Chapter 3

The sky was in a darker shade as the dark clouds veil the blue sky.

Iris did not find anyone in the compound when she returned. Finding Hecate was the priority. Iris did. She was with Diantha, in Diantha’s room. She did not know why, but this was the first place she looked.

“Hella,” Iris called.

“Iris,” Hecate turned, half trying to be cheerful, failing miserably, and half tense. “I’m sorry…” Her shoulder slumped, her eyes darting everywhere but her.

“My frailty is not a fault of yours, Hella,” Iris said, calm as before. It took ten minutes to heal her ears, and another two to tie back the cloth. “Let’s go… We need to find Ianthe, as well.”

“I.. completely forgot about her. We need to search—what if she’s upset,” Hecate hurried past her.

“She’d be fine,”

“Iris,” Diantha intoned.

“Hm?”

“Where were you going?”

“I have no intention of sitting inside a carriage for hours. I’ll fly to your estate on my weaver’s orb.”

“I see…” Diantha stared at her, “Hecate said she hurt you. I don’t know what she meant by that. Would you mind explaining?”

Iris explained Hecate screaming in her ears and running away.

“Surely, it isn’t just because of screaming—wouldn’t that be too easy to hurt you?”

“Without using mana to save myself, I’m probably the weakest human in the world. I’ll lose to a healthy five-year-old,” Iris turned, “I’ll follow Hecate. When will you leave?”

“Probably in an hour, I should be in the estate by the evening.”

“I see, have a safe journey,” Iris stopped again, “Are you wearing the ring I gave you?”

“I am,” Diantha replied, raising her gloved hand. Iris took the time last night to weave the Orb into a much more elegant ring. Hours.

Diantha would be Shadow’s next target because of her soul’s absurd dominating power. And also for she was the easiest prey. It was a safety measure. She did not know how strong Diantha was or if she could even defend herself. Iris hoped Diantha could, but that hope was almost non-existent.

She hoped Shadow would attempt today. She wanted to end him before leaving this place.

“He will not attack me,” Diantha said, as if reading her mind, “Ilona’s presence deters him, and I’m still the grand duchess of Gracia. The Imperial army would move immediately if something like that happened to me. Even Roundtable cannot blatantly harm me, being the gem of the crown provides me immunity against smart enemies. A monster is a different case.”

“A monster is less likely to attack a non-mage surrounded by mages. You are invisible to them.”

“Am I truly?” Iris paused. No, her soul was strong enough to gain attention. But the monsters were useless. So was this conversation.

“What will he do next?”

“Most likely? Hideaway… Perfect inert viel. And then raise an army—wait for me to start the war, or have Laurent write to the Court of Laks seeking permission for war. The emperor will, of course, refuse. So they will wait for me— and that won’t happen until the beginning of the next year. Stay at peace, for nothing exciting will happen here.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“I shall trust your words.”

…

Ianthe was in the tower, searching for Ilona. Iris assured her that she was fine. It appeased her. She still appeared distant. Iris knew why. Seeing someone enter the awakened state this quickly would’ve been horrifying. For Iantha, it would’ve been the same as when Ilona showed her mana to Iris, a vast difference in talent. Iris didn’t ever consider it a talent. In a way, it showed her how life-threatening everything around her was to her. The normal mages would never enter the awakened state from a scream. But they would not be injured in the same way as her. The ceiling of her death was insanely low compared to other humans.

“It is less of a talent, and more of an adaptation,” Iris said, both paused and looked at her. “I am not saying I’m not talented. But I am not as far ahead of you as you may think. If she were any louder, I would’ve had life-threatening injuries. I’m weak, so I adapted to entering the Awakened state swiftly,” Also, from the torturous place that was Labyrinth.

An awakened state allowed a mage to reach a hundred per cent mastery of their attribute for a short period, along with a small-scale boost in attribute points. And efficiency in using mana. It was the peak performance a mage was capable of. It was unrelated to the system and couldn’t be enhanced in any way, so it became a standard of talent. Of course, if it triggers after an injury where the mage can no longer defend, then only the mother may lessen the torment the mage would feel. A double-edge sword that mages had no control over when they entered it. Thus, the earlier the trigger was, the more talented the mage. She had little benefit from it after 98% mastery. Except her spell-casting speed would be fast enough that she could directly shock Shadow without misdirection and squabble.

She felt awkward after saying that.

