Santiago Alonso Caballero was under a bit of a conflict. First, he had a Guardian called Satan. Second, he had a nearly indecipherable power. Third, the Daemon God that screwed him called itself Ein Sof, or God in the Kabbalah. Third, his first Guardian was serving the role Adam Kadmon, or the infinite potential. And finally, any being capable of impersonating God to the degree that Santiago got the role of Satan engraved in his Guardian was bad news.
On second thought the fact that he had the role of Satan made him both angry and worried about Ein Sof’s plans.
On the other hand, what he could tell about his Guardian and power was impressive. First, Bless and Curse were highly dangerous elements. Bless was the element of benediction, of those who wish to bring good to the world. Some called it Smite, but since it had actual blessings it was more than that. Most benevolent Daemon Gods hold the Bless element.
Curse was the element of malediction, of those who desire harm unto others without good intentions. Most daemons modelled after demons had this element.
The reason why they were so dangerous is because they hold incredibly damaging offensive interactions, and, ironically, both could inflict terrible curses on others. So being immune to them was a great boon. Santiago was surprised that Satan had immunity to Bless, but he guessed it had to do with the Qliphoth protecting reality fact that the ICP told him about.
Second, Light and Dark were very broad elements and part of the Fifty Two Common Elements, so it was nice to not worry about them. No fearing laser beams and energy dispersal bombs, he guessed. And if he remembered his Basic Fayd Studies lessons correctly he actually had dark vision in the Fayd. He did remember correctly by the way.
Third, the small absorption of all elements could have many causes, but Santiago conjectured that it was due to the False Tree of Qliphoth’s SINQUM absorption capabilities.
As for his power… well, while he didn’t understand it all he could make a decent guess. And he already had ideas on how to use it.
So Santiago was conflicted between outrage, worry, dismay, elation, satisfaction and excitement. And while Santiago was sparse with words among strangers he had a very expressive face. He was far more in control of his body due to his martial training. So it was a peculiar sight, his face contorting, changing, depending on his mood while his body language showed that he was completely relaxed.
It was so peculiar that some passing mages, those adept at reading others, stopped to look at him. Since I didn’t want Santiago to be well known, for know at least, I tapped him in the shoulder to break him out of his reverie. He unconsciously moved out of the way and took an unarmed stance, before discerning the situation and blushing. A few whispers of appreciation sounded.
“What’s next?” He asked me, trying to change the topic and pass himself as collected. Didn’t fool me for a second.
“Well, first we find a place to plant that Tree of yours, and see what it does. Now, where do we put it?” I actually had a place in mind, but I had to get access to it without revealing my identity. How troubling, had I predicted this I would have arranged something.
“Why is my power so weird?”
“I actually only expected for you to be able to produce Tainted Miasma and Ohr in all honesty. I did predict that Watcher’s potion would affect your power and so would Adam but… oh.” How embarrassing, I forgot that. Whoops. Particularly when it’s the reason I came to this world to begin with. I will not tell G- ehem, my sibling about it.
“What do you mean?”
“About Watcher? Your mind would be unable to handle seeing space-time directly, if it was still as resilient as a human’s. The process that transformed you into an embryonic Primordial enhanced your mental resilience to, well, Primordial levels. That would affect a Guardian without a doubt.”
“What would happen if I didn’t become so resilient?”
As I predicted he didn’t care about his mind changing, he may have noticed on his own at some point. I actually have been easing him into the answer to his question for some time.
“What have I been comparing your powers to?”
“Lovecraft. So I would have gone insane then?”
“Yes, but mostly because humans don’t have senses that allow them to perceive space-time. So if you are seeing that without some sort of modification your brain can’t interpret it and malfunction. Like a virus in a computer so to speak. The knowledge itself is bizarre, and could lead someone to insanity, but I chose you because you are made of sterner stuff. You’d probably be very confused for years but would assimilate it in time.”
“I see. I have a question, I can’t open portals into liquids and solids due to their gravitational and electromagnetic fields distorting space. But why can I see through them?”
