“I expected more from you! Where’s that fire you had a few minutes ago?”
“LOOK! I’M TRYING OK? NOT THAT FAIR TO BE AGAINST SOMEONE WITH EXPERIENCE!”
“Well, that can compensate for my… lack of vision. Both figuratively, and literally.”
I was getting more and more fucking frustrated by the passing minute…Vale’s relentless wind kept pushing me back, creating an infuriating distance between us. I don’t inherently dislike the strategy… I play dirty all the time with AEGIS… Grace and Liberus were in the back watching while I suffered. Thanks a lot. I thought he was supposed to be my partner in crime…
“Hm… Seems like you really don’t know how to use your accumulation… Quite odd… Normally individuals who undergo certain levels of danger of threats activate them on instinct, yet it seems like you really can’t get it out of you…”
“Is there… ANY… Other way we can do this?!” I pleaded, panting and gasping for breath, exhaustion weighing heavily on me.
The sound of the chair legs squeaked as Vale took a seat to think. What was wrong with me?! If Vale said this was a surefire way to get my accumulation running, then why wasn’t it working specifically for me? Liberus chuckled at me just barely out of my vision. I swear… This guy…
“Fuck is your problem? I’m busting my ass here, and you’re lounging around like some couch potato!”
“And so what? What am I supposed to do then? Float around and wave this stupid ribbon of an appendage that I have?”
“What in the world is an appendage..?”
“Oh, there! I can still provide knowledge and guidance due to your lack of education. You for sure need it.”
“You say something?”
“Nothing, nothing! Now go do your thing while me and Grace discuss the politics of this worl- HEY!”
I yanked Liberus by his ribbon and dragged him over to where I was sparring with Vale previously. I really couldn’t care what Liberus thinks of me right now, but I have a slight hunch that he might be the key to all of this.
“Hey! Vale! Let’s try this again!”
Vale raises his head and hops off his seat, prepping by putting his white gloves back on, as well as him cracking a few bones to get warmed up again.
“Judging by your conversation, I assume you’re taking your book friend alongside you? Interesting choice… Grace, let me know if there are any significant outcomes to her experiment.”
Anxious again, I took my first step, preparing myself for what's about to come. Anxiety and excitement churned inside me. Liberus could either be the key to unlocking my power or yet another dead end, leaving me without answers. I mean, after the Grailvine leaf told us that I had an accumulation, there’s no way that I don’t have one… Its answers are absolute. There hasn’t been a single time in history where the Grailvine has ever been wrong…
“Come at me, Ranku.”
The room was eerily still, as it always was at the start of our matches. Even the drifting dust particles seemed distracting. I knew that even the slightest movement would make Vale strike. So, it had to be instant.
“Uh… you gonna make your move now? It’s been a minute…” Liberus whispered into my ear.
“Will you ever shut up PLEASE? I’m trying to focus-”
Just then, I heard snapping to my right. Grace was trying to get my attention.She held a slit of paper, scraping it with her pen and flipped it towards me.
He’s right, you know. It’s kill or be killed out there. No one will wait for you to strike first.
“Fine then, I’ll make my move now then.”
“So you listen to her, but not me? We have such great teamwork! Isn’t that just amazing?”
Trying my best not to respond to that snarky comment of his, I leapt forward with haste. With fist tucked into my waist, I lunge forward, twisting my body to land a blow.
Naturally, he avoided it. I tried to make my strike a feint and swung again, this time he took a few leaps back.
“Alright... now I trust you know where to aim.”
“Of course. My mother said an idiot is a person who expects different results by doing the same thing.”
“Isn’t that sweet? Now let’s see if you can live up to that!”
Vale began to conjure more gusts of wind, stirring his hands in the air. I was blown back, as it was stronger than usual. Nothing I couldn’t handle though. One by one, he threw each dart at flying speeds, just barely missing me. Man, I haven’t been this focused on anything since my last pickpocket! It was exhilarating!
“Liberus, you want to be useful?”
“I deem myself to already be of enough help!”
“Well then prove it right now. What’s a good way to approach Vale right now? Said you were smart, right?”
He was taken back a bit from my request. Was it really that surprising when I asked for something? I stood my ground as Vale continued on the attack. Still, no signs of an accumulation appearing… I have no clue as to how it should feel whenever it does eventually show up. As I was lost in thought, Liberus struggled to glide to my ear.
