Chapter 31 - My Whole Heart

“This,” Lenton said with a dramatic pause, “Is a priceless artifact from an age before the empire. The process of its creation is as lost to us as its creator.

“I personally believe it to be a device designed to train young hopefuls for some task or another. Many of my colleagues disagree, believing its purpose is greater, something profound.

“Those fools wouldn't know a measuring stick if you beat them over the head with it. They would probably mistake the pain as a lesson from the divine and start a new religion over it!”

Lenton took a moment to calm himself, the furious glare in his eyes spoke of a history filled with frustration and disappointment with his old colleagues.

“Jiran, as a first step in learning to use shaping, your task will be to open this cube. Fear not, this task is quite simple, I’m sure you will have no difficulties.”

Jiran nodded his understanding.

“Good. Remember, the clearer the mental image and the deeper the understanding of the subject matter, the more potent and refined the shaping becomes.

“On the topic of subject matter, you are hereby banned from the library and will endeavor to avoid any books or teachings in relation to shaping.

“You must learn to feel the elements within yourself. Learning through experience and your own ingenuity will yield greater long-term results than attempting to follow in someone else’s flawed footprints.”

As if of its own volition, the cube lifted into the air and shot across the room toward Jiran. He leaped from his chair in a desperate attempt to catch the priceless artifact before it could be damaged which elicited a guffaw from Lenton.

“It’s not some pretty little toy, child. That cube is reinforced with more density than you can fathom. Your body will break apart into dust long before that cube acquires a single scratch.”

Jiran took a moment to marvel at the exquisite craftsmanship of the cube. The metal was smooth to the touch and matched his body temperature so perfectly that he had a strange sensation like he was touching his own skin rather than a metal box.

Hundreds, possibly thousands, of intricate moving parts all combined to create the most masterful puzzle he had ever seen.

Should be easy my ass! Who the heck could even design something like this?

Why is it so light? If it’s really packed with density like he says, shouldn't it be a lot heavier?

I should ask them about the challenger density and this timer, it’s really starting to freak me out.

47:58:23

Forty seven hours left to figure out how to deal with this thing.

Jiran opened his mouth, the question on the tip of his tongue but his words failed to materialize. He felt as if a beast had climbed inside of him and held his lungs in an iron grip that refused to allow air to travel through his vocal cords.

His mouth opened and closed several times as the two men regarded his strange behavior.

What the hell is happening?! I can’t ask them about it?

He tried a different question with the same results. The words refused to form.

His hand holding the cube tightly began to shake with the intensity of his efforts.

Lenton raised a hand for Jiran to stop his nonsensical childish tantrum while the old man turned his gaze to Samris. When Samris nodded with a sigh, Lenton continued.

“As of this moment, your squire duties have been revoked. You are now my apprentice and shall conduct yourself as such. Which means no running errands for uppity nobles who don’t respect their elders.”

Samris rolled his eyes in a display of disrespect so perfect that it appeared choreographed.

Jiran bit his lip, refusing to allow panic to overwhelm him during such an important conversation.

“One final thing, I overheard your plans to train your cousin.”

He overheard that?! Was he watching me again or are his ears just that good? Considering how much stronger my senses became when I tiered, I should just assume he can hear everything whether I can see him or not.

“I approve. Teaching is a fantastic path to forming your knowledge into wisdom. A lesson taught is a lesson learned.”

“Now, off with you!”

Jiran bowed to each of them separately before leaving the study. His heart raced with anticipation to unlock the secrets of an ancient artifact even as dread for the implications of what just happened squeezed his guts.

Something is stopping me from talking about the challenger density.

Jiran dashed to the library and tried to write a message about his condition but his hands just shook helplessly instead of putting ink to page.

Not good. Clearly whatever is in charge of the system wants this to be kept a secret, but why?

That’s the wrong question. I need to figure out what to do about it, not worry about why.

Jiran’s feet took him toward the kitchen as he continued to ruminate on the timer.

The moment he swung open the doors and walked into the kitchen, Sharaal squinted at him in annoyance.

“Come to empty the pantry again? Look at you, twice as big as yesterday and likely with twice the gaping hole you call a stomach! Lunch isn’t ready yet, scraps from breakfast are over there.”

