It took great courage for Fino to run into the dark after Leo. After hearing incessant shouting, Leonardo finally remembered his babysitter duty. Doubling back to pick up the thief, he then re-entered Valetta to escort him.

Whilst guiding him along the upper town streets, Leonardo didn’t speak, and Fino didn’t bother him either. The prior hallucinations were still bothering him. When he realized plain reason couldn’t explain it, he resigned himself and chose not to bite more than he can chew. Even though it bothered him him a lot, it’s not like a panic attack would answer his questions.

In truth, the matter came as a result of him mastering the first tier of Fortuna. He didn’t know how to sense that karmic web again, as the spell was not from his demesne library. The psychedelic state he entered came as a result of his natural breakthrough in magic, brought about by an eureka moment.

Unfortunately, he was torn away from it before he could assimilate the means to access it freely. He would have to meditate on it and bank on his luck, but for now fate’s windows remained closed to him.

If anything, this sudden progression after his flash of insight brought him more trouble than good. His mind was shaken thoroughly, and a single meditation session wouldn’t suffice to settle his heart. It might even impede his progress in other branches of magic or in his training of Mortal Transcendence.

Though, it wasn’t to say that it didn’t bring him any benefits. With limited insight into Fortuna, he could instinctively perceive open causality. While an indistinct phenomena, it could become a very potent tool in his arsenal.

Fortune tellers made their wealth on this basis, and dream interpreters and shamans were in well-received positions throughout history. Not that he intended to whisper nonsense in the ears of kings, but there was some actual merit to the role.

By studying the order of creation, he could better understand what outcome his future actions could have even before he attempted them. Of course, it was a matter of uncertain probability, as order rests amidst chaos. Not even the greatest diviners could predict things with hundred percent accuracy. Fate always remained somewhat unpredictable.

However little people could see, they selfishly employed whatever tool at their disposal. Even if the grand scheme of things remained blurry, people could still grasp and manipulate individual threads of fate.

When Leo advanced his Fortuna further, he could virtually manipulate his luck. He couldn’t magically stumble on a treasure he knew nothing off, but he could probably ensure the dice he cast always rolled on a 6.

Tricks of that nature aside, it had great applications in combat. He could reduce the probability of him being hit by arrows, or ensure that most blows he dealt just so happened to deal critical damage to the opponent.

As he looked forward to the future with excitement and tried to distract himself, they finally made it to Fino’s home.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Returning from his absent-minded state, he knocked on the door. Perhaps it was too late at night, because there was no response. Employing his magic senses impatiently, Leo immediately regretted it. He gave Fino a weird look then patted him on the shoulder with compassion.

“Your aunt sure is a wild woman… They’ll probably be done in a few minutes so you just wait by the door. I’m gonna head home.”

Wishing he could thoroughly bleach his memory, while also ruminating over how demanding of the woman that posture was, he couldn’t help but lament he was too young. As if his pristine mind wasn’t screwed enough by his magic deviation already, now he had to purge erotica from his surface thoughts too…

- — ☯ — -

In the following days, unable to meditate — Leonardo busied himself elsewhere. He rose at dawn and scoured the cove by the coast for resources. Scanning the place with Materia, he identified the mineral formations with greater accuracy than a LIDAR scanner.

Extraction was a bit of a pain, but he braved through it. Normally, he could have had the kids at the orphanage help mine, but quartz was rather fragile and he couldn’t trust them with its extraction. Free resources were limited in Malta, and he couldn’t miss this chance to stock up his workshop.

Over time, he thoroughly cleaned the place of any valuables, save for the limestone. He then spent another chunk of his time carving a teleportation formation.

Using a combination of Materia and Spatium, he could already warp small objects through space. However, the distance was limited if he did it directly, and there was a good chance he might miss his destination.

That’s where static formations came into play. Rituals required more preparation and had stricter applications, but were way safer. Being less demanding of the magi, and also more stable, it was the preferred method for his needs.

His ritual circle connected to the cellar in the orphanage. The formation still required Leonardo to preside over on one side, but the brunt of it was bore by the gemstones in the ritual circle. Formed of amethysts and pure quartz that carried some minute traces of primal energy, it allowed him to teleport everything from the cove in small batches without exhausting his Chi.

Once he sorted through his spoils, Leonardo was hyped up and couldn’t wait to turn them into tangible masterworks. Originally planning on a set of jewelry, he recalled it was soon Yuki’s eight birthday and had to alter his plans.

Locking the assistant out of the workshop, he set out the best materials on hand and decided to thoroughly spoil the lass this year. The more he thought about it, the more he found his prior gifts lacking.

Overfilled with inspiration and familial affection, he forwent sleep and eating and finished it all in one session.

First, he wove a simple white kimono, wasting most of the silk on hand. Honestly, he didn’t quite understand the oriental fashion, and merely snagged what he thought would fit best from his memories. To his critical eye, a classic renaissance garb just couldn’t match well with Yuki’s silver hair.

He didn’t overdo the dress, mostly beautifying the sash and leaving the rest unblemished by embroidery. The patterns were somewhat ripped off from Muchen’s sect designs, carrying subtle traces of mysticism.

Contrasting the dress, he prepared a pitch black guzheng — a Chinese plucked zither. The first metal strings were finetuned personally by him and layered in 26 rows. The instrument came to about 1,6m in length and had its own decorated stand and cover box. He even went as far as to embed a few smaller chunks of amethyst along the corpus of the instrument.

Frankly, if brought before the Great Ming court, it could easily sell for ten times its weight in gold. Yet, its destiny was to remain shrouded in obscurity in the dilapidated room of an orphan child.

‘Truly, even a coffer of gold would pale in worth to an earnest smile.’