According to what Alnea knew, that was what Arcanas were. Mysteries of the Origin Sea manipulated according to the wills of the Arcanists. However, manipulating the Mysteries of the Origin Sea was not easy. Especially when he did not even know the extent to which he could manipulate them. A little too much, and the Mysteries would collapse before he would even be able to connect with them. A bit too little, and all the different effects of the Mysteries would overlap with each other, rendering its manifestation as useless.

Of course, before manipulating the Mystery, Alnea had to connect with it. And it was true not just for him, but all the Wanderers who wished to use Arcanas. They did not necessarily have to comprehend the Mysteries, but to use Arcanas, one must first connect with the Mysteries being interpreted by the Arcanas to call forth their prowess. Something similar to what he always did with the Art of Spirit Rebirth.

Alnea had not comprehended any of the Mysteries employed in the Art of Spirit Rebirth, yet to use the Art, he had to employ the effects of Mysteries from three different lineages. And though the Art of Spirit Rebirth may just be an Art, and not an Arcana, but the process of connecting with the Mysteries of Origin Sea could not be avoided even in case of Arcanas.

This was where the connection part of the Arcanas came into play. Creating a bridge of sorts, that could connect Wanderers with the Mysteries without having to comprehend them. There were many ways to go about this problem, and many ways to connect with the Mysteries. Most of them, however, were very advanced methods. Methods he could not use for the moment. And the methods that he could use, were generally very complicated.

So, for the moment, he chose to go with the simplest, and the most effective method, using his Roots to summon the Mystery. Unlike the time when he was testing his comprehension though, the Mystery did not respond to his summons just because he was making his Roots beat with its rhythm. After all, back then, he was also tapping into his comprehension of the Mystery.

However, an Arcana could only be called an Arcana if any Wanderer, even those who had not comprehended the Mysteries it was interpreting, could use it. Besides, tapping into his comprehension was a lengthy, and time consuming process, that would put unnecessary burden on his Spirit. None of the things which he could afford in a fight.

In the end, even if it was easiest way of connecting with the Mystery, he still had to experiment to create the first stage of his Arcana. Reaching towards the thread connecting his Spirit to the Origin Sea, to his Roots, Alnea began making it vibrate in the form of waves that the Mystery had generated the day before. Waves, which he had used to summon the Mystery in his Domain the day before.

Except, his vibrating Roots, at the moment, lacked a special charm to them that they had when he had summoned the Mystery. They lacked something vital to the summons. They lacked his comprehension. And as such, they were just simply plain waves, which his Roots were sending in the Origin Sea, hoping for the Mystery to respond. And a Mystery did respond. Just not the Mystery he had been summoning.

A brilliant green light flooded all around Alnea, seeping deep into his Spirit, sending waves after waves of warm and comfortable sensation inside his Spirit. A Mystery of the lineage of Life. Not the Mystery he was looking for. This was why creating a method to connect with Mysteries was difficult. Without his comprehension to act as the key, there was no telling which vibration may summon which Mystery. Even for the same rhythms, just varying their intensity would result in summoning of all kinds of Mysteries.

Thus, creating a way to connect with Mysteries required a lot of experiments, and as such, was a very tedious, and dangerous process. But just the prospects of a long, and hard process were not enough to make Alnea admit defeat. Even though his first experiment had failed, he was still as determined as ever. After all, this was just his first Arcana. He had many more Arcanas to make. Besides, since even Yuri, and Cecilia could create Arcanas, then why could he not do the same?

So, before he cold waste any more of his Spirit Power, Alnea stopped his Roots from vibrating, allowing the Mystery to dissipate back into the Origin Sea, before making his Roots vibrate once again. This time, a little more violently than before. The result was still the same, with another Mystery that he was not familiar with manifesting around his Spirit, making it feel hot, as if it was about to burn. Probably from the lineage of Creation. Another failure. But Alnea did not give up. He had just begun experimenting, after all. How could he give up?

And so, once again repeating the process of letting the Mystery dissipate back into the Origin Sea, Alnea used his Roots to summon another Mystery. And another Mystery. And another. And another. He reckoned that he must have somewhere around twenty Mysteries. Of them, only one was from the lineage of Night. Unfortunately, it was not the Mystery he had comprehended.

