by Andrew Rowe
“It’s not this time. Probably. I mean, if I could get it to work, there’s definitely potential for...”
Keras sighed. “What’s the question?”
“Bonding items.” I gestured at the sword at his hip. I was curious if that was the Dominion Breaker, one of the swords he’d mentioned in his story. It didn’t look fancy, but I also knew he deliberately shapeshifted his weapons to keep their identities hidden. “Sera wanted me to figure out if there’s a way she could make a contract with an item, similar to what you did with Bright Reflection.”
“Mm. Not in the same way. I wouldn’t have been able to learn how to create those bonds without certain abilities I was born with. I think it’d be possible to make a spell that does the same, but I don’t know how to construct it.” He paused, thinking. “The foundation of the connections I make is spirit sorcery. I can’t be certain, but I suspect Summoners making contracts work the same way, just for creatures rather than objects.”
“I’ve never heard of Summoners using spirit magic...but you may be right. I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Attunements seem to have some functions that aren’t related to the magic types that they give us access to. I guess it’s possible that things like contracts don’t actually relate to air and transference mana.”
“Right.” Keras nodded. “There are those tertiary dominions that only high level attuned get access to, shrouds, and all sorts of other functions that aren’t immediately available to you. Your attunements are pretty complicated. I suppose if you knew more about how the attunements themselves worked, you might be able to do more with that.”
That line of thinking opened up a lot of options in my mind.
I’d already been thinking of attunements as potentially being constructed from a bunch of different enchantments, some of which were activated at specific power thresholds.
Enchantments could be changed. And, even without changing an enchantment, things like my mana threads could interact with existing enchantments by feeding them mana or drawing mana out of them.
Could I do that with an attunement?
The idea sounded colossally dangerous, but if I could make it work...could I unlock features of an attunement early?
Was that similar to what Katashi had done to Mara’s attunement?
The possibilities were extremely exciting.
...But also off-topic.
I took a moment to shake my head and re-focus. I definitely wanted to get into reverse engineering how attunements actually worked, but that wasn’t what Sera had asked for. “Okay. Let’s say, somehow, we got access to spirit magic. What would we need to do from there?”
“I don’t have a full understanding of the process, sorry.” Keras looked a little embarrassed at that. “I use a lot of my abilities intuitively, rather than learning the theory behind them. In this case, the basics are that I create a connection by offering a piece of my spirit to the object, which then gives me a piece of its spirit in return if it chooses to accept. If the object doesn’t have a spirit, I’m basically just sticking a piece of my spirit in it instead. In either case, if that process works, we’re sharing spirit-bits and using those as a medium by which to send mana to each other. By gradually transferring mana back and forth over time, we gradually acquire abilities from each other.”
In spite of Keras’ apologetic tone, that was a pretty good explanation. It was lacking some important details, however, like how to utilize the spirit-bits to actually form the connection. I didn’t think just jamming a piece of spirit into something by itself would serve that function.
Basically, there had to be some kind of enchantment or spell effect that served to allow the spirit pieces to work as a medium for transferring mana. “That’s enough for me to do some research, at least. Maybe I can do some digging on how Summoner and Soulblade contracts work and go from there.”
He nodded hesitantly. “Yeah, maybe that’ll work. Just...be careful about what you try to connect with. You were thinking about Selys-Lyann, I take it?”
“Sort of. Sera mentioned something about bonding Ceris. I’m certainly interested in learning more about bonding with Selys-Lyann, though. If the bond would improve my control over the sword and feed me new types of mana, I think that would be a great way to improve my skills.”
“Maybe. But that sword...it’s unique. Don’t try to bond with it without having me or Derek around. There are risks.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Did you figure something out?”
“I’m not certain. But keep in mind that Lars told you that it’s cursed, and Professor Vellum couldn’t identify one of the runes on it.”
I blinked. “I’m surprised you remember that.”
“I keep good track of swords.” He grinned. “And I have pretty good instincts for them. That sword isn’t complete. That story about how it was broken? I think someone put it back together without all the pieces.”
That explained some things, actually. “I think you’re right. You mentioned that rune that Vellum couldn’t identify — it’s not actually that weird or rare at all. It’s just a standard weapon durability rune.”
Keras frowned. “Seems odd that she wouldn’t recognize that.”
“I think I know why.” I drew the sword out just a little, gesturing to the rune in question. “It only shows up in the latest edition of my weapon enchanting books. I think it was discovered just recently, and Vellum doesn’t pay a lot of attention to weapon enchanting. She’s more interested in miscellaneous items and alchemy.”
“...Which means that enchantment might not be a part of the original item. Either that, or it’s an older rune that just wasn’t in your books until recently. Can I see the sword for a moment?”
I nodded. It wasn’t like Keras was going to steal it from me. I drew Selys-Lyann the rest of the way, then handed it to him.
He accepted the sword with a look of reverence, then turned it over in his hands. “Thought so.” He nodded to the sword. “This isn’t the sword’s original blade at all. I can feel where the new blade was connected to the hilt.”
