Chapter 401 (1/2)

Chapter 401

Chapter 399: The Least of the Scythes

NICO SEVER

The sterile glow ofartifacts illuminated an array of parts that were spread out over the dark wood Silver runes ran around the edge and across the surface of the I sizes

I picked up two nearly-identical objects: hexagonal fittings with a series of grooves and notches etched into the inside Both were alloys of silver rather than pure silver—I speculated theseactive mana crystals, but I would have to experiment to see which silver held up better and resulted in a cleaner transfer of mana

There were a thousand variables to consider while undertaking an I project as co less than perfection

My eye caught on a bles With a frustrated breath, I tossed it back on the charorkbench surface

Yet another delay That ble properly And I’ll have to order a replaceht eye twitched, and another memory of Earth invaded my focus Read f-irst at ReadNovelFullco by e With a s a stick I’d found in the street Nothing special, just carving a bunch of circles around it so that it kind of looked like a pretend ic wand

I’d carved just over half of the stick when the knife slipped, slicing deep into ht with the knife Headmaster Wilbeck would have taken it away and scolded -with-you look on Grey’s face for a week It was a small but important lesson

Be more careful Pay attention, but don’t draw attention Hide when you’re hurting

A life was made of thousands of littleelse, teaching a person not to touch a hot surface or put their thue part of the ed a personality

Without those memories, what did a person become?

Faced with questions I couldn’t answer, I reached for the apathy I had felt after waking up in the laboratory far below…after Grey destroyed my core and left me to die

After Cecilia did the iain

One fist ha the prepared parts juon core I’d stolen rolled out of a circle of runes and toward the edge of the workbench The rage I’d felt ashed away by a sudden pang of alarrab the core, cradling it in boththe cold hard shell, it was easier to push away the angry voice within me and focus on the apathy instead I would need that control As much as these invasive memories of my past life—on both Earth and Dicathen as the fool, Elijah—were troublesome, I also felt fiercely protective over them

They were ain

Whichthrilling about that prospect He was not a n a lack of control while actually holding an iron grip over ive him any reason to taht caused a sharp twinge of guilt that I couldn’t ignore

Cecilia…

Despite ence of my old memories, I’d only crossed paths with her briefly, and I hadn’t found it in myself to start the discussion I knee needed to have At that veryher mind, h, I had no way of knowing how

How much of what made you the person I lovethe inside ofof blood

I closedmy muscles, then released the tension If I tuhts now, I’d never complete my current task

Carefully, I eased the core back onto the workbench and exaet hold of quietly It would have been much simpler if I hadn’t also felt the need to keep rona—or whatever much of it was possible

The proble rin Caelu I did there would be watched And if I ordered all theaway toopieces quiet, but not so , I’d already received three mana crystals with imperfections, a piece of charwood three inches too short, and an order of refined quicksilver that was contaence of ths lay For far too long now, I’d relied on the inherent raer that ca reincarnated into a Vritra-blooded body The ability to master even one of the Vritra’s decay-type es in this world, and I had leaned on that alrin Caelu hts by co in bursts, I realized I had so no other Alacryan had

On Earth, I’d been a technical wizard, e to achieve feats like suppress Cecilia’s ki and allow her to function in so like a nor , physics, and ki-related studies that I could

A surprising a y had to be sourced and efficiently transferred, instructions were presented, power outputted to provide a specific result

Efficiency, I repeated toto work, it has to allow entirely efficient manipulation of the mana, with no delay or loss

In Dicathen, I’d been trained to manipulate atmospheric mana, not just one to one of the best ic schools on the continent and studied under talented professors, learning mana theory and a type of es learned to understand the shape of a spell, to h chants and other devices, like wands It was harder, and it took longer, but it was e could adjust the focus of their intent or the words of a chant to change a spell’s output, or even invent an entirely new spell

Runes, on the other hand, could be ed They were fixed, as was the benefit they provided to both theslowly doled out by Agrona’s servants, no Alacryanthe Scythes

But there was no reason I had to rely on Agrona to gain power Not with all the knowledge and skill I had atmore clearly now that my core had been ruined and rebuilt

Cecilia had worked a ic to me, but it wasn’t without a cost

My core eak

And that meant everyone would seewas shi+fting around us, becoerous by the day Cecilia had been so busy since I’d recovered, and I knew there was only one reason that would be

