TS5: Chapter 20 (Patreon)

It was late that night when Vesna arrived at the mansion. When he was ushered in to see Thorn and the others, he looked quite harassed, but still tossed a token to Thorn.

"I was only able to get one," he said.

Raising an eyebrow Thorn looked at the token emblazoned with a sun, and then returned his gaze to Vesna.

"Don't look at me like that," Vesna said, shaking his head. "I don't think you understand just how valuable an opportunity to increase your affinity for light is. I'm the primary disciple of our family, and in my entire life, I've only gotten three baptisms. I was, however, able to get a few other things."

"Oh, like what?" Thorn asked.

With a pleased smile, Vesna pulled out a scroll, handing it over to Thorn.

"It's a map and the experiences of everybody from my family who's ever entered the puzzle. There's information from a dozen people there."

"Huh, that's very valuable," Thorn said. "Thank you."

"I'm not done yet," Vesna replied. "If we want to have the best chance against the god beasts who are going to enter the puzzle, we'll need to be well-equipped. So I thought these would be useful."

From his bag, Vesna pulled out a set of bracelets with gleaming yellow stones set in them.

"Is that tiger-eye amber?" Thorn asked, picking up one of the bracelets and examining it closely.

"It is, and each one contains a tier nine spell called Light of Divine Judgment. It's enough to badly wound, if not outright kill, anybody in the ninth tier," Vesna said.

Looking at the pile of bracelets, Thorn counted seven and raised an eyebrow.

"That's some serious firepower right there," he said.

"Like I said, while I couldn't get you a second baptism, I did my best."

"I'd say you did more than enough," Thorn replied. "These will be incredibly useful. Thank you."

Looking quite proud, Vesna gestured for Thorn to take the rest of them. "The command is thought-activated. So all you have to do is wear them and set a target," he said. "Typically, they're only worn by the special guards of our family, but I convinced my dad that they'd be put to better use in Urmag’Tal's puzzle. But before we can use them there, you've got to win this slot. Let me know when you are ready and I can take you to activate the baptism."

"That sounds like a good idea," Thorn said. "In fact, why don't we go right now?"

"Now?" Vesna replied, looking startled. "You want to go tonight?"

"As good a time as any," Thorn said, rubbing his hands together. "Plus, it'd be nice to have a little bit of time to settle with the power before the fights start."

"That's true," Vesna replied. "All right, I'll show you the way."

The last time he had been to the temple, Guardian Artaith had taken Thorn up to the main temple complex where the false god of the sun was located. However, this time, Vesna brought Thorn behind the temple to a large set of stairs that descended to a lower level. Showing his token to the guard at the gate, they entered a large, circular hall with doors all around where an elderly man with a hunched back and a congenial smile on his face approached them.

"Are you here to use the prayer rooms?" he asked, his eyes sharp.

Though the old man was hiding his strength, Thorn could practically see the power his slight figure contained. It was strange, however, as it felt like an utterly chaotic mess of divinity, something Thorn had only ever felt from the god hunters. Vesna didn't seem to feel it, and with considerable respect, he bowed.

"Yes, caretaker," he said. "Thorn has come to pray and receive the holy blessing."

"Wonderful. May I see your token?"

Showing his token once more, Thorn was led to one of the small prayer rooms, and the caretaker gestured for him to go inside.

"You'll find a slot on the altar in the center of the room," he said. "To begin, simply place the token in the altar and begin your prayers. You'll be alone in the room, and the door will open once you have reached the limit of the blessing."

"Can you tell me about that?" Thorn asked. "This is my first time doing it."

"There's no need to be nervous," the man said, completely mistaking Thorn's question for nervousness. "The altar will only give you as much of a blessing as you can take. This is the direct essence of the deity, after all, and too much could be harmful. When your body begins to reject it, the flow will cut off and the door will open. How much you can absorb will be determined by your level of devotion."

"Is there a negative side effect?" Thorn asked, his brow furrowing. "I mean, if I absorb too much."

"Again, not something you need to worry about," the caretaker said, shaking his head. "The altar will be monitoring the flow, and as soon as your body begins to reject it, it will shut down as a safety precaution. Otherwise, the glory of the deity may burn you alive."

"I see. Thank you," Thorn said, bowing his head slightly. "Thank you as well, Vesna."