“What would be the point of that?” I asked. “Is the hilt even enchanted?”
“No,” he shook his head. “But the runes on the blade are drawing from the weapon’s power source, which is in the pommel. It’s designed almost identically to many of the Sacred Swords, in fact. Most of them have crystals in the hilt and pommel that supply mana for their abilities.”
That answered a lot of questions, but raised more of them. “Vellum mentioned that sword having a spirit rune. Is that part of the new portion?”
“The rune is, but the spirit itself isn’t. I can feel it in there — it resides in the pommel jewel.” He carefully pressed a finger against the blue gemstone that served as a pommel for the saber. “I think Vellum was right — it’s not actually sapient. It’s...something, but I don’t feel any conscious thought.”
“Could you make it sapient?”
Keras froze. “...Why would you want that?”
“I mean, couldn’t you make it more like Dawnbringer? That would facilitate—”
He flipped the sword over, handing it back to me. “No. Absolutely not.”
“Meaning you can’t, or...?”
“Meaning I won’t. Please don’t ask again.” There was a firmness in his tone that made it clear he would not tolerate any argument on the subject.
“Oh...okay. Uh, so, spirit. Does that make it easier to establish a bond?”
“No. Or, well, maybe.” He took a deep breath, seemingly trying to calm himself down in the aftermath to my last question. “I could manage it either way, but for something resembling a Summoner contract it would probably be easier if it already has a spirit. I might be able to help you with it at some point, but…not today. And Derek might be a better choice. He’ll be more familiar with Kaldwyn-style spirit bonding.”
From his tone, I could sense that I’d soured the mood significantly. “I don’t think I’ll be seeing Derek for a
while.” I re-sheathed the sword. “If it’s an attunement thing, maybe Anabelle Farren could help.”
His expression darkened further. “She probably could.”
“You’ve met her, then? You mentioned you were on your way to meet her at one point in your story, but you haven’t gotten to meeting her yet.”
“Sorry, I won’t get to that part before we get to Caelford. I was hoping to tell you about it. It’s relevant for this trip.” He took another deep breath. “I won’t be going with you when you go to meet her. If I did, there would be consequences.”
“Why?”
“You remember that artificial attunement that Echion had?”
I nodded. “Of course. It’s based on god beasts, rather than people.”
“That…might only be part of the picture.” Keras winced. “I never got to see him use his abilities, but I could sense it. I think a part of his power is based on me.”
There was a brief pause. “...What?”
“When I met with Farren, she asked to run some tests...tests on both Reika and me. I thought she was trying to help me at the time. I was still getting a grasp on what exactly my abilities were, and trying to figure out what would be safe. Like, for example, if I’d be compatible with human attunements.” Keras drew in a breath. “She gave me some useful information. Some help with other personal matters, too.”
“Like Dawnbringer?”
He winced. “We’ll get back to that. I...don’t want to talk about her right now. The important part is I gave Farren time to study me...and I think she used that knowledge for something awful.”
“That’s...” I took a breath. “Are you sure?”
“No. I can’t be. And I don’t want to be. If I find out that she actually used me as a foundation for experiments on children...well, let’s just say that I’d probably be unwelcome in another country in the aftermath.”
“And...why is that stopping you? I mean, not to be rude, but from your stories, it seems like you’d be the type to charge in there and start swinging if you thought someone was hurting kids in general, regardless of any involvement on your part.”
“Oh, there will come a time for that reckoning.” Flecks of silver shined in Keras’ eyes for just an instant, then they were gone. “But right now, I have another goal. One I’ve put off for far too long. There’s someone who has been hurting children a lot longer, and on a much larger scale. And she and I are long overdue for a talk.”
“You’re...going to try to reach Selys, then? From the Tiger Spire?”
“I’m intending to get as high as I can. And if and when the visages get in my way this time.” Keras smiled, folding his hands together. “I don’t intend to play nice.”
That was...a little terrifying, actually, and I really hoped that he wouldn’t end up leveling the entire spire if he decided to start a fight.
I could worry about that another time, though. I needed to focus on the main topic. “So, Farren...you think she’s doing unethical experiments?”
“Her lab certainly is, even if she isn’t personally. The most important thing for you to know in advance is that she’ll come across as friendly, but eccentric. I suspect she uses that as a mask to keep you from guessing at what she’s really thinking. You absolutely cannot trust her.”
I gave him a slow nod.
Oh, good, another powerful figure I have to immediately distrust. Such an excellent start to my vacation.
I didn’t say that aloud, of course. Keras looked like he had enough on his mind without dealing with my complaints. “Any specific reasons I can’t trust her?”
“Beyond the experiments, it’s mostly a feeling. I only met her briefly, but when I did...she seemed off, somehow. Like I was talking to someone who wasn’t really there.”
As someone who has been accused of not listening to conversations on a number of occasions, I tried not to be too offended by that. I assumed Keras meant it in a more magical sense. “Meaning you might have met a projection, or an illusion?”
