As promised, they were at the Village Hall right after noon the next day.
Brennan had wanted to go earlier, and he would've, had it not been for his mother's intervention that morning to get him to help doing ‘work around the house.’ Which really meant spending quality time with her. Because Doris was in apparently such dire need of bonding, over drying herbs and reorganizing spice jars of all things.
Clingy woman.
In any case, he wouldn’t be seeing her until later this evening, so there was time for him to get started on his search. For what exactly, he didn’t know yet. But there was something strange going on, and he wasn’t going to let it escape his notice if he could help it.
Like he had expected, Tobin and Byron hadn’t been interested in visiting the shrine, dragging Liam with them. The older kids—Cedric, Junia and Mellie—weren’t around today, far more focused on developing their skills.
Such was the tradition in their village, with an increased prevalence of apprenticeship and skill training as you approached the age of your Classing. Since they had less than fifteen months left until they turned twelve, the adults in their lives were taking a firmer hand when it came to preparing to be a functioning member of Craswidge’s community.
Thus, it was once again just himself and Agnes making their way up the steps in full view of the main square. This was usually the case whenever he wanted to do something tedious or grown-up. The others would leave, prioritize their own lives, whatever would get them out of having to do something boring.
Brennan, on the other hand, was perfectly willing to sit through boredom if he knew he was getting results while doing so. Even better if there was an actual reward waiting at the end of it all. But this wasn’t boring, per se, more just complex with limited ways for him to address the problem.
They walked into the building, drawing some curious glances from passersby. He supposed it would be strange for the two of them to be interested in hanging out here given that it wasn’t particularly geared toward child brains. It didn’t matter to him, let them wonder. If someone felt curious enough to ask, he would come up with a plausible excuse, otherwise he would keep minding his business. And he didn’t have to fret about his shadow speaking to people unprompted.
There was a reception, complete with a middle-aged lady behind the desk, but that wasn’t relevant for their purposes for the time being. They had no plans of visiting any of the council rooms. Their destination was the shrine, a place that remained free to visit with basically no supervision during all reasonable hours of the day.
It made sense to him. There weren’t any valuables to be stolen, so the only reasons to go there would be to read the texts or honor the deity it was dedicated to. Vandalism was another option, albeit an inadvisable one, but nothing in the shrine chamber would be difficult to replace.
The room they were looking for was at the back of the building, past a corridor that was currently bereft of people. When they got there, the room itself was likewise empty, a testament to the relative paucity of faith in the region.
Secular sentiments were fairly widespread for the majority of Craswidge, with only the odd resident calling themselves a devout worshipper. Perhaps that was because of a focus on survival over the course of generations eroding adherence to the commandments, mainly due to the zones. Even after the royal family implemented a place to send prayers to their holy figure in the most important building of the village.
Yellow-orange hues surrounded a circle of stylized white feathers on the heraldry embellishing the far wall of the room, the other walls being made of plain white marble. An altar stood in the center, candles burning around a small portrait of some avian silhouette that might have also been a plant. And to the side rested the book he’d come here for: the divine scriptures.
They approached the raised platform. Once there, Brennan got on his tiptoes to actually pick up the book from the cold, hard surface. Soft waves of warmth roiled off the candles when he did, a point of comfort in an otherwise daunting atmosphere.
“So… here we are,” he said, voice echoing faintly in the austere room. “Ready?”
Agnes gave him a taciturn stare, probably just waiting for him to start reading.
“I guess I’ll go first then,” he said as he cleared his throat. The tome itself was an old, faded thing, the same little feather icon visible on the wall banner embossed on its cover. Worn, without a doubt, but enduring. Embraced by a leathery shield on either side, the paper spoke of quality as well, thick and sturdy where he had thought it would tear easily. Fitting for the vessel holding the words of a supposed goddess.
