Nico came to a stop at the doorway of what he thought would be a regular workspace. Instead, he found himself facing an opulent lofted chamber with vaulted ceilings. A chandelier decorated with brilliant opals hung proudly at the center, reflecting light in iridescent shimmers that danced in the air. A semi-circle table cluttered with paperwork stood under it on the lower level, surrounded by velvet chairs that looked plucked from a royal setting.
Effie was stationed there, accompanied by her diligent assistants who were engrossed in sorting through the documents scattered across the table. Their antennae fluttered rhythmically like metronomes to their workflow, only pausing to bounce a courteous nod towards Nico.
Beyond the table, a spiral staircase ascended to the second floor, surrounded by intricate cut-glass windows that filled the space with soft prismatic refractions. At the top of the stairs, Kai sat at a desk that looked handcarved from a single piece of wood. He glowed ethereally, thanks to being backlit by a colossal circular stained-glass window. It was reminiscent of a cathedral’s.
The space was a bit grand for the temporary workspace of a couple of surveyors.
“Whose office did you take over?” Nico asked as he climbed the stairs towards Kai, taking his time to look through the windows. Kai threaded his fingers in front of him, tilting his head with a sweet smile. “It was provided by the local authorities… with their full cooperation.” His smile didn’t reach his eyes. He probably bullied the Governor.
“Zhoumin led me to the location of another rift,” Nico said, now leaning on the desk, looking at the chandelier. Kai’s eyes were suddenly glued to his phone as he tapped on it in theatrical disinterest. “Ah, so you’ve unraveled another rift.”
He wasn’t even trying to hide it at this point. Omitting Zhou from the discussion was Kai’s not-so-subtle way of telling Nico that wasn’t going to be his problem. Whatever. Nico was fine with leaving the political dance to Kai. In this situation, he’d prefer Zhou’s company anyw—
The fox paused mid-thought to reflect on what life choices led him to choosing the company of an infamously difficult Sage as the lesser of two evils.
Kai briefed him on what intel he’d uncovered through means of official cooperation, politely worded access, graciously unearthed records, and reports diligently submitted to him. Despite the underlying menacing aura to his methods, the information was exactly what the Department of Ambient Mana Oversight had been obstructed from obtaining.
Effie ascended the stairs with a neat stack of papers in hand, antennae bobbling high with each step. She had taken charge of combing through what Kai dug up, enthusiastic to finally compare it to the data her department had gathered over the years, flagging irregular activity that matched the logs from the abandoned station and—
Effie’s eyes dropped to the top document. Her cattails sagged forward as she drew a small breath, and she quietly confirmed with Nico that her team had also identified indicators of accumulating core mana.
“We’ve collected some peculiar samples over the years that we always thought could…” Effie’s antenna swayed in a slow, uncertain back-and-forth as her thought trailed off.
“Hm, I’ll ask around, but it’ll be problematic if we label it as core mana without any plan…” Kai began tapping on his phone as his thoughts also trailed off.
Core mana was a discovery too significant to announce recklessly. Even hearsay would trigger an alchemic gold rush; as if Tellur wasn’t already being mined down to its bedrock. It was better to sit on it until they were absolutely sure.
The progression wasn’t A to S-rank. It was A-nyone who could navigate a soul rift and inscribe the core onto their soul, to S-rank. The last soul rift appeared over a century ago, so any claim of protocol or jurisdiction would immediately be contested. One forming in a nation without its own alchemic faction and minimal guild presence would only prove how arbitrary law truly was, especially across borders.
Nico thumbed through the report Effie had arranged with meticulous color-coding. It aligned cleanly with what he had flagged as the most volatile rifts— the ones most likely to be influenced by core mana.
“…”
Antennae diligently bounced in his periphery as he flipped through the report. Was it really right for her to trust them with this? The Lycans technically weren’t even loyal to Nireya, Tellur’s benefactor. Kai’s interests sat squarely with Lumere—his dad founding it and all—and his own were…
Kai set his phone on the desk. Locking it after a quick glance at his schedule packed with meetings. “You’re heading out?” he asked, eyes on Nico.
