by Sarah Lin
His role in the battle might not have been dramatic, but he was allowed to request a sublime material for his contribution. He asked for some noonstone, a more intense version of solarstone, and did his best to chip away at it. Fiyu spoke with him regarding local options and decided that none of the materials were correct for her defensive chamber, so she instead requested something for her own soulcrafting.
As a more subtle reward, Nauda gave him greater freedom about which classes he attended. The lead instructors didn't accept that one fight was enough to put him in the advanced group, but the way Nauda quietly understood spoke well of her. She couldn't overturn their decisions, instead allowing him to sit in on advanced classes.
That day he had volunteered to join one about sublime materials, in small part because he hoped it might be useful and in greater part because the instructor was the Archcrafter who had healed him long ago. Apparently she had come all the way to Myufuru to teach several classes about healing, but also a few subjects better suited to an ascended soulcrafter.
"Sublime materials are generally classified according to the same tiers as soulcrafters," she said, showing several simple materials. "But it is important to remember that, unlike with soulcrafting, these distinctions are artificial fences placed in the field. There is no significant difference between the strongest simple materials and the weakest Archcrafter materials. In fact, one or the other might be easier for you to use, depending on your personal inclinations."
So far, the lesson had been entirely basic facts he already knew. He worked on his soulhome while he listened with one ear, hoping everyone would assume that he was soulcrafting based on the lecture. Not every student was capable of doing both at once, but it was common enough that it didn't raise any eyebrows.
If nothing else, he hoped to get her opinion on the tree he was still attempting to grow. Despite his best efforts, and use of the sublime water he'd been given, it had only become a miserable little sapling. Whatever was wrong, it fell outside his knowledge and it was impeding his progress on the blueprint, so perhaps it was best to ask a local expert.
For a time he'd thought that his foundation was flawed in some way and put effort into it, watering the grass itself. Yet it had kept the yellowing aged look and only grown thicker and longer. He'd reluctantly asked Nauda and she'd said that his foundation seemed strong and uninjured, though too unfamiliar beyond that.
"Now, no doubt some of you are wondering why we're hoarding all the Archcrafter materials to ourselves instead of letting you use them. I thought that I might demonstrate the reasons why with a little challenge."
The words caught his attention and Theo rapidly left his soulhome, focusing fully on the class. At the head of the room, the old healer revealed a small box from her robes, undid the lock, and held it open. Within lay a single pearl, its luminescence overflowing the box. Definitely a powerful sublime material, and though it seemed attuned toward healing, he couldn't ignore it.
"This is a Pearl of the Falls, a somewhat rare Archcrafter material. Normally, it would be placed on a special altar within a healer's inner chambers, in order to focus their cantae. But as it happens, I already have one, so I thought I would let all of you... make an effort to take it."
A long time ago, Theo had gone through exactly the same lesson and proved himself incapable. This time, he had an idea. He threw himself back into his soulhome, pushed aside the noonstone, and rapidly began hammering at his newest boulder of solarstone. Soon enough he broke off an appropriately-sized chunk, but then he had to begin chiseling it out, which was no easy task.
Meanwhile, the healer continued speaking. "The challenge is this: if you are capable of using this pearl within your soulhome, it is yours. But if I teach you anything in this class, it is that this task is more difficult than you might think. I urge no one to take the challenge if their soulhome is unstable or if they are not confident in themselves."
Several students immediately rushed to make the effort, forced to stand in line. Most failed at the very first step, squeezing the pearl to try to draw it into their soul home and simply failing. One managed to pull it inside, but found it too heavy to carry. That led to a delay, as she had no way to remove sublime materials herself and the healer needed to carefully extract it. Extraction was a fairly advanced skill, and one he had no intention of learning soon, since it did him little good.
Meanwhile, Theo worked furiously on the piece of stone, hollowing out the center. He could use a plate of stone as a lid, but he needed something to bind the pieces together, to make the spirit of the object clear. Perhaps one of the new minor materials that had been distributed...
"I did it!"
Theo recognized the voice and looked up to see Kuber raising a triumphant fist, but the old woman shook her head slowly. "You've drawn the pearl within yourself, but the challenge is to use it in your soulhome. You may be ready for that step, but all of us will observe your progress."
The instructor beckoned to Nauda, who stepped up and helped the class form a circle. Even among the instructors, her ability to look directly into soulhomes was rare, so more than a few made use of it. Theo set aside his work reluctantly to take part in the demonstration.
Since the last time he'd seen Kuber's soulhome, it had gained a section of thick stone wall... but also a wooden wall. It seemed he was working furiously to create his outer wall, with barely any chambers within. That seemed entirely irrational, since he could have built a more durable soulhome if he worked chamber by chamber. As far as Theo knew, several small chambers held as much cantae as a single large one, and they were sturdier.
Only Kuber had any concrete form, carrying the pearl with both hands onto his foundation. He started to pull it into one of the makeshift chambers, but the walls immediately began to vibrate. With a frown, he adjusted one of the boards and shored up the wall a little, but when he attempted to bring the pearl inside, once again the wood started to tremble.
