Without anything else to do and ancient horrors lurking in the neighborhood, Jonathan decided to head back to the rest of the group on the palace grounds. Upon returning, he found the gate he created in the villa untouched. Looking around the room, he searched for anything he could scavenge, especially considering that he had the first quest to complete.
"I wonder if this will work." He said before placing his hand on the rotting wooden desk.
[Consume?] the blue screen of the awakening system asked.
"Yes."
The wood then began to change, continuously compressing until the desk turned into a smashed cube of wood the height of his knees. Pausing the consumption process, he inspected the wood and its surroundings.
Knock knock "Solid." He observed before trying to lift it, "And heavy."
Additionally, he found what he assumed to be rot, which earlier invaded the entirety of the desk, lay outside the condensed cube in the form of a smoking dust pile. With a flick of will, he allowed the artifact to consume the wood block, causing it to disappear, replaced by a blue screen reading [Biological (.5/300) +.05]. That was disappointing, Jonathan chuckled; I wonder if more complex biological material means more value. Thinking about this, he consumed a few more loose pieces of wood and furniture that finally pushed him to gain [+1]. He briefly wondered why the supposed rot didn't get absorbed but chalked it up to the mystery of the system.
Three high-pitched chimes interrupted Jonathan's scavenging: three hours? He thought with a shocked face; he was sure he was walking around for at least half a day before finding the oasis in the void. Jonathan's mind raced with information; this was unusual, he was sure of it. Since the gods have died, the laws put in place by the pantheon of creation have begun to deteriorate without proper management, and the void has begun to bleed into this universe. Thus, each realm moved through time at the same speed until now. Have the realms become unstable?
A scowl painted Jonathan's face as he reached into his pocket to see if the book revealed anything else. The book IAD, or Infinite Ascension for Dummies, acted like a sort of magical artifact that unlocked once he set the foundation to gain the knowledge or something significant happened in his life or the world. Fishing it out of his pocket, he tried opening the book, but it wouldn't budge; it was updating itself. The only other time it refused to open was when he first bound it to himself.
"Hopefully, it's nothing." He assured himself and left the villa, feeling it was time to go. If some cosmic change was about to happen, he didn't want to be trapped in the Celestial realm while it happened. Walking out the portal, he received a polite congratulations from the fey keeper and headed to see the orphanage director.
"Hello, Sir Dalton." Jonathan smiled.
"Congratulations on your awakening!" He said, a firm hand squeezing the young man's shoulder.
"Thanks; I guess this is where we part ways?"
"Yes, all good things must come to an end." Pulling out a small ring box, he said, "I know you haven't been part of our program for long, but I was able to do a workaround and get this for you."
Jonathan looked at the open ring box in shock; every child growing up an orphan receives a growth-type spatial treasure. Since Jonathan was only in their custody for two months, he wasn't expecting to receive one, but looking at the artifact in front of him, he found that it was that same spatial treasure. He took it out of the director's hand and sent a sliver of mana to inspect it,
"But how?" Jonathan scanned the contents in shock, "The attorney said that I would probably have to wait years until they can comb through all the assets?"
"I happen to have a friend among the mages responsible for your parent's case, and they were able to release most of it."
Jonathan found himself scanning every separate moonstone-crafted room, "I never thought I'd see some of these things again." He said before bowing.
"No, no, no." He pulled Jonathan up and quoted a Church of Traveler's scripture, "The child shouldn't be punished for the parent's sin. What your parents did was… unsavory, but if you ask me, there are worse evils, and some of them even rule countries."
Jonathan smiled as Dalton laughed; he wasn't sure if this smile was genuine, but he felt incredibly thankful. Even though he still had access to his well-stocked bank account, some of the knowledge and resources in this ring could save him a lot of time in his ascension. After a bit of small talk and a promise to stay in touch, he was finally out of the conversation with the director.
Now, it's time to join the guild! He walked towards the Awakener's Guild with a grin plastered on his lips. It wasn't long before he stood before a small, simple-looking office; unlike its modest appearance, this building was anything but. Standing a few feet from the structure, he could feel a strong aura from the entrance generated by the spatial energy emitted from the Dimensional Realm, where all guild business lives. Walking in, he felt the familiar feeling of being moved through space into the Guild Realm.
A cacophony of voices greeted him as soon as he walked in, a sort of organized chaos as requesters shouting complaints, awakener parties convincing solo guilders to join them on a mission, and the mechanical voice of the intercom calling names for the counter. Waiting in line to register, he could take a scan, not seeing any familiar faces, not entirely sure if he wanted to. The line moved relatively slowly since, freshly awakened from around his country, Houlsm practically flooded into this room.
