The third Truth

Chapter 111: The third Truth

Zyl sat down in his room to meditate. For this procedure he didn't need any complicated apparatuses or devices, just himself and a good amount of time. Berthorn would probably start suspecting things weren't right if he dragged it out too long, so at most he could buy maybe a page and a half. Fifteen days.

With a little bit of luck, that would be enough for Ragnarok to get in touch with Mercury. He had given them a crystal ball that would link them to him, but told them to only use it if they were too late. Then he'd know to just go through with the trade.

The man in white sighed a little, running his hands through his hair. It was frustrating, not being in control of his circumstances, but he'd just have to trust the few allies he had.

But in the case things went wrong, he had to be ready to make a trade. So, Zyl closed his eyes and began meditating.

- - - - - -

Mercury, somewhere in the forest was doing the same thing one evening. Yasashiku had already begun his training before they even arrived at his place, and had given Mercury a hammer to swing.

It didn't work well.

The leyfal didn't have opposable thumbs, and <Telekinesis> was good for a lot, but swinging a hammer was not one of those. It could apply a consistent force in a direction, but if that force was lesser than the gravitational force on an object, he was kind of screwed. And given that the hammer was made of metal and heavy, he could barely lift it, not to mention swinging it.

So no, swinging the hammer itself wasn't working. Yasashiku only smiled as he watched his student attempt it with futility. Mercury was not his first armless student, and if he had any say in it, the mopaaw wouldn't be the last either.

It just meant that the first steps would be much harder. Maybe he should give the young one a hint? No, no, that would be too cheap. And so, with his mind made up to be patient, the old man simply watched his student.

By now, the person in question had given up lifting the hammer with <Telekinesis>, and was instead simply staring at it whenever they rested, sometimes meditating. Perhaps he was trying to figure it out? What a funny thought.

Shaking his head, Yasashiku began to cook for the evening. He did his student that much of a favour at least, to let him wholly concentrate on the task of swinging a hammer. Now, technically it was possible to carve runes and smith things without a hammer, but the old blacksmith didn't believe in all that.

Of course, he could do it too. In fact, for his greatest masterpieces he didn't ever touch any of his tools, but that was because he himself had become the hammer, and nothing else was needed. But before Mercury became a hammer himself, he'd need to understand what made such a thing, and for that, he'd need to get familiar with it.

Most people would do that by swinging it. Repeating the same motion a hundred thousand times until it became mastery, but the little one didn't have that luxury. Instead, he had to find his own path.

And so, evening after evening, Mercury would stare at the hammer. For hours on end, and during all that time, his new teacher simply sat there and watched, only occasionally calling his attention back to the task at hand when it drifted away.

The whole thing was endlessly frustrating for Mercury, especially thinking about the fact that he would be doing nothing but that as soon as they were done travelling. Right now he at least had breaks from staring at metal on a stick while they walked, but soon those would disappear too.

It was extremely annoying, but that pettiness at least served as a drive to develop faster. Actually, it didn't just serve for that, it also was a drive to find another method of escape, which appeared after five days of travelling, when they were almost halfway there.

Finally, after a long wait, Mercury had dragged himself back into his dreams, finding himself in the middle of the fields at night. As always, there was a fountain of water to the south, a mountain range to the east, a citadel of fire to the north, and a castle of glass to the west.

Seeing it all again after such a long while brought a smile to Mercury's face, though it soon vanished again, feeling his entire body ache. Well, not really body, more his mind. In this state, he was most aware of his mind and its injuries, and now that he actually felt them, it was clear why he hadn't been thinking as fast the last couple days.

This entire, strange version of himself was covered in bruises, if he could call them that. In any case, he was very certain that this entire body here was pretty banged up. It must have happened when he was thrown out the castle with the ton of moons, since he developed a good nosebleed there too.

Sighing, Mercury laid down on the floor. He still didn't know why he was able to go there, but by now he was sure it was linked to some other person. He also knew that whoever it was didn't have good intentions, that much was clear.

Losing this much training time form being unable to dream really quite annoyed him, but he also couldn't exactly ignore it when someone tried to link themselves to his mind somehow. It was a shitty situation overall, one that definitely needed a remedy. He'd need to learn how to toughen up his mind, or maybe how to heal it up.

But for now, he didn't really have much of an approach to that. Instead, he just decided to dedicate this time to something he did now have more of an idea about, the nothingness he was supposed to understand.

With his mind made up, Mercury closed his eyes, zoning out the area around him and only focusing on himself. He breathed in, and then breathed out, until he found himself in a slight state of ihn'ar again.

Then, he roamed through his memories of the last days, slowly going backwards. The thing he searched for was distinct, after all, something that had burnt itself into his mind, and not long after, he found the scene. Once again, he played it out in front of his inner eye.

