lava, which is liquid, and any glyphs I draw would get washed away.
Newt scratched his head in frustration. Is the additional defense worth it?
He immediately realized how silly his question was. A greater defense meant achieving more with less, permanently increasing the effectiveness with which he used his spiritual energy.
Newt looked up at the increasingly crimson sky.
Can I will the burning clouds into this shape?
He tried, but the clouds moved with the current of spiritual energy seeping into and out of Newt’s realm, quickly distorting and dispersing.
“Damn,” he whispered a curse, and then silently cursed for speaking when there was no need, his heart demons jeering.
I can’t wait for you guys to become corporeal, so I can destroy you. Newt strolled around his realm, summoning Magmin Flame atop his Magmin Scales, but failing to see any new runes even when he focused his third eye on it.
As he walked, he reached a stream of lava. He was about to jump over it, when a flash of inspiration struck him. Newt shifted the ground, reshaping the stream’s straight line into the fire glyph from Magmin Scales.
Lava took a while to fill the glyph, then kept flowing down like it did before his change. He kept watching his handiwork, and the incoming lava devoured it and turned into a lava puddle in a matter of minutes. Newt recreated the rune, but raised and thickened all the banks around which lava flowed. The design persisted for ten minutes without change.
Newt nodded. Good enough for now.
He moved upstream, repeating the process over and over, reforming the straight flow of lava into twisting fire glyphs. By the time he was done, Newt felt like he had gone through a meat grinder.
I’ll grab some sleep and check my progress tomorrow.
Newt hardly opened his eyes from his meditative trance before he fell asleep. When he awoke hours later, his entire body hurt. His back was one messy, giant cramp, his legs and arms dead.
I haven’t moved in days.
He slowly crawled into a sitting position, bending left and right, releasing a series of loud pops.
I haven’t eaten, I haven’t drunk, by all means I should be dead, but the high density spiritual energy is keeping me alive.
His stomach grumbled. But I’m definitely not happy. As soon as I get out of the mines, I’m going to eat and drink my fill. Then I’m going to defeat that bas—uncle of mine. I don’t care what happens with the rest of the clan, with the servants and with everyone else. They left me to die, I have no obligations towards them.
“I see you are awake. Consume these spirit gems, and then we are off to fight the pterodactylus.”