Weapons of Mass Destruction

No one will ever learn the name of my skill, I decide this immediately. I can already imagine their reaction. How the fuck do you even make it sound cool? For example, in combat, I jump in front of the enemy boss and say, “Say goodbye to this world. You cannot handle my [Knitting]!”

Hell nah.

More than anything, I would’ve expected the evolved version to be called [Weaving], which would be fitting, given my Primary Class, and my Mana Weaving technique. That technique allows me to weave mana threads into my creations to make them more durable and last longer. I even use it with Ley Lines.

But after taking a few days to do some testing, I think I at least somewhat understand the reasoning behind the name. I still hate it, but I get the logic behind it. In fact, I even went so far as to write it all out on the paper in front of me.

Theory of [Knitting] vs. Mana Weaving

- by Nathaniel Gwyn

[Knitting] uses a single continuous thread to create interconnected loops that reinforce each other, forming a tightly unified structure.

Key Strengths:

Unified Resilience: While it may seem better to use multiple threads (like weaving), given that a single break would carry the risk of destroying the entire structure, it’s not. Unlike weaving, where each thread remains an independent structure within the whole, knitting’s single-thread design means the entire structure acts as a unified construct. It distributes stress evenly, eliminating weak points where disparate threads would otherwise intersect.

Durable Under Strain: While weaving may fray or snap under extreme stress due to the nature of interlocking threads, knitting’s continuous structure flexes, providing added resistance to structural failure.

Mana Weaving - Mana Weaving interlaces a multitude of threads to form a rigid and layered structure with an overall improved lifespan.

Key Strengths:

Thread Redundancy: By using multiple threads one ensures that damage to one part of the weave doesn’t immediately compromise the entire construct.

Increased Rigidity: Weaving’s intersecting threads create a dense, immovable structure, ideal for static constructs like barriers and fortifications.

Why [Knitting] is NOT Weaker

Core Difference: Knitting sacrifices the thread redundancy of weaving in favor of a unified and adaptable structure that weaving cannot replicate. This allows Knitting to maintain performance under dynamic stress and high-strain conditions.

Example Applications:

Knitting is ideal for constructs, reinforcements, and tools that need to adapt to shifting conditions.

Weaving, by contrast, shines in fixed, unchanging applications like walls, weapons, and immovable fortifications.

I burn that paper the moment I finish to remove all mention of the word [Knitting]. At this point, all I can do is, as the twins say, cope.

In summary, Mana Weaving makes a large number of rigid threads, while [Knitting] uses a single, more flexible thread that I can make much thinner, and thus denser. If I play my cards right then sometime in the future it will likely be more durable than Mana Weaving could ever be.

Honestly It should work better with the construct for the Champion’s heart I have in mind. With some modifications, I might even be able to refine it further, and part of my mind is already working on that while the rest of me still examines [Knitting]. Now that I think about it though, that implies that I should be able to make clothes out of mana if I feel like it. There are so many interesting possibilities. But that name. That goddamned name.

Opening the door of my room, I head outside. I use my kinetic senses to detect Sophie’s heartbeat. Lately, I’ve grown to like that approach since it’s so much harder for mana users to hide the kinetic signature of their presence compared to their mana signatures. Everyone’s kinetic signature is different: their heartbeats are distinct, as are their steps, right down to the way air moves around them. With enough focus and experience, you can tell people apart by those differences alone.

Lifting myself into the air, I float toward the sparring circle, looking out into the dark green sky as it stretches out to meet the horizon in the distance. Flashes of white light streak through the air, followed by bursts of yellow. Signaling yet another clash between the forces of the Mimics and lumorans.

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I land at the edge and form a mana-block chair to sit in, waiting for Sophie to finish her match with Myrra as Tess sits watching nearby, as she normally does when they fight, since our mindblender and catgirl still seem to have quite a bit of bad blood between them.

Myrra stands tall and proud, with two long daggers in her hands. One is made of fire, the other of ice. Her Aurora Glass glimmers around her, filling the air with a crystalline material with reflective facets that constantly shift its hue depending on the way she uses the skill.

Touching a shard of glass near her, Myrra disappears, stepping out of another shard right above Sophie.

As Myrra falls, Sophie immediately senses her. A swarm of hundreds of bee-sized mana creations swirls around Sophie, flying toward Myrra and colliding with her flaming assault.

Sophie creates a barrier around herself, and her web activates trying to tie Myrra up. Myrra, with an aggressive groan, pushes through and tears the web apart with sheer strength alone.

Only Sophie’s golem blocks the next attack. The creation is twice Sophie’s height, made of dirt and stone, with black smoke seeping from it as her bond infuses it for greater control. After the first clash, the golem’s limbs slim down, increasing its speed, and it crashes into Myrra multiple times as she jumps around, trying to flank Sophie.

Meanwhile, Sophie keeps attacking with everything she’s got, her swarm, an array of mana projectiles, fire attacks, gusts of wind, and her web. Her arsenal is huge, and she uses all of it on Myrra, who keeps darting around the golem that constantly changes shape from agile to sturdy.

Aurora Glass glimmers as Myrra continues teleporting, moving like a wild beast driven by instinct only. Any scratches or even deeper wounds she gets are quickly healed by her powerful regeneration.

Myrra´s fire and ice clash against Sophie’s barriers and the golem, causing explosions of heat and cold to riot through the area. The daggers extend into two swords that would look massive, were only they held in human hands, though given her proportions they may as well be one-handed weapons.

