Chương 50: Charm of Foretelling

The advancement on this occasion was almost instantaneous, though that didn't mean it was painless. A new green aether root pierced through my essence seed and split into eight thin strands of essence as it threaded into my channels, rescuing me from the twisting pain. However, although I was saved from the agony, I was not relieved of the recurring nightmare episode. Darkness consumed my sight, and the next time I opened my eyes, I was in a completely different realm of existence.

Thankfully, it wasn't the same starless sky or the ruin anymore. I was under bright sun, regrettably, I couldn't say I was feeling any better. Opening my eyes blearily, I found myself sprawled on stone ground, a practice sword in my hand.

"Stand up," A stern voice spoke as a shadow fell over my face. I looked up, squinting with the sun scorching brightly overhead, and even then, I could barely make out the man's face. A radiant white robe draped over his form, matching his white hair, his stature not losing much to my father's.

"Stand up," repeated the man, the voice growing harder. He, too, had a long practice sword on his arm. Clutching the wooden sword tight, I stood upright, only to find I was not inhabiting the body of the adult man with the gruff beard, but someone younger--someone perhaps only a year or two older than myself. I was in some grand courtyard, encompassed on all sides by tall establishments, with walls smoothed and polished. There were others of my age standing on both sides, whispering among themselves.

I tried to catch anything useful, but only incomprehensible slurry words came into my ears.

"Begin," said the tall man, radiant in the scorching sun. I tried to catch his features, but before I managed to etch it into my memory, he shot at me, sword thrust towards my head. Instinctively, I raised a blow, swinging my sword upwards. The two wooden swords clanged, and while I managed to save my head, I felt a terrible force buckling against my palm. The man wasn't holding back much just because he was sparring with a kid. His practice sword was once again a blurring motion.

I had to utilise all of my power to fend off his moves, and no matter how much I managed, he came at me harder, as though hell-bent on humiliating me.

"With this, you'll lead the people?" the man said condescendingly. No matter which forms I used, or in what order I utilised them, the man had an answer for them all. His body barely seemed to move, giving away nothing, yet his arms flowed in perfect harmony along with the sword. While there was beauty in his moves, it was nothing like Father's... the man's sword was tyrannical, the order and forms were broken to make something that was simply efficient and powerful over anything else.

"I won't let you turn up wasted like Romulus. Not on my watch." With each block, I had to take half a step back, as the man pushed on. He seemed to take my parries as an utter humiliation to his skill. Finally getting none of it anymore, I changed my stance to an offensive one, trying to stick something to him, even if I had to take a hard blow for it. That was a grave mistake.

Before my sword could even brush against his skin, his sword struck me on the chest, sending me flying and banishing the living life out of me....

"Gahhh!" I cried involuntarily. Even though I was prepared for it, the vision broke abruptly, and I was once again back in the workshop, still sitting cross-legged. This one had been the shortest of visions and didn't even cause my body to flop over. Perhaps I could have even played it off as nothing if I hadn't cried out, and if Mum hadn't been sitting right before me, watching my every move.

"Nightmare again?" she asked, her face a mask of worry.

"It's different this time," I mumbled, as the notification came into existence in my mind's eye, along with the Spell's insistence that I choose right at this instance. [Congratulations! You have taken another step into your path.] [Please choose which aspect you want to empower: Influence | Weight | Will.] I had already made up my mind on Will long ago and quickly chose the option. [+1 Will]"Pumpkin?"

Mum checked on me, her palm checking for my temperature, while her threads of essence brushed all over my form to make sure I was fine.

"It wasn't a nightmare this time," I said again and began explaining about the brief vision. It was more of a hardcore sword practice, compared to the revelation of Ashhound and an Fae on the other two occasions.

"I still cannot wrap my mind around why this is happening to you," Mum said in frustration.

"You don't even have Dream essence or anything of the like to see glimpses of the past or the future." Well, I did have a hypothesis, though I didn't confide it to her. All these visions were perhaps eerily related to my past life. I couldn't be sure, but other than that, there was nothing more mysterious about myself. Perhaps Fractal Soul was one, but the rebirth felt more feasible. We all hadn't thought much of the first vision, simply believing it was to be a nightmare at a bad time.

However, the other time I formed my second Aether root, the vision hinted it would be a recurring thing, the third time only confirmed that. With that, my mother's worry reached a new realm. Honestly, if those visions were truly glimpses of my past, I had no problem going through them, though the inability to find an answer or confirming anything left me thoroughly frustrated. Besides, those visions felt so very different from reality. Perhaps not the one I had a minute ago, but those other two...

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"Well, although you made this mental charm for Emi," Mum said, holding the pale crystal paperweight, "you're in need of one more, it appears." I was immediately pulled back from my thoughts to the Fabricator in her palm, as my interest quickly transferred to it.

"It succeeded, right?" Well, of course it did. I received the Honour and all. I didn't have to ask, as she handed it to me to check. It still radiated heat, though not enough to hurt me, anyhow. And thankfully, it hadn't melted the leaf, which was now perfectly aligned within the crystal paperweight. Biting my lower lip, I waited in trepidation, as the spell finally revealed its secrets to me: [Artifact: Charm of Foretelling. Grade: Elite. A sister's and nephew's affection and their familial bond created a unique charm of brilliance. Enchantment: Stability: The charm stabilises the mind, relieving most kinds of Terror, Petrification, and other mental strains. Eye of Foretelling: By burning the dream and Seer essence within the charm, one may glimpse a branch of their future once.] The process left a little tempered fog on the surface of the crystal, which only needed a little polishing to look perfect. But wow!

