9:01 A.M.
January 10
Wintermonth 9
Saint Shepherd Church, Limeroom, Veotera
Gary learned a great deal in his first two full days of life in Veotera. The first was that the weather had been an unusually warm day when he’d arrived. Gary cursed under his breath at the sharp wintery winds rustling his deep blue cassock as he swept the stone paths of the church’s grounds. It was a winter month here as well, but even though it was cold from the wind blowing off the local terrain it wasn’t too unbearable for his Floridian-born sense of temperature extremes. The work was helping to keep his body moving and thus warm. The menial nature of the work gave his mind rein to wander and work out the information he’d acquired thus far.
The second thing he’d learned was that the calendar here didn’t conveniently match up one-to-one with Earth’s. The standard Gregorian calendar was somewhat useless here due to the way the locals organized their timekeeping. The little things were the same: seconds, minutes, hours, a twenty-four hour day. The number of days was the same as Earth as well, sitting at a comfortable 365. It was the layout that threw him for a mental loop for a bit until he sat down last night and plotted it out.
Veotera divided the calendar into thirteen months of four seven-day weeks equalling twenty-eight days a month, and the spare day was used to mark the end of the calendar as it’s own special day. According to Remmy they were currently in Wintermonth, the January equivalent. Gary obviously hadn’t mentioned that he was from a different world that used a different calendar and had instead opted to just ask casually what the day was as he’d lost track of it. The sweeping continued as Gary ruminated on his path forward.
This was obviously going to be a temporary venture, but it didn’t hurt to build up a reputation as a reliable person with a good work ethic. Uncle Thomas would nod approvingly at the display of Gary earning his keep. A melancholy look flitted over his face as his hands paused their work and he glared at the ground. His only living family was probably losing his shit right now, what with Gary having vanished from effectively his front step in broad daylight. Hopefully with witnesses in those agents he’d be able to get resources to try and search for a method to find him from Earth’s end.
It was a forlorn prospect as he was an immeasurable distance away that was gated behind a phenomenon that considered the laws of physics the funniest joke in all of existence. The thought quickly quashed itself as he remembered who was on the other end. His uncle was a famously stubborn bastard. If there was any hope from Earth’s end, Thomas Zavon would be leading the charge without question. His face twisted into a wistful smile as he took back up sweeping in a heavier effort to get done and out of this damned cold.
The work quickly evaporated outside and Gary gratefully retreated to the church proper, taking a malicious satisfaction in shutting the cold wind out of the building with one of the oak front doors with an audible noise. The noise attracted Remmy’s attention, who was setting a thick tome down on the pulpit as looked up at the noise. His face wrinkled up in a grin as he saw Gary trying to shake the cold out of his athletic frame.
“Bit nippy, isn’t it?”
“Never been used to the cold, Father. I grew up in a place where heat was the main problem child. Put me in an oven and I’m in my element.”
The old priest laughed at the self-directed snark at the weather Gary had uttered before gesturing the teenager forward up to the pulpit with him. Gary obliged as he set the broom down in an out-of-the-way spot away from casual inspection by anyone who came through the doors. Once he mounted the short steps to the raised platform Remmy stepped away from the pulpit and towards the rear of the altar.
Gary followed out of curiosity. He knew this area was clean; he’d helped clean it when Remmy had agreed to let him stay for a time. The man had even provided Gary with his dark-hued cassock with the statement that even if he wasn’t a member of the clergy it did well to keep up appearances. This came with a stern warning not to actually pretend to be a priest and what few religious symbols the outfit had were quickly removed. What had surprised Gary more was the fact Remmy had sourced clothing that fit his taller and athletic frame with seemingly no effort. This man was a tricksy tricksy hobbit, to mangle a quote from Tolkein.
“I’ve been thinking, Gary,” Remmy said as he stopped at one of the shelves behind the altar and relieved a section of a rod roughly the length of his forearm. Gary had noted early on that this rod was clearly an artifact of some flavor, and one people had probably learned not to touch without permission given the fact it lay out in the open for ease of access.
