Sacrifice Mage

“It’s essentially contraband,” Revayne whispered to me as we got away from the evil nobles.

“Should you really be spending time talking to me about the potential wrongdoings of your in-laws on your wedding day?” I asked.

“It’s not potential, Ross. I believe I have legitimate proof now.”

“Go on, then,” I said with a sigh.

I should have been grateful that she had unearthed evidence of House Uralivanth’s actions causing me harm somehow, and I was curious to know what that was. Desperate to know what that was, actually, because I still hadn’t made much progress with Ring Zero messing with the Starlamps. And now there was a Great House taking a direct hand against me?

But for one, this wasn’t anything unfamiliar. In fact, I had suspected it would be House Brasvay trying to mess with me, not House Uralivanth, whom I had never interacted with before.

For another, I really did want Revayne to focus on herself and what she really wanted here on one of the most important days of her whole life. Maybe I had been a little silly in assuming that her marriage was the most important thing, and even sillier to think my assumptions should determine how exactly she spent her day.

I just didn’t want her to get sidetracked while trying to do something for me.

And maybe that was the sudden egomania I needed to nip in the bud. Not everything everyone I knew did was about me, for crying out loud.

“You know how House Uralivanth is well connected?” Revayne said.

I nodded.

“Well, look at this.”

She walked over and placed her hands on one of the chairs. It wasn’t fashioned from wood, not on a planet where trees were scarcer than gemstones. Rather, it was some kind of strange stonework that had been artfully carved into furniture.

“This is something House Uralivanth took care of,” Revayne said. “They’re in charge of supplying the furnishings for the wedding event. Both Houses are contributing equally. Revayne took care of the food, sending out the invitations, hiring the performers, while Uralivanth handled setting up the infrastructure and everything related.”

“You’re getting a bit sidetracked,” I said.

“I’m providing context.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Anyway, the company they contracted for the furniture? Well, I’ve found proof of their dealings in Ring Zero.”

I frowned. A part of me realized that it would probably look very odd for a new bride to be walking by herself with some random guy who wasn’t her groom. Revayne seemed to realize that too, which was probably why we were still out in the open, walking almost leisurely back towards the central dais with the fancy loveseats-slash-thrones where her husband was.

“Is it abnormal for a company to have business in Ring Zero?” I asked. “Though, I suppose having it be overt is obviously bad for business.”

Revayne shook her head. “It’s not even that. The furniture we have at this venue is sourced from Ring Zero. They aren’t even using the front they have in Zairgon proper. Of course, they don’t expect anyone to go looking into the finances of their furniture of all things, but it’s incredibly brazen.” For a moment, she scowled, though it melted away pretty quickly. “The sheer arrogance.”

Right. Uralivanth were so secure in their power and position, little “gaffes” like these hardly mattered in the grand scheme of things.

I smiled, though. “Just makes your job easier, doesn’t it?”

Revayne wasn’t amused, the sourness of her expression lost in her book. “Perhaps. I just had a higher esteem for the House I’m marrying into. At least make me work harder to implicate you?”

I couldn’t help but laugh a little. “How’d you even find proof of it?”

“I’ll show you.”

The evidence Revayne had found appeared as we reached the crowd again. Thefris was trying to drag a reluctant Hamsik to the dance floor.

“Stop being a stick-in-the-mud, husband,” she said.

Hamsik found my eyes and sent a silent but desperate cry for help. I had a very hard time stowing away my smile. Our appearance had the desired effect of distracting his wife.

“Oh, hello there,” Thefris said. “Somehow, I can tell exactly what you two have been discussing with just a single look.”

Revayne looked up from her book. “Is it that obvious?”

“Of course! You’re hardly as closed off as you think you are, Lady Revayne. I can read you like a—” Thefris’s eyes fell to the manifestation of Revayne’s Aspect. “Well, like a book.”

“Please, Lady Revayne is my mother.”

We didn’t chat a lot afterwards. Or rather, we didn’t talk business like Revayne and I had been. There wasn’t much further to say beyond the fact that House Uralivanth really were intricately tied to shady dealings. Well, there was one thing Thefris made sure to impress upon me.