“Your space powers and information gathering abilities are separate. Watcher, as his name implies, originally was an observer and from his observations derived his space mastery.” I smiled at him. “It is because of this that you don’t even notice how you are gathering information, while you have problems mastering the space stuff.”
“I think I’m doing well?”
“Relatively speaking. But if we compare you to Watcher, who could bend space-time as he wished, you are lacking.”
He nodded and mulled over the information.
“Is that why the potion showed me parts of Watcher’s life?”
To enhance his mind? No.
“No. That was an unfortunate side effect of speeding the process.”
“What?”
“I don’t need the potion to transform humans into Primordials. I’d be able to make everyone in your Earth a Primordial simultaneously, but it’d take two hundred years.”
I think that was the first time that the heights of my power sunk in him. I could make his entire species into an army of space bending abominations from beyond time and space with little issue. It is just that it’d be difficult to do without breaking the rules, but it’s doable. Humans are lucky that me, my kind, and my allies do not think that our power makes us better than mortals, otherwise…
I waited while he processed the information. When I saw that it’d take a while I started to put into effect my plan to get us access to the Graveyard. It was honestly simple, Santiago had told his family about our deal so the Kyrioi knew about it. And the head of the Kyrioi is a β-3 administrator, so I didn’t need to do anything. Just manifest in his office back in Toledo and… done.
Soon afterwards something peculiar happened. By our side a black space expanded, pushing all SINQUM aside, before it vanished leaving an elderly man where it was. Santiago watched with interest.
“So that is how ordinary travel between our universe and the Fayd is done. Fascinating.”
It is. Think of the universal barrier like a soap bubble and SINQUM like dust. When the dust touches the bubble it turns into soap, allowing it to unite with the barrier, and then it turns into dirt again falling into the bubble. To go to the Fayd the opposite process is done. Santiago’s portals or my… you won’t understand what I do, aren't common. My way is basically ordering the bubble to take me in.
But more to the point, the elderly man was Santiago’s many greats grandfather, and the head of the Kyrioi apo Metallon. One Aesop of Tartessos, so you can guess his age. Normally I don’t allow humans to live past a thousand years, but he was crucial for my purpose here. Of course, if he wanted to die I would allow it but he was as committed as me to our goal. All eighty one of the Ancient Clans of the Covenant were descended from my old allies, and most of them were still headed by the same person. Aesop wasn’t one of them.
Aesop looked at his descendant curiously. Santiago had been a headache to the clan, not because of any fault of his but due to what had happened to him. They had actually met before, long ago.
“Gramps?” Santiago couldn’t guess why his ancestor was there.
“Hey there kid.” Aesop turned to me. “What did you do to my descendant, Lykofos?”
Heh. I love that pseudonym, it’s just so obvious when you know my identity.
“He already told you. Just access his ID, as a member of your clan you have that authority.”
“I do?” He touched the ICP and whistled. “Look at that, I actually do. You never told me that in three thousand years?”
“It was never necessary.”
He scoffed at that and turned to his grandchild. He broke into a goofy smile and began to pet his head. The suffering look that Santiago sent me proved that Aesop was ridiculously doting on his descendants, particularly since they had met once, though he only had time for those that war members of the Kyrioi. He was a busy man after all.
“I see you have managed to get a Guardian. Good for you.”
“Thanks.”
“That said I want to be updated regularly on your friend's, Akihito was it, activities.”
Santiago was surprised. He had believed that once he had given the Kyrioi the information he had deduced, they’d be able to unravel the mystery. Seeing the question in his face Aesop sighed.
“It seems that the curse is of different nature than you thought. It doesn’t prevent only communication, it prevents acquisition of knowledge.” He sighed again, and likewise it was at Santiago’s expression. “We don’t know why you and the other merchants are an exception. I can only know what you tell me.”
Santiago frowned, this situation was the worst case scenario.
“Understood.”
“We will be prepared for any eventuality. Just… we can’t be alert for years, find out the truth within seven months, if possible.”
“I’ll do so, gramps.”