The short moment he felt himself tumbling, simply moving through a space that wasn't at an insane speed. For a moment, when his existence in that place denied, he found himself nowhere, and saw nothingness.

It wasn't black, really, there was nothing to compare it too after all. Neither was it white. There was simply no light to pick up, and thus his mind attempted to fill it with shapes, like when one closes their eyelids and presses down on them with their thumbs.

Of course, those shapes also were denied by the space, since there was nothing at all there. And that was the key that Mercury now grasped. To understand nothingness, he simply shouldn't think, since that would go against its essence. There should be no instinct, no meditation.

To figure out this secret, he had to go past all the notions of focus and smallness, stop comparing it to what was around, and instead simply accept it as, well, nothing.

Very slowly, a smile found himself on Mercury's lips. Well, it would have found itself there if he had lips. In any case, if anyone looked at him here, they would be able to read that he was happy.

The mopaaw opened his eyes again, taking in the dreamscape around him for a moment, with the golden light encompassing it all. But that golden light was in the way, a veil, and so Mercury looked past it, at what things really were. Still, that wasn't enough, since he could not yet see the nothingness, even though it was already there. He had to restrict his field of view.

Making up his mind, Mercury began to look at a smaller space, then even smaller again. He expanded a thin tendril of mana outside his body to do the seeing for him, and honed in on an area smaller than a grain of rice, then smaller than a speck of dust, then even smaller still. And eventually, he caught a glimpse of it again.

Where Mercury was now feeling, there was nothing. His sense had touched something that didn't exist, which reality was woven around.

And that was all it was.

[The individual has acquired the ability <Nothingness (lowest)> through a specific action!]

-

[Main Quest: "Looming Thread" completed!

Reward: 3 levels (character), <Weaving> affinity pass, choice of unique spell from a suitable list.]

-

[Levels have been added to the count.

Character Levels: 3

Distributable Levels: 1]

[<Weaving> affinity pass acquired. Use?]

[Choice of unique spell initiated. Creating list. Please wait a moment.]

Almost immediately, Mercury's entire face was bombarded with notifications, without any delay. He took a deep breath, slowly letting go of his ihn'ar to make sure he wasn't just catapulted out, and began to read through the notifications. Once again, a wide smile found itself on his face.

Seriously, he might have to thank the moon person. Without being shown this nothingness by them, it might have taken him much more than just the few tries to figure it out, especially since he needed to wait for such a long while in between attempts.

Not now though, Mercury thought and shook his head. It was time to read through the rewards he got.

First of all, the levels. Apparently, they weren't immediately attached to him this time, and instead added to a counter where he could make use of them at any point in time. It was a little strange that up until now that wasn't clearly labelled at all. <Appraisal>, can anything be done about that?

[Affirmative.]

[Due to the individual's slightly lacking brainpower, more clear distinctions will be made between labels. Immediately applied levels will now be labelled via "instant level (category)", while ones that can be acquired at any point in time will be named "delayed level (category)". Are the categories clear to the individual?]

Yes, that much was clear now. He wasn't fully sure if they had always been labelled correctly in the past though.

[Answer refused. Not recorded in system storage.]

... Well, in any case, it would be clear now. Thanks for the help <Appraisal>.

Honestly, having some character levels saved up was more than nice. After all, the later he used them, the more exp he'd be able to save, and in a pinch, the healing could come in super handy.

[Level up healing is removed from delayed levels.]

It still saved him exp then!

At the very least, they might come in handy when he wanted to quickly propel himself the last few steps towards his next evolution, or when he needed a quick boost in general power. He was still pleased with them.

But of course, what he was more pleased with was the affinity pass. He had waited so long for this one! He wanted to use it immediately, but just as he was about to confirm, another notification popped up.

[You have received a message.]

[<Old Uunrahzil> is looking at you with pride.]

Holy what now?

Mercury looked at the pop-up with confusion in his eyes. How in the blue blazes had old Dreamweaver figured out he'd done this? He could only imagine a few answers.

Maybe they were somehow watching him right now. That, however, seemed unlikely. Then they'd have just spoken to him, and not needed to ask so many questions on what he'd been doing before. It seemed like a silly notion, so he discarded it.

What Mercury considered to be much more likely was that somehow, him reaching a new stage of ihn'ar was one of their quests, too. Then, they would have immediately received a notification, maybe even a boost of power big enough to shake them awake.

But then, how the heck could they send a message? If it was that easy, wouldn't the major countries back on Chronagen use that too, rather than letters and crystal balls and whatnot? So it couldn't exactly be an easy feat, but then again, it was just a message. If the system was equipped with messaging technology, why not simply supply it to everyone? <Appraisal>?

[The messaging system is not yet unlocked. Answer denied.]