To many freshly awakened, the guild represented something unique: a second chance. Orphan? Create a chosen family through the guild. Not well connected enough to study under a master? Gain enough merits to meet someone through the guild, a bored young scion of a noble family? Masquerade as a commoner by picking herbs. Okay, maybe not everyone is looking for a second chance, Jonathan said, thinking about how many nobles are sitting in the wings while their attendants are standing in line for them.
"Excuse me? I have been waiting here for 20 minutes! What is taking so long?" A shrill scream came out of a lavishly dressed man in the front of the line.
"I'm sorry, sir, we have many people testing today as the Initiation ceremony draws on." A guild attendant responded with her ever-professional smile.
"Well, tell them to test me within the next 10 minutes, or else I will speak to my father about this." He demands.
As soon as the man mentioned his father, a collective groan creaked through the room; at this point, the yelling had drawn everyone's attention to the registration line, and each aspiring guild member could feel the intense gaze of all the other members in the room. Curious how the others were faring, Jonathan looked around and saw that everyone in his line was shifting nervously at the young man still arguing with the receptionist. At least what he assumed to be nervousness, the adventure's guild always housed a cacophony of races, and those with exoskeletons or without complex facial muscles were difficult to read.
"Nobles." Someone grumbled behind him, causing Jonathan to take a small peek.
Jonathan was surprised when he examined the guild hopeful, a rare race he thought identifying the species that the person behind him was from. Eyes dotted along his eyebrow, silver web-like hair, and markings decorating his arms and neck all pointed to him being an Ashen, a race born from the union of a divine spider and human, which was then modified using soul magic, gifting them great control over their threadlike hair.
"What?" He asked Jonathan, catching him gawking.
"Nothing, I just--- nothing," Jonathan said, shaking his head and turning.
"Weirdo." He grumbles once again.
Finally, 10 minutes later, Jonathan made it to the front of the line, and no surprise, the noble was still there waiting in the receptionist's cubicle, but now someone brought him a chair. He wasn't sure what this young man was trying to accomplish, kicking up a fuss in someone else's dimensional realm, but Jonathan could only hope he was on another continent and would never see him again.
"Identification and Artifact type, please." The receptionist asked in a monotone voice.
"Here." Jonathan summoned his passport issued by the Nexus administration for teleporting, "And I haven't unlocked a combat skill in my artifact, but I can act as a porter and am well-versed in ritual magic."
She started typing on her artifact and continued asking, "Just ritual magic?"
Jonathan frowned, and as if feeling his apprehension, she put up a privacy shield, "Ritual magic and soul magic." He said, gritting his teeth.
"The adventure's guild does not discriminate according to the different magics you perform or even one's status as an abomination." She said in a practiced tone, evident she had said this many times before.
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
"Sure." He wanted to roll his eyes. Can't she tell I don't want to say soul magic?
She then quickly had him make a mana oath and take a few photos before sending him to sit down and wait for the examiner to call him to take the test. In the waiting area, Jonathan wondered how the receptionist found out about his soul awakening. Staring out the window, he could see the spatial storms surrounding this dimensional realm; maybe the artifact was the one that caught it? He didn't know enough about spatial-type artifacts to make a coherent judgment, but she could also have had a soul-type ability that allowed her to see how his soul took on a new shade. Shaking these thoughts out of his mind, he couldn't help but marvel at the sheer size and complexity of the guild. Outside the guild office that acts as the sort of hub they use to interact with the rest of the universe, the Guild's Realm houses staff, headquarters of more prominent clans, and experts sponsored by the guild, and all of this is made possible by the power of an artifact of the Guildmaster. The Guildmaster is an elusive existence that has invaded the story of every modern-day hero; his only legacy is the dimensional realm that houses the guild. No one is sure what world the Guildmaster originated in. Still, during the Chaos Era, the first era post Day of Screams, the Guildmaster was an outreach executive who was responsible for building portals and outposts for the Adventurer's Guild to other planets when he fell into a portal and found the artifact giving him the dimensional realm.
"Jonathan Shirota." The emotionless voice of the guild intercom called Jonathan's name.
The full name? Jonathan thought with a scowl, the eyes of everyone in the waiting room glued to him.
"Isn't that—"
"Shhh! What if he curses us."
"He's so dark and mysterious, I wonder if he'll cast a curse on me!"
Jonathan overheard various conversations about him, each more outlandish than the last, but thankfully, no one blocked his path or showed any outright animosity on his way to the counter.