“Good. Now, I’ll lead you to the Graveyard.”
He started walking outside the Bulwark, and we followed.
“Graveyard?”
I answered.
“Where we bury the corpses of daemons that die around the Bulwark.”
“I thought daemons don’t leave bodies behind?”
“Most don’t.” Aesop smiled like he was holding a great secret. “But Daemon Gods do.”
Santiago straightened, nervous at going somewhere near Daemon Gods. While I hate that designation I understand the reasons why it’s given. They possess truly immense might. The correlation between Priority and amount of SINQUM at a daemon's disposal isn't direct, but it exists. As such most daemons with Priority above 8,000 tend to be at least daemon princes. Walking nukes are respected by all who know of their might, and no amount of fighting prowess will aid you against that. Only those with power, can resist power.
I understand the necessity of what I did, but allowing such power divides to exist… I created this Earth’s, let’s call it Earth Ψ, culture for a reason. They protect thousands of universes from the horrors of the Fayd, and for that I’m grateful.
***
We left the Bulwark by foot. I’d liked to go there directly, but Santiago needed to see the true face of the Fayd for himself. His breath was taken.
To the eyes of one without the Information element the Fayd would be incomprehensible. At best they’d see weird things without rhyme nor reason. At worst they’d see nothing. To one with it however…
The Bulwark, which I prefer to call Tower but whatever, is found in the middle of the World Basin. It is a vast expanse of land difficult to measure, due to how weird space-time is in the Fayd, but at least is a 60,000 metres wide at its thinnest. It is covered in “water”, in reality Ether that flows between the universe and the Fayd, and full of islands. Some of them are continent sized, others far smaller. At least 90% of all mages patrol the World Basin, something needed due to its sheer size. This is helped by the Bulwark’s and other fortresses’ detectors automatically scanning the vast majority of the World Basin, leaving only an Asia sized area to patrol in total.
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Only through the Ether Sea located in the World Basin can daemons enter Earth Ψ, or other areas within the Gates of Death. Not only humans but the Twelve Elders, the greatest force of the Gates of Death, and the Krelik, the last known sapient species of the Gates, police this area. The Bulwark is of the humans, and the Elders are ancient and powerful, so the Krelik’s standing is low in the Gates. They have managed to find something only they can do, but they are still struggling.
In the Fayd humans mainly see through the Light element. This, due to what elements are in the Fayd, means that they actually sense disturbances in SINQUM and translate them to vision. This is why humans can see a bit further in the Fayd than in the Gates of Death. As such the sight from the Bulwark is impressive.
Think of standing beneath a tower the size of a mountain and around you a sea that extends beyond the horizon glows with power. Above the sea a mist of variable density flows serenely, this is SINQUM. I’ve been told that the most common color people assign to Ether is bright green, and to SINQUM white. The Bulwark stands atop a 4,000 metre tall mountain, which at the same time stands above an island 1,000 squared metres of surface. In the Sea bizarre and impossible shapes appear such as the Spine, a mountain range that expands vertically. Or the Inverse Pyramid. In the island several facilities are built to serve as a place where daemons can reside within the World Basin. There are also markets and the such.
A good rule of thumb is that the World Basin of any given universe works as that universe, due to the faith of the residents shaping it, but there are exceptions as previously mentioned. And the further you get from the World Basin, the weirder things get.
The 10% that don't patrol the Basin explore the Fayd beyond it, and they used what is best described as spaceships to do so. They vary in size, depending on crew and objective, but at that moment one of the biggest ones was taking off. The Argo was headed to a newly detected universe and had all facilities needed to support its crew. That by the way, includes farms, so you can get an idea of its size.
Once Santiago managed to collect his jaw from the ground we moved to the back of the Bulwark. At the bottom of the mountainside washed the Ether Sea, the bulk of the island found in front of the Bulwark. A few kilometres into the Sea a forest stretched.
The Black Forest was made of massive, twisted trees. Their roots and branches spread through the landmass it laid upon, daring anyone to step on it. The trees were vampiric, draining SINQUM of all who dare enter it. Within its deepest reaches the Graveyard was found.