Well, okay, so that was that then.

Pushing aside all those thoughts, Mercury focused on the message from one of his teachers again with a smile. 'Thank you,' he thought out loud, hoping they might hear his thoughts, or at least read his gratitude. Of course, there was no answer, and so Mercury looked back at his rewards, and used the affinity pass.

[<Weaving> affinity pass activated. The associated Skills will now be 33% cheaper and gain mastery 20% faster.]

This was enough.

It reduced the price of <Spider Thread> from 3.000 Skill points down to 2.000.

Finally, he could get it!

[Acquired the Skill <Spider Thread lv. 1> from the Skill shop.]

[<Spider Thread> is being renamed due to the individual not being an arthropod.]

[<Spider Thread lv. 1> has changed to <Thread lv. 1>]

[<Thread>: This Skill allows the individual to generate thread. These threads may have special properties based on the individual's specific affinities. The threads' durability is decided by the Skill level. Thread can be generated from the individual's claws, consuming Sp in the process.]

It was such a simple Skill, and yet he had wanted it so much for so long. It was the ultimate trapping Skill, after all, and thin but durable threads could make a good weapon too. Now the only question was what exactly his unique affinities would make the thread do. <Appraisal>?

[Due to the individual's specific affinities, the thread can be used to entangle and trap another's mind, in additional to any regular physical effects.]

Okay.

Yup.

This was fucking sick.

He could straight up make a spiderweb, except it could slow down someone's thoughts. How fucking cool was that?! In any prolonged confrontation, this would give him such huge advantages, being able to slow down the enemy's reaction time, make them cast their Skills more slowly, in addition to sticking it to their physical body.

Even if this left him with only 10 Skill points, Mercury could not be more pleased with it.

[Spells have finished generating. Listing.]

[1. <Delve>

2. <One More>

3. <Revelation>

4. <Ensnare>]

Before the cat even had the time to think about the spell list, it was already done. And once again, before he had the chance to ask, <Appraisal> did its thing.

[<Delve>: This spell allows the user to project their mind onto and into someone else's. It allows the individual to explore someone's mind if the target is willing. If the target is unwilling, the individual must break past any mental barriers set in place, and attempt to resist any efforts to remove them from such premises. Cost: 60% of Mp.]

It was a spell made to explore other people's minds. On one hand, that was very cool, but on the other hand, it also felt extremely invasive, and he hadn't really encountered a situation where it would be super necessary, too. Plus, unless he split his mind, he might not be able to control his physical body while doing it, and that would be absolutely horrific if there ever was any backup in a fight.

All in all, the spell seemed a little too niche for him.

[<One More>: This spell can be cast on any willing target the user perceives as an ally. It increases their strength, speed, and increases their mental resistance. Additionally, it makes them less likely to flee and increases morale, which may have a positive effect on battle strength. A maximum of two targets can be affected at any one time. Cost: 1% of Mp per second per target.]

This one was already better in his eyes, and he might have taken it if the wolves were still there, but that wasn't the case. As of the moment, most of his battles were fought on his own, so the spell wasn't very useful quite yet. He'd consider it, though.

[<Revelation>: This spell utilizes the user's mana to see through illusions and hidden information. It can also be used to analyse objects to view information on them. Cost (Illusions): 1-100% of Mp. Cost (Analysis): 5-70% of Mp.]

This one seemed useful to him. Quite frankly, a lot of its functions were probably covered by <Appraisal>, but while the Skill did explain quite a few things, it also wasn't as precise as he would like. With the analysis function he would probably be able to determine the exact materials something was made of and maybe even their construction method, which was any crafter's dream, and being able to see through illusions was something he still needed some help with, since <Intuition> was good but not perfect on its own.

Honestly, it was definitely a convenient spell. The more he thought about it, the more he kind of wanted to have it.

But first, he had to at least check the last one.

[<Ensnare>: This spell summons chains of magic to trap and subdue the target. Activation requirement: 50 Mp. Maximum output: 400 Mp.]

The last spell was surprisingly simple. It was very clearly meant to be used in combat, and simply chained someone down. There were probably dozens of spells like it, but it still seemed to be on the upper tier of like... magic chain spells.

Honestly, all of the spells were simultaneously better and worse than he had expected. None of them were as explosive as he had hoped, but all of them still had a very clear use.

Still, right now he wasn't exactly in a situation that required combat, so he finally decided to choose <Revelation>.

[Acquired the Spell <Revelation lv. 1> as a reward.]

Now then, that surely must've been all the notifications... wait, there were more?

[Due to the individual's higher affinity towards <Weaving>, and their achievements in ihn'ar, you have glimpsed that which surrounds the nothingness.]

[The <Dreamweave> has been noticed.]