Mythshaper-Chapter 39: More Gifts

"I hate how backwater this place is," Rosalyn complained after pouring a mouthful of water down her throat. "If it was even Klearon, I wouldn’t have to waste half my time on the journey, forgetting that I practically forgot the way to your house. I had to go to the Magistratus' office and ask someone for directions."

Rosalyn was almost an adult now, standing a full head taller than me, even though I’d grown a lot since the last time we saw each other. Her features were more feminine, but her expression held a hardened look that hadn’t been there before. There was still a bit of the Rosalyn I remembered in the girl, mostly in how arrant she acted, though I liked the willful part about her.

"I’m surprised,” Mum said, “Mother or Emi even allowed you to make the journey on your own."

"Please," Rosalyn snorted. "I’m an adult. I can make my own decisions. It was a pain to get approval for my leave of absence from the academy, though. I swear they make the paperwork overly complicated so that we can’t leave easily."

"While that might be the case,” Mum said, hugging her from the side, “I’m delighted that you chose to visit us during the little vacation time the academy allowed."

Rosalyn’s cheeks turned a startling shade of red. "Well, I’ll be too busy next year with final terms, and you know how stupidly wasteful the academy can be with your time."

Exhausted from her journey, Rosalyn flopped down on the couch. She could have picked any free space, but instead, she pushed me to the side and slouched, dangling her legs over the armrest.

"Ah, that was a fun time," Mum said wistfully. "That reminds me, how did your first year go? Anything you’d like to share?"

"I did well in the final assessment," my aunt said. "But trying to outdo my two overly overachieving big sisters was impossible from the start. I’m in the top ten overall if that’s what you wanted to know."

Mum shook her head. "That’s not what I asked. I wanted to know how your academy life was going. I knew you’d do well, little goblin."

Rose hesitated. "I don’t know how to say it. It’s exhausting and yet somehow fulfilling?" she said, sounding unsure. "I have to practise constantly, trying to meet everyone’s expectations. Some of it was hard, some annoying, some as easy as eating pie."

"I’m going to borrow Master Kaius’s words and say, the pressure and adversity you face shape your path," Mother quoted, sitting across from her. "It’s a privilege. Only a few can stand and strive under the pressure."

"Well, I don’t know about striving, but I’m doing my best. It would’ve been so much more fun if you were there. Did you know how rampant and unregulated it’s become since your time? There’s always something new, something crazy going on. "

"I can imagine."

"What do they teach you at the academy?" I asked, curious.

"What don’t they teach?” Rose said, sitting up. “There are courses for almost everything. Unfortunately, we all have limited time to take them all. I major primarily on wind and water shaping, and with that alone, my days are filled with combat training, theoretical classes, and other practice sessions."

"Did you know I also awakened as a Shaper?" I asked eagerly.

Finally, there was someone who could teach me more about being a Shaper, especially elemental shaping, even though wind and water were my least trained elements. I didn’t really see Rosalyn being as good at teaching as Aunt Emi or Mum, but she was still a pupil of the Oracle Academy. Only elites went there.

"Of course I know," she said. "And it didn't surprise me. What was surprising was you having a transformation - enchantment hybrid." Although her words were directed at me, her eyes shifted to my mother. "Add enhancement to the mix and you could practise practically all primary forms of arts."

Mum laughed. “If that was even feasible,” she said. “Ignoring the fact we have no records of anyone awakening all four primary types of essence, delving into too many paths never really works out, even with our long life. Trust me, I'd know.”

Shapers’ life expectancy almost doubled once they advanced to Prestige or Fabled rank. Some powerful ones lived for centuries, yet very few mastered all the arts in their own field, let alone tried them all. It was simply too extensive. Even mastering one aspect of it took decades, if not centuries. But then again, one could get bored with a certain aspect of their path and try other things. I could totally see myself doing that.

“I don’t dissuade Arilyn from trying anything he fancies,” Mum continued, “but in the coming year or two, he’ll need to decide which path to focus on and which to leave behind.”

Two years was still a long time, though I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it. Thankfully, I didn’t have to decide on anything yet and could continue with my practice.

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Mum excused herself to make some refreshments for her youngest sister, while I noticed my first creation on the middle of the shelf, encased in a glass cover as though it were a prized piece of decoration.

I supposed something didn’t have to be intricately built or artistically brilliant to be important to someone. Since it was the fabricator I forged, Mum deemed it special enough to put on display.

"So, what skills have you learned by now?" Rosalyn asked, turning her full attention to me.

"I am fairly good at telekinesis," I said, taking a deep breath. "As well as fire, kinetic force, earth, and empower. I’ve practised the other two primary elements too, though I’m not as proficient in them."

"She already taught you Empower?” Rosalyn rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “How many threads do you have? Sixteen, already?"

"I advanced a step only a week ago." My expression grew smug. "I learned Empower from solving the cube, months before that."

"You solved the first layer with only eight threads?" Rose stared at me as if trying to find the lies. "If that is even possible."

