Chương 304: Most decisive

"I thank you for the assistance in tempering my path," Kite and Soul echoed to one another as they both bowed in the air of Kite's astral space.

"That surely was enlightening," Kite then said, as he thought back to what might have been some of the most intense few minutes of his life so far.

"And you have certainly kept improving, Soul. Whatever you did there seems to be on a different conceptual level than before. May I ask what?"

"The unification of Heaven and Earth," Soul replied with a shrug, as if that explained everything. And while it certainly was not as extensive an explanation as most would have liked, Kite had just received enough first hand experience for it to actually give him a good hint.

"Is that in regards to the concepts you have been able to incorporate into your styles?" he asked.

"Before the last surge, I seem to remember you mostly going for more abstract concepts. Light, reaping, the waves and such. I take it that has changed?"

"I will admit that my perspective before was limited," Soul replied without a trace of shame.

"The monster surge opened my eyes to the benefits of fighting monsters in another way, forcing me to reevaluate something which I had previously disregarded as too mundane to be a source of proper inspiration. Foolish in hindsight, but a warrior must be able to embrace their previous shortcomings and cover those gaps. Emulating the more earthly concepts of beasts for a time quickly told me that both sides in and of themselves were lacking, and thus I made them one.

The Wrathful Sun-Tiger Style you just witnessed is my first successful unification of the two, and the final step that allowed me to reach gold rank."

"And yet you speak of it so casually," Kite noted, unable to help the smile on his lips.

"What you describe is truly remarkable, Soul. Much like the ritualists, you are taking parts of the world and shaping them according to your will. Just in a much more… direct manner," he finished, the memory of blazing fury and raking strikes still very fresh in his mind.

"It is merely the first step of a new mountain to climb," Soul Shrugged.

"I would like to show Warrior more of it, which is why it is frustrating that we are confined to this place. You still provide some of the best tempering opportunities to be found."

"Well, this was one of the only places I could think of where we could let our auras loose without revealing ourselves to everyone with an aura sense in the north," Kite replied with a helpless shrug.

"And it was most kind of Verdant Evergreen to bear with us."

"As you agreed to not let your playfighting inflict damage upon what grows here, I have no reason to object," came the dryad's voice as if echoed from all of the trees beneath them.

"It was a good opportunity for Glint and I to speak of her evolution."

"Only a novice would let their strikes get out of control and damage what is not meant to be," Soul replied with a scoff, turning her attention back to Kite.

"Who do you deem the winner of our clash?"

"I thought that would be for Orichalcum Fist to decide?" while nodding towards the priest of Warrior who remained standing atop a cliff in the distance from where he had observed them along with Dragonfly and Sprite, the latter of whom looked especially stunned from witnessing the clash of the two golds.

"It is the warrior who best knows himself and what he has experienced," Soul countered.

"What is your verdict?" Kite took a moment to properly think through his answer, knowing that Soul would not appreciate him bringing any humility - false or otherwise - into his judgment.

"I believe that you managed to seize the upper hand in most of our clashes, especially as we kept them short. Your path remains one of the hardest for me to deal with even though I can suppress one of your special abilities as you only have the one special attack for me to interact with as well as the boons to cancel. So I would give this victory to you, even though I believe that we might be more equally matched now than before given how efficient my path has become at burning through even your mana.

And once you manage to develop more of your combined styles? Only the gods know what will happen then."

"Good. A truthful judgment," Soul agreed.

"You will have to upgrade or replace the rest of your equipment to keep up. Those conjured swords of yours won't last anymore."

"Then let us hope that Mistress Gleam will deliver in time," Kite agreed.

"While I have other matters calling me away soon, we can do this again tomorrow if you stay for the night."

"Agreed," Soul said immediately.

"What matter is there for you to take care of?"

"Celebratory dinner for us reaching gold rank. My aunties wanted to properly prepare."

"Bah! Such frivolities. Would that you spent more time on more worthwhile pursuits."

"As I believe you said before, perspective is important," Kite laughed.

"If I can ground myself with them every once in a while, I believe it will be more beneficial to me and my path. A path that did manage to hold out pretty well against yours, I might add."

"Fine," Soul relented at the truth in Kite's words.

"Then I shall be here until you return, working through some of the weaknesses in my stances that I learned of today."

"By yourself?"

"I suspect that Orichalcum Fist will stay and observe so that Warrior can learn through him when he emerges from this place. But do remember that I never need to be without proper tempering partners these days. Resplendent Gleam of Imagination did deliver on her promise."

