Scholars. Wanderers who dabbled in the path of Glyphs. The more complex and profound the Glyphs that they understood, the greater their prowess would be. Though just understanding Glyphs was not enough. To become a Scholar, one also had to engrave Glyphs onto their Spirit, and form a special connection with the Mysteries corresponding to those Glyphs.
Even then, such Wanderers were only qualified to become Scholars. To become proper Scholars, Wanderers also had to glean the Mysteries that their Glyphs connected to. Then, and only then, could such Wanderers be deemed worthy enough to be called as Scholars. However, as with everything related to the Origin Sea, when Wanderers inscribed Glyphs onto their Spirits, they had to be extremely careful, and complete the process in numerous steps.
The first step, of course, was to choose their preferred lineage. Then, within that lineage, they had to choose between different Series, branches, and sub branches. Only when they had made all their choices, and carefully planned their paths, would Wanderers proceed to the next step, engraving Glyphs onto their Spirits. Yet, even engraving Glyphs had to be done in stages. After all, Spirits, especially the Spirits of False Wanderers, was particularly fragile. Any mistake…
Alnea took a deep breath to calm himself, as he went through the whole process in his mind once again, using familiarity with the steps to calm his nerves. It was one of the most important steps of his life, after all. One, that would determine his future. But that was not a reason for him to keep hesitating. On the contrary, the longer he hesitated, the more unsure he would be of himself. So, after going through the process in his head for ten times, he gritted his teeth, and entered his Spirit State.
The first step, observe the condition of his Spirit. His Spirit Power was its peak, and there seemed to be no fatigue in his Spirit. It looked perfect to him. Nodding to himself, Alnea proceeded to the next step. Tugging on his Roots, the golden black thread connecting his Spirit to the Origin Sea, he travelled along its length in a time confusing journey, before finally arriving in his Domain. Not exactly empty, but not particularly full of life either…
It was not the time to worry about his Domain though. Or to worry about how many Mysteries he had. Resolving himself, and discarding his hesitation, Alnea pulled at the immaterial door to the Origin Sea, manifesting a giant disc of golden light in front of him. Then, as usual, he drifted towards the disc, and gently pushed against it, causing it to collapse in on itself, leaving behind just a golden ring, and a gaping hole in his Domain.
“I am going.”
“…Be careful.”
“Don’t worry.”
After informing Yuri, Alnea braced his Heart, and stepped into the Origin Sea for the second time in the day.
HE IS BACK.
OATHKEEPER IS BACK.
IS IT TOO SOON?
WHO CARES?
HE IS BACK.
BACK TO PLAY.
Alnea smiled wryly at the Aspects, and shook his head, before saying, “This time, I am here to engrave a Glyph onto my Spirit.”
Almost as if someone had just thrown a bucket of cold water over the Aspects, they froze in place, and kept staring at him.
ENGRAVING GLYPHS…
DANGEROUS.
VERY DANGEROUS.
ESPECIALLY…
BUT IT IS A MUST.
A WANDERER.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
THE GREATEST WANDERER.
IT IS DANGEROUS.
YET IT IS A MUST.
THE PATH OF GLYPHS IS A MUST.
THE PATH OF SCHOLARS IS A MUST.
BUT…
WE CANNOT HELP.
“I know,” Alnea said. “I am not asking for your help. I am just saying that I won’t be able to play with you right now.”
IT DOES NOT MATTER.
WE UNDERSTAND.
WE CAN PLAY LATER.
FOR NOW, WE WATCH.
YOU ENGRAVE.
BECOME A SCHOLAR.
NOT TOO DIFFICULT.
BUT DANGEROUS.
YOU MUST BE CAREFUL.
“…I will.”
…MAY THE ORIGIN BE WITH YOU, OATHKEEPER.