Ah. He’d been mind read.
Nico nodded.
“Be careful,” Kai said in earnest.
“Thanks. You too.”
***
The trek to the coordinates was pleasant. Patches of moss cushioned the path as it wound through scrubland that gradually thickened into vines draping over old growth trees. Dragonflies darted between low laying branches and reeds, drawing fleeting attention as they zipped above the uneven ground.
Nico spotted it before he even reached the top of the hill. Its domed silhouette was unmistakable despite being swallowed by vegetation left to grow unchecked for years. Several panels were missing from the steel frame, and others hung loosely, held up only by the vines that had dislodged them. Moss spread across the lower stone in broad patches, leaving dull discoloration against the exterior.
The coordinates of the most pressing rift had led him to an observatory with a commanding view of the marshlands. Something that should’ve been an easily spotted landmark— had it not been obscured by rifts.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
The air felt especially dense approaching the observatory. While humidity contributed to it, it felt more like the structure was exuding a pressure that made his short fur stand on end. It triggered the gift of fear to a degree that would discourage most creatures, people included, from approaching. Too bad it was his job.
Nico didn’t feel great walking up to the entryway, and felt worse pushing it open. The metal of the hinge—long rusted and corroded—creaked the entire push, broadcasting his arrival to anything inside. He peered in. His eyes started at the broken panels of the dome's ceiling, then followed the beams of sunlight down to what they spotlighted: nothing much, yet pretty bad. Illuminated were suggestions of structures that were once proudly displayed, now overtaken by the distortion of unstable mana: blackened edges, decayed forms, blighted reality.
He closed the door. Staring at the distortion wouldn’t help him unravel the rift. He turned to the engravings etched into the rusted surface, searching for any clue of how this rift allowed entry. The inscriptions covering it were foreign to him. No pattern he recognized, though the glyphs were clearly intended to channel mana. Even sealed, he could already feel its latent energy pressing against the thresholds.
He stepped back and sat on a bench near the entrance, deciding it would be wise to reorganize his skills and strategize before diving in. His Skill Panel flickered to life midair.
|| SKILL LIST || Sort▲?Filter▼
[+ Add] [-Remove]
▲
???? Shock Pulse
火 Ember Recast
? Gale Step
火 Foxfire Wisps
???? Arc Lash
???? Mana Circuitry
? Jetstream
火 Superheat
▼
He pressed [+Add] and sequenced the skills he had used against the dragon together.
EDITING MODE?(save)?(cancel)
|| SKILL: Thermal Jet ? 火 ||
Type: Wind, Fire
Channel Load: [N/A]
Effect: [N/A]
[+ Add]
Skill Breakdown:
Activates [? Jetstream]. Contact with target triggers [火 Superheat] to automatically activate. Creates an explosion at point of contact.
Inscription Structure: [N/A]
Field Notes:
Unintended targets will still auto-detonate on contact█
Caption: superheated shot
He stared at all the blank spaces that still needed to be typed in. Whatever. It wasn’t like he was selling the skill, so that could be done later. He shooed away every lecture he’d ever received—and given—about the dangers of using a skill in the field without prior thorough testing and pressed (save). It would be his little, extremely dangerous secret.
A long-press brought Foxfire Wisps into editing mode.
EDITING MODE?(save)?(cancel)
|| SKILL: Foxfire Wisps 火 ||
Type: Elemental | Fire
Channel Load: Moderate per wisp
Maximum Conjuration: 7
Skill Breakdown:
Generates up to seven autonomous fire wisps for illumination, marking, or positional control. Wisps respond to directed Wind-aspect cues and may detonate on command to produce localized ignition.
Inscription Structure:
-Main: Sustained Ignition, Tracking, Sculpt
-Support: Orbit, Guidance, Detonation
Field Notes:
Cumulative load rises sharply at peak conjuration. Wisps resist water contact and non-mana wind forces.
Caption:
up to 7 little guy█
“Figured it out?”
