Chapter 178: Ghost Hands

Mercury blinked at the child in front of him. “What?” he asked.

“What are you doing in this city, little storm?” The boy cocked his head, looking at Mercury curiously. “Perhaps not so little…” he muttered, unsure.

“Sorry, do I know you?” Mercury asked. There was some feeling of familiarity about the kid, but he had trouble pinpointing where it came from exactly. And why was he a little storm?

For a second, the boy froze and stared. “Oh! Of course, yes! You shouldn’t… shouldn’t talk to strangers. I’m, uh…” the boy stuttered along the words.

He spoke as if he hadn’t talked in ages. With a dry mouth and words that came out raspy. He stumbled over syllables, too, as if unpracticed in speaking.

“I’m…” he tried again, then paused, thinking. “My name, is… it’s…”

For a second, the boy’s eyes went sad, then dark. Mercury felt it a very sad sight. “Alright, kid,” he said, “how about this, then. I’ll call you… Breeze. For now, if that’s okay?”

“Breeze!” the boy’s eyes lit up. “Yes! I like Breeze. Very much.”

Mercury smiled at the childlike enthusiasm. Well, maybe less childlike and more… childish? “Alright, then, Breeze. You seem to have come here to talk to me. Can I ask what you need?”

The boy nodded excitedly. His hair bobbed a little along the motion. It… never seemed to rest at all, really, strands of it always blowing about. Strange; it wasn’t at all windy out. “Yes. I came to you because you’re a storm. And this city has enough storms, you see!”

Yasashiku already stood behind Mercury, in the door of his workshop, arms crossed. Mercury didn’t look at the older man, but knew he wore a scowl. Thinking something like “I swear, when will I finally get a quiet day to teach that dang cat.” Yep, that was for sure.

With a quick flicker of his mind, Mercury brought his attention back to the conversation at hand. “Storms, you say? It hasn’t snowed in quite a while, though, has it?”

The boy chuckled, a bright, clear sound. “No, silly! Not snow or rain. Storms!! Like this: ffuuuuuuhhhh!” To give an example, the kid blew on the air.

It was a cute demonstration, until it was not.

For a moment, the kid’s breath hung there, little more than a slight disturbance on Mercury’s fur. They stood apart, so he was honestly already impressed he felt it at all. But then, very suddenly, it wasn’t that simple anymore.

Without any warning, the air around the kids breath got sucked into the motion. As if it was a virus, spreading around, and the entire air all around suddenly rushed by Mercury. Hard enough to feel the pull on his ears, to need to dig his heels in a little and resist being blown away.

Yasashiku’s eyes first went wide, then his scowl grew even deeper, wondering what kind of trouble his apprentice brought in.

“Like that!” the boy said, before Mercury could regain his bearings. The kid talked quickly, like a waterfall. “A storm! Enough to blow people away. I try to save them, you know. But then the wall was built.”

“Right, the wall,” Mercury said. He was no expert on the local history, but he knew for sure that that wall was almost as old as the city. And he seemed to remember something about it being built to stop storms…

It clicked. Mercury found himself slipping into ihn’ar almost reflexively, without much effort put into it, but then, it did take a small bit of a push to shatter the first veil of gold. He was free from the shackles of reasonable, Earth-like logic, and could thing outlandish ideas.

Such as understanding why he felt that resonance with Breeze in front of him. The kid was, quite literally, an embodiment of . The kind that Mercury understood, and knew as a friend. The kind he asked for help, occasionally, yet so much more.

Oh. And since Mercury knew and could relate his own experiences to it, of course, he must look like a little storm to the around. That’s where the nickname came from.

For a moment, curiously, Mercury looked closer, but then his ihn’ar was hit with a cold gust. Suddenly, that state of mind was stripped away, and Mercury found himself back in his regular perspective, sight and understanding limited by his physiology.

“It’s rude to stare, you know,” Breeze said, almost shyly.

Mercury shivered. He felt things were wrong, very wrong. His intuition told him that only the fact that he had at all stopped him from being killed, right then and there. Yasashiku didn’t just wait anymore, but walked forward now.

“Please, this is my apprentice. I would ask you speak politely to him, Bree-”

The old man didn’t get to finish the sentence, before Breeze laughed. The air around reacted to the laughter, suddenly growing wild and joyful. It danced, and it wanted to dance where Yasashiku stood, and so, the old man was blown off his feet, and onto the roof of a nearby building. He landed with a loud clang.