“Scriptures of Renewal,” he read aloud, “Under Ranahten’s guidance. Uh let’s see…” He turned the page. “There it is. Cycle 1:1. ‘From the ashes of creation didst the Goddess rise, quintessential in birth. In the void of eternity, She brought surcease to the vast emptiness. By Her breath, divine flame forged the world—and what she used not became the sun. Beneath the moon and shadow resteth the night, of wake and wonder cometh the day. Mortal life was given form, though fleeting as our plight. In the Firemother we seek refuge, living in her honor until, in Her holy flame, we lay. And so too the ember stirs again, wherefore the breath begins anew.’”
This is their creationist myth, then? It’s dense. Wait, is reincarnation one of the core tenets? All the imagery shows Ranahten is a phoenix, so she should have the ability to rebirth as well. And why is it making the sun sound like an accident? Not to mention the emphasis on breath…
Brennan scrutinized the text as if bringing the letters closer to his eyes would make them less cryptic.
It’s saying all mortals contain divinity?
Skill upgraded!
[Analysis (Common) Lv. 99] -> Lv. 100
Finally!
Rarity upgrades available.
[Deductive Insight (Uncommon)], [Deep Analysis (Uncommon)], [Filter Information (Uncommon)]
Time for decisions, it seemed. He could already tell this was going to be a difficult—
Would you like to fuse the skills: [Analysis (Common)], [Reading (Common)], and [Memorization (Common)]?
Or not. Brennan hadn’t even thought this would be possible for him to accomplish without a Skill Seed, but here he was, on the cusp of doing exactly that. There was only the slightest amount of hesitation as he was about to accept, which was quickly laid to rest after he found the regular rarity upgrades fairly basic in their description. They more or less did what they said in the names.
Copied from www.NovelPhoenix.com without the author's permission, this chapter points back to a publication that supports its writer.
If he didn’t take this risk, what would ever set him apart? This was an opportunity to have something of his own, a small way to distinguish himself. He didn’t want to think about how far he would fall behind the version of himself that did take this opportunity if he chose not to take it. He quickly accepted before more doubts could creep in.
Skill fusion initiated…
Skill fusion complete!
[Lucent Comprehension (Uncommon) Lv. 1]
He felt the difference instantly. It felt as if three different points had shifted inside him, and been pressed into one. But the result didn’t feel squashed together or forced, more like a natural multifaceted progression of what was already there, evolving the skill in a way that suited him perfectly.
But the real benefit was the fact that he had opened up two new skill slots, which were now ready for him to fill with something else. There was now room for more possibilities in his arsenal. If he had been worried about not having enough space to start learning something new before, that was no longer the case. Satisfied, he looked over his list.
Skills:
- [Lucent Comprehension (Uncommon) Lv. 1]
- [Focus (Common) Lv. 97]
- [Sense Magic (Uncommon) Lv. 65]
- [Writing (Common) Lv. 95]
- [Sprinting (Common) Lv. 54]
“Skill fusion,” Brennan said, tasting the words. Then he laughed in elation.
“It worked. You try.” He turned the page to another verse and handed the book over to Agnes, who had been watching his reaction the entire time. She took the scripture hesitantly, regarding it for a long moment before she looked up at him again. “Go ahead.”
The girl held the book at a distance from her torso, as if it might burn her if she didn’t. After another glance at him, she began to read in a soft, tremulous voice. “But man sq- oo… andered… squandered… Her gift. As we lived, a… plague s- sis- sizz…”
“Seized,” he supplied.
“Seized the lands. Her unmoved kin. Watched. On. While… Her unmoved kin watched on whilst we suffered. It was only tr- through?” She looked to him for confirmation, and he nodded. “Through the blessing of the Goddess that we culleth the plague, its bounty ours to partake of. Hark, for this battle persisted. In our greed, we might stray from Her flame. In our… negligence, we might fall.”
Brennan gave her a short applause. “That was good! You did well.”
Agnes was very quick to push the book back into his hands. “Okay, okay. You don’t have to read anymore,” he said. “I assume you leveled?”
A silent nod.
