Mythshaper

We met no elite-class demons on the second day. Granted, we moved through the same layers as the first day, killing over a couple of hundred demon centipedes, but that seemed to have strayed the stronger monsters off our way.

Decidedly, the chasms were divided into three layers. The first was obviously the outer layer. They had driven away all the monsters from this region to found all the mines. Seldom did anything dangerous spawn anywhere near the outer layer.

Then came the charted underbelly of the chasma. Here lay all the monsters driven away from the outer layer. So far, we had barely ventured beyond the periphery of the region. While there could be elite demons here, it was the final layer where they infested in large numbers. Hell, it would not even be surprising if there were a flock of Ashhounds remaining to be unveiled within the darkest depths.

Obviously, I was not prepared to venture anywhere near there, even under my parents' protection. There were threats down there other than the demons that nobody could protect me from. Moreover, there seemed to be other challenges in the depths. It was not a folded space or anything like that, but there was something about the atmosphere down there. It was as if the darkness had a tangible weight to it. The more I stayed within, the more evident that felt.

Rifts had similar characteristics, though they varied wildly from one rift to another. While the chasm's state might not be identical to rifts, its presence was perhaps far more ancient than the times rifts began to manifest within the realm. So many mysteries hid within the dreary depths... For now, all I could do to quench my thirst was read about them.

After felling the Stonegorger, I was a little richer now, as I had got the lion's share of the spoils. The Stonegorger's entire form was like a trove of rare ore. Ignoring the demon core, which alone was worth as much as twenty gold Leafs, most of its internal organs were made out of Midnight Gold. The only unfortunate aspect was that the Stonegorger merely had internal passages for internal organs. Still, all in all, the raw materials from a Stonegorger of that size alone were worth close to sixty gold Leafs, and more than double once they were refined by a pair of competent hands.

While I had not got all of the spoils, my share alone was almost a third of what could be salvaged from the monster. Another part went to the rest of my team, while the Monster Hunter guild took the remaining. Their portion of the loot was almost as much as mine, if not more. Honestly, it was surprising that we even got our part of the spoils. The materials from the giant centipedes were cheap. It was not a mere coincidence that we were sent to face them, because if we were to hunt Stonegorgers even at the rate of a couple of them a day, the Monster Hunter guild would be losing more money than what we paid them for.

Still, I hoped to cross paths with a few more Stonegorgers and enrich my pockets. Hell, I would be fine with any elite monsters. Maybe not the corpse flies, or the Devourer; those blighted things stink.

"Don't feel anxious, Pumpkin," Mum said, clearing a trace of dirt from my face. "We'll take you to face the elite ones once you're ready."

I perked up. "When I'm ready?"

"We'll determine when." She smiled.

"On the bright side," Father interjected, mirroring her smile, "even if we deem you unprepared to venture deeper, we can always lure a few monsters into isolation for you to fight."

Hearing that, I had the urge to lunge at him in a hug, but refrained, remembering the foul ick caked over my skin.

There were still days remaining for the contest. Even if Father lured in a couple of elite demons every day from now, I'd be done with the Demon Hunter Honour well before the tournament.

We came out from the depths an hour late today, putting in some extra work after becoming used to the gloomy staleness within. The guild had provided us with a guesthouse, which we did have to pay for additionally. Thankfully, it came with a training ground. Although for most of our stay, I had been hitting the bath more times than I was putting the training field to use. There was simply too much filth and grime marring my skin after the chasm-run.

Today was no exception—perhaps even more so, considering the numbers we had slain were almost twice those of the first day. I had mostly disposed of them with my aura, delighted with all the improvement I had made in the resonance of sharpness.

The sun had dipped fully on the other side of the chasma by the time we reached the quarters, when I noticed someone familiar standing at the very gate with her arms crossed on her chest.

I blinked.

"What? You act like you do not recognise your beautiful aunt?"

I snorted. "Of course, I recognise a goblin when I see one."

Rosalyn was ready to go violent on my cheeks, which were plump no more, but I swiftly flew to hide behind Mum.

"Well, you look most awful," she said, splitting into a grin and wiggling her fingers evilly. "I'll wait for you to bathe first."

Her gaze shifted to Mum, and immediately a line formed between her brows, looking at the indent in her stomach. "Have you been eating too much?" she said. "You have grown fat."

I almost burst into a laugh, but Mum was not impressed.

"Good to see you too, little goblin," she said admonishingly. "Hope the journey here was not hard on you."

"Nothing as troublesome as finding my way to that little village of yours," Rosalyn said. "Just got my way through the way gates twice, and here I am. Came as fast as I got your letter."

"How is Emi?" Mum asked.