"You can thank me by winning," Vesna said with a begrudging smile.

As the door closed behind him, Thorn's mental sense swept the area, checking for anybody who might be monitoring him. He found nothing, but that didn't set him at ease. After checking once more, he made his way over to the altar. As the caretaker had said, there was a small slot on the back of the altar where the token he had been given would fit in.

"What do you think, Eve?" Thorn said, looking around.

"I think we won't be able to know how this is going to go until we start," Eve replied, flying around the altar.

"That's a good point." Taking the token, Thorn slipped it into the slot, and with a whir, the altar lit up, bright light coming from it.

"I think they said you need to sit on it," Eve said.

"Which seems like it's asking for trouble. Probably has something to do with that corrupt influence their so-called deity tried to infect me with before," Thorn replied, climbing up onto the altar.

Thankfully, it was made of solid stone and was able to support his weight as it would have been completely embarrassing and a waste of a token if he had broken it when he sat down. Just to be sure, he sent a sliver of his will into the altar, strengthening the stone so it wouldn't accidentally give way. He could feel the intense divinity of the false deity in the temple above him streaming through the altar and into his body, bringing with it a whole rush of mental energy. The first time he had been registered as a saint, he had felt something similar. But this time, in addition to the deity's influence, the mental energy also contained thousands of memory fragments, each containing a tiny insight into the use of the light element. This rush of memories was what made the baptism so valuable.

Up until this point, Thorn had never improved his affinity for an element simply through insight, but rather had brute-forced his way into reforming his body by flooding it with as much elemental mana of the chosen type as possible. This time, however, the situation was reversed, as there was barely a trickle of true light element entering his body.

"What do you make of this, Eve?" he asked, as he meditated quietly.

"I think for most people, one of these baptisms would only allow them to raise their affinity by a few percent," she said, shaking her head. "The flow of light mana is too slow, and the speed at which these insights are passing through your mind and dissipating is entirely too fast. That's not a problem for us, of course, as we can capture all of them and then meditate later, but I think we're going to have to try something new."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you just got some divinity of your own, didn't you? Why don't we see if we can put it to good use?"

"Now that is a fantastic idea," Thorn said, bringing his hands together in front of him. Placing one open hand atop the other, he brought his thumbs together, allowing them to barely touch as he rested his hands in his lap and began his breathing routine.

Even as he did, he focused his mind not on the light mana entering his body, but instead on the millions of memory fragments. Time slowed to a crawl as he rapidly sorted and organized them, occasionally finding two that seemed to fit and combining them together. It was like receiving the pieces to a giant puzzle delivered by fire hose. At first, Thorn had considerable trouble keeping up with the sheer volume of information. However, soon he began to find the trick to it, and the process of sorting became a little bit easier. With every second that passed, more and more of the memories filled his mind, slowly beginning to take shape.

Piece by piece, Thorn put them back together until one memory, made up of only a dozen fragments, was complete. A faint shiver ran through him as the completed memory burned itself into his mind, and Thorn's understanding of how heat and light interacted improved by a tiny bit. Even as he continued to sort the memories, Thorn's mind was looking for better ways to process the information. He had no idea how much time had actually passed, when he felt something stir in his chest, his own divinity beginning to react. Golden energy surged up from his heart, entering his mind, gifting him with an uncanny clarity that he had not had a moment before. Immediately, the speed at which he could sort the pieces jumped, and a few moments later, the second and third insights were completed.

Every few minutes, the flow of mana entering his body from the altar would increase in volume, and along with it, Thorn's ability to process the information would increase as well. He could feel himself growing and improving, and every time it seemed like he had reached the limit of how quickly he could handle the flow, the golden energy from his divine heart would surge once more, and Thorn's mind would find a new gear. In his state of heightened awareness, time seemed to slip together, simultaneously speeding up and halting. The sensations of the world around him faded, his breath vanishing, and soon there was nothing but the endless and ever-increasing flow of fragmented insight, and Thorn's furious attempts to piece it back together.

Little by little, piece by piece, the information was sorted, and the memories were reformed, each one thrown into Thorn's mind, to hang like stars in the void. His body was like a black hole for the stream of mana from the deity, and more and more of it sank into Thorn's body. At some point, he found that the flow of information coming from the altar was too slow, and so a piece of his attention turned to the already-completed memories. There were hundreds of them now, and Thorn began trying to fit them together, piecing them, treating each as if it was a puzzle piece in and of itself, examining how each insight tied into the greater whole.

