Chương 13

Kirk and Maett headed back to Kirk's tent. Kirk shot small glances at the man, trying to understand just what sort of individual he was. All the different faces he had seen from him- it made Maett hard to truly know.

"We will take a circuitous route, but believe me, we will end with discussion of Feats. But to begin, Accumulation." Maett peered around when the duo stepped into Kirk's tent. Then he offered Kirk a knife.

"Take this, make a shallow cut on the back of your wrist." Kirk did so, swiping the blade across his skin. But immediately, he blinked; he had to try again, because the first didn't manage to break the skin. Maett nodded, as though he expected this.

"As I suspected, accumulation labors upon your body. Enunciated for fools, Conduits channel arcane energies via statuesque Archetypes. But without fail, all Archetypes sip from the font, slowly changing the body of the Conduit. You are a fresh levy. Your Archetype has only had a short amount of time to grow. Yet your skin already is impervious to a casual blow. That's basically proof that you have two Archetypes.

"You'll also find your senses sharpened, your reactions oiled, your mind more poised and organized." Maett continued.

"These effects, beyond what you'll obtain from Manifestations, only become more apparent as you grow. Yet the influence of accumulation doesn't end here. There is also Feats." Maett pointed to one of the dusty bottles tucked behind the water barrel.

"May I? From a parched throat, no treasured herbs of wisdom grow."

"Sure." Kirk shrugged. With an adroit quickness that left Kirk impressed, Maett ripped through the foil topping and used a knife to pry out a cork. He took a swig and unleashed a pained groan.

"You have- aged wine like this, just rolling around in the dirt- hah, truly, comparison is the thief of joy.

"Anyway, Feats. Natural accumulation gives you an advantage- although not for Ascension itself, but for Refinements. You-" Maett looked at Kirk. Kirk looked back at Maett. Maett sighed.

"Oh. Obviously, tabula rasa. Refinements: they are a part of Ascension; the rest is vapor and superstition. Anyway, accumulation stretches beyond the physical. Feats, and the Refinements they can represent, are built upon the bedrock of accumulation.

"To earn a Feat, some intangible amount of Accumulation is required. But once you have it, that Feat can have any number of stars. So, if you have two Archetypes-""I earn Feats quickly," Kirk nodded.

"Honestly, Young Master Kirk, your previous question now appears positively prescient." Maett took another deep drink from the bottle. He smacked his lips in pleasure and offered it to Kirk, but Kirk shook his head.

"Feats! Specifically, those birthed from adroit Runes. Now, Runes differ slightly for all. Pronunciation, syllables, cadence, and the results that occur are born from the complex interplay of energy, Manifestations, Archetypes, and Runes. Many of the scions of the great four families attempt to earn the exact same Archetype as their predecessors, so some of those insights are at least relevant. Did you…?" Kirk shrugged.

"I have no memory. But in my bag, I found a method of Refining energy."

"Really? Well, you are an Albion," Maett clicked his tongue. Perhaps he saw the small frown on Kirk's face, because he said.

"Apologies. You are not at fault for your birth. Just keep that rather quiet- Refinement methods have inestimable value. Those methods are often variants on the Alchemic processes." For the rest of the night, Maett ran Kirk through various practice methods to improve his enunciation. Both in terms of speed and clarity. Maett, after the first bottle was finished, helped himself to the second.

He became increasingly giggling and floppy, almost collapsed on the ground as he lectured, but the slender man never wavered in his instruction.

"One last trick- the real difficulty in getting the Runic Feats started is knowing the correct syllables." Maett yawned from the ground.

"Deplete most of your energy, and then focus on the syllables.

"Sure, you can intuit them at your peak, but I've found that energy increases distortion. Yet paradoxically, a Conduit without energy is a fish without water: a miserable experience. The ideal balance is the smallest sliver. You'll discover your clarity point." If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. With the same fluid movements, Maett bowed and saw himself out of the tent flap. His passage barely disturbed it. In the aftermath, Kirk's mind buzzed.