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As for comprehending the Mystery he had summoned, that was not possible. Mysteries that were summoned never revealed their secrets to Wanderers. Only Mysteries which manifested by themselves allowed the Wanderers to comprehend their secrets. Otherwise, why would people need to Wander in order to comprehend Mysteries?

They could just keep on trying different combinations, and glean all the Mysteries that came to them. If they were not afraid of being devoured by those Mysteries, of course. But things were never so convenient. And so, Alnea was stuck trying all sorts of combinations in order to summon the Mystery he had comprehended.

He was sure that the waves that he was creating were the same as the waves that the Mystery had generated. In fact, he had used the same waves to summon the Mystery in his Domain just a day before. But without his comprehension acting as the key, things were not going in his favour. If only he could create those circular, and box shaped waves… And why could he not?

This was the Origin Sea. Everything was possible here. Besides, though his Roots had a physical manifestation in the form of chains, and his Domain, the thread connecting his Spirit to the Origin Sea was more like a metaphysical existence than a physical one. It existed in the realm of his thoughts, and will. So, if he could think of the thread, and if he could think of the waves, what was stopping him from creating those circular, and box shaped waves?

Maybe it was because of the influence from the Art… In any case, he had finally thought of a way to connect with the Mystery. So, what did he have to hesitate for? Reaching towards the golden black thread acting as the anchor of his Spirit in the Origin Sea, Alnea pulled on it, trying to rotate it, and create circular waves from it. It did not go well. Let alone the Mystery he was trying to summon, none of the other Mysteries came to him either.

So, after some thoughts, Alnea changed his way of creating the waves. Instead of just swinging the thread around in circles, he transmitted his thoughts to it in the same way he had transmitted his comprehension of the Mystery to it. For a few moments, nothing happened. Then, strange, circular waves began forming around the thread, with the thread itself as the centre, that kept oscillating along the thread. He had finally succeeded in something.

Yet, the Mystery still refused to respond. He did feel some kind of reaction from within the Origin Sea, but it was too vague, and distant. So, Alnea reached out to the thread once again, and added in the box like waves, that wrapped around the circles, and kept rotating them around the thread, sending his summons into the Origin Sea. Summons, which were finally answered, giving him a sensation of something familiar. The sensation of a Mystery he knew. Of a Mystery he had experienced. And of a Mystery he had comprehended.

Unfortunately, the Mystery still did not manifest around him. He could feel it within the Origin Sea, but it was as if some kind of veil was blocking it from manifesting. It was as if it was just within his reach, yet so far away that he could never reach. At this point, Alnea was almost out of ideas. So, he did the only thing he could think of. Adding the last of the three waves, the only normal wave among the three, into the rhythm of the waves of the thread. And just like that, the veil between him, and the Mystery was torn.

At the same time, the waves that he had willed to form on the thread connecting his Spirit to the Origin Sea began merging together, transforming from a combination of three waves, to just one plain simple wave. It was slightly different from all the three waves, yet it carried the characteristic of all three waves. And the moment the wave was formed, Alnea knew what it was. A unique wave to create a connection with the Mystery he had comprehended. He had—

“I told you my Roots because you are my mom. Because I love you…”

“And that is another lesson to be learnt, isn’t it Alnea? Never tell anyone about your Roots. Not even to your most loved ones. Your father never told me his Roots. And neither have I told you mine, even though I will never be able to become a Wanderer. That is how things are, and that is how things should be.”

…Never tell anyone about his Roots. But he had already told so many people about them. People like… It did not matter who those people were. The fact that they knew about his Roots would remain the same regardless. So… what was he supposed to do? Was he going to be betrayed once again? Was he—

Alnea pulled himself out of the influence of the Mystery before it could pull him any further into his memories, and twist them beyond his recognition. He could not afford to have a crack open up in his Heart. Not at the moment. Still, he learned a new thing about the Mystery. Its effects were much greater than what he had anticipated. If he was not careful, then he might have been pulled to a depth where he would not have been able to make it out by himself.

But his experience only served to confirm his determination. The manifestation of the Mystery had confirmed that his experiment truly was a success. And that he had finally created a way to connect with the Mystery. A way to summon it whenever he needed it. He had succeeded in the first step of creating his Arcana. Next, all he had to do was manipulate the effects of the Mystery, and find the best way to interpret it.