Before long, I stopped swinging altogether. Terrakinesis flowed out of me in a steady, controlled pressure, sinking into the iron and molding it from within. The metal softened under my will, yielding to my gentle guidance, its internal stresses easing as I redistributed mass and aligned structure. The shoulders widened just enough, the hips settled lower, and the stance locked into that same grounded inevitability I’d felt before. There was no wobble in my mind’s eye this time, no doubt about how it would move when it stood.

  Urg watched silently, his presence a steady anchor at my side. I felt no need to ask if I was doing it right. “Thought directs action, thus thought controls reality. This is the astral truth.” It was a lot for him to say, but rather than responding, I let his words soak in and stayed focused on the metal.

  The iron answered me cleanly, responding to my intent without resistance, and within minutes the body stood complete. Twelve feet of iron, smooth and balanced, every curve purposeful. Even before enchantment, it carried weight in the space around it, the kind of presence that made lesser beings hesitate.

  I didn’t pause long before moving on to the rune work. With Terrakinesis still active, I etched the same rune chains into the body, impressing them directly into the iron’s structure. Urg was right—with this ability, I could make my thoughts into reality. That just meant that it was vitally important for me to stay focused, something I’d always struggled with.

  Lines flowed beneath the surface of the metal like veins, invisible to normal sight but obvious to my senses. Movement runes, kinetic amplification, jump reinforcement, and structural stability all settled into place with practiced ease. This time, there was no trial and error. The patterns locked together smoothly, each string reinforcing the others without conflict.

  When I finished, I smoothed the exterior again, polishing the surface until it became mirror-bright and achieved the same quasi-invisibility effect. The iron reflected the forge’s light, bending it just enough that the golem’s outline blurred at the edges. I smiled faintly. I would hate to have to face this thing in battle. The Order were in for a treat.

  Tad approached as I stepped back, his expression tired but eager. He took in the second golem with an approving nod, then reached into his pouch for the control disc. There was no discussion this time. We both knew our roles. He knelt, placed his palm against the golem’s chest, and began working with the same careful focus as before.

  My Spirit Sight flared as sprites gathered again, curious and attentive. Tad spoke to them softly, inviting them into their new home, explaining what this vessel was meant to do. The disc glowed and sank into the iron, fusing seamlessly as spiritual energy flooded the internal framework. The rune chains lit from within, responding immediately, and I felt that familiar ripple of potentiality pass through the room.

  The golem stirred, bending at the waist and sitting up with a low metallic groan. It didn’t speak this time, but it didn’t need to. The awareness inside it was clear, stable, and ready. Tad stepped back as it rose to its full height, then held up a hand to steady it while the final enchantments took shape.

  He moved quickly now, far more confidently than before. Self-Repair was woven first, ambient mana already beginning to circulate through the matrix. Electrical Resistance followed, the pathways designed to bleed excess energy back into repair. Judgment Rejection settled into place with that same heavy refusal I’d felt earlier, the matrix learning what it could safely ignore entirely. Finally, Tad shaped Void Flame again, the dark ember forming and interlocking with the rest of the enchantments without strain.

  The sprites knew what to do without being asked, which made me wonder idly if they had some sort of communication system we weren’t privy to. Threads extended from the enchantment matrix into my rune chains, empowering them just as before, and I felt a quiet sense of completion settle in my chest. The second golem stood finished, a mirror of the first in form and function, but distinct in its own subtle way.

  I let out a breath and leaned against the forge, suddenly aware that this part was done. Two iron sentinels forged and awakened, each a fusion of systems that were never meant to cooperate. Tad met my eyes and smiled, exhaustion and satisfaction warring in his expression.

  “Well,” he said, “that’s two problems solved.”

  I nodded slowly. “But a lot more to come.”

  The notifications confirmed our success.

  Once again, because of the synergy of potentiality and authority, the Metallic Mirror Golem has been upgraded to a Mercury Mirror Golem, with the same stats as the first. Both are primarily under the control of Tad Ocean, with Silas Renner-Kalestian as the secondary controller.

  Doing something once is a sign of artistry, and potentially even genius. Doing the same thing again speaks to discipline and a deeper understanding of the process.

  Tad Ocean gains five levels for demonstrating his proficiency. He has now reached level 210.

  Silas Renner-Kalestian, you have been promised many rewards, but they are all connected to other objectives. As a reward for this achievement, your affinities will be expanded. To receive this reward, you must consume the temporal mana crystal you possess, as well as the Time Link you previously received.

  Do you wish to initiate this process? Take it now, or take it never.

  I would have grumbled, but there wasn’t time. Expanding my affinities… I hoped I knew what it meant, but maybe I was reading too much into it. That crystal was supposed to be used for me to train temporal abilities, but I wasn’t sure I should pass up a reward.

  I suffered a moment of hesitation, but finally accepted the offer. I pulled out the Time Link and looked at it again.

  Time Link (Artifact)

  This item is normally reserved for fey royalty, but has been custom created for Silas Renner, as by system assessment he fulfills the requirements of royalty within the Heavens System. It is not an item which can be used as a tool, but something which can change the nature and power of the one who wears it over time. This power will enhance the user’s connection to time in a way that most will never comprehend. The full extent of what this item can do for the user is dependent upon the effort put in. It could simply represent a small boost to related spells and abilities, or it could result in a massive upgrade, equivalent to increasing in tier.

