The problem with this fort is that it still lacks many vital things. This is especially true for the formations that are supposed to make the place habitable. The lack of environmental formations is the thing that is about to screw us the worst right now, though. The snowwinders can survive in this place, but even they do not find it easy to survive in such a place without help.
Everybody forgot to tell me that it is not the enemy that is our main threat, but the environment. After all, right now it seems more likely that a person is going to freeze to death than die fighting an enemy.
You can think of our present situation like we are sitting in an ocean of ice mana. Our vital mana is like a boat in this ocean, protecting us from drowning in this place. The soldiers are essentially a flimsy plank that is almost always on the verge of collapsing. I am much closer to the fisherman's boat, capable of surviving easily if things are calm. I am equally likely to drown here once things get even a bit more chaotic. So I am not in a much better situation than these people.
Shamon has been spending the last week trying to handle this problem. Under his command, nobody has died of frostbite. The problem is that they are not combat-worthy at the moment. The way that Shamon achieved this is also interesting. The man is making use of coats that have been enchanted to stop the freezing mana. (Enchanted is a strong word. The runes are painted on the coat.) These coats are not too effective. The snowwinders are managing with their more resilient physique. Somebody not adapted to the place would not have survived this place, even with the coats. (Thankfully, I am a mage so I don't need to wear it.)
I have not interfered with the man and his work, because he seems to know what he is doing. Anyways, the man is doing good. I don't have anything to scold him with. I also have something else to focus on, anyway. I am going to permanently solve the problem of the ice mana in this place. I am going to do that by creating the formation base.
This situation will grow a bit better once the formation base is set up. After all, once the other types of mana begin to flow into the place, it will start to push out all the ice mana. You can say that it will create a bubble around the fort. It won't have the effectiveness of an environmental formation. (I would have created one if I had the time.) They still show some effectiveness. I think it should, at the very least, reduce the dependence on those coats of theirs. That would certainly let them fight in short bursts at least.
To those who do not know of the formation base, you can call it the beating heart of any formation. Its main task is the management of mana that will be powering the formation.
That is why the formation base is usually the most complicated part of the formation. It has the most runes that need to be inscribed. (And you don't want to fail with the formation base. The consequences are not nice.) It also acts as the base for the remaining part of the formation. It is also the first part of the formation to be built whenever we begin our work.
That is why I need the elemental nodes this quickly. The formation base of the formation that I am planning to build needs a stream of three mana nodes. One elemental node of the metal element, the water element, and the earth element, respectively. (These are the elements that the copper bark tree needs to grow.)
You see, that is the fascinating thing about druidic trees. Most of them can grow even from a single twig as long as you can supply them with the correct type of mana. The inscriptions that you build into the tree will also be able to grow and strengthen over time. The only problem with this is the fact that this process can sometimes take centuries.
That is one of the reasons that the druids fell in the first place. When it takes you a few decades to build a forward base, a battle of attrition is something that you have to avoid. The legion is, if anything else, the master of fighting such battles.
Anyway, getting back to more relevant matters. I need a few elemental nodes to make the formation base and start my work. Now, the process of capturing elemental nodes is also very fascinating. Normally, non-Druids have to construct massive formations to redirect the elemental nodes. These formations tend to be massive, some of them even reaching class eight and beyond. Still, there is no guarantee that the elemental node will be redirected in the direction that you want it to go.
The druids make use of a simpler and nondestructive method of doing this. They do this by essentially massaging the stream in the direction in which it has to flow. Naturally, what I am saying is an oversimplification, but at its core, that is what we are doing. I have done this a few times before. Even now, I remember my mana essentially cutting into the stream like a rock in the middle of a river. Done at the correct location, it can shift the direction of the stream in that direction. A thousand such interferences, and the node is essentially dancing in your control.
Well, leave it be. I won't be able to explain it properly, no matter how much I try. The only thing you need to know is that I am sure that I will be able to make any elemental node flow where I want it to. I can even pull it off from fifty kilometers away as well. An actual master of this technique will be able to do the same thing from thousands of kilometers away as well. At least, that is what I have seen my master do. (The man works extensively with druidic formations.)
