Chapter 349: More To My Plate

The man rushed over. "You good?"

He looked toward the melted weapon, then beyond the wall at the burning trench.

"What the hell was that?"

Kael pushed himself upright enough to sit against the battlement. "New upgrade."

The burly man stared at the puddle of dark metal. "Can you do it again?"

Kael followed his gaze.

The Reclaimer material twitched as one edge of the puddle pulled inward and tried to reform. It managed less than an inch before collapsing again.

The metal had endured cannon blasts and repaired itself after being split open by amplified Fire. This time, it seemed either unwilling or physically incapable of remembering its forged shape. Too much of its structure had melted together.

"Not anytime soon," Kael said. "I’m tapped out. I need to rest."

The burly man looked over the northern wall. There was almost nothing left to threaten it. Goblins continued avoiding the scorched path, while the newly upgraded defenses destroyed anything foolish enough to test its edges.

"You don’t have much to worry about on this side."

He turned toward his own section, where two more orcs had climbed onto the southern battlements. One threw a soldier into a group of archers while the other hammered its club against the base of a ballista.

"Go clean up your end," Kael said. "I’ll send you and the others more points once I gather enough."

The burly man looked back at him. "You’ll stay here?"

"I need to recover. I can’t do that while fighting. That shot emptied me."

"Damn."

The climber opened his inventory and pulled out a blue potion. "I have mana potions."

Kael looked at the liquid. "Sadly, I can’t use mana."

The man paused. "You don’t use mana?"

"No."

"Then what the hell was that?"

"Long story."

"So this is useless?"

"To me, yes."

The burly man returned the blue potion and pulled out a yellow one. "How about stamina?"

Kael accepted it. His exhaustion was not physical, but refusing a possible solution would have been stupid. He pulled the stopper free and drank.

Warmth spread through his stomach. The potion’s effect moved quickly, relieving the ache in his muscles and clearing some of the heaviness from his body. His breathing steadied as the fatigue from hammering, running, and fighting throughout the last day diminished.

His internal energy did not move at all.

Kael checked his reserves and found no increase.

"Nope."

He handed the empty bottle back. "Not enough. I’ll have to gather energy normally."

The burly man cursed as another roar came from his wall.

"You should go," Kael said. "Another orc just made it up."

The man turned. The orc had already ripped one soldier from the battlement and raised him overhead.

"Damn. Stay safe. I’ll come back as soon as possible."

He ran.

Kael watched him reach the stairs, leap over the lower section of the rampart, and charge toward the fighting with his sword raised.

A stone struck the wall beside Kael, scattering fragments across his armor. He looked down and spotted a few goblin slingers still positioned beyond the northern crater. They were unwilling to advance, but remained brave enough to throw projectiles from a distance.

Another stone flew toward him, only for a soldier to block it with his shield.

Kael pointed toward three nearby defenders. "You, you, and you. Come here."

The soldiers responded immediately.

"Raise your shields around me. I can’t gather energy while being pelted with rocks."

None of them questioned him.

Kael’s actions had reduced the burden on their side of the wall so completely that defending it had become almost insulting compared to what the other sections endured. The soldiers had seen him repair their weapons, restore the gates, erase the orc formation, and create the defenses now protecting the entire fortress.

Three men formed a wall around him. Two held broad shields toward the battlefield, while the third stood behind Kael and protected him from stray arrows descending at poor angles. Additional soldiers positioned themselves nearby, ensuring no goblin could climb the battlement unnoticed.

Kael sat and crossed his legs into the lotus position his master had taught him, resting both hands above his knees. The battlefield continued around him, filled with screams, cannon blasts, snapping ballista cords, and the crack of lightning towers.

None of it mattered.

Kael closed his eyes and controlled his breathing.

A slow inhale, followed by a pause and a long exhale.

His awareness turned inward.

The energy channels running through his body felt dry and strained. Small remnants of internal energy moved through them without proper rhythm, scattered by the violent discharge of the improvised railgun.

Kael gathered those fragments first. He guided them toward the center his master had taught him to use, drawing each wandering thread into a controlled rotation. The process hurt, not enough to break his concentration, but enough to remind him how recklessly he had emptied himself.

He inhaled again, and the rotation strengthened.

External energy entered with his breath. It was not mana or the system’s artificial restoration, but the slower, denser force his body had learned to gather under the Fist King’s instruction.

One circulation followed another as the battlefield faded into distant noise.

After several rotations, Kael sensed the smallest increase in his reserves. It was barely anything, but it was there.

At this rate, an hour might return him to a functional state. He would not reach full strength, but he could recover enough to fight, use several runes, or fire ordinary attacks without risking further damage to his channels.

He continued breathing while the soldiers around him held their shields steady. Stones struck metal, and arrows clattered harmlessly away as Kael completed another circulation.

Things were finally starting to look manageable.

A notification appeared within the darkness behind his closed eyes.

[Next wave is advancing!]

Kael slowly opened them.

The fortress still shook beneath the overlapping second and third waves. Goblins crowded the eastern, western, and southern walls. Orcs fought across the battlements, and the defenders had barely begun stabilizing the situation.

Far beyond the battlefield, new shapes were already appearing along the horizon.

Kael exhaled.

"Of course."