Chương 334: Epilogue 8. Achoo~

"Ah, there you are."

"Father, you're a gold-ranker. You would be able to find me almost anywhere within the whole region if you put your mind to it," Song of Wren Heralds the Calm sighed as Kite emerged onto the top battlements of the surge shelter of his family lands. The fortification had required expansion twice in the recent dozen years, proof of the steadily growing number of people residing in the lands around the compound.

"Perhaps," Kite conceded as he sat down next to his oldest son.

"But once you yourself embark upon your path, son, you'll notice that always standing above those weaker than you and constantly using your increased capabilities will usually only serve to create a divide between you. Sure, I knew where you were, much like I knew when you were hiding behind the curtains with your feet peeking out when you were younger. But that's not the only thing important, Wren. It's what I do with that information."

"And there we have another lesson filled with sage advice" Wren sighed.

"You're starting to sound more and more like Grandmother Crow."

"Well, I hope so. She's a wise woman," Kite chuckled before turning to look at his son.

"But I do get your point, Wren. And I don't need aura senses to sense that you're still troubled."

"I… I'm just disappointed. That's all," Wren replied, even though Kite's aura senses revealed that this went a bit deeper than the now sixteen-year-old young man wanted to show. As such, he pretended not to notice as he nodded.

"That, my son, I can understand."

"It's just… Auntie Sprite was ready just before the last surge, and she was younger than I am. She could help and learn and grow. But I? I'll just have to wait down there again while you, Mother and the rest get to actually do something." Kite's first impulse was to try and correct Wren and start giving advice to help him get through his disappointment so far, but experience with having teenagers at home for a few years had taught him better.

As such, he just kept listening and occasionally nodding when Wren told him of everything he had hoped to do and accomplish during the surge, of his frustrations and every other bit of odds and ends that came spilling out once the normally so controlled teenager started to open up. Eventually though, the flow started petering out, and silence reigned for a little while before Wren eventually broke it.

"I'm… Sorry, Father. I didn't mean to trouble you. I'll be fine," the teenager said, trying to wipe away the hint of moisture in his eyes while Kite once more pretended not to notice. To this, Kite only nodded before he draped an arm over the shoulder of the boy, hugging him carefully.

"Even the biggest barrel might overflow eventually, Son. I'll always be willing to lend you a hand in mopping up the spillage."

"Heh. Another of Grandmother Crow's?"

"Not this time, actually. I believe it was one of my fellow Gauntlet members who said so a few years back. Linger. A scout and supportive healer with the lurker confluence. He's a nice one."

"Do… Do you think I can join the task group too? In the future?"

"Well, given how much you've already gotten used to hard practice and the essences you've picked out, I'm sure that you will have a good chance, Son. The guardian confluence is one that will always be appreciated by any team member, temporary or otherwise. But most of all, I think that cool head of yours is what will give you the best chance."

"Even though I just sat here almost crying?"

"There's a stark difference between being calm and being cold, Wren," Kite chuckled.

"And given who your mother is, I would be ever so surprised if any of you children were ever called the latter. But once again, it comes down to what you do in a situation despite what you are feeling."

"I… See. Thanks, Father. That was actually kind of wise."

"Oh? Praise from my teenage offspring? I never thought I'd see the day," Kite laughed, raising his hands placatingly at Wren's glare.

"My apologies, Wren. My apologies. But speaking of a cool head… I believe that this moment might call for a little gift. I had saved it for your awakening day, but it might serve a purpose here." As he spoke, Kite reached into a spatial bag and retrieved an awakening stone whose insides looked to contain a placid blue pond, not a ripple being seen at its surface no matter which way one turned it.

"It's an awakening stone of serenity," Kite explained as Wren took it, as always being reverent in handling such objects. This was in stark contrast to some of his younger sisters, who had used the precious things as toys more than once.

"I thought it would fit you, and a bit extra on this day."

"Oh? I mean, I understand given what you've told me. Thank you, Father. Truly," Wren said as he cupped the stone, and Kite could feel that the lad was genuinely touched.

"But why this day?"

"You know how your dear younger siblings have been acting today? Or most times when your mother or I have been away?"

"Don't I…" Wren muttered.

