Chương 168: 4.35 Divine beverage

When Elizabeth and Desir returned, there was much to explain, involving many frowns. Elizabeth was distinctly not happy about the entire situation and reacted with great distrust towards an enigmatic trader, especially because of her father's supposed stance. To the point there had to be interludes of argument before everything was explained in full. It was also, to everyone's surprise, Desir who spoke up first for the peddler.

"Unlike Irwyn, I have a much better read on the man and can vouch that he bears no malice," he explained.

"You are also one of his customers?" Irwyn exclaimed with some surprise.

"And dealt with him much more than you, clearly," Desir nodded.

"So I can say that he has never broken word given and deals in trust, despite certainly having the option of selling me out for more than I could possibly offer this century."

"Trusting the word of a merchant is already not a great idea," Elizabeth maintained a frown.

"Believing a word someone with such clear expertise in divination is downright foolish. Anyone who dabbles in predictions tends to be a schemer."

"Perhaps. But you can trust self-interest and nature," Desir immediately countered.

"I have made hundreds of deals with Bhaak and I am almost certain that he holds some kind of Truth adjacent to either trade or exchange which he progresses by doing this." Surprise passed visibly through the rest of the group. Waylan had the weakest reaction while it was surprisingly Elizabeth who seemed the most shaken by the proclamation. It was rare for her to lose composure at all but the sudden surge of nervousness was immediately apparent in her body language. Irwyn did not quite understand why.

There was not that much difference between being smitten by a Domain or Truth mage for them, was there?

"Elaborate," she insisted after a moment.

"I have three reasons for that conclusion," Desir nodded.

"Firstly, I have some anomalous abilities besides just the shapeshifting. I can innately sense pleasure, and thus know that whenever Bhaak completes a deal of any kind, he experiences a proportional surge of euphoria."

"Succubi blood of some kind?" Elizabeth guessed from the vague description.

"Yes," Desir slowly nodded.

"I have limited heritage from demons of Lust running through me, if that already weren't apparent. Enough that I felt like you would be my death the first time we met, but not nearly to the point the pure denizens of the Void seemed to cower at the sight of you."

"Why does that imply he is a Truth mage?" Irwyn returned to the original topic.

"Truth mages are extremely in tune with said Truths," Elizabeth explained.

"Acting in line with one supposedly provides incredible and hard-to-describe fulfillment. And acting directly against that nature is said to be agonizing."

"Merging with a Truth is no easy feat," Desir nodded.

"And it has consequences. From what I have read, two Truth mages should never approach even the line of sight of each other without having some forewarning to prepare for the meeting."

"Mostly for the benefit of collateral damage," Elizabeth added, clearly also aware of the 'rule'.

"If there were to be an outburst, they would get hold of themselves before any real mutual injury but that might not be true for any company."

"That can happen?" Irwyn asked with a hint of dread. He still remembered what the Duke of Black had done in Ebon Respite when notified of the situation turning dire. How devastating would a clash between two Truth mages be, even if brief. He could hardly imagine anyone remotely nearby living through the experience.

"Why?"

"What happens when the Truth Cold meets the Truth Hot?" Desir grinned ruefully.

"Well, who knows if those are even real Truths, but you get the point, right? Some Truths are fundamentally incompatible and will instinctively clash when caught unprepared, others will be fine."

"You seem very knowledgeable on the topic," Elizabeth noted, eyebrow raised.

"Surprisingly so."

"Johnson left a lot of notes about much of everything in his old hideout," Desir shrugged.

"And with the accelerated time flow, I have spent personal years in there doing nothing but training and reading."

"We were talking about the Bhaak fella," Waylan reminded with some amusement but also impatience. That probably mostly came from the flask the sneak was still holding in his hand. Its surface was mottled so Irwyn couldn't actually feel whatever was sealed within but there was definitely something with a presence there.

"Yes, my second reason is the events following Abonisle," Desir nodded.

"I don't know if House Blackburg caught sight of him, but Bhaak had been there, while the city was still struggling for survival. Not sure if he came specifically for me or another reason and just chose to meet up after I feigned my death."

"And he just watched?" Irwyn couldn't help but frown. How many had perished that day? A Truth mage could have solved the situation with a thought from so up close, perhaps even nipping it in the bud.

"He let a few hints slip about that," Desir nodded.

