Trapped within the endless layers of Oren surrounding him, dancing to the rhythm of the Mystery that he had summoned, Alnea let the Serenity of his Heart spread, and bring him to peace, before shifting his attention back to the manifestation of the Mystery. Summoned, and not coming of its own volition, the Mystery had not come in its full glory, and was showing only a bit of its prowess, unlike what it had shown the day before, but what it was showing was enough for him to do what he had come for.

And though the Mystery may not have come in all its glory, it was no less dangerous than it had been the day before. Rather, the further he progressed along the path of creating his Arcana, the greater the danger he was in. After all, creating a way to summon the Mysteries was the least dangerous part about creating Arcanas. Interpreting the Mysteries though, often led to Wanderers getting devoured by the Origin Sea. And so, he had to be very careful. And focussed.

Arcanas were always designed with a purpose, and the interpretation of the Mysteries within those Arcanas were designed to follow that purpose. Naturally, Alnea had also determined what the purpose of his Arcana was going to be before coming to the Origin Sea. And so, he did not only have to observe the Mystery around him, and how it worked, but he also had to dissect those effects, and try to make them fit together with the Arcana he had in his head.

Before that though, he had to reacquaint himself with the Mystery. He already knew that it was an Initial Stage False Ranked Mystery from the lineage of Night, that worked on the principle of psychological illusions. But that was not enough. He had to understand its basic mechanism. He had to understand how was it that the Mystery was so easily able to break into his thoughts, and twist his memories. He had to—

“Stop thinking of useless things,” Alnea heard his master say, bringing him out of his thoughts, it could even be called as that.

“How can you call them useless, master? I was thinking of… thinking of… what was I thinking?”

“See, you cannot even remember what you were thinking. What is the point of having a stupid disciple like you?”

“No, wait a moment, master,” Alnea said. “I clearly remember I was thinking about something important. I was thinking about—

“It does not matter what you were thinking about,” his master said. She was sounding a little strange. Even the way she looked at him, with disdain written all over her face, was so strange. It was as if she was not looking at her disciple, or her son, but… When was it that he became her son?

“You are clearly no suitable to be my disciple. And neither my son. So, you—

“…This is not real,” Alnea said, as realisation finally dawned upon him. “You are not real. You are just a fake construct created from my memories… my insecurities.”

“You obnoxious brat. To think that you would dare to call me a fake… Fine. Think as you would like. This would also make things easier for me. From now on—

“This memory… this is from last year… around the time of Inkah’s month. You have dug up my memories… Just like what you did yesterday. Using my thoughts to dig into my memories, and twist with my insecurities, using them to create an opening in my Heart.”

“…You sure have a rich imagination.”

“This is not my imagination,” Alnea said, shaking his head. “You are. You are made from my insecurities. From all my dark thoughts…”

“Are you saying that I was created from your memories? Then, can you guess what I am about to do next?”

“I don’t have to guess,” Alnea said. “Because I don’t care. No matter what you do, you would not be able to destroy the image of my master in my Heart. And not just of my master, but also of big sis Serena, and of Yuri, and Cecilia, and my mother… As for everyone else, I don’t care about what they think.”

“Not even your father?” the fake asked, as its lips curved upwards in a grin. “Do you not care what even your father thinks of you?”

“My father…” Alnea mumbled, pausing, no, freezing for a few moments, before regaining his senses, and shaking his head. “He is already dead…”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“…Are you sure that he is dead?”

“…Is this the best you can do?”

“There is much that I can do,” the fake said. “But I just want to ask you… have you ever seen your father’s dead body?”

“…He was devoured by the Origin Sea,” Alnea said. “He was devoured doing what I am doing. And now, you are trying to do the same thing to me. You are trying confuse me, so that the Origin Sea can devour me.”

“Am I?” the fake said. “Or am I just telling the truth? After all, it was the Lotus clan who told you that you father had been devoured by the Origin Sea.”

“No… it was not just the Lotus clan. But there were others there too… Arcanists Trepis, and Yuren…”

“The same Arcanists who persuaded your mother to stop trying to seek justice for your father?” the fake said. “Don’t you think that it was strange that you never saw them after that day?”

