Eternium ~ Ch 27!

Dale and Minya literally crawled out of the portal, fresh blood pasting their clothes to their bodies. Dale was gasping, directing his aura to create the healing-light-aspect of the sun. Minya was in even worse condition, barely conscious and gasping for as much air as her lungs could take. Only the aftereffect of Dale’s aura kept her moving.

“We… *cough* how did we survive that?” Dale wheezed the question using every last drop of stamina he had.

Minya didn’t answer right away, simply lying next to him in a slowly growing pool of their blood. “Luck?”

“Must… have…. been.” Dale agreed over the next few seconds. As he calmed himself, he was able to allow Mana to flow into his body once more. He had been dangerously close to losing control of his power when they were fighting the final golem on that floor, and had been forced to cut himself off as soon as he struck the final blow. 

Now, his armor siphoned a drop of his Mana and tightened in a contorting pattern on his limbs, re-aligning the serious breaks. Dale shook his head wearily, he needed to find a proper healer, but he took a moment to thank Cal for his foresight. His armor was nearly sentient, and would tighten to act as a splint and cast when needed. Unfortunately, it required power from him to do so, and if he were Mana deprived… so was his armor.

He was able to get to his feet, but couldn’t really help Minya since his arms had both broken during the final fight. He nudged her with his toe, and she grunted to show that she was still alive. “C’mon, Minya, let's get to the clerics.”

“Just let me bleed to death, Dale. Cal will bring me back, right?” Minya whined her words, and Dale laughed despite himself. “That’s dark, Minya.”

“Nah, just like necromancers, Cal is simply a really late healer.” Minya got to her feet, took a single step, and turned her head to vomit. “Ugh. I think I have a concussion.” 

“Not surprising.” Dale remembered her stepping in and taking a blow that would have broken his neck, but she had bounced off a few rocks as she tumbled away. “Thanks, by the way.”

“It’s what teammates do.” She growled, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. Luckily the healing station wasn’t far away from the exit of the dungeon, and they were soon surrounded by people who could restore them. After agreeing to the price, they had glowing Mana pouring into their wounds. A gentler light was entering Minya’s head, and her irises slowly came to be the same size.

Dale tipped the healers a full gold coin each after paying the fee, and when he got a look of shock from Minya, he shrugged and walked away. When they were far enough away, he explained himself. “It might as well be dirt at this point. Can’t take it with us into Cal, right? Why not make a few people happy, maybe build some good will?”

Minya thought on that for a bit, nodding as they continued walking. “That makes a certain kind of sense. Looks like I’m about to have a shopping spree.”

“There ya go.” Dale let a slow grin creep across his face. “Get it all out of your system, no shopping for a long time after we get into Cal.”

Minya blanched, making Dale laugh long and hard at her expense. Shopping was her treat, her reward, her guilty pleasure! Maybe someday she could convince Cal to let her set up fun shopping centers or something…? Just then, she realized that she looked like a murder victim. A wave of bubbly Mana fizzled along her body, and the blood on her clothes, hair, and skin was removed and destroyed. She turned to offer the service to Dale, but then realized that he was perfectly clean.

When he was asked about that, he told her about his sunlight aura, and the huge versatility it offered. Suitably impressed, she continued making conversation for a short while before noticing that a constant stream of people were moving along the path to the academy. “Dale, do you know what this is all about?”

“Nope, I can ask though.” Dale tapped a person who didn't look as eager as all the others, asking for information.

The man was wearing students’ robes, obviously a member of the academy. “You didn’t hear? The Master let it be known that he was going to be offering a lecture today, and that any student or member of the academy was welcome to attend. Since no one knows anything about him, everyone is losing their minds. I bet it’ll just be some stupid motivational speech again.”

Dale thanked him and glanced at Minya. She nodded and they both joined the stream of people pouring into the stone structure. They got to the main courtyard, finding it stuffed with people of all walks of life. There was only standing room, and a few Mages had even begun levitating groups off the ground so more people could participate. Dale saw that and grumbled, “Abyss, I really need to learn how to fly.”

“Just one more thing I could teach you, Dale.” Minya was speaking into his ear to be heard, and the buzz of her lips made him shiver… not unpleasantly. “I hope that our time together today has made you more receptive to my advances.”