To punctuate her words, Soul retrieved what looks like a big bundle of metal rods attached to a round mirror from a specially dedicated spatial bag, and a surge of mana later caused the rods to come alive and assume that rough outline of a person standing ready in the air. This was not the first time Kite had seen the gold-ranked construct, but he still marvelled at the craftsmanship every time as the pair started sparring.

As such, Kite left Soul there to practice while he headed out; both working on what was important to them, each in their own way.

"Mistress."

"Cala. It is not our scheduled tutoring session yet," Altessia Sessante noted as her student entered her secluded meditation chamber in one of their hidden sanctums.

"I suspect that you have news?"

"I do, mistress," the younger gold ranker replied, her dainty features furrowed in concern.

"We have had multiple confirmed reports of Obsidian Crow making another series of serious advances back towards the capital. Some of his shadow threads were even found just inside the arrays of the city, meaning that he himself is close."

"So, the ousted shadow grows more brave. Or perhaps desperate?" Altessia pondered.

"Still, we cannot have him constantly sneaking about as we are nearing the critical final push towards the completion of the project."

"Does that mean that I have permission to go for the kill?" Altessia thought it through for another few moments before nodding.

"It might be time to see if we can manage to snap the neck of that little bird. It should be close enough to the end for any would-be avengers of their family from abroad to return in time. You may bring a team of silvers too, including a pair of ritualists to set things up. I leave it to your discretion to use them without undue waste. This will be a good moment to further prove yourself."

"Then the mistress will not come herself?"

"I do enjoy the moments we have managed to hunt together, but no," Altessia replied, smiling as she detected Cala's otherwise well-hidden disappointment.

"But should the need arise, you have the token. Still, securing your own very first gold-ranked kill for the glory of Discord is something best done through your own power, subordinates and preparations. Go and strike down those who would ruin our gardens and hamper their growth."

"I must admit that I am pleasantly surprised. Grain has clearly been working hard these last few years with a passion and dedication second to none of the other silver rankers in the guild's newer generation of silvers. To hear that he actually managed to drop his worries enough to propose marriage to Snowfall Fawn is a good step towards maintaining a healthy balance," Kite said while getting his cup refilled by the innkeeper's wife, who also happened to be the mother of the subject of their discussion.

"Oh, I know Master Kite. When that boy feels inadequate in any way he will rarely take the time for anything else. I have been at his back countless times about making sure that a wonderful girl such as Fawn became a proper part of the family. I trust that you will be able to make it to the ceremony then?"

"Dear, don't bother our guest too much," Grain and Scythe's father called as he went past them carrying a few steaming bowls of soup to other patrons of the inn.

"As a gold-ranker, he deserves nothing but our best!" The statement caused the common room to fall silent, with workers and other patrons who were visiting for lunch all staring at Kite with a newfound mix of fascination and fear. At his new rank, Kite's mere looks - even without the magical tattoos - would have been enough for them to know that he was an essence-user of some power, but as most people had never seen a gold-ranker before, Kite's lunch had mostly been noted with the occasional glance.

That had all changed though, and Kite decided to put the sudden attention to some use for the family of his guildmates. The risk of actual spies or the like of their enemies in this little part of the north were negligible, especially as Kite could easily sift through the auras of the normal-rankers without finding any ill-intent or odd emotions.

"Oh I do not mind, Master Innkeeper," Kite replied while pretending nothing had changed.

"Your wife is a wonderful conversationalist, and your sons are both friends of mine. Which makes you the same by association alone, let alone the wonderful opportunity to have an inn of your quality here in my domain."

Kite could instantly feel the effect of his words in the auras of the crowd, and nodded inwardly to himself as a bit of a rumor that those running the inn not only had essence-user sons but also gold-rankers who might stop by every now and then should be excellent for business as well as a deterrent for trouble.

"As for the wedding-," Kite continued, turning back to the innkeeper's wife, "- I will of course do my best to attend as long as no other urgent business outside of my control comes calling."

"Oh, of course, of course. A powerful man such as yourself must have such important things in your schedule. Why I–" But Grain and Scythe's mother did not get further before the door of the inn opened as a panting Raven entered. Kite had, of course, long since felt her approach with his aura senses, but seeing that his younger sister carried only excitement in her spirit he had already deduced that there was no need for alarm.

"Big Brother! Big Brother!" Raven called, almost crashing into him where he sat in her eagerness, only for Kite to smoothly conjure and arrange a set of barriers that caused her stumbling steps to instead leave her backside planted on a chair.

"Little Raven. Why the rush?" Kite asked when the girl had found her bearings.

"And did you run all the way here? That's a good distance from the compound."

"Big Brother! I'm 11 now, and I can run way longer than this," Raven protested before her purpose caught up to her.

