Chương 255: Transcends convention

As Petal Pressed to Singing Steel watched the group of outcasts depart while returning Dragonfly's enthusiastic wave, she had to admit to herself that the past two days had not gone the way she had expected them to. But apparently, her honored teacher had been more prescient in that regard.

"You seemed to have gotten along well," Frost among Morning Dew remarked where she stood beside her student at the boundary where the city around the sect ended, her presence a clear sign to anyone watching of her personal connection with the departing silvers.

"And, perhaps more importantly, you seemed to have learned quite a lot from your brief time together."

"I… Yes, Teacher," Petal replied, sensing the question in her mistress' statement.

"They have given me much to reflect upon and to practice with. One of them being that I truly need to invest in better and more convenient storage for my reserve swords. It has been a long time since I felt as helpless as I did in that first bout with Kite."

"A most apt insight, Student," Dew agreed.

"I'm almost sad I ascended to gold and thus have yet to face Kite's path on equal grounds - because, of everyone I have met so far, his powers seem the best suited to help one recognize where one leans too heavily into certain aspects of their powers. Because while you did learn and adapt, had that first clash of yours been a battle of life and death, you would in all probability have perished. But that doesn't take away from the fact that you did learn, Student. And you did adapt.

So stand proud with that and work on the flaws in your path this experience has revealed. I'm sure the pair of them will do the same."

"Yes, Teacher," Petal agreed, standing a bit taller at the praise at the end.

"I have just under two years left, so I'd best make them count. I- I will strive to make both you and the sect proud."

"I have no doubt, Student. None at all."

"But… Teacher?"

"Yes?"

"Does it cast shame upon me to admit that I am a bit relieved that Kite himself won't be participating?" At her words, the normally frosty composure of the gold-ranker broke slightly, clear amusement shining through for a brief moment.

"No, Student, I would say it does not. Because I can only imagine how annoying fighting that boy must be."

"You know," Scythe grumbled as he dragged Grain's chair up the slope of the hill," they did say ' few days'. So the three days that have passed are well within that. And they do know where we live."

"But what if they assumed that we would just meet up here at the hill again, and took us not being here as a sign of us declining their offer?" Grain countered, feeling the absurdity of his statement even as he said it, even though the gnawing worry in his stomach refused to give way to such paltry things as sense and logic.

"Given how out of their way Master Kite and Mistress Dragonfly went to investigate us, wouldn't it be odd for them to so flippantly give up on us?" Scythe replied in turn, even though Grain could tell that it was as much to convince himself as his brother. While he was the younger of the two, Scythe had long taken it upon himself to be the voice of reason. But that composure was threatening to crack before the opportunity to become an essence-user.

The two brothers then lapsed into silence, each considering this odd turn of fate that held so much potential as they reached the top of the hill overlooking the town. While the skies were overcast, the view never disappointed even after all these years as the pair settled down.

"Are we really doing this, Grain? Leaving town. Working with this guild. Getting magic of our own?" Scythe's words - more disbelieving than anxious - broke the silence after some time, with Grain only able to grin in response.

"May Fortune make it so, brother. Gods, I'm still not sure this isn't a dream. But Priest Cliff did confirm that this guild exists, even hinting at there being truth in Master Kite's words that Knowledge had pointed them this way."

"Still, he is a lone priest of a small chapel."

"Even so, he's a priest of Knowledge. Has an awakening stone from the Lady for his one essence and all. And they don't lie."

"I know, but- wait… Was that…?"

"What?" Grain said, stretching as far as he could in his wheeled chair.

"I thought I saw something… there! I knew it!" Scythe said, voice rising along with his excitement. Soon after, Grain saw it too; the sun reflecting off something very shiny to the south. And as it was above the treeline, seeming to be heading towards them…

"They came! I knew it, brother! They've come back!" Grain shouted at the top of his lungs while grasping his brother's arm as the familiar glittering comet named Glint gradually became more and more distinct in the far distance.

"We're going to see the world!"

"This wasn't too challenging a decision in the end, I take it?" Kite noted to Grain after having sought the paralyzed man out where he sat overlooking the festivities that had come to occupy basically the whole inn by now.

