Chương 18: Chapter 1.18: Breakthrough

Favius used the board to wipe the wet sand smooth again and did his best to focus while ignoring the room's mood. He looked over the three wax tablets he had already filled. The basis of a positional number system. The basic algorithms for addition, multiplication, and exponents, as well as their respective reversals. He looked over at Urania, who had taken surprisingly well to logarithms. He smiled at her across the room.

And all that despite the fact that I pretty much had to cobble the language to describe it together from scratch. I'm guessing—it's probably the first completely novel thing I've brought to this world. He studied his two sisters. Urania, darkly frowning, was attempting to explain algebra with variables to Caliga, who kept snapping back short replies and only ever grew more annoyed as Urania attempted to demonstrate the mathematics to her.

Briefly glancing at Brutus, who was meditating in the back corner of the room, he returned his focus to his project. Can't forget about the deadline. And the quest. A book on basic mathematics. He nodded and began another attempt at writing. Section on solving systems of equations, numbers, algorithmic calculation, calculation algorithms, and basic algebra, calculus— He shook his head.

"It's not like I don't think they are going to understand it. It's the opposite." He considered how well Brutus had taken to an incomplete explanation of Newtonian physics and momentum. I need to spread the knowledge, but giving up control— He shivered involuntarily. Calculus is dangerously close to Newtonian physics, and Newtonian physics is a framework for proper science. He sighed in annoyance, wiped away the text, and focused on transcribing what he had laid out in the sand onto the wax tablet.

He shook his head and looked over at his siblings again. I'm distracting myself from whatever this situation with Brutus and Caliga is. After finishing what he considered the last chapter and thus bringing his booklet to an outline spread over twenty-three wax tablets, he looked over. He straightened up and marched toward the others. Toward Caliga. Enough of this. He recalled the conversation with Brutus and addressed his eldest sister.

"Caliga, why does your mother not want you to become a cultivator?" Caliga looked up from the equation she had been attempting to glare into submission. Her face shifted from frustrated anger into confusion.

"It's… I… I don't know. She wants me to become… She thinks it's not… She always tells me it's not proper for a lady… And she keeps telling me that what I'm doing is unladylike and that I'll never find a husband." She curled her lips.

"As if I'd ever want that." Favius suppressed a chuckle.

"But why?" he asked. Caliga shrugged.

"I don't know. She's just a mean bitch. Always has been, ever since I started playing outside instead of hanging around her room like… a piece of furniture." Urania flinched, and even Favius's shoulders tensed as he was reminded of their younger two siblings' fate. Suddenly, Brutus cleared his throat.

"She doesn't want you to cultivate because of her own failure to do so." Caliga turned around, her eyebrows raised.

"She doesn't—" Then her face scrunched up. She turned away and muttered, "Not talking to him." Brutus let out a loud chuckle and focused on Favius.

"You know what I told you about cultivation? How it's about insights and building the potential of manifesting them—by eating spiritual foods." Favius nodded, ignoring Caliga's sour glare.

"For most people, it's excusable that they never reach an insight because they lack the resources and the leisure to build a foundation. But someone like Hesnia, who has had all the advantages—" Brutus shook his head.

"She's a prime example of a common wisdom. If you should be able to cultivate but can't, what other reason can there be than the Muses rejecting you for the ugliness of your soul?" Urania's eyes widened, and she pressed a hand to her mouth, though Favius couldn't quite read her expression. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Caliga's reaction was more immediate.

She burst out laughing, then clenched her jaw and threw a quick glare over her shoulder at Brutus.

"My mother isn't…" she murmured, then sighed. Favius stroked his chin, considering what Brutus had said while the cultivator returned to meditation. It sounds like cruel superstition, but again—this world has magic, and I don't know, it might very well be true. He shrugged and turned to Urania.

"So how is it going?" Urania sighed and gave Caliga the side-eye, which the other girl pointedly ignored.

"Well, I'm just coming up with examples and working through them." She pointed at her sandbox, and Favius briefly considered the equations and solutions.

"But someone just doesn't put enough effort in to understand it, even though it's simple."

"It's not simple," Caliga shot back instantly.

"Yes, it is," Urania replied smugly.

"You are just—""Eh, eh, eh," Favius interjected before the girls could get going. He turned to Caliga and studied her equation. It was a simple problem, where she was supposed to isolate the x.