“How will we get there?” Asked Santiago after I told him that.
Aesop and I smiled mysteriously, and waited. Santiago shrugged and sit down to enjoy the sights.
“Does everyone walk down the mountain to get to the Sea?”
“No. We have docks here in the Tower, and a net of teleporters in our fortresses. Also, depending on where and how you enter the Fayd you will spring in a different part of the Basin. We use passes to enter the Fayd in one of our fortresses, like this one.”
Aesop took a pendant from a pocket in his suit. It looked like a copper equilateral triangle.
“This one leads to our family workshop. None lead directly to the Graveyard, so we will take a… here it is.” He said looking above.
Santiago looked upwards and saw a science fiction looking plane, hovering above them. In the Fayd there are six directions based on the Steel Bulwark, North, South, East, West, Above, Bellow.
“Couldn’t I just have opened a portal?” Asked Santiago.
Aesop frowned, he had hoped for more amazement. He then sighed and grumbled, he was sometimes a child at heart, wishing to show off his toys.
“My Agatha is better than any portal. It can travel at speeds beyond light.”
“I can open a portal that would take a second to cross.”
“My ship can resist impacts at FTL speeds.”
“My portals can be made from the safety of the Bulwark.”
“My ship has class 6 weapons on board.”
“My portals… yeah, you win.”
“Hah! Up you go.”
We got on the ship and it flew at a moderate speed. The interior looked like a living room, with comfortable couches, refreshments and acceleration resistors. Those last ones apply acceleration equally to all atoms within the ship so the passengers will experience no pressure.
“Don’t get too comfortable, we’ll be there in a few minutes.” Warned Aesop.
“Got it.”
We stayed in comfortable silence, and soon enough the ship halted.
“Get down now. Plant your tree and don’t bother the Gravekeeper.”
We nodded and I jumped from the ship, with Santiago on my shoulder. I landed perfectly and called out.
The Graveyard was eerie. A wasteland of rock covered by thousands of corpses, the corpses of Daemon Gods. Some were human sized, others mountainous, but all of them leaked SINQUM like crazy. That is why we put them within the Black Forest, otherwise many daemons would be lured to them.
“Skol! Skol!”
I called out to the Gravekeeper. Santiago was looking around, slightly spooked. His orange eyes showed that he was looking through, and at, the corpses. I too would be curious at the bodies of beings so far beyond in power to me. There are many Primordials that are actually weaker than Daemon Gods.
A chittering sound began to spread through the Graveyard. Santiago turned to the source of the sound and fell to the ground, astonished. The reason why soon appeared above an elephantine Daemon God.
Skol was actually a scolopendra daemon, except massive. It was the size of a train, literally. It had thousands of segments and legs, and was wide like a truck as well as six metres tall.
“Master Lykofos. Scared boy.” It’s voice was surprisingly smooth and deep. It was so pleasant that Santiago managed to snap out of it quickly, and bowed in apology. “Polite boy rather. A pleasure to meet you. Why are you here master?”
“This kid is Santiago Alonso Caballero, my new protégée. He is going to plant his main power here.”
“I understand. Again, it is a pleasure Santiago. Anything I should know apart from knowing it is dangerous?”
I then described the power to Skol, and he did his version of nodding. Which was nodding, due to how long he had spent around humans.
“Needs to drain SINQUM to live. Produces miasma.” Skol chuckled. “A fit to this place.”
“Really? You sound quite pleasant and are here.” Commented Santiago.
“Your immunity to curses is the reason you can even survive in my presence. I was born of Gu, the ancient curse making process. My mere presence is anathema to life.”
Santi didn’t say it, but I could tell that he was quite impressed with Skol. He wasn’t one to be scared easily, so he could appreciate a genuinely creepy being.
“But even I haven’t heard of the Weak curse.” It approached Santi, having noticed he wasn’t scared of it. “May I watch this?”
“Sure. As long as you tell me your professional opinion.”