"Why? How many did it take you?"

"Sixteen threads are minimum for the first layer," Rose mumbled, still incredulous. "Thirty-two for the second, then sixty-four for the third layer, and then all the way to one hundred and twenty-eight, when—"

"You have more than sixty-four essence threads?!" I jumped to my feet.

Rosalyn grinned. "Did you think they take anyone into the most prestigious academy of the realm?"

"You never told me you advanced to Noble class?" I accused, knowing sixty-four essence threads were the very limit a common class shaper could have.

Fractal Sight opened her internal weave for me to inspect, and I saw that she really did have over a hundred essence threads—all sharp blue, flowing through her channels in braids of eight. Her essence seed, on the other hand, was—

Rosalyn’s Will, Weight, and Influence reshuffled, withdrawing into her essence seed and wrapping around it, obscuring my Fractal Sight.

"What’s happening to your eyes?" she asked, standing up with a grave expression.

I let go of my gift and exhaled slowly, the smouldering emerald shimmer of my eyes dimming along with it. I first had no clue my eyes glowed like an emerald gem caught fire, but whenever I used my gift in public, the reaction had been all too similar to my aunts. Common folks hid, while the awakened bugged me with questions. Truly inconvenient.

"I can see your internal weave," I said.

Rosalyn blinked. "Truly?"

"You didn’t know that?" I was surprised. I thought Mum had informed her in the letters, but apparently, it had been kept from Rosalyn. Or maybe she’d misinterpreted it as something else, thinking I could only see the essence threads outside the body. Well, that had been the case for a long time, and only changed after I awakened.

"Is that what helped you solve the knot?"

I nodded.

Rosalyn was speechless.

"How did you hide it?" I asked. I didn’t think she had any gift like Father’s. On that note, what is her Gift really?

"It’s something you’ll learn once you advance to Noble Class," she said. "What else can your gift do?"

"That’s pretty much all of it," I shrugged.

Rose grew contemplative, flopping back on the couch. "Still, since you can see the essence threads," she muttered, not quite looking at me even though her eyes were fixed on me, "you’ll be able to correct your spell forms immediately." Her focus finally returned. "Well, it'll still need a great deal of control over your essence threads, but you already managed to solve one Arcane Knot.

"Well, this makes it easier for me to give you some pointers. We won’t get much done by just talking. Why don't you show me what you can do. Since you’re weak with Wind, start with that. I might be able to help you with it."

With that, I needed no further encouragement. Drawing on my Influence, I coaxed my essence threads forward. Rather than conjuring wind, I manipulated the air to create a gust aimed at her. It sent Rosalyn’s hair, now unbound, sprawling behind her and made her trench coat dance in the air, yet she didn’t even flinch. It looked like nothing to her. She did have her Influence coalesced around her form, though. That was something.

Determined not to lose, I wove the other half of my threads into Empower to boost my wind shaping. I hadn't really tested the two weave together extensively, so their synchronization wasn't as high as Empower was with Fire or Kinetic force. Still, a few books flew off the shelves, and more began to tumble down, which promptly brought Mum back to the study.

She spread her Influence and applied simple Weight to calm the unruly wind I’d conjured, stopping me from making a mess of the room.

"What did I tell you about practising in the room?" she admonished, raising her eyebrows.

Mumbling a quick apology, I turned to my aunt for her assessment.

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"Not bad," Rosalyn said, then conjured a gale and used it with her telekinetic spell to return the scattered books to their shelves. Her essence threads weren’t green like mine or golden like Mum’s—they were pristine blue, the type best suited for pure elemental spellcasting. "Your control seems decent, though you lacked a driving force behind it. It is harder to visualize wind so shaping it becomes troublesome. I'm inherently good at it because of my Gift, but there are still ways to improve. You see, Kinetic Force can be added to direct the wind more--"

She couldn't even finish before Mum’s voice chimed from the kitchen. "No training in the house."

I considered heading out to the yard.

"No training outside at night either," her voice called again, stopping me in my tracks.

"I guess it’s time I unload the gifts, then," Rosalyn said, using telekinesis to drag her huge bag onto her lap. "We can do the practice in the morning."

My eyes sparkled at the mention of gifts. The bag revealed clothes at first, then opened to show one of the best things the world had to offer. Rosalyn brought out large leather-bound tomes, one after another, forming a towering stack.

"I told Emi you’d like some magical tool," Rosalyn muttered, dropping the sixth volume. "Like a good staff or wand, but nah! She said you’re too young for them, and that you had the best maker of them in Eldest Sister. So, there they are—books on essence and spell theories, professionally curated by Emi. Well, most of them are..." She picked one from the bottom and handed it to me. "This one’s from me."

It was as large as the other volumes but looked new, freshly bound. When I opened it, I found all the pages were blank.

"Why is it empty?" I asked, flipping through the pages. I could tell each of the pages was enchanted, the whole book was, but there was nothing noteworthy outside that.

"What, you want a filled Spellbook?" she shot a lopsided grin.

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