With the possibility of increasing his Feats, with a better understanding about what it meant to be a Conduit, but also with a plan. The next morning, he checked the patrol schedule, just so he didn't shirk his responsibility again. Then he went to the merchant quarter, using some of his remaining money to buy supplies. Although he could only stay for a day, Kirk strode purposefully toward the Rift.

"Willing to porter. Handy with a shield." As he passed through the gate of the Hold, Kirk slowed slightly. That same hoarse-voiced man stood with several similar Conduits, those who didn't dare go alone into the Rift. After a moment of hesitation, Kirk pressed his lips together and kept walking. I want to help. But at the moment, I need first to gather my own power. A Tier 0 Conduit… can do so little. When he warped into the Rift, Kirk's Bestial Senses filled the space- his gaze flicked to his right.

He had landed only a meter above the swirling indigo mist barrier. Just as Kirk moved to head up the slope, his head snapped around. A short distance away, he heard the sound of several claws on stone. Three or four geos grunted on the other side of a massive boulder. For a moment, Kirk felt frozen. The Larian Saber felt extremely heavy, slung across his back. All the worries, all the new knowledge, made his reactions slower. Then he felt the presence of the Beast Archetype there.

It growled another possibility- it sensed nothing on the other side of the mist layer. If he didn't want to fight, if Kirk intended to just spend this day focused on his Runes- Kirk stepped with care, so he didn't make any noise. He waded into the mist until the indigo particles rose and covered his entire body. Within the indigo mist, Kirk couldn't sense anything. He felt muffled, the only noise was his own breathing. His eyes were clouded by the deep blue.

Stumbling, Kirk took several long steps down the slope, until he could duck his head and dive out of the layer. Kirk crouched there, taking deep breaths, surveying the slope. Perhaps because of how thick the mist layer had seemed, Kirk had expected this area to be darker, but he realized only the immediate area was filled with mist. As he gazed into the distance, toward the center of this crater- The thick column of colorful smoke puffed upward.

But for whatever reason, around the central glittering discharge, the air allowed alien light to filter down. Kirk shook his head. Focus on the present. Immediately down the slope from Kirk was a broken gorge; it seemed the terrain in this next layer was much rougher. Several vein trees stretched up along the stone, growing so tall the tips of their branches tasted the mist layer above. He slunk forward, his ears trained for any sound, exploring the cracked ground.

As he walked the length of the small gorge, Kirk nodded to himself. For his current purposes, this was perfect. There were alcoves to store his equipment and several exits, making this a perfect training area. Kirk set down his pack, propped up the saber, and walked to the densest cluster of vein trees.

"Plus…" Kirk narrowed his eyes and followed the emaciated, crystalline line to the core of those trees, where the thin, pale limbs concentrated to become a pure azure hexagon. And from that brilliant crystal gem came a dribble of blue liquid. Kirk crouched and squinted.

"This would be vein marrow?" He had heard merchants buying and selling this substance when he had been seeking prices of catalytics. This was one of the raw materials that made Peakhold so valuable. Kirk rummaged in his pack and retrieved a small glass vial; his packs had been stuffed with materials like this. Without context, Kirk had removed most of them. But he kept a few, just in case. So he held the vial beneath the gem and gathered a few drops. Suddenly, the Beast phantom manifested next to Kirk.

It breathed heavily, its gaze fixated on the liquid. Should we… try this? Kirk considered the blue vial. Unlike that pool of strange water, he at least had some plausible deniability about that liquid being water. This… was definitely not. A strange, crystalline tree produced it-"Oh, do the vein trees absorb the mist?" Kirk blinked several times and looked up at the tips of the branches. It would also explain why the middle stretches of the slope were without any vein trees. Kirk hesitated.

But then a strange resolve formed in his chest. The Maester Council recommends not Ascending within the Rift and instead using catalytics, which have been cleansed of pollution. Now, while the air might not be polluted, it's possible raw materials like this contain a wisp of something truly dangerous. It's a risk… but also, I can control this. Kirk carefully stretched out a finger and coated the tip with the strange liquid. I want to know whether there is a kernel of truth to this, or whether all of it is nonsense.

Kirk licked the tip of his finger. Instantly, his pupils dilated.