"You have a visitor, big brother. A big and important one!"

"Oh?" Kite said, a bit surprised. With his current aura senses, it could easily blanket his whole domain while still remaining subtle enough, and he had sensed no powerful new arrivals. This meant that Raven was talking about some other kind of power than magical, or that the unexpected guest was still far more powerful than Kite himself. Which probably meant that…

"Oh!" Kite exclaimed when it clicked in his mind.

"Then it is a most important guest indeed! Master and mistress innkeeper, I thank you for your hospitality and would once again like to extend my warmest welcome to our lands, even though that is a bit of a belated sentiment. Come, little Raven. I shall carry you back." Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

Raven giggled with delight as Kite swept her up in his arms, making sure to hold with just the right amount of force as he started accelerating to a speed that was fast enough to be exhilarating for his passenger without having any adverse effects. This still let them reach Kite's home compound very quickly, and even from quite far away Kite's sharp eyes managed to catch enough glimpses of colorful metal to confirm his suspicions.

"Mistress Gleam!"

"Why, young Kite! Congratulations on reaching gold rank. And in what? Just over fifteen years? It is as you mortals like to say; they do grow up quickly," the huge construct replied where she stood before the gates of the family compound in all her colorful glory, now even further enhanced by Kite's new senses as he managed to take in small details like a previously invisible pattern not unlike that of his own mantle across her segmented body.

Both Auntie Dove and Crow were present, apparently having made conversation with the ever-talkative construct while they waited even though both of them seemed quite overwhelmed by Gleam's sheer presence as Kite arrived.

"Thank you, Mistress Gleam! It took hard work and much fretting, but I cannot argue with the results," Kite replied.

"But if I may ask; why did you wait here rather than come and find me? Or announce yourself through your aura?"

"Because I wanted to remain somewhat inconspicuous in this visit, at least for the region as a whole," Gleam replied.

"So far I have not gone on any of my deliveries in person, but as I am rather fond of you I thought to make an exception."

"Mistress honors me beyond what I am worthy of," Kite replied with a bow, even though he also found it hard to keep his anticipation in check.

"Shall I take it that your presence here means that it is finished?"

"It is," Gleam confirmed with obvious satisfaction." I am glad that you picked a gold-ranked object where I could focus solely on condensing as much of its potential as possible. Making a growth item is a worthy challenge and incredibly convenient, but it does take away some potential that could otherwise be used for pure effect. And as you left much of the specifics to me… well, I might have gone a little further than intended while still keeping within the bounds of what my mistress allowed. Here, Kite.

Your promised reward for services rendered to the Queen of Jade and sky as well as to me, her herald." One of the many hidden compartments inside Gleam's body opened, with several thin mechanical appendages reaching inside, retrieving a flat disc of a golden metal about the size of a dessert plate. To the naked eye, it looked completely unadorned besides its mirror polish, but as Kite reverently took the disk in his hands he quickly understood that it was anything but simple.

The sheer weight of it would have been a strain to carry for his silver-ranked self, but it was the dense and powerful magic within that caused his hands to tingle. It was definitely gold-ranked, but the feedback told Kite that its relative quality within the rank was high. Very high. High enough that he as an early gold got that kind of faint feedback.

"Given its nature, I decided to limit it by requiring a soul bond," Gleam explained as Kite started reaching into the object with his magical senses.

"Not only is it created for you and you alone, but I took the liberty of increasing the scope of the project somewhat in a way that would make it unacceptable for it to end up in just anyone's hands. Bind it, and infuse some mana in it over time." Kite did as told, feeling the item connected to his soul much like his other soul bonded artifacts, and the instinctual knowledge of the disc's enchantments started flowing even more quickly into his mind as his mana in turn flowed into it.

This caused the disc to start expanding, and Kite set it down on the ground until it reached around two meters in diameter, with his aunties and little Raven acting as rapt audience, only for Raven to gasp out loud as the surface of the disc suddenly lit up in dense magical script that looked a lot like a ritual circle. Then, the previously smooth surface in the disk's center then started distorting as something started rising from its surface.

"Is that… a wardrobe?" Raven asked, breaking the silence as she was unable to hold back her curious question. Kite had to agree with her assessment, as what emerged did indeed look like a lot like a metal wardrobe, albeit one exquisitely designed with carvings and filigree that depicted armaments of all kinds; from swords to spears to bows to other more exotic implements of war whose origins Kite could only guess.

All of it seemed to be made from the same golden metal as the disc, and Gleam had a tone of distinct pride as she clarified.

"I would use the word armoire, but you are not too far away from the truth, little Raven," the construct said.

