As I descended into the valley that held the temple, I was enveloped in a sense of peace. The entire area, from the carefully tended forest to the multiple ponds, exuded an atmosphere of harmony that permeated every inch of it. It was so tranquil in this small valley that it was actually home to a number of protected Kawamaran species, rare or otherwise.
Not far off of the cobblestone path that I was walking down, a small herd of odd, alien looking deer grazed on a patch of grass. I say odd, because they were very obviously a kind of Mystic Beast. All of them, from the attentive stag that was even now tracking me with it’s eyes, to the small foal in the herd, seemed to be made from living glass. They were translucent all the way through, with visible crystalline organs pumping unseen blood, outlined in a faint azure glow. That same glow filled the eyes of the wary stag watching me, as he shook his impressive rack of antlers with a tinkling sound.
In my visits here, both the monk and Observe had told me that these were Looking-Glass Cervid. They’d been nearly hunted to extinction decades ago for their apparently edible ‘meat’, and had only survived due to the intervention of the Animan Temple. There were few of the odd deer still surviving out in the wilds, beyond this valley.
And those weren’t even the only Mystic Beasts here.
Overhead, I caught a brief glimpse of a lightning trail as it zipped from one flowering tree to the other. I think it was only thanks to my relatively high Perception score in combination with my altered eyes that I was able to see the creature that left it, from the speed it traveled. At first glance, it looked like a relatively innocuous hummingbird, covered from beak to tiny talons in yellow and black feathers. Only, it seemed to have the ability to manifest an electrical aura over its slight form, boosting its speed over tenfold. I’d never managed to catch one of these immobile long enough to Observe it, but the monk had told me they were named Zipper Birds. Also Mystically inclined, and also endangered.
And very much protected, within this valley. The Animan sect of the Spiritualist faith may be the smallest of the five, but it was still protected by the Imperial court. Every time I came here, I felt the familiar feeling of their agent's watching eyes from somewhere in the distance.
But, speaking of the monk…
I finally reached the end of the path, where he was waiting for me, like every time I’d visited. I bowed at the waist to the older man sitting at a small tea table, laid out just before the steps that led into the small temple. “Elder Jinshin.”
I didn’t have to feign my respect for this man. He…he knew things, somehow. Things I had never told anyone. Things that I’m not sure even Anima could have told him.
And yet, he never used those against me.
He was very kind, like that.
Elder Jinshin inclined his head to me, his unbound, waist-length, pure-white hair shifting slightly with the movement. He lifted one hand obscured by the long sleeves of his emerald green robe, and gestured towards the cushion he had laid out across from him, set before the table. As I sat down on it gratefully and picked up the steaming cup of tea he had already set out for me, the Elder stroked his long, wispy beard with one hand and stared at me contemplatively.
Well, presumably, at least.
In all the time I had known the man, he had never once opened his eyes. I had, perhaps rudely, asked him once if he was blind. He had merely smiled and shook his head.
I hadn’t pried.
Elder Jinshin broke the silence first, never scared to do so. “Good evening, Nathaniel,” He said with a small smile on his aged features. “How fare you this day?”
“Well enough, Elder,” I said, dipping my head. I’m sure he could tell somehow, even with his eyes closed. He always could. Which was why I didn’t feel foolish, looking around the area we sat in. “Is it just us today? Is Sogen well?”
The Elder chuckled lightly before nodding. “It is indeed. My apprentice is otherwise occupied with duties in the court. You have me all to yourself. And…I suspect you need the assistance.” He said pointedly.
And there we had the reason the Animan faith had so little influence over Kawamara. The monks of the temple operated on a master and apprentice system. There was only ever one Elder and one disciple. Understandably, this meant there was a hard limit to the number of people they could educate in either Magic or Cultivation. Not only that, but it was part of their tradition for one of them to always be a Mage and the other a Cultivator. I was lucky in that Elder Jinshin was a Magi and could instruct me because his apprentice Sogen was a Cultivator. Said apprentice was younger than me, and always had a faintly puzzled look on his face whenever I had my lessons with the Elder. Possibly because of the subject material, or possibly because the Elder had taken me on at all. When I had wandered up to the temple months ago, not even searching for a teacher at the time, Elder Jinshin had outright volunteered himself on our first meeting. Puzzled, I had accepted, and then everything since they had seemed to proceed at his own pace.