"Busy and overworked, mostly." Rose greeted Father before returning to the topic. "She is in Vasher, taking care of half of the pressure from Mother's shoulders. You know, those kinds of stuff."

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Mum exhaled softly. "I heard the situation there had been quite dire."

"Not as much as some other places, but we have been swarming with all kinds of work for a while. Emi wouldn't admit it, but I think she was getting the hang of it. Anyway, she could not come, but she has sent gifts."

I learnt that Mum had secretly sent a letter to my aunts to ask if they could come and show me a thing or two on weaving. At the prestigious state, even Rosalyn could teach me shaping others would pay money to attend, I was sure. After all, she had lost the honour of Primus in her graduation only by half a mark.

I could not wait to learn all about how to shoot lightning from my bare hands. First, I had to clear off the stink of death and the disgusting ick from my flesh. I even chanced a couple of cleansing charms to be done with it as soon as I could, but even then, when I returned, I found Rosalyn was already unpacking the gifts.

A full-piece suit for Father and a matching gown for Mum. They looked as lavish as money could buy while retaining most of their movement function. I hoped the courtier making mine would create something as practical.

"Just so you know, these two are from me." Then Rosalyn's gaze dropped towards me. "Unfortunately, they blew away all my money for me to get anything for Arilyn."

I scowled. "Liar."

Smiling wickedly, she brought out a stupid-looking hat with a long-winded brim. It was exactly something I'd imagine a gleeman or someone at the circus to wear.

"With the little spare I had, I got you this," she said, putting it over my head.

This was simply absurd. The hat was absurd. And I looked absurd wearing it. I guessed that was the reason behind getting me this. For now, all I could do was brush it aside and scowl.

"Alright, fine," she chuckled, pinching my face. "There is something else for you. From both Emi and I. It took a lot to prepare this. You better be grateful this time."

She brought out a hardwood container from her blessed stone this time. Out came a couple of flat silver discs. Memory discs.

"They are something more than that."

I took one and inspected it. A regular capture disc was made of silver oneirium, which could be imprinted with various holographic images as well as voice notes, which could then be played through a projector. However, this one was made out of a gem—a gem infused with dream essence? Bloomshard?

Blighted gods, the regular silver discs alone cost an exorbitant price to buy, but if these were really made out of even a fraction of Bloomshard, then these two little chips must cost hundreds of gold leaves, if not more. I sure hoped they could retain a lot more records than your usual silver discs.

"The discs aren't the gift, but what's recorded in them," Rosalyn said, finding me enamoured by the shiny disc. "You still have that projector I gifted you, correct? Come on, put the one in your right palm in, and you'll see."

The way she was grinning, there must have been something really great in it. Thankfully, I had that fabricator on my person. Quickly bringing it out from storage, I slotted in one of the discs.

As the light began to flicker, I set it on the table. Soon, an illusionary image of Aunt Emi surfaced above the table.

"Rose, if this doesn't work this time…" Her voice played, perfectly synchronised with the image. "Oh, you started it again without warning." She breathed deeply and waved her palm. "Good evening, Arilyn. Well, it's evening when we're recording this. Would have been morning, if Rose had managed to tune them in first time."

She shot a pointed look to her left. I reckoned it was where Rosalyn was standing when recording it.

"I'm sorry that I cannot reach you in person, but I promise to be there to see you in the tournament. Anyhow, Ash has been telling me that you're missing some shaping lessons, so here we are. Now, the fundamentals can be learned through written words, but in practice, a visual medium works a hundred times better. Even more for you with your Fractal sight. Usually, a common capture disc cannot record much of the essence or the weaves. I hope we found a workaround for that by using Bloomshard in place of your regular metallic discs. But in any instance, if it doesn't work, know that it is all Rosalyn's idea.

"Getting to shaping, while a visual medium of teaching is the best, it is better to know the theory before beginning to attempt them. As you can imagine, shaping is dangerous, and sometimes even to the shaper. I have sent a couple of books with her. Read them first before diving more into what I am going to teach here."

Rosalyn shot a couple of threads to quickly pause the image right there and handed me a couple of thick tomes.

"Here you go."

One of the books seemed ancient, called Affinity and Weaves, by Cian Ulsikar. I knew that name, having read two other books by the same author, also recommended by her. The other one was filled with handwritten notes by Aunt Emi herself.

"Let me guess," I said, glancing at Rose. "I have to complete all this before you will let me move on to the records."

"Emi would want that," she grinned. "But I am not Emi, and theories are overrated anyway. To someone like you and I, at least. I will let you set it aside."