Outside of his body, Eve watched. She was keeping careful watch over his affinity, and was unsurprised to when it started rising. However, once Thorn's own divinity activated, something incredible began to happen. She had expected that he would be able to make good use of the holy baptism, raising his affinity for light by at least 30%. And sure enough, after five hours of absorption, Thorn had grown his affinity to nearly 40%.

Yet to Eve's surprise, Thorn's absorption didn't slow down at all, and instead, the altar began to increase the rate at which it was releasing mana. Eve felt as if she knew Thorn better than anyone else, better than even he knew himself, and she had judged that he would soon reach his limit in his ability to absorb information. What she hadn't taken into account, however, was the multiplicative effect of his new divinity. His potential for learning grew exponentially, improving in real time as he absorbed all of this new information.

Furthermore, as he began to put the insights he had gained together, he created new breakthroughs, deducing the characteristics and use of light elemental energy on the fly. Watching Thorn as he continued to improve, Eve checked the time. In a flash, 12 hours had passed since he began, and according to what she understood, this was the limit of the altar.

Sure enough, the mana's flow began to dwindle, rapidly vanishing, cutting off the flow of information to Thorn's mind as well. Yet apart from a faint twitch in his brow, he didn't move. Inside of his mind, Thorn felt as if a whole new world had opened up to him. He had constructed hundreds of different insights from the flow of information granted by the false deity, and now, as he analyzed each piece, he felt his mind unearthing new insights all the time.

The insights he received could be turned and twisted, manipulated and combined to form brand new insights of his very own. It wasn't until he felt a faint tug that he finally slowed down, letting out a long breath and opening his eyes. Eve hovered in front of him, and he could hear the sounds of people at the door.

"I think they're getting worried about you out there," Eve said.

"How long has it been?" Thorn asked.

"Nearly 24 hours."

"24? Wow, that went quick," Thorn said.

"How's my affinity doing?"

"Well, it looks like it's 86% and climbing," Eve said, shaking her head. "Your divinity is madness, absolute madness."

"I don't think it's just my divinity," Thorn replied. "If I was learning in a normal way, it wouldn't be growing this fast.

"What do you mean?" Eve asked.

"That false god," Thorn said, pointing up towards the ceiling. "There's something about its memories that are entirely too compatible with me.

"You think it was something left by the Titans?" Eve asked, scratching her head.

"No," Thorn said. "It's made of god beasts, right? Well, these memories that I've been getting, they just feel really familiar, and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because I'm an avatar?"

"But Hati doesn't have anything to do with the sun," Eve said, pausing for a moment before her eyes went wide. "Oh wait, what about Skoll?"

"Well, it's certainly not him. He's back on Verdant," Thorn replied, his brow furrowing. "But I'm sure he's not the only sun wolf out there.”

"You think the core of the false deity might be a sun wolf?"

"Yeah, or they absorbed a bunch of them along the way," Thorn replied, standing up from the altar. "I mean, that's how the god hunters are formed, right? They absorb the divinity of god beasts? And if the temple wants to make a deity who can control all light, they would have to absorb the aspect of any god beast who controls light. Well, sun wolves fit that descriptor, don't they?"

"We should talk to Hati about this," Eve said, dispersing into millions of nanites that sank into Thorn's armor.

Taking a deep breath, Thorn carefully controlled the surging divinity in his body and walked to the door. When he opened it, he found the old caretaker he had seen previously, along with half a dozen guards who were carefully arranged around his door. Beyond them, he saw Vesna and Imoset, along with Velin and the rest of his team. Akira, who was on Velin's shoulder, jumped down and dashed across the floor, dancing between the guards' legs and quickly climbing up Thorn's body to perch on his shoulder.

"Master, what took you so long?" she asked.

"Sorry, I lost track of time," Thorn replied. "But I managed to gain some really good insights, so I think it was worth it."

"I hope so," Imoset said, his expression faintly grim. "You'll have a reason to use them soon. The competition is about to start."

"I thought I had another day," Thorn said, his brow furrowing.

"The council has decided to move the date up," Imoset replied, practically grinding his teeth. "It will start in an hour."