The Aurora Glass shimmering around her changes color, flashing purple, white, and blue as it forms a beautiful suit of armor around Myrra. She lowers her stance, her yellow eyes gleaming dangerously, fangs bared.

Sophie returns that gaze calmly, her swarm circling around her while the golem starts radiating more black smoke as it becomes denser and more solid. No more roughly shaped stone and dirt, now it’s something much more durable.

“All right, that’s enough,” Tess says simply from nearby.

But the others ignore her as Myrra charges and Sophie continues to pour out more mana.

Suddenly, a single javelin bursts through the air, piercing Sophie’s stone golem like it’s made of paper and sends it flying. Red and white lightning crackles around Tess as she moves with a speed rivaling even Myrra, placing herself directly in Myrra’s path.

The agitated lynthari still swings, but Tess dodges with a quick sidestep and returns a single punch. Cracking lightning slams through Myrra, shattering the Aurora Glass and throwing Myrra into the distance.

A powerful burst of [Psychokinesis] then envelops the area, pressing down on both women for a moment, even through their natural and active defenses.

Tess’s blonde hair floats around her head, short bursts of electricity crackling in a halo around her and flaring out around her crown. She calmly stares them down until they step back.

It’s like our group leader is making sure everyone remembers the pecking order. Tess was the second person in our group to start her Beyond Trials. Her talent is undeniable, even if people do tend to overlook her when they see Lily’s ridiculous skills.

Tess is one of those people who combines immense talent with incredible effort.

Even so, I’d love to see her go all out. I don’t think it would be easy for her to fight Myrra or Sophie, especially Myrra, with her training from LissLiss. But as things stand now, I think Tess could even win in a 1v2 scenario against Sophie and Myrra.

To speed things up, I release a single disruptive wave of mana, and all of Sophie’s constructs vanish along with Myrra’s skills.

I notice that Aurora Glass and Sophie’s golem, powered by Blackie, require more effort to dispel, and Tess’s lightning remains, to no surprise. It’s primordial energy after all, plus she took Chastity as her subclass, which only serves to make it purer, not to mention that she also went with Mana Potency.

I’ll need to compare her lightning to my [Empyrean Lance] some time.

Reaching Sophie, I wave my hand in front of her face until she stops glaring at Myrra.

“What?” she asks.

“I got an idea, and I want you to go over it with me while we run our simulations.”

“Sure,” she groans.

The golem resting nearby crumbles; and the now-restored Arcane item known as the Golem Heart flies back into Sophie’s hand, as Blackie returns to her shadow.

I wave at Tess and Myrra as Sophie and I walk away, and as we walk I start explaining, “New plan. Adding a second heart obviously isn’t going to be simple, it’s not like I can just shove it in and hope it doesn’t burn me alive. My Kinetic Mana heart already takes up prime real estate in my chest. Introducing a second heart to generate thermal energy means I need to redesign a lot of my internal layout.”

“Didn’t we test that already?” she asks.

“Yes, but I’ve made some changes. I’m just talking it through out loud to confirm my plans. First, I kni… I weave a specialized cavity for the new heart, reinforcing it with heat-resistant, mana-woven threads to keep everything stable and insulated from the rest of my body. Without that, the thermal energy would burn through my insides like fire through paper. It’ll have to take some power from my Kinetic Mana Heart, but I’ll make sure I can cut the power feed easily enough and hope the thermal heart can maintain its own threads. It probably won’t work, but we’ll see.”

We reach the lake and continue walking across its surface—me using kinetic energy, and Sophie using her own brand of mumbo jumbo.

I continue, “The bigger challenge is going to be creating an entirely separate system for the thermal heart. My mana heart has its own pathways, so letting thermal energy leak into them would be catastrophic because my mana circuits aren’t built to handle extreme heat. We learned that the hard way. So I’ll need to weave a network of thermal pathways from scratch. We didn’t do that before because you said it was crazy and we tried using the existing pathways instead, but fuck it. We’ll layer thermal pathways and mana pathways on top of each other. These pathways will be interwoven with dense, heat-resistant threads, and should act like insulated arteries to carry thermal energy wherever I need it without frying everything in its path. Hopefully. A little bit of damage might be okay since I can still use thermal energy to heal some of it. I’ll also integrate heat-dissipation nodes, basically acting as exhaust ports, in a number of key places, maybe my palms and the soles of my feet to vent excess energy before it overwhelms me.”

“How about shooting thermal energy out of your ass as a dissipation node?”

“Fuck you, Sophie. Now, the process of anchoring the heart itself will be just as critical. If it’s not stable, the heat and stress from the thermal heart could cause a lot of damage or worse. Using my weaving skill, I’ll reinforce it with threads to hold everything secure and allow a bit of movement without causing too much damage. Finally, I’ll create a control hub near the heart, something like a Logic Core. It’ll replace my Vortex Core and function as an interface so I can regulate the thermal flow and keep it from interfering with my mana. It probably won’t work because nothing ever does, so I’ll come up with a few ideas and we’ll adapt as we go.”

By the time we reach the waterfall, I propel myself up the cliff to where we’ve left the heart lodged in the rock, which has begun to melt around it. Sophie joins me with a few long leaps, and we both look at the heart.

While staring at it, I say, “This isn’t going to be without risk. I’ve fucked up plenty. Collapsed constructs, overheated pathways, or energy feedback that almost killed me. It’s frustrating, but each test brings me closer. And fuck me if I don’t get this shitty heart in my chest before the tournament starts.”