Everyone and their neighbor seemed to have stopped by at least once when word had spread that the innkeeper's boys were going to take a distinct step up in the world, and the common room was currently filled with people telling stories about the two - Scythe finding himself cornered by a shocking number of young women with only most of them being unmarried.

Dragonfly was arm wrestling five grown laborers at once in a messy pile that threatened the integrity of a poor table while Glint was seated in serene conversation, drinking tea with Scythe and Grain's paternal great-grandmother. It was the kind of familiarity that was infectious and left Kite with a slight stir of homesickness.

"I honestly thought my mother would protest more," Grain admitted.

"But after the local priest of Knowledge was kind enough to verify some details, we could all see this opportunity for what it is; heaven-sent."

"Power can be both a gift and a responsibility, especially with the terms you are agreeing to," Kite replied.

"I can feel your determination though. No regrets?"

"Master Kite, even fifty years is nothing next to what this can give me. Or rather, us. Through this, my family can be cared for even if the inn went up in flames, and from what you've told us of the rates for contracts and the guild's contribution exchange, it should even be possible for us to supply others with essences in the long run.

Heavens, with the rumors of your guild going around town after this, your guild will probably have half of the region hammering at your doors and demanding to be given the same offer as Scythe."

"While we do welcome applicants, we tend to be just a bit more selective than that," Kite said with a smile as he envisioned Uncle Walker dealing with said throngs of hopefuls.

"The contracts are even drawn up by the priesthood of Justice, to lessen the risk of either party feeling wronged. I hope you and your brother can keep this air of optimism once training and contracts come to dominate your time in the near future. But honestly? I've found that even after eight years as an essence-user, magic never ceases to hold a sense of wonder for me," he finished, conjuring a few discs of force which he let dance through the air around the pair, many hours of practice showing results.

"Master, you can put me through anything if it means I can see the world," Grain assured the silver-ranker, meaning it.

"Well, the surrounding regions will have to do for a start. Even with a portal power, range is limited in the beginning and true portals don't tend to appear in one's path until bronze rank. But for you, I can imagine that simply re-acquanting yourself with walking will be quite the… Grain? Are you well?" Grain was, as it turned out, not feeling anything in particular at that moment, his mind having completely frozen up at what Kite had said.

The silence dragged on for a few more seconds before he eventually managed a hoarse croak.

"Did… did you say walking?"

"-and what are those lanterns for?"

"They're meant to stabilize the ambient mana and make sure that it doesn't fluctuate and disrupt the ritual."

"It can do that?"

"Think of it like I'm trying to draw a diagram on the beach near the ocean. It's to keep a sudden and unexpected wave from ruining it. Except that the water is more like air, all around us. And technically within us too? I… That metaphor might not have been the best."

"Honestly, Master Kite, I've never seen a beach. So I'll have to take your word for it. It would probably be a horrible place for the chair, too." Kite was currently kneeling on the floor of the inn's common room around half an hour after witnessing the most hasty mass-expulsion of people he had seen - without the use of magic - in all his days.

The news that ascending to iron rank should mend Grain's legs had spread among the man's family faster than any chaining affliction, and a lot of shoving of curious people later had left the previously bustling room empty, curtains drawn close.

Kite's aura senses could still readily pick up curious people lingering in the vicinity hoping to catch a glimpse of the magic about to take place, but Glint floating above the building on a globe of water prevented any further attempts to sneak their way back onto the inn's grounds.

This left Grain and Scythe's extended family watching with baited breath as Kite kept drawing up the ritual, Grain himself being the only one who dared to keep asking questions after shrugging off Scythe's attempts to drag his brother away. Kite had originally planned on doing the ritual at a later date, but seeing how much the prospect of Grain's recovery seemed to mean to both the man himself and his family, hadn't protested when the man pleaded with him to do it then and there.

"Well, less than apt metaphor or not, the mana lamps help quite a lot," Kite continued.