…

“Iris, can you make it softer—my butt will hurt after sitting on it,” Hecate said. Her eyes stared at her without a hint of mischief.

The platforms she made of orbs were firm, flat, and uncomfortable. She always stood on it, after all.

“I can. It will take a few hours, and I need the thing that you want me to turn this into—” Iris paused, “What if we make a small flying craft—where you can sleep even in the mana storm,”

“You can do that?”

“I can make the basic structure; soft flooring is what I will do now, and I’ll complete it in the future.”

“Sounds great!”

Genuinely excited Hecate. Iris smiled, success! She knew Hecate would get excited about it. Ianthe was more sceptical if it was even possible. Iris decided she would show how capable she was.

“But first, we need a soft mattress whose material I can examine—and then replicate.”

“You can replicate any material?” Hecate asked, her eyes glowing with outrageous ideas.

“Of course…” Iris said dreadfully.

“Then…” Hecate pointed at the top of the tower, “You will replicate master’s special material that she brought in from the Rena. It’s super soft and magical.”

“I cannot,” Iris replied, in a small voice—to soften the blow. “I meant, I can replicate normal things, not enhanced, and mostly fabric and similar things.”

If she could replicate anything, then with her mana capacity, she would never need to worry about coming to harm again. She could quite easily reproduce a tough hide. Weaver’s orbs were not like that. They were balls of thread and worked within their confine. She was incapable of replicating anything with enhancement unless she learned to perform that enhancement.

“Ohh… then, we can use any bed in the mansion. All of them are the same,”

“Let’s go…”

So they arrived in Ianthe’s barren room.

“Will this work?”

“It will…” Iris said as she sat on the bed and placed her palm on the surface. Hair thin threads crawled out from her sleeve and melded into the fabric of the mattress, spread out, dawning the whole thing into a purple hue. Iris concentrated on each strand as it hugged a strand of fabric. Then, the one adjective to it. One by one, she completed the first thread of the material.

Iris pulled away her hand and sighed. The information processing was the hardest part—she needed to remember every thread. Because she instantaneously transformed her orb, requiring no time to weave, She needed to—subconsciously—remember what she was twining them into.

“Done?” Hecate asked.

“Only a single thread, I’ll need at least two hours.” Iris smiled as a frown took Hecate’s expression. Of course, she was lying. The mattress was simpler than she had expected. She only required ten minutes to analyse its form and materials.

But Iris decided she would keep that to herself to watch Hecate try and think of a way to escape. Hecate’ stayed in place for the most part.

“Done,” Iris as she hopped off the bed.

“Really!!”

“I am, let’s go… You can sleep while travelling.”

Iris moulded three Weaver’s orbs and created a soft base to sit on. And then, she used another three to create a roof. “I am done,” She turned, expecting an excited and impressed Hecate, and received a frown.

“It looks ugly…” Hecate said bluntly. Iris recoiled. Ianthe covered her mouth to hide her smirk.

“I-I know, but this the best we can make. I’ll refine it later,” Iris tried her best, to sound fine. “It is comfortable.”

“We shall see…” Hecate replied and jumped on the floating construct. “Waoh, I never expected to be so comfortable. Let’s go!”

Ianthe perched as well, “You’ve got a handy skill. My Ice cannot do anything like that.”

“It is Ice, after all, though I am sure you can conjure a shard of ice and control it,” Iris mused. Her orb's purpose was not to fly but to be helpful in a battle and work as a replacement for her lack of ability to make a thread like her mother. She never did that, other than the 7 rods formation. Weaver’s orb was a close combat with range skill; she would die the first day she attempted to use it. Caster was the only one that suited her.

“I have tried that, but it would crumble the moment my focus wavers,” Ianthe folded her legs and sat, “Ah! I forgot my luggage..”

“I have it,” Iris replied. She saw her bags on the floor after returning and placed them in her storage box. “I’ll give you when we arrive. I have pillows, in case you want to sleep.”

“I’ll meditate—”

“No, I have cards, we’ll play!” Hecate cut in before Ianthe could finish.

“What’s a card?” Both Iantha and Iris voiced at the same time.

A horror overtook Hecate’s face, “You don’t know! I’ll teach you, Let’s go!!”

So, Iris and Ianthe discovered how normal humans enjoyed their time playing, for they have only practised and meditated or healed their bodies in free time for their whole lives.