“It’s all a big web, Ross,” she said quietly while Hamsik was paying his respects to the married couple. Apparently, they had arrived only about ten to fifteen minutes ago, which was why I hadn’t seen them yet. “All of this is connected. What the guard captain is investigating, the issues you’re facing, they’re closely related. That’s partly why I’m involved too.”

That wasn’t exactly a comforting revelation. But so far, I had only thought of House Uralivanth as bad guys in general. Not enemies directly acting against me and my interests. But now, both Revayne and Thefris were warning me to be vigilant.

Great. Maybe House Uralivanth had picked up the ball that House Brasvay had dropped. Then again… maybe not. Brasvay had been perfectly happy to use Zoltan Kalnislaw as an intermediary to further their own goals. If Uralivanth really was going to act against me, then were they doing so at the behest of House Brasvay?

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

It wasn’t impossible. They had been forced to take a step back after the last trial, not just from their attempt to take over the Sun Cult temple, but from the public in general as far as I had seen. So, they’d need to rely on others to carry out their dirty work, even more so than before.

This was supposed to be a happy evening celebrating a friend’s nuptials, though, so I tried forgetting about it all and just enjoying myself.

Even if the bride herself was the main perpetrator of non-wedding-related activities.

With the event winding down, I took some time chatting inconsequentially with the others, mostly with people I knew. I found that Ascelkos had been invited too. In fact, a whole group of Anymphea were present. He had brought his mother, Kyris, as well. The stately Anymphea matron greeted me and said she was looking forward to my Protostar artifices.

It was nice to try and forget about the worries and troubles of the outside and just spend time pleasantly with people I liked. Sure, there were people I didn’t like too. A lot of the nobles were still glaring at me, and I heard some whispers about me showing up the others.

Still. The atmosphere was overall light-hearted and enjoyable. For all the little niggles and worries, it was a good time overall.

“How do you feel about it all?” I asked Revayne before I took my leave. “You know, about the fact that you’re married and all that.”

She took a second to consider the question, and I knew she was serious because she looked at me rather than at her book to decipher whatever she was feeling. “It’s… odd.”

“You don’t say,” I said wryly. “Do you, you know, like the guy?”

“We nobles don’t deal with likes and dislikes. ‘Tis a duty, not an expression of love.” She paused. For a brief moment, she turned to her husband who was talking with someone else. Some sixth sense made Gushal Uralivanth turn to meet his betrothed’s eyes. He smiled at her. “But I may grow to… enjoy it, in some fashion, I think.”

“I hope so,” I said. “He seems like a nice guy. But what if he’s also… implicated?”

“He seems a little too innocent to be involved in all the undercity dealings of his family.” Revayne’s eyes hardened. “But if he is, then he won’t be receiving any mercy from me.”

That sounded like such an emotional headache, I was just thankful I wasn’t in her shoes. But also, she was doing this of her own volition, going out of her way to convict her new family. I just shook my head. Revayne was something else.

I grabbed Sreketh on my way back to the temple. She had finished her exams, and better yet, she had aced them.

“I topped my whole class!” she said excitedly. “It was so funny seeing everybody’s looks when the professor announced it.”

I grinned. “Congrats, Sreketh. All your efforts are paying off.”

She raised her head proudly, even though that still only brought her to chest height next to me.

“We should celebrate,” I said.

Sreketh was suddenly embarrassed. “Oh, it’s nothing, really. This is just the start. There will be more tests I need to do well in. No point in celebrating every little thing.”

“Nonsense. You’re an official academy student now! That’s huge. It’s the first step towards you owning the whole academy in your back pocket. We’ve got to celebrate such an important milestone. Not just for you, but for all of Ring Four.”

She hid her face in continued embarrassment but eventually agreed.

“It’s a little sad,” she said as we were nearing the gate between Rings Three and Four. “With all the time I’m spending on trying to make friends, keep up with my studies, and even trying to join some clubs, I haven’t had as much time to practice with my Aspect. Aside from some of my Attributes—and even then, it’s only Spirit—I’ve only grown by a rank in months.”

