Chương 338: Epilogue 12. Enthusiastic example

"Can you see it?"

"Of course I can."

"Then… Does Senior Brother want to go first?"

"Oh? So it's 'senior brother' now all of a sudden when it suits you? I joined the sect at the same time as you."

"But you were before me in the line. Thus, Senior Brother, I have finally realized the error of my ways and will start showing due deference from hereon out."

"Of course you will… Then I too shall start taking proper responsibility for my junior and let you try this first. A… Moment of tempering. Yes. Tempering offered to you out of the goodness of my heart."

"Oh, no, Senior Brother, I insist that you go in there first. Your path is a much better fit against something like this shadow slug."

"No, no, that just won't do. I could not steal this opportunity from you, junio–""Hi there! Oh, sorry. I mean: Greetings, honored warriors upon your paths towards the heavens." The two sect initiates of the Sentient Waves Sect lying on their bellies and peeking into the cave almost leapt from their feet at the sound of a female voice suddenly addressing them from behind, scrambling up while simultaneously trying to scan for danger and salvage whatever could be saved of their dignity.

This wasn't helped by the now rather dirty fronts of their robes, but at least the young woman who stood behind them had the grace to let them save face as she barely seemed to notice.

"I– In the name of the Sentient Waves Sect, halt stranger!" one of the initiates managed to call, but softly so as to not risk agitating the creature within the cave they had been peeking into. He brandished his sword as he did so, although not in an overly aggressive way. The newcomer may be an iron-ranker like them, after all, but he could clearly sense that her aura was a lot richer than both his and his companions, meaning that she was probably just a breath away from reaching bronze rank.

"I… Do believe I am already standing pretty still, no?" she asked, giving them a look with one raised eyebrow. The newcomer did make for an odd sight. She wore no sect insignia, but the forest green cape hinted at her being associated with the Autumn Wanderer's guild, further causing the initiates to grow wary as they had been taught to stay wary around the outcasts. Polite, but wary.

Beneath the cape they could see hints of heavy armor, and her thick mane of dark curly locks helped somewhat offset the fact that she was also rather short, still leaving her a bit imposing even though her face was pretty enough that both initiates would definitely have considered approaching her in a more sociable setting.

But there was the imposing part, which was further driven home by the fact that she was resting a long hunk of metal over one shoulder, red flowing lines like glowing blood seeming to flow over and somehow into the metal whose surface seemed to retain an almost liquid state while remaining straight as an arrow. It looked a bit like something rough and unfinished, causing one of the initiates to furrow his brows.

"What's that?" he asked, nodding towards the length of metal.

"A project of mine," the woman replied with an easy smile.

"But that's less important. What I actually wanted to ask was if you were going to debate further or if you minded if I had a swing at what's inside? I really need it, so you would be doing me a favor! I don't need the contract money or anything, just the slug. Please? Pretty please?"

Any shreds of her first corrected attempt at decorum vanished rather quickly as the woman launched into her little tirade of a question, even going so far as to flutter her eyelashes at the two initiates who were looking more and more confused by the moment.

"You… Want the slug?"

"Well, not as a familiar or anything. I want to kill it. At a certain pace so I need to do it alone. You can loot it too when I'm done. If you're able, that is."

"We… Are not."

"Oh? Well, I am. So you can even have the loot too, as long as I get that slug. Pretty please?"

"I… What?" One of the initiates gawked, still not believing what he was hearing.

"That… That is a shadow slug. The contract recommended a group for any iron handling it. Why would you go at such a thing alone?"

"As I said. It's for a project and I need to manage a rather delicate balance," the woman said once more, obviously pushing through a bit of frustration at the pair's incomprehension.

"Can I please just go ahead? I believe it is starting to rouse at all this talking." The initiates looked at one another again, and then one of them - the alleged senior - shrugged. If she succeeded, it was free money. And if she didn't… She would at least have weakened the thing.

"I suppose we can agree," the senior one eventually said.

"But–""Great! Thanks! You won't regret this!" the young woman cheered, brushing past them as she straight up entered the cave without any attempt at stealth.

