201 - New System Screen (Patreon)

A strange sensation ran through Arielle as the sacred chant began.

It was truly difficult to describe it. She could feel her cores expanding, but not in the normal way. Not in the way it usually did when being filled with essences. Instead, it was like something else was filling them, something that was essentially imbuing her with a glow from within.

It felt divine, and she felt light, almost like she was floating, and a rush of power was the only thing anchoring her to the ground.

All the essences in the room drew close to her, gathering around in equal proportions. They clouded around Gio and then around her. Gio’s authority flared to life, but something from within, her own authority, stemming from somewhere she didn’t know, pushed back. Not enough to overwhelm, but enough that she no longer felt suppressed by the sheer weight of his.

So this was where authority came from.

Not from the cores necessarily, but from somewhere beyond that. Somewhere she could not really describe. It was like a river had opened and power rushed out. She couldn’t control it, couldn’t stop it, though it came from within her. She also felt a connection to something, not necessarily her system but again, beyond that. Beyond physical and beyond magical.

But, it felt a little…wrong. It was hard to describe, but maybe it was like her cores did not entirely recognize what was happening to them. 

Probably because she wasn’t used to the feeling. 

“Sentinel Be With You,” the Archmages chanted.

They also said more words in an ancient-sounding language. Gio remained silent throughout, still with his cool hand on her head.

She vaguely wondered if maybe she could read Gio’s cores like this.

Was it worth it to try to cast a spell? Well, she probably wasn't supposed to cast while all this was happening, and if Gio found out what she did, he would probably be upset, wouldn't he?

When she met his gaze, he smirked like he could read her mind. She looked away, a little perturbed. Of course he couldn’t read her mind. No one, no human, at least, could read minds. He was just being his usual mocking self.

As the ritual continued, Arielle saw her system screen flare to life. The numbers rolled on a counter as her cores filled with more and more of the thing, then they stopped suddenly. Arielle knew it had not reached its limit. Her cores were not full. But it stopped regardless, and the numbers finalized on her screen.

.

Strength: 14

Constitution: 16

Agility: 15

Speed: 24

Endurance: 26

Intellect: 44

Perception:  38

Calor: 19.4%

Luxa: 19.6%

Vitae: 19.2%

Massa: 19.3%

Vacu: 22.5%

Total essence capacity: 1300 (High For Level)

Equilibrium Index: 96.7%

Rank: Master

Qi Circulation: 6.1

Level: 580 (Lower Master)

Level Progress: 0%

Achievements: None

Quests: None

Grimoire: 53 Spells

She read the stats, noting the numbers and her leveling progress, which was essentially the distance to her next level. She also noted down her qi circulation which referred to how much qi she could assign to boost any physical attribute she wanted. She’d expected it to be low, since her spells were cast pretty cleanly, but it was lower than even what she’d thought. 

What she focused on most right now was that her cores were out of balance. She knew it, but she didn’t know how bad it was. Hopefully, her new plan of assigning each of her personalities different leans would balance it back out, especially as she created more useful Massa and Calor-dominant spells.

All too soon, the ritual was over, and Gio let his hand drop. The glow retreated, but Arielle could still feel the light exuding from her cores, which was not unpleasant but not entirely comfortable either, mostly because she wasn't used to it.  

“Your cores are quite balanced,” one of the Archmages, the one who had been arguing with Gio, said.

Could he see her system screen? They saw all the numbers? 

Arielle didn’t know how to respond to that, so she said, “Thank you.”

The man didn’t smile, but he did seem amused. “Your physical abilities need a lot of work. Your qi management needs work too, probably because you didn’t learn it young like most of us had to. If you need help with that, I can suggest–”

"She doesn’t need your help,” Gio said sharply, definitively. “And she’ll be too busy anyway.”

The man gave Gio a look and then said, “Elric. You know where to find me.”

Elric nodded, and the Archmages finally strolled off, restraining their authority, yet leaving a mark with their combined presence anyway.

Gio lingered behind for a second, winking at her before he too walked away. He didn't go back to the benches, however. He left the room entirely, the door swinging closed behind him.

"The induction is over," the speaker announced, and Arielle followed his gesture, walking off the aisle to meet Elric at the side.

“How are you feeling?” Elric asked as the speaker continued to talk. 

“Good." She didn’t feel much different except for the authority now exuding from her. She would need to learn how to control it, because it likely felt unbearable for those around her. “I need to learn to rein in my authority.”

