Chương 91: Brother-Disciples

Antiquity's house was a wooden hut with a thatched roof, as humble as the attire upon the old man himself. Smoke rose from the chimney. A sign perhaps that someone was already inside. Sure enough, at a click-clack of Antiquity's walking stick, a figure did emerge from the hut. A familiar face in an otherwise mysterious forest." Pewter? Holy shit, you're here too."" Jordan! You made it!" <Character Sheet> Name: PEWTER SAPLING Race: Human Age: 29 Class: Tetherer, Lv.

6 Vessel: Gourd of Tenacity It was the Pewter Sapling from the Radiant Vigor Era, alright. Except he'd somehow leveled up since the last time Jordan saw him. Now, how did that happen?" You two know each other?" Antiquity hopped off Jordan's back, as lithely as if he were a man at least decades younger than he looked. Yet even that was just a starting guess. Jordan had the sneaking suspicion that the old man's true age could not be defined at the scale of 'decades'.

As for Antiquity's question, Jordan delayed answering it, waiting to match his story with Pewter's. Imagine his astonishment, then, when the latter up and said," Yes, Master. Jordan is that second Voidcrosser I told you about. He must have finished his business in one of the other [Loops], and now he's here."" Ah. Well, why didn't you say so, young man?" Antiquity gave Jordan's leg another whack, hard yet somehow painless.

"Is that how you know about Aperture's teachings? Because you're from the future? I admit, I never would have guessed that laggard would have such staying power. What about me? Do any Stormvasters from your time spout something called the Antiquian Principles or some such?" Jordan took a moment to stare between Pewter and Antiquity, mouth agape. He had trouble accepting that this ancient 'adept' was speaking so casually about time travel, but that didn't stop him from bantering at said adept's expense."

Nope," he said.

"Sorry, old man. Guess you lost that bet after all." Antiquity merely chuckled, taking the news in stride." Well, I'm sure you two have some catching up to do. Disciple Sapling, come find me in the garden once you're ready to begin today's lesson."" Yes, Master." With that, the old man click-clacked his way into the woods behind the hut. Jordan watched him go, mouth still not fully shut." You better come in and get settled in, Jordan. Are you hungry? I just heated up the stew."

The hut was as bare-bones on the inside as it looked on the outside. No artifacts or collections of scrolls to suggest that this was the home of a great master. Only the bare essentials for a hermit's life in the woods, an extra bedroll for a temporary guest, plus a large cauldron simmering by the hearth. It was an ancient-looking thing of encrusted cast iron. A tripod cauldron of solid bronze this certainly wasn't. Nor did it look like it would be any good for holding mana.

All that to say, the thing was serving a cauldron's original function perfectly well." That smells really good," Jordan admitted even as his stomach let out an eager growl. It just occurred to him that he hadn't eaten in a… well, now that he thought about it, it didn't seem that long ago, strangely enough." It's Master Antiquity's forever stew," Pewter explained.

"And in his case, the'forever' in the name of the dish might not be hyperbole. It is very good, Jordan. I've had it every day since I've been here."" And how long is that?"" I'm embarrassed to say that I've begun to lose track. But I would estimate… around three weeks, give or take a day?" The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Three weeks. That did line up with Jordan's own [Between Two Lives] countdown.

Presumably, both he and Pewter had spent about 20 days inside their respective [Loops]. But if that's true, why does it feel like I've been 'gone' for a lot longer than 20 days?" Okay." Jordan chose to focus on one thing at a time.

"And whereabouts during those three weeks did you tell Antiquity that you're from the future?"" I didn't," Pewter said, dead serious.

"He already knew. Well, perhaps not quite in those terms, but he'd clearly discerned that I wasn't… quite of his world. And I couldn't think of a reason to hide anything from him, so I told him the truth, to the best of my understanding."" Fair. And he didn't make a big deal out of it? Didn't go running to the nearest news agency with the scoop of the millennium?"" No. He just seemed more amused by it than anything.

If you ask me, Jordan, Master Antiquity had already considered [Crossing the Void] to be a possible manifestation of magic. To him, we are merely proof of what he'd already arrived at in theory. That is the level of his mastery and understanding of spellcraft."" Oh, this is really good, by the way." Jordan allowed himself several more sips of the stew before continuing, "I guess Hanza didn't call him an'adept' for nothing. It's funny though, isn't it?