“Holy sh–”
Nico stuttered alongside his skill window, unwilling to admit Zhou had startled him, again. The sage leaned in close to peer over his shoulder, hands clasped behind his back, pretending there was something to see. As if he didn’t know status windows were visible only to their user. Nico caught the smirk in his periphery.
“Ah, that’s disappointing,” Zhou said mildly.
“…………..”
While Nico’s brain rebooted, Zhou breezed past him toward the sealed door. Violet light flickered between his fingertips. He murmured to himself as his hands traced the inscriptions, sounding them out like a language he hadn’t used in years. Nico didn’t recognize it as any language he knew. Mana threaded in precise lines as Zhou drew from the glyphs he understood, filling in one section, pausing, then extending the logic through the next layer.
Nico drifted closer to study the workflowtracking how the current shifted through the seal—to infer the pattern Zhou was following. When roughly 75% of the seal was reconstructed, Zhou straightened with a quiet huff and dusted off his palms. “That should be enough for you to go off of.”
“Alright. Stay here so I can ask you stuff.”
“Sure.”
Nico blinked loudly; he didn’t expect the sage to agree so easily.
Seventy years ago, inscription language had been standardized. His mentors never let his generation forget what pains they endured before basic theory existed; how easy kids had it these days. Now, inscribing on the spot in front of a sage, Nico suddenly felt grateful for every proof he’d muscled through in academia. The glyphs Zhou used were unfamiliar, but the underlying structure was clear enough to map.
Despite his terse conversational style, Zhou’s explanations were thorough and exact whenever Nico asked about particular reasonings in the inscription. The entire time, though, he kept his arms folded, one finger tapping idly against his sleeve. Nico turned off the periphery portion of his vision to ignore how bored the posture looked. Zhou’s words were patient, so he didn’t take it personally.
It was, admittedly, pretty cool to get an impromptu feedback session from a Sage known for inscription theory. The longer he worked, the more clearly he saw the machiations of Zhou’s method: responsive, adaptive to the seal itself. Most inscriptionists didn’t work like this outside research and development; on the field it was rare. His approach must have been shaped long before standardization flattened the discipline into procedures and memorization—an art lost to the current generation.
So yeah, despite his looks, this guy was old.
With the final connections in place, the seal rattled and greedily began pulling gold mana straight out of Nico’s hands.
Metal along the hinges thinned, stone around the frame shifted, and both materials drew inward to form a single uniform plane. A final line of mana ran down the center, splitting the seal cleanly open. As the doorway settled, Nico stepped back beside Zhou and suddenly felt shy. Should he thank him for the generous instruction?
“What language is this by the way?” Nico asked to buy himself some time.
“Mmmm. An obscure one from my grandma’s village of a few hundred people.”
“She was from here?”
“Nope, her village was south of Ruzen.”
“….”
“I dunno either,” Zhou said nonchalantly with a shrug.
Nico immediately regretted asking. As if he weren’t already ignoring so many questions about why the Sage was here. Now he got a lore drop that made everything even stranger.
‘Oh sure, I know how to read these ancient rift inscriptions because my grandma was from the other side of the continent.’
Cool.
***
With a low grind of stone, the doors shut behind them. Outside had been high noon with the sun heavy on their shoulders. Inside, the world shifted to night. The false sky beyond the exposed framework of broken, rusted beams offered no moons or stars—only a blank void.
|| SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ||
[Target: Defeat the Core Guardian ?(ˊ?ˋ *)?]
[Reward: something wonderful.
heh. (｀?ω?′)?]
Both of them stared at the system notification.
“It wasn’t always this expressive,” Zhou said, sounding pensive, like he was making excuses for an old friend who had too much to drink.
The inner workings of the system were as theoretical as the origins of life. It had always been there, evolving alongside sapiens, as far back as archaeological depictions went.
“What was it like back then?” Nico asked with genuine curiosity.
“How old are you?”
“…34.”
“Hm," Zhou walked forward, apparently with all the information he needed.
The fox’s tail swept low, slightly blush, slightly annoyed. Thinking he could have a normal conversation with Zhoumin because of one spontaneous alchemy seminar had been pure hubris.
Also… were they doing this rift together?