Gaius was in the middle of using a chisel to sculpt out some abdominal muscles when the great god bounced over to him. Before the old man could speak, however, the boy held out his left hand and gestured for him to wait.
Weiwu was a good-natured fellow, so Gaius had no issues being a bit impolite with him. After all, birds of a feather flocked together and whatnot. With a rubber mallet in his left hand, the boy rounded off the abdomen and took a step back to admire his work. Fortunately, abdominal muscles needed little in the way of emotions — skill and focus were the only requirement, and after using some sandpaper to round off stray bits, Gaius set down his equipment.
La-Ti was also there, but his presence was so small, Gaius had inadvertently overlooked him. His new apprentice looked at the sculpture that was twice his height, a look of wonder on his face.
“You’ll be able to do that eventually,” Gaius said. “Just lots of practice. I started small too, really small. Made little, uh, toys for everyone around me back then. After a while, I got really good at it.”
For a moment, he wondered if Lecturer Shiro would take offence at the way he turned the word ‘artefacts’ into ‘toys’, but what Shiro didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.
“Really?”
“Trust me.” Gaius smiled. “Practice makes perfect. Once you’re done with your work, you’ll sell them along with mine. Whatever you earn, you’ll keep.”
“Earn?” The kid’s eyes lit up.
“Yes. After all, I won’t be here forever. You’ll have to learn to fend for yourself,” Gaius said. “This is the opportunity I give you. Resources and equipment to pick up a skill, in the time that I’m here. The last thing I want to see if you eating scraps off the ground, so do your best.”
“Best. Okay!”
Gaius smiled at his excited countenance, and then began to explain some aspects of using a chisel. For smaller sculptures, a knife was fine, and was recommended, since whittling was easier too. But when one moved on to bigger goals, a knife might not always be the best tool.
Better to teach him while he could, after all. There was no guarantee when he’d next return to Cybral, if ever, so Gaius wanted to at least make sure this kid could make a decent living for himself.
After the demonstrations were over, Gaius turned to Weiwu, who had joined his sculpting class for some reason. “You wanted me for something, right?”
“Correct. Another aspect of your duty,” said the great god. “Right now, I’m taking your place in watching over the will-carving process, but when you take your place properly, you must understand the cultivation processes of your Orb. Now, in the face of an impending invasion, more and more people have forced themselves into becoming Knights and beyond. My duty — and yours — is to make sure that the entire process remains uncorrupted.”
“Uncorrupted?” Gaius asked.
“You’ll see in a moment.” Weiwu patted La-Ti’s head. “We’ll be back.”
“Make sure to use this time to practice,” Gaius added. “Won’t take us too long, I think.”
“Leaving?”
“For something, yes,” Gaius replied. “We should be back at night or something, right?”
“Depends, really. But these little rituals never take that long to begin with, so it’s usually far earlier,” Weiwu said. “We’ll be back in time for dinner.”
“If someone comes for me, tell them that I’m procuring more supplies,” Gaius said. “Okay, that’s enough reminders from us. Let’s go.”
“By your will.” The great god gestured, and a sensation of being plucked from soil by a gardener assailed Gaius’ mind. The surroundings began to change rapidly, pausing for a moment to show the small globe that Gaius had used to enter Cybral, before darkness streamed down from above.
The dark world fogged over within moments, but Gaius wasn’t perturbed. Turning to the great god, he asked, “How do I enter this world? It’ll be a problem if you keep doing this for me.”
“Mm. For me, it’s almost instinctual…” The great god ran a hand through his beard. “Both of us have a mental link to the Crying Abyss. Can you feel it? Visualise it?”
Gaius closed his eyes, but unsurprisingly enough, there wasn’t really much to visualise. After spending ten or so seconds in the dark behind his eyes, the boy looked back at Weiwu and shrugged. “No dice.”
“Maybe you should take some time to observe the process,” said the great god. “Might give you some inspiration or clue as to how to feel this link.”
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He grunted in reply.
Weiwu cleared his throat. “We are currently in a virtual world, one like Cybral, that was repurposed for the sake of meeting worthy souls. This was a place created for my slumber, but I see no reason to change this just because I woke up. To make sure that no one notices my role in all this, I’ve been making the place foggy.”
“How do you know if someone’s about to advance?” Gaius asked.
“You’ll hear someone speak in your head, and that’s the cue. Fundamentally, we take up the role of the intermediary between the Crying Abyss and whoever’s making the vow, to prevent the former from making contact with the outside world,” said Weiwu. “By now, enough people have gone through will-cleaving, so you won’t need to explain anything. Your main job is to just ensure that none of the Crying Abyss’ power leaks out. If it does, just absorb it like how you would do to energy.”
“Sounds simple enough.”