"I… see," Kite noted, trying to hold back his confusion as he suspected that Gleam had something special in mind with this. Given how long they had talked of his path and what he needed back during their brief stay at the Queen's floating palace above the clouds, he was very certain that the construct had not misunderstood. Still, it was hard to hide anything from a diamond-ranked entity, as proven by what Gleam said next.

"Do not fret, Kite. This is indeed in line with what you hoped for, although the armoire itself is actually an addition that I took the liberty of making. May I present to you the Benevolent Jade Queen's Armory. With the freedom I received from my Mistress and how you, Kite, tend to use a variety of weapons, I thought that this creation could be most helpful while it also allowed me to get some proper practice with dimensionally linked creations.

Back in the palace there is a similar creation in which I can store choice creations of mine for you to loan and field test for a decade or two by unfolding and activating this part of the armory. As with all things though, balance must be upheld, and you will be able to retrieve no more than three objects at a time before you are required to return one in order to bring out another.

But this should give you some nice options, and for me to get some actual feedback on some of my creations as the dimensional link will hold for a note or two to be attached to the weapons you return."

"Mistress Gleam, I…," Kite breathed, mind racing as he realized what this meant. To have a flexible armory of gold-ranked weapons on hand for one such as him? Absolutely wonderful. While the transformation of the disk to full armoire had taken around a minute, meaning that it would not be able to swap at will, it was still beyond compare to what Kite had had at his disposal before.

"Speechless is a good response in this case, as your aura tells me everything it needs to," Gleam replied, seeming even more pleased as Kite just stood there in mute awe while tracing the decorations with one finger.

"But I did say that this was a mere addition I added to your original request, no? Open it. I have yet to start adding some bits and pieces to it, but the original armament I made for you awaits inside. I got plenty of challenges in the making of that one too, as it was a delight to try and turn dimensional friction into something useful." Her words snapped Kite out of his reverie, and he did as instructed.

Now that he had bound the armoire to himself, a thought and a small puff of mana was enough for the doors to swing open. The inside seemed bigger than its outer dimensions, but that was not too surprising if the container was intended to transfer something like a halberd and the like. As Kite opened he also got a distinct mental sense of the armoire's contents; empty now, except for one thing.

Floating in the otherwise empty space was a sword that seemed to be mostly wrought from white magical jade that gave it a stone-like appearance. Its edge was straight, double-edged and very short, with it seeming like an almost equal amount of material had gone into making the handle and pommel as they together formed a beautifully carved grand tree with plentiful branches of white jade capped with miniscule leaves of all of Gleam's own colors.

The handle and part of the blade made out the trunk, with plenty of roots winding themselves down to the very tip of the odd sword to a degree that made it look severely impractical to wield. But as with the armoire, Kite suspected that there was more to the creation than met the eye, and as such he made sure to show the proper reverence while retrieving it from the dimensional armory.

"You did request something that would mesh well with that mantle of yours; a staple generalist armament that would always be useful much like that little mother-sword you showed me. This creation should suit your needs," Gleam explained.

"I have named this one the War-Seeds of the Celestial Tree Panoply. It honestly did not need to be shaped like a sword per se, but given that your dimensional storage only works with weapons I had to make some adjustments to make sure it would not be rejected as you will need to store it there for it to work properly. Please bind it so that I may witness the first blooming of this creation."

Once again, Kite bound the item to himself, and he took a moment to focus properly on the artifact before he stored it inside his Void Sheath, where it seemed to come alive as he got a better sense of its magic. And what he felt sent a thrill of excitement through his mind. With the practiced ease of something repeated ten thousand times and then ten thousand more, Kite fell into one of the katas he had worked on together with Zarth-an the Scholar, one of his erstwhile trainers provided by the task group.

One slow forward swing had a long, straight sword fall into his hands, wrought from the same white jade and with similar - yet more functional - tree-like decorations. The next swing was instead made with a pair of hatchets with edges long enough to protect most of Kite's hands, then these too disappeared in favor of a razor-edged shield together with a short, double-ended spear.

At the moment of their appearance, all of the armaments' edges glowed with an intense golden outline that lasted for around five heartbeats before fading, and that glow reappeared each time Kite brought them out anew. WWJS: [Item] War-Seeds of the Celestial Tree Panoply Armament Seed Gold rank - Legendary [Effect] When carried inside a dimensional storage space, the wielder of this artifact may pay a cost of low mana to bring out one the War-Seeds that are part of its panoply.

The War-Seeds available are as follows: Straight sword Dual hatchets Edged shield Double-ended spear War fan Tri-bladed katar Only one of each War-Seed can be brought out at any given time. [Effect] For a short duration after being brought out from dimensional storage, this artifact and its War-Seeds are empowered by the dimensional transition.

