Four in Training
Katherine divided the training facility into four quadrants. She stood in the middle while Frein, Kristel, Frill, and Xiv each took one of the corners. All of them were Gathering and Milling—with the exception of the Vyndivalian who was Mining and Smelting. Each of them had a task while Katherine silently observed as their mentor, guide, trainer, or observer, whichever one suited the most.
Xiv’s task was the simplest. After convincing him to participate, he agreed that his meiyal control and stamina were all over the place, and those needed immediate improvement. He couldn’t Don his Armor as easily as before, sapping at his reserves at a tremendous rate while unreasonably pushing him towards fatigue. In a sense, while he maintained his seven meiyal layers, they were too affected by the transplanted core to function properly.
The layers were the equivalent of meiyal marks for Meiyal Arts practitioners. There were only ten and each layer was equivalent to ten marks. Not that these layers mattered or functioned any differently, other than allowing Reinforcing, Donning and Doffing, and Forging. At most, it limited the amount or type or quality of Embellishments each Meiyal Armament practitioner could use.
Xiv’s main concern now was to familiarize those layers with the new core so that he didn’t have to waste so much Smelted meiyal. Frein and Katherine agreed that he simply needed more time and practice. He was under observation as far as the Lady was concerned.
Kristel’s task was simple but a bit harder compared to Xiv’s. Aside from practicing the Perpetual-Layered Milling Form, she also wanted to improve her Siffera. She claimed that she was able to use it inside her Dream, which gave her a relatively tangible feel for how she had to go about improving the Art.
Katherine gave her all the pointers she could provide. To define what ‘everything that she is’ meant was the best hint out of all of them. And there was in fact, improvement, meaning that the Princess hadn’t been idle at all and had been practicing the Art even before her Dream.
Next it was Frill. Her task was to integrate with Mercurial Liquid. The meiyal-charged material had been stored in her Exhibit for an extensive amount of time now. Usually, prolonged storage of meiyal-charged materials without integrating them could cause severe repercussions. But fortunately, there weren’t any negative effects even after her sister’s meiyal core was transplanted to Xiv.
The challenge would be figuring how the material would react now that the second core was gone. As far as Katherine knew, it was a material meant to help practitioners who were physically fused, activating only during those times. The theory was, since Liona’s core was fused to Frill’s, she could always use the material. However, the attempt at Xiv’s life caused that plan to change.
Frill still wanted to try and integrate with the Mercurial Liquid since the rest of Liona’s system was still fused with her. Not to mention how rare the material was.
Last were Frein and Elizzel. Rindea Fallsween had left them such magnificent and extremely rare treasures. A Fulgurblade of the Thousand-Year Storm and a Shinemoon Scabbard. Just the names themselves was enough to cause intrigue among the group.
“Thousand-Year Storm,” Kristel had said before they went to their separate corners. “That’s Su’karix’s moniker. I saw her in my Dream.” When asked, she had promised to tell them all about it some other time.
Katherine was particularly interested with the Shinemoon Scabbard. Meiyal-charged materials carrying such a name—Shinemoon—brought about ice or crystalline properties to a variety of Meiyal Arts once integration was successful. Which Arts depended on the material itself. Most practitioners even made this particular behavior related as to why the blue moon reflected light in such a way. Though, for all their guesses, no one had actually gone and reached the moon first hand.
But it made Katherine question the origins of these particular meiyal-charged materials. Did they fall from the moon? Was someone actually able to go there and come back without anyone noticing? No one really knew, which was what made it so intriguing. The only solid lead she had about them for certain was the fact that they all came from the Nightmare Lands.
Frein didn’t look like he needed help. Neither did Xiv. Kristel was struggling, but she was concentrating too hard to be even aware if someone approached her. That left Frill.
“How is it?” Katherine asked, joining the Aria in her quadrant.
“I think it’s still there,” she replied. “I just need to enter my Mind Palace.”
