Rot Heart: A LitRPG of Rot Magic in an Ancient World (Book 1 completed)

Theaphilia didn't come that night. Nor did she the next day.

Div and En settled into a routine. Each day, they attended school, practiced Inspect and Conceal, trained in weaponry, and learned about the world. Then, they would return home and spend the evening with Belilamos, Carmeta, and Dubno.

Benefiting from their two minds working together, their Lienien skills progressed quickly. It was still far from perfect, but communication wasn't that awkward anymore.

Over time, they developed their friendship with their classmates, particularly with the group of Segorix, Lugsellos, Ambisena and Gennorina.

While they couldn't be considered close friends yet, Div and En found comfort in the fact that they didn't judge their rot attunement.

The only issue was their mind-splitting skill. They were still hiding their nature as Div and En.

It wasn't that they didn't want to tell them… Actually, it was exactly that. They didn't want to tell them. Div and En knew it would change their friends' opinion of them. They had made the effort to befriend Diven. Would they go even further and accept their dual nature?

Div and En were not willing to risk it.

It was only about a week after the dark day that the old Evolved Rank from the Opheo clan finally decided to visit Div and En's dreams again.

In the dreamscape, Div and En stood next to each other, much like they would in their inner world. But unlike in their rotten garden, there was a guest in their dream.

"Div, En, it has been a while," Theaphilia greeted. "I hope you recovered from the dark day."

"We did," Div spoke up. "Why did you take so long?"

"Impatient," she clicked her tongue. "I'm spending my own mind-attuned mana to speak with both of you at once. But my skill is also drawing on the mana produced by your minds. You wouldn't be able to handle me visiting more often."

"We recovered from the dark day, Theaphilia," En said. "We were not injured so there wasn't an issue."

"Good. Are you adapting well to Camboaci?"

"Yes," Div said. "It's nice."

"I wouldn't have believed just a few days ago, but the people here are kind. Far from the image we are taught in Kheiron," En added.

"Bah. Camboaci was prospering long before our founding ancestors were born in Ameia proper," Theaphilia scoffed. "The current elders are blinded by their arrogance if they believe the Lienien people to be savages."

"We're still working to unlock the Facet of the Veil. To get our Inspect and Conceal skills," En continued.

"It should happen sooner rather than later. Skills, facets, titles, and everything in our inner world are accelerated when we face pressure. With 'Div and En' as your status name, I'm sure you're feeling it."

They were feeling the pressure. But there wasn't much they could do aside from practicing.

"So," she said. "Evolution. What do you know about it?"

Div and En looked at each other. The former signaled for En to speak.

"Not much. We know once a skill evolves, our lifespan increases to about 120 years. We know that Evolved Ranks are physically stronger than Basic Ranks. We know that evolved skills are stronger, I guess…"

"That is correct. However, you listed some of the consequences of evolution. You have not told me what evolution is."

"The process in which a skill goes from Basic Rank to Evolved Rank?" Div tried.

Theaphilia shook her head, "It's true, but that's barely better than saying nothing. It's fine, this is why we're here, after all."

She paused, gathering her thoughts.

"Evolution is the word we use in Ameian, but every language I know uses a word with the exact same meaning. There is nothing lost in translation. The word encapsulates its meaning perfectly. When a skill evolves from Basic Rank to Evolved Rank, it changes. It becomes something more. Something rooted in the Basic version of the skill, but at the same time, something radically different."

Div and En both nodded as they tried to follow what Theaphilia was saying. So far, nothing she spoke about gave them any hint of what they would have to do to evolve a skill.

"Unlike leveling-up, ranking up a skill requires conscious effort. You will never evolve by accident. You need to seek it, find it, grasp it, maybe build it, imagine it, make it be.

"Every skill, every person is different. You don't evolve a cooking skill the same way you evolve a magic one. Similarly, two persons having the same Basic skill may evolve in opposite directions."

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Theaphilia continued her explanation by taking her skill as an example, "Like every skill, Dream Connection started at the Basic Rank. It was called Dream Seeker then. It allowed me to walk the realm of dreams, to learn from it, to find people and information that leaked from their subconscious.

"But it didn't let me interact with them."

She sighed, "No matter how many dreams I saw, their usefulness was limited by their chaotic aspects, I couldn't anchor the dreamscape like I'm doing now.

"I couldn't find the person I was looking for…

"But I was determined, so I tried. Many times, always ending in failure. Until one night it worked—the skill evolved."

"So," En said. "We need to decide how we want our skills to evolve and practice with that intent?"

"Essentially, yes. But as you can imagine, it's not that simple. The direction of the skill evolution must take it closer to the essence of your being."

"I see," Div said. "Then, with the two of us, it makes things awkward."