"I just don't get it. Why can't I divide by three before I subtract the five?" Favius frowned and was about to answer before he paused. For him, order of operations was intuitive, but he recalled the memories of middle school. The intuitions someone with experience builds are often unintuitive for those who haven't learned it yet. He looked over at his pile of wax tablets. That's why I'm showing this to my sisters before trying to explain it to anyone else.

While he still considered how to explain it more intuitively than simply mumbling about order of operations and leaving, Urania suddenly made a high-pitched noise and grabbed Caliga's arm. Caliga was about to fight her off when Urania spoke insistently.

"Give me your knuckles." Caliga glared at her, then brought out her knucklebones. Urania sorted them quickly. It was a standard set of twenty-four, some black, some red, some white with various symbols and colorations. Urania stacked them on top of the math exercise, and a smile began to spread over Favius's face as he realized what his sister was doing. She's making it more concrete.

Soon a pile of black knuckles sat on one side, then a stack of red knuckles on top of a single white knuckle, and another pile of black knuckles on the other side.

"Caliga, we want to know how many knuckles the white knuckle is worth, right?" Caliga grumbled before nodding.

"But you see, the white knuckle is caught under the red knuckles. So before you can get to the white knuckle, you have to remove the red knuckles." Caliga grunted.

"And red knuckles consume black knuckles. And before you can touch red knuckles, you have to touch black knuckles." Caliga's frown deepened, then her face relaxed into a smile. She moved the black knuckles from one side to the other, broke apart the stacks, freed the white knuckle, and counted out black ones until only a small pile and the white knuckle remained.

"Okay, I think I understand." She smiled, but her expression instantly fell as Brutus spoke up without opening his eyes.

"Well. Understanding does come quicker to some than it comes to others." Favius narrowed his eyes. What the hell is he doing? Should I—can I reprimand him? Before he could do anything, Caliga spun around.

"Why are you this mean? You told me to defeat Favius, and you know I couldn't do it. You just don't want to train me. You're just like my mother." Brutus chuckled.

"You see, that's where you're wrong. That's where your understanding fails you." Her eye twitched, and for a moment, Favius thought she was about to run off again.

"Tell me exactly what I told you to do."

"You told me to fight and win against Favius, who you've trained ever since he was old enough to walk."

"No?" Brutus repeated, still not opening his eyes.

"That's not the task I set before you."

"Yes, it was," Caliga hissed. Favius frowned, but then he noticed Urania's expression shift from anger to thoughtfulness. Her eyes widened, and a smile began to spread across her face. At the same moment, Caliga slowly repeated it.

"You told me to impress you in a fight against Favius." Her head fell.

"But I lost," she murmured. Brutus remained silent, so Favius spoke up.

"How could you lose when he never told you to win?" Caliga furrowed her brows and glared at him. Then, for the second time that afternoon, her face lit up with understanding, and she spun to Brutus.

"I wasn't supposed to beat him, so—" She bounced between her feet, her voice fragile with hope.

"Did I actually impress you?" The cultivator chuckled.

"As a matter of fact, you did." Caliga squealed and jumped first toward Urania before grabbing Favius's robe and pulling him into a hug.

"I did it! I did it! Yes, yes, yes!" Brutus let out a rumbling chuckle from his corner. Finally, Caliga let go, though Urania stayed close, keeping an arm around her shoulders. She took a deep breath and looked at Brutus with a determined glare.

"And what's the second task?"

"Oh, that's simple." Brutus smiled, finally opening his eyes.

"All you have to do is land a hit on me." Without hesitation, Caliga spun around, grabbed a fistful of knuckles, and hurled them at the cultivator. The man swatted them away like flies. As Urania jumped back shrieking and Favius joined his protector in laughter, Caliga kept throwing them desperately, yet failed to land any hits. He held up his hand, and Caliga stopped.

"Enough. You are to land a hit on me, not to annoy me to death. I hope you understand what kind of test this is." Caliga narrowed her eyes, but nothing could remove the smile from her face.

"Yes. I think I do." Favius chuckled, and the afternoon continued in a much more jovial mood. Caliga attempted to hurl various things at Brutus, but despite the man's closed eyes, he unerringly blocked them. Soon, afternoon passed into evening, and they settled down for the night, discussing the events of the day. Favius fell asleep with a warm feeling in his stomach, smiling broadly. Looks like at least that got resolved. He closed his eyes, and darkness took him.

The next thing he heard were screams tearing through the night and a sharp burning sensation tingling all over his skin.