I didn't mind. He was a good teacher.
I smiled a little sheepishly, picking up my tea and taking a sip. Perfect as always. Honestly, the Elder was a better brewer than most dedicated tea houses I’d been to across Hinaga. “Ah…perhaps,” I admitted, setting my cup down. “I’m preparing for an expedition into a very dangerous place.”
“Goryuen, yes,” The Elder said mildly, to my complete unsurprise. Either he’d picked up the news from the Court, or possibly from his own abilities. Whatever those may be. Either way, it didn’t matter. “I suspect you’ll find the trip most electrifying, my young friend. Most electrifying indeed.”
I rolled my eyes at the impenetrable joke as the Elder chuckled, not even bothering to ask for elaboration. This was just how the Elder was. He wouldn’t have answered anyway, just started rambling on about the shapes he’d seen in his morning eggs or something.
It made me wonder if he and Grey had attended the same class on being an inscrutable old man.
I changed the subject instead of trying. “I’ve been trying the meditation method you told me about Elder,” I said, grimacing. “But, uh. I…don’t think it’s for me.”
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The Elder stroked his beard. “Ah, I see. Is it the incense, then? I told you that you might have difficulties with it.”
I dipped my head ruefully. “Yes, Elder. The incense…it just distracted me. It didn’t feel right. I couldn’t focus on my Mana with the smell in the air. I think I’m going to need something else.”
“Hmm, well. I did tell you that this form of mediation was unlikely to work with you, Nathaniel,” Elder Jinshin pointed out. He must have been able to tell I winced at the light rebuke because he chuckled. “It’s nothing to worry about. As I've told you, the effectiveness of particular forms of mediation depends on the culture the Magi was born into. An incense method is very Kawamaran in form. It was a long shot if it would work with you. We’ll simply have to keep experimenting to find what works with your…particular cultural mentality.”
In other words, my Earth brain.
I sighed. This was the third type of mediation we’d worked on, trying to find something that fit me. Normally, finding a type of Mana meditation that fit a Magi was a simple process for initiates. As the Elder said, there were particular forms of it that seemed to fit a person depending on the culture they were from.
The problem was, I wasn’t from any of the Veredenese cultures that practiced Magic. We’d tried each of the common methods of Mana control, from each of those peoples. The Herztalians practiced a form of breath control they called ‘Air Circulation’ that involved rapidly breathing in and out eight times, holding for a minute, and then repeating. That was probably what Grey would have started me on.
That hadn’t worked.
The Velancians instead had a short, eight-word chant that they repeated over and over. The droning of it, on and on, apparently helped them to get in contact with their Mana.
That hadn’t worked for me either.
And now we’d exhausted the other common method on Vereden, incense meditation. That had just irritated both my nose and my neighbors at the inn. I'd had to apologize to several of them from the couple of sessions I'd tried.
“We’ll just have to keep trying, Nathaniel,” The Elder said consolingly. “I’ll visit the Imperial archives later to see if we can find other methods. Perhaps there are records of how the other planets from the Age of the Gods practiced their own meditations.”
I grimaced. “Are there perhaps records pertaining to…other cultures?” I asked carefully, aware that our conversation was likely being watched by the guardians of this valley. “Maybe for individuals who are very far from home?”
The Imperial Court very likely knew I was a Precursor, but that didn’t mean I had to spell it out for them. If I didn’t display at least some form of guile and subtlety, I would develop a reputation as a barbarian. That would probably hurt my position.
The Elder knew anyway. It wasn’t that big of a secret anymore.
A small smile crossed Elder Jinshin’s lips, but he shook his head anyway. “I’m afraid not. No…alternative records such as that are anywhere within the Imperial archives. At least, nothing within what I or my student have access to. If it exists, it would have to be within the royal family’s personal library.”
Hmm…
That gave me an idea.
Later, though.
“As it is, we shall simply have to continue as we have been,” The Elder continued. “Your Mana is…odd, yes, but not unworkable. Speaking of, let us begin. We shall start with a brief review of last week’s success. As I recall you were…oddly enthusiastic about such a mundane Spell. Please, demonstrate it for me.”
