Path of the Deathless 206 (II) Academy [IV]

206 (II)

Academy [IV]

It seed like a powerful weapon to Shiv, but by this point, he didn't really care that much about destructive power. He was already a sledgehamr. He wanted more options. Frankly, he wanted to develop his technical skills more than anything right now, because that's what he lacked: Multitasking, Practical taiology, morization, Reading, Writing. All those things mattered, and Shiv was deficient in the basics still.

"No," Adam said, stepping away. "It's powerful, but no. I can feel it trying to root in place. It uses as so kind of conduit."

"Yes," rriell chirped, "I've seen this thing fry an entire squadron! A massive storm manifests overhead!"

"And being made still is being made dead," Adam deadpanned. "I don't have the Toughness for this, and with the threats we face, I cannot be static. Do you have sothing that offers more range and flexibility, or the possibility of rapid repositioning?"

rriell tapped his chin as he considered Adam's question, and then he snapped his fingers. "Co with !" rriell started sprinting between a few display cases, and as they left, the glass protecting the anvil crashed back together. Shiv narrowed his eyes at the crystalline substance.

As the others followed rriell, Helix leaned in. "Did you feel that?" he whispered.

"Yeah," Shiv replied, "yeah, I did. It was pretty interesting. I didn't expect it to be organic."

"Then did you notice that there is a superorganism living beneath the marble tiles?"

Shiv paused. "There is?"

Helix tutted in disappointnt. "We still need to work more on your Awareness. I gave you that armor so that you can use all of your senses, but still you neglect them. It’s a Haeguram. A Slumberwyrm. If you touch the so-called glass, it would shed them and leave larvae inside you.”

“Shit. Really?”

“Yes. So. Pay attention.”

Instead of responding with agitation, Shiv grunted and accepted the criticism. "Yeah, I guess I need to keep my eyes open.”

“Not just your eyes. The world is not a nail. You are not a hamr, at least not always. If you want to be good at Biomancy, you have to open your mind, Insul. If you want to be good at anything, you'll have to open your mind. The simple die ugly deaths."

"I think everyone dies ugly deaths," Shiv retorted. "Just that so get a lot more done before they die."

"True, true," Helix anded, sighing.

By the ti they caught up to rriell and the others, they found the Enchanter gesturing animatedly at a set of revolving rings. They glowed with the texture of focus crystal on the outside, and an inner rim that was made from mithril. The gap between the rings glistened with dense motes of static darkness. This was a dinsional item, but from within that sheen of Dinsionality ca another field that Shiv could feel: a Chronomantic field. He wasn't the only one that sensed it. Kura had her face scrunched as well, and she regarded the two rings as if they were hiding a nest of snakes within.

"This is the Realmrunner's Keyhole," rriell said, licking his dry lips. "I did not make this item, and neither did Concelhaunt, for that matter. We found it, and then restored it."

"Realmrunner," Gone echoed, and suddenly Shiv tasted the stench of fear. It radiated from the goblin, and it was practically palpable. A faint strand twisted and twirled through the air. It ran from Gone, and it extended skyward, but Shiv couldn't tell where it ended. It went through the ceiling, and it kept twisting, undulating, as if it was trying to connect to sothing he couldn't see.

"You know who that is?" Shiv asked.

When Gone went still, Shiv knew that this Realmrunner was probably a threat. "Don't want to talk about it," Gone muttered, shaking her head.

Psycho-Cartography: Do not push her right now. Listen to her voice. She's not just reluctant. She's traumatized.

Farsight 74 > 75

Adam turned to say sothing to Gone, but Shiv took a step forward and clapped the Gate Lord on the shoulder. Before Adam could say anything, Shiv shook his head and simply uttered, "No." Adam, to his credit, understood imdiately and fell silent. Once more, Irons looked between them, but his gaze lingered on Shiv a while longer. Instead of seeming suspicious this ti, he let a faint flash of approval slip through his rigid expression.

