The Aether God: Chapter 11 - Sunday
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler,
long I stood and looked down one as far as I could to where it bent in the undergrowth.
Caladrius School South District, Residence Hall 5, Dorm 31
Cerulean woke up slowly. As his eyelids undulated, he debated not even opening them. It was early Sunday morning, and he had stayed up late in the Little Grove. All of his current plans were also currently in motion. He had nothing to do until the Midweek Tournament. However, he still seized the day. Before getting fully dressed, he went to look at himself in the mirror. He was quite handsome for his age, but was of course, still young. He had jet-black hair and brilliant blue eyes. He was quite short and skinny, but didn’t exactly have a muscular figure.
“The life of a cultivator is so much different than that of an etherless person… When I was this age, my peers in the divine plane were already short, chiseled warriors. Strange… Even the development of an artists brains and bodies are so much different. Once a cultivator fully develops around the age of twenty, their body changes much more slowly than it would without Ether. Furthermore, the nature of Ether is almost to convert one’s mind to that of a soul beast. The fact that cultivators here are so weak is the reason that they are less tempted to constantly massacre one another less often. In the Divine Plane, everybody knew that Ether is not simply a gift of fairytales… It is also a curse… Anyways, I have work to do.”
Cerulean sat at his desk for an hour or so, drawing thousands of manuscripts. For each, he only spent a moment. He was tracing parchment with the tip of his finger.
“Now that I can use Ether, I don’t need to use artifacts to draw patterns, This is so much more convenient.”
Because manuscripts had to be drawn with attributed Ether, he had to create special, high-grade stylus-artifacts in his other life. They would perpetually eject different kinds of Ether from their points. Because of this, he had to learn to trace every manuscript pattern in one perfect, flowing manner, or else they would be entirely ruined. This made him perfectly understand manuscripts in a way almost nobody else did.
“Furthermore, drawing runes and brewing is so easy… I feel like a spoiled brat now.”
Although runes were inscribed with the blood of a same-attribute ethereal beast, and elixirs were brewed with ingredients, Sigils required a ‘stamp’ of Ether at the end, and Alchemy required a continuous flow of Ether. Because they didn’t require the same stylus, he often had to procure the help of an artist or use a similar artifact. The trades did require Ether, but didn’t require the creator to possess Ether. Now that he did though, he would be able to use his own, even for any attribute! All that those in the valley thought was that without Ether, one could only be a runeologist with the help of another artist. Archer Frostbane was one such person.
“That should do it! Now, what to do… I wonder how the guilds did yesterday… or if they shut down the auctions… I think I’ll pay a little visit to the Trade District.”
Cerulean casted an apprentice concealment art, and walked out the door.
…………………
The Trade District
The Trade District was everything but lifeless. It bustled with an energy that seemed to crackle in the air, permeating the minds of every resident passing by. Huge crowds of people walked, and figures could be seen dashing through them. Many were disciples of the three schools. Their voices all blended into an excited chatter that could be heard from afar.
The talk of the town was of three, thrilling auctions that took place the day before. It was not merely a gathering of sect leaders in an auction hall though. R5 items were auctioned off before the entire valley. Everybody felt as if they witnessed an event that would be in history books. Speculation ran rampant among the crowd, theories and rumors swirled around like leaves caught in a tempest. Nobody understood how three guilds came into possession of R5 items while they were, just the day before, financially collapsing. The guilds furthermore were not those that sent parties to explore regions outside of the valley. The wealth they accrued in one day was akin to that of a lower sect! Furthermore, they were still peddling countless R3 and R4 goods for dirt cheap. As bystanders, they couldn’t help but get emotionally invested in the drama surrounding the three guilds.
“Did you hear about the auctions yesterday?”
“Do you think I live under a rock?”
Cerulean casually walked through the crowd, despite being practically invisible. He heard lively chatter as he walked.
“The only guilds getting business are those selling R1 and R2 garbage haha! Do you think the other Legendary Sects are going to lower their prices? Their market houses are empty…”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Yeah, either that or find a way to dissolve the guilds hah!”
As Cerulean passed through, he came before an extremely dense crowd. There were thousands, if not more residents bunched up. They were all standing in front of the Elixir Alliance’s location - they had quickly upgraded their tent to a pagoda. Out front was an extremely wide table, where twenty or so guildmates were standing and trading elixirs for crystals. Every couple of moments, guildmates could be seen running out from the building, carrying crates of elixirs. This was the most astonishing display of wealth that anybody had seen from a guild - more astonishing than a market of the Legendary Sects. At this point, some people were just buying elixirs to see if they would run out.
“I’ll take three R3 Infernal Concealment Elixirs! Those of the slowest release rate!”
“I’ll take two entire R4 Azurean Absorption Elixirs! I can handle them!”