“So, y’know how he’s blind right?”
“Mhm, what about it..?”
"…"
Of course! Why hadn’t I thought about that sooner! It was so obvious yet I completely forgot! I began to prepare myself, waiting for Vale’s next throw. As he did, I took cover behind one of the tipped tables and Liberus took cover on the other side. The bar finally stood at a stalemate, with both parties not reacting. I knew for a fact that Vale was trying his best to detect where we were at that moment…
“As I said! What you’re doing is so damn-”
Vale immediately struck the table with his accumulation, only revealing Liberus with that iconic cheeky expression on his face.
“Gotcha~ NOW, RANKU!”
On his call, I leapt as far as I could from my table, and with this last final punch I had left in me, I threw it with all my might.
“WHA?!”
THOSE GOLEMS?! HE STILL HAS THOSE?! ARE YOU KIDDING?!
“Wow, I never thought you’d reach them without an accumulation. Well done!”
“Could’ve at least let me land a sucker…”
“Ha! You’re pretty funny! So, are you feeling anything… different?”
Now that he mentioned it... no, I didn’t feel anything unusual. I felt exactly the same as when I entered the bar, aside from the cuts and bruises.
“Looks like nothing really changed…” Vale expressed with a slight concern on his face. Grace was also seemingly worried about the outcome, but then, Liberus came floating to me with what appeared to be him… glowing..?
“Welp, at least you tried… But hey, that was some pretty good teamwor- Why am I shining? Help?? HELP!!”
“Woah woah woah! Vale! Grace! What’s going on with him??”
“You said he was glowing? This might be a good sign…”
Let me take a look at your friend, Ranku.
I took Liberus over for Grace to take a look into, and opening him revealed some patterns that… I’ve never seen before… Were these symbols there before? It has been a few days since I last checked after all… Grace then snapped her fingers, signaling for Vale to come. As he approached, the two communicated through one of Vale’s golems. It seems like Vale can surprisingly read through them. Accumulations sure are helpful I’ll tell you what…
“Y’know, I kinda feel a bit uncomfortable… Having people look inside me is uhh, y’know…”
Grace released her hands and apologized through her gestures, and as Liberus flew away from her grasp, I noticed that I could see something through the symbols and circles embedded into Liberus’ pages. Now, I don’t know why I did this but, there was something telling me… some voice out there asking me to grab it… It was that same strange feeling I got when I was separated from Liberus for long periods of time, so it had to mean something… Right?
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“He-HEY! I SAID IT MADE ME FEEL UNCOMFORTABL-”
“Hold still for a second… I think… I see something from the page…”
As I grasped it, it felt extremely strong, to the point where it felt as if it were alive. It tugged on to me, as I tugged onto it back. Finally, it released from the pages, and out came something I truly didn’t expect.
It was a sword, but not any sword I have seen before… I couldn’t even see it… It was totally invisible to me! However, it did have a slight warping feel to it, as if there was a fire’s heat shrouding it. Was this… my accumulation..?
This must be it. Surely. Grace, passing another sheet of paper to my right. She then glances towards Vale and feeds to him about what she’s witnessing right now.
“Well, this is surely something that I haven’t seen before… An accumulation of an individual, to come from a completely different being…”
“I-Is that bad at all..?”
“Hm, well not necessarily, but I’ve never witnessed anything like it before, not to mention that it does hinder a lot of abilities.”
“By that you mean..?”
“Well, it seems like you must depend on your book from now on, and from what I can tell, your relationship isn’t the strongest…”
He’s right… If I want to continue to draw this power, I gotta find a way to get along with this fucker somehow… Hopefully he gets the memo too, as some of the shit he says still pisses me off.
“Well, I’m down for that! As long as she shut her trap when we need it, I’ll give my fullest efforts!”
Yeah, this shit ain’t happening anytime soon… He seriously needs to mind his words…
I gave him a slight glance before Vale inspected the sword-like shape within my hands. The object was buzzing now, and giving a firmer grip on it, it stuck to my skin like glue! I couldn’t even get it off now! I tried waving it back and forth and accidentally, I sliced into the damn floor!
“WHA?! I AM SO, SO SORRY… I DIDN’T MEAN IT-”
“Did you break something?” Vale asks in his usual nonchalant tone.
“I-THE FLOOR! THE PLANK JUST VANISHED! WHAT THE FUCK!?”
Vale then turns towards my right facing the other two, asking for some insight.
