by nobody103
Zorian was somewhat surprised how relatively advanced the aranea in the local region were with regards to their crafting abilities. The Cyorian web mostly traded with the surface for all their crafting needs and didn't produce anything except silk and processed monster parts. It reminded him of Novelty and her desire to learn 'human construction magic'… and thinking of Novelty promptly made him feel guilty and angry, so he dropped that trail of thought soon enough.
Of the last three webs, the matriarch knew little beyond generalities. The Talisman Bearers were apparently heavily magic-focused, most of them carrying large metal discs full of spell formulas strapped to their bodies. The Ghost Serpent Acolytes had abandoned the aranean Great Web belief in order to worship some kind of native spirit they found. The Silent Doorway Adepts had either some kind of stealth magic or great teleportation skills, or maybe both, because they had a reputation for getting into inaccessible places and disappearing from them just as easily. All three had a bit of a shady reputation. The Talisman Bearers were known to be very greedy for magic they could use, especially magic items, which could be either very good or very bad for Zorian. The Ghost Serpent Acolytes slavishly followed the guidance of their guardian spirit, and the Ghost Serpent was known to be a little… erratic at times. The Silent Doorway Adepts were thieves, or at least had a reputation for such.
Zorian decided to put all three of them firmly at the bottom of his list of aranean webs to visit.
For his part, Zorian told a little bit about himself to the matriarch - how he was studying magic in Cyoria, and how he had met the aranea there. How they had helped him make sense of his abilities and learn how to control them. How they are all dead now, wiped out in totality.
[So Cyoria changes hands once again, does it?] the matriarch asked rhetorically. [I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Do you happen to know which web took over?]
[None at the moment,] Zorian said. [It wasn't a rival web that destroyed them. It was… something else. Most likely some monster rising from the deeper section of the dungeon. Cyoria has had a bit of a problem with that recently.]
[I have heard something about that from the night runners,] the matriarch said. [But I didn't know it was that bad. Still, expect a new web to move in soon enough. Cyoria is a tempting prize. Not for us, mind you, the Illustrious Gem Collectors are happy enough with their lot, but plenty of ambitious webs would jump at the chance to claim the place for themselves.]
[Night runners?] asked Zorian.
[A name for aranea that go between different webs to bring news and conduct trade. Don't go looking for them. Night runners generally don't like humans. Their whole existence revolves around crossing over vast stretches of human-controlled land. Many die to mages and guns in the process. They wouldn't appreciate some random human tracking them down, regardless of the reason. The whole point of being a night runner is evading humans, after all, and especially mages.]
[Got it. Don't bother the night runners unless I want a fight,] said Zorian.
[Have you ever gotten in an actual fight with an aranea?] the matriarch asked curiously.
[Um. Sort of,] said Zorian. [It didn't end all that well for me. While we are on that topic, have you ever heard of the Sword Divers web?]
[Can't say that I have. Where are they from?]
[They live under Korsa,] Zorian answered.
[Oh, no wonder, then! Korsa is really far from us. I'm afraid that aranean webs have very little contact with webs outside of our immediate vicinity. Other than the news we get from the night runners and the occasional aranean explorer, we know little of what happens in distant webs. It may be strange to hear this, but we actually have a better picture of what humans are doing at any given point than our own kind. What did you want to know about the Sword Divers anyway?]
[They arranged for a meeting with me and then tried to ambush me when I got there,] Zorian said.
[Ah,] the matriarch said quietly. [I am sorry to hear that. Treacherous webs like that bring a bad name to our kind.]
[So you can't tell me why they did that?] Zorian asked.
[It could be any number of things,] the matriarch said, adding a mental equivalent of a shrug. [Aranea are not nearly as homogenous as humans in term of culture-] Zorian silently boggled at the notion of humans being culturally homogenous. [-since the relative isolation of each web quickly causes webs to develop their own… peculiarities. Perhaps you insulted them somehow. Perhaps it was how they test anyone wanting to meet with their leaders. Perhaps they were simply greedy and decided you would be an easy target. I'd personally assume the latter, but who could possibly tell?]
Soon after that, the conversation died down and he parted ways with the Illustrious Gem Collectors. The matriarch told him to drop by for another chat when he was done scouting out the other webs to tell her how it went, which Zorian interpreted as 'come back again soon with some more expensive gifts', but agreed to anyway. He meant it too – this visit had turned out to be far more productive than he had been hoping, and who knew what else he might learn from the matriarch if he could get her talking again. Stopping by before the restart ended shouldn't be too much of a hassle.
The next day he set off towards the Rose Labyrinth Dwellers to begin his task in earnest.
✦ ✧ ✦
Despite having detailed instructions about where they live, it took Zorian an entire day of searching before he encountered any of their sentries. And an entire day of wandering the lightless tunnels, constantly doubling back after taking wrong turns and fighting the denizens of the Dungeon. That black, fire-breathing beetle whose carapace shrugged off both kinetic force and fire really gave him a scare, but thankfully it was rather slow and freezing it solid finally allowed him to kill it.