“Your teacher is fun, little storm!” the boy said, cheerily.

Again, Mercury felt cold dread run down his spine. Then, a moment later, he felt warm. A hand landed on his back. Zyl’s hand, specifically.

“What is going on, here?” the dragon asked, his voice quiet. Kind, perhaps, on the outside, but with a hidden anger.

Breeze blinked at the dragon, then smiled. “Oh! You’re big! Can we play?”

“No,” Zyl shut him down. “I don’t think I’m in the mood to play right now,” he said.

The boy deflated a bit. “Alright,” he said. “But! Little storm. I still wanna know, you know? Tell me, what are you up to here?” The questions sounded curious, but Mercury was more than sure that there was an implied threat in there. Maybe it was so slightly implied that Breeze didn’t even realize he was threatening Mercury.

But Mercury was calmer now. He had, almost habitually, activated , or what remained of it in . He’d breathed in, then out again, and already felt better. Sure, there were warning bells going off, but then again… worst case, he died. That would be that.

“I’m just here ‘cause I like this place,” Mercury said, honestly. “I have some good friends in the city. I lived here for a while before. Well, back then I wasn’t a storm, yet. But it’s a nice place, with good people.”

Breeze paused, cocking his head to the side, again. A little further than was comfortable. He wasn’t a very tall kid, his head only a little higher up than Mercury’s own. “So you’re not breaking anything?”

Yasashiku, who had since climbed off the roof, spoke instead. “If anything, you’re breaking things. That’s a hole where you threw me.” He indicated the place with his thumb.

Curiously, the boy turned around, then turned sad when he saw the hole Yasashiku’d pointed at. “Oh. They break so quickly when you play, don’t they…”

There was a lull for a few seconds. Breeze seemed down. Mercury talked. “I’m trying to learn how to fix stuff, you know?”

“Hm?” The boy looked back to him, up from the floor, eyes slightly wet.

“Yeah. I’m good at breaking things, but I wanna make them, instead. So I’m trying to learn.”

“Make them…” Breeze repeated quietly, as if it was the most sage advice he’d ever heard in his life. Then he giggled, childishly, the air laughing with him, and smiled, bright and wide. “Okay. Building storm. I like that. I’ll call you Biso! See you, Biso!”

A moment later, there was a gust of wind, and Breeze was gone.

Mercury blinked a couple times, trying to make sure he hadn’t hallucinated that whole bit. Then his head cleared, and the alarm bells from calmed back down. Wow. Those had been loud.

He could finally hear himself think again, enough to realize he had levelled up Intuition, at least, getting it up to lv. 6.

Crap. He’d been in a lot of danger, huh.

On that note, though.

“How’d you know I was in trouble?” Mercury asked Zyl. The dragon’s hand was still on his back, slightly warm and comfortable.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Zyl smiled. “It’s what boyfriends do!” he teased, grinning. Mercury rolled his eyes, before getting a real answer. “It’s a Skill, called . When someone I care about is in trouble, I sometimes know about it and can get there much quicker. For a small distance, like in a city, that means almost instantly.”

“That’s pretty cool,” Mercury praised.

“You’re pretty cool.”

“Pfft. You’re hot. And being silly,” the cat chided.

“Perhaps I am.”

“Perhaps you two could stop flirting on my front door,” Yasashiku grumbled. He was rotating his arm at the shoulder, the one he’d broken before. This time, he was fine. His Skills had protected him properly.

The two lovebirds at least had the decency to look embarrassed. Zyl gave a half hearted mutter of something unintelligible, then ran his hand through Mercury’s fur once before disappearing again. Mercury himself though, was left under the good naturedly chiding stare of the old man.

“Sorry, sorry,” he said. “I will, of course, never ever ever flirt with my lovely and amazing boyfriend ever again.”

“Tsk. Gakidomo,” Yasashiku sighed. Then he crossed his arms behind his back, heading back towards the workshop. “Alright. I’ll do some more projects. Keep working on those nails, Rainfall-kun.”

Awwww, dang. He’d just gotten the old man to call him Mercury, too. The mopaaw sighed, theatrically, as he got back to practice, then smiled. He knew Yasashiku didn’t mean any of it. The guy was a big softie at heart.

“Stop thinking so loud, too, brat!” Yasashiku called from the workshop, and Mercury suppressed a giggle.

Instead, he used to pick up a nail and put it into the forge, heating it up while he hardened his rijn into shape, ready to get hammering again.