Unfortunately, without Elizzel to help them—busy as she was with Frein—Katherine couldn’t step into Frill’s Mind Palace, much less access her Exhibit. There was supposed to be a meiyal-charged material that could assist her observation Meiyal Art to at least give her a visual. A rare one, the name of which eluded her right now.
The thought reminded her about Mesiffera. She didn’t exactly have the free time to learn it yet, but Frein had given her enough tips to test it herself. The idea was to combine Siffera with the observation Meiyal Art to be able to assess internal meiyal or hidden meiyal.
Katherine gave it a quick try, and was suddenly caught off-guard by how easily it worked. She could see the flow of meiyal inside Frill, how much she had Milled and the current Arts she had Drawn—a subtle instance of Siffera. It didn’t show her anything about the Mercurial Liquid, though.
In the end, she was left to observe the old-fashioned way, giving Frill the go signal to start integrating.
Frill relaxed to a calmed state as she sat cross-legged on the floor. Meiyal swirled around her, causing her red hair and clothes to float about. And then, she was still, fully immersed in her Dream Realm.
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Integration, for most practitioners, usually didn’t involve anything risky, save for the occasional rejections that lead to instant Art fatigue and material loss. But there had been records of permanent, or worse, fatal injuries, which could’ve been avoided if someone was around to prevent such tragedies.
Katherine filled that role. And so far, things were looking straightforward. She could only hope it would stay that way.
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People had shared the descriptions of their Mind Palaces to Frill. Most were the standard mansions or grand castles with flying books and floating staircases, or whatever variant of an actual library or castle one could define. Which made her certain that hers was unique from everyone else’s.
Frill’s Mind Palace was a bright underwater world. One where she could breathe without discomfort and move as easily as willing it to happen. Gigantic coral formations made up the exterior of the Palace. Colors so vibrant that every angle she looked was pleasing to the eye, like paintings that could be considered masterpieces of every veteran artist known to Brymeia. Creatures made out of meiyal swam about, carrying her memories to proper places.
Frill loved her Mind Palace. She was a daughter of the sea. She cherished everything about it. Yes, including the unknown depths that could crush her through sheer pressure. The one time she visited the First Deep of the First Settlement, young though she was back then, was a core memory she often visited before.
That was, until Liona died.
The only thing that frightened—bothered…maybe confused was the better word—her was the presence of a gigantic wolf always sleeping nonchalantly outside her Palace. It had always been there on the same spot at the edge of her Dream. Always asleep. And never once did she gather enough courage to try and stir it awake. Today was no different. She left it alone.
The task at hand was more important. Frill swam through her Mind Palace, entering through a tunnel illuminated by bioluminescent meiyal plants and animals. The end of the tunnel was blocked by vines and seaweed, which moved away as she approached, revealing her Exhibit.
To put it in simple words, the Exhibit looked like a huge aquarium in the shape of an underwater dome. It was mostly empty aside from the coral reefs at the bottom filling up the lower half of the structure. The meiyal fishes never wandered into this place, leaving it a barren location of an otherwise beautiful display.
The only other thing that existed in the aquarium was Frill’s Mill sitting at the center. An underwater mountain structure of rocks and corals that produced numerous waterfalls leading into a reservoir deep in the middle and out of the Exhibit. Meiyal—some Gathered, some hers—consisted these falls, appearing more viscous as they ignored the water and flowed downwards. They fall into layers of rocks, churning and mixing and joining together until they ultimately Mill as one down into her reservoir.
This centerpiece was the only thing that kept this aquarium even worthy of a visit. This, and the Mercurial Liquid surrounded by vines near the entrance.
The vines dared not touch the meiyal-charged material. They formed a circular enclosure, with three roots grasping at the rocks below to keep them in place. The gaps of the cage were filled by a blue translucent field, almost like glass, to prevent the material from floating away.
With a thought, Frill commanded the vines to make way, opening for her to access the material. She reached inside, only to be interrupted by something touching her back.