"That's why we need to evolve Sundered Mind first," En said, understanding immediately where his other half was getting at.

"Good, you understand," Theaphilia said. "Yes, with most of your skill being rot-attuned, it would be challenging to reconcile your diverging opinions on the matter."

"We must separate," En said.

"But how?" Div asked. "I get what you're saying, Theaphilia. But we have no idea where to start. We want to be independent from one another. What do we do?"

"Well," Theaphilia said. "I agree with you. This is tricky. We're in uncharted territory with this idea.

"I think you should begin by figuring out what makes each of you unique individuals. Div, why are you not En? En, why are you not Div? Once you know what you are, you may understand how to disentangle yourselves."

Div and En agreed. Whether or not it would work, it was a good start. If they wanted to become fully fledged individuals, they needed to map out the bounds of their personalities. Like in any separation, they had to figure out who would take what.

So far, they knew Div would take the rot. But while it had played a central role in their lives since Diven's awakening, rot was far from all there was about them as people.

"Now that we have a direction," Theaphilia said. "We need to address the elephant in the room."

"What elephant?" Div asked.

"Evolution takes time. Even if you've reached level 10 in Sundered Mind in a few weeks, the time it will take you to evolve it is measured in years."

It pressed on their heart like a stone. Of course, they knew she was right. If evolution was so easy, everyone would reach that level. But even in Camboaci where people were given the resources many never made it.

"Still, it will take as long as it takes—but we'll succeed," En said.

"I do not doubt it, En. I do not doubt it. But it's not what I was getting at. Belilamos, Carmeta, Brigaseta, Vedovessa and I. These are the people who know about your condition. They won't speak about it, but if you feel comfortable with them, I would encourage you to open up."

"They know?" En asked.

"Belilamos saw you before I helped you hide your name from your status. It goes without saying he told his wife. Same with Brigaseta—not that you could hide anything from her now. As for Vedovessa, well, she's just extremely capable."

"Okay," Div said. "I guess that's fine, they can't unlearn this information."

"Are you going to hide yourselves for the years to come?" Theaphilia asked.

"Yes."

"You're going to live in Camboaci, build relationships, and make friends. I urge you to consider being honest with them."

"If we do that, they will reject us," En said. "You know it's true."

"If you don't, what do you think will happen when you succeed? When their friend Diven, the one they've known for years, turns into Div and En."

They knew. But still…

They couldn't tell Gennorina and the rest. This way, they could at least enjoy a few years with them.

"I want you to think about it," Theaphilia said. "Next, there is the matter of your advancement. You're aiming for the Facet of the Veil, that's good. But then what? You can't agree on a direction for your facets and skills."

"I don't know…" Div said.

"Same here," En said.

"Good thing I thought about it then. Whether it's Camboaci or Kheiron, the education system is working on the assumption that their students will at most reach the Evolved Rank. Maybe the rare genius will ascend, but that's more a matter of luck than anything. As a result, compared to the larger Ameian cities or Hyepsut, we take a few shortcuts. Especially when it comes to magic."

Div was intrigued. He wanted to learn rot magic.

"Here's what I learned: it's possible to acquire magic skills without taking the corresponding facet. For you, it would mean first gaining the Rot Magic skill, then taking Facet of the Rot Mage. This is what the nine Aths of Hyepsut and the strongest clans of Ameia do. Supposedly, since you already have the skill Facet of the Rot Mage would have given you, you get something else. Something better."

"But I don't want to learn rot magic," En said, unsurprisingly.

"Here is the compromise. Div practices rot magic to earn it as a facetless skill. In the meantime, you two pick facets En wants."

"Agreed," Div said immediately.

"What if we get the skill before we separate?" En asked.

"If it happens, you just have to add the skill to the separation," Theaphilia shrugged. "You already have so many rot-attuned skills, it wont change much."

En couldn't come up with a rebuttal. Rotten Spear, Rotten Shield, Rotten Spearfish, Blighted Passage, Echoes of the Rot Heart. And there was also the title: Rotten Sun. And even more importantly, their bloodline, Rot Heart.

She was right.

Adding Rot Magic on top of that wouldn't change a thing.

With her plan, Div and En could both improve in the direction they wanted simultaneously.

"Fine," En said. "Let's do that. But I want you to promise you will not attempt to attune another skill to rot before we evolve Sundered Mind."

"Of course," Div said. "It wouldn't honor the spirit of our agreement."

En thought for a moment and said, "For now, I still think we should aim for Facet of the Veil first."

"You make the calls now," Div said. "If you want to select another facet now, I will not object."

"No, let's stick to what we decided."

"Great!" Theaphilia said. "Sleep well, you have class in a few hours!"

She was gone.

But how could they sleep? Div and En's minds were full of thoughts on how they would disentangle themselves from one another.