"Namely, he said that interfering would 'set him back decades' or something along those lines, yet that he was also not quite willing to let the city actually fall to the undead. So, I think he was waiting as long as possible to see if he would have the option of neutrality."

"Like a merchant who takes no sides in any conflict," Elizabeth puzzled out.

"Acting directly in opposition of that, even against the Rot, could weaken him for years… If it is indeed because of a Truth that demands he acts as a purely non-biased entity, taking no direct part in any conflict. But just lying is an equally good explanation."

"I have never caught him in a straight lie," Desir disagreed.

"Probably part of the Truth too, now that I think about it."

"And the third point?" Irwyn inquired. He was mostly convinced and intending to go through with the promised trade the following day. In large part because he didn't think avoiding Bhaak was very realistic so they might as well choose to presume the ancient monster won't act directly against them as the opposite case was hopeless. Waylan and Alice seemed to also lean that way, making Elizabeth the stubborn holdout.

"Hmm, that is… more complicated," Desir visibly hesitated, putting his thoughts in order for a moment.

"It relates to my pursuit by demons like the ones that had come snooping after my convincing demise. The reasons behind that are a story which I, frankly, wish to never retell to anyone for any reason. But, as you might have surmised by my continued evasion of pursuers, I was in a state that heavily disrupted divination for several years. Bhaak found me during that time yet the demons did not. The latter would have certainly hired a Domain-wielding diviner to capture me, which had still failed…

at least for a long while. The conclusion is obviously that the man who managed such surpasses Domains."

"It ultimately makes little difference," Alice interjected.

"We are outmatched either way, whether we offer benefit of doubt or not. All it comes down to is if we agree and take that risk or we hope he is scared of the Duke enough to actually leave us be. I am voting for the former, to be clear."

"Is what he has to offer worth the risk?" Elizabeth questioned.

"Now, there is something else that I didn't get to yet…" Irwyn said, then proceeded to explain the brief stopping of time and the offer made by Bhaak, the last bit that had been missed earlier. The peddler's offer certainly gave all the mages a pause.

"He also froze Time for me," Waylan spoke up first, not nearly as stunned as the rest of them.

"Wanted to know if I mind about the 'hole faith-eating thing being told about."

"Me too…" Alice said but looking a bit out of sorts.

"But for me it was just to ask whether he could use my father's name, near the start but that is beside the point… Ambrosia," she spoke that word with wonder after a pause.

"That is impossible to refuse," Elizabeth admitted with a reluctant sigh.

"Yet I have nothing to offer Irwyn yet for the flower."

"I think you have earned the trust for credit," Irwyn grinned and waved his hand.

"Then it's decided," Desir interjected.

"And we should move on before Waylan sneaks off and chugs his new liquor of choice unsupervised."

"More like wine," the sneak snorted.

"Even ached, probably."

"It would still be best if I could examine you before, during, and after the process," Desir insisted.

"That is still a lot of power to swallow. Where do you gather the confidence it is even possible?"

"It should be more than that," Waylan said vaguely but with tangible certainty. This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"And I will believe you," Desir immediately nodded.

"But I could avert some unexpected points of failure, like organs failing or internal bleeding that can occur when making large strides in honing."

"Fine, go for it" Waylan surrendered, allowing Desir to approach. Their self-appointed healer touched Waylan's left arm beneath the elbow, briefly focusing before he spoke again.

"I am very impressed," Desir nodded thoughtfully after a moment, looking Waylan over with his eyes. Then repeating the same motion again.

"Are you now?" the sneak grinned back.

"Indeed," Desir winked, before turning to their Time mage.

"I also want you to know that you are now officialy the last pure human in this group, Alice."

"What?" she startled.

"The changes to Waylan's internal physiology are too radical to be called purely human at this point," Desir shrugged.

"The outer appearance is mostly maintained, besides the 'tattoos' - which are actually mutated blood vessels as fast as I can tell – but the inside is far too different. For one, you are missing several organs."

"I am?" Waylan gaped with some alarm.

"The liver, mainly," Desir nodded.

"Have you not noticed that you bleed pure black shadows nowadays? They must have been replacing what is inside the body for a while now, mimicking functions to maintain a balance with the remaining mundane biology. You are also surprisingly resistant to my magic though, which makes some things harder to decipher properly."

"Is he in danger?" Irwyn worried.

"Not if the honing technique is as competent as it seems to be," Desir shook his head.

"I don't know how you got it, but it seems to be incredibly top-quality stuff."

