-Callen-

  I knew about Callia’s success long before most of the household staff, mainly from guessing the emotions I was feeling through our bond. It was a mix of triumph and mild annoyance, but mainly triumph. Several hours later Callia and her team finally arrived at the manor with Jasmine. It seems Lexia kept her end of the deal; other than a slight change in temperament, Jasmine was whole and unharmed. She seemed a bit more reserved than the girl who unashamedly pouted and complained when meeting guests. Maybe this whole event would just serve to help her in the long run.

  In barely any time at all, Lord Nox suddenly appeared next to his little girl, startling most of the celebrating staff as he clung to his daughter, hugging with a mix of delicate care and clingy dad. I noticed her first response was to start trying to push him away, but she gave in instead, choosing to reciprocate the hug. I looked over to Callia, who was also enjoying the show, and felt a bit of satisfaction. In the end, all it cost me was a bit of blood. I could only hope it didn’t have greater consequences later; for now, the safe return of Jasmine made me feel it was worthwhile.

  The next days passed in a blur as a large celebration for Jasmine’s return took most of our time, but not all of it. Callia got her brand-new luxury bed, I sent Nightshade a crop of special regenerating plants for the town, and the lord’s gratitude for Callia’s efforts in returning Jasmine manifested in the form of a small warehouse’s worth of new arrows. The only setback we incurred was Callia’s intent to hire a craftsman to fix Dad’s wither spear, which had been turned back into a branch when she used growth affinity mana on it. Turns out even touching the branch could be lethal for those who lack resistance, and wither was such a rare condition that almost nobody could.

  It made sense that Dad focused his style around landing hits into weak points because even a single good hit would be crippling against strong enemies and lethal to everything else. Speaking of resistances, after getting stunned by an electrical surge from the Eel-man, I thought it was time for me and Callia to consider specialized resistance skills. Personally, while I thought that the skills might be critical in the future, I didn’t relish what training my resistance would entail. Wither in particular, seemed dangerous. Healing didn’t work while someone was afflicted by it, so the very fine line between life and death to build resistance wouldn’t be mitigated.

  I set aside my thoughts on the resistance training as we made our way down to the docks. A large barge that looked much more impressive than the small raft of our first excursion sat in the waters. Carefully I walked up the boardwalk and onto the deck, only looking back once onboard. Reginald, Jasmine, and even Lord Nox watched as we cast off. I gave them a farewell wave. Jasmine in particular looked sad to see Callia off. After everything that happened, she had started latching onto Callia like some kind of idol or big sister. The line was rather vague, but Sis seemed to enjoy the meals and occasionally the games they played. At one point Reginald was attacked by various paper airplanes that expressed thoughts of random topics, but I left before they could target me.

  I felt the waters below the boat begin to take hold, dragging us downstream. It seems it was time to get off the deck before we caused an incident. As much fun as our stop in Nox was, I would rather finish the journey. I went inside to check on Sis only to find her lying sprawled on the floor staring at the ceiling. Just as expected, being trapped indoors was likely a nightmare for her. Best not to provoke her interest. I closed the door and moved over to my quarters, where I pulled out what I had dubbed the Affinity sword that Baron Meccas had lent me.

  My research had revealed that the sword was specifically tuned to what I assumed to be space affinity energy. That was likely why the baron had mentioned that he would lend it until he needed it back. With the residual energy in the sword, it likely held some kind of recall system. However, more interesting than the blade was the enchantment. Nightshade had taught me to copy skills as I could perceive them through nature harmonization, but the sword was an example of what could only be described as free-form work that somehow functioned. The enchantments also naturally recovered and stored mana just like a living being.

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  In the short time I could investigate it on our first trip, the loss of our guide interrupted me before I could try anything with it. I slowly adjusted my mindset, letting time flow by while I tried to harmonize with it like I did with Nightshade. The more different two beings are, the harder it is to harmonize, which is why communicating with Nightshade still took time and effort. The sword was even more foreign and not familiar with communicating. Eventually I met darkness, silence, and patience.

  It vaguely reminded me of how I felt before birth. The silence was comforting, devoid of any sensory input. I shared my memories with the silence to see if that would evoke some kind of reaction. I waited and waited, finally getting a response of familiarity: my presence in the darkness was known but unknown to the sword. I shared another memory of when I recognized I wasn’t alone before birth. The response was unexpected: an intense focus on the nothingness that contrasted with my early-developed sensory organs and my innate sense of mana, which the sword lacked.

  At this point a bad idea crept up in my mind. It seemed that the sword was ‘alive,’ but it wasn’t connected to the system. What if I tried to act as a bridge connecting it? The mad scientist in me wanted to try, but at the same time it wasn’t my sword. What if I broke it? Still, it seemed like the sword was interested in knowing more. Against common sense, I reached back in and connected a construct to its core the same way skills connect to people. I’m not sure how long it took or how many instances bordered on complete collapse, but I copied the sense mana skill onto the sword.

  I would’ve never tried it on anyone living because skills intrinsically grow from the soul, and forcibly installing the skill onto someone wouldn’t take root. The sword, however, had enough space for me to try grafting up to three skills; each would be significantly more difficult than the last. Doing a final check, I confirmed the sword was stable, then a flash of energy erupted from the sword's reserve. Opening my eyes, I first noticed the sword had disappeared and then noticed an intense hunger. Looking to my side, I noticed a plate of cold food and helped myself, eagerly devouring the whole plate.

  Getting up, I checked on Callia, but after opening the door, I saw her balancing on the hilt of a sword. For a moment she held her balance before her eyes snapped open and she fell over from my disruption.

  “Callen! About time you finished; you’ve been meditating for nearly a week! I was worried you would start to starve!”

  Sword

  Awareness was something it had never known until a presence that was so strange and alien reached it. Previously all it knew was the call and the activation. It acted without hesitation, completing the only actions it knew when needed. There was satisfaction in fulfillment of purpose. However, then the presence reached out to it, sharing memories filled with chaos that it didn’t understand.

  Still, it chose for the first time in its existence. It chose to share back acknowledgement of the chaos. It had felt the chaos’s presence through means entirely unfamiliar and unnameable. The chaos shared awareness of another presence, but it was filled with so much more chaos than the first instance. The sword didn’t understand, so it offered its perspective with a focus on the order. For a time the chaos receded until it reached in and started digging into its being.

  The sword didn’t know what to do as the order broke away, filling in the absence with chaos. For the first time it panicked, triggering the call. It felt energy envelop it, pulling it away from the chaos, but didn’t free it of the changes. Now all around it the sword could feel the pulse of chaotic and strange energy pooling into strange shapes. With no other option, it tried to make sense of what was happening to find order in the chaos.

  Information surged into its being as something connected to it.

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