Mist of Shadows
patreon
Reluctant Villainy Part 20
🕑 Added 2021-06-15 09:06:56 +0000 UTC"Dungeon of Tears?" Siuan asked warily.
"It's basically a ter'angreal that creates a simulation filled with monsters to fight. By fighting the monsters you can gain strength," Myst explained. "Of course, you could also die so it's a bit of a risk."
"Except you weren't in a dungeon, you were just sitting here," Verin pointed out.
"It also takes a bit for the boost to sink in," Myst replied with a shrug. "I'm still working on finding a combination of ter'angreal that would keep people safe."
"It's a work in progress," Mione added.
"Speaking of work, are you heading back to the Tower?" Myst asked, looking at Moiraine and doing his best to ignore the suspicious look Siuan was giving him.
"Not just yet," Moiraine replied thoughtfully.
"Fair enough," Myst replied as he used his Creation ability to create a Shimmering power sphere. He handed the sphere to Verin then sent her a mental message, 'Just in case you ever need to teleport elsewhere. Just think about absorbing it.'
"Interesting," Verin said thoughtfully as the sphere sunk into her hand and vanished.
Myst used his Skill Management ability to give Verin a decent amount of skill with the power then opened a portal back to Siuan's office. "Best of luck hunting the rats."
"Can anyone use the dungeon and where is it?" Siuan asked, doing her best to keep from glaring at the annoying woman.
"Anyone that finds it," Myst replied with a grin. "You should probably leave before I close the portal and you have to take the long way back."
Siuan turned to look at Moiraine. "Be careful."
"As careful as I can," Moiraine agreed, knowing that was the best she could promise.
Leane glanced between the various people that were far stronger than they had any right to be then walked through the portal back to Siuan's office. "Let's go before someone notices we're gone, we've got a lot to discuss."
Siuan glanced between Ella and Bella. "You should join the Tower."
Bella laughed. "Not a chance, you wouldn't let us run around without clothes."
"I don't know, I bet she has a firm hand with a paddle, it could be fun," Ella said thoughtfully.
Bella shook her head. "No thanks, the only person that gets to paddle my bottom is Mione."
"Lena is pretty good with a paddle," Kara offered as she patted her girlfriend's behind.
Lena smiled as she leaned into Kara.
Siuan focused on Myst. "What would it take to get access to the dungeon?"
"Dealing with your rat problem is a good start," Myst replied as Verin walked through the portal.
"Keep in touch," Siuan told Moiraine then walked through the portal.
Myst smiled as he closed the portal. "That could have gone a lot worse."
"Are you willing to let me explore the dungeon?" Moiraine asked, not sure it was actually real.
"Give me a couple of days to get everything set up and to craft a decent set of defensive ter'angreal and I'll be happy to let you run through it a couple of times," Myst promised as he stood up and stretched his arms over his head, changing back to his normal appearance.
Kara stared at Myst. "Myst?"
Myst grinned at Kara. "Guilty as charged."
Moiraine frowned slightly as she studied the attractive man in front of her. "How come you can channel saidar?"
Myst smiled when he saw Nynaeve and Lan walking towards them with Egwene following a couple of steps behind. "I have the ability to unlock a person's ability to channel so they can draw from either side of the source."
"Including your own?" Moiraine asked.
"Basically," Myst agreed. "It means I don't have to touch saidin until after it's clean."
"Does that mean you could unlock Rand's ability to channel so he could draw on saidar?" Moiraine asked, wondering if he'd confirm her guess.
Myst briefly considered lying then shrugged. "In theory, I've never tried to unlock someone's ability before they've actually channeled but it should work."
"Where are your clothes?" Nynaeve demanded as she stalked over, glaring at Ella and Bella.
"We don't have any," Ella replied with a shrug.
"Why not?" Nynaeve demanded.
Bella snickered. "Because clothes are evil."
"You're going to freeze," Nynaeve snapped.
"She has a point," Myst admitted as he used his Creation power to create two Invulnerability spheres. "These should keep you from freezing." He tossed the spheres to Ella and Bella.
"You're the best," Ella replied cheerfully when she used her sphere and the cold faded to almost nothing.
"Second best," Bella added after using her sphere.
"You still need clothes," Nynaeve snapped.
"Why?" Bella asked with a pout. "If we're wearing clothes, it makes it harder for Mione to finger fuck us."