She jerked her head to indicate the direction Jiran was already walking, his nose being perfectly capable of tracking down her cooking anywhere in the manor.

He gave her a big smile and a silent “thank you,” before scooping up as many leftovers as he could carry and hastening outside.

Sitting under a tree in the yard, Jiran crammed the tier four food down his throat as quickly as he could.

Finally, I don’t have to hold back! Eating slow is for old people, no thanks.

While chewing at a pace any civilized creature would consider appalling, Jiran put aside his pressing concern to review the other high points of his insane day.

So, it turns out shaping is crazy dangerous if you can form the correct mental image. When I pictured a simple flame, like Samris showed me, I got zero results but when I pictured molecular physics, it nearly killed me.

I need to go through each element and do the same thing to unlock them all.

Wait, the body does a hell of a lot more than just produce a few elements like heat and lightning. I’ll have to test making acids, gases, bacteria, and viruses too.

The list goes on and on. The amount of things I can create with this one skill seems mind-boggling.

I also want to train Niya, work on this cube, increase my attributes for the next tier, figure out the challenger density insanity, and—

A cloud exploded and Jiran didn’t waste a second snapping a Coating over one of his arms to absorb as much of the density as he could. The wave was much stronger than he expected as it threw him backward onto the ground.

Despite his body slowly sinking into the ground, he maintained focus until the wave receded.

Ugh, I completely forgot the effects of Densoon waves increase in intensity with each tier. To think it would be this extreme at just the second tier. I’m surprised I didn’t notice when I was wrestling with Niya earlier.

How do Samris and Lenton walk through the waves as if they don’t exist? More questions for another day.

I bet even if I managed to ask Lenton about the timer he would just tell me to figure it out for myself. I really shouldn’t waste any time relying on other people to solve this for me.

I’m sure if I can just calm down and think I’ll figure this out in no time. I need a distraction until I’ve calmed down.

I’ve got just the thing right here in my hand.

Jiran focused for a moment and converted the density from his food into mana until his pool was full then palmed the cube.

The tight cables and mechanisms were so chaotically clustered together that he had no idea where he was supposed to start.

https://imgur.com/JfdcPMf

There are four distinct colors, maybe I should start with that.

Jiran tried poking and prodding the different colored bands of metal with his mana. He pulled, spun, and shook the cube with no result. He even shocked it with a small current which also failed to elicit a response.

Don't get frustrated. Stop and think. What's the purpose of the cube?

To teach me about shaping. But I tried shaping with lightning and it didn’t respond at all.

Hmm, four colors. red, gold, green, and blue. Red should be fire if I follow typical RPG mechanics. Might as well give that a try.

This is a good chance to get the first level in fire control too. Since images of molecules worked the best with lightning, I'll start with that.

With an application of Coating on his hand, Jiran began.

Jiran pictured the rapidly moving molecules and atoms of his body. They bounced into each other's electromagnetic fields, repelling and attracting in a chaotic jumble that sped out of control into a friction-fueled inferno.

He then applied mana into his palm just below the cube.

“Fire Control.”

A red flame the size of Jirans head burst forth from his palm. The flames completely enveloped the cube which shot into the air immediately upon interacting with the fire. In a panic, he cut off his flow of mana to the shaping and scrambled to grab the falling artifact.

Technique evolution triggered - Fire Control > Fire Manipulation

Technique evolution triggered - Fire Manipulation > Origin of Fire

Technique evolution triggered - Origin of Fire > True Origin of Fire

True Origin of Fire + 1

True Origin of Fire + 1

True Origin of Fire…

Yes! That is so hot.

Wow, that was lame. Yeah no more puns for me… today.

The cube reacted strangely when it touched the fire like it wanted to fly away from it. That’s the first time I’ve seen it react to something. I should try again, but maybe with a weaker heat.

With his hand still coated, Jiran held the cube and used the smallest hint of mana he could control to create a fire.

A blazing ball of molten death the size of his chest rushed from his upturned palm and devoured the cube. He felt his skin sizzling as the oxygen inside his lungs burned away in a flash that left him choking and rolling on the ground in agony.

Several minutes of tormented Regeneration later, he was laying on his back in the dirt trying to figure out what went wrong.