"Back up north we could make do with simple incense sticks but the mana here is much denser. And now, I believe, the diagram is also done." As a silver-ranker, it hadn't been hard to keep his conversation with Grain going even while drawing out the ritual, but Kite had still taken a moment to triple-check it with his full focus before deeming it ready.

"If you'd please remove most of your clothes, then we can begin."

"Ah, right. The goop. Is it really that bad?" Grain asked while still beginning to shed his simple but functional clothing, getting around the obstacles that were his unresponsive legs with proficiency born of long repetition.

"Well, yes. Yes it is," Kite assured him.

"We have some crystal wash, fortunately, but you will still need to get it all out of you or the concoction's work will simply be undone faster than it can cleanse. Is the storage room emptied?" This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. The last question was directed towards the innkeeper himself, who nodded.

"Yes, Master Kite. We placed the tarps just as Mistress Dragonfly instructed."

"Good. Your inn will thank you for it. It's either that or change the floorboards," Kite replied with a chuckle.

"Well, Grain, if you'd please make your way to this disc, I will carry you the last stretch into the ritual circle. Quite convenient, not to risk smudging any lines." Having been helped into a chair placed at the center of the circle, Grain then accepted the magic essence carried to him atop another of Kite's deftly controlled barriers.

"I… Is it weird that I'm nervous?" the man asked, brushing back a strand of dark hair back from his face in a tick belying just that fact.

"Quite reasonable, in fact," Kite assured him, continuing with his preparations as he felt no actual doubt or hesitation in the man's aura.

"We'll be doing this three times, so the novelty might wear off too. Ready?"

"I… Yes. Yes I am."

"Good. Time to bring some more magic into your life then." It having been a while since he last performed a ritual like this, Kite couldn't help but feel a bit of excitement himself; a feeling that most seemed to share when witnessing the cosmic lottery that was essence powers. While one could skew the chances towards certain results, it was always a matter of taking what you had and rolling with the outcome.

And beyond a power which would evolve into a proper portal power, Kite had no specific wishes for the man's power set on the guild's behalf. Just curiosity. In the usual flashes, swirls of light and air smelling like during a thunderstorm, the first ritual went off as expected, the magic essence dissolving into motes that suffused Grain's whole body, leaving him awestruck in the chair once the ritual faded.

"Oh… heavens… That sure was something…"

"It will only get more intense too," Kite said with a smile as held breaths were released all across the room by worried family.

"While I prepare the next ritual, you might as well reach inward. The power should be there. Try and tell us what you feel, both from your body and its evolution and the power itself."

"I… Alright," Grain replied, closing his eyes.

"Oh! It's- it's there! Master Kite, it's there!"

"Indeed it is. It was odd. I remember it feeling like discovering a new limb which I somehow also knew how to use. Anything you can tell us."

"Well, I… The magic in my body… I… I feel… I don't know? In tune with it? It feels easy somehow. That's weird. I haven't even used it yet."

"I would guess that's a sign of your first essence gift evolving. Many humans absorbing the magic essence awaken an increased aptitude with spells. Remember the differences I told you between spells, special attacks and special abilities?"

"I, yes. Oh, heavens, this is so exciting… And here, we have it. A power! I think? It's… What are these words? Arc… Arcane Bolt."" Ward!" Having felt the mana inside Grain abruptly shift, Kite's improved reflexes let him easily conjure a disc of force to catch the shimmering mana bolt that suddenly erupted from Grain's hand as he had instinctively followed the new knowledge his first essence power had gifted him.

The sudden flash had all of the normal-rankers in the room - except Sprite - twitch or call out in surprise. Grain though? He just sat there with a stupid grin on his face.

"I… Did you see that?" was all that he seemed to be able to muster.

"We sure did. Almost made sure that your family would be forced to replace parts of the ceiling," Kite said with a smile.

"While the enthusiasm is all well and good, try to only get a feel of the powers we awaken from hereon out. Better to try them out in a safe setting, no?" While he nodded, Grain remained quite unapologetic, caught up in the wonder that was magic. Not even his father and mother seemed to mind overly much either as they sat transfixed, talking eagerly among themselves while the next ritual - this time with the rune essence - proceeded without issue.

