NOVEL NEXT Chapter 374: Dinner
Orion rolled his shoulders until his bones popped like rice in a hot pan, then stood and stretched for a bit. "Alright," he said, "stop the Limitless Ascension Field. I'm done."
[Ending field~ (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧]
Lumi's window gave a tiny wink; the faint pressure that had made thought feel spring-loaded eased out of the room like a tide.
He moved to the Silent Hall Cube, set a palm on its top, and turned the mana off. The silent field in the room thinned until the room felt ordinary again.
He tucked the cube back into his inventory, glanced once at the three crystals lined like obedient soldiers, put them in his inventory, and exhaled. "Hmm. I should go and talk with Seraph for a bit now."
[Yes, you haven't talked with her today,] Lumi said, already dimming her projection into a small, hovering screen that seemed to salute him with her kaomojios.
Orion lightly smiled and turned around to head out of the room as he shut the door behind him.
He soon reached Seraph's room, knocked twice, and she opened the door. Smiling lightly, Orion headed inside and chatted with her for a long time as she seemed to have improved a lot during this time.
Even her speech seemed to be improving each day. Orion noticed that she seemed to be hesitating about telling him something, but he didn't press and decided to wait and see when she would tell him whatever she wanted.
***
After coming out of Seraph's room, he headed straight for the dining hall. Reaching the hall, he took his usual place at the long dining table, the one that always felt too grand when it was just the three of them.
Eldric watched Orion demolish a slice of bread and hummed, pleased. "Lad," he said, tearing his own bread, "that little guy, Magi, is doing something big, hm? He's asked for more guards and a list of our city contacts down to the minor barons."
Orion's mouth curled into a smile. "Yes, Grandpa. We plan to take Limitless Heaven across the kingdom as fast as reasonable. He's already sketching routes while clutching a bottle and his rabbit."
Selene's lips curved. "Luna is adorable, I saw her a few days ago when I went out," she said, as if that mattered to profit margins. "And Magi has a good head, even if he keeps it slightly pickled."
Eldric chuckled in amusement. "Expansion's good, so long as you don't starve the root to feed the branches. Any other plans tucked behind in that scheming head of yours?"
Orion paused, rolling the stem of his glass between thumb and forefinger. The thought had been hardening since the carriage ride.
"Yes," he said, his voice turning serious. "I want to build a hidden hand. Quiet eyes and ears. Orphans, slaves… those who won't be missed if lost. Train them, feed them, give them names again, and point them in the right direction."
"With enough resources, we can make capable people in months, not years. If we can also recruit a few professional and trustworthy people, we can speed things up."
Selene's expression softened to concern and pride. "There is merit in it," she said gently. "But you must choose carefully. People shaped by hunger are sharp. They cut both ways."
"I know." Orion swirled his glass while continuing, "The trick will be layering loyalties. House stipends, decent contracts, personal advancement. If they owe the Helstorms a future, they won't sell the present to the highest bidder."
Eldric stroked his beard, eyes distant in that way that meant he was unraveling maps in his head. "Mm. You'll need people who can read between the lines and can be used for more work. I can lend you two from the old border network for a while, they will teach your core team and they can take over the rest then. After that, your web is your own to maintain."
Orion put a hand to his chest theatrically. "Sigh. And here I thought you'd do it all for me."
Selene softly laughed at his words. "You also need to learn how to recognize other people's natures, dear. This will be very good practice."
He grinned, accepting the quest. "Very well. Since we've about a week before the next expedition, I'll start recruiting. I will get Magi to go with me in the next couple of days and also get a courtyard in the fourth ring for them. And… we'll add a reading stipend and tutors. A spy who can't read is a bird with one wing."
Eldric sipped from his cup. "Spoken like a proper troublemaker."
Then the group continued eating in silence while occasionally chatting about idle topics. Orion also told them about some of his plans.
When the plates were cleared and tea arrived, Eldric tapped the table softly. "One more thing. If you're buying light-attuned reagents in bulk, do it discreetly. No need to advertise our intentions to anyone with a ledger and eyes."
Orion nodded. "Magi and I already agreed to that. He'll love the paperwork."
Selene hid a smile behind her cup. "Do try not to make him cry."
"How can I do that? He's such a punchab— lovely guy, of course I'll take care of him," Orion said, rising with them as the last of the tea vanished.
***
The door to his room closed shut, and the hush returned like his Ex. He set the Silent Hall Cube down and turned it on as it already had mana crystals from before. The veil unfurled until the room was enveloped in it. "Field?" he asked.
[Limitless Ascension Field: deployed on the battlefield!!!! (≧∇≦)/ ]
Lumi excitedly said, as the second field enveloped the entire room.
He took his seat at the desk and took out the golden memory crystal from his inventory, placing it in front of him. "Light Element," he said, and sent a thread of mana into it.
The crystal warmed beneath his fingertips like a sunstone, then bloomed open in his mind, panes of luminant script unfolding into diagrams, notations, and spoken paragraphs that felt half lecture, half prayer.
He settled in and let it pour through him.
'Light,' the compendium began, 'is not merely "brightness." It is order given form, information carried on purity. Three primary faces: Illumination (to reveal), Purification (to cleanse), and Judgment (to weigh and cut). In the weave of reality, Light rides the finest channels; it hates turbulence. It loves proportion. It refuses to anchor in rage.'
[So… not a fan of your "bully the Light" plan,] Lumi teased, her tiny window bobbing.
"I'll persuade it nicely," Orion murmured, smile ghosting. "Flatter it with symmetry."
Pages turned without hands. He memorized the fundamentals: 'Light's high-frequency mana prefers narrow conduits, rounded corners, and mirror-smooth circuits.'
'Spikes and right angles introduce glare (harmful to the caster); occlusion causes echo (feedback loops that blind the mind's eye).'
The properties read like a master craftsman's notes, refraction tables, phase diagrams, anchoring mantras. He mapped them to the circuits he already knew: Flow, Bind, Disperse and the others.
Next came the history part of the memory crystal, a lens on Zorathal's past:
'The Saintess, a title rarely given to someone, whose name was forgotten with time, standing in the ash-winds during the Third Demon Surge, raising lantern-cities along the plague roads.'