The rod was a somewhat fancy design. The haft was a solid twisting copper coil and the butt end was capped with a simple unadorned black iron pommel. The further end was what had drawn Gary’s attention to the artifact. On the end was an ornate series of clasps arranged in a total of six buds; each bud bearing a gemstone. Pearl, ruby, emerald, onyx, sapphire, and alexandrite; while not festooned with diamonds it was a very overt display of wealth in an otherwise modest house of worship. Remmy held the tool up for inspection, and Gary’s mind clicked as to what the shape reminded him of.
This thing was shaped like a sword handle, the gemstones with their settings in place of where a blade would emerge from the grip.
“Has anyone ever tested your ability with magic?” The simple, innocent question. Gary felt his pulse begin to quicken and he mentally rushed to not let it show. Gary shook his head silently, earning him a click of the tongue. It was more likely aimed at someone else as Remmy set the handle onto the altar and took a step back with a clear and deliberate movement. “I think we should remedy that. Pick up the relqa.”
Relqa. Gary had learned that word too in his short time here. It was the local name for magical items. The way Remmy had visibly backed off and the fact it was meant to be held clued Gary in on the exact nature of this one. It was clearly a measuring device of some sort. Without hesitation, Gary scooped it up and held it at a comfortable level keeping sure to point the ‘blade’ section away from Remmy or anything that looked particularly destructible.
“Since you know your Class, I take it you know your Affinity as well?” Gary nodded. Without further prompting Gary’s vision filled with the status screen. He’d learned that saying ‘Status open’ was more a courtesy than a requirement. One simply had to think pointedly about manifesting it and it’d appear. He remained silent on the hypocrisy.
“Onyx, it says.” Silvery gray eyes flicked down to the onyx on the relqa as Gary rotated it in his grip to bring it to the top of the cluster. Remmy nodded.
“Before we begin, I want to state this and make myself very clear. Affinity is like your Class. It is simply part of yourself, another facet of your existence. If you have magical aptitude Affinity marks which of the six magics you’re the strongest at, as well as your weakest. For you, it will be Pearl.” Color Coded For Your Convenience, Rock-Paper-Scissors, and Gemstone/Elemental Motifs. Gary mentally ticked off three boxes for Trope Bingo. Outwardly he nodded at the information and looked at the relqa a bit more. At this distance there was a lot of workmanship and scrawling in the materials that a distant observer would miss. Obviously he took numerous pictures with his Virtual Network for later consideration. “What we’re going to test is how strong your Affinity is amongst the magics and how strong your Reserves are.”
“Before we start, Remmy… When I’m testing it, does my Reserves affect how strongly this relqa displays an effect?” Remmy frowned but nodded. Gary immediately turned and started walking towards the door back outside without a word. The old priest strode after him and caught up right as Gary reached the door and opened it back up to go outside. He wasn’t going to be responsible for blowing up the church. Better to do it outside in case shit went down.
“It’s a harmless display, Gary,” Remmy said as the door opened back into the cold air, but Gary ignored him and walked towards a secluded part of the yard. “I get that you’re worried something will happen but there’s no need to be so dramatic.” In response Gary flicked the display of his status screen on so Remmy could read it as he walked but no one else could. The audible gasp told Gary a lot and further justified his thoughts on wanting to be away from structures when he did this.
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“It’s not just my Reserves, Father. I’m worried about how even if I’d just Adept at Control I can’t know how my Class will react. I refuse to be responsible for doing something bad to the church. Better to be outside so if anything goes wrong the force doesn’t cause as much problems.” Reaching his destination away from the eyes of passers-by, Gary turned back and looked Remmy in the face.
“God, I.. I didn’t know. I’m sorry for reacting like that, my boy. You’re just taking what you feel are reasonable precautions.” The old man straightened himself up and gestured to the relqa. “With that settled, hold it out. Yes, just like that. Now I want you to think about reaching deep within yourself with your mind. Hold the mental image of a bundle of energy roughly where your heart is, then connect the opening in the relqa with a thread from that core. Don’t try to force it; the tool knows it’s work.”