“It comes with practice." He put his hand on her shoulder. “I’ll teach you when I get home."

As they made it back to their seats, Arielle could feel the weight of the stares once more. She should be getting used to it at this point, but it was difficult. It felt like needles subtly pricking at her skin–invasive and persistent. 

It was different when they were watching her fight Selena, because then she’d actually been doing something worth staring at, but right now she wasn’t. She was simply walking, and now she was hyperaware of every stride, where to look, what to do with her hands. 

When they got back to their seats, Lord Wesley and his nephews greeted them with the widest smiles on their faces. 

“That fight was–” Caleb began.

“Spectacular,” his uncle cut him off. “Absolutely incredible work, Arielle. No one here will ever doubt you again, or me for choosing you." His nose rose in the air as he leaned back in his seat. "I have an excellent eye for talent, after all."

“What my Uncle is trying so subtly to say is that you fought really well,” Ian said, drily. “You'll have to show me some of those spells you used sometime."

Arielle nodded vaguely, wondering if she was allowed to teach him what Vittoria and she had worked on.

"Your casting was spectacular too. You are well on the track to maybe being our youngest Archmage yet."

“There might unfortunately be a spot open soon," Caleb pointed out. “One left by the indomitable Archmage Lenore."

That reminded Arielle of the other woman.

 "How is she?" she asked and braced herself for bad news, as the men’s expression turned forlorn.

“Still hanging in there," Caleb said. “Her body and core are absolutely decimated, so at the very least, even if she wakes up, she will likely not be a mage anymore. The healers remain fighting for her life, whatever that might look like."

“Don’t say it like that," Ian scolded his brother.

“I’m not wishing ill on her, cousin. It’s just that, even if she does live, with her cores being the way they are, what sort of life would she be signing up for?” He glanced at Arielle. "In that case, wouldn’t death be a mercy?”

Archmage Caleb narrowed his eyes at his cousin, and his Uncle sent him a disapproving look. “Let’s not talk about such matters here. There are better things to discuss."

"I agree," Elric said while the speaker of the assembly continued to drone on.

As Elric promised, there was very little left of the meeting after Arielle’s induction. Most of what was left was announcements as to when the next meeting would be held and what would be on the agenda for that meeting. 

After it was all over, they all stood and said the Sentinel prayer, and then the crowd began to disperse. Elric and Arielle said their goodbyes to Lord Wesley and his nephews, turning down their invitation for dinner at the finest establishment in Rittersaal.

"Perhaps another time," Elric responded. "Arielle was pretty tired coming here. She needs to get some sleep."

“Oh, of course, of course.” Lord Wesley said. “Ah, but before you go, we need to have a brief sidebar with the rest of the council. It's about the demon attack." His face darkened considerably at the mention.

“Okay, as long as it’s quick," Elric responded.

“It will be.”

That was how Arielle found herself standing beside the door a few feet away from where Elric was gathered with some other Masters and Archmages discussing something she could not hear thanks to the silencing spell around them.  

As people streamed, Arielle scratched her elbow, holding it and avoiding the gazes that came her way. She felt like a prop on display. Maybe that was what she was, effectively. A prop. 

She wondered if she should be doing something right now to win them over, as Vittoria said she would have to. Should she smile or wave? Was that the appropriate response to the staring?

She tried it with one of the people walking by her, a woman with long blonde hair. Arielle caught her eye, attempted the smile Vittoria had taught her, and waved.

The woman paled and yanked her gaze away, hurrying through the doors as though Arielle was about to chase her.

Hmm.

Maybe she misunderstood.

The next person Arielle tried that with, an older man, had a similar response. He went one step further and bumped into someone in front of him, in his hurry to leave. 

Arielle blushed as she put her hand down.

She didn't do it again. Clearly, that was the wrong thing to do.

“Ms Blacksoil,” someone called out, and she looked up.  It was a man with hair shorn close to his scalp, deep-set wrinkles in his forehead, but also smile lines by his eyes. He was wearing a short green coat with a lot of badges on it, and matching starched pants.

He gave her a thumbs up. “Great duel.”

"Thank you," she responded.

He walked out too, and as she continued to wait for Elric, she caught one more person lingering, opening their mouth as though to say something to her, hesitate, and then back away.

Elric finally returned, and they walked out together. While doing so, she asked, "Where does authority come from?"

