Chương 53: Chapter 50: Discovery

Chewing on his current mouthful slowly, he thought back to when he first got here, and Aliata was being fed what English words to say to communicate with him. This woman, or perhaps someone close to her, must've been the one to say it. Clearly, she was also one of the elders he'd frequently heard of- one a leader in the community. Swallowing his food, he shrugged, "I'll keep eating, but may I have your name? And perhaps the reason you're here?"

"Sure… but, I would recommend purging your Corruption." He nodded, flaring his energy, and feeling the insistent buzz in his ear fade. He blinked as he realized that he'd slowly become annoyed by it, the Corruption eroding him in a way that was hard to put his finger on- a gritting sensation.

"I see you've understood one of my reasons for coming here, but I'll start where I'll start. Others call me Neenaw (Elder), and I am the oldest person of all lived-in spaces."

"Is that a particularly wide area?" he asked, taking another bite. She let out a grinding noise that he interpreted as a closed-mouth cackle.

"Probably not to you. There are three towns close enough for us to talk with regularly." He nodded, encouraging her to go further into her spiel as he ate.

'Three towns? That's pretty small, but I suppose without faster communication, it might be hard if there isn't a king or warlord to rule the area.'

"And, you see, when you get as old as I do, people start asking you for help on everything. Thinkin you know the answer. And, eventually, you do. Enough people ask, you start to see the patterns, know what they mean." A spark of something… more danced behind her eyes, making him distinctly uncomfortable.

"You start to understand," she said, a slight uptick on her lip.

"Are you saying you've seen me before?"

"Not directly, but there've been travelers, and talkers. Tales and tomes… ancients. And, long before I was ever born, or the town ever came to be, there were myths speaking of this very event."

"... What?" She smiled, "The descent of the System." His eyebrows shot up, 'You have one?"

"It followed you. The moment you cracked through from floor zero, it burst forth… but, I know my stories. What spoke was no System. I don't think it came alone. A voice of nails, a scream below- that could only be Harla." He stopped eating "H-Harla? You know of her?" Now it was her turn to look surprised.

"Do you?"

"Oh I'm… ah, well, I was declared one of her Champions, though I don't really know what that means… who… is she? Is she truly a god? Are they real?" She stroked her wrinkled chin, leaving him in tense silence for a second, then ten. As it stretched into a minute, he realized she wasn't going to give him an answer quickly, and forced himself to relax and continue eating.

That seemed to be her signal, as she finally said "It depends on who you ask, but her, and a few others I've heard of are as close to gods as can be achieved from mortality. Four pantheons, thirty seven beings ruling over it all… and, every last one beholden to the System."

"How do you know so much? It only arrived here a week ago, and from everything I've heard, it's only attached to our universe, the 'Fifth' universe, as it was called."

"Correct… but, that doesn't mean it cannot branch out, just as the System has, grasping at the fragments, sneakily seeping in through the cracks- and, sometimes, those pieces fall right onto our doorstep."

'Aluramet the Murmur,' he thought, but he was still chewing.

"But, none of this is for you to know, not yet. Perhaps it is only your status or my intent, but even this would never have normally been allowed, and it is not why I've approached you.

"Instead, I want to take you as an apprentice. And, next month, you will go out and find the answers for yourself." He chuffed, "Third apprenticeship in just as many days. Sure, that works, what would I be learning?" She looked at him curiously.

"Who are the other two?"

"Bwurzix- that giant plant mass- and Ketzi, the brightsmith." Even if it wasn't official, Bwurzix was teaching him how to hide his signature better.

"Oh? It has a name? Then, is it truly something alive? I'd assumed it was simply a hazard considering it did not move."

"Oh, it can move, but it just doesn't want to right now. It's kind of lazy," he said, only half-lying. He still didn't want to give all his cards away.

"I see… Ketzi as well, you two had a falling out, did you not?" He waved her off, "We worked it out."

"That is good, and I'm glad you're honing your brightsmithing skills. Are you sure you have the time for another apprenticeship though?"

"It depends on what you're going to teach me." She chuckled, "Freeform magic."

"I will make time," he insisted.

"We'll see." By then, he was finished with his food, and the waitress, Yisti, came by, giving Neenaw a surprised look.

"Elder Neenaw, it's wonderful to see you in good health, could I get you anything to eat?" She shook her head, "Not right now, thank you. We'll be heading out." Aaron stood up with her, following her out of the bar/restaurant and asking "We'll start practicing now?"

"I don't see why not."

"Let's stop by Ketzi's shop first to tell him I won't be back."

"And when will you be back?"

"How about this. Mornings are Ketzi, evenings are with you, and night is for Bwurzix."

"Sleep?"

"Eh…" he waved her off, jokingly, but he already had a plan for that. He remembered how refreshed he'd felt after Onward Evermore had taken over, despite not actually sleeping… and Onward Evermore did want more outside time… he might be able to kill two birds with one stone by just letting Onward Evermore fight the shadow people, while he learned how to control his energy with Bwurzix.