"I'm Moth, by the way. Dancing Moth Beneath Golden Moon. Good to meet you!" Then she was inside the shallow cave, with a mound of darkness seeming to come alive at its rear as the shadow slug was becoming agitated. The two initiates watched as the darkness deepened, and the fact that the creature would be able to use that darkness as a physical medium to inflict harm was the reason for the earlier hesitance of the pair.

It was a high-end iron monster that might as well have been bronze rank with a mere flick of the Heavens' will. What was she going to do against that? Well, as it turned out, charge straight at it." Writhe, thou living forge!" With the chant and a clanging short leap, the woman - Moth - leaped the final distance before she plunged the length of metal she was carrying into the body of the slug where it entered with sickening ease.

The monster tried shrugging it off, but it was as if its own body and mana were locally turned against that intent as tendrils of shadowy blood seemed to start wrapping around the metal thing, keeping it in place as something started forming around it. It was a faint thing at first, but then the initiates could finally make it out; a sword. Thin red lines formed the outline of a blade around the rough length of metal, not unlike a blueprint of what could be.

By now, blades of darkness were closing in around Moth but spiked metal barriers appeared to block them as she launched out with an armored fist. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Clang! As paradoxical as it was unexpected, the strike resounded with a clang of metal upon metal that echoed in the cave, which definitely was not what one would expect from hitting the soft dark body of the monster.

Then came another such strike, and then another even as dark tendrils scraped against metal armor.

"That's right. Bring out the mana. Good. Just a little– There!" Moth said, speaking to herself as she dodged in and hammered the creature again with another blow, the tone of the clang shifting slightly. On and on this went, the seeming madwoman weighing her every strike in both timing and precision instead of pummeling the creature with abandon. It surely tried that latter against her, but many strikes were either turned by iron defenses or started healing right away if they struck true.

And eventually, the pair of initiates could see it; the shadow stuff of the slug seemed to creep further and further up along the length of metal still sticking out from it, filling out the red outline until…

"Aha! Got you!" Moth shouted as she shrugged off another attack, stepped in and ripped the length of metal out of it." Quenched in the essence of the heart! Kyyyaaaaaah!" As she did, what had once been a length of something a lot more raw suddenly snapped into focus as a shadowy greatsword resting in the woman's hands before she swung it around and bisected the shadow slug.

The strike was an imposing one as the blade seemed to drink in just a little bit more of the very essence of the monster before it died, leaving Moth alone in the cave looking up at the weapon in her hands with a critical eye. Eventually though, she nodded to herself.

"Just as I hoped!" Then she walked out of the cavern as if nothing had happened, only seeming to remember the presence of the two now gaping initiates as she saw them.

"Oh! Right! You guys!" she said, smiling a bit awkwardly.

"Sorry about that. I get a bit… Caught up in my work. Here!" As she finished, Moth waved a hand which caused the monster corpse inside to start vaporizing into rainbow smoke.

"You'll find the loot in there, but let the place air out a bit first, you hear?"

"What… What was that? How did you… Why?" Turning to the stammering initiate, Moth only nodded a bit sympathetically.

"Sorry. That must look pretty weird. But also pretty cool too, right? I made this nice little piece here–" she said, patting the sword," -at the behest of a client in the guild. Given my path, I only do commissions, and it sounded fun. And from the way it looks, it should merge well with his path. So tell your friends and sect mates to find Dancing Moth Beneath Golden Moon for all their specific and specialty equipment needs! And now I have to go. Thanks again! Happy hunting!"

And then she did just that and left, walking off into the woods with the purpose of someone carrying what they were sure would be a most welcome surprise for someone else.

"Teacher Peony! I'm back!"

"I know, Apprentice. Aura sense, remember?" came the familiar voice from deeper inside the workshop, even though Moth struggled to pick it out over the din of all the other craftspeople working the guild's own facilities. One of them - a magenta-haired man of late bronze rank - looked up from his work and nodded to Moth as she passed, receiving a pleased smile in return as she headed inwards to the personal workshop of the first and now-lead resident artificer of the Autumn Wanderer's guild.

"You succeeded then I presume?" Peony asked Moth without turning from the work she was finishing up. As always, watching her Teacher work was fascinating as the woman melded the different concepts and mana types she was working with this time with seeming ease. Being a late silver-ranker must help greatly, Moth supposed, and she couldn't wait to get there herself.