"No one truly knows," he said. "But we assume it's from the Sentinel. It used to be called Sentinel's blessing back in the day."

"Oh. So he's...connected to us?"

"If you're the religious type," Elric said. "Some think it's something more mundane, a lesser known part of how magic works, just like with qi. Or maybe it's something granted by the system."

Arielle thought about it as they clambered down the marble steps. "It felt like it was something moving through me, not giving me something."

Elric shrugged. "To be honest, I wouldn't know. I've truly never really thought about it."

"Oh."

As they reached the base of the steps where they could summon a portal, Elric heard his name being called. 

An older man in a brown and bronze robe, with long brown hair in a braid down his back and hazel eyes, was following them.

Elric stiffened as he got closer, and the hand on Arielle's shoulder squeezed slightly before he dropped it.  

“Elder.” That was the only greeting Elric afforded the other man. Not a name, simply a title.

“I wanted to catch you before you left," the Elder said. "As you must imagine, we have something very vital to discuss."

“I really do not have the time. I need to get my ward back home.”

“It will only take a minute.”

“I don’t have a minute.”

“Please.” The sound was forced out of the man’s mouth, his deep brogue harsh and raspy. He didn’t look happy to be saying it, his expression hardening. “Please, Elric.”

Elric's face faltered, and he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Fine. Talk.”

“I was hoping we could do it in private.”

“I’m not leaving my ward alone to listen to whatever you have to say, so if it's important, you better talk now. You have fifty seconds. Go."

The man’s jaw worked. “We would like you to take the council seat left by Anton.”

“It's not going to happen.”

"We do not have another choice."

"Then find one. The Patriarch laid his seed across half the continent, there has to be someone else to take Anton's place. There are plenty of cousins, uncles, aunts, first, second, and third, and the elders too."

“None are even anywhere close to your ranking. Without you, the Earthbinders will have to forfeit a seat." 

Elric laughed a little. “Do you even understand the blessed irony of you telling me this?”

"Believe me, it is not lost on me. And you would be within your rights to reject it.

“Which is exactly what I’m going to do, whether or not you grant me ‘permission’ to do so.” He put his hand back on Arielle’s shoulder. “Now if you'll excuse us, we must take our leave now."

"Think about it," the Elder said, his eyes flickering to Arielle for a second before going back to Elric. "It would be beneficial for you too."

"Mm," Elric responded noncommittally. 

As the Elder bowed and walked away, Elric's tension eased somewhat, his hand once again leaving Arielle's shoulder.

“How come you don't want to join the council?" Arielle asked. "It would be beneficial, wouldn't it?" Arielle knew that those on the council got to make the rules, and they also could do things like issue a Sentinel's challenge. It was an enormous amount of power to hold.

“The problems outweigh the benefits," Elric said. "It wouldn’t mean just being on the council. It would be me taking a role as the heir of my family. Constant meetings with the Elders. I would have to bring forth the family agenda during meetings, not to mention deal with all the rest of it. My will would not be my own. And I would rather chew my left ear off than do that."

The graphic visual was a little nauseating. "You really don’t like your family, do you?"

“It’s more so that I don’t truly consider them my family," he said. "My real family is dead." Sadness passed over his face, and Arielle remembered what Elric had told her during their first trip together that day: the family that had adopted him in the enclaves and raised him, dying before his graduation.

"I'm sorry," Arielle said.

"For what?" Elric asked.

“Because you're alone now, with no family." Even though she didn't see them too often, Arielle couldn't imagine her family not being around. There was a comfort in knowing that, regardless of everything, there were people who had known her since she was born, who cared about her and were obligated to take care of her.

Elric didn’t have that anymore. 

Elric shrugged. "I have you.”

“I’m only your fake cousin.”

“Still better than any of the other ones." He reached out and ruffled her hair with a half-smile. "I suppose you're my only family now.”

Arielle smiled, warmth coursing through her chest.

When they got home, they heard Inara in the kitchen making dinner, with Sir Spendulon whining from somewhere else in the home.

"I thought she was supposed to rest," Arielle said.

"She just started doing it,” Vittoria said, reading by the fireplace with her legs crossed. "And when I told her to stop, she acted like a kicked sheep, so what else could I do?" She looked up from her scroll. "How was the meeting? Did anything exciting happen?”

“Yes,” Arielle said. “I saw someone use qi to transform their entire body into a hurricane. It was incredible. Also, I have authority now, but I don't know how to control it."