I was stunned at both of the enchantments, more at the ability to perceive one's future. Even if only once, it could be greatly valuable. Or maybe something completely trifling. Depends on what you see, I guess Mother didn't seem to hold the same surprise, as it hadn't completely fallen outside her expectations.

"Satisfied?"

"Very," I answered, as I quickly began polishing it, brushing it on my tunic, finding nothing suitable at hand. Once it was entirely polished, I held the charm before my eyes. It was exactly as I thought it would be. I could see the thin strands of essence veins and marks of the formation on the back connecting to the leaf, but on the surface, it was a brilliant piece of art. Next, I needed to create something for Mum.

I already made up my mind for a cloak for Father, but when it came to Mother, I couldn't come up with anything that she couldn't make on her own. I would need something she'd never think of but would be of use to her.

"Now, all that's left is to deliver this to your aunt," Mum said.

"Or maybe you want to make Rose's gift and send them both together?" I mulled it over for a moment and felt like I could make a reasonable copy of Aetherbound Quillpen if I had Mum to help with it. Its creation shouldn't be any more complicated than the Charm of Foretelling, if I ignored enchantment like the Aetherlink. After I informed her about my ideas, Mum readily agreed, though she left the work for another date. For now, she asked me to meditate.

The process of artificing should have already left me exhausted, but my advancement had me tripping over the newfound power. Of course, there would be a crash soon enough. To remedy that, I changed into a fresh tunic and a pair of trousers and meditated in the study. There were twenty-four essence threads now, raising my capability once more. While the new ones weren't as intense as the others, currently in an entangled state, they would be at their full strength in a day or two.

With this, my shaping skills would be even more powerful. Not to mention, I could recover my essence quicker, too. After a good session of peaceful meditation, I finally laid down on the couch. The unstable essence in my essence seed had already calmed down, though a deep lethargy settled in my bones. Finally, I summoned up my Profile to note the improvement.

[Profile] Arilyn Arcis O'Ryon Path: Shaper (Common Class) Honours: Wunderkind (Noble), Novice Artisan (Noble) Aspects: Influence: +1 (+10%) Weight: +2 (+10%) Will: +2 (+20%) Attributes [8/8]: (Unallocated Points: 136) Arcane Acuity (Advanced): +50 Split Focus (Advanced): +57 Fortitude (Advanced): +25 Arcane Affinity (Advanced): +50 HyperCognition (Advanced): +50 Alacrity (Elementary): +14 Body Coordination (Elementary): +10 Agility (Elementary): +10 Gift: Fractal Soul Ways: In progress: Duelling III (29/50) | Swordsmanship II (379/1000) | Armed Combat II (208/1000) | Unarmed Combat I (82/100) | Balance III (1538/10000) | Ambidexterity II (158/1000) | Swimming II (119/1000) | Education III (9388/10000) | Sneak II (411/1000) | Evasion III (2912/10000) | Music II (172/1000) | Painting II (217/1000) | Farming I (56/100) | Archery III (2321/10000) | Pain Tolerance I (5/10) | Arcane Resistance I (6/10) | Hammering I (5/100) | Blacksmithing I (6/100) Meditation IX (3296/5000) | Essence Sense VIII (2128/2500) | Essence Unification VII (532/1000) | Engraving VI (411/500) | Telekinesis V (244/250) | Fire Shaping V (231/250) | Kinetic Force Shaping VI (257/500) | Earth shaping V (201/250) | Water Shaping III (49/50) | Wind Shaping IV (76/100) | Influence Manipulation VII (554/1000) | Weight Distribution V (108/250) | Essence Weaving VI (258/500) | Empower V (102/250) | Refinement II (17/25) | Artificing III (37/50) Demon Slaying (Lesser) I (0/10) Self-Mastery (2/10) | Perseverance IV (92/100) | Fractal Sight IV (97/100) All the unallocated points I had invested were almost recovered.

Looking at the progress in my ways, I was certain I could raise it to 200 points within a month, which should be enough to manufacture two more advancements in the span of a season. A season because, my essence seed and body needed some time to get used to the advancement. And that was without needing to take any essence tonics, which required far longer down time.

I was saving myself from taking those tonics and elixirs for now since an awakened body tended to build a tolerance to their effect, rendering them less useful after each try. True, there were different types of elixirs out there to make up for it, but most of them were restricted to low ranks such as Common and sometimes even Noble.

To have a steady progression on the path, one needed to meticulously plan out their advancement through all possible and healthy ways, such as investing a high number of unallocated points, taking those essence tonics and elixirs, and of course, gaining any Honour you could on the way. And they weren't simply useful in forming aether roots. No, the Noble Honour of Novice Artisan had given me +10% on Will.

Not to mention, without gaining a certain rank of Honours, it was impossible to advance through the higher classes. Right now, I already had enough gravitas to advance to Noble Class with not one but two Honours of the same pedigree. However, to advance to the Prestigious Class, I had to manufacture a deed far greater than Wunderkind and Novice Artisan. Only when one had a Prestigious Honour in their name would they be open to advance from Noble to Prestigious.

But those were worries of future me; the current me was pumped to see how much my shaping had improved with the new threads.