"Here you are." A dwarf spoke in a deep voice once Jonathan approached.
"Hello, Sir." Jonathan greeted.
"Good manners will bring you to great heights, my friend." He said, gesturing for Jonathan to follow him.
The examiner didn't engage in much small talk, allowing Jonathan to examine his surroundings as they descended into the testing grounds. When Jonathan asked about this, the dwarf told him that as a ritualist, he would be practicing in a more spacious area, unlike the more combat or sorcery focus adventures, which need to be specific to showcase the best extent of their abilities. They finally reached the testing area after passing several labs and descending the elevator for several floors.
"As a ritualist and soul mage working for the guild, most of your work will be with defensive-type formations." He said, opening the door to a large room with cannons peeking out of the walls, "Draw a defensive formation that runs on magic crystals and is flexible enough for you to step in and change the configuration of it in battle."
Jonathan nodded; defensive rituals, sometimes called runic wards, weren't a problematic aspect of this practice, but allowing it to morph in the heat of battle would require one to use soul tendrils. Now it makes sense why we are so far from prying eyes. He thought, not believing the story about needing more space, but shrugged it off; high-grade artifacts change the energy surrounding one's true soul, making it easy to hide a bit of soul taint.
"Are there any limits?" Jonathan probed.
"Are you daft, boy?" His dwarven accent spilled out, "Just draw the damn thing."
Jonathan watched as the grumpy dwarf huffed into the observation room; maybe I'm a bit too paranoid, he thought as he began to pull out his equipment. Using his awakened mana control, he pushed his will into the ring. Jonathan pulled out a stake enchanted with [Earth's Blessing], his stone carving hammer, and his runic illusion maker, which casts straight lines and perfect circles, speeding up his carving time considerably. Over the next two hours, he carved the magic circle into the ground, [Earth's Blessing], causing the stake to carve runes and lines into the floor like butter. He created five connected magic circles; 4 faced each wall and were responsible for turning the barriers 'on or off,' and the center was the pièce de resistance. This magic control center would connect his soul tendril and send instructions to the four other circles through the magical pathways.
After probing the ritual site by sending mana into the channels and manually deploying some barriers, he finally felt confident to do the test. Standing in the center of the circle, he crouched down and sent a tiny soul sliver from his hand into the magic circle. The ritual began to hum with power, devouring the excess crystals he had for testing purposes. Everything is adequately connected, he observed, seeing the flow of mana running smoothly through the device. He then sent a spark of intent through the tendril, deploying the east and west barriers with a reasonable margin of success; he then tried to change the shape of the barriers.
Fizzzz… A grating fizz of energy rushed up Jonathan's soul tendril, sending a push of backlash into his mind. "Shit."
Pulling out his carving stake again, he used its enchantment to erase the soul input section of the 'control' circle. According to what he felt before the backlash, he could identify the problem: a single soul tendril didn't give him enough control over the barriers, causing them to become too rigid to change shapes. Maybe I can use that he grinned as an epiphany inspired him, and he spent a few more minutes carving his improved design."
"I'm ready!" Jonathan yelled over to the observation window.
The dwarf left the back room and greeted Jonathan, "Let me take a look before we start the test."
----------------------------------------
After the examiner, Bornash, thoroughly scrutinized the runes to ensure nothing overly sinister would pop out, Jonathan was permitted to begin the test.
"The test will continue until five canons come within the range of the barriers or until the ritual fails." The dwarf states and walked to stand by the door.
"Is this just testing the prowess of the circle, or am I permitted to use other abilities as well?" Jonathan asked.
"Hmmm…" The dwarf paused, "For now, don't use any other abilities; we still have another combat 'front-line' combat test after this."
Jonathan nodded, and once he informed Bornash he was ready, the test began. The first canon created a crack in the barrier, but Jonathan could keep his cool and reconfigure the structure of the barrier to make it more sturdy. But that's when he realized his design had a fatal flaw; he could not detect if other projectiles came behind him. Shit! Hearing two canons deploy simultaneously, he gritted his teeth and used his true soul to change the ritual on the fly. I need to practice holding this with mana; using my soul like this is wasteful. He gnashed his teeth regretfully, but while his soul thought of a way to add a sensitivity formation, he relied on his other senses to deploy the barriers.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Three canons deployed in an interval, using two barriers; he could only block two of them, and a cannon broke through his barrier before breaking into a cloud of dust.
"Shit!" He cursed out loud before stopping his true soul's carving of the rune and directly inserting it into the formation.