Gary felt his eyes narrow gently as he mentally reached inwards. A mana core, a dantian - though it was far too high for the typical one for cultivators -, his soul; there were many names across many disciplines for what he was being asked to find. The core concept was the same. With contemptuous ease he found the writhing mass of power within him and noted with wry amusement that it was actually feeling like it was about a quarter-inch lower than the bottom of his heart. The thread practically snaked out on it’s own into the waiting tool which grew warm to the touch despite the chill in the air.
As expected the onyx quickly began to emit an orb of swirling inky darkness, threatening to devour the glow from the other five gems. The pearl was the weakest of the glows but was still a respectable luminescence. The others wavered back and forth in intensity before settling between what he’d call a range of thirty percent and fifty-seven percent. How did he know this? Probably a function of the relqa itself. As Remmy nodded at the display he was taken aback as the onyx’s darkness swirled up and forward into an ephemeral blade-like shape to complete the mimicry of the relqa to a sword’s handle.
Gary looked at it curiously before poking one of the ‘flats’ of the smoky blade. It didn’t stop him but there was visible resistance to his finger before it went through. Withdrawing the digit Gary decided that was more than enough and withdrew the thread from the tool. Instantly it fell to dull lifelessness as the inky blade vanished in half a blink. Remmy put his hands on his hips as he stared at the offending tool before looking into Gary’s eyes.
“I’ve only seen a measuring tool do that a handful of times. Your Affinity is resonating with your Class. It makes perfect sense. The Class’ raw power is shaping your currently weak magic without you really thinking about it. One of the reasons that one’s shaped like a sword handle. Now, let’s get out of this damn cold since you’re not gonna blow us up.” Remmy led the brisk walk back into the warm confines of the church, relieving Gary of the relqa as they went. Once back inside it went right back to it’s shelf and the priest gestured for Gary to sit down on the pew like he had the other day.
“Hey, I had to make sure. Things can get weird fast,” Gary said in his defense as he raised his hands up in mock surrender. Remmy nodded as he sat down next to Gary and looked at him seriously.
“It’s good to be cautious, but that was a little bit much.” Gary wiggled his hands that were still up in the mock surrender pose before setting them down in his lap. With a clearing of his throat the priest spoke more. “Showing me what you did was a bit reckless, Gary. You shouldn’t reveal your status so easily.”
“I know you’re not going to do anything malicious with it, Father. It’s one of those situations where it’s better to hand the report to the man in charge rather than just read it to him. I’m not walking around displaying it for the world to see. The fact Plunderer’s Origin-grade has me concerned enough without bringing the heat down on myself by rubbing it in people’s faces. I’m really not looking forward to the inevitable situation where I’m gonna have to demonstrate it in combat.”
“You’re terrified of your own power?”
“No. I’m terrified of the consequences. I’m expecting any moment that some hotshot noble is gonna saunter through that door and offer me one of those employment offers that ends in the phrase ‘or you die.’ I’m honestly surprised that the guard captain hasn’t brought it down on me on principle. I’m basically a monstrous 'taker of things' with this Class. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been quiet that’s kept me out of trouble, or maybe they’re just waiting until they get someone whom they think can wrangle me.”
“A bleak outlook.”
Gary shrugged at the observation. “Hope for the best, plan for the worst.”
“Hn. Well, that aside I wanted to talk about all those skills you have. You’re far too smart to be wasting away here with old me. I’ll introduce you to some people who can take better care of your smarts.”
Gary placed his hand on Remmy’s and shook his head. “That’s not a good idea. A lot of the knowledge I have would probably be viewed as some form of heresy, or be forbidden by laws I don’t currently know exist. It’s in everyone’s best interests that I don’t trigger some flavor of pogrom on Limeroom. Let’s change the topic, please? What about the working of magic and how it’s tied to gemstones?”