"Do you see the difficulty?" The instructor's spirit floated closer, gesturing to the makeshift room. "As young soulcrafters, your souls lack the stability to endure more powerful materials. Trying to place the pearl into such a small room... the cantae it generates will overwhelm the walls and could even cause permanent damage."
"Then I need to use a bigger room." Kuber scowled down at his foundation, then moved to his pile of sublime materials and revealed a tarp. He began to string it across one of the outer edges, forming a new chamber of massive size. Their instructor's frown was visible even in her spiritual form.
"I strongly advise against trying this, young man. Building a chamber around a sublime material is almost always unwise... there will be no time to change your mind if there is a poor reaction."
"Or the chamber will be able to contain the pearl's strength and I'll win your challenge."
The class shifted nervously, trading glances amongst themselves, but though the instructor took a step forward, she couldn't actually take action within his soulhome. It was theoretically possible, just not at the Archcrafter level. Theo found himself wincing, despite knowing that he couldn't be harmed since he wasn't truly present.
Soon enough, Kuber finished his new chamber. He closed off the last wall, then bent down to pick up the pearl. Even as he did so, the tarp began to flutter wildly, the air crackling with raw power. For an instant, his eyes widened in horror as he realized his mistake, but he only took one step toward the exit before the world exploded.
When Theo could see again, the tarp had been torn away, most of the wooden walls had collapsed, and even one of the stone walls had a large crack running through it. The pearl rolled innocently across the floor, harmless now that the pressure had been relieved.
Kuber sat on his knees, his spiritual body unharmed, but the damage that had been done to his soulhome was obvious in his slumped posture. Since the pearl was a healing material, it likely hadn't dealt any permanent injury to his foundation, but his attempt had destroyed many days of work. That wasn't even
as bad as it could be: higher tier soulcrafters who failed to integrate a new material could see it crash down through lower levels, smashing all in its path.
"I'm sorry for this, my boy, I truly am." The healer floated beside him, trying to put a hand on his back and instead passing through. "Will you help me retrieve the pearl from your soulhome? You've given us a clear, if sorrowful, demonstration, so I'll do my best to make it up to you."
Soon enough she extracted the pearl and Nauda closed the link, returning them all to class. Only Kuber remained soulcrafting, no doubt still stunned and miserable. Theo noted with a final glance that his foundation was completely undamaged - the Tatian man might be overambitious, but he wasn't a fool. If he was desperate to reach Archcrafter, that could also explain why he was building such a simple room for his first floor.
"I hadn't wanted the demonstration to be so stark, but now you see it." Their instructor shook her head slowly. "This is why we ask that you trust your betters and not attempt to rush forward to sublime materials that you are not yet prepared for. Now, the nex-"
"I'd like to try." Theo spoke up for the first time that class and all eyes turned to him, most in surprise, and the old woman's eyes twinkling.
"Am I going to need to heal you again, young man? I thought you had a good head on your shoulders."
"I have something in mind." He stepped forward and, since she didn't stop him when he took the pearl, pulled it into his soulhome.
There, he ignored his simple buildings entirely and instead walked to the roughly hewn box, the shape and hinged lid making its purpose clear. Though it was no great masterpiece, it served a useful purpose: holding sublime materials without attempting to draw upon their power.
So Theo carried the pearl over to the box, dropped it inside, and closed the lid.
A few students winced, expecting it to explode, but the box held the pearl harmlessly. It granted him no strength, but the material was contained and technically part of his soulhome. Theo hefted the box inside his vestibule, set it down, and then gestured grandly.
Complete silence reigned until the old woman laughed loudly. "Well done, young man, well done. You've entirely missed the spirit of the exercise, but I suppose you've fulfilled the letter of the challenge. Are you really going to steal an old woman's pearl with a trick?"
"No, I won't." Theo carried the box back to her spirit, but his intent hadn't been to show off. When he drew closer, he spoke to her in a low voice. "But I've shown my ability to handle more powerful sublime materials safely, don't you think? This pearl would be better given to a healer, but could you help me find something more suited to me?"
"And I don't suppose you'll be interested in first tier materials, either." The old woman regarded him seriously, but as she took the box back and began the extraction process, she gave him a slight nod. "I will speak to Nanjuma and see what I can do."
That accomplished, Theo let her take the pearl and remained silent for the rest of class. That rough little box had been his most successful construction yet.
Chapter 14
Several weeks later, Theo didn't have his Archcrafter material, but he did have a promise that Nanjuma would help him find something in time. Considering that the promise was more than he'd had before, he accepted it as good enough for the time being. Meanwhile, he spent more of his time out in Myufuru, adjusting to the city and trying to determine which parts of it might be valuable to him.
There was more to the city than he'd thought at first, especially once he got away from the circular communities mimicking villages. Young people joyriding the gondola lines, elders playing slow games of skill, an entire community brewing various kinds of sweet alcohol. He discovered more recreational drugs than he'd expected, but because this was Tatian, they seemed to have few negative consequences and leave people mostly happy and calm.
