Threads

Because of Angel's newfound conviction, although he still had a deep wish to finish his foundation and get onto weaving, he no longer wished to learn from others. At least, not anyone who was still alive.

Instead, Angel read the copied journals of Jess Queen and articles composed of part-drawing part-scribbled writing by Kandle Joseph. He didn't find it necessary to study Light Novae Era, as although he was the most famous of the three, his contribution, despite being great, had no effect on spelling weaving and therefore no effect on Angel.

Because of this, Angel started to realise that the foundation he had built for himself, although not awful and quite useful in many areas because of the unique combination of the Threads of Stealth and Melody, could have been much better managed. Although the other more compatible threads would not have the same effect, when properly weaved and re-woven, would be enhanced nearly threefold because of their compatibility.

For example, his current foundation of the Thread of Stealth and the Thread of Melody woven together made his stealth a lot better than that of someone without the Thread of Stealth as foundation, with Melody backing the Stealth to create a more serene and clear landscape for his mind, naturally making it easier to see details that normally he would not have noticed, and in that manner, enhance the ability he could perform Stealth to.

However, although it seemed like the two threads worked well together, that was not actually so. Related threads such as sister threads or engaged threads were extremely compatible with each other, intentionally enhancing the other's affects, such as Wind deliberately enhancing Speed.

While in the case of Angel's threads, although they resonated with each other, they were not initially compatible. The Thread of Melody didn't enhance Stealth, as it affected Angel's mind and made him more calm in especially emotional moments and better at detecting things. In short, it was actually enhancing Angel's mind, making his initial responses to situations calmer. This was why his foundation was not actually as helpful as it could have been, because the Thread of Stealth and the Thread of Melody directly enhanced him instead of enhancing each other.

This revelation made Angel initially disappointed, as he had expected for a lot more from his threads.

However, after a while he made up his mind about the threads and thought of how useful the threads would be to him and were already. Although they weren't especially compatible with each other and didn't deliberately enhance the other, that was all right too. After all, Angel could just weave them separately as two completely different threads, and then finish the base of his foundation like that. It was also like this that he realised that although it was custom for Stone-Dwellers to have threads compatible with the other or similar in methods of weaving, it did not actually have to be so.

In fact, before the KJ-Era, for a period of 740 years, many had been laying down their foundation with in-compatible threads, with many of those as powerful as the spellweavers of the Church of Brightness and the Church of Darkness.

This made Angel's dissatisfaction with his threads dissipate, as well as make him even more eager to further learn about weaving. He no longer saw it as something that was just a minor wish that supported the ability he was able to complete his true goals to, but something he could actually enjoy doing.

After acquiring some study materials, Angel once again headed back to the Temple of Sky.

The temperature outside the city was a lot colder as while the screen did cover a large portion of the region the Stone-Dwellers lived in, it did not cover all of them and instead shone directly above the city, leaving out the newer carved sections underneath the Above, such as the lands behind the Cathedral of Hope.

However, it wasn't uncomfortable or too cold. In fact, Angel found that he had missed the days he resided inside the Temple of Sky, despite the intense cold and harsh conditions.

Because of this, Angel wondered if it would be possible for him to weave the Thread of Chill inside his foundation as well. He was likely to keep returning to the Temple of Sky in the future, and he also had a sentimental attachment to the temple, it being the place he and his family had worshipped the being of the Nights and Days. It would be troublesome and time-consuming if he had to constantly worry for his life because it was so incredibly cold.

In fact, it was very possible. Because Angel's foundations had not yet been finished building, it was more than possible to weave the Thread of Chill inside as well, especially since despite not being especially compatible, the Thread of Chill had similar designs and patterns in it to both the Thread of Stealth and the Thread of Melody. It could actually become the weaver between the two threads and bring them together, while still keeping all the threads apart as Angel wanted.

However, this was an extremely tricky business, and could get extremely difficult at times, causing the spellweaver to collapse inside of their minds, which was why Angel devoted four hours every day to subtly weave in the Thread of Chill.

Every two hours he would take a break and take a nap, study Destruction and Creation, or study the materials.

The materials provided ample knowledge for as to how one could design their Woven Tapestry and emphasised on how the proper design was extremely important. If a spellweaver's design was poorly woven or not woven directly to suite that spellweaver, then any weaving they would weave in the future would be stiff and uncomfortable, not having been woven to the full extent of their ability.

Of course, even if the Woven Tapestry was woven to directly suite the spellweaver, depending on how it was woven, it would still impact the extent one could weave future weavings. If the Woven Tapestry was delicate but with firm roots, then the spellweaver's weavings wouldn't be as strong but would be much more flexible in its extent and durability.

Stiff and tightly wound Tapestries made the spellweaver's future weavings focused and extremely well-managed in its durability and usage as well as strength, but would only cover that one specific intention it was woven for.

All Tapestries had their positives and their negatives, which was why Angel hadn't yet directly woven the Thread of Chill inside his Tapestry and only added parts of it, as if preparing to weave the bits and pieces together, since he wasn't sure what Tapestry he would design and weave.

So Angel postponed the rest of the weaving and instead spent most of his time relaxing, sleeping, buying food from the city or studying Tapestries.

He returned the books he had and borrowed new ones on more in-depth articles about Woven Tapestries.

While he did so, Angel thought diligently about what sort of Tapestry he wanted, as he had grown quite attached to his already existing threads and weavings and would not like to build everything all over again.

A strong and tightly wound Tapestry was of no use, so it was disregarded. A delicate Tapestry was extremely versatile but too easily cut through, so that option too was ignored. In the end, Angel decided to abandon studying every form and type of Tapestry the books had to offer and instead focused only on Jess Queen's Tapestry from the few sources and articles that knew of what his Tapestry was like.

In a source from Jess Queen's brother, Garrett Queen, there was even an inked drawing that allowed the viewer to see what Jess Queen's Tapestry had been like.

It was beautiful, all woven together in shifting lines that looked like they were randomly woven but actually all connected to each other, casual though it seemed. When Angel peered deeply enough he could see that the Tapestry actually had more than two threads at the base foundation.

Jess Queen had woven six threads, a feat considered impossible. The Threads of Colour, Sight, Function, Melody and two others could be seen on the inked drawing, with the visible threads constantly shifting to a different colour as if another thread had just crawled throughout its entire body.

The Tapestry of Jess Queen was a masterpiece. It was most likely the most beautiful thing that Angel had ever seen. However, more than that, it was also eerily frightening. It wasn't just an inked picture on a book, but a real, breathing Tapestry that belonged to one that was so genius it was a wonder how he'd died.

It was alive, breathing and functioning through the book.

However, this all of course was not real. The Tapestry of Jess Queen was amazing and magnificent, but like its weaver, it had died long ago.

The drawing only further depicted the genius of Jess Queen, as a mere copy of the actual Tapestry itself was so lifelike and real, and could not be seriously compared to the actual thing. The one copy was already as alive as any Tapestry could be, almost as if coming to life because of the will and intention of the spellweaver. The real Tapestry would be ten-fold as magnificent, and depending on how good the artist was, possibly twenty-fold.