"They're so immature… Well, perhaps not Cicada. Or Heron. They're getting better…"

"And do you know what I've noticed over the years? All of those emotions, all of those quarrels and acting out? They all get better when you're around, Wren. Sure, you might face some of it and I am most aware that it is rarely pleasant. But your presence and calm head have more of an impact upon them than you know. Trust me. I've noticed with my eyes and aura both."

"I… See…" Wren eventually replied, eyes thoughtful as he once more looked to the stone in his hands.

"So… You mean…?"

"Indeed," Kite said, hugging the boy a bit closer.

"You may not have magic on your own yet, although I suspect that it shall be sooner rather than later. But you are making a difference, Son. Would you mind shouldering that responsibility again in these upcoming days when your mother and I won't be around as much?" Even as he spoke, Kite could see Wren's shoulder squaring ever so slightly as a kernel of determination started growing in his spirit. It wasn't easy being the oldest sibling, but he had always been impressed by how Wren managed it.

"I…" Wren began, seeming to want to consider his words.

"Yes, Father. I will. Do my best, that is. The children from the orphanage are here as well, so I'll see if I can rope the others into helping me keep them distracted." This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"That sounds like an excellent plan, Son," Kite agreed, rising along with Wren and looking out over the lands around them. Their home. If all went well, they would endure this surge much as they had the last when Wren was but a small child.

"I shall soon be heading out, but I'll join you downstairs to say my farewells. And once the surge is over, we can go back to training more regularly again. We shall have to, if you have such lofty ambitions as joining the task group."

"Sunspear!" For the umpteenth time that day, Little Sun Sprite raised her staff and projected her lance of glowing light to pierce the incoming monsters as they scoured the woodlands just north of Convergence. As a peak silver-ranker, her spell was now so much more than it had been back at iron rank, the spear piercing through multiple roaring, shrieking beasts before another spell caused light to descend from above to scatter them.

Around Sprite, the members of the Autumn Wanderer's guild fought in their assigned teams to protect the lands that were theirs to hold for the calamity, with Sprite acting as coordinating commander of them all while they basked in her aura of prosperity. It had been good to see the world more in recent years, and thanks to both her healing and her growth-inducing aura, Sprite had never had any trouble in securing a spot for herself among the local adventurers.

The opposite actually, where leaving had sometimes been the harder part, and she was most thankful for that one time Senior Brother Kite had come to get her out of the clutches of a particularly unscrupulous guild master.

She could feel more than see Hunter somewhere out among the monsters, Walker's son having followed a bit in his father's footsteps albeit in a rather more direct and lethal fashion with his predator confluence which - in combination with him also having the plant essence - made for a vicious showing of carnivorous flora. Raven though? Raven was not hard to notice for anyone nearby, be they adventurer or monster.

Just ahead of Sprite, another set of wood elementals had slithered up into nearby trees to prepare to start pelting the adventurers with thorns and other projectiles, but before they could get any proper volume in their collective ranged attacks, a huge wooden sword as sharp as any metal one Sprite had ever seen swept in from the side.

The weapon cleaved through the monsters while somehow moving through the trees themselves with only a ripple, leaving the plants unharmed, and the same was true for the rest of Raven's creation which she piloted from within; a huge, armor-like construct wrought from - somehow - still-living wood. Since ascending to silver rank, Raven's main creation now stood four meters tall as it slid among and through the trees as if gliding rather than walking, the motions surprisingly graceful.

What the sword didn't manage to sweep up was instead impaled by the sharp pinions of wooden wings springing from the construct's back, and Sprite relaxed as Raven seemed to have that flank well in hand.

"I wonder how long it will take her to actually get it to fly?" she mused aloud as she thought of the little scamp now all grown up, Raven's path one that constantly rewarded diligent work and further experimentation.

"Hey, Sprite~!"

"Oh? Wander? Any words from the guildmaster?" Sprite wondered aloud as she had Pom stop to let the small rat scurry up the side of the golden cat.

"Yeah, Walker wants you to move east a bit after this. New manifestations have been sighted, and we're to collaborate with one of the sects to cover the area~."

"Understood. It's still a bit odd that the sentiment doesn't worry me. At least not too much."

"Heh, don't get too comfortable. You should know how many weird things they're up to when they think nobody's watching… But I suppose those things don't really have anything to do with the surge. Just… If someone starts going on about a certain mollusk with interesting properties once imbibed, just… Run in the other direction, okay~?"