- - - - - -

And for once, nothing happened for a blessed page.

Mercury practiced until his mind felt sore.

Day in and day out, he would cast and forge and quench and harder and shape nails, until the proper shape was so ingrained in his mind, he would never ever forget it anymore.

But while the work was repetitive, and sometimes gruelling, Mercury found himself actually rather enjoying it.

Day by day drifted by, and he found himself quite pleased with how fast he was getting at the process. He was hammering out - pun intended - dozens of nails per day. By the end of the page, he’d made multiple hundreds. Satisfied, he looked at the piles.

The nails were separated by which day he’d made them on, and he could literally see them get better. Straighter, with a more clearly defined head to strike, more evenly round. They went from blocky things to quite close to what he was used to from Earth. He was pleased with that progression.

Seemingly, his Skills were, too.

had levelled all the way up to lv. 6. His own level, too, had increased once. Surprisingly, a good chunk of the auto-applied stats went into strength, the other half into willpower.

Of course, the most important fact was as follows:

[ has levelled up! 5>]

[ has met the necessary qualifications for evolution. Evolve? (1110 Skill points)]

Mercury smiled at the option presented. He confirmed it.

[Evolution confirmed. Engaging. Please pick an option to evolve the Skill into. The price will be the same (1110 Skill points), no matter which you choose.]

[1.

2.

3.

4. ]

He inclined his heads at the options. Hecatoncheires. Those were… Greek, surely. From Greek myth, even, right? He was curious enough to check it first, even.

[: Taking its name from hundred-handed giants, the individual is granted the ability of fine and powerful control of their telekinesis. They can summon invisible limbs to move or harm anything in the area. Each limb can be controlled with just as much precision and force as the individual’s stats allow.]

It was strong. He knew that much. Taking his from being a single Skill he could shape, maybe even use twice through his zeyjn, into a hundred different sources was powerful. Still, he needed to see the others.

[: This Skill builds upon everything before it. The individual is able to create greater forces, control their shape and direction more precisely, and operate longer on less mana.]

This one was the “simple upgrade” option Mercury had gotten used to seeing. It felt out of place, yet appropriate. was probably a Skill that many, many people who could afford it took. It was good, too, but not everyone might practice it as much as him. Most people would stick to basic applications, such as grabbing a glass of water from a distance.

And those people would still be offered this Skill, probably. Mercury didn’t like it much. It was too general, and not his style.

[: Your will is a force beyond escape. You may reach for items and people through your memory or their history at a location. Touch upon what the world remembers, then grasp onto something and never let go.]

Yup, and there it was. The sinister option. The kinda stuff he got for having and . This was a strong Skill, but it wasn’t what he used for. He didn’t need to reach into his memory and grab hold of a person. Who did that, even? Not him.

[: This Skill allows the individual to use patches of force. The individual can shape these patches as they wish, enabling precise handling of objects and precise striking of targets. This Skill can also be applied over vast distances. Amount of force is proportional to distance. Allows for creation of constructs locked into place at their relative distance from the caster.]

Ah. Now this one… hm. It was a contender. Being able to create those kinds of “standing forces” would essentially let him make temporary objects just by letting them drain his resources. It was very, very good.

But so was the Hecatoncheires one.

He wanted both. He… really, really wanted both.

“Appy. Can I get both?” he asked.

[The individual has not met the conditions for acquiring either of the Skills by themselves. It is possible to acquire the other Skill after evolution is done.]

“Are you sure? I want both,” he insisted.

And he did want them both! How cool would a fused version be? Hundreds of ghost hands to help him do tasks. Stations of stable force to create almost anything he liked.

[...]

“Come on. There’s gotta be some way, Appy!”

[The combined Skill is available for acquisition to the individual through fusion of Skills.]

Mercury’s eyes glinted. “So can I get that one through the evolution?”

[Conditions not met.]

“What are the conditions, Appy? Come on, you gotta tell me!” Mercury begged. He could almost feel his companion sigh in his mind.

[Due to high mastery, affinity, and compatibility between the individual and the Skill, conditions have been revealed. The individual must shape a dozen patches of force at once.]

Mercury grinned. That was… simple. Well, simple for a certain definition of the word. But he reaaaaally wanted that Skill. That sounded awesome.

Without hesitation, he split his mind into two zeyjn, Then, he shaped a simple bit of force with . He held onto that with an ystir, trying to let go, but then it fell apart. One was not enough, apparently.