*"This isn't where I thought I'd be learning magic," he admitted, sitting on a rather comfortable couch in a smaller cottage-style house near the outskirts of town, its yard overgrown with herbs and spices- Neenaw's house. Altogether, it looked like a witch's hut. She cackled, "This is where all the best learn their magic."

"I believe you," he said truthfully.

"Where do we start?"

"At what every citizen of Halisn learns when they turn five, the quiet part.

"It is common knowledge here, but Utrisnic asked us, the elders, to clarify with you the limits on discussing magic at all- don't.

"While it is possible under the right circumstances, such as an apprenticeship or if the other already knows everything you're going to say, generally speaking, the Underworld as a whole will punish you if you have everything simply handed to you. The Underworld is give and take: if you are given answers without working for them, the Underworld will take it all away. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Unless, of course, I am the arbiter of taking. You know much, you're working hard, you're paying in the effort to be here, and so, are permitted to learn it all- slowly, as you earn it.

"But, also remember, in the Underworld, there are no rules. Just guidelines. Everything you know will be upset at some point, so learn to live with it. Through trial and error, I've learned when to speak, when to be quiet, and when to trick others into a solution when I can't say the truth, but you? Just keep your mouth shut." He harrumphed, but nodded.

"Tell me, Aaron, where does the energy we use to power our magic come from? Be detailed, the more you know, the less confusing I will have to be to give you answers."

"Oh, easy…" he said, and went into depth on how his Primary consumed his emotions to feed all his abilities, how some Imprints created their own mysteriously, and his own independent attempts at conversion that were significantly harder but had their own benefits. By the end, she was actually frowning.

"You've been through a lot to get all of that in such a short time, haven't you?" He chuckled weakly, "Maybe." She could only shake her head, "You're set up for a powerful foundation, at the very least. I will be focusing on how to manipulate your personal energy.

"I'm sure you feel it, the way it's easier to manipulate, and this quality makes it amazing for what we refer to as freeform magic: magic that does not require an Imprint. It has its own benefits, which we will discover together.

"So, why not take it, and show me a spell." Aaron blinked.

"Me?"

"Yes."

"Can I get an example?"

"No." He was tempted to use Bwurzix's method of smoothing his energy, but didn't think that was really the point. He was sure she wanted him to do something, but he wasn't really sure how. What could his energy do? Keep him standing, heal him slightly, alleviate fatigue but not pain. Honestly, to demonstrate those, he'd have to put himself through self-harm, but that wasn't the point either.

'What is my energy good at, once all the riff-raff is cut out? Throwing myself at a problem. It doesn't need to be dangerous, I was even able to use it on End to craft something. What if I used it to make a spell? Not something like "Spell of keep going," that's just my raw energy… have I ever cast a spell? Have I ever even tried to shape it?

'I don't think so, but now would be a good time to try.'

"It might take a while," he warned her.

"I have all the time I'm given."

"Okay…" he said, and grabbed at his energy. What did he want to do? Cast a fireball or something? Honestly, no, that didn't interest him, and it didn't feel like his style. He wasn't exactly the most explosive, but he was great at not dying. The most "Sudden" thing he did was use light flares, but that only happened because he was actually bad at controlling it, and it broke apart naturally. If he tried, couldn't he make it even brighter or louder intentionally, by focusing on that part?

But, right now, he didn't want to be loud. He was in a quiet house. His spell should be something lingering, something that was good at enduring the test of time, and may actually be useful to him at some point.

'How about a tracking mark? If I can run for longer than anything else, they'll never get away. Trading places with Onward continuously, attacking them when they least expect it with Bwurzix's hiding technique, I could really do some damage.' So he pushed his energy around to different shapes in his body, occasionally testing it against the air and finding it to always be ripped apart instantly in a dim flash. But he wasn't disheartened, and just kept going.

An hour went by before he found a more stable structure, a stringy, odd, webbed thing, that managed to float in the air for a handful of seconds as a fibrous ball. He stared intently at it, a golden tumbleweed, as it hovered in front of him. Then it broke apart, and he flinched back as he was blinded. Blinking away spots from how close he'd been and how wide his eyes were when it flashed, he heard Neenaw chuckle, and laughed as well.

"Is this what I'm supposed to be doing for training?" he asked, now that he had a moment and some progress.

"Is it?" she asked cryptically, and he rolled his eyes.

"I mean, am I wasting your time? Is this how long it takes everyone to create a spell? I feel like I'm just… doing my own independent magic, with you watching me. I could do this alone."

"You could."

"So why here? Why take me as an apprentice if this is how training is going to go?"

"Why not? I'm not busy." He scratched his head.

"I guess…" With no rebuttal, he could only throw himself back into the spell creation, slowly feeling it come together. With each pass, he found that the structure was a bit more stable- and not always because he improved it. Sometimes, he'd fail to strengthen its structure, but found the spell more durable nonetheless. The only time it remained unchanged was if he intentionally changed nothing about it, the act of trying being what gave it more power.

Hours flew by, and before he knew it, Neenaw gently said "I believe it is time for a session with your other teacher," breaking him from the trance.