I nodded at the Elder and closed my eyes, falling into a familiar form of meditation for me.
Familiar, but also only mildly helpful for my purposes.
After the extensive practice I’d been doing these past few months, it was easy for me to enter my soul space through the bypass that seemed to be built into Aetherial Melding. Once in there, I took a moment to gaze at the shining core of my Mana, suspended in the branches of my crystalline tree. It was both a mesmerizing and a frustrating sight, to watch the duality of crimson thorns and azure flames grinding and flow together endlessly.
Mesmerizing, because here in the core of my being the sensation of that core was so oddly comforting to me. It was like something had been missing my entire life had been awoken. This energy…this star…it completed me, in a way that only the greatest of poets could truly describe.
I sure as hell wasn’t one.
But it was also frustrating, because the oddity of having what I’d discovered was both two cores and one at the same time meant it was twice as difficult to use. The reason it was so important for a Magi to have a dedicated meditation method was because it helped access the Mana, directly from the core. A proper Magi, through meditation, was supposed to become so familiar with their core that it was indistinguishable from a physical limb. That way they could dip into their Mana whenever they wanted to, for whatever Spell they needed.
But because I had the dual-core, I couldn’t do that. Not easily, and not without some serious alternative meditation. As it was, I was having to half-ass things through this method. Without a proper way to meditate that resonated with me, I wasn’t able to separate the two different kinds of Mana. And using Aetherial Melding, I was only able to observe my soul space and the Mana that filled it. So what I was doing was essentially getting familiar with the mixed feeling of my Mana in the only way I knew how, and sort of…dragging it out using Aetherial Melding as a crutch.
According to the Elder, that shouldn’t be possible. But because it was for me, I was side-stepping the problem until a real solution could be found.
In the end, though, it meant it took me thirty minutes of careful concentration to drag out the smallest bit of mixed Mana and craft it into a Spell.
Worth it, though.
Once I had the Mana, I carefully shaped it into the thought form I’d been instructed in last week. When the mixed Celestial and Terrestrial power had filled in that form, I triggered the spell.
Through my closed eyelids, I could see light bloom.
I grinned and opened my eyes, to see a ball of mixed blue and red light swirling in the center of my palm. It was nearly a copy of the star that bloomed in the space of my soul, only less detailed.
In the end, I had never ended up learning a light Skill.
Instead, I’d gone straight for a spell.
Honestly, I’d take it.
……………………………………………
Elder Jinshin and I practiced for another few hour or so, before the lesson ended. In that time, we tried some historical variations on the typical meditation methods, before giving up on that. Instead, the Elder took the time to lecture me on some Spell theory, as well as lay out the next Spell he intended to teach me.
Honestly, a small burst of wind didn’t sound that exciting, but I’m sure I’d find a use for it.
Maybe.
But it would have to be after I got back from the expedition. The Elder and I didn't get to meet up together often, and I'm certain the Elder wouldn't be able to make time for me before we left.
After saying goodbye to him, I decided to head back to the inn for dinner. It was getting pretty late after all my errands today, and I still had some potions to make before I called it a night.
Once there, I walked through the doors, only to be met with a pleasant surprise.
It looked like Venix had gotten back much earlier than any of us were expecting.
The Antium man looked like he had only gotten back in town hours ago, as he still had road dust visible on his white robe. He was sitting at our usual table with the rest of my companions, and it looked like he was deep in conversation with them.
Well.
They were with him, in actuality. Venix had his moments, but he wasn't typically very talkative.
Oddly, he had a frown growing on his insectoid features that only looked to be growing at every word exiting Renauld’s mouth.
When I approached the table, Venix’s chitinous eyes locked onto me and he stood up from the table. I thought he was going to greet me, so I gave him a slight smile to do the same. Only to be stopped by him raising one of his four arms, causing me to fix him with a raised eyebrow.
“It is my understanding that you intend to travel to Goryuen?” Venix asked bluntly.
I blinked, looking around him at Azarus. The dwarf shrugged in puzzlement, though, so I looked back at the Antium man. “Yes…?” I said slowly.
The frown on Venix’s face grew deeper, and he folded both sets of arms over his broad chest.
“I forbid it.”