"Then I'm glad you're not Aunt Emi," I laughed, but as I reached to turn the device on, she restrained my threads from approaching the projector.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"You think I'm irresponsible enough to let you into advanced shaping without any condition?"

Yeah? I almost said it.

"I may not have the same feeling of all those obscure theories as someone like Emi, but I'll still ensure you are prepared before letting you dive into the advanced lessons."

"And how are you going to make sure of that?" I asked, playing along.

My aunt tilted her head, considering. "I have not thought about that." She hummed. "How about you defeat me in a weaving duel. No, that's infeasible. If I play to my strength, you'll never get the upper hand."

I cocked an eyebrow.

"Hmm, how about two minutes? So long you can keep up for two minutes, I'll let you move into advanced shaping?"

Just a couple of minutes? That sounded… easy.

Rosalyn patted my head, grinning. "Don't worry. I will only use half my threads and Weight."

Now, that sounded as if she'd just let me win.

Immediately, I sat down on the floor and gestured for her to take station. For the first turn, I let her have the lead. My aunt began with a streak of sixty-four threads, beginning the simplest kinetic weave. I returned with the same number of threads, unfurling her weave.

"Oh, I see where the confidence comes from," she said, though the curve never disappeared from her lips. Then her threads twisted into a complex elemental weave of water and air.

I copied the exact way she had made it and reversed it. It took more effort, but I did manage, issuing some more threads.

"You have certainly grown stronger."

In my turn, I brought out all the two hundred and fifty-six threads I had access to.

"You should have gone for a few more minutes," I said, knitting the threads into the most complicated weave I could implement.

"And certainly more pompous," she added. Even still, she remained with the sixty-four threads. Perhaps she thought she could outdo me by the sheer Weight of it.

But she did not know I had duels with Mum on a regular basis, and Mum did not let me win easily. I had learnt all the tricks there were to making a weave unnecessarily complex, as much as I knew about swift casting. Applying compression, empowerment, concentration, and all the other weaves, I made it as complex and robust as I could. But it was not a make-it-and-done affair, as my opponent was no slouch either.

As soon as she unfurled one, I had to push another pattern into the primary weave to maintain its harmony. It forced her to spend more and more seconds to reach the very root of my weave.

"Looks like I need to use some more of my strength."

She brought another sixty-four threads into the mix and almost matched all my power with them. I concentrated, so as not to be overwhelmed by a fourth of her capacity.

Fractal sight might have been a driving force of my victory. Unfortunately, it was not much of an advantage against her. Rose's gift was perception-based, and together with her prestigious-class influence, she erased any gain I might have had on her.

Still, two minutes was something I was sure I could manage.

But just when the clock was about to turn for the second minute, a monumental wave of power surged through Rose's threads and obliterated my weave in the blink of an eye.

Rosalyn grinned.

I was about to shout that she cheated, that it was not the way of a weave challenge. But that would only make me look like a sore loser.

"If it's any consolation, I did use half of my strength in that last moment," she said.

I clenched my fist, withdrawing the flailing threads.

"Want to have another go?"

"You bet."

That ended in my defeat as well, and this time, too, Rose took her time to defeat me with a surge of force at the very last moment. She was so insufferable about it that she brought out a board to keep track of our tally.

A big zero on my side and two points on hers.

Looking at her smug smile, I vowed that I would eat nothing before defeating her.

A couple of hours passed, and I learned how bad of an idea that was. I had spent all day in the bowels of the earth, going through rigorous demon hunting, with merely an early-morning meal. So far, Rose had defeated me in all bouts. No matter what I pulled, she had an answer for it all, letting me remember that she might have duelled against Mum as well. And the empty stomach did not help my account at all.

Sixty-one to nil, said the scoreboard. If I were a couple of years younger, I might even have called it child bullying.

I had read that an awakened power did not grow linearly through classes; today I got to learn that first hand. Prestigious Class was something, all right. Despite having exactly half of her threads, the power I could wield barely matched hers when she wielded half of her power.

It took two hours for me to learn that. Though what hurt the most was the truth that I was incapable of crushing her anytime soon. Hopefully, I would be able to bridge the gap in about a year, advancing to Prestigious Class.

For now, I did not even have to match her. I just had to survive for two minutes.

I changed my tactic on that realisation. It took only a couple more efforts to extend our duels to two minutes. It turned out I was simply better at undoing others' weaves. And after getting used to all of Rose's tricks, it merely took all my power to keep her weave from coming into fruition for two whole minutes.

Yes, it took my everything. Everything. And I was so spent that I believed I could not even attend the lessons Aunt Emi had recorded for me.

And the worst part was, Rose simply wiped the huge zero to draw a single line on my side of the scoreboard.

Sixty-three to one.