"This… I… Think my gift has something to do with reading? And the power… Wait, what is that? Some kind symbols? Strengthening, solidifying…"

"Fascinating. Some kind of augmentative power? And reading… Some kind of comprehension gift? We'll have to see." Last, but definitely not least, came the dimension essence, the impossible angles and vectors within seeming to shatter and fill the room for a moment before they were all folded into Grain like cloth being unfurled in reverse, with one of the man's uncles having to lie down from a dizzy spell after seeing such mind-boggling sights.

"It's… I feel like a bottle almost filled up… The powers…," Grain began, but Kite interrupted him.

"The confluence will be manifesting now, so we'll have to go through the details later." As promised, three translucent images of the essences already absorbed flowed out of Grain, overlapping to form a new whole in another flash of light.

"The gate confluence," Kite remarked, sharing everyone's awe as they beheld the shimmering cube whose inside showed an opening in a smoky, hazy landscape which seemed to lead to untold beyonds.

"One of the rarer ones in the world. Touch it." But it seemed like Grain already remembered the instructions, having reached out even before Kite had finished. The power of the gate became the last piece of the puzzle, Kite's aura senses easily picking up the man's aura starting to change along with his body.

"Oh… Oh heavens!" Grain called out, but not in pain. Kite remembered that vital, boundless energy, and as they didn't have much time he gave the freshly ascended iron-ranker a little push.

"Try standing up, Grain. Carefully." Grain only heeded part of that advice though, leaping up from his wheeled chair. And landing on his feet.

"I did it! I'm standing! I can- whoa!" And proceeded to unceremoniously topple to the floor, arms flailing. Still, it was clear to anyone watching that his legs hadn't given out, but that the prone man - currently laughing like mad as he kicked his legs up into the air where he lay - was simply very out of practice.

By now, both of Grain's parents were crying tears of joy while the rest of the family excitedly murmured, and while Kite would have wanted to allow them to revel in their joy for as long as they liked, he was also all too aware that the metaphorical hourglass was probably about to run out.

"They're working! They're working! My legs, they're… Oh…"

"Yes. Time to go," Kite said, moving over to help the man before feeling the next, much more urgent tremor in Grain's aura.

"Oh… Something is…"

"Oh curses- sorry for this- Wall!" In a burst of speed, Kite rushed forward and yanked the still prone man up into the air before conjuring a box - or perhaps something more like a casket? - of force around him before guiding the barriers towards the open door of the prepared storage room; black goo and groans of misery already starting to emit from its insides before Kite pushed the door shut behind the man. And, in a moment of insight, he only dispelled the top-facing layer of the barrier cage.

Because, after all, it was a lot easier to dispel a set of barriers than to drag out and burn forever ruined tarps.

"Would you mind showing us again, Grain? With the augmentation? Try to direct the opening above those pillows over there."

"Of course, Master Kite! Translocation gateway!" At Grain's command, a circular hole in the world appeared in front of him, surrounded by glowing runes and symbols, while an identical one appeared above a set of stacked pillows. While the hour outside had grown very late, everybody had yet to leave the common room where Grain - after having recovered somewhat from the ordeal that followed the ascension to iron rank - was still eagerly participating in any demonstration Kite would ask for.

It was simply too fascinating to see Kite once again pick up an object, this time a bottle, and gently toss it into the opening only for it to land atop the pillows with a thud.

"They seem to retain their momentum as expected, although had the opening been higher up I assume that the pull of the earth might have helped," Kite stated, even though it felt quite obvious. Still, Auntie Crow had taught him the value of proper testing.

"It would also seem," he continued, "that both you and the guild have been truly blessed by Fortune here, Grain. Because if that power doesn't evolve into a portal at bronze rank, I don't know what will."

"Which means that I'll get to see the world! And of course work hard for the guild," Grain said, hurriedly adding the latter as his thoughts caught up to him.

"I believe that quite a lot of training and other such preparations are in order first. But yes, it does seem like your powers will let you expand your horizons by quite a lot in time. First though? I believe some sleep is in order. Because while magic is wonderful, the headache of being mana-deprived is not."

