Sunwhisper had much to consider, but during his return journey, he found himself largely occupied with the question of what direction he was going to take as a cultivator. For the moment, he was content to pump his Ego and Constitution as much as he could, as the higher they were, the faster he could increase his Dao Rating through channeling. It was a positive feedback loop if he had ever seen one. But that left open the question of what path he would follow for his elemental affinity.

He had read that many cultivators sought a balance in their energies and techniques by using multiple channeling meditations, but that struck Sunwhisper as suboptimal methodology. In his own world, the existence of status screens and experience points meant that individuals had far more precise control over their advancement than cultivators did in Hollow. That precision, along with the fact that all the choices a hero had made were preserved in the record of their status screens, had resulted in a clear body of knowledge relating to advancement.

Universalists had their uses, and indeed, every party could benefit from having a jack of all trades on the team to fill in absent or weak positions, but in a heads-up comparison, specialists took every crown there was to take.

Sunwhisper had found two alternative metal meditations in Makoto’s collection, and he was sure there would be more out there to find in larger libraries. His options, for the moment, were the Path of the Annealing Method and the Path of the Honing Edge. Practicing both metal meditations, Sunwhisper could become reasonably tough and reasonably dangerous, but he would not excel beyond his rank in either category. If he was going to become a world-class cultivator, and quickly, he needed to excel, not to be well-rounded.

His personality was suited to taking a defensive tact, putting as much as he could into hardening his body, and hopefully outlasting and outthinking any opponent he came across.

But then he thought of the way Makoto had decimated his fathers, shattering their tremendous bodies and ending the conflict only a little out of breath. A part of him believed that it wouldn’t matter how tough he became, for even as a cultivator, offense would always trump defense. The scrolls themselves did not make that distinction, but that is what he believed.

It was the spear the convinced him.

A cultivator could use mana to fortify objects in such a way that in the right hands a common broom would become as deadly as an executioner’s sword. The rod Sunwhisper tapped against his thigh as he walked was forged of a material that, for all he knew, did not exist in Hollow. It was an alloy that had come from no natural means, but out of the most advanced nanotechnology available to Orobos and the mechanoborgs.

If mana infusion could turn household objects into weapons of legend, then what could it do for something like this?

He would follow the Honing path, wherever it led.

By the time he was nearing home, it was almost evening again, and he was reminded of the words of Karasu. She had wanted to see him again. Had the old raven recognized him through his disguise? If so, why hadn’t she revealed that knowledge to the woman who had caught him in the woods?

For a building that had been "ransacked" the night before, the warehouse seemed remarkably unguarded, at least from outside the fence. Everything looked the same as it had the previous evening, including the six-winged sacred beast regarding Sunwhisper from behind the bars of an iron cage.

"Kaa kaa," she said, "Not a thief boy. Not a thief."

Sunwhisper bowed.

"How can I be of help to the honorable guardian?"

The raven made a show of glancing side to side and bobbed its head in a manner that prompted Sunwhisper to step closer.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"What you are, I do not know," she said, "not as you seem, you are."

Sunwhisper stilled himself. "I am only a humble initiate, and I am not sure I understand you."

The raven's eyes flashed purple. "These eyes see you! Ultraviolet. Do you know what that means?”

He didn't. Sunwhisper had focused most of his reading on the associations that were relevant to his own capabilities, but the mechanoborgs Hero System had featured color associations as well. He knew that Syringe had been ultraviolet-aspected, so he could make an educated guess.

"You are a scientist?"

The raven's beak opened, then closed.

"What? No."

Sunwhisper bowed again. "I apologize for my ignorance."

"Stranger and stranger than strange," the raven huffed, "how much true, how much a mask? Your core, I can see. Your meridians, full of ripe fruit. The woman who caught you, an uncultured brute. Lucky. Pure luck. An elder would see what I see."

"Apologies, sacred one." Sunwhisper wasn’t sure how much of a problem this was going to be. The raven knew he was the thief, even if she didn’t know his real secret. The natural response would be to use his new spear to stab her to death in her cage, but that course of action carried its own set of risks. She hadn’t outed him yet, so she wanted something.

"No apologies. Incautious, reckless, that I need."

"Elder?"

"Favor, you promised. Favor, and no one knows. Not one will I tell."

"As I recall, you did not accept that bargain."

"Did or didn’t, you owe. The favor you owe, or what you did will be known."

Sunwhisper considered his position. The raven would be believed, its word would carry farther than his, at least in the ears of the elder, and with twenty fruits stolen, they were certain to want someone to blame. That would be a debt of a size he might never be able to repay.

"How can I help?"

The raven shifted in its cage, flexing its three pairs of wings one after the other. Its eyes flashing once more.

"Freedom."

This was dangerous ground.

"We would be caught."

"Freedom."

"If you tell them about me, won’t they punish you for not having told them in the first place?" It wasn’t much of an argument, but Sunwhisper wanted to take as least a little of the wind out of her wings. The raven seemed convinced that she could have him do whatever she wanted.

“Freedom!” The raven lunged against the front of her cage, causing it to sway.

"You leave me no choice."

The raven looked satisfied.

"Do you have any advice for me?"

The raven huffed. “Learn the scripts, you must. The wards. Elders have."

<<<>>>

Quest Alert --- Quoth the Raven

Karasu desires freedom above all else, and she is willing to have you arrested if you don't help her get it. The raven's cage was forged with powerful wards that will make it difficult to break; seek more information from the libraries of the elders about their construction.

<<<>>>

Sunwhisper took his leave of the sacred beast, his mind racing. He had already pressed his luck with the theft, and now he would have to commit an even greater crime to keep the first one secret. Would he even be able to remain in Fringe after this? At least nothing had come of the fruit heist. He'd expected security to be increased around the village’s store of Soma, but it had been as lax as ever.

There were lights all around the house of Jin when he returned. Kuei was there, along with other members of the security force. One of them grabbed Sunwhisper by his shoulder, his grip was harder than iron.

"Stay where you are, Makoto Shishio," Kuei commanded, "we know everything.”