"The Realmrunner is an infamous Legendary Pathbearer," rriell muttered in a hushed tone. "A Legendary rchant. A trader. A trader of all things, be it wonders, information, stories, and yes, even beings. Monsters and individuals both." rriell shuddered at that, but his shudder was dramatic.

Comparatively, Gone shivered, and her reaction was a reflex. She scratched at the back of her neck, and just then Shiv noticed a curve poking through the rag she'd grabbed from a crate at so point to wear over her shredded prisoner suit. It was a ridge of scar tissue, and as the fabric of her clothes shifted up and down, he saw more of the scarification appear. It didn't look like a battle scar. Instead, it seed to be decorative, inflicted upon her by ans of a brand, if he had to guess.

The Enchanter clicked his tongue, oblivious to the reaction his words were causing. "Anyhow, the Realmrunner is known for being in multiple places at the sa ti, or so it is claid. We suspect that he simply has mastery of Dinsionality on such an advanced level that he can simply coexist in two spaces at once, rather than through ans of splitting his soul."

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Coexist?" Adam repeated, incredulous.

"Correct!" rriell cried aloud. The Gate Lord flinched at the sudden excitent exhibited by the elven Enchanter. He gestured for Adam to co closer. "It’s just a matter of ti—actually, see for yourself! Take hold of the rings," rriell instructed.

The rings lay upon a flat stand, and despite spewing out motes of Dinsionality, they were otherwise dormant. As soon as Adam touched them, however, they both thrumd to life. They rose up into the air, and for the first ti, a burst of gravity distorted the space beneath the rings. The display case began to rattle, and soon, as Adam drew the rings back, it glided through the air, weightless.

For a few seconds, Adam was silent, and his eyes darted about. Shiv realized he was reading the notification offered by this new piece of equipnt, and as the corner of his lip began to curve, he guessed that Adam might have found sothing he was interested in.

Equipnt Obtained: [The Realmrunner’s Keyhole]

Tier: Heroic

Condition: Perfect

Composition: Mithril; Focus Crystal; Dinsionality

Enchantnts > Vector Accelerator; Spatial Pulse; Dinsionality Binder; Slipgate; Eldritch Infusion; Size-Adjustable; Binding; Master Self-Repair

Suddenly, Adam gestured upward, and one of the rings snapped away from the other. It hovered above him, and just then, a burst of Dinsionality splashed down. A second later, Adam zood upward through the ring on his vector wings before reappearing on the other side. However, the Adam that burst out from the other ring was entirely golden.

A pressure clenched Shiv, and he reflexively halted ti. Kura and Gone activated their powers as well, flashing gold, just as a temporal replica of Adam slipped free from the other ring. He rose just above the display case and fired twice through the air, his Veilpiercers tearing open the space before him.

At the sa ti, the real Adam plunged back down through the ring he'd first passed through and fired two shots in return. Two different sets of Veilpiercers impacted, and bursts of black static opened up in the space above the group. It was like pockets of unstable Dinsionality pockmarking the flesh of existence.

"What just happened?" Helix asked, blinking. That was when Shiv realized: only he, Kura, and Gone had likely perceived the entire process. Adam was hyper-accelerated when he passed through the ring. However, he wasn't hyper-accelerated in speed alone. Instead, his personal chronology caused him to exist a full second ahead in the future. Effectively, he fired two shots ahead of ti, and they only appeared when he returned.

Adam grinned up at the ring hovering overhead, and he passed through it once more. This ti, when he crashed back down, the other ring remained dormant. It remained that way for a full ten seconds, until suddenly, Adam shot a Veilpiercer into the keyhole. Just then, Shiv felt a sudden temporal pressure squeeze him as he activated his temporal shell again.

This ti, when Adam's Chronomantically-constructed self appeared, he tried aiming at his forr self before another arrow smashed into the Veilpiercer he was preparing—an arrow that had just been fired a few seconds ago. Adam had effectively disard himself across ti. It was confusing, even for Shiv.

