NOVEL NEXT 26 - Facet of the Exile
Weeks passed as Diven settled into his routine. He kept to the area around the cavern. There was food, water, and wood, he didn't need to explore further for the moment.
The time would come to leave, either to find the rift's exit or complete his next facet. But for now, his Facet of the Exile was progressing nicely.
Maybe it could have been faster if he wandered around, without a place to call home. But that wasn't guaranteed; safety was more important. All things considered, the facet was nearly complete.
He hadn't been idle in the meantime. Although his skills showed little improvement, he trained daily with the martial manual and the multitasking exercises Cassandra left behind.
Skill leveled up: Trap Detection Lv4 -> Lv5
Trap Detection was the only skill that showed real progress. Several times, he had to avoid ambushes from local monsters as he gathered wood in the forest. At least the monsters weren't overly aggressive, and they left him alone once he retreated from their territory.
Diven wasn't sure he had done enough to unlock a new facet choice for his next selection. But it was too late to regret his choice now. The completion of Facet of the Exile would come today, or at the latest, tomorrow.
He had done what he thought was the best. Now, his fate would rest in the hands of Bird. She was the one who got to choose his next facet.
On that note, he had no idea how to communicate with the guardians when he did complete his facet. He was far from the stone, and to be honest, he wasn't looking forward to a trek back there. Especially since they had disappeared without a word the last time he had checked.
He hoped Bird would come to him.
Not that the idea of reneging on his promise to let her choose his next facet hadn't crossed his mind.
It had. Many times. And it was tempting.
But reason and his self-preservation instinct steered him away from this course. The guardians were at least Evolved Rank powerhouses, potentially even stronger, he couldn't afford to provoke them.
They knew the location of the rift exit. They had the ability to prevent him from reaching it. Opposing them over a single facet just wasn't worth it.
Unless, of course, Bird chose Facet of the Rot Mage. But he would cross that bridge when he got there.
After digesting the life story of Cassandra, Diven had a lot of alone time. As much as he wanted to avoid dwelling on his own situation, with nobody to talk to, stray thoughts were bound to rise from the depths of his mind.
Seeing her completely abandon the thought of returning to Kheiron woke something inside him.
He didn't agree with her. Not that it was a bad thing, she was free to make her own decision. It didn't matter. Not anymore.
He wanted to return home. Traverse the Wildlands along the Lien River, and see the Great Sea once again. Walk up the road from the Acropolis. Hear the melody sung by the cicadas all summer.
See his family.
Yet, he recognized that his longing for home was not grounded in reality. Sure, the city and the landscape still existed and he technically could go there. But the people had changed.
After all, Sebastian was the only one who hadn't abandoned him.
He could make excuses for his parents. He still believed they had run into trouble for having raised a child like him. With their own bloodline issues within the clan, it was possible, likely. However, the rational part of his mind told him they had given up on him to save themselves.
What could they do? They were not elders of the clan. Had they thrown a fit he would have been exiled all the same.
The worst was that he couldn't be sure. He wanted to believe in them, but doubt would always be there. It remained hidden in a corner of his head, gnawing at his faith.
For the same reason, he couldn't blame Zoe and Philon. It made him sad but they had their own lives to think about. He didn't want to drag them down with him. He hoped Sebastian was fine. He had always been the nicest of the bunch. Especially with him.
One thing he made a point to learn from Cassandra was her ability to make plans. She had been driven by her desire to study mind magic and every decision she made was driven by this intention.
It hadn't worked out for her in the end, but Diven admired the process.
Thus, with time on his hands, he had started planning his future. First, complete Facet of the Exile while training as much as possible to unlock another facet choice.
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Next, it would depend on the new facet, but the general idea was to complete it as fast as possible. He kept open the possibility of spending a little more time in the rift if the environment proved perfect for training his new skill. He didn't think it was likely to happen, but he didn't want his new planning habit to make him too rigid in his thinking.
Then, if all went well, it would be time to exit the rift. His ultimate goal was to return to Kheiron and deal with all the baggage he carried in his heart. But he wasn't so deluded to think he could just walk back in the city as he was now.
Even if he was incomparable to the Diven who was carried away from the clan by his uncle, it had barely been three months since he was exiled. Something along those lines. Keeping track of time was difficult, especially when he was all alone.
