Chapter 1400 (Patreon)

While watching people take their initial steps on the Arcane Path would never get old, guiding them further down the road was just as magical. The first steps commonly turned even jaded adults into excited children, wide-eyed at the reality of using magic. That would likely fade over the next couple of years as people got used to magic and only children got to take those precious first steps, but for now I could enjoy this. 

Excitement was a commonly observed emotion here as well; the people who had gathered in Lady Hecate’s shrine to listen to Anise’s sermon had already been interested. My interruption and the ensuing expulsion of the idiot were enough to turn interest into something more. As I was teaching, I idly wondered why the people had been praying to Lady Hecate in the first place. Was it just due to availability or did they feel something more for the deity? Maybe because of Anise, who had a fair amount of magical skill, so her abilities should look quite impressive, especially for people unfamiliar with magic. That might be a factor, though why they had chosen to worship instead of learn, I had no idea. 

My lesson was certainly well received, and I even felt a faint sense of approval in the shrine’s aura, which helped the people here learn. If Anise continued to teach here, instead of preaching, I could easily predict some very impressive results. But for now, my part in teaching these people was done, and I could focus on something actually interesting. 

Namely, figure out how the runes inscribed in the Library Crystal worked. And take a nap later; I had a strong inkling that Lady Hecate and I would spend the night together again, discussing the alterations to the anchors she had asked me about.

Taking the same spot before the altar I had used before, I got down to business. The crystal was just as complicated as before, but maybe sleeping on the information I had observed had somehow helped to crystallise it in my mind. The runes seemed to make a little more sense, and when I closed my eyes, I could almost trace them back, gaining a faint understanding of their meaning every time I tried. It wasn’t good enough to get the skill just yet, but I was getting there. Maybe if I combined two possible ways to gain understanding of runes, I could get to the point that I understood them. 

Sitting back, I decided to pursue that idea. Closing my eyes once more, I let myself sink into the Astral River, feeling it strangely responsive. It wasn’t quite like the sensation of sinking in the Nexus, but there were some similarities. The Nexus was completely dominated by the elements it was aligned with, the sheer, overpowering volume making the flow within relatively smooth. Just like massive rivers like the Amazon or Mississippi were flowing smoothly, the Astral Power flooding out of the Nexus was flowing smoothly. 

Here, the smoothness wasn’t due to sheer, overpowering volume. Instead, the flow was strangely regulated, artificially smoothed over, rather than reality being levelled by virtue of overwhelming power. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the somewhat artificial smoothness was created by Lady Hecate, though I had no idea where to even begin such a process. There was some interaction between the divine aura within the shrine and the Astral River, but how that worked was far beyond my own abilities. Maybe it was somewhat similar to the way I was channelling the Astral Power of the Nexus up through the pillar within the Nexus Tower, only working both ways. Or possibly even only working the opposite way compared to the Nexus Tower, but I didn’t think that Lady Hecate would discard the Astral River’s power. It would be rather wasteful, and Lady Hecate was nothing if not efficient.

Slowly, I began to mentally trace the runes I had observed on the crystal in the Astral River, my senses searching for resonance between them and the Astral Power around me. At first, I only detected faint traces, but the more I worked on the runes, slowly perfecting my mental image of them, the stronger the resonance got. 

Finally, I managed to follow the traces into the correct stream of power within the Astral River and tried to reverse the process I usually experienced when delving for runes. Instead of drawing on the river directly, I focused on the rune I could project the best, even raising the hand of my mental construct and drawing it, as if I were casting a spell with it. 

That seemed to do the trick, and I could feel something akin to a correction coming from the Astral River, as if the Astral River now provided the correct form and I only had to colour between the lines, so to speak. Slowly, at first, but then quicker, I managed to perfect that single rune and the stronger my impression of it became, the easier it was to discern the rune’s meaning.

Finally, the meaning became clear: Symmetry. Immediately, I felt a flood of information surge into my mind, forcing me to focus on containing it, or I would be left with a severe headache, simply because there was too much. 

Behind closed eyelids, I could feel my eyes twitch back and forth, as if I was reading hundreds of pages every second, but it was well worth it. Symmetry, it wasn’t just the first rune I was now understanding; it was the foundational rune of Crystal Rune Mastery. Even with closed eyes, I could see the blue box float before me, telling me that I had gained Crystal Rune Mastery by learning its foundational rune. Now, my lips curled into a smile, and I started to withdraw from the Astral River, even as I noticed additional messages.

Astral Meditation had gained a level, which was nice, but, more importantly, I had finally gained a level again. I wasn’t sure how long it had been since I gained my last level, but this had been what pushed me over the edge to level one hundred and thirty.

The level also gave me attribute points, pushing some of my attributes, namely Intelligence and Intuition, across important boundaries. One hundred and thirty-five for Intelligence, granting me yet another trait that increased the density of my magical power. Increased Astral Density II. Not terribly interesting; I already had the basic version of the trait, so this only increased the effect, but hey, it made me stronger, so I was content with it.

Intuition, on the other hand, was a little more interesting. Just like having a hundred Intelligence, there was no Trait for a hundred Intuition. Instead, I gained a Special Ability, though I doubted it would be as potent as Mind over Matter. Its name, Pattern Divination, sounded interesting, even if I briefly had to chuckle at the idea of what could be called weaponised autism, or maybe weaponised apophenia. 

I would have to go and see exactly how the ability worked, but that was a task for later. For now, the description given only told me that it allowed me to ‘discern patterns by drawing on outside sources’, whatever that meant. The added note that increased Intuition would improve the quality of my divinations was rather useless, but I had a feeling it would become obvious in time.

Regardless, the big question was what ‘outside sources’ meant in this context. All information was, at the end of the day, drawn from outside sources. If I looked at something, my eyes interpreted reflected light, turning the light into an image I could understand, making it external. Only my sense of touch could be called a direct sense, but I had a feeling that the ability would do more. Just how much more, I would have to find out by experimenting. 

Leaning back, I finally opened my eyes, leaving the Astral River behind. My head was throbbing a little, making any immediate experimentation a bad idea, so I went with my other plan and dropped into a convenient shadow. Speeding through the shadows, I stepped back out atop the Nexus Tower, letting the freezing air cool my aching head. 

But that wasn’t enough. A few quick steps carried me to the edge, and then I jumped off, my wings manifesting behind me. I had no goal; I was simply looking for a nice snowdrift, and once I found one, I let myself fall into it. 

For anyone else, it would have been painful; the snow was tightly packed, some of it already forming new glacial ice. For me, it was nothing but a soft and wonderfully cold pillow, letting me sink in with just the right amount of buoyancy. A quick warding later, I was resting in a bed of snow, letting some of it pile up over my legs as a blanket.

With a sigh of utter contentment, I closed my eyes once more, falling asleep moments later, my mind finally quiet.