Cerulean saw two familiar faces in front of the stall.
“Do you have any R1 or R2 Umbrous Absorption Elixirs?”
Griffin was speaking for himself and Cashmere Blackwood, the twins from his class.
“Get the hell out of my way, losers!” As soon as the voice spoke out, many of the crowd hushed.
The boy speaking was of a similar age, but was wearing bright yellow robes. They were the symbol of the Zapthrax School’s elders and inner-court disciples. Clearly though, he was not an elder. Furthermore, they displayed the red-glowing emblem of the legendary Scorchbloom Sect. The boy conjured a wave of fire in each of his hands, and practically slapped Griffin and Cashmere away. He was a powerful venerable artist - one of a high star-rank. Though he showed restraint, Griffin and Cashmere flew a couple feet in opposite directions, each with a red imprint of a hand on their face. Cashmere began to cry, and Griffin stood up to oppose the boy.
“What the hell is your problem!? Who the hell even does that? Couldn’t you have just asked me to move?!”
The crowd became quite invested in the drama. It was quite exciting for most of them. While they felt bad for Griffin, they weren’t so ‘unwise’ to interject themselves in a conflict involving a Legendary Sect descendant. As such, they just enjoyed the show.
“I, Apollo Scorchbloom, do not have time for a novice such as yourself.” the boy spoke dismissively before turning toward the stall. Griffin stood there dumbfounded.
“I will be purchasing a single R4 infernal physique strengthening elixir. Please make haste.”
Hearing this, the guild member’s face drew something of a contemptuous expression. Buying a single elixir after such a display was more than just brash. The child was practically telling him he was only purchasing the elixir for his sect to try and recreate it.
He looked to an attendant “Get him the elixir…” He looked back at Apollo. “That will be a thousand crystal shards.”
Apollo untethered a small satchel from his side. He placed it on the stall table.
After sending the shards inside, he turned to another attendant. “Get an assortment of four-hundred umbrous elixirs. one-hundred of each from the first four ranks. Include many for absorption. They will be for the boy and girl.” The man looked at Griffin and Cashmere. “They will be gifts from our guild.”
The entire crowd was astounded by this. Not only was it an immense display of wealth, he was sticking his neck out for a child in a dispute with a descendant of the Scorchbloom Sect! While it wasn’t actually a direct insult, everybody knew that Apollo would take it as such.
Apollo drew a contemptuous expression. He was thoroughly annoyed. After his elixir was prepared, he turned regally, and began to walk away from the stall.
“Enjoy your elixir, asshole!” Griffin shouted sarcastically. While he knew he couldn’t take martial action against Apollo, he had to show his courage.
Hearing this, Apollo became extremely angry. But with a dismissive expression on his face, he held his hand up towards Griffin, and the whole crowd gasped. He spoke out an incantation purely for display.
“Venerable Infernal Casting Technique: Scorchbloom Venerable - Art 7: Firebolt”
As he spoke, in his hand appeared a tiny ball of fire. Within a moment it had grown to the size of his palm. Griffin’s eyes widened, and he became horrified. A venerable technique might not kill him, but it could make a hole somewhere! The flame took the shape of a red-glowing arrow.
However, just before the firebolt was shot at Griffin, it suddenly disappeared. The crowd was surprised, but not nearly as confused as Apollo. He looked at his hand.
“What on earth? I didn’t cancel it!”
He directed his hand at Griffin, and once again, without speaking, he conjured forth a ball of fire. The crowd gasped again. As soon as it had formed into an arrow, it again disappeared.
“Is somebody canceling my art? I don’t sense a single bit of Ether? This has never happened before! How shameful!”
Some in the crowd even began to laugh. Griffin himself was standing there in shock, but primarily because he didn’t know if he was going to get blasted. He was hoping with his entire being that Apollo would give up. However, Apollo once again raised his hand toward Griffin.
“Venerable Infer-” Before he could even finish the incantation though, his body suddenly went limp. He ragdolled, flopping onto the ground. The entire crowd gasped once again, this time almost worried. They thought that he might be dead. But a moment later he began to stand back up. Everybody now began to laugh loudly at his hilarious floppage. Apollo though, was terrified. He began running away, darting through the crowd as they made a pathway for him.
“I totally passed out for a moment! Have I contracted a slumber sickness? I need to head to the Scorchbloom infirmary immediately, or else some swine will have to carry me to it.” Within a moment, he had disappeared.
“Here are your elixirs! Please enjoy, and come back anytime. If you need anything, just ask for Galleon. I’ll bring you some more - on the house!” Galleon smiled at Griffin and Cashmere while handing them the elixirs. Though they still had large red imprints on their faces, They donned huge, toothy smiles and bounced away. Some of the crowd started clapping, as if they had just watched a show with a good ending.
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