“Liberus? Grace?”
“To be honest, I have no clue whatsoever either! It really did make a piece of the floor completely disappear…”
It appears that her accumulation is quite… destructive. Proceed with caution, brother.
I should also do the same. Taking the time to calm myself down, I observed this object more closely. I could easily stick my hand and other body parts into it, and it would phase completely right through, yet the floor was cleanly cut as if it were cutting through a fresh loaf of bread.
“For now, let us do a few tests to begin with. For starters, swing the sword towards this.”
He placed a simple glass on the nearest table. I waited for them to step aside, just in case it didn’t react the same way to the glass as it did to me. Here goes nothing…
“By the way… I don’t owe-”
“No charge.”
“A-Alright then…”
Walking up to the glass carefully, I raise my hand and strike it full force. The glass… It didn’t even shatter?! I was expecting it to break into a million pieces, yet it was almost as if it were manufactured to look this way…
“Woah! That’s kinda scary! To think it can just… erase things like that! Gotta say, props to you!”
“Thanks, Liberus. I’m a bit shocked myself. I thought I would be overjoyed about receiving my very own accumulation, but this power… It terrifies me…”
“Well then, no need to be so terrified. Just one more test now and we’re concluding our experiments.”
“What, am I gonna strike your arm next?”
“Precisely”
“Ha, of course we’re no- WHAT?!”
Everyone in the room was shocked, even Grace… To think he would offer to potentially sacrifice his own arm just to confirm a couple tests…
“No, Vale, even for someone with as interesting a power that Ranku might have, I can’t accept for you to do this. I won’t allow for any hypothesis to be tested this way.” Liberus, understandably, against Vale’s offering.
“Hypothesis..? May I ask what you mean by that?”
“O-oh! Ahem! A claim you make with little to no evidence. Apologies for my… odd vocabulary…”
“Hm. Well, how else do we test her accumulation on other beings then? I’d like for her to gauge what she’s capable of before taking on the Zox.”
“I-Uh… Can’t we test it on other organic matter, like perhaps meat would suffice?”
“Accumulations behave differently towards people according to Cavano’s law, therefore we won’t know for certain what might become of her sword if she strikes me.”
His sleeves unfurl as he reaches out his forearm, basically asking me to suck it up and take that swing… I felt nauseous, thinking about the possibilities if things do indeed go wrong… What if he loses his arm and it behaves the exact same way like it did with the glass and wood… He’ll lose his arm FOR LIFE.
“Vale… I seriously don’t want to do this”
Grace was also tugging and shoving him, trying her best to get Vale to take down his arm, yet he remained still, waiting for me.
“If it makes you feel any better, my right is my dominant.”
“B-BUT YOUR PLACE! ISN’T THIS SHIT YOUR DREAM? WHY POTENTIALLY HINDER YOURSELF?! WHY DO THIS?!”
He stood still, not saying a word… Vale’s doing this for me? WHY?! He just met me today, yet he’s willing to risk a limb to prove whether this sword can cut through people…
“Fine. I’ll do it myself. You disappoint me, Ranku.”
“Just what are you- WHA?! HUH!?”
In the blink of an eye, Vale took my wrist and launched his hand towards the floor, making me slice his arm… or that's what I thought..? Yet… it did nothing..?
“It appears that my ‘hypothesis’ was true. Cavano’s law has yet to disappoint me once more.”
“Y-Your arm… It’s ok..! I… I can’t believe it… you really just did that…”
“Have a little more faith in me now. I am quite the advocate for accumulation theories after all.”
“Theories? What theories..?”
“Ooh! Studies and theories! Tell me more!!” Liberus excitedly chimes in.
“Well, it states in Qul’s ‘Study on Interactivity’, accumulations will have lesser effects on those that are more potent, and to quote the great Qul: ‘Accumulations are bound to a hierarchy, submitting to those who show more strength and will.”
“Ah, so there are principles laid out for these powers it seems? How come you don’t know anything about them, Ranku?”
“What do you think?”
“Righttttt… Welp, should’ve done something about that! After all, education is quite important!”
I swear he’s never gonna let me live it down… As Grace took Liberus over to what I’d assume being an even larger stash of books, Vale continued to test me on certain things, including control, sensitivity… and OH WHO AM I KIDDING?! HE PRACTICALLY WRINGED ME TO DEATH! THERE WERE SO MANY DAMN TESTS!!
