Chapter 1393 (Patreon)

The Shrine itself was essentially unchanged compared to its original creation. Some artwork, one or two stone carvings, had been added, but beyond that, only some slight traces of use were visible. Somebody had tracked in a bit of dirt, and I could detect a few small scuff marks near the entrance, but beyond that, it was merely maintained, not expanded. 

Stepping forward, I moved into the inner chamber, where the library crystal had been installed on the altar. Taking a moment to look at the different statues and reliefs, I couldn’t help but grin, wondering how long it would take someone to realise that these statues had my face. It was fascinating that they hadn’t noticed already, but maybe the people I had met with so far just didn’t spend much time in the Shrine, or they might have had a moment of selective blindness. After all, who would believe that the statue in a Shrine, watched over by an actual deity, would be of someone capable of walking into someone’s settlement?

Shaking my head, I knelt before the altar, not so much to pay my respects but because it made examining the silvery-blue crystal much easier. Well, I was also paying my respects, offering a plea to Lady Hecate not to take offence. It was, after all, her Shrine and her divine working I wanted to study. If she felt it was inappropriate, I wanted to apologise in advance and give her a chance to warn me off, if she deemed it appropriate. 

When no such sign materialised, I took it as implicit permission to start studying the crystal. Magic billowed outwards as I focused all my senses on the crystal, both the mystical and the mundane. The world around me faded away as different traits sharpened and narrowed my focus, allowing me to ignore everything around me in favour of this crystal. My senses went into overdrive, allowing me to discern every tiny detail, every minute aspect of the crystal’s creation and enchantment.

The thing was mindbogglingly complex, and I quickly realised that my current approach wouldn’t work. It was too much; even while I was blocking out everything around me to focus on the crystal, I couldn’t understand it. Not yet, not in its totality. 

But if I wasn’t capable of understanding its complete form, I could try to take the thing piece-meal, focusing on one aspect of it at a time. With a sigh and some deliberation, I let my magical senses fade away, focusing only on the mundane aspects of the crystal. Without the magical details screaming for attention within my mind, I could discern even more, to the point that my eyes allowed me to see microscopic details at a level I would have thought impossible. The more I looked at the crystal, the more I could see as every tiny facet of it became etched in my mind. The thing was a flawless piece of beauty, as every tiny crack of it, every edge and plane, had its own purpose. 

Tiny runes, far smaller than I could normally perceive, small enough that the surface felt smooth to the mundane touch. Even I had to sharpen my senses to detect them, especially since most of these runes were somehow formed within the crystal itself, leaving the surface completely smooth. It was an ingenious method, something I had experimented with on Mundus, but Lady Hecate was using that same technique in ways I had never imagined. Small cracks within the crystal allowed runes to take formations otherwise impossible, as both sides of each crack served as surfaces, while the crack itself became a line within another rune; it was incredible. I had no idea what the various runes meant, but just studying them like this was enlightening. 

For a moment, I was tempted to pull on my magical sight to study the runes themselves, but I realised I might just burn out my brain if I put even more strain on it. Even the information gathered by my mundane senses alone was enough to give me a headache, and I had a feeling I was already bleeding, but was simply ignoring the sensation, just as I was ignoring a number of other sensations. 

So, instead of pushing onward, I pulled back, allowing my senses to fade back to their normal levels and letting my focus expand once again. The moment I did so, I immediately felt some minor aches in my body again, and a blinding pain was bleeding into my mind. It was one disadvantage of this particular trait: it allowed me to blanket and ignore some of my senses, focusing on only one or two sensations. Those sensations became incredibly sharp, to the point that my perception was truly superhuman, beyond what I could normally do, but, in turn, I might just ignore something that was actually damaging my body. Pain was, after all, a sense, too, and I had ignored it in favour of seeing more, and now, I was paying for that. 

Letting out a groan, I reached out with my magic, applying a bit of healing to my brain and the soft tissue I was now bleeding from. The nosebleed was uncomfortable, but luckily it healed away quickly, though the tears of blood I was crying were a little annoying. Easily healed, too, but far too dramatic for my tastes.

“Who are you?!” A slightly angry female voice demanded, though there was some concern in it, too. Pushing down the aches and pains, I rose and turned around. 

Before me stood a woman, maybe in her mid-thirties, looking a little frazzled, as if she had been woken up recently and had yet to enjoy her morning tea, with a slightly outraged expression. However, the expression of outrage was rapidly fading, like snow in the summer sun, and was replaced by one of confused awe as her eyes flickered from my face to something behind me. Before I could answer the question, the woman fell to her knees, her head bowed, supplicating herself before me. 

“Forgive me, great one,” she pleaded, her tone now completely different.

“Excuse me?” I asked, completely confused, until I noticed that the magic I had used to examine the crystal in detail was still billowing outwards, now striking the poor woman who was undoubtedly unused to such high levels of magic. Additionally, I realised that I was standing right before the altar, and the statues that flanked it were now flanking me. Statues of Lady Hecate, though one of them was also carved in my image, something she obviously had noticed. Oh, and then there was the blood still staining my face, though I had no idea what the woman might make of that.

“Rise, my visit has no official reason,” I tried to assure the woman, still not completely certain how to deal with this. While I had met a few followers of Lady Hecate, it usually happened the other way around. We first met them, and they then became followers, meaning they were aware that Luna and I had a slightly odd relationship with the deity. That generally led to respectful but still fairly ordinary treatment, similar to how others would treat us simply because of our innate power. This, however, was something completely different. This woman was obviously a follower of Lady Hecate, and now, here I was, standing right in front of a statue of me, within Lady Hecate’s shrine. I wouldn’t be surprised if she thought I was the equivalent of an Angel or some other divine messenger. 

My words had less effect than I would have hoped. The woman rose, but remained unwilling to meet my gaze, looking far too submissive for my taste. 

“Would Lady Hecate want you to grovel, or would she want you to ask questions and take this as an opportunity to learn?” I asked, my voice a little harder than I intended, causing her head to snap up so quickly it made me wonder about whiplash. 

“Better,” I declared. “Now, my name is Jade, and I’m merely visiting here, studying some of my old haunts,” I explained while I was reining the magic billowing around me back in, using some of it to clean up the slight mess I had made on my face.

“I’m Anise, oh great one,” she replied, still not quite willing to meet my gaze, but at least she wasn’t intent on studying the floor. Instead, her eyes were mostly focused on my face, avoiding my eyes. Her gaze did, however, stray occasionally, looking behind me, or even flickering downwards to study my body. “I’ve been taking care of the Shrine and learning as much as I can, thanks to Lady Hecate’s blessing. She guided me here, so I could learn.”

“Admirable,” I commented, focusing my senses on her so I could see just how powerful she was, even activating my Soul Sight for a moment. 

“Not bad,” I complimented after learning all I could with a glance. She was around level seventy-five, which was quite adequate, but not terribly good. Additionally, her body was suffused with a fair amount of Astral Power, telling me she was an accomplished spellcaster, wielding mainly Earth and Fire; at least those were her primary affinities.

“Now, I offered to answer questions,” I offered, knowing that I needed to recover a little before studying the library crystal again. Why not teach a bit in the meantime?