  If it hadn’t been literally made for me, it would have been perfect for Lana. The thought made me feel a little bad, and I knew I probably should pick her up a souvenir, but I needed every advantage I could get for what was about to come.

  I also pulled out the temporal mana crystal from my spatial storage. I was pleased to see that it had grown—not significantly, but to more than the original ten thousand mana.

  Temporal Mana Crystal (12,830/12,830 mana): This crystal contains pure temporal mana, and can be used to augment your temporal affinity. This crystal will slowly recharge from ambient mana.

  Nearly a 30% increase. Not too shabby. There had been a plan for this crystal before the current offer. The same with the life mana crystal. In my mind, I thought I might be able to create additional cores, like my spatial core. They would be additional sources of power, which would make me far more powerful than my level indicated.

  With that in mind, I formed a vise out of force constructs and summoned Wayfinder. Tad jumped back and I realized that I hadn’t explained what I was doing. “Sorry, I’m going to try to shave a piece of that crystal off so that I can use it for something else, before I use the rest of it to gain the reward I was offered.”

  “I read the notification, and was just watching to see what you did. I don’t really get why you don’t get levels, but I suppose each system works differently.”

  I nodded, then lined up my aim, visualizing the strike I wanted to make. Wayfinder was alive in my hand, more than just a weapon. I glanced over at Urg. “You know what? I could use your help with this. Willing to fuse for a second?”

  “Image stretches rules. Tries to”—he paused, then found the words he was looking for—“have cake and eat it too. Urg likes it.”

  With that, I felt him fuse into me. He allowed me to retain control, and my stats shot up as our combined power became one. I was going to have to hit this crystal just right and count on Wayfinder’s blade to be sharp enough to shear off the sliver I needed. I remembered what Urg had said before about thought guiding action, and focused myself. There was no room for doubt.

  With my visualization crystal clear—haha—I struck.

  There was a brief moment of resistance. My mind expanded for a second, and I saw a vision of a bloody battle in the streets of Basetown. Everywhere I looked, corpses lined the streets, and the once-proud houses and shops were either on fire or completely collapsed. The air was filled with the sounds of the terrified and broken.

  It wasn’t a case of being Unmoored in Time, nor was it like what Jay had done. I wasn’t in the future, but it was a glimpse into it. Judging from the certainty in my heart, I deemed this to be more than just a random potential future. This was the most likely.

  There were other things that confused me about this glimpse into what might be, though. Above the city, I’d seen the strangest battle I’d ever imagined. Walking on a cloud was someone in the colors of the Order. He blazed like the sun, and his power was far beyond mine, I was certain. But he was locked in a battle against three foes. There was a fey with golden hair who wove fire around her like a streamer. Beyond the enemy was another fey, this one dark-hued with wings that glittered like the night sky.

  The final figure in the battle, or rather figures, were the ones I’d least expected—Samvek, riding on the back of Azuria, his bonded dragon. Together, the two fought with all their might against the ascendant.

  That momentary flash ended in less than a nanosecond, but my mind took several times that to unpack everything I’d just seen. I played it over in my head before the awareness faded, but this was different from when I was Unmoored in that it didn’t really fade. It was like a memory that hadn’t happened yet.

  I didn’t have time to dwell on it. I took the smaller temporal mana crystal I’d managed to shave off, noting that it had about 2000 mana in it, then shoved it into Save for Winter. I indicated to the system that I was ready to accept the reward.

  My hands buzzed, one holding the larger chunk of temporal mana crystal, and the other the Time Link. Then, without my input, my hands slammed together by a force of raw inevitability. I felt power surge through me. I saw myself as I was born, then a thousand different moments that had led to this present time. Flickers of people important to me flashed through my mind, and while I didn’t regret my decision to choose Selena, I knew there and then that I needed to make things right with Lana. She was a friend—more than that, really—but she had been left out of this grand adventure, the one thing she craved more than anyone I knew.

  There were shadows of the future, but nothing that I could understand or even put words to, and unlike the destruction of Basetown, those faded instantly. I felt my insides stretching. There was a moment of pain.

  Your primordial nature has allowed for something which should not normally be possible. Your affinities have been expanded. You will now exceed the normal limits of mortality, granting you up to four times greater affinity for each of your magic types compared to what mortals can normally experience under the Heavens.

  Spatial affinity 50%

  Life affinity 40%

  Lightning affinity 20%

  Temporal affinity 11%

  As soon as I read it, I knew something wasn’t right. The Fey System had stretched me, but the Heavens were in on it, too.

  The next notification I could only grin at.

  You have gained a new title: Your Math’s not Mathing

  Normal mortals have to remember that 2 + 2 = 4, but your life is a divine narrative, and the story is important enough that sometimes even the rules of mathematics, which the uninformed believe govern the universe, will have to bend.

  I could only shake my head and wonder what kind of trouble I was going to get in over this. Then, as was often the case after rule-breaking changes, the lights went out.