“Alright, and for the last thing I would like to try out-”
“Hey man… Can we like… Finish this faster?? There is no way in hell that those with accumulations actually go through with all of this…”
“Well of course they do! What do you think makes someone qualified from a high class mage to one that can only handle basic house chores?”
“Fine then. What’s the last test?” I groan.
“Classification. However, we've already discovered that you don’t fit into any of the designated six classes, which is what, as much as I hate to lose my composure, really gets me EXCITED!”
“Is it that much of a big deal..?”
Probably was a stupid question on my part… I’m fully aware how valuable individuals are that aren’t in Reality class just due to how stupidly rare they are… Pretty sure I’ve only ever met one other person that fell into that category…
"Seems like you’re reconsidering what you said, huh?"
I nod in agreement, however the fact that a new class was about to be made… All because of me! ME! Would I go down as one of the most influential individuals of all time?! Maybe this news might be able to reach dad and Vel! I could use my influence to find them!!!
As Vale tapped a slip of paper in his hand, he had quite the neutral look, which may have concerned me just a smidgen…
“Hm, well it looks like I have your results now, you are free to take a look.”
As I scrolled my eyes through the rough ink and barely comprehensible handwriting, it struck me how similar it was to my mother’s. Her letters were always a chaotic mess of loops and scrawls! I pay my attention to the sections that he had laid out for me. Each test we did was categorized into their own individual boxes.
“Alright… So we have ‘Class’ set as unknown… Fair enough… Sensitivity… Action… Control… Uh…”
“Is something the matter?”
"Why are most of these marked as ‘Unmeasurable’? I thought this was supposed to gauge my accumulation."
“About that… Unfortunately, due to it being an unknown class, it may or may not break almost every principle that I’m aware of…
“SERIOUSLY?! SO I DID ALL OF THAT FOR NOTHING?!”
“Well, slow down there. Not necessarily. This just further proves that this really is a completely new class, which in that case, me and Grace might have to take more of a… different approach.”
“Wow! That was a lot to take in! Good thing I actually enjoy this kind of stuff!” Liberus being as obnoxious as ever… Either way, that was quite fast for a reading session… Did he really absorb all of that in just a few minutes?
It was quite shocking to see him skim through all five of them…
“Really now? Tell me: Who was the individual that brought up the idea of ‘Preservation’ then-”
“Easy! Orlo Blead! You really thought I was gonna say Bont Kayalin, but Orlo clearly demonstrated to be the one to build on the idea! Bont simply issued the paper in his name!”
“Well color me impressed… Not many know about Sir Orlo’s true achievements… Apologies for doubting you.”
“Pftt! No offense taken! I’m quite flattered that you’d doubt me at first! Some may say that I was a genius!”
I clicked my tongue at that comment, exasperated. Can he ever be humble for once? His arrogance was just so unnecessary, much like my brother’s. I could almost hear my brother’s voice, always boasting about his studies, never knowing when to dial it down…
“Well PARDON ME if someone isn’t appreciating my intelligence!”
“Y’know, maybe don’t flaunt it to make it seem like you’re a total douchebag?”
“I-uh… can express myself however I want!”
Suddenly, a loud scoff can be heard from Vale, signaling us to cut it out. Liberus gave me a look with that fatass eye of his before we let it go.
“You two might want to fix this before setting off for the Zox. We’ve spent nearly all day figuring this out, that it’s almost opening hours.”
Oh shit, he’s right! It’s pretty much almost dark out already! Well, best not to intrude any longer. I stood up and thanked the two for helping us as much as they could and set off to leave alongside Liberus, yet, Grace rested her hand on my shoulder before I took a step outside.
Not so fast, Ranku! You’re not leaving just yet!
“Huh? I really don’t want to bother you in your workspace… What else might you want to say?”
The two stood beside each other, giving off an even more unpredictable demeanor than when I first met them… I had an inkling that something bad might happen…
Well, for just 25 Kols, you really think we would let you leave that easily?
“But I thought that was our end of the deal, no?”
True true… However, it seems like we spent a bit too much on you! So, how about a bit of some good old labor to pay off the rest?
“HUH?! LABOR?! WE’RE GONNA WORK FOR YOU NOW?” Liberus exclaims in complete shock and disbelief. But I mean, how bad can it be really?
“No time for chit chat now. Ranku, Liberus, it’s time.”