While empowered, the War-Seeds gain the following benefits: Any special attacks channeled through them will have increased effect as well as deal additional resonating force damage from the lingering dimensional forces. The weapons become incredibly hard to damage for everything but attacks of higher ranks. When landing an attack or blocking a strike, the wielder gains an instance of [Vigor of the Celestial Tree].

[Vigor of the Celestial Tree] (Boon, magic, life, stacking) - Gain an ongoing health and stamina recovery. Additional instances have a cumulative effect and renew the duration of this boon, although the health recovery suffers from diminishing returns after a certain number of stacks. Suffering significant damage will consume stacks of this boon for a burst of restored health, with stacks consumed proportional to the damage suffered.

Kite continued his kata for some time, so enraptured in feeling out the balance of the panoply of weapons available to him that he forgot his audience. The way the gold-ranked equipment felt was something else, with the weight feeling just right for his current body, and the vibrant magical white jade and the golden lines that flared into being each time a weapon was brought out formed a cadence that felt enrapturing as Kite increased the pace until the world was like a blur around him.

Only after finishing a few rotations of his practice with a decisive stomp, weapons brandished in each hand in a stance of readiness, did a furious clapping bring Kite out of his trance-like state.

"Big Brother! That was beautiful!" Raven cheered loudly before throwing herself at him at a sprint, a habit she had picked up early while growing up around silvers who always had the reflexes to catch her.

"There were so many golden lines! And those drawings behind you are so pretty! Can you make them glow more? I want to see!"

"Those were honestly something I too wanted to ask about," Kite replied, having let the weapons in his hands disappear into his Void Sheath when catching his younger sister. He too had noticed the faint, circular image that had appeared behind him once he started to delve into his katas in earnest. It was around one and a half meters across and consisted of weakly glowing golden lines that hinted at some kind of imagery inside the circle even if it was currently beyond even Kite's eyes to make out.

"Would Mistress Gleam perhaps deign to enlighten us?"

"Ah, those? A mere expression of the artifact's current level of power. Have you gotten a sense of the rising restorative magic it shall bestow once you wield them in a true conflict?" the construct asked, continuing as Kite nodded.

"I needed some means of feedback to balance out the creation, so I went with something I found aesthetically pleasing. The further you manage to accumulate its power, the clearer the image shall become."

"Well, can I see then?" Raven asked, apparently not having fully grasped what Gleam meant.

"Perhaps if Soul comes by another time," Kite replied with a chuckle before setting his sister down, turned towards Gleam and fell into a deep bow.

"Resplendent Gleam of Imagination, the gifts you have provided are beyond compare. Not only are they more than I'd ever expected but a true boon to my path in every way. I feel like this leaves our karma unbalanced yet again, as my actions to assist you so far surely have not been worth such a princely reward." Gleam regarded the still bowing Kite in silence for a moment before she turned her huge head to Kite's aunties who had remained at the sidelines and watched the conversation unfold.

"The two of you truly raised an earnest young man who is rather good at saying thank you," she noted, clearly amused.

"And he also seems quite eager to shoulder responsibility for things, imagined or otherwise."

"Such has long been his way, honored Herald of the Queen," Auntie Crow replied, a clear smile in her voice.

"It is a temperament that has led him far in life, so who are we to wish for anything else."

"A fine sentiment," Gleam agreed before turning to Kite once more.

"I acknowledge your thanks, Kite Flown in on Winds of Fortune, named Pathbreaker and the Sentinel of the Gates. Yet what I have provided you is what my mistress the queen through me deemed suitable recompense for your services rendered in upholding the sanctity of her legacy. Let it be known that the karma between us is now balanced, with our further dealings through the armoire being one of mutual benefit and growth. Such I declare as the Queen's herald and the maker of the gifts."

Part of Kite wanted to protest, but he also knew better than to contradict such a statement from one such as Gleam. Instead he allowed the full width of his joy and gratitude to leak in his aura as he rose from his bow, making sure that the construct would know his exact feelings without prying. And anticipation soon joined those feelings, the different emotions intertwining into something new and comprehensive.

"Then let me at least thank Fortune, as she has once again blessed me with your timely arrival, honored Gleam," Kite said, once more bringing out the sword form of the War-Seeds, the edge of the white jade sword glowing with a fierce golden light while his other hand fingered the token that particular goddess had gifted him so long ago.

"Because me and mine hope to soon make our first move in a long time towards the goal of shattering Discord's ambitions for this kingdom and the Queen's legacy. One that, gods be willing, shall be most decisive."