Dangerous… Alnea already knew that engraving Glyphs was going to be dangerous, but for the Aspects to warn him so…
Shaking his head, Alnea subdued his useless thoughts to the bottom of his Heart, before marching his way towards the greater depths of the Origin Sea. The Origin Sea though, could not let him be on his own. From making the layers of Oren thicker with each of his steps to assaulting his senses with all kinds of sensations, trying to create a sense of disgust within him to break his Heart, and his Guard, the Origin Sea spared nothing in its efforts to halt his advance.
And yet, tried as it might, it could not stop him. Nothing could stop him. At least not in the depths he was at. And though the attacks on his senses did disgust him a little, he was already used to them. As for the endless layers of Oren, all they did was drain his Spirit Power. And at the moment, he had enough Spirit Power to afford a little waste. So, on and on he went, dealing with the increasingly intense attacks of the Origin Sea, until—
Alnea stopped and observed his surroundings. His senses failed to see any changes within the Origin Sea. It was still as ruthless as it used to be. And it kept attacking him relentlessly. Yet, within a realm that he could not perceive with his senses, a realm that he could reach only with his thoughts, and intuition, he could feel a subtle change in the Origin Sea. Not in its behaviour, but in its essence. In what it represented. In…
Bracing his Heart, ensuring that his Serenity was not affected by the sudden increase in intensity of the Origin Sea’s attack, Alnea reached out to the golden black thread once again. This time, however, he did not travel along its length. Rather, he pulled on the thread, and induced Oren—not from the layers surrounding him, but from around his Domain— to rid itself of the command of the Origin Sea and gather around his Spirit. And it listened to his summons, to his whispers, coming together to coalesce into a knife…
Or at least, the shape that the summoned Oren took looked like a knife. Without any proper hilt, or grip, the blade floating in front of him could not be truly considered as a knife. And with both of its edges being a little dull, it could not be truly considered to be a blade either. But he was not going to rely on its edge anyway. And he was not going hold it in his hand either. For his purpose, just its sharp tip, where both of its curved edges met, was enough. As for his purpose…
Calming the waves and hesitations raging in his Heart, Alnea reached out to the Oren knife through his Roots and urged it to drift towards him. To hover in front of his chest. And ever so slowly, slip into his Spirit—
Alnea gritted his teeth, and kept his mouth shut, trying his best to not scream in pain. Which, surprisingly enough, did not take much effort from his part. On second thought, it was not too surprising. After all, he had been mutilating his Spirit under the guise of Forging it for over a year. Let alone the Art of Spirit Rebirth, the pain of piercing his Spirit with the Oren knife could not even compare to the pain of Forging his Spirit with the Three Turns Spirit Forging Art.
Yet, the pain of mutilating his Spirit was still not something that he could just ignore. Especially since he was within the Origin Sea. And in the Origin Sea, even the slightest amount of distraction could prove fatal. Not to mention that stabbing his Spirit with the Oren knife was just the beginning. There was so much more he had to do… He could not stop. Be it for his Oaths, or for his Heart, he could not stop.
Inflating his chest as if he was taking a deep breath, Alnea chose to submerge himself into his Serenity to ignore his pain. Only when he was confident of not making any mistakes did he resume whispering to the Oren knife stuck in his right chest. And the knife listened, cutting through his chest with its dull edge, creating a gash around half an inch in width, as it moved towards his left chest in curved path.
The knife’s edge was too dull though. It did not part his chest as easily as it had when he had stabbed himself, forcing him to put more pressure on the knife. And the more pressure he put on the knife, the greater his suffering became. From a pain similar to that of normally Forging his Spirit to a pain similar to the pain from Three Turns Spirit Forging Art, Alnea soon learned why engraving Glyphs onto Spirits was so dangerous.
And yet, even when the pain he was suffering kept increasing with each passing moment, he still had to perfectly control the blade so as to not make any mistake. Or else, he would have to start all over again. If not for his experience with Forging his Spirit… Thankfully, it was just his first Glyph, so he did not have to bear extra pressure from other Glyphs and Mysteries. In future though…