Myst barely managed not to laugh at the look of horrified outrage on Nynaeve's face. "On that note, we should probably get Kal and the girls settled and get the twins some clothes," he suggested as he used his Clairvoyance to look at the future of Willow's world, looking for the ter'angreal that created the color changing cloth.
"Are you saying we need clothes?" Ella asked with a pout as she moved Mione's hands to her breasts. "Better?"
"No, I'm just saying you should have the option," Myst replied as he opened a portal to Willow's storeroom when no one was around and scanned the collection of looms that created the color changing silk-like cloth.
"Have you lost your mind?" Nynaeve demanded.
"Are you saying you don't want to play with our breasts?" Ella asked with a pout.
"No!" Nynaeve snapped.
"Your loss," Ella replied as she smiled at Egwene. "Care for a tumble?"
Egwene blushed slightly as she thought about Naime and the other Egwene's time on the Sea Folk ship. "I don't even know your name."
"Ella," Ella replied with a smile.
Myst finished scanning the collection of ter'angreal then focused on scanning the spiral silver armbands with foxes on them.
"Are those ter'angreal?" Moiraine asked.
"The spiral armbands are angreal, the rest are ter'angreal," Myst replied as he continued scanning the armbands, wanting multiple versions so he could combine them with the fusion toad. "I'm just scanning things so I can duplicate them."
Nynaeve pulled her attention away from the girls she wanted to toss in a stream and focused on Myst. "Can you teach us to make angreal?"
"Technically," Myst replied as he closed the portal and used his Creation ability to copy the loom that created the shimmering fabric that was almost impossible to cut.
"Technically?" Nynaeve asked as she studied the loom on the table.
"Technically anyone can use a specially created item to create one but it requires investing your power into the 'seed' for a couple of months which is why they're generally rare," Myst explained as he channeled into the loom, causing it to start weaving a shimmering cloth.
"Except there were dozens of armbands," Moiraine pointed out.
"They were using criminals," Myst replied as he stopped channeling into the loom once he had enough of the shimmering fabric to scan it.
"Where's Mat and the older Egwene?" Moine asked.
Lan glanced at Moiraine then focused on Mione when she gave him a slight nod. "They're talking to the queen's advisors and generals."
Myst used the scan of the fabric and his Creation ability to create a silver belt with two knee length strips of shimmering cloth and tossed it to Ella. "See if that fits."
"Shinny!" Ella squealed as she ran her fingers over the shimmering strips of translucent cloth.
"You can't expect her to wear that!" Nynaeve complained.
"Why not?" Ella asked as she bounced to her feet and put the loincloth on.
Nynaeve stared at Ella in disbelief. "Because you can see everything!"
"Just my legs," Ella replied as she turned her back to Kara. "How does my butt look?"
"Nice," Kara offered, not seeing a problem considering the loincloth covered a lot more than some of the people on Tatooine wore.
Nynaeve scowled at Myst. "You shouldn't encourage them."
Myst focused on some of the halter top designs he'd seen over the years and used his Creation ability to create a halter top out of the shimmering fabric. "Why not?"
"Someone is going to get ideas," Nynaeve snapped.
"That reminds me," Myst replied as he turned to look at Mione. "Do you want to turn them into magic girls?"
"I probably should," Mione replied as she opened her inventory menu and started looking for her magic transformation rod.
"Magic girls?" Moiraine asked, wondering what they were talking about.
"I picked up a magical item that gives people an alternate form and some physical boosts while in their alternate form," Mione explained as she pulled a crystal rod out of her inventory. "It also gives you a decent amount of magic."
"Does it work on anyone?" Moiraine asked, glancing at Lan.
"Pretty much," Myst replied as he scanned the rod.
"How much of a physical improvement does it give you?" Lan asked, figuring having the ability to vanish into a crowd would be useful.
Mione glanced at Myst then looked at Lan. "According to the notes, you could toss a horse or a wagon cart."
"A wagon cart?" Lan asked in surprise.
"You can also outrun a horse." Mione looked at Myst. "You might want to turn into a girl first, your form is set the first time you use it."
"Sure," Myst replied with amusement as he used his Shape Changing to turn into an attractive teenage girl with brown hair, curious what he'd get and how much of it he could turn into power spheres.
Mione focused on the costume she wanted him to have then used the rod on Myst, causing him to shift into an attractive, tall, pale skinned and black haired teenage girl with a black cloak tossed over a black silk shirt and a black kilt. "What do you think?"