My mental image of fire was way too strong. It was fine when I used the basic fire control technique because it automated everything. I need to make a sloppier mental image on purpose to ‘dumb down’ the power since that was the smallest amount of mana I could control.

Gross.

Feeling revolted that he had to do something in a less-than-optimal way, Jiran spent several minutes carefully loosening his mental image until he had a stable flame that wasn’t quite so eager to devour him alive.

When he activated the cube under his fire, it hovered several centimeters above his palm as if it were eating his flames and using it as fuel to power itself.

He watched in fascination as several wires and cogs began to slowly unwind from the cube and fold outward, revealing more mechanisms deeper within.

This thing is so awesome. I wish I could meet whoever created it. Too bad they’re long dead.

                                                             Olive

The ground reached up and grabbed Olive in an abusive embrace. Cameron and Dommell fell just after her, each with their own accompanied grunts of pain at the sudden fall.

She blinked the dust from her eyes and scanned their surroundings.

If I can’t figure out where we are, we’ll never make it home. There has to be a clue.

She saw what appeared to be another valley stretching out around them. As far as she could tell at first glance, it was exactly the same as the last one.

No, it’s different. I can taste the ocean, and those hills are capped with sharp, jagged rocks. We are somewhere southwest of Cruex then.

At least it’s not the southeast, the Undead Barrens would be a deathtrap for us.

The Southwest Reaches are known for having relatively low tier beasts so maybe we have a chance of running.

No, even if we got away from this madman, it’s densoon season. If we encountered a mutant, we wouldn't live long enough to scream.

Just as she stood up, a reverberating roar blasted her back onto her ass.

A dozen trees in front of them were torn clear out of the forest floor and thrown over their heads in a display of power that sent fear shooting through her entire body.

Olive looked up to see a nightmare of true horror. A mutant beast larger than a building, with glowing red and gold eyes that stared directly at her.

The smooth insides of its gaping maw were like two huge slabs of iron. She instinctively knew that If they slammed shut on her, she would be squished flatter than a skipping rock.

The hard scales that covered its face rattled menacingly as it drew in huge breaths of air through large nostrils.

It took a step toward them and the ground shook. She tried to stand and run, but the mutant's impossible weight impacting the dirt stole her footing.

A low growl escaped its throat that shook her entire body and left her teeth rattling.

https://imgur.com/cDe1FI3

For the first time in her life, Olive was awake.

As the beast took another step and death loomed, she finally understood what her parents had been trying to prepare her for. This was the real world. This is what everyone had to face eventually.

Every lecture, tutor, and lesson was all for this. In that moment of clarity, she remembered rolling her eyes and calling them dramatic.

She now knew the truth and she was not prepared.

Wetness spread down her leg as pure terror took her body captive.

A clear voice, bored and uncaring, cut through the beast's noise as if it were merely hot air and bluster.

“Look at this adorable little critter that we accidentally, completely by serendipity, happened to teleport right next to. My goodness, whatever should we do?” Mark the Hiss announced to his audience of tear-stricken children.

Never again.

“Oh, I know! I’ll just let you kids go free right now. Surely you’re excited to get back to your parents and the safety of your comfortable beds. Well, ta-ta then.” He said with a too-wide smile and a gentle wave of his hand.

Three sets of eyes gravitated to him as if drawn by a magnetic force.

“Say it!” He snarled at them.

“I want to hear it from your lips. You’ll do as I command until you are released. Give me your filthy, lying word.”

“I’ll do as you command!” Dommell cried without hesitation.

“I swear it,” Cameron said through gritted teeth while turning to look directly at Olive, his face pleading with her to acquiesce.

“I swear it,” Olive snarled, for the first time in her life, hating the sound of her own voice.

Never again.

“Good! Wonderful. You’ve served your purpose little ant, now shoo, shoo!”

Markhiss held up his palm and a tiny red ember of flame popped into existence. He blew the monster a kiss and the flame gently traveled through the air.

When it collided with the beast, a new sun was born and hungrily devoured the monster until there was nothing left, not even its bones.

“Shall we? My most esteemed guests.”

His overly-dramatic bow was back. While his head was lowered, he pointed in a seemingly random direction through the woods.

The three of them rose on shaky legs and followed.

What other choice did they have?

Never again!

I refuse to be helpless like this again. That, I swear with my whole heart.