Keras frowned. “Maybe. Something like that. I don’t know. I didn’t meet her for long, and...my memories of our conversations are vague. Vaguer than they should be. Almost like what your Judgments are supposed to do to the mind, or the thing your stalker friend does to avoid detection.”
“Stalker...friend.” I sighed. “Jin is not a Stalker, Keras. That’s an entirely different attunement.”
“That’s not the way I meant that term.”
I was afraid he’d say that. “...He’s...just....”
“Definitely stalking you. Or, at a minimum, just obsessed with you. I’ve had pretty unhealthy relationships over the years. I won’t tell you to stop being friends with him, but if your stories about him are accurate, his behavior isn’t healthy.”
I stood. “I’m going to go ahead and flee from this conversation now. Have a good day, Keras.”
Keras laughed. “That’s fine. It’s okay to run. Just don’t forget what I said.”
I did a little bit of reading about Summoner and Soulblade contracts after escaping the conversation, but I didn’t discover enough to figure out a way to create one with items. Some bits and pieces of theory might have been useful, but Keras was right — I needed to talk to an expert.
Annabelle Farren would count as an expert, of course. She seemed to be at the center of all of the things I was looking for. That said, if Keras was right, I was going to have to be very careful about what I offered her in exchange for all the knowledge I so desperately desired.
***
Over the next few days, we listened to more of Keras’ story. During the evenings, I continued to work on my projects.
Sera helped me set up the teleportation functions for our shield sigils, as requested. Both Sera and Cecily helped me make the anchors, which sped up the process.
It only took a few days to get the whole set of them upgraded. I went through the whole process of making one for Cecily as well, since she didn’t have one of mine to start with.
I spent a little more time studying the Jaden Box and trying to figure out how to reverse engineer it, but I just didn’t have the right resources on-hand. I hoped that I could discover more about it in Caelford, or just more about items with extra dimensional storage functions in general.
We all spent a little bit of time each day exercising.
As I’d expected, the mana regeneration functions helped with our downtime a little bit, but not much. Draining the stored mana out of the bracers and exercising again immediately was an awful strain on the body, so the only real benefit was the gradual mana regeneration function.
That let us take shorter breaks between exercise sessions, but since our bodies couldn’t actually handle any extra strain, it basically just meant we could get our daily exercise done in a slightly shorter period of time. That probably improved our average exercise amounts a bit, but I wasn’t exactly recording how much we exercised each day before and after, so I have no idea how much.
And, since I wasn’t wearing the mana watch anymore, I didn’t have an easy way of checking how fast we were improving.
I had...mixed feelings about that.
The mana watch was undoubtedly useful, but my obsession with it was problematic. I restrained my instinct to ask Cecily to check my mana throughout the trip, although it got progressively harder as time went on.
Throughout the trip, people asked me various questions about the story that I was telling them. Most of them were small clarifications, nothing particularly important. But toward the end of the journey, Patrick asked one that was valuable enough that I think I should mention it.
***
“Hey, Corin. During that story you were telling — which was super exciting, by the way — you mentioned that you healed some of the bones in my chest after the winter ball?”
I winced. That had...not been a great idea. “Uh, yeah. Sorry about that. I really shouldn’t have been trying to use healing magic that I didn’t understand properly. I could have hur
t you very badly.”
I could have killed him, in fact, but I didn’t want to reiterate that more than I needed to.
“No, no, don’t worry! I wasn’t complaining. You were trying to save my life. In fact, you still might have, with just the regeneration spells. I don’t know if I would have pulled through without them.”
That was a generous interpretation, but I’d take what I could get. “Maybe, but I won’t be playing with direct healing again until I get some real lessons or at least study some more. Sorry.”
“It’s okay, that’s not why I was bringing it up. It was just that you said you were replacing some of my cartilage with bone by accident...but shouldn’t that be impossible? I thought only Menders could heal bones?”
“Ah.” I nodded, understanding where he was going with that line of thought. “Yeah, that’s what they told us in class. It’s not accurate. It’s an oversimplification.”
Patrick frowned. “What do you mean?”
“So, in class, they told us that there are unique functions for each attunement, right?” Patrick nodded, and I kept talking. “That’s pretty much completely false.”
“What? Seriously?”
“Yeah.” I pointed at his hand. “Your Elementalist mark, for example. They told us the unique function of it is to make lightning, right? But a Summoner with a contract with a lightning monster could also make lightning. Or a Soulblade with a similar contract. There are work arounds.”
“I guess that’s fair, but contracts with monsters are kind of an exception, aren’t they? They’re drawing their power from someone else.”
I shrugged a shoulder. “Maybe, but I’m willing to bet that someone with two attunements — like say, an Edrian Pyromancer attunement for fire and something else with air magic, could probably make lightning. It’d just take more effort, since they’d have to figure out how to intermix the mana types manually. I don’t actually know how hard that would be, but I think it would be doable.”
Patrick slumped his shoulders. “Oh. I guess my attunement isn’t as good as I thought, then.”
I waved my hands quickly in alarm. “No, no. Not what I meant. It’s not an Elementalist issue. As far as I can tell, all of the unique functions of attunements can be duplicated through other means.”