Scholars, Arcanists, and Warriors, those were the three paths, the three ways of harnessing the powers of the Origin Sea known to mankind. Or at least that was what Alnea had learned before he began Wandering the Origin Sea. Before he met his master. The reality though, was slightly different.
Sometimes, Martial Styles could be used like Arcanas, while at other times, Arcanas could be used like Glyphs. His master had even created an entirely new way of using the powers of the Origin Sea just for him to Forge his Spirit. Then there were also the Martial Styles unique to the Lost City. Not to mention the way that special Roots were used. He still remembered what had happened after he had resonated with his Roots…
From his observation, and experience, Alnea had come to understand that there may just be three paths in name, but in effect, there were as many paths as there were Wanderers. It did not matter if a Wanderer was walking on one path, or all three paths at once. In the end, the path that a Wanderer walked on was unique to him, and him alone. Just like how the path that he was walking on was unique to him.
The only difference between all the paths was how the Wanderers harnessed the power of the Origin Sea, and how they used it to manifest their wills. But their end goal was still the same. As was the process of acquiring that power. In the end, it was only for the sake of convenience that the process of acquiring the powers of the Origin Sea was classified into three different paths.
Still, to progress on their paths, Wanderers not only needed to have solid foundations, but they also had to have a daring Heart, and a desire to keep moving forward. A desire—A thirst for knowledge, and a Heart daring enough to bring their knowledge to life. In other words, to move forward, Wanderers had to have a Heart to experiment. Unfortunately, there were not many things that Alnea could experiment in his current state.
Keeping Arcanas and his Roots aside, the only things he was left with were Spirits, Aspects, and Glyphs. Experimenting with his Spirit… He did not have a death a wish. And his Heart was still in the process of transforming, so experimenting with his Aspects was not a good idea either. Then the only thing left was Glyphs… He had mastered only two Glyphs at the moment. What was he going to experiment with them? Create new Glyph Arrays?
That would be the stupidest decision he could make. Especially given his proficiency in those Glyphs. Just one uncontrollable Glyph alone had been enough to shake the mansion. Losing control of two of them at once… Alnea did not have any wish to check whether or not the new mansion could suppress such an explosion. Though he could try creating a more stable prototype of the pseudo Eternal Flame… Or maybe a stronger one…
No, Alnea said to himself. Not in his current state. And not when most of his teammates had yet to recover. Besides, it was not as if he did not have any other ideas. After detonating his Blood Crystals, he had come across an interesting phenomenon in his body. An interesting, and familiar phenomenon… If only he could replicate it…
Immersed in his experiments, Alnea forgot to keep track of his time, until he began feeling the headache from excessive loss of his Spirit Power. Leaving his Spirit State, while pinching his head, he plunged back into meditation, waiting for his Spirit Power to recover, before plunging back into his experiments, and repeating the process. It was not until he had recovered his Spirit Power for the third time that he finally let go of his experiments. They were just so much fun!
Pushing himself off the ground, and stretching out his limbs, Alnea glanced outside the window. There was only a hint of blue in the horizon, so he probably still had some time, but just to be sure, he quickly went through his daily chores, walking out of his room in less than a quarter of an hour. And yet, just like the day before, all three girls were already waiting for him in the hall.
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“What are you doing here, vixen?”
“…Exactly what you were doing here yesterday,” Vestia said, returning Cecilia’s frown with a smile. But that only made the latter even more wary, forcing her to shift her feet, as if getting ready to pounce on her at a moment’s notice. Forne, on the other hand, used to the antics of the humans, just yawned, and rubbed its head on her leg… Was it just his imagination, or was the cat truly getting smarter?
“…Don’t forget, Alnea promised to be with me today.”
“…I did not hear him promise anything… But do not worry. I am not here to steal him from you. I just want to say something to him, and you can have him all to yourself… for today.”
“Don’t think I will fall for your schemes. If you have something to say to him, you can say it after we return in the evening. But right now, he is all mine.”
“Why not let Alnea himself decide if he wants to hear what I have to say?” Vestia said, turning towards Alnea, just as he walked down the stairs, before winking at him. “Can I borrow your ears for a few moments, Alnea?”
“…Stop teasing Lia, Vestia,” Alnea said, smiling wryly at the blue robed woman. “I know you like to express your care in a little different way than others… but not everyone can understand your humour.”
“She, caring for me?” Cecilia said with a scoff, and was just about to continue with her insults when she paused mid sentence, as if recalling something. After a few moments, she clicked her tongue, and said, “Whatever. I just don’t want us to waste our precious time arguing with her.”
“…Then can you come to my room for a while, Alnea?”
“No! If you want to say something, just say it right here.”
“…But it is something private…”
“…Stop playing pranks on me, Vestia, and just say it.”
“…Are you sure you want me to say it in front of everyone?”
If it was before, there might have been a chance for them to continue their conversation in a corner, but after she said those words… The looks that Cecilia and Yuri were giving him…
“…I trust Lia and Yuri with my life, and the rest are not conscious enough to listen in to our conversations anyway, so you might as well just say it here.”
“…If you say so,” Vestia said, and paused for a moment, before taking a deep breath, and bowing towards him. “Thank you for the ‘surprise’ you gave me yesterday, Alnea.”
“What are you talking about,” Alnea said, hurriedly stepping forward to stop Vestia. And though Cecilia sneered at Vestia, calling her a vixen once again, she did not stop him from helping her up. “That’s what I promised you before. There is no need for you to ingratiate yourself like this… We are friends. And that is what I—we should do.”
“…The thing you gave me… That is not what just friends give to each other…”
“…What exactly did you give her?”
“It’s nothing special… Just something I prepared in my spare time.”
“No… That thing… Just thinking about how much you must have paid to prepare it… The amount of time and effort you must have spent… And you did it even before I gave you my… ‘surprise’…”
“Seriously, what did you give her yesterday?”
“…I am more interested in what she gave you…”
“…I can tell you what I gave him… It is nothing precious anyway… But what he gave me… I am sorry but I must not say anything about it… both for his sake and mine…”
“…If you are so worried about me, then please just stop speaking,” Alnea said, wondering if it would have been better to listen to her request, and have this conversation in her room. It was too late for regrets though. Although the girls still believed him, the way that Vestia framed her words had already made them pout in anger. Especially Cecilia. On the day he was supposed to spend with just her and her alone…
“…I am sorry for bringing you more troubles… I was just too overwhelmed after I saw your ‘surprise’ last night, and wanted to convey my gratitude…”
“Which you have done,” Yuri said, coming to his rescue once again. He knew he could always count on her. “So, now you should be on your way.”
“…What about you? Why were you waiting for Alnea?”
“…When did I say that I was waiting for him?” Yuri said, raising the end of her lips ever so slightly, before turning towards Cecilia. “Be careful out there, Cecilia. Do not let him take advantage of you.”
“Don’t worry,” Cecilia said, tearing her eyes away from Vestia, returning Yuri’s smile with a grin. “Even if he has learned a few bad habits from Serena, he still does not dare to do anything to me.”
“…Maybe I should ask Alnea to be careful of you.”
“…Do you think I am a pervert like him?”
“…Let’s see. If I recall correctly—
“There is no need to recall!” Cecilia said, with all her blood rushing to her face. Pouting at Yuri, she grabbed Alnea’s hand, and rushed out of the mansion. “We are leaving!”
“…Have fun!”