"I can sense your impatience, Moth," Peony chided gently.

"Aura control is important for all of us, core-users like me or not."

"Sorry, sorry."

"You're closing in on bronze a year after getting your essences, so you're making good time."

"Well, Father made gold in fifteen years. I have to make progress yesterday if I am to beat that." With a flash from the workbench, Peony seemed to finish her work, sighing and shaking her head with an amused smile as she retracted all the various lenses she used while working and looked at her apprentice. Personal apprentice too, and only in part as a favor to Kite and Dragonfly.

"Girl, it still baffles me how someone with a temperament like your's came to seek the crafter's path."

"Not only," Moth protested.

"I can do both, as I believe is proven by the last year."

"And people still don't believe me when I tell them how," Peony smiled, shaking her head again.

"Blood, iron, potent, vessel. Not the combination I expect that your parents envisioned?"

"I did research for years in the hope I would get it right. And I did!" Moth grinned in return.

"Besides, there are no bad paths. That was what Father and Mother always said. Well, except the restricted ones. But those aren't bad, but bad. Didn't people try to call your path bad though, Teacher?"

"They did, and I believe I proved them wrong. Which is, I suppose, why Kite sent you to me in the first place. As an apprentice, that is. Not just to visit. You know, I still almost wish Sun and I would have had a few more children. Then we might have had one or two your age and joined our families together."

"Uhm… Honored and all, Teacher, but I don't have the time for that."

"There is more to life than beating still-living monsters' magical essence into artifacts you plunge into them, you know? … You do know that, don't you Moth?"

"... I'm not sure I get it, Teacher."

"Ugh," Peony sighed, throwing her hands up in the air.

"With all that passion of your mother's, I would have expected… Well, not that it might be combined with such a singular mind."

"Mother says I'll grow out of it. But… I disagree," Moth said with a shrug.

"Who has the time for boys, girls or somesuch when there is so much amazing work to be done and so many living materials manifesting all over the place, all the time?"

"Yes. Who could possibly find time for anything else indeed…" Peony replied dryly, glancing around her to indicate something akin to 'most of civilized society'.

"But if your mother couldn't butt heads with you on this matter, I certainly won't try. Come on now, bring it here. Let me have a look." Moth did as instructed, bringing out the greatsword from a dimensional bag and showing it to Peony.

"Hmm… This… Yes, this is good work, Moth. At least that singular mind of yours picks things up with frightening speed. This should help Fir Walker's path immensely."

"You think so, Teacher? Really?"

"Really," Peony confirmed, and it was true. She really didn't have anything to complain about this time. The blade was as good as Moth could make it at the moment, and she couldn't fault the girl for not seeing details she literally was incapable of picking up. But as soon as she ranked up though…

"Yes!" Moth whooped, pumping a fist in the air in a way that made Peony think that Dragonfly was there with them.

"Will you tell Father and Mother for me when you next see them?"

"Won't you see them soon yourself?"

"Perhaps, but I'm heading out again tomorrow. You're around more."

"I should have figured," Peony replied with a smile. Her path and Moth's were very different in some ways but rather similar in others. Both worked with delicate processes and balancing things in the moment, using the materials you had at hand in a much more 'organic' way than was common among crafters. Peony herself could rarely find the perfect balance of her resources, as would Moth rarely find the perfect monster for what she needed to imbue her creations with.

It was in learning to somehow still find excellence in those moments that truly made or broke the success of their paths. But given Moth's smile as she headed out again? Peony suspected that the girl's trail of initial failures leading into mounting, almost unstoppable successes was only just beginning.

"Best of luck out there, Moth!" Peony called after her apprentice, smiling as she returned to her workbench. With such an energetic presence once more in her life, she couldn't help but want to forge ahead herself. Perhaps she would one day even succeed in breaking through the limitations of being a core-user in the mysterious ways available to crafters. Perhaps she wouldn't.

But Daybreak Peony, once called 'the Scavenger' and now lead artificer of the Autumn Wanderer's guild, would be damned if she didn't at least try now that she had such an enthusiastic example in her life.