The Rose Labyrinth Dwellers really lived up to the 'Labyrinth' part of their name.
[Zorian Kazinski of Cyoria,] the aranean spokesperson began. The local matriarch declined going out to meet him, sending a small greeting party of four aranea instead. They had taken their sweet time considering his offer, silently communicating between themselves for nearly two hours, but it seems they have finally reached their decision. [We have discussed your request and reached a decision. We agree to teach you in the ways of our Gift, but only if you accept our terms.]
[Those being?] asked Zorian.
[You will live with us for the duration of your lessons. You will eat and sleep in our settlement, hunt with our hunters, patrol our territory with our scouts and otherwise act as a member of our web.]
Zorian balked at the terms. How the hell did they expect him to agree to that!? He knew for a fact that the aranean idea of food was vastly different from human one, for one thing. But frankly, even ignoring the sheer logistical problems of that idea, it required him to trust them far more than he did. He'd be at their complete mercy all day, every day…
…which, now that he thought about it, was probably what they were going for. That, or they were trying to get rid of him via unreasonable terms.
[There is no negotiating these terms?] asked Zorian.
[No,] the spokesperson responded. [If you are not willing to commit yourself, how can you expect the same of us?]
[…I will have to think about it,] Zorian said. It was a dirty lie, of course, since he had already thought about it and rejected the idea with extreme prejudice. But there was no sense in being impolite. For all he knew, they thought they were being extremely reasonable.
[Take your time,] the spokesperson said. [It is not something to decide on quickly. You know where to find us if you're interested.]
✦ ✧ ✦
[I am sorry, but we are going to have to refuse your request,] the aranea said. [Perhaps if you are still interested in a couple of months from now we might be able to help you, but we are currently busy with… the renovation of our settlement and cannot help you. I hope you understand.]
Zorian stared the two aranea in front of him. That the matriarch of the Yellow Cavern Guardians came to greet him w
ith only one guard was already pretty strange, but her nervous, twitchy behaviors did nothing to still his paranoia. Thankfully, it didn't seem she was planning on doing anything to him, she just seemed generally stressed and frightened. In fact, her guard was just as nervous, and so was the sentry he initially contacted. The entire web seemed to be on edge for some reason.
The matriarch returned his stare with one of her own, her body shifting from time to time to switch focus between him and his golem, trying to divine something about them through intense scrutiny.
[I am sorry if I am making you nervous,] Zorian said. [I assure you that the golem is-]
[We are not threatened by your stupid toy!] She snapped. [We have far more pressing-]
She suddenly cut herself off and remained silent for a second before reestablishing telepathic communication.
[I am sorry. I let my temper get the better of me. Please, just leave. It is dangerous for you to remain here.]
[You are being threatened by someone,] Zorian guessed. A spike of emotion and images came from the link, hard to interpret but not totally incomprehensible. [Correction, something. A monster. A thing from the depths?]
[This talk is over,] the matriarch said icily. [If you don't go away, I will attack you.]
[Perhaps I could help?] Zorian tried.
[No, you cannot,] she said. [You are unwanted here. Leave. Now.]
What else could he do? He left.
✦ ✧ ✦
[Yes.]
[Yes?] Zorian repeated in surprise. [Just like that?]
Bridge of Moonlight Connecting Ten Thousand Shores, the matriarch of the River Navigators, gave him a searching look. [Was I not supposed to agree? You gave a convincing offer. I could really use those telepathic relays to connect all our outposts together. I've been trying to buy some of those from the Filigree Sages for ages now, but the greedy bastards keep increasing the price.]
Honestly, considering how his previous visits had gone, he'd half-expected the River Navigators consult the river currents about whether or not they should teach him and then inform him that the river said no. That was just about how his luck worked, apparently. But no, they just patiently listened to his offer and promptly agreed. It was almost anticlimactic, but Zorian wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
[The Filigree Sages have telepathic relays? And here I thought I was being original when I made them…] he complained. Though it kind of did make sense that some of the aranea would try to make something like that. It was probably more unusual that no one else had them…
[If it makes you feel any better, they are the only web I know of that have them, and they refuse to share them with the rest of us,] Bridge of Moonlight said. [They won't even sell the finished product to us, lest we figure out how to make them from live examples.]
Ah, of course - the tendency of spellcasters everywhere to jealously hoard their knowledge and share bare scraps with others. A major part of why Ikosian magical tradition was so successful was that it had mechanisms for overcoming that – widely-accessible schools to teach everyone proper basics, state-sponsored libraries to preserve spellbooks and make them available to aspiring mages, legal frameworks for apprenticeships and magical monopolies, and so on. Even with that, there were a lot of cases of mages taking priceless magical knowledge with them to their graves because they had never entrusted anyone with their secrets.