  Chapter Fifty-Two: What Else Can Be Done?

  It turned out that having my affinities forcibly expanded to beyond normal limits took a bigger toll on the body than some numbers that didn’t seem to add up would indicate. I was out for almost twelve hours, and when I came to, Selena was cuddled up next to me in our makeshift bed. Somehow, she’d gotten the small spoon position without even waking me, which I guessed meant that I’d been really out of it.

  When I started to move, she reflexively grabbed my arm and pulled it over her like a blanket. Her heart rate didn’t really change, so I didn’t think she’d woken up. I didn’t move again, but instead allowed myself to settle into the moment. I’d never been someone’s blanket… by which I meant their comfortable place, their shelter from the world. I found I liked the idea of being that for Selena.

  The time to move would come shortly, but I could spare a few more minutes for this comfort. It allowed me to sort my thoughts. I had the upgrade to Terrakinesis to deal with, but I still wanted advice on that before I made any decisions. Then there was the offer from the Ways. I already knew I was unlikely to accept it, but for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger on declining the invitation.

  The power of the potion I’d received was still there, as were the stat-increasing potions. Then there was this new quest. Besides the excitement of what an Infinity Key might be, it sounded at the very least as though it would allow me to get home. I mentally rapped myself on the forehead with my knuckles. I had to quit the wishful thinking. There wasn’t any evidence of what it could do, and it wasn’t something I could do anytime soon, anyway.

  I was skipping over the real question—how was I supposed to gather the essence of an ascendant? I wasn’t lucky enough for that to be as simple as milking a cow. It probably meant that we had to kill one. With that came the vision of the future again. It was still as clear in my mind as the moment it had first appeared.

  I reached out to Urg in my thoughts and asked him a question I’d never asked him before. “What’s an Astral Lord? Is that like a god?”

  I knew he heard me and he would answer, but at first, all I got was silence. I remembered Gallarosa’s words to him. She had said that of all the beings there, he was the only one who might be able to deal with her, but she’d also seemed to imply that was a future possibility. Urg was an Astral Lord, but I didn’t know what that meant. It certainly wasn’t some type of nobility. It felt like a rank of power.

  “What Urg might be. In the astral plane, time is different. Thought is everything. Urg exists in all his states at the same time there, but here, Urg is limited.”

  “Limited by me, right?”

  Again silence, and then a sense of hesitation. “Yes.”

  “And could you kill a god?”

  “God’s death different from mortal death, but still possible. In the vastness of the Void, all things but the first can end. The deep Void holds threats greater than any primordial. Primordials are like Urg. Thought matters. In Void, intent matters. Primordials are like that also. Even gods strive to become what primordials are naturally, despite their opposition.”

  “That tells me a great deal, but doesn’t answer my question.”

  “Yes, Urg could end a god, or a primordial. What Image say? Right place, right time. Here is wrong place, wrong time.”

  That answered my question somewhat, and I didn’t push him any further. Urg had reasons for not explaining more, and I trusted him. But it was time to wake Selena. We all needed to talk.

  When I woke her, she turned over and stared into my eyes. “You’re lucky you’re so cute, or a girl could get mad about being woken from a nice dream.”

  I smiled, knowing she was playing with me. I leaned in and kissed her, savoring the moment.

  When I pulled back, she sighed. “I guess that means we have to have a strategy meeting.”

  I nodded, and before I could say anything else, she was up. “Would you mind hitting me with one of those Clean spells?”

  I cast it without thought, and in a moment, not only was Selena clean, but so were our clothes and the bedding we’d been using. “How was the dungeon?”

  “Oh, no. You woke me up for a meeting, so go get everyone else. I don’t want to have to repeat myself.”

  I moved around the warehouse, rousing everyone who was still there. The forest elves and Lexa had headed for Arbormaris. Apparently, they were still trying to get the seedling of Yggdrasil to join in the battle with us, but the human captain she was bonded to didn’t want her to risk herself, preferring for everyone to sail away to safer waters. I got the feeling that the tension between them was unusual.

  Clay was also gone, but I found Oliver, Fara, and Tad chatting in a small living area they’d set up among some abandoned crates. Samvek was running forms in one corner of the warehouse, but quickly joined us when we all sat down. I threw out the fact that we only had three and a half days until the protection hiding us was removed, and only a little more than four to complete the quest to drive the Order out of Basetown.

  “We definitely want to strike before they find us,” Fara said. “Their patrols have spread out over the city, even expanding into the countryside. They’re keeping tabs on the adventurers’ guild, but haven’t moved against Clay. Their patrols in the warehouse district are the heaviest, but that’s likely because of the previous confrontation. We’ve been fortunate so far, but it can’t last forever, even with this protection from magical detection.”

  Oliver nodded. “They’re unlikely to move against the adventurers’ guild directly. They still fear upsetting the emperor, and the guild is a recognized organization in the empire. And beyond, really.”

  “I’m not sure how much that will matter if they discover that the guild is helping a fey,” Tad said. He shook his head in frustration. I was fairly sure that like me, he hated the idea that others would be put in danger because of him.