"Oh, this is… useful," Adam breathed. With a gesture, both of the rings suddenly began shrinking before Shiv's eyes. The Dinsionality made them grow tighter, smaller, until they were the size of bracelets, and they slid along Adam's right arm before they locked themselves in place. They turned counter-clockwise to each other, each snapping over and over as if gears inside a clock. "You got sothing better than this, Enchanter? Because so far, I think we have a winner."

"Well, as you are walking the Path of an Archer, I think you made a wonderful choice as well," rriell said. “Our other pieces… It’s hard to hide so of these creations. A great many are restorations, and Vanguards fall in combat more often than—ah, I ramble. This is good. This is my recomndation!”

Concelhaunt frowned slightly. "Look, if you're going to take that thing… you should know about the risks."

Adam raised an eyebrow. He waved a hand for the goblin to elaborate.

Concelhaunt grimaced. "The risks that rriell decided not to ntion."

"Oh, Concelhaunt, what are you trying to do?" rriell asked, his tone aghast.

"I'm trying to make sure that we don't get murdered by the Deathless here, in case his friend bites it."

"'Bites it'?" Shiv asked, his voice dropping to a dangerous growl, and two sets of fear chains hardened between him and the crafters.

"I an that the Realmrunner doesn't like it when you steal his shit," Concelhaunt grunted. "He's been known to kill Pathbearers if they steal from him. And even though this thing was broken when we found it, if he ever cos across you..."

“If.” rriell stressed. “We don't know if he's still out there or even alive at all.”

"But if he cos across you, good odds that this guy might just try to put you in a grave."

"He will, and it doesn't matter," Gone suddenly said. All eyes turned to the goblin. She was staring down at the ground, but she was scratching that scar on the back of her neck. Harder, faster, with blood starting to drip as her claws sank through the tissue. "He will hurt you because you're alive, because you're there, because he can hurt you. He doesn't care about anything but power, wealth, getting more. Take everything from him, take nothing. No difference. It doesn't matter. It doesn't."

Adam looked at Shiv and winced. He tilted his head at Gone and made a hugging gesture. Shiv considered the Gate Lord's request. They didn't know Gone very well, but still, she had been essential in their escape, and so far, he felt like she was among the more moral of the prisoners, especially compared to Kura.

"Maybe just a pat," Shiv whispered quietly. Adam nodded, and he walked over. He made sure to approach Gone from the front, and he awkwardly brushed her shoulder with his index finger. The goblin blinked, and she let out a quiet breath. She shuffled away thereafter, and Shiv didn't know if Adam's action imparted any comfort or simply made things weirder.

"Well, whatever the risk, I'm keeping this," Adam said, gesturing at the rings on his arm. “It’s… very useful. I think I can attach one to you, Shiv. It will let cross over and provide you with cover—or anyone else. Or I can use it for scouting.”

Shiv grinned at Adam’s growing excitent. “Glad to see you found sothing fun here. Not worried about the Realmrunner?"

Adam snorted. "No, I'm definitely not terrified that there might be another hyper-powerful Legendary-Tier Pathbearer who's coming to kill . Truly, this is another good turn for my life."

"It's a bit like getting fucked in the ass by a large object, yeah?" Mortar said. The sudden vulgarness that ca from the orc made both Shiv and Adam do a double-take. "You know, it makes sense if you think about it. When sobody shoves a cactus up your ass, it's already agonizing and painful. More importantly, it tears your hole open. Now, if they try to fuck you with a knife afterward, it still hurts, but it's likely too wide for the knife to really hurt you. You understand?"

Shiv didn't have the words for a while.

Adam did. "What?"

Shiv shivered. He really didn't like imagining any of that, especially not happening to himself. "You could have co up with any other analogy."

"He really could have," Whisper muttered under his breath.

Mortar grunted. "Yeah, but it makes less of an impact, huh? Kind of like a cactus."

"Alright!" Adam said loudly, turning away. "We got our reward. I think we should move on now before Mortar here says anything else that will make side-eye the next plant I see.”