"There is nothing stemming from the Void in him," Elizabeth interjected, sounding confused.

"Because it's not?" Desir glanced at her, similarly dumbfounded.

"You said black shadows dwelled throughout him," she elaborated.

"Darkness, and thus shadows, are subservient to the Void."

"That is not how honing works," Desir shook his head.

"Its power is not really based on the Aspects and their natures like magic. It derives from the ideal of a perfect, transcendental body."

"How could something like that even exist, diverging from the path set by the Aspects?!" Elizabeth immediately exclaimed, almost outraged.

"It's almost certainly all derived from Parios in some way, though I don't fully understand how," Desir elaborated further.

"The contradiction you point out is why honing can never reach the same levels of powers that mages can. But there is clearly enough space in the seams for something."

"Since when are you an expert?" Waylan questioned with some interest.

"The good doctor again," Desir grinned.

"He was doing a lot of research into honing. I am not completely sure why but there was a lot of material on it, including an entire compendium of honing techniques he was aware of, and comparing them to one another. I don't think I have seen exactly whatever Waylan is doing but I can tell it is at the top of that scale - if the whole god-eating business wasn't telltale enough."

"That is not normal then?" Irwyn asked. He knew very little on the subject for someone who was actually close friends with a lot of people practicing such – though the Tears back in Ebon Respite likely weren't any more knowledgeable than he.

"Divinity, magic, and honing are wholly separate power systems, incompatible within one mortal body. That is the whole point of what is called Singularity - one body, one source of power," Desir affirmed.

"But divinity is the 'loosest' since it's grounded in belief and perception, so it can be integrated as a second fiddle to the other two. Not easily mind you, not nearly, but when done right magical items can retain that magic when becoming Artifacts with additional powers and honing techniques might rarely allow for the devouring of raw faith, a cuisine extremely potent in hastening their progress."

"The process of artifact making is not actually that difficult," Elizabeth pointed out.

"The real issue is population numbers needed to maintain potency."

"Let me amend that: Not easily for anyone except a dominant superpower like the Federation," Desir shook his head.

"You might have noticed that these nations you have been passing through could be each wiped out by a single domain mage with enough patience to work around the gods. This is the norm out here."

"Speaking of gods," Waylan raised his flask filled to the brim with the dying essence of one.

"How much more talk can I expect, eh?"

"We can do it," Desir nodded. He had been holding on to Waylan the whole time so he did not even need to move.

"Whenever you are ready." Waylan did not even speak as he uncorked the bottle and chugged the whole thing. Irwyn didn't even get a good look at the divinity, just a vague sense of something shimmering as it moved past the lips. There was a momentary shiver going through the sneak, then Waylan vanished.

"Did anyone see anything?" Irwyn quickly asked. If it had been anyone but Waylan that phenomenon might have panicked him a lot more. Instead, he tried looking around and feeling with his magic, but it would likely be futile. Flame did not search, thus he couldn't use it very well to track and Waylan had long slipped past what Irwyn's intention-based detection spells could find. Light on the other hand was better at transfering images than finding hidden nooks.

"I am still holding his hand," Desir said hesitantly.

"I cannot feel it with touch, but my magic was not broken. It's not returning any information whatsoever but it would have cut off had I lost contact. This is honestly rather fascinating."

"Which is not very reassuring," Irwyn noted.

"Have some faith," Elizabeth spoke with much less worry.

"He is probably focused on absorbing all that power and will reappear once finished."

"I perceived the start of the shift before being disappeared on," Desir added.

"His body had no issues gobbling up the first surge as far as I saw."

"No matter what I try, that spot seems empty," Alice finally spoke up as well.

"I am morbidly fascinated about what would happen if I tried to move something where Waylan is supposed to be standing, but that would be a horrible idea."

"Nothing, most likely," Desir shook his head.

"His honing is based on the idea of a Body that can hide from the world itself. Just because I am technically still holding his arm doesn't mean his body is actually there. When he sneaks around, he is not just subtle, Waylan actually disappears from what I can understand."

"Where does the body go then?" Irwyn wondered"It remains, just changes into… not nothing because that would be Void, but a different, absent state?" Desir tried to explain.

"Something close to impresence from Void or superposition of Time, is my best guess. His mind is still there and he has to actually move like normal flesh and blood would but his body and Soul do not actually occupy the place where they would be. In short: A smooth and reversible transformation into an envisioned state, forcing reality to accommodate it."