“…What they do is none of my concern. Besides, after the attack of the Heterodox Wanderers, they must be dead already.”

“After the attack? Or before it?” the fake asked. “If they were alive during the Spirit Test, then would it not have been better for the Lotus clan to use them against you? And even if the Lotus clan had not used them against you… as retainers of the Lotus clan, would they not have been targets of the Heterodox Wanderer to convert? Especially since they had been close to you once.”

“…Like I said, I don’t care what happened to them.”

“Even if they were silenced to keep what happened to your father as a secret?”

“…Stop saying all these lies!”

“…Just think, Alnea Oathkeeper, even if your Roots are strong, even if you have the potential to become a Grand Wanderer, why is the Lotus clan so adamant in wining you over at any means possible? Rather, since you have the potential to become a Grand Wanderer, should it not be better for the Lotus clan to get into your good graces? Even if you do not become their retainer, as long as they are good to you, and can gain your favour, they will be able to earn a future Grand Wanderer as a friend. Why are they then so adamant on destroying on all bridges? It is as if they cannot have you, then…”

“Enough!” Alnea said. “I am not going to play your games.”

“I am not playing—

Before the fake could say anymore words to crack his Heart, Alnea pulled himself out from the illusion. That was the weakness of illusions. At least the psychological ones. Once people became aware, it was not too hard to get rid of the illusions. The only reason that he had stayed in the illusion for so long was because he wished to gather more information on how he should interpret the Mystery. But… the words of the Mystery had infuriated him so much, that he had almost lost control of himself. In the end, for his safety, he had to withdraw from the illusion.

However, his experiment was not without results. Though, because of obvious reasons, he had not let himself fall into the second layer of the illusion, the first layer itself had given him enough information to try another experiment. One aimed at creating an interpretation, and not at experiencing the effect of the Mystery. So, after he had brought his raging Heart back to its Serenity, Alnea closed his eyes, and reached out to the Mystery around him, shaping it according to his will. After all, he was the one who had summoned it. And thus, he could also shape it, interpreting it as he wished.

Of course, he could not shape the Mystery itself. Since the Mystery was displaying its effects through the patterns of Oren, to shape the Mystery, he had to shape the Oren. Or rather, he had to manipulate Oren in different ways, and see how the change in the behaviour of Oren would affect the behaviour of the Mystery. There was also the option of leaving the behaviour of the Oren, and the Mystery as is, but then, the effect of the Mystery would be spread out, and minimal.

Such an Arcana, at best, would only be graded as a Lowest, or Low Grade. Only Arcanas which were streamlined, and focussed, fulfilling only the purpose they were designed for, could be Graded higher. Like the Perfect Grade Arcanas. Arcanas which had been so streamlined, that they had discarded all, but the effect for which they were initially designed for, maximising their potential.

As for Arcanas that went beyond the Perfect Grade, they had to be designed in such a way that the Mysteries that they were interpreting would resonate with each other, increasing their effects, going beyond the maximum potential of the sum of their parts. Such Arcanas though, were beyond his ability to create. At least for the moment.

In the future, he was bound to create many such Arcanas. He would be the greatest Arcanist, after all. One day, all he would create would be just Transcendent, and Divine Grade Arcanas. Like his master. But even his master must have had to begin from somewhere. Even she had to start off as just a novice Arcanist, and fumble her way through the Mysteries, and Arcanas.

And just like her, to reach her height, and surpass her, he too, had to start from the beginning. He too, had to begin as a novice, and fumble his through the Mysteries. Through the Arcanas. Maybe, his first Arcana would be a bad one. It may even be of the Failed Grade. But he had to begin from somewhere. Like his master had said, making mistakes was not bad, not learning from them was. And so, drifting in the depths of the Origin Sea, Alnea reached out to the endless layers of Oren around him, and began experimenting with them, fumbling with them, and with the Mysteries, to make, and learn from his mistakes. To create his first Arcana.