Frill twisted in surprise to find a small paw touching her waist. The pup was shaking her head.
“Not now, Frill,” she said, pointing her snout towards the empty Exhibit. “The material has stayed long enough. It’s too volatile at this point. Choose a location first, so you can move quickly.”
“Who are you?” Frill recognized the canine. A small version of the giant one outside her Mind Palace.
“My name is Norazzel, Faunel of Dreams and Memories. You have met my sister, Elizzel, and I’m also acquainted with the current Visitor, Frein.”
“But I’ve seen you even before Frein arrived here. You’re sleeping outside my Mind Palace all the time.”
Frill could tell the pup was judging her.
“Yes, because your Dream Realm is important, Frill. Sleeping is the best way for me to avoid your approaches. But our task has always been to protect you.”
“Our?”
“There are many of me. The big one outside is still there.”
“Protect me from what?”
Norazzel hesitated. “Also me. The Divine Severing caused the Dream Realms to be unstable and it became my task to salvage what I could. And for many years, copies of myself slowly succumbed to the Nightmare. While I maintain the existence of the Dream Realms across everyone in Brymeia, the burden is not without its repercussions.”
Frill decided not to dive too deep at the concepts being thrown her way, and focused on the practical. “If that’s true, what’s my guarantee that you, right now, won’t succumb to the Nightmare?”
“The Visitor provides my copies respite, allowing us to recover from our burden. Their next stop is always your Dream Realm.”
Frill considered verifying the statement, but the faunel quickly interjected.
“The two are currently deep within their Exhibit. It would be best to leave them alone until they finished integrating with their materials.” She sat on her haunches, her fur dancing underwater. “If you need me to leave your Mind Palace, I will do so, but allow me to pass some pointers for your integration. However, I will still remain in your Dream Realm.”
“No, it’s fine,” Frill concluded. Without much to go on, she trusted her instincts. Truthfully, she wasn’t confident in them. But with no one else around, she had no choice. The puppy was cute, anyway.
“Then I shall help you the best way I can,” Norazzel said. She observed the meiyal-charged material. “This is Mercurial Liquid.”
“You know about it?”
“More than most, I’d say.”
Frill’s heart skipped a beat. “Please explain.”
Norazzel looked around. She swam about, exploring the Exhibit before finally returning to Frill. Her eyes narrowed at the Aria. “Two hundred marks. I see. But where is the second core?”
“I had to give it away.”
The pup gave a nod. “I understand.”
“Will the Mercurial Liquid still work?”
“In a sense, yes.” Norazzel swam closer to the material. “The Liquid only cares whether the meiyal systems are merged or not. It doesn’t matter whether said systems are complete or incomplete. You will have the same result.”
She turned to Frill. “However, this will double the burden on your singular core. This is the price you must pay for giving away the other one. You will reach Art fatigue far sooner than you intended, but your capabilities will increase tremendously.”
“Tremendously how?” Frill didn’t mind the price. If Frein could train his stamina to prolong Art fatigue, then she could do the same. She would dare not squander this gift.
“Simply put, the Mercurial Liquid takes advantage of two intertwined meiyal systems to elevate all the Arts that both practitioners know. Technically, with this, you can achieve the Nidai levels of your and the donor’s Arts. But without the donor’s core, I’m afraid only your Arts will count.”
“Wait, didn’t that skip a level? Dai levels are the ones above base.”
Norazzel judged Frill with her eyes again. “All Arts are expected to achieve Dai levels without any sort of external help, Frill. The potential is always within the practitioner, the quality of their meiyal, and their commitment to refining the Art.”
“So you mean to say, when Frein masters his Siffera, he can elevate it by himself to Dai-Siffera?”
“I think you’re mistaken, Frill.” The faunel tilted her head. She swam towards the Exhibit once again, finding an appropriate location for the Mercurial Liquid. She nodded to herself and settled towards the western part of the aquarium near the center before turning back to the Aria. “Frein had been using Dai-Siffera ever since I met him.”
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