Well, the only reason that I am not doing all of this in a more comfortable position is that I don't know where they are. Until now, I have visited five mines and I have not found even the trace of an elemental node at any of them. That is weird. Normally, you can feel a small part of the node even if the entire thing has been dissipated. (It is an echo of an echo, but you can still feel it.) It feels like somebody was here clearing the entire thing away.
Well, I have never seen a case where the elemental node disappears without even leaving a trace. I would have to assume that it has something to do with being this close to the northern wastelands. After all, I have heard that a mana desert can do weird things to mana.
Even then, things are going okay. After all, there are still more than fifty mines here. The only thing that is a pain would be the fact that I have to physically crawl in these tunnels. That means that I am trudging in tunnels that the dwarves would consider a tight fit. I can barely crawl through these tunnels. Still, I have to do so to reach the point where I can detect whether the place has an elemental node or not.
I don't need to be in the tunnels to look for the elemental nodes. I can find the elemental nodes from the ground as well. The only reason I am down here is that coming above the ground here would kill me. Above the ground, this place is too close to the northern wastelands. The chaotic mana here can kill me in a matter of moments. The only reason that I am still safe is that I am presently in the dwarfs' caves. The massive layer of earth is the only thing that is muffling the storm above.
Even down here, I can feel the violent changes in the ice mana occurring up there. They hit me sometimes like waves on the beach. I can feel the ice mana wash over me, trying to drown and freeze me, but my vital mana is strong enough to shrug it off. Still feels like I am becoming a block of ice, though. Makes me wish that I had those coats with me.
All of the dwarven tunnels are interconnected to each other for this same reason. The bastards essentially created a complicated tunnel system deep under the ground. As long as you enter one mine, you can go to them all. So it seems like I will be stuck in this place for a while. I am not too surprised about this, though. Knowing the dwarves, they must be even more fragile than me. There is no way that they are braving the storm above.
Right now I cannot help but wonder whether this storm will be able to destroy our fort. I mean, I am not that far away from our fort. Even from down here, I can tell how violent it is up there. Well, Shamon seemed to be more than confident that the fort won't face permanent damage. We are in some kind of a dead spot, it seems. The mana at the fort should be stable at least this early in winter. Looking at the storm, though, I am struggling to believe these words. How can anyone call the storm above stable?
Regardless, I have taken the man's word for it now. I do not have any actual method of protecting the fort even if such a storm happens closer to the fort. The formations are the only thing that I have at hand, and I am already doing my best to make those a reality.
Normally, this is not a task I prefer to do alone but I cannot exactly send the soldiers in here. Firstly, I am not sure how the head office could react to this. While revealing such small secrets shouldn't cause me much problem with them. I still have no desire to antagonize the head office more than necessary. The head office can be pretty petty if they decide that you are their enemy. You can already see me in my present case, and I have no real enmity with the head office.
Secondly, most of the soldiers don't have any form of cultivation. They will freeze to their deaths. Ultimately, the best way to do this would be to do this personally. To physically crawl into these tunnels and find the elemental node.
Well, it does not help me to imagine the weather up there. I think it is wise to focus on the task at hand. Right now, I am in a mine that the dwarves have built to extract an ore that they are calling "blue mithril". I think they mean mithril that has had water mana flow through it. Any water-based spell cast from a weapon made of this will get a boost.
I assume that this might lead to an elemental node of either the water element or the metal element. If I am really lucky, there could be an elemental node of both elements here. (It is rare for elemental nodes to coexist like this, though.)
That means that I am left with a lot of crawling and cursing, and shivering. I have no desire to record, so I will be taking my leave here. I need to figure out where I am going anyway. A dwarf's mine might look small on a map, but they tend to be literal mazes, I tell you.
On top of that, you can't be sure of the actual location of the node either. It will most likely be found in the region that has the highest concentration of the ore. That could be at the very end of the mine, or you could find it right at the entrance. That means that I have to check out every inch of this place to make sure no elemental node exists in the mine.
Just thinking about the amount of crawling left is making me feel claustrophobic. Screw it, I will continue this log when I have finally found an elemental node.