“Fantastic. But I don’t feel like reading another verse either, so I think we’re done here,” he spoke after setting the book back down in its original place. “Come on.” This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
They walked out of the room, leaving the shrine behind. Still no one in the corridor, he noted. This place was either really not that popular or he’d just picked the wrong time of day to visit.
The second verse Agnes had read lingered in his head. He knew it must have been referencing the zones popping up around the world, and it made sense that an inexplicable phenomenon like that would be integrated into a religion. In Earth terms, it was more common to see mythical occurrences described to have happened in the distant past, not in the current day. Here, it made perfect sense to do so, considering magic was proven to be real.
And what about that wider pantheon? He had been peripherally aware of other gods, but this was his first time hearing about them in an official context. A clear bias existed against them in the Church of Renewal, but he lacked the context to know if it was justified.
Shortly after, they reached the entrance and from there went to the woman at the reception desk. She eyed them with a hint of confusion as they came near. “What can I do for you?” Her tone was slightly patronizing.
“Do you have the schedule of all the grain merchants who come to Craswidge?” he asked sweetly.
The woman blinked at him. And blinked again.
“You want the grain merchant schedule?” she repeated slowly, leaning forward.
“Yeah.”
He could tell she was doing an exaggerated grave expression. “Young man, that’s a serious request. What do you need it for?”
“I wanna say hello to the next one,” he replied.
“Polite of you,” the lady observed. “No plans to take over the barley market?”
“No, I promise.”
Brennan could see from her face that she was thinking it over. Even though she was obligated to share public information with other villagers by technicality, he thought there was a real chance she would just tell him to go shove it and make himself scarce.
Her actual answer was, “Grain logs are kept in the quartermaster’s office. Second door on your left, by the stairs.”
“You have my thanks, ma’am,” he said, giving a courteous bow. The receptionist snorted and waved them off.
Suspicion averted, Brennan led the way to the aforementioned office. When they got there, the quartermaster was understandably surprised to see two children making such an odd request, but the man must have judged that it was no skin off his back, because he handed them the schedule a minute later after searching for it.
Apparently, they kept disposable copies to fulfill this request pretty often, although it tended to come from farmers and business owners as opposed to a pair of kids whose combined age didn’t even amount to a fourth of the quartermaster’s lifetime.
Prize in hand, they found an out-of-the-way corner to take the information given on the schedule. Arrival dates, names of each merchant, type and quantity of the product, which ones were permanent fixtures and which ones came in case of a surplus, reserved purchases, history of complaints, prices. It was all listed.
I don’t even have to read this twice.
He wouldn’t have been nearly so certain about that just a few minutes prior, but his new Lucent Comprehension skill was showing its worth. His memory was just one part of the improvement. He consumed, processed, and retained the info faster. And in one seamless process that came more naturally than breathing.
That was why he felt no need to hold on to the copy for long and returned it in short order. This way, his antics would have a higher chance of being written off as a curiosity by the adults who’d humored him; they would think he had gotten bored and move on. Just the way he preferred it.
All in all, the whole ordeal hadn’t even taken up an hour of their time. The question was what to do now, since the next merchant wouldn’t be arriving for the next three days—the earliest possible point he could proceed with his investigation.
Even if this entire thing turned out to be nothing in the end, he was going to be leveling his skills by working towards something. Today had given him a taste of what improvement could look like if he challenged himself for real. Working towards something he didn’t have the capability to do was precisely what he needed from that perspective.
Outside, he took a deep breath. With half his skill slots open, he felt the need to at least get back to his previous number. Unfortunately, no skill in his archive appealed to him that much. If one of them did, he wouldn’t have declined to equip it.
In the end, Brennan resolved to give himself more time to decide and maybe take more skills in the event that he was lacking in a specific area. Additionally, he considered the implications for his future build, knowing any skill he took had to be compatible with what he was going to do in the coming years. He could go to his parents for advice, but he wasn’t about to tell them the full context of his build, so whatever they said would only be so useful.
Today proved he could manage on his own. One mysterious smuggler at a time.