Discordant Note: Crescendo | TBATE

Chapter 220: Lesser Tendencies

Thank you to my beta reader and editor, GlassThreads!

Wren Kain IV

I wrinkled my nose as I floated through the lesser sewers, the stench of excretion and bodily fluids scraping at my sinus cavities. My earthen chair edged around a particularly nasty buildup of dung and slime.

I'd initially been mildly impressed by the technology Agrona Vritra had managed to scrounge up for his lesser minions to use when I'd reached Alacrya. Mana panels that projected moving images, identification and functioning facilities for the majority of the populace, and more tools and items made ordinary living trivial for the common lesser.

But you can't even properly regulate your own excrement, I thought with annoyance. The design of these tunnels is impractical. The layout is inefficient for fluid transfer and shifting of large mass.

I wouldn't mind getting my hands on the idiot who'd designed this atrocity of a waste management system so I could show them exactly why this was an atrocity.

I slowed in my trek through the grim darkness, focusing the barest bit. Then I turned to the brick walls directly beside me as I sensed my quarry. I narrowed my eyes as the earth mana conveyed the truth of the mechanism.

Primitive.

A miniature golem of earth pulled itself from the stones beneath me, before striding forward through the muck. It tapped specific bricks in the order I knew they needed, before the entire wall folded in on itself.

My golem dissolved back into motes of earth mana as my chair hovered through the gap. Not a bare second after I'd entered the underground room, the wall closed behind me automatically.

"Interesting construction," I snorted, peering around the rooms. They appeared to have once been well-lived in, but hadn't seen much use in the past months. I narrowed my eyes as I floated further in, inspecting the support columns and various abandoned hallways.

I suspected this place had originally been used as a place to store rainwater for the populace of lessers above, but as magic became more engrained and the need for relying on rainwater decreased, the petty mages had no use for this cistern any longer.

And thus, some bottom-dwellers probably found an excuse to use this place as their own.

Whatever. That wasn't why I was here.

I pulled an item from my pocket, annoyed by the dust falling from the ceiling. Why couldn't those architects use better earth magic? Then every shake and tumble wouldn't coat me in debris!

With an annoyed click of my teeth, I snapped the goggles I'd prepared for this moment onto my face–and immediately, my vision lit up with a dozen different colors. Differing shades of red, blue, green, yellow, and darker specks all surged in their own unique patterns as the mana itself was revealed to me.

One of the Indrath Clan's greatest techniques was Realmheart. As evidenced by the training of Arthur Leywin, users under the influence of the technique could see mana particles as they moved and drifted through the world. After taking notes and cataloging the boy's ability, I'd created a device that allowed me something similar–without telling good old Kezzy, of course.

I wrinkled my nose as I scanned the damp room, tracking the different particles of mana as they moved. Not perfect, I internally acknowledged, noting the inefficiencies in my design. The goggles were more adept at picking out mana flow and movement rather than individual particles. Neither could it see aether. If I wanted this to become a true masterpiece, I'd use the ember of Sacred Fire that burned with me–but that would draw too much attention. But I'd like to see any prissy dragon try and make something like this. Eventually, even they can be surpassed through technology.