“Of course.”
Santiago turned to me, and I nodded. He breathed deep and concentrated in activating his power. A crack was heard, and space twisted and bent inwards. Then a bright light shone for a second.
Once the light was gone I narrowed my eyes. When I had understood how Santiago’s power worked I knew it would be impressive. What I didn’t expect was how well it simulated being the source of evil.
The False Tree of Qliphoth looked like a tree, fairly enough. What wasn’t fair was how wrong it looked. It was dark, so dark it was black. It absorbed all light, only vantablack can show you how dark that is. But worse was that it could be recognised as living. Its branches moved without wind, its leaves shrieked in the wind. A soft, quiet shriek that most wouldn’t realise is there but would unnerve them anyway. Its trunk moved and twisted silently. It had ten roots that floated in the air, stretching, seeking its prey like snakes. It floated above the ground. It was not a very big tree, but I knew it was young and could grow much.
But the worst part was that everything that touched the tree was twisted, cursed and damned. When the mist touched the tree it turned dark and slowed its movements. The rock near the roots looked slightly frailer, and the corpses more rotten. They were less than they once were. I knew what the Weak curse would do, but I’d underestimated how wrong it would look. Distasteful.
Santiago held the same opinion, having stepped back. Ready to run, before he felt a familiarity with the tree, and discovered he could control it. He moved the miasma around, he directed the movement of the roots, and he perceived its interior.
Skol was more interested in the curse the miasma held, and touched it with one of its feet. It began to look more wizened, paler.
“Fascinating.”
“What is?” Asked Santiago.
“This curse is weak and not. From what you told me it decreases all attributes by the same as a unit of Ohr would enhance them.”
“Wait.” Santiago narrowed his eyes. “All of them? By one Ohr?”
“Yes. All of them. Just that makes it extremely precious, particularly for those of us who deal with curses. This is because it decreases resistance to curses, not only making them easier to stick but more powerful. It also increases elemental damage, all damage then. Decreases power, speed, recovery… not very powerful, but versatile.”
“Relatively not powerful. A single Ohr decrease would cripple a human. 8,000 Newtons is enough for a weightlifter to lift 400 kg two metres above their heads.”
“Indeed it is. But in the Fayd such a paltry amount is weak. Oh?”
“What is it?”
“It can stack. Four times, as far as I can tell. And… that changes things.”
“What does?”
“This Weak curse can increase the number of curses that can be applied to an individual. Normally there is a limit at how many curses of the same type can be put on someone, but with one stack they can be increased by one. With four you can put four more curses than usual on someone.”
“Does that change with power, since it is only a single Ohr decrease…”
“No. This limit is inborn, it doesn’t grow,”
Santiago smiled.
“Then I know what kind of magic I should learn.”
“Indeed. Fang Breaker is a curse that decreases a daemon’s attack power by 10%, as long as they have a Priority bellow 3,000. Normally it can be applied twice, but you could do it six. I don’t need to say how useful that is.”
“Indeed you don’t. How much miasma is needed to inflict a stack? And how long it lasts?”
Skol focused on his leg.
“I don’t know the hard number, but the amount produced in a second gives a single stack.”
“So with a cubic metre I can inflict 3,600 stacks.” Santiago frowned. “That sounds too good.”
“Not if you are fighting many opponents. And it only lasts a minute. Fights against strong daemons can last hours. And these curse will never improve, it will always remain the same. It is, on the big leagues, only useful to stack more curses.”
“A curse that makes it easier to curse others. Sounds like Satan.” I interjected.
Santiago looked at me for a moment, and nodded. Indeed that was the purpose of the Weak curse, that and…
“Do not underestimate the effect in resistances. Each stack will decrease elemental resistance by 5%.”
“Yes, Breaker curses! Normally useless because of the Priority requirements, if it is a Transcendental curse…” Santiago had never heard something as creepy as a giant centipede giggling. “I need to replicate this curse somehow.”
“The issue is, how do I get the miasma to my enemies? I can only move it at a few centimetres per second and the tree is immobile.”