“Congratulations. You’ll learn. More so it will come naturally with time. Anything else?”

She tried to remember if she’d been excited at any other point during the day, and decided that she had not, so she shook her head. 

“No. That was all.”

“Elric?” Vittoria turned to Elric expectantly.

“She beat nearly every challenger within the first few seconds of them coming up to her," Elric said. "She also defeated Princess Gregor so badly that she was internally hemorrhaging. Gio Li told everyone she was practically a sister to him, and I'm sure you can guess how that went down."

Vittoria winced, making a face. "Damn Gio."

"Yes. On the bright side, I doubt many people will target her anytime soon. On the not-so-bright side, she's also getting some unearned hostility coming her way."

Ari blinked at him. “People were hostile to me?”

“You didn’t notice?” Vittoria asked and Arielle shook her head. 

“They hate me?” she asked. 

“Perhaps hate is a strong word,” Elric hurried to say. “But being a friend of Gio’s is both protective and incredibly isolating.”

“Oh.” Arielle deflated. Was that why people ran from her? Was it not about her smile and wave after all?

She’d not expected to make any friends that easily, as she’d never had an easy time making friends in her life, but she didn’t think that she would inspire hatred either. “How am I supposed to win people over if they all hate me now?"

"I wouldn't say all of them," Vittoria said. "And again, it's not true hatred. They don't know you well enough to hate you. You'll win them over by not only showing them what you can do, but also who you are."

"How?"

Vittoria smiled. "Patience. We'll get there one step at a time. Now the next step in our plan, apart from all the training we'll be doing, is figuring out how to stop these demons."

"Gio and I will likely be sent into the demonic realm again to scout and see what's happening there, and who’s back to life," Elric said.

"Will I go with you?" Ari asked.

"Perhaps," Elric admitted.

Arielle didn't know whether she was more apprehensive or excited. She liked the idea of visiting other realms, but everything tainted by demons immediately became sinister.

"On our end, Arielle and I will try to figure out how to stop the demons from accessing Earth the way they did at the ball. We'll need to visit the Vacu-dominant temples and also learn more about our Massa barrier. Oh, and Arielle, I will also need to draw some of your blood before you go."

"Go where?"

"Where else? Home."

"Oh." That was right. Vittoria said she could go home after the induction to visit her family. Not just that, but she would see her village again, and all the people she had left behind.

Not that there were that many. She didn't have many friends in Fenway, at least not those that were her age. Growing up, she had been excluded and laughed at by her peers more than anything.

She wasn't looking forward to that part, but she did look forward to spending time with Celie and Brom and her mother and father.

And while she was there, she could also ask her grandmother about her sister, and being a Mossborne.

"I don't know how long you can be away for," Vittoria said. "I know I promised at least a week, but with everything happening, it's a little unpredictable. We'll give you four days at least. We'll still be able to communicate and train using the portal bird. And we'll still visit the temples too."

"Okay," Arielle said, and while she was excited, she remembered one more thing. "But before I leave, I think it's time for us to tell Inara who I really am."

***

AN: All the descriptions for each stat are in the master doc a few posts back. However, since I received a few questions about qi, I’ll answer it here. 

Essentially, in the early chapters, I mentioned that waste energy from casting spells can be used to enhance one’s physical attributes, which can then give them a specific build. I didn’t give it a name qi until several chapters later (I think in the Spirit Path chapter) but this is essentially what qi is. I think I simply referred to levelling points before that though, which caused a lot of confusion for readers so it has been changed.

[When you cast a spell, and then it dissolves or breaks, waste energy is created from the breaking of the bond between the essences and your core. The cleaner the break, the less waste energy is generated. The messier the break, the more the waste energy. This waste energy circulates around the body, and from a young age, ascendants are taught how to harness this qi and store it so that it can be used to build physical attributes. The qi circulation stat basically measures how much qi is in circulation to be harnessed by the body. 

Despite casting a lot of spells, Arielle has built up far less qi than she should because her spell breaks are exceptionally clean. Messy breaks tend to be harder on essences and create more manalings which Arielle does not want to do. Also, frankly, her connection to essences enables her to have such clean breaks. So despite casting lots of high powered spells, the qi generated is on the lower end, because she generates very little waste energy per spell. Other creatures develop qi in other ways, like by producing essences.] - This part is added to the story with new changes. 

AN: For the physical attributes, average human ranges without magical enhancement or special bloodline traits are typically from 1- 50.