Myst glanced down at his breasts that the shirt did a good job of showing off then focused on the kilt he was wearing. "It works."
"Anything useful for abilities?" Mione asked hopefully.
Myst checked his collection of abilities. "I can lift an extra five tons and run faster than a horse can all day without getting tired and I got a decent amount of magic out of the deal, which I should be able to hand out."
"Do you have any proof that it works?" Nynaeve asked.
Myst reached over and picked up the table and the girls sitting on the table with one hand. "We could use a bit more weight on the table."
"Sure," Kal replied as he walked over and carefully sat down on the bench.
"It's a decent boost." Myst smiled as Kara and Lena walked over to join him. 'It's practically a drop in the bucket compared to my other strength abilities but it's decent if you're not fighting gods.'
"You can shift back, right?" Lan asked, not particularly interested in being stuck in a form that wasn't his own.
"Yeah," Myst set the table back on the ground then changed back to normal.
"In that case, I wouldn't mind an extra form," Lan said, knowing it would come as a hell of a surprise if he needed it.
Myst changed back to his magic girl form and turned his boosted supernatural strength into a power sphere. "Give me a second." He scanned the sphere then absorbed the sphere, restoring his supernatural strength. He gestured and used Projection to temporarily turn Lan into a tall athletic woman then used Creation to make a copy of the strength sphere and tossed it to Lan. "You might as well use the sphere, that way you'll get another five tons out of it."
Lan pulled his attention away from his new form and used the sphere. "How much is a ton?"
"About twenty hundred weights," Myst replied after doing the math in his head, not sure if the pounds were the same between the systems considering the number of ounces didn't match but figured it was close enough.
Mione zapped Lan before anyone could object, changing his current form into a tall woman in her early twenties, wearing a work shirt, kilt and leather boots. "That should do it."
Egwene glanced at Nynaeve. "I wouldn't mind a boost."
Nynaeve turned and glared at Egwene. "You should know better."
"It's safe enough," Myst assured her as he used his Kingmaker ability to give Egwene the Copycat ability. He unlocked his Power Copying ability and focused on Egwene. "If you'll come over here, you can copy my supernatural strength, speed, endurance and magic then Mione can give you a boost, with any luck you'll get more out of it by already having the abilities," he explained as he unlocked the abilities he wanted her to be able to copy, including his various mental defenses after dialing his defenses down so he could use his powers to cut through them. 'Sorry, I might need to read your mind and it shouldn't let anyone else do it without permission.'
"What do you want in exchange for helping the rest of us?" Moiraine asked as Egwene walked over to stand next to Myst.
"Permission to get rid of your oaths," Myst replied with a shrug.
"They'd toss me out of the Tower," Moiraine said, fairly sure the Hall would throw a fit when they found out.
"Probably," Myst admitted with amusement. "But you'd live longer and you'd be able to lie and you wouldn't have to deal with the Tower's bullshit."
"Can I get a copy of your strength with the power?" Moiraine asked, figuring that would be worth leaving the Tower over.
"That depends, can I talk Lan into picking up the ability to channel saidar?" Myst asked with amusement.
"Can you save Malkier from the Blight?" Lan asked, fairly sure the answer was no but figuring there was a chance that he could help.
"Probably," Myst admitted. "It shouldn't be all that hard to burn everything to ash and we have a tree that should rip the taint out of the land."
"Where did you find that?" Moiraine asked.
"In another world," Myst replied. "I'm planning on using a copy to cleanse the Ways after I destroy the Black Wind."
"Ways?" Kal asked, fairly sure Myst hadn't mentioned that particular term before.
"The Ways are a pocket dimension with dozens of portals to this world and paths that lead between the portals. It's also tainted from three thousand years of dark magic seeping in and twisting things," Myst explained.
"How are you going to deal with the Black Wind?" Moiraine asked.
"Like this," Myst replied as he opened a portal in front of him and near the Black Wind and dark orbed it up into the sky where he could blast it with balefire. He frowned when the creature burst apart and started disintegrating, proving that it couldn't exist outside of the Ways. "Huh, I was expecting that to take a bit more work."
"What would you have done if that hadn't killed it?" Mione asked warily.
"Put it back or tossed it in a different world's Ways," Myst replied with a shrug then closed the portal.
Moiraine watched the creature until the last of the darkness vanished. "Did you get all of it?"
Myst used his Clairvoyance to check. "For better or worse, it's gone."