So he held onto that force construct with two ystirs, and it fell apart. Then with four, and it still fell apart. When he tried to hold it with eight ystirs, it was suddenly too rigid and unmoving. Mercury clicked his tongue.

He reduced the amount of force on the patch of force, finally settling on six ystirs. That is what it took to maintain one of them. Maintain being the key word. Ystirs were not creative. The force would not be moved or change in any way, but he could hold it in place with some effort.

So he used six more ystirs to hold a second ghost hand in place.

With his first zeyjn, he held onto five patches of force. He could control 32 ystirs with that zeyjn, so that was the best he could do with one zeyjn. And he rapidly saw the problem:

Even if he got as many ystirs as he could on his second zeyjn, it wouldn’t be enough.

32 ystirs had been his limit for a while now. Why was that? It had felt like an insurmountable wall when he first tried to increase that number.

Progress was… not easy, but at least doable until then. But that number, for some reason, seemed like a hard limit. What exactly was so special about 32?

Binary? Did the system work via binary? No, then that would have been… sixty-three, before needing a new bit. That couldn’t be it.

Was there some kind of strange, inherent limitation to his mind? He knew himself, though, knew . There was no limitation there. He understood what it meant to be him, that he was all about freedom. If that limitation was there, he would smash it.

… There was one.

It took him some time to find. Wrapped around his mind like a chain. No, not his mind, his . Those two were connected, though, he knew that much.

But the chain was already strained. Heavily so. It was under immense stress from all the things he had added to himself. The nexus, the remains of the Crimson Sun, the amount of existential power Mercury had granted himself.

People knew him now. Powerful people. Even besides those, he knew himself, which was the most important part.

Mercury knew what he was about. He wasn’t about chains.

They broke.

Motes of light, floating away on the wind.

Then, the world spun.

For a few seconds, Mercury gazed upon the stone around him. He’d slipped into ihn’ar without even noticing it, and then crashed through the veil even faster than that. That’s why he’d recognized those chains.

Those blessed few seconds, he was able to feel freedom at being relieved from a set of limits he’d just now seen.

Breaking them was so easy. They were strained against his existence, and were put under enormous stress once he actually found out what they were. and hated chains, after all. So they snapped.

But when something gave, mercury had time to grow into the changes, and that was… disorientating.

Blood dripped onto the stone from his nose. Then he blinked, and the world turned red. Blood dripped from his eyes and mouth, too. The world swam, suddenly blurry and spinning.

The blessed few seconds were gone. The freedom was replaced with nausea. He felt… revolted. Like throwing up. Dizzy and confused and- wait why was the ground getting closer!

With a small smack, Mercury’s face landed on the cobblestone. Frankly, the stones gave just as much as his face, making the landing rather soft, so he didn’t mind too much, but the wet splash from falling into a pool of his own blood had been pretty uncomfortable.

Still, he felt his mind work rapidly. There was so much more to do, now! It felt so… strange. So new! The world was bleary, so it had to be explored, it had to be seen, there was just so much for him to see and it was all so strange and-!

Mercury caught himself. He breathed. Centered his emotions. reigned in the excitement, and it vanished, like a house swallowed by a lake. Gently, not wishing to wake the beehive, Mercury nudged himself towards something. What he always did.

Gaining more mana.

Rapidly, his newly awakened mind went to work. He scanned triz faster than he ever had before, his zeyjn still active, and within a few minutes, before Yasashiku even exited the workshop, Mercury had increased his number of ystirs. His first zeyjn now supported fourty. His second thirty.

He breathed. Smiled. The blood from his nose had stopped, but he felt too tired to get back up.

Using his seventy total ystirs, Mercury held a dozen force hands in place, holding onto the nails he’d crafted like he was holding onto life, levitating them in the air around him.

He grinned.

‘Guess fucking what, Appy. I did it!’

[Sigh. The individual has cleared the conditions for acquiring a different Skill. Evolution choices updating. Evolution selected. Evolving.]

[The individual has acquired the Skill through Skill evolution!]

Mercury smiled. It was a beautiful day to see the world in so many strange new colours. Rainbows reflected in the small puddle of blood. Mercury closed his eyes. He felt a little tired, now…

- - -

Not ten minutes later, Yasashiku came out, and saw the mopaaw in a puddle of blood, nails still hanging in the air around him. The old man stopped. His heart skipped a beat, then two, then three, then finally pounded again.

What the fuck had that damned apprentice of his done NOW?!