Remmy was quick on the uptake and cleared his throat again before slipping into a lecturing posture. “Alright. That I can do quite easily. As I’ve explained, the System came upon us a long time ago. It brought the flow of magic into Veotera and with it the various creatures of our world sometimes gained powers or monsters from places beyond came to call our world home. There was a time where the people who were adept at using magic among the Classes began to find their ostentatious jewelry made them a bit better than those who were poorer and had less access to jewelry. It took further testing but in the end it was found that six gems were the best focuses for the primal elemental forces.”
“Pearl was found to resonate with Light magic. It’s usually found on those with a Class that offers magical healing, and it helps create shows with illusions among other things. Emerald for Earth, Sapphire for Water, Ruby for Fire, Alexandrite for Air, and Onyx for Darkness.”
“Pearl and Onyx both kinda bug me, to be honest. I’d figure something much clearer like a diamond or quartz would suit Light better. And Onyx isn’t even a proper clear stone either. Obsidian would have been better.” Gary decided now was the time to grumble about his personal gripes with the system of the System. He shook his head in exasperation at the somewhat arbitrary nature of the assigned stones. Remmy chuckled at him.
“Ours is not the place to question the System’s choice on the matter. God saw no issue with it so it’s fine by me.” Gary stopped short of calling out a theological debate about the existence of a god on Veotera. No matter how he won that fight, he lost worse. “With the discovery and refinement of the arrangement, the elemental magics are most often called by their gemstone rather than the element itself. If you see anyone wearing any of those gems, they’re most likely either a relqa for defense or a relqa for attacking. There’s no rule against just wearing them, but they’re more valuable as magical focuses in general.”
Gary nodded at the explanation. He left unsaid that he could in theory make most of those stones if he had the chemical compounds to mix in the right conditions. Another potential win for him thanks to the Virtual Network in his head. He was about to say something when he got an itchy tingle at the base of his neck. Gary was on his feet in an instant as he whirled around to glare back towards the front doors of the church. His gaze swiftly clicked upwards towards a glass-covered window above the door in the front gable of the roof.
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The figure flattened himself against the wall to one side of the window he’d been peering through, desperately fighting the urge to pant in terror. He’d been in 「Stealth」 and had chosen to use his other Skills to make himself nigh-undetectable. Passers-by in the chilly air didn’t give his figure pressed against the outer wall of Saint Shepherd Church’s exterior, confirming to him that his Skills were indeed working. He’d have been obvious in his dark form-fitting robes and bandanna-covered face and caused a panic if he had failed.
His heart thundered in his chest as the door below him opened. Wide dark eyes glanced downwards as he saw the tall teenager stride out onto the middle of the shallow steps, stop dead still, then look around the yard as if searching for something. He didn’t dare move while the boy was on the prowl. Empty thoughts would save him today. His sneaking was perfect; it had just been a fluke that the boy had looked in his direction like tha-
A dripping wet cleaning cloth smacked the man in the face square on. Pulling the cloth away in a panic his thundering heart felt like it was going to shatter his ribs as the young man in the dark cassock was glaring straight at him with those too-bright eyes, right hand lowering from the throw that had hit him square in the face.
“Git,” hissed the teenager, jerking his head in a way that made it painfully clear that he wasn’t being insulted but was instead to vacate the area as fast as possible. The dark-robed man didn’t need to be told twice. His form flickered as more Skills activated and he leapt up and away onto nearby rooftops to make his escape. He glanced back during one leap and that gaze - those eyes! - had followed every motion he made. It wasn’t a look of murderous rage but a clear warning still echoed in it for him to stay gone if he knew what was good for himself.
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Gary came back in once more and growled as he returned the wet cloth to the bucket he’d claimed it from as he went outside. Remmy was twisted around in the pew where he’d remained seated, eyeing Gary critically at this juncture.
“Thief-looking guy was spying on us. I informed him that was a bad idea.”
“..You didn’t get any blood on the walls, did you? We’re not getting the church cleaned of that kind of thing in this weather.”
“No blood. Guy probably shit himself, though. Thought he could hide from me of all people. The nerve disrupting a conversation like that! This is why I want to hold off doing anything with my Class until I absolutely have to. That was probably the first hint of trouble.”