"For worse?" Nynaeve asked warily, more than a little disturbed by the mass of shadows she'd seen and the voices she'd heard when the portal opened.
"It wasn't exactly picky in what it ate but it could barely sense shadowspawn so I'm not particularly concerned about destroying it," Myst replied as he created a dozen duplicates. "Deal with the waygates in the Blight."
Moiraine watched the duplicates turn into dark orbs of 'light' and vanish. "How many strange abilities do you have?"
"More than a couple," Myst replied as he turned to look at Egwene. "You should copy my abilities and talents then we can boost the rest of the group and get back to Emond's Field."
"Sorry, I got distracted," Egwene replied as she reached out and grabbed Myst's hand. She quickly looked through the strange floating page of abilities and selected everything then hit the accept button after double checking to make sure she actually wanted everything.
"Is that where we're setting up?" Lena asked.
"That's probably the easiest," Myst replied as he used his Kingmaker ability to take away Egwene's Copycat ability. "Go ahead and zap Egwene then we'll get Moiraine to copy her abilities and we'll see how it goes from there."
Lan focused and changed back to his normal form. "How long would it take the tree to cleanse Malkier?"
"Give me a second to check," Myst replied as he used his Clairvoyance to check the future. "Huh, that's a lot better than the original," he muttered, surprised that the tree was immune to corruption which meant that he wouldn't need ogiers and singers to keep it from being corrupted, just to spread the cleansing aura which he could do via portals. "Give me a couple of hours to set up a pocket dimension and a copy of the tree and we should have Malkier cleansed by morning."
"You're going to cleanse an entire country by morning?" Nynaeve asked in disbelief.
"I can open portals around the land and the tree reaches miles, we'll just need a collection of soldiers and channelers to make sure nothing comes through the portals while we're cleansing the land and the shadowspawn are going to go into a rage if they're close enough," Myst warned them.
Moiraine shared a look with Lan then turned back to look at Myst. "In that case, let's finish sharing abilities then work on cleansing the Ways as a proof of concept."
"Sounds good," Myst replied as he used his Kingmaker ability to give Moiraine the Copycat ability. "The Copycat ability I can loan you lets you copy the closest person so you'll have to be standing next to me and holding my arm while you're just barely touching Egwene's outstretched fingers in order to copy her powers."
Moiraine walked over and locked arms with Myst then reached out and touched Egwene's outstretched hand. She stared at the floating list of powers and abilities that she could copy. "How many talents do you have?"
"Lots, feel free to copy everything," Myst replied with amusement. "Once we've got the time, I can show you how to use everything."
"Thank you," Moiraine replied as she read through the extensive list of talents, copying everything that looked useful. "Flight?"
"It's not a talent, it's just a power but feel free to copy it," Myst replied with amusement. "It's a remarkably useful power." He unlocked Shimmering. "You should grab Shimmering so you can teleport between cities."
"Why are you giving Moiraine powers but not the rest of the Aes Sedai?" Nynaeve asked.
"In various timelines, Moiraine managed to kill two of the Forsaken, a feat only surpassed by the Dragon Reborn. She walked through nightmares you wouldn't believe for your friends and nearly died saving the world," Myst explained.
"The Forsaken are bound," Nynaeve argued.
"The seals are breaking. Either way, there are only a handful of Aes Sedai I respect, you've met four of them."
"You respect Siuan?" Nynaeve asked in surprise.
"And Leane," Myst replied with a shrug. "Just because I don't particularly like Siaun doesn't mean I don't respect her."
"If you respect her, why prank her?" Nynaeve asked.
"Mostly because it's fun but also because she needs to learn to roll with the punches and that she isn't the queen of the world," Myst explained. "She's spent the last decade and change as one of the most powerful people in this section of the world but there are people across the ocean that are far more terrifying that don't give a damn about the Tower."
Egwene scowled, thinking about the bits of pieces of a possible future she remembered. "Like the Seanchan."
"Pretty much," Myst agreed. "Either way, we should probably finish copying everything then get back to Emond's Field."
"How do I finish everything?" Moiraine asked as she selected the last talent.
"Hit the accept button at the bottom of the page." Myst smiled as Moiraine acquired a decent collection of powers. "Go ahead and zap Moiraine then get over here and copy my abilities Mione."
"Sure," Moine replied as she zapped Moiraine with the magic rod, changing her into a taller red haired lady that looked to be in her twenties. She smiled as she walked over, touched Myst's arm, brought up the Power Copying window and got to work copying everything she could.