Dale couldn’t think of anything to say, overcome as he was by conflicting thoughts and emotions. Luckily for him, The Master made his appearance at that moment. Stepping out of nowhere, the dark figure soon had the attention of everyone present.

“There is more to the world than most people will ever understand.” The Master launched directly into his lecture without preamble. “Today I am going to give you a closely guarded secret of those in the S-ranks. The key to ascending into the Spiritual ranks, in fact. Feel free to write it down, to share the knowledge with anyone you’d like.”

His words cause shocked muttering, which turned into aggrieved clamoring. People were trying to decide if he was being condescending, or if… just maybe… he was telling the truth. If so, he was about to answer a question that had plagued the races for generations. As the first syllable left The Master’s mouth, all extraneous noise ended. “Many have walked the path of Magehood, only to become foiled at the final step, and so many have never understood why.”

“I would be doing a disservice to the academy if I did no impart other wisdom to you beforehand.” This caused groans to spill from a few undisciplined mouths, and a crooked smile to wash over The Master’s. “Let us walk through the various methods of advancement.”

“Firstly, there is the original step upon the road of cultivation. All people are able to absorb the Essence of the Heavens and the Earth. As we all know; the purity and quantity that we can bring in will determine how far we can advance on the path… for most.” The Master stopped here, but only annoyance was reflected back at him. He didn’t particularly care, the fundamentals were important.

“Once we have obtained a method of cultivation, a way to keep the quality and quantity high, the Chi Spiral becomes of the utmost necessity. In fact, most cultivators do not recognize anyone under the D-ranks as actual cultivators. I’m sure many of you have experienced this truth. In fact, point at anyone accepted by the academy as an F-ranker, and I will give you a spatial bag right now.” The Master waited, and a few people quickly exchanged whispered conversations but no one took him up on his offer.

“Exactly. Something for you all to be careful about is that most Mages see anyone below the C-ranks the same way. Use caution, for in the hearts of many lie arrogance.” He collected his thoughts for a moment. “From the D-ranks to the C-ranks, collecting power is of the utmost importance. Beyond large quantities of Essence, there is only one feature that defines a C-ranker. Aura. The ability to enhance every bit of your body and mind with Essence, create a passive shielding around yourself, and shape your power for raw usage.”

People were nodding in the area, and a few D-rankers were writing the information down. Typically, information was given on a ‘need-to-know’ basis. “From the C-ranks to the B-ranks, becoming a Mage, advancing through the Tower of Ascension is needed. This binds your soul to a Law, an aspect of reality, a fundamental node of pure meaning. Now, the higher you climb in the Tower, the higher the tier of Mana you will be able to channel.”

“There is a way to gain a higher tier, but it is normally considered too difficult to truly consider. The only known way to climb higher is a ‘Path Advancement’. This is not only the acquisition of a large amount of information, but the new path must be a Law that contains the Law to which you have been bonded. A set of power that contains it’s lesser self.” The Master grinned as he saw the plethora of confused faces.

“If you think that is hard to understand, you need to begin taking your studies in this academy more seriously. Having a strong body is important, but a strong mind will always bring you further.” The Master stopped his chiding and continued, “From the B-ranks to the A-ranks, you need to create a ‘soul space’. This is a term that many of you have heard recently. As you know, going into a soul space is our plan to survive the incoming desolation.”

As he finished speaking, he pointed up at the shards of the moon that were visible even during the day now. “A strong soul, a firm understanding of your capabilities and responsibilities, and lots of practice will allow you to enter the S-ranks. Maybe. There can only be a single S-ranker of any given Law. At this point, you have bonded to your Law to such a degree that you become the embodiment, the incarnation of that Law.”

“You may wonder, why then is the S-rank called the ‘Spiritual’ rank? Why not the ‘Incarnation’ rank?” The Master let people nod along before moving on. “Do you remember me speaking of soul space? To step into the S-ranks, you must invert your power. What is outside becomes the inner world, what is outside becomes made of what had previously been solidified. When you look directly at me, you are not seeing flesh, or Mana made flesh. You are seeing my soul, formed into a facsimile of my actual body. Good luck using this information to attain the rank I have.”

With that final phrase, The Master vanished the same way he had arrived. For a long beat, no one made a sound. Then a Mage broke the silence and sent the crowd into a frenzy with a simple phrase. “What the abyss?”