Book 4, chapter 7

Walking down the street, Zee flipped through the pages of a small leather-bound book. The harsh sunlight above illuminated the yellow pages, a soft wind gusting at the aged paper.

Weaving to one side, Zee sidestepped a cluster of pedestrians talking on the sidewalk, not bothering to look up.

She was far too interested in the complex rituals within, using her omnidirectional spatial ripple skill to navigate.

Humming a soft tune, she flipped towards the back of the book, looking for the ritual the old geezer said was in here.

An overwhelming sense of unease filled her as she studied the ritual. The ritual's framework was composed of three layers of delicate constructs of pure energy, each of which she would need to form with her energy reserves.

She scowled down at the book, turning down an alley to avoid a lizard-drawn cart. The precision required to form that many energy constructs was far beyond her skills at the moment.

She would need to practice and slowly work her way up to that. She tapped the spine of the book thoughtfully. Learning to properly use this ritual could take a few days, maybe even weeks.

Was this intentional? Given her habit of showing up unannounced, this might be exactly why that old geezer gave her such a difficult task.

Well, at least she had something to work on. The old librarian didn't think it would fix her problems, but he must think there was some chance right? Otherwise, why would he bother giving her these books to read?

Zee clung to that hope, spending the next few days reading most of the day, and even some of the night.

Like the first book, the second was quite dull, filled with ramblings of a man who thought himself superior to everyone.

Even knowing that the author was the old man still didn't change her mind about wanting to put vinegar in his tea.

Sadly, that dream might have to wait a while, until she was strong enough to survive a reprisal.

Confined to her room, she read the book cover to cover. It was filled with ramblings on rituals, and how to properly form them using energy constructs.

She read so much that she was starting to see the rituals in her head at night when she was cultivating and her mind wandered.

Performing even the most basic ritual in the book was still beyond her, but she was starting to understand some of the runes that made up the rituals.

She finished the book after two days and started trying to create the delicate energy construct necessary to form the last ritual in the book.

When complete, the ritual should clean all the dust from the room, leaving it spotless. It was absurd. Such a complex ritual, for a mundane task.

A simple broom and mop would have been way faster, but sadly that is not what the old librarian wanted. So, she toiled away, letting energy leak out of her aura, and willing it to form into thin patterns in the air.

It was a strange thing. Forming one energy construct was easy, even two wasn't difficult. But it got harder as she progressed. Each successive one forced her to spread her focus, to excerpt more mental energy to keep them from being consumed by the world river.

This cleaning ritual contained three layers each, with each layer having seven separate constructs of energy, each connected to the last.

Forming the first layer of the ritual took her only a few hours, but that was proving to be her limit for now. Trying to start on the second layer was proving much more difficult. The moment she switched focus, the first layer started shaking, threatening to burst.

It was rather infuriating. Even once she completed it several times, she had no confidence in actually performing the ritual under pressure.

Even still, Zee returned to the library, knowing she was on a time crunch. Trudging through the maze of bookshelves until she found the old man's little room.

The old man, dressed in a soft white robe, looked up as she enter through the door, his brows furrowed.

"Back already? I thought you would have given up," He said.

Zee ignored his comment. Her aura fluctuated and concentric circles of energy swirled around her, creating patterns in the air.

The first two layers shook, threatening to fall apart as the second and then the third layer formed. The energy construct slowly materialized, much to her delight.

The ritual activated, and a soft wind gusted as the dust and cobwebs in the small office were swept up vanishing into the air.

Zee released the ritual, and it shattered into a thousand small moats of light, slowly disappointing. The old man glanced around his suddenly clean room, some surprise on his aged face.

"What do you think?" Zee asked, beaming proudly.

"Not bad brat. But don't get so full of yourself. That's a first-tier ritual. Those are so easy to learn that even a blind and deaf lizard could learn it." The old man grumped.

"Why are you such an asshole? Can't you just say a good job?" Zee asked.

The old geezer snorted, "I am an asshole because a certain brat keeps barging in and disturbing my reading. Now, enough gloating. Take this book, and read it. Master the ritual on page seventy-three within two days or I will stop helping you," The old man said, just as a book flew off a nearby shelf slamming into her chest.

Her breath left her in a whoosh and she stagger back, but thankfully she was still able to hang on to the heavy book.

"Two days? That's not enough time," Zee said eying the fist thick book worriedly.

The old man snorted. "As I thought, not even worth my time," he muttered.

Zee scowled whirling on her heel. "I am going to make you eat your words, old man, just wait," she snapped.

Tar snorted, watching the cheeky brat leave his library, his expression thoughtful.

What an amusing girl, brave enough to charge into a boundless cultivator's place of power and then call him names.

Not only that, but she performed the cleaning ritual after only two days. It was almost enough to make him properly interested.

Still, there was no way she could master a second-tier ritual in the same amount of time. Tar had initially been curious given the girl's unique situation, but that interest had already faded.

He had no desire to teach anyone anything, simply wanting to do his research and be left alone. Especially since that brat would likely die within a year, her fragment crumbling from the pressure of that fractured inner world.

Hence why he gave her a near-impossible task for a beginner like her. Once that brat failed, he would simply bar her entrance, a price for her lack of talent.

Without him willing it, she would never find his room in the labyrinth that was the library.

*** For the next two days, Zee did nothing but read and form complex energy constructs, pushing herself to her limit.

Even still, it felt hopeless. The grave diggers' ritual was just too complex. The second-tier ritual was simply too difficult for a novice like Zee.