I patted her head. Her scales felt warmer than I expected. “You’ve got all the time in the world ahead of you. Don’t start rushing now.”

She grumbled a bit, but agreed. I asked a bit more about her school, and I wanted to steer the conversation into asking about any potentially bullying problems she was facing, but Sreketh started clamming up even before I explicitly got to it, so I didn’t push the matter.

Sometimes, it was best to let people handle their problems on their own instead of forcefully interfering and making everything worse. I just reiterated that she could always come to me. It wasn’t wrong to seek help.

The rest of the cult was elated at her success too. We had another nice dinner the next day, and Sreketh was so overwhelmed by the positivity that she ended up crying at the end of it.

I tried to focus on training over the next few days. Multicast was fun. I only had to focus on one Aspect, and with the minutest flick of my will, it manifested the effect of whichever of my other Aspects I focused on at the same time.

This was best done with Illumination. Just by shining my light on my trusty old broken brick, I was raising its weight to twice its normal level and slowly turning it so hot that it might have come out of a kiln moments ago. It didn’t seem like that big of a deal, considering I could just channel my Aspects at the same time.

But the difference came in cast times. I didn’t need to spend any time or effort focusing on other Aspects like Gravity or Flare. It just happened automatically. This freed up my brain space to focus on other things simultaneously.

The drawback was that it still needed mana to function. As in, a not insignificant chunk of mana that would have gone to powering Illumination was instead converted into Gravity or Flare, depending on my focus. This wasn’t a terrible thing. Light itself was harmless—unless I was facing Hamsik’s relatives—so reducing its intensity to allow other Aspects to work was a good exchange.

I needed to practice it, though. Controlling the balance of how much light caused how much of my other Aspects to come into being was more complicated than I had assumed. It wasn’t just direct apportioning, like if I had fifty-percent light, the rest would be gravity and heat.

Rather, the amount of Illumination I called up dictated how much of my other Aspects could arise too.

It was weird to have them be directly proportional like that and also separate pieces of the whole amount of magical energy I channelled. No surprise, really. Magic didn’t need to adhere to mathematics.

I also spent a good deal of time not neglecting my Attributes. Improving my Vitality was getting harder and harder without just letting people like the Scarthralls or Gutran wail on me while I did practically nothing to defend myself. Although, I did train up Vital Mana. Killing casts of my Aspects in my stead continued to be amazing for maintaining momentum in fights.

A few days of training resulted in new ranks, and also got me past the holdup in Entropy to take it to Silver. Thauma came in clutch, granting me facsimiles of breakthroughs without needing the real deal, though it couldn’t really do so for my stronger Aspects like Illumination.

[ Rank Up!

Your Vitality and Thauma Attributes have risen by one Rank.

Your Entropy Aspect has risen by one Rank.

Vitality: Gold VII

Thauma: Gold III

Entropy: Silver II ]

Ah, right. I needed to think of new Affixes for Entropy. While I still didn’t have any particular ideas for it, it was a good mental exercise.

All I had to do was look at what I was already capable of with the Aspect, figure out what I wanted to be capable of and note down areas it lacked, then work from there. In Entropy’s case, there was one area I really needed to address—the rate at which it worked wasn’t fast enough for physical matter.

Testing had revealed that making Entropy work on solid materials instead of energy took way too long. If I wanted to apply it in that direction, I’d need to accelerate its prowess.

A couple developments at the end of the week finally brought my steady concentration on my own growth to an end. One was the announcement of another Nether Vein expedition, to which I had been unsurprisingly invited.

The other was a member of the Sea Cult arriving on our doorstep with dire news.

“He’s missing, Cultist,” the young man said, looking stricken. “We have seen neither hide nor hair of Cultist Favoile in almost a week now.”

The look on his face made me feel awful. It was like a child desperately seeking a lost parent.

“Missing?” I asked.

“We don’t know what to make of it either. He’s just… gone.”