More importantly, he was still Diven. The boy with the Rot Heart bloodline. He rarely thought about it, but his Rotten Sun title was always present, dimming the light that barely shone on his garden, or twisting it in ways he couldn't quite grasp…
This was the heart of the problem.
The reason he had been exiled. The way he saw it, two possibilities would make his return possible. One: he would need to become so powerful he couldn't be exiled, which meant reaching the Ascended Rank. Two: find a way to get rid of his rot attunement, specifically his bloodline.
Neither seemed achievable in the short term, if ever.
Among the hundreds of people in the Leios clan, there were a dozen elders. And with their extended lifespan, it showed how unlikely it was for someone to reach that level.
As for removing a bloodline, Diven didn't know if it was possible. But he had heard rumors about bloodline evolutions. Nothing concrete, unfortunately.
He needed to find more information. To do so, there weren't a million solutions: he needed to meet people. Out there in the Wildlands, there were only barbarians. It wasn't his preferred company, but in his situation, he didn't have the luxury of choice. He hoped they could at least help him out a little. They might have been barbarians, but surviving in the Wildlands meant they had to possess a few useful skills.
It was only when he grew tired and got ready to sleep that his Facet of the Exile finally reached the threshold for completion.
Facet of the Exile completed. You can select a new facet.
It was more than time. With the good news came a rush of newfound energy. Diven knew he wouldn't be able to sleep if he didn't at least check his facet choices.
He took a deep breath and focused his attention inward. As usual, upon the completion of the facet, his rotten tree had grown. It was still young, but it had outgrown the stage of a sapling.
It was a young, unhealthy, rotting tree that was growing in the middle of his inner garden.
Well, there was nothing Diven could do about the affliction for now, so he focused his intent on fetching the list of available facets.
Available Facets:
Facet of the Rot Mage
Facet of the Fisherman
Facet of the Explorer
Facets of the Self
It was…
Better than expected?
Two new choices were more than Diven could have reasonably hoped for. Facet of the Explorer had to come from him traveling in the rift. It was a good facet, well-known in Kheiron since many of the city's explorers ended up unlocking it. He knew Sebastian was aiming for it.
The skill it would give wasn't as clear-cut as what the Facet of the Hoplite gave. But, in general, you could count on it being useful in situations where you would be traversing unknown lands.
It was a great fit for Diven's current situation. Too bad the choice wasn't in his hands.
As for the second new addition…
Diven was confused. This was something completely new that defied the norm that he had been taught to expect.
Well, since it was there, it meant it was possible. It was likely quite common too. Diven was not lost in any illusion that he was somehow special. His progress was nice, but not that outstanding. There had to be people in Kheiron from his generation who far surpassed him. Zoe, for one, would quickly surpass him once she was done with her lessons on Sky Magic.
Facets of the Self.
Facets.
As in more than one?
It didn't make sense. Either he was seriously misunderstanding what a facet was, or it was just a naming quirk that didn't mean anything.
After all, the names he read in the list were coming from impressions his inner garden transmitted when he was focusing his intent. It was the same for all his skills, titles, bloodline, and facets.
He had been told both his garden and the status he derived from them were simply an interpretation of the way the world at large worked.
He wasn't sure how it worked. So he wasn't ready to make a big deal about the strangely named facet.
Maybe it was nothing out of the ordinary.
And what was Self about?
If he didn't know better, he would have taken it for a jab at his constant loneliness. But the world didn't work like that. Although, being alone for so long may have played a role in unlocking this facet. These facets?
Honestly, Diven had no idea what it did. Maybe Bird would know?
At least, it was a good contender for the guardians' choice of facet. It was intriguing. More than Facet of the Rot Mage for sure. He didn't hold too much hope that Bird would choose Facet of the Explorer.
Cassandra had guessed that the guardians were collecting data on facets and skills. If she was right, it was likely Bird would pick Facets of the Self.
But as much as he admired the Opheo girl's dedication to mind magic, she was only a teenager. Like him. Her insights were often good, but faced with the guardians, they didn't hold much weight.
Alright…
So…
Should he try to find the guardians so they could pick his next facet?
They were not there, obviously. And he wouldn't go behind their back.
Should he wait for them to return, or go back to the stone to check if they were already there?
Anyway, it was a decision he could delegate to his future self. Present Diven had to sleep. Even if he chose to climb back over the mountain and return to the first valley, he wasn't going to do it in his current tired state.