"I… See," Sprite replied, trying and failing to imagine the implications of whatever Wander had just told her, and thus decided to change the subject.

"So, Wander… Any plans on hitting gold rank soon?"

"What? You too? I thought you wanted me to chill and take it easy so that you could get there first~?"

"Well, perhaps. But still…?"

"Hmpf… If you must know, I can probably sneeze and tip over there any moment now~," the rat replied, turning her nose up.

"But it might make things weird, and there's so much going on with the surge and all…~""Sure, sure. Keep telling yourself that, Auntie," Sprite laughed, petting the rat.

"I promise not to gloat too much."

"Hahaha– Wait? Auntie? Really? Sprite, did you just call me old~?! And you're one to talk. You've been a silver for well over a dozen years yourself, oh rising star of the Autumn Wanderer's guild~!"

"I know what I said," Sprite retorted, unable to help herself from continuing the prodding while ignoring Wander's retort.

"But I suppose that such is the lot of some people. Sure, Kite and Dragonfly are older than me too, but there is a certain quality to those older where I am starting to catch up to them. Or perhaps even to surpass them. Like those spinsters with cats people are talking about."

"What? What people?"

"Oh, mostly abroad, but I'm sure you will fit right in."

"Why you little rascal! Treating your elders like this…~!"

"You are only helping me make my point, Auntie Wander. But that's okay." In response, Wander's little rat body rose to its hind legs, staring gravely at her. Before - slowly - a slight smirk could be seen twitching at the corner of the rat's mouth, giving Sprite a sinking feeling in her gut.

"Achoo~." The fake sneeze had barely left the rat's little nose before light suddenly erupted from her tiny form, her aura surging while similar bursts could be felt from all over the place. Perhaps all over the region. Leaving Sprite to just stare in pure disbelief at the tiny, incredibly smug and now soon to be gold-ranked little rodent.

"Oh sweet heavens above…"

"This… This is a most impressive wall, honored Defender of the Eastern Shores," Kite noted as he looked down from the downright massive stone battlements that stretched along the eastern shorelines of Hua-Xi's southern parts. Massive did not even begin to convey it either, as there was simply so much wall that stretched further than even Kite's eyes could see.

And not only was the wall a physical thing, but enchantments and other defenses glowed before his magical perception, making the creation a true marvel that had taken around two decades to complete even for the gold-ranker beside him.

"Please, Kite. Master Stone will still do," the powerfully built man laughed. They might both be gold-rankers, but the older man still towered above Kite in both height and stature.

"And as for the wall… Yes, she is a beauty. Though I suspect that she will be somewhat marred before this surge is done. Good thing that you are here too. With this and the defenses, we should be able to manage better while leaving more golds free to cover more ground rather than to face what will come from the sea soon enough."

"Have things been that intense here then? I have never ventured to the islands beyond these shores."

"You could say that," Master Stone said, a bit more grimly.

"I still have no idea what makes the monsters over there manifest so cursedly big, but given how many golds seem to appear there, I haven't had much time to spare to investigate either. But now the surge is on, and that will have them start coming here instead of the giants fighting it out on that island of theirs and–" Then the tall man fell silent as both he, Kite and every other gold-ranker present had felt it. Still far away out in the sea, but coming closer. And rather fast at that.

"It seems like we'll have to continue this some other time as another tribulation is upon us," Master Stone noted, his mana surging as the wall beneath them seemed to almost come alive at the touch of his magic. All around them the alarm went up, lower-rankers going to their assigned emplacements, but Kite couldn't help but stand transfixed as something started breaking the surface near the horizon; a massive, scaled head.

And then, further to the north, tentacles shot out of the water as what seemed like a living island started making its way up from the depths. These were the only two titanic monsters visible so far, but Kite could feel the auras of more of them approaching further out as the denizens of the islands of Kai-Ju started making themselves known.

"May the heavens watch over us then," Kite agreed, stepping up into the air as his armor flashed into existence around his body along with the six spectral arms of his mantle.

"And I hope someone will be sure to keep some recording crystals functioning through what is to come. Because I have a bunch of rather skeptical teenagers at home who would not believe the rather impressive feats of magical prowess their father is about to perform unless I have most conclusive proof of the acts."