"Already?" he asked in surprise, pulling the clock from his backpack and seeing it was three hours from dark.

"Oh, shoot! I need to get something to eat…" Neenaw foisted a regular looking sandwich into his hands, a glass of water nearby as well.

"Eat, drink, and go." He quickly shrugged on his pack, tied his sword back to him, and walked calmly through the streets despite his panic, eating as he walked. While he wanted to run, he wasn't going to cause a ruckus. Reaching the wall he'd walked in from, the two people on either side, looked at him suspiciously, before recognition flashed through one, and he placed a calming hand on the other's shoulder.

"Going out, Demigod Aaron?" he said, placing emphasis on Aaron's title to inform the other. Aaron nodded, "That was the plan, yea."

"Will you be back before nightfall?"

"No, probably not."

"Know that we do not let anyone through or over the walls past dark. Once the sky dims, you must survive through it."

"That won't be a problem," he said confidently. And the man simply nodded.

"In that case, have a safe expedition."

"Thanks." The wall peeled back, Aaron walking through, and he found himself looking upon Bwurzix and the field of mirrors once more. A wasteland, feeling all the more lonely. Either because he was traveling away from the town, or because he was doing it alone this time, he felt the cold grip of isolation once more.

'Alright, let's see how quickly I can make it when I'm not holding back at all.' Aaron had thought hard about how to make it through the mirrors quick enough that he could venture to Bwurzix and back, and thought a combination of manual control, his Secondary taking over some of the mental load of control, and supporting his jumps rather than just flat out carrying him would be the most stable way to travel.

He wouldn't just slowly crawl over the mirrors, but plan his trajectory and jump over them, keeping his feet on the ground as much as possible while still avoiding getting too close. How could his flight be interrupted, if he wasn't even walking on the vines? He was just jumping, springing up! He made a running leap over the first layer of mirrors, planning where he'd land next before he even set foot on the ground.

Bending his knees as he landed, he was jumping in sync with his vines almost instantly, hopping over the mirrors and having them curve up along with him to ensure they couldn't be cut. It took some practice at first, but with Windwhipped Seedblossom taking on much of the more difficult part, it wasn't impossible, and he only got quicker as he became more experienced.

Blurring over the landscape at an absolutely blistering pace, Aaron found himself at the bottom of Bwurzix with time to spare, the sky not even dimming yet. Checking his clock, he found that it'd taken two and a half hours to cover the distance, and quickly scaled Bwurzix as well with his vines.

'I'm so glad to have them back' he found himself thinking, as the sky gradually turned black, all light blotting out, and he was already a third of the way up in a mere half hour. As he reached the top, Bwurzix informed him that he had been seen by the army, and they were coming.

"Hey Onward, I'm going to handle the first half, but do you want to fight in the second half?" he asked his Primary, getting a resounding yes with excitement and joy accompanying it. Aaron could let his Primary fight the entire battle, but… he'd just gotten his new sword, and wanted to test it out. But, as he verified that the shadows were just as fragile as always, and his sword cut through them with all the usual ease it did, he felt like they actually weren't a good test of its prowess.

Yea, the fact that he could bend it around made it good for hitting them at unexpected angles- and he even scrunched it up at one point, only to make it whip out a moment later, but altogether, it wasn't an immense difference. He didn't grow bored of the fight, though. The longer he went, the more it felt like he truthfully had four teachers, it was just that the fourth was the very idea of his ancestors.

His skills gradually honed alongside how deeply he could enter the trance, he found that he didn't always need to lose himself in the vision to showcase his prowess. His body was starting to learn the right movements; no longer a puppet, he was gradually becoming the master. When the four hours were up, though, he kept true to his word, sending out a brighter flash than usual and swapping with Onward Evermore for its enrichment time.

Not disconnecting from the senses entirely, Aaron kept an eye on his Primary while contacting Bwurzix and, in the disembodied place, continued to practice smoothing out his energy to make himself appear more mundane. The night ended, Aaron transformed back… and found that he wasn't tired.

Whatever Onward Evermore did was enough to satisfy his physical need for sleep, and so, when he traveled back to town, took a shower, and ate breakfast, he was easily able to make his way to Ketzi's shop for his work as a brightsmith. Like this, he fell into a schedule. Bwurzix, Ketzi, Neenaw, repeat. Sometimes, the smith or elder would tell him to take a break, and he'd wander about, occasionally trying food, or using some of the money he'd begun to generate on his own.

While most of the ebon opal went to Bwurzix, Aaron reserved a bit for himself, finding that it took five opal for a brightsmith to create a single coin- something Aaron would learn to do on his own eventually. He didn't use much of the reserves that Utrisnic had given him, relying on the money he made from his Brightsmithing apprenticeship- which he was apparently being paid for- or slaughter of "Husks" (As he found out the name of the shadows were) to pay for everything.

It wasn't flashy, but he was making solid progress in all fields, and over the course of two weeks, a peaceful lull settled in his mind. Which is, of course, the very instant that things suddenly went south.