The guy might be the most powerful spellcaster you or I would ever meet, yet he's so ancient— from a time before the system was even a thing."" Is it so surprising? My father always said that magic is in decline —that ours is an era long past Stormvast's golden age where the greatest spellcasters in history laid down the foundation for generations to come. Some made names for themselves that echo to this day, like a Master Aperture or a Graft Auspice. Whereas someone like Master Antiquity, evidently, was—is?

—content to live out his days in relative anonymity." Jordan nodded solemnly as he took another sip of delicious stew. Pewter's description also perfectly captured the vibe of Vesselia's base game. There too, the setting and lore permeated with a sense of past glory—a civilization living in the shadow of its former greatness and just trying to make the best of it.

Perhaps even the nine cauldrons were an extension of that idea: the biggest and greatest Vessels the world had ever known, now resurrected from a nearly two-thousand-year slumber. The thought of his own cauldron snapped Jordan back to reality. His own reality, proceeding in the present tense. Because, with apologies to Stormvasters everywhere, he was far more interested in a promising future than the glorious past." So? What have you been up to for the last 20 days?" Pewter broke into a smile of'glad you asked'."

Do you recall what Lord Padma said? About him and his estate having achieved'self-sufficiency' in mana? I've… asked Master Antiquity to teach me the same principles." Jordan nearly spat out a mouthful of stew." No way! Just to be clear though, we are talking about passive mana generation, yeah? That could be huge! And? Is that what you've been learning for the past 20 days?"" Not exactly.

Master Antiquity didn't outright refuse to teach me, but he suggested that I must first demonstrate adequate work ethic before proceeding with the meat of the material. So far, I've mostly been helping him around the house and with his garden. W—would you like to join me, Jordan?" Jordan couldn't help but snort in amusement. It turned out that his initial read of the purpose of the [Loop]—namely 'helping an old man get on with his life'—might not have been too far off the mark.

Yet the potential reward at the end of it was far more substantial than he could have hoped for. And so, it was with a big happy grin that he announced," You son of a bitch, I'm in!" Pewter recoiled as if he'd been slapped." You're a good friend, Jordan," the Tetherer said with some real heat,"but I cannot let stand such a crass insult to my mother. I ask that you take it back, or else—"" Whoa, whoa!" Jordan put his hands up in the Earthling gesture of contrition.

"Sorry, man, I didn't mean it as an insult. It's just a stupid saying where I come from. I've met your mother, and she's a lovely person… even though she probably hates my guts for luring her son away from home." Pewter, ever the sweet boy above all else, softened in an instant." Oh, she doesn't hate you, Jordan. It's just taking some time for her to come around is all. I'm sure the next time we visit, she'll welcome you with open arms."" Yeah?

Would it help my case if her son and I were brother-disciples of the Great Master Antiquity?" Pewter smiled indulgently." I'm sure it will. But Jordan, do beware that this could be a lengthy process. I've diligently followed every one of the Master's instructions so far, yet he's shown no indication that I'm anywhere near ready for the next step."" Oh, don't worry about that. We're in a [Loop], remember? [Time] is something we've got plenty of."" Is that so?

Even with your case of deathtouch progressing day by day?"" Yeah, it's all good. I… don't remember the details, but I sort of tested this during my previous [Loop]. No matter how many days or weeks—maybe even years—passed during a single cycle of the [Loop], once that was done, I only lost one day from my time limit. And I still have [74 days] left, so I've got plenty of buffer."" If you say so, Jordan. Have you eaten your fill? Shall we go and find Master Antiquity, so we may begin today's lesson?"" We shall.

We shall, indeed." Jordan stood, then followed Pewter out of the hut. In his eagerness to get started—this once-in-multiple-lifetimes opportunity to learn passive mana generation—he failed to catch onto a discrepancy. One that threatened and indeed obliterated the safety net of 'one day per loop'. Because, if he'd sat down and really thought about it—thought about what Pewter had told him—he would have realized that time behaved differently in this [Loop] compared to the others.