The centipede went completely still.
“You have been screwed, boy. Such an incredible curse and its useless because of the distances required.” Skol sounded heartbroken at those news, its professional pride didn’t allow him to suffer such a massive weakness.
“Portals.”
“Portals?” Skol examined Santiago. “So you are his chosen then. I wish I could make portals, it’d make my life easier. That helps, butt… what is your weapon?”
“Sword mainly. Are you suggesting for me to coat my sword in miasma, cut my enemies to apply the curse and when I run out dip it in a portal to refill the miasma again?”
“Yes.” Skol looked at Santiago to appraise him. “That is my suggestion.”
“The sword would become too brittle. In total its structural strength would be reduced by 32,000 N, never mind edge retention. I’m not sure how much that is, but air would probably break it.”
“A normal sword would indeed become brittle.” I hinted, wink wink.
Santiago facepalmed and groaned. Skol turned to me and hummed like a question.
“He is of the Kyrioi apo Metallon.”
“And you were worrying about the strength of the sword?” Skol was incredulous. “I saw one of your shields resist a pile driver powered by a high yield nuclear bomb.”
Santiago’s expression was pained. “But they cost an arm and a leg. And that is our best shield ever.”
“Stop whining and take a loan.”
Nobody gets anything for free from the Kyrioi, nobody. Not even me.
“Yes.” Santiago was downcast. “Haaah.”
The silence stretched for a moment.
“On the other hand, I don’t think you should use Ohr as an enhancement at all. Unlike miasma that is free, each Ohr costs 200 cubic nanometres to produce and are required in great quantities to improve the tree. Miasma production will increase with the tree’s stage, making it difficult for you to run out. And you can use the roots as combat tentacles through portals, and that will also be increased by stage. Finally getting the Fruit of Divinity is imperative, it will greatly increase your combat abilities.” Skol broke the awkward moment.
“With ten roots I get ten SINQUM a second. I need 200,000, so that is 20,000 thousand seconds, or 5-6 hours, for stage one. Doesn’t seem too difficult to increase.”
“I’ve seen powers with growing, permanent effects. They grow exponentially, but it takes exponential amounts of SINQUM to grow them. I doubt yours is different.”
Santiago groaned, and I decided that I could give more direct guidance.
“Let us see how much Ohr it requires to reach stage 2 in six hours. In the meantime, work to add the roots to your fighting style.”
Santiago nodded, before remembering something.
“I have no sword.”
I created a temporary sword and threw it at him. Then I smiled at him signaled him to get going.
***
Six hours later Santiago was showing why he had managed to reach provost at his age. He had managed to incorporate the roots to his fighting style very quickly, and now was working out its kinks with Skol.
A thing had become apparent quickly, and that was that maintaining ten portals open, moving ten roots and fighting simultaneously was ridiculously taxing on the mind. It required an incredible amount of concentration, far more than even Santiago’s enhanced mind had. So he had quickly chosen to reduce the number of tentacles he could have active to three. Then he had understood that his portals were mostly static, and changing their position was difficult. Due to this he was better served if he opened the portals for only a few seconds so his enemy wouldn’t have time to move from them.
This meant that he mostly used the roots as surprise spear or mace strikes, or for parrying, and when in a single position for a time he would use them more extensively. He also practiced leaving a portal and root out while fighting with others in case he ever needed to restrain his enemy. The problem after that was coordinating with the roots during combat, and that was what he was doing right now. Thankfully his spatial perception had improved with the potion. I believed he would master it in a few weeks.
The practice was interrupted when the False Tree of Qliphoth began shuddering. It was time.
Both Skol and Santi came running, and watched as the tree grew. It didn’t change much, a few centimetres at most.
“How do I tell how much it’s grown? Do I meditate?”
“As long as you are in the World Basin, or rather, near the Ether Sea, you will be able to connect with the ICP and have it scan you. Just ask it nicely.” I said.
“Yes. I thank you for hooking me up with it, master Lykofos.”
“You’re welcome.”