She suspected it was on purpose. That old man wanted her to fail, which made her want to succeed all the more. Two days of mind-numbing practice, with only an hour or two to rest. Even with Bastion bringing food up to their room, it didn't feel like she had enough time in the day.

Even still, Zee was determined, unwilling to lose this opportunity to help Dern. She would run herself ragged, for even the slightest chance of success.

The deadline arrived far too soon, and she reappeared before the grumbly old man in his gloomy room hidden away in the library.

"You are back?" He said, tapping the top of his desk with a gnarled finger.

"Surprised?" she asked.

"Yes, I assumed you would be too ashamed to show yourself after failing to master the grave digger's ritual," he replied with a raspy laugh.

She clenched her fists, anger, and fatigue warring for supremacy in her mind.

"Two days was not enough time and you know it."Zee snapped, her exhaustion making her temper short.

The old man gave her a look that lacked any pity, " I don't care. If you cannot perform the ritual, then just leave and never come back," he said.

Days of pent-up frustration welled to the forefront of her mind. Her face scrunched up, as she focused.

If this old geezer wanted a grave, she would make a hole so deep he could fill it with all of his books. Spurred on by anger, concentric circles of energy formed in the air around her.

With her spatial ripple skill, she was able to sense each of the energy constructs and hold them together no matter if they were in her line of sight or not.

Minutes passed as more layers formed, and her focus began to falter. Even with her initial burst of progress, that didn't mean she was any closer to being able to form the fourth layer.

Her mental energy was already nearly wrung dry, the split focus too much for her to maintain for long.

So close. All she needed to do was form a few more strands of energy together to finish the ritual. The ritual shuddered as it slowly became more unstable, her mental energy dwindling.

She could feel it, slipping through her fingers, on the edge of bursting. As if on cue, the heart of fire beat to life, flooding her body with a pulse of energy.

It was like drinking a hundred cups of caffeine at the same time. Her eyes widen. Zee had no idea if adding this new energy to the mix would alter the ritual, but she was too exhausted to care.

Her skin steamed, as she channeled that flaming energy into the air around her, forming the remaining pathways to complete the ritual.

The ritual snapped taught, the energy in the air catching fire as the ritual activated. The old man's eyes widened, and he moved.

One moment he was seated in his high-backed chair and the next, he was beside her, reaching out to touch the ritual diagram.

Zee felt a wrenching sensation, as the ritual was subverted, its complex framework twisting as it was sucked into the old man's palm.

She staggered, her mind reeling from the backlash.

"Hey! What was that for?" Zee asked, suddenly nauseous.

The rail-thin old man took a step back, his brows furrowed. Even though he had completely absorbed that ritual, his hand looked completely fine.

"You would have lit my room on fire if I let that ritual continue," he replied dryly.

"But it was a success, I finished the ritual," Zee said.

"You used two conflicting types of energy. if I hadn't intervened, you would have killed yourself. That is a failure." He retorted.

Flustered, and wrung dry, Zee folded her arms. "You made a promise. I passed the test, now you are just being an ass." Zee snapped.

He glared at her, and she glared back, refusing to back down in the slightest. She wasn't going to let the stubborn old geezer back out now. Especially not after all that time and effort.

He scowled at her, "You know, I could kill you with a mere thought," He threatened, his aura leaking out, a mere glimpse of it enough to make her tremble.

She rocked back on her heels, though she forced herself to stand her ground.

"Are you going back on your word?" Zee asked stubbornly.

He raised a hand and caught a book that appeared as if from thin air. His posture relaxed and a thin smile crossed his lips.

"An unbreakable determination is needed to reach the peak of cultivation." He offered the book to her, "Once you go down this path, there is no turning back," he replied.

Zee hesitated, looking down at the deceptively simple leather book, bound by leather and metal clasps.

"Is there another way?" Zee asked.

The old man shrugged. "I don't know. Feeding your bonded Ashary souls should buy you a few years at most, but I doubt it will matter in the end." He said.

Zee took the book, a sinking feeling settling in her stomach. The old man's expression softened ever so slightly.

"I would advise finding monsters to use In the ritual. Their souls are less potent, but they also leave less of an imprint on your aura." The old man said.

Clutching the book in a white-knuckled grip she asked. "Can you help me learn the ritual, so I don't mess it up?" Zee asked.

The old man snorted, "That sounds like a lot of work, Brat," he grumbled.

Zees shoulders slumped. She figured as much.

"Well, thanks anyway. You might be a cranky old geezer, but I still appreciate the help," Zee said, turning to leave.

The old man returned to his chair, collapsing back into his chair with a soft grunt. He looked to be mulling over something, so she paused.

Finally, after a few long seconds, he said. "If you have any questions once you have read that book, you may come back, and I might offer some help,"

"Thanks, old man. I will see you later," Zee said, disappearing in a cloud of mist.

Tar watched the brat vanish, still uncertain why he had made that offer. She had fulfilled the terms of the agreement, but still. His obligation was over once he gave her the book with that soul-draining ritual.

Maybe it was boredom or just idle curiosity. He tapped his chin thoughtfully. The last few times they met had been more exciting than his last hundred years in his basement.

He found himself looking forward to her return. It shouldn't take long to read that book. He wouldn't mind offering a few pointers now and then. Who knew maybe something interesting might happen to help him ward off the tedium?