Divine Apostasy Book 6 - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Ruwen floated in darkness, thankful to still be alive. On one hand, he felt thrilled at successfully transferring his Spirit with just desire. But on the other hand, he’d once again underestimated the results. Even taking care, he’d put himself in danger.

That meant Ruwen had to be even more careful. He created a Mana pill and swallowed it, causing his Mana bar to max out. He needed to find a way to make smaller Mana pills, so he didn’t waste essence.

For a moment, Ruwen considered trying to create a shed with Spirit, but decided he needed to start even safer than that. With a full Mana bar, he cast Shed, but this time he made a door along one wall because he enjoyed seeing the distant star.

Using Sow Seeds, Ruwen eased himself to the floor. He sat and thought about his next step. What could he use or manipulate with his will that had zero danger?

The problem was, even something as simple as Glow, might cause danger. What if a supercharged Glow melted his skin? He thought about his healing spell Massage, and worried if a person could heal themselves to death? And really, he had now become reluctant to cast anything on himself that used will to control the flow.

How to practice then? Ruwen focused on his spinning Core, surrounded by his center and its twelve Meridian connections. Why was this all so complicated? He wished he could access the book A Worker’s Guide to Harvesting. No, not a book, a sketcher. Rami had figured out Uru held the other sketcher and updated the “book” as Ruwen progressed.

Even a mentor that gave Ruwen knowledge hidden in terrible sayings would be better than fumbling through the process on his own. After ten minutes, he still didn’t have a solution. He didn’t want to ask Overlord because Ruwen figured he’d get an overthought, logical answer. And he knew the answer he needed relied on feeling and faith more than logic.

Bored, Ruwen used a mental hand to spin his Core, increasing its speed.

Ruwen sat up straight. Using the same mental hand, he pressed it against his Core, slowing it until it stopped completely.

Increasing Core Velocity, as long as Ruwen didn’t connect it to any Meridians or tried to access his Spirit, had no ill effects. Not only that, while his display wouldn’t update so far from home, he could still roughly judge the speed by observing the rotational velocity.

“Overlord?”

“Is it safe out here?” Overlord asked, appearing in front of Ruwen. He sat down and crossed his legs.

“Very funny. You’re not even really out here.”

“True, and I think it’s actually more dangerous in here.”

Ruwen ignored the comment. “Listen, I figured out a safe way to learn Spirit manipulation. Maybe.”

“Safe like last time?”

“Safer, I think. Anyway, I want your help in judging the rotational velocity of my Core.”

“Now you’re talking my language.”

“I’m going to start with it motionless, and then use my old method to maximize its spin. When I did that for my Gem transition, I got to within one hundred nine of the twelve thousand maximum. So those are your ranges.”

“Got it.”

Ruwen used mental hands one more time to spin his Core. After thirty seconds, it didn’t seem to go any faster, so he stopped. “Okay, let’s call this max.”

It took Ruwen two minutes to stop his Core. He looked at Overlord, who stared at the faraway star.

“We should name it,” Overlord said.

“The star?”

“Yeah. We’re going to be here a while, and I think it might help.”

Ruwen thought about that and then nodded. “Okay. Any ideas?”

“How about Shiny?”

Ruwen stared at Overlord, speechless.

Overlord turned to Ruwen and laughed. “Just kidding. That’s a Sift name.”

Ruwen relaxed. “Thank Uru. Because that’s really dumb.”

They stared at the star for another ten seconds.

“How about Hope?” Ruwen asked.

“Maybe a little desperate sounding,” Overlord said.

“Hmm, that might be true. What about Mentor or Sisen or something like that since I’ll be learning so much here.”

Overlord shrugged. “Kind of boring.”

“I could name it Hamma. She might like having a star named after her.”

Overlord shook his head. “There are like a trillion trillion better stars. This one is very ordinary and plain. But it’s your call.”

They stared at the star for another minute in silence.

“Naming things is hard,” Ruwen said.

“Yeah,” Overlord said. Then after a few seconds, he added. “It is shiny.”

“Fine,” Ruwen said. “We’ll use the stupid Sift name until we think of something better.”

“He’ll be so happy,” Overlord said. “And now I’m thinking of chickens and eggs.”

That was a weird thing to say. “Are you talking about the Savage Seven level in Fractal?”

Overlord shrugged, and Ruwen let the comment go.

“You ready?” Ruwen asked.

“Yep.”

Ruwen stood and willed his Core to turn. He didn’t need Overlord to tell him what had happened. He could see it.

“I’d call that maxed,” Overlord said.

Ruwen took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Slowing his Core always took longer. Maybe he’d have more luck with a controlled stop.

How did one use less will? It seemed like an all-or-nothing type thing. Ruwen tried to only kind of want to stop his Core.

Ruwen’s Core continued to spin, unaffected.

Trying again, this time Ruwen didn’t add any mental emphasis to his desire, and just willed his Core to slow.

This time Ruwen’s Core responded.

Overlord spoke. “I’m going to call that, let me calculate it, give me a moment, carry the one…that is a solid zero.”

“Thanks a lot, Overlord. You’re really getting quite the sense of humor.”

Overlord shrugged and tapped his temple. “You have a lot of comedy books in here. And Rami encouraged me to try and differentiate myself from you whenever I could.”

“Are you saying I don’t have a sense of humor?”

“That’s the fastest you’ve ever slowed your Core,” Overlord responded.

“Way to change the subject,” Ruwen said. “But you’re right. It seems my will only works at the extremes.”

“Not surprising, I guess. It took you years of Step training before you could control your power effectively.”

The comment caused Ruwen’s brain to cool.

“Oh, no,” Overlord said. “I hope the Citadel’s foundation survives.”

Icicles grew inside Ruwen’s mind, their tips ripping through his mind. But after the Literary Aneurism trap Rami had triggered in the library, the Cleverness attribute activating didn’t even seem painful anymore.

The memory of Rami’s voice as she talked about the Addas floated through Ruwen’s thoughts…”They have survived because they are together, and have honed their abilities by becoming Step Grandmasters, hiding their knowledge in their forms.”

Ruwen’s mind grew frigid. Memories of Step training with Rami surfaced. She had forced him to not only learn the Steps but to control them. So that the same strike could shatter a bone or cause a bruise.

As Ruwen’s brain froze, his Cleverness attribute provided the connection. His will decided every aspect of his Steps, and the first Refinement form he’d learned had hidden in the Addas’ stretching forms. The Steps, once again, provided a path to understanding.

“I’m heading out to see how much damage that caused,” Overlord said. “Yell if you need me.”

Overlord disappeared before Ruwen could apologize for any destruction.

Excited, Ruwen stood in the first Viper Step. His thoughts earlier on muscle memory had been on the right track. But those skills had resulted from the power of his will. He had focused on the stream, not the glacier that fed it.

The first Viper Step didn’t feel natural with Sow Seeds pushing downward, but Ruwen only needed to perform the first couple Steps. Since his muscle memory stemmed from his physical will, he hoped linking a physical action to his spiritual will might help. If it worked, he just needed to throw punches until he sensed what partial spiritual will felt like.

Ruwen triggered the Scarecrow Aspect’s clone, and it stood before him. He snapped his arm forward in a basic punch using one percent of his power, ending a hairsbreadth from the clone’s chest. As he executed the attack, he channeled that feeling into spinning his Core.

Returning to the first Step, Ruwen looked at his fist and frowned. He hadn’t felt anything across his Spiritual network. Although, to be fair, he didn’t know what to sense.

Disappointed, Ruwen focused on his Core anyway, just to confirm it remained motionless.

Instead, Ruwen found his Core slowly turning.