While Skol and I bantered Santiago looked over the changes in his power.
-The False Tree of Qliphoth integrity: Stage 1-2. Concrete-Slightly stronger concrete. -Tainted Miasma production: Stage 1-2: 1-1.5 m^3/h. -Qliphoth Rhizome: Stage 1-2: Drain 1-2 u/s. DMG Weak. Max speed. 50-51 km/h. -Fruit of divinity enhancement: Stage 1-2: 1-1.1 Ohr. -Lasts unrooted: Stage 1-2: 1-2 h.> When he told us what had changed we collectively groaned. “Nearly a twelve day increment for a slight increase in power. At least Weak is overpowered to begin with.” Santiago tried to comfort himself once we did the math. Didn’t really work. “At least you can fight as if you had three more weapons. And maybe the next enhancement will be stronger." “That is nice.” My attempt was better. “So, what Path do you think you should take?” Asked Skol. “I need to learn curses and attack magic in general to take advantage of Weak. I also need self-enhancement magic to improve my direct combat abilities, right now I am fragile.” Skol turned to me. “He doesn’t know what a Path is.” “Not yet. But I know which one he should take.” “Ghost?” “Ghost.” “Uh, what?” “Later, once we have returned to the Bulwark. Right now, just take the fruit whose name I hate.” That fruit can’t grant divinity in any way or shape! I hate when this happens. That said the fruit was beautiful. To get it Santiago had to open the trunk of the tree, showing us its interior. It was bigger on the inside, understandable since it was an independent piece of space-time. The fruit was small, grape sized, and golden in color, like an ingot of pure gold. There wasn’t any need for rituals of any kind, so Santiago just ate it. What happened after was amazing. Golden veins of light could be seen within Santiago’s body, spreading from his stomach and being assimilated into his entire body. The process lasted only a few seconds. When it was finished Santiago started trying his new abilities. Due to the complexity of movement in living beings the enhancement wasn’t always apparent. For example his acceleration hadn’t improved by 102 metres per squared second, despite weighing 78 kilograms. It had improved by 43 however, and he could sustain it for a second, which put him over five times the unenhanced world record. “So this is what it feels like being superhuman.” Santiago was smiling, quite happily at that. He was feeling great, for this was the first time he felt like he was making progress in the process of rescuing his sister. “It truly is. Congratulations Santiago, you are one step closer to your goal.” I grabbed him by the shoulders and looked into his eyes as I said this. He smiled at me. But this time it was heartfelt, previously he still had doubts, about me and about him. But now? Now he trusted me. It was then that he accepted me as his master. *** We had parted with Skol and returned to the Bulwark soon afterwards. When we were back at the ICP I finished the first day’s lesson. “A Path is the way Guardians grow. Normally you’d have to actively absorb SINQUM and add it to your Guardian. When that reaches a certain threshold it increases in stage. That increases SINQUM pool, makes certain powers stronger and may give new powers. Without a Path what powers you get would be nearly random, in the sense you can’t try and get a specific power, what you’d get is determined by your mind. The Bulwark can direct this growth within certain parameters, this is a Path. For example the Path of the Ghost grants self enhancement powers and cursing powers.” I abridged the lecture since Santiago was tired, but he understood it pretty well anyway. “That is the Path I should take?” “Yes. Some Paths are based on daemons, others in mages. Ghosts are renowned for being tough in battle and their curses.” “Understood. How many stages are there?” “You can theoretically absorb all SINQUM in the Fayd.” “Functionally infinite then.” “Pretty much.” “So I just try and absorb SINQUM?” “Yes. It is a slow process however, most of the growth amends Earth Ψ humans is from Bulwark missions. If you fulfill missions issued by the ICP it will inject you with SINQUM. You can learn to increase your SINQUM absorption speed from this process.” “So, how do I get a Path?” “Not now. You are too tired, rest. Tomorrow we’ll finish this, and for the next few weeks I’ll train you in magic.” “K.” He opened a portal and nearly stumbled through it. It had been quite an exciting day, even if it was still six p.m.