“It is simple enough. The only problems arise at the boundary between Lords and Paragons. Their power is enough to provoke a reaction from the Crying Abyss, but at the same time, they’re also able to resist its encroachment to some extent.” The great god’s eyes were sombre. “But ultimately, a mark will be left behind. Even if they defeat their inner demons once, they will fight forever, against the encroaching darkness.”
“But that’ll be none of your business.” He glanced at a particular point. “Don’t move, don’t speak. Someone’s coming.”
A silhouette began to form ten metres or so away from Gaius. The fog swirled and billowed, thickening before his very eyes to hide the features of the person from him.
“Are we not allowed to see who’s on the other side either?” Gaius whispered.
“Oh, you want to?” The great god’s voice echoed in his head. “Just use your mind to do it. Only your soul is here; and since you, like me, can be said to be the master of this virtual world, you can do anything you wish.”
“Anything?” Gaius asked.
“Well, almost anything,” said the great god. “After a while, you get bored, so…”
Bored? Of what? The boy took a look at Weiwu, who had a disinterested look in his face, and was struck with enlightenment a moment later. This will-cleaving, as the Chanter of Innocents called it, was a pivotal event for the people undergoing it — just what expressions would they have if these people knew that the person watching was already bored?
“But didn’t you just awaken from your slumber?” Gaius asked in a whisper. “How did you get bored that quickly? I don’t think Knights appeared that often in the past few years.”
“You don’t need to do this more than four times to get bored of this,” the great god’s voice echoed in Gaius’ mind. “You’ll see what I mean. Today, there’s probably going to be two new…Knights, and one Lord. Don’t worry about it, though, just keep your eyes on the Crying Abyss.”
“Okay,” Gaius replied.
“Good. Alright, now, just watch and don’t move …the Knight here is entering introspection.”
Indeed, the silhouette was now looking around, although the way he or she surveyed the area hinted at the person’s fleeting familiarity here. Gaius felt the person’s gaze sweep around the area, landing on Weiwu, who was now standing still with his eyes closed, and then fell onto Gaius himself. Something like surprise coursed through the Knight, who continued to look in his direction for a little while longer.
What are you staring at? Have you never seen someone as adorable as me? Or are you wondering why I’m here? Gaius cracked a few jokes in his mind, but he knew that the latter possibility was most likely the answer. After all, to become a Knight in the first place, he or she had to come here. At that time, only Weiwu was watching over the process, so only seeing one person was a given.
But since Gaius was here…
It would seem that a new rumour would pop up soon, about the small little fellow who appeared for their breakthrough process. The boy wanted to rub his chin, only to desist a moment later. Someone new was bad enough, but for that someone new to move around freely?
Disciplining himself, the boy continued to act as a statue, and after a few minutes of continuous staring, the fellow on the other side of the fog finally turned away.
Clearly, whoever was over there was finally embarking on actually becoming a Lord. Gaius could feel a nebulous power gather around the person, albeit an incomplete one.
“That’s his will taking form, a Fief in the making,” Weiwu spoke in his head. “It’s manifested as energy for our convenience here, so that we can make sure that it’s not contaminated during the process.”
“What happens if it’s contaminated?” Gaius asked in his head.
“We lop it off and take it in for our use. It’ll injure whoever’s on the other side, but nothing else,” the great god replied. “Alright, the vow’s coming…”
Gaius returned his attention to the soon-to-be Lord, his eyes narrowed somewhat. Something seemed to be building up, and the boy watched with bated breath as it threatened to explode out moments later. His vision narrowed to a slit; Gaius really wanted to see through the fog, but it wasn’t going to budge. Like a balloon, the well of power building up inside the person on the other side continued to expand…only to disperse a moment later.
Staring blankly at the sudden dissipation, Gaius was nearly on the verge of cursing, before he held himself back. He knew the theory behind why something like this was possible — basically, the Knight over there was having doubts, and therefore stopped the vow midway. He or she would then look through and maybe change a word or two, before continuing on with the process.
An ominous premonition struck Gaius.
He was beginning to see why Weiwu would be so bored as to even play around with this world they were currently in. If each and everyone who came here were as wishy-washy as the fellow on the other side right now, Gaius, as the person meant to govern the entire process, could foresee a horrible fate of being bored to death.
He shifted his vision over discreetly, only to see the Chanter of Innocents fast asleep…while standing up. From the looks of it, the great god would only wake up if he sensed the Crying Abyss’ power, or if the vows were over and one with. Mechanically shifting his vision back, the boy began to curse mentally.
The build-up of power began all over again, but Gaius was no longer looking forward to it expectantly. Minutes after the power built up, it dispersed again, and before long, the would-be Lord fell into a pattern of building-up, only to disperse, over and over.
His lips twitching, Gaius closed his eyes and decided to take a nap. Fortunately, he was here as a soul, not with his physical body, so after fooling himself that he was lying on a soft bed, the boy began to feel somewhat tired.
Sleep claimed him moments later.