Agrona was preparing her for war

If she thought I was too weak, she would leave me behind There would be sadness in her eyes when she did so, and she would truly believe it was for my own protection, but it would destroy us She’d never look at rona would slowly cutbut a weapon for him, and worst of all, she wouldn’t even know that she’d wanted to be anything else

I had to stay by her side I had to protect her

And I would do anything to h to do so

With a fir, twisted black branch of charwood—one I’d risked raiding frorona’s private stores after the first sarona’s home in Epheotus, and was as hard as steel and perfect for working runicstaff came to a dull point at one end but was splintered on the wider end where it had been broken free of its tree

I took up a tool that looked somewhat like a shallow spoon crossed with a scalpel and pressed it against the charwood Mana jumped from my hand to the tool’s handle, and runes hidden beneath leather wrapping converted the lowing orange

I pressed hard on the raw charwood, and the tool bit into it, giving off a thin wisp of s my muscles with ed to scrape away only a thin shaving Grittingaith a paper-thin wafer

After twenty minutes, I had scoured a shallow divot into the staff After an hour, I had an uneven pit In two, I was able to carve out a precise facet

Next, I took up one of theto ensure it was perfect I pressed it into the facet, then took up a sing drowned out all the other subtle noises of the castle, such as servantsback and forth in the hallway outside androo down the ha had settled perfectly into the carved facet, and suddenly the plain stick appeared to be soer a piece of nature, but so up another iteonal jewel into the fitting The bright red stone looked bloody and dark against the black wood and silver metal But I didn’t permanently set the stone Instead, I shook it loose and placed it back on the workbench, turned the staff over, and picked up the carving tool again

“That looks like a fascinating project”

I flinched so hard that I scraped the scorching tool across h to pierce my mana barrier and flay the flesh underneath I cursed and threw the stupid thing back on the table

“Oh, sorry!” Cecilia hurried toshe’d been standing there, then realized she

She bit her lip as she inspected the wound, and when she looked up into ht?”

“Fine,” I said, my voice hard, then added, “I’m fine,” in a softer tone

Mana trickled out of her fingertips and across the wound, cooling the flesh and easing the burning sting My own has well

“I’lad you’re here, actually,” I added after an aard pause where we both just stared at the cut “I need to talk to you about sorined sort of smile and subtly rolled her eyes toward the door “It’ll have to wait, I’rona has called for us For all the Scythes, and me”

Her tone carried the same uncertainty I felt at this news It was rare for all the Scythes to be gathered at once

“Do you—”

“No, but he’s…riled,” she said slowly “I’ve never seen him like this before”

I wanted to tell her that she hadn’t been with hi, didn’t know him well at all, hadn’t seen hihts to rona had allowed hi Cecilia from my chambers, I took ato wipetool, fiddled with a few items to line the it would be exceedingly foolish to leave it here while I was gone, I surreptitiously grabbed the core and slipped it into an inside pocket ofon, anyway?” Cecilia asked as we stepped out into the hall

I turned around and set thereally, it’s…”

She s you’re excited about You don’t need to say, of course, but I’ to occupy your ti h the fabric of the lining, but I didn’t elaborate

Cecilia turned right instead of left down the hallway, catching rona’s private wing?” I asked, hurrying after her

“No He’s called us all to the Obsidian Vault”

I didn’t have anything to say to that I wasn’t even sure what I felt The Obsidian Vault here the highest echelons of Agrona’s subjects received their bestowals: Wraiths, Scythes, retainers, and occasionally even highblood warriors or ascenders who captured Agrona’s attention

There was only one reason he would call us to the Obsidian Vault

There was going to be a bestowal Maybe it’s not bad news after all

“Nico, I wanted to say…” Cecilia’s voice drew ht, and I turned to look at her

I’d coe of appearance, just as I’d acceptedthe fine elven features—the pointed ears, alunh, wrapped up with all Elijah’s memories of Tessia Eralith, caused more conflict than I was used to

“—sorry that I haven’t been around much these last few days I have wanted to speak to you—I’ to terms hat happened at the Victoriad has been difficult—but there is a lot going on in both Dicathen and Alacrya, and Agrona has kept me unusually busy, so…”

That only confir ready to unleash Cecilia, send her into real battle