"That sounds too powerful for what I know of honing," Elizabeth admitted with a frown.

"Keep in mind he can do basically nothing else… before today," Desir grinned.

"I used to also be ignorant to how powerful honing can actually get before I read Johnson's notes. So color me surprised, you don't know everything, Elizabeth."

"I know it cannot match magecraft," she crossed her arms with a huff, seeming vaguely embarrassed at her lack of omniscience as usual.

"It cannot reach the same peaks as magecraft," Desir corrected.

"And reaching their own summit is supposedly even harder than for equivalent magic. But the best of them might not be hopeless even against decent mages."

"Really?" Irwyn gaped in both surprise… and a bit of joy on Waylan's behalf. If the sneak could reach a point where he could at least reliably not be hurt by Concepts, it would do wonders for his life expectancy depending on how long he insisted on coming along with the mages who would likely face progressively more dangerous foes with time.

"At the absolute apex, a master of honing can claim a Domain," Desir declared.

"What?" Alice was surprised again but seemed to take Desir for his word.

"His stealth is mighty but I cannot see it even approaching a domain in power," Elizabeth remained the skeptical voice.

"Yes, for now he only hides from detection," Desir agreed.

"But what about when he can start hiding from wounds, from damage to flesh until it is unable to track him down? Hide from memory of others. Hide from old records and ink on parchment that tries to record him. Hide from the world itself and anything it may try to hamper him with. Very conceptual stuff, I know, but that is how honing goes. It embraces one ideal and then hones it to absolute, obsessive perfection. Which, from what I understand, might attract some higher powers."

"Because domains chose their vessels," Elizabeth's eyes widened slightly.

"Usually that means Concepts aligned with it, making a perfectly matching and fertile soil for it to settle upon. But if honing can achieve a similarly superb state with a refined body rather than through magic, perhaps I can see how a domain might become tempted."

"Exactly," Desir confirmed the conjecture.

"It would still be aggravatingly difficult and the bearer could only ever be able to claim one Domain, making that a truly insurmountable pinnacle," she continued thoughtfully.

"Introducing a different technique would break the perfection and thus the person in turn. No one can live through a Domain fully fleeing them."

"Which is why the Federation does not care for it," Desir nodded.

"It probably also has to do with these refined bodies making disproportionately dangerous material for the undead. Promoting honing in mass would be actively detrimental for Lich wars."

"This is weird," Waylan's voice sounded interrupting the conversation. Everyone's eyes snapped next to Desir where it had sounded from… and found an empty space.

"We still cannot see you," Irwyn pointed out after a moment of confusion.

"Ah, makes sense," Waylan said and re-appeared, indeed still held by Desir. One thing that became immediately apparent was that the 'tattoos' had grown much more dense again. To the point there was almost no visible skin left while they began to overlap over one another in some places.

"That will take some getting used to."

"What happened?" Desir asked while already also beginning to examine Waylan with magic.

"Instead of actively needing to hide, it now takes some effort to not do that," the sneak said.

"I have actually been listening and trying to talk for a bit before I realized this is my new basic state."

"And you seem to have plenty of other changes within too," Desir was quick to note. Then frowned.

"Anything bad?" Irwnyn noticed as much.

"Perhaps predictably, said changes have hid from my magic as soon as I touched the outer edges," he explained, turning to lock eyes with Waylan.

"Could you let me see?"

"Is this better?" Waylan asked after a moment of silence.

"No."

"Then I don't know how," the sneak admitted.

"That might be a problem," Desir frowned.

"If I cannot identify an injury due to this obstruction I cannot heal it very well. And I honestly suspect that those potions that Elizabeth had stocked up won't work properly on you, since you have shifted a lot biologically."

"They should still be potent enough," Elizabeth said, though with mild uncertainty.

"Hard to tell," Desir shook his head.

"It would be better if I could guide the effect. This is now an actual vulnerability. Waylan might be hard to hit even as collateral damage but it's a needless risk to knowingly let slip."

"I assume you have suggestions on remedy," the sneak chuckled.

"I have some ideas," Desir inclined his head.

"It will take a bit of trial and error, but I am sure it can be sorted out. This is, ultimately, an issue with feeling parts of your body. Life magic is suited to sorting that out."

"Bring it," Waylan grinned.

"Perhaps while we get going," Elizabeth interjected.

"We did stop mainly to get directions after all."