"Bu- but you haven't done Scythe yet. And we haven't-" Grain started protesting before the aforementioned brother clapped a hand to his shoulder hard enough to interrupt him.

"Unlike a certain brother of mine, I do have an ounce of patience. It can wait," Scythe said in a most impressive show of restraint as he was also inwardly hungering for his own turn. But restraint was also easier when the object of one's desires wasn't actually available.

"And remember that Master Kite actually needs to retrieve my essences from their guildhall?"

"Fine… But he did say that he had the earth essence…" Grain whined, but allowed himself to be led away by his brother as the rest of the family also started to disperse with calls of thanks and appreciation to Kite, Dragonfly and Glint.

"So you've decided then? On my suggestion?" Kite called after the pair, with Scythe turning and nodding.

"The boundary confluence, wasn't it?" the more well-built of the two brothers called back.

"If I am to continue to rein in a certain brother of mine, that does sound like the way to go about it. And thank you, Master Kite. We won't forget this opportunity. Which we'll have time to express at length once we depart with you tomorrow," he finished, Scythe's last words pointedly directed towards a certain older brother of his.

"Uhm… Braid~?"

"Yes, Wander?" the runic weaver asked distractedly, used to constant interruptions as he sat working on a new way to more efficiently assemble the thread-based framework for a certain ritual that had been eluding him for some time. Wander was not just a distraction however, with several of her small bodies spread out around the room to hold the three-dimensional pattern of threads in place while he theorized, so he'd gladly humor her just for that fact alone. But her next words did cause him to falter.

"There's a beetle here to see you~." Exiting his new workshop built on its own plot of land just outside that which Kite owned south of Bastion, Braid had to admit that he had not expected any kind of visitor so soon, but comprehension dawned quickly as he laid eyes upon the colorful beetle construct that had landed at the edge of where the cleared ground abruptly gave way to the thick forest of the area.

"A delivery from the great Resplendent Gleam of Imagination! Your aura signature has been deemed a match. Accept delivery?" The metallic voice emanating from the thing was most polite while ignoring the fact that several of Wander's bodies already surrounded it, poking, sniffing and prodding everything they could get away with.

"I… Yes, I do," Braid confirmed, followed by the beetle turning and unfolding its shell to reveal a compartment inside. And with it, something wondrous.

"Th-thank you," the weaver said with clear awe as he retrieved a spherical artifact from inside; a golden framework like a hollow sphere with lines and flowing patterns cut into it to reveal the empty interior. It was decorated with gems of every color set out according to some kind of functional logic rather than any aesthetic sense, their purpose becoming clear once Braid let his mana run through the creation, claiming it as his own.

WWJS: [Item] Transcendent Worldspinner's Loom Loom Silver rank - (Growth) Legendary Soulbound [Effect] Spend mana to have this loom break down almost any kind of object or material fed into it to create threads with properties based on the base material. Multiple materials may be fed into the loom simultaneously for alloyed threads. Cost of mana increases with complexity of materials, and certain threads may require additional quintessence to be added along with the base materials for their creation.

Certain materials may be incompatible with this artifact. [Effect] Creatures and active magical effects coming into contact with the active loom will suffer ongoing resonating and disruptive force damage depending on the amount of mana used, with damage done breaking down their mass into material as per the effect above. Incompatible materials will be expelled. [Effect] Has a dimensional storage for threads and broken down materials.

Attached to the artifact was a note, with a message spelled out in angular and precise letters.

"I am most pleased with the end result of this one, but will leave the ethics of its use - and any consequences thereof - to you. Thus is karma severed, though my gratitude remains." Braid almost didn't register the confirmation of delivery and subsequent departure of the messenger beetle as he and Wander - now crowding him - kept inspecting the wondrous object now bound to his soul.

"Sooo…. I know you said you would ask for a loom… But that doesn't look like any loom I've ever seen~."

"Oh, do not fret, Wander," Braid said, voice a mere awed murmur as he held his so far greatest material treasure, one that would probably remain so until the end of his days.

"Its form transcends convention. As will my creations wrought through its glory. At least in time. Come! I have so much experimenting to do!"