Yet he couldn't bring himself to even consider participating in any of it, not for long. Even though he'd had forty years to come to terms with the death of his old friends, their ghosts returned to him. Brigana would have convinced him to take a break, Khaluu would have proven surprisingly knowledgeable about hallucinogens, and Eratius would have resisted at first but eventually joined them.
Being back in the Nine just made the pain worse every time he stopped to let himself think. Theo vowed revenge against the man who had killed them, then focused on what he could control: sublime materials.
Once, he had used weirkeys to step between worlds and search out the perfect materials, but they were in short supply and there wasn't anyone around who could use them. With that, visiting other worlds to find materials was a naive fantasy. Instead, the most practical way of acquiring sublime materials was simple economics: a city the size of Myufuru sold a great many things.
Though they were in a backwater of Tatian without many goods from other worlds, Myufuru did gather strange materials from the more unusual corners of Tatian. Theo kept finding materials that were close to what he needed, just not quite right. Bit by bit, he came to understand that there was a restricted market. It seemed to exist just beside the warmthgiver quarter, actually less respectable than them.
Unfortunately, they wouldn't allow outsiders in, and the guards were apparently immune to bribery. Swallowing his pride as useless, Theo headed back to the school to ask Nauda for help.
"You want to access the restricted market." She regarded him so placidly that he wondered if he could bully her into cooperating, but decided to stick to his plan.
"I need different sublime materials to help Fiyu adapt to this world. I've promised to help her, and I do have a blueprint, but I haven't been able to fulfill that promise. With your help, I might be able to."
"The light does seem to pain her." Nauda lowered her gaze, then nodded. "Very well, I will acquire permission. I know you would never use this trip for untoward purposes, but we can go together to speed up the process."
Obviously he had been planning to acquire sublime materials for himself as well, but nothing shocking or illegal. He decided that her coming was no impediment at all, since he truly did want to help Fiyu, so he agreed to the terms and they went off to collect her. Fortunately, it wasn't long until night, when she would be emerging from her quarters anyway.
He was worried at first when Fiyu wasn't in her room, but they found her in the upper courtyard, sitting with her legs dangling over a ledge. When she felt them approach, she gave a slight smile but didn't move.
"I'm surprised to see you out now," Theo said.
"It is too bright, but this is the least bright time. I do not like being inside all day either." Fiyu tilted her head back and took a deep breath, her enjoyment plain on her face. "Though the breeze is warm, it is still pleasant."
Nauda crouched on the ledge beside her, looking out. "You don't like being inside? I thought people on Ichil spent all their time in caves."
"Some do, but those are different tribes. We call them cavesteaders. My home is called the Inner Moonscape, and most caverns there are dangerous. We do have buildings, of course, but I am accustomed to sleeping beneath the clouds."
"The way you talk about it, it sounds beautiful." Nauda gave an odd smile. "I almost said that I'd like to see it one day, but would there be anything to see?"
"The Moonscape is not overly bright like your world, but you can still see. Some light from the moon filters through the clouds... not like the light here. It is... cool and blue."
What she didn't say was that the light in the Moonscape was a sign of danger, because certain vicious species hunted within it. Theo had seen the Outer Moonscape and did understand the beauty found in the interplay of the lights and clouds, but he had been too on edge to enjoy it back then. He was mildly irritated at himself for not considering that Fiyu might feel claustrophobic being indoors all the time.
"I want to keep my promise to help you with the light in this world," Theo said, "but to do that we need to acquire more specialized sublime materials. Could you come with us to find them?"<
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"Into the city?" Fiyu regarded him cautiously, her lips a thin line. "I have been preparing a chamber as you suggested, but... could I not describe what I think we need?"
"This will be for your soulhome, and you know it best."
Though she nodded, Fiyu remained seated and gave a melancholy sigh. Nauda almost reached out to touch her, then instead merely shuffled closer with a smile. "It won't be so bad, Fiyu. Couldn't exploring the city be fun?"
Fiyu instantly shrank back and pulled her hood more closely around her face, which was answer enough even before her muffled words. "No. No, I do not think that is likely."
Rather than trying to draw her out, Theo remained silent. She had grown up in an extremely dangerous environment and was used to doing things she didn't want to do, it was just a matter of giving her time to adjust to the idea. Eventually Fiyu rose to her feet and took a deep breath as if she was about to leap off the edge in front of them.
"I wish I could understand, but I don't." Nauda rose as well, shaking her head. "You've stood against demons without flinching, but going into the city bothers you so much?"
"I've had more practice with demons." Fiyu pulled her hood lower and nodded to them with grim determination. "But I will have the two of you with me, and you are no longer strangers. Let us go."
Odd as she seemed to find it, Nauda eventually inclined her head and followed along. "Very well, then. We will defend you against the trials of human interaction."
From anyone else, he would have assumed that it was a jibe, but Nauda's face had no expression whatsoever. Perhaps she really was just embracing the Tatian traditions of hospitality in a new form. Her use of "human" slowed him down only briefly, which was something he needed to work on. The people of every world tended to think of themselves as "human", even species like the Mundhin of Arbai.