The control circle then bloomed into a radiant burst of light as the energy of Jonathan's soul vein permeated through the ritual, allowing him, to an extent, to use the magic circle and all its components as an extension of his soul. West and North, he said to himself as he felt the tremors of the canon's shot and quickly deployed two barriers. This test lasted about five more minutes before the mana crystals ran out of energy.
"That was pretty good," Bornash said.
"Could've been better," Jonathan said, hunched over, gasping for breath.
"True, but taking control of the ritual with your soul vein was the right choice." He explains.
A question forms on Jonathan's lips, unsure whether the examiner would be mad if he asked.
"Spit it out, boy." The dwarf confronts him.
"Is it true that the Guild doesn't have a bad opinion on soul magic?" He asks.
"What country are you from?"
"Houlsm"
"Ahhh, you're from the old lands." He nods, "Yes, but don't get me wrong; there are sinister aspects of soul magic that could get you expelled from the guild, but every magic has sinister applications, or else Guild members wouldn't have a job."
"But what about the mark of abominations?" Jonathan countered.
The dwarf laughed, "Tell me, son, what is the greatest feat of soul magic?"
Jonathan pondered on this for a minute; miracle-like feats were using the accursed practice, each one invoking feelings of great wonder. Yet, one always stood out to Jonathan, perhaps because it was the one his parents performed regularly.
"The soul blend, birthing the myriad of Tribes of the south." He replied confidently.
"No." The dwarf sighed, "Follow me."
They returned to the winding hallway of mazes until they reached the elevator; as he followed, he pondered on the other soul rituals of similar power. Perhaps a phylactery ceremony that gives a lich's soul pseudo eternity or something less sinister like a bloodline curse in which one uses their blood and soul to pass on a specific supernatural ability to their descendants. When the dwarf finally stopped walking, they stood in front of a hall of portraits. Each portrait was unique; some depicted great warriors whose heroism seemed to bore into you, and others wore noble-like clothes, and their eyes hid a fierce confidence.
"Each one of these people is an Adamantium Guildmembers." He, with a hint of nostalgia, twinged his voice. "We bring every applicant to this place, to see these halls, to feel their gazes."
Jonathan nods, looking at each portrait, all unique and imposing a sort of effortless strength carried the paintings.
"There is one person I want to show you before I answer your question." Bornash becons Jonathan to follow him to a specific portrait.
The portrait depicted the image of a stern-looking gnome woman, her long hair tied into braids, a sword almost double the size of her body standing next to her, backdropped by ancient ruins teeming with flora.
"She is the greatest combat-type guilder of our generation." He said. "But above that, she is a soul user."
"Soul user?" Jonathan mouthed the unfamiliar term. I sometimes see soul mages referred to that in texts.
"Soul users are anyone who works with their soul; for her, it was splitting off a part of her soul and binding it to the sword." He pointed at the large broadsword, which seemed to glow in a celestial light.
"But what does that have to do with your question?" Jonathan was stumped.
The dwarf stares at Jonathan without saying anything, "I asked you a bit of an unfair question; unless you're of a certain school of thought, you wouldn't be able to answer it. The greatest Soul Magic is the Artifact Awakening System."
Jonathan looked at the dwarf in disgust, "You're comparing soul magic to the work of the gods?"
"Is it so crazy?" The dwarf laughed before asking Jonathan to think about it, turn off people's opinions about soul magic, and think about its truest form.
Jonathan paused, bringing his hand to his face and retreating into his mind. Soul magic is the first miracle, a spark of change gifted to humans by the departed strong enough to send their words through life and death. Now, who are gods? The unifying opinion is that gods were the pinnacle, the height mortals could achieve in this universe; some gods are mortals who took laws into themselves, living by the pillars of certain concepts such as healing, merchants, and even murder.
"Divine magic…" Jonathan uttered as the blasphemous thought rained through his mind, "Divine magic is magic flavored by the touch of a powerful soul."
"Clever, clever, wouldn't that also explain what happened to your parents?" The dwarf said
Yes! Holy crap. Jonathan stood there in a daze. Unlike churches, a cult typically worships being in exchange for power; thus, they have more significant contact with a high-level soul.
"How about abominations? Like liches?" Jonathan asked.
The dwarf laughed boisterously, "It may be good for you to spend some time in a tougher country; you're too naïve, and your skills are wasted here in the old lands."
"Where do you think I should go?" Jonathan asked with a serious face.
"Let's see how you fare in the next test." He said, patting the young man's back; Jonathan thought he heard pity in the dwarf's voice.