Zorian decided that if he ever managed to escape from the time loop alive, he was going to write a book about psychic powers to make sure people like him don't have to jump through the same hoops he had to in order to master their abilities. He wasn't sure how much of his knowledge would be transmissible through a simple written medium, but he would try.
Three days later, when Zorian provided the first shipment of telepathic relays and proved they worked as advertised (plus warded one of their storage caves against various vermin), they introduced him to Mind Like Fire, his new mind magic teacher.
[Your name is surprisingly short by aranean standards,] he told her.
[The names you hear are simply approximations of their original meaning in aranean mind-speak,] she said. [Our names are all of similar length, but since our languages are so different, it is often hard to translate certain concepts without ending up rather verbose. Though in my opinion, many aranea also enjoy making the translation as grandiose-sounding as possible. Are you ready for your lesson?]
[Yes.]
[Excellent. First, let me tell you what I mean to teach you. Feel free to stop me if you already know something I included in my lesson plan or have any objections.]
Zorian nodded, settling down on the small chair provided for him and glancing at his surroundings. The room they were in was pretty well done for something built and furnished deep in the dungeon by a bunch of giant telepathic spiders – it had a proper table and some chairs, a pair of decorative cabinets (they were completely empty; Zorian got curious and checked when he was left alone at one point), and even a couple of landscape paintings hanging of the walls. Only the lack of any windows and an expensive, clearly magical lamp perched on the table indicated that he was not in some medium-grade hotel on the surface.
He found it interesting that the River Navigators had a room in their settlements that was clearly intended for humans – it meant they received human visitors often enough they felt the need to make a guest room for them. He should probably ask them about that later.
[The first thing I intend to teach you is how to encase your mind in a defensive mental shell. It is one of the simplest and most expensive means of mental defense, but also one of the most effective ones. The name is indicative; much like your exoskeleton protects your soft, squishy insides-] Lady, I don't think you understand how human anatomy works… [-so too does this technique create a form of mental exoskeleton to protect your vulnerable thoughts.]
[So, basically, it is the psychic equivalent of a 'mind shield' spell?] asked Zorian.
[Show me,] she demanded.
Zorian complied. He channeled mana through the amulet hanging around his neck and his mind was instantly encased in a protective magical shell that repelled all mental intrusion.
For a full minute, his teacher remained silent and still, unable to establish telepathic communication with him but also not giving any indication that he should drop the spell. He decided to keep it up until she signaled him somehow, but that moment never arrived. Instead, after about two minutes of nothing happening, her telepathic voice rang in his head again.
Despite the fact the mind shield was still on.
[As I thought,] she said smugly. [The spell is neat in its simplicity, but it ultimately suffers from the same drawbacks common to nearly all human mind magic. Namely, it gives you no feedback whatsoever when attacks start interacting with your defenses. You didn't even feel it when I slipped past it, did you?]
[I do feel it when sufficiently powerful attacks interact with it,] Zorian protested.
[That's not feedback, that's damage leaking through without totally collapsing the whole thing,] she scoffed. [No, while this thing may have served you in the past, it is thoroughly inadequate for my purposes. A real mind shell, the sort I will teach you to produce, will be far better than this. It will be many times stronger than what your spell can manage, and infinitely more adaptive and responsive. You will be able to sense probing attacks, too subtle to actually damage your defenses but indicative of what your opponent is planning. You will be able to repair and reinforce your defenses without tearing the whole thing down and starting from scratch. You will be able to strike back without dropping your whole mental shield to do so…]
[Sounds wonderful,] Zorian said. He collapsed the spell, since it clearly wasn't doing anything at the moment. [Though if I may be so rude, I do think there is one thing where human magics generally beat your psychic powers.]
[Oh?]
[They generally require no attention from the caster to keep affecting the target, and they expose the caster to far l
ess risk of mental retaliation by their victims. From what I can tell, that is not true for psychic powers.]
[True,] she acknowledged. [But I think the inflexible nature of those spells is too much of a weakness to make up for those advantages. But we've digressed enough – after you learn how to defend your mind a bit we will move onto attack and retaliation…]
It did not take long for Zorian to realize that Mind Like Fire was very serious about her job. Far from teaching him only the bare minimum and meeting him once a week or so like he had assumed she would, she scheduled lessons with him every single day and demanded every shred of effort and patience he could spare. The lessons basically consisted of him lovingly constructing a mental shell around his mind before Mind Like Fire mercilessly took it apart, only backing off when his defenses collapsed from the strain. It was a good thing he had decided not to turn on his suicide contingencies before going into her lessons, because they would have gone off at the end of the very first day due to all the headaches he had suffered in the process.
Still, Zorian couldn't complain. This was basically what he was searching for all this time, wasn't it? True, it was a lot more painful than he had imagined, leaving him bedridden for hours after the lessons ended, but it was also a lot more effective than he had thought it would be. His ability to shield his mind was improving fast, and after the first week Mind Like Fire started bringing 'guest teachers' to give him experience with attackers different from her own.