Seeds of Discordia

Liam focused on his heightened hearing to make sure no one was around. When he didn't hear anyone, he focused on his heightened sense of smell to see if he could smell what he couldn't hear. When that came up with nothing close by, he opened his inventory and pulled out the box he had received earlier.

Liam activated his Mana Sight to see if there was any mana left on the box, to his surprise he saw an inky black wisp of mana surrounding the box. As he watched it he noticed something moving along the top of the box making its way towards the bottom. He flipped it around and saw it scurrying to the other side before it stopped. As it slowly turned to look back at him he recognized what it was. It was a small shadow spider, one similar to that which Lady Arachne commanded.

Liam stared at it for a long moment before deciding to channel a small bit of his own Shadow Mana. The shadow spider seemed to recognize it before making its way towards his right hand. Liam wasn't sure what it was doing, but after it touched one of his fingers, the small shadow spider seemed to melt away bringing along with it the Shadow Mana that had covered the entire box.

Liam was shocked and a little worried about what had happened, but after a few seconds had passed and nothing of note happened he passed it off as maybe a security of sorts to make sure the package had reached the right person. Something he soon learned was the case after he opened the box and saw a small note resting above everything stating that he had nothing to worry about with her little cutie. It was a security and after recognizing his own Shadow Mana it would uncover the security protection she had placed on it and rest within his own shadow until he saw her again. Liam was concerned about having a random Shadow Spider inside his shadow, but there was nothing he could really do at the moment until he saw her again.

After reading the note he looked at the contents inside the box. He was right about one of the items within being a book of sorts. The other item inside was an envelope that held a letter and the symbol he had sent to her. He opened the letter and read it, a faux scowl growing on his lips within the first few words.

"Dear Little Kitten, I have received your message and inquiry and have been looking into what you have requested of me. While normally I do not normally do stuff like this due to my position, but I have made an exception for three reasons. One, you are the apprentice of Wild Card. That means you would not be asking me of something if it was some trivial thing. He would want you to only rely on asking for help if you truly need it. Two, after seeing the symbol you have sent I felt something familiar about it and grew curious enough to want to see why it feels familiar. And lastly, while we never made it an official thing I view you as an apprentice of mine when it comes to Shadow Magic. That means if my apprentice needs me to look into something how could I possibly say no?

"All that being said, I have found no records of this symbol anywhere in the Fiddler's Spider Web. Which is concerning to me since we have a slew of knowledge on majority of the organizations and their symbols. I have some of my informants looking into the symbol as well as contacts elsewhere. If the reason why I feel like this is familiar is not because of this Underground Association then I believe where I originate from does. When I have word of it I will send you what I have learned. Do not worry about me trying to figure out where you will be when I need to send it. That little cutie I left with you will give me a good idea on where you are and which Web Branches you will most likely be going to.

"Do not fret, my little cutie is not harmful to you in any way shape or form. She would actually be more harmful to those who try and mess with you if you treat her nicely. You can think of her as a guard spider. I mean…I can't have mine or Wild Card's apprentice getting into trouble he cannot handle right?"

Liam shook his head slowly at that. A smile teased on the edge of his lips. He had forgotten how infatuated she was with Nabal. If her wanting to claim him as her own apprentice when it comes to Shadow Magic, he wouldn't stop her.

"Now, enough about all that. How is your Shadow Manipulation coming along? If you have been diligently training then you should be close to reaching the Advanced Field of the Shadows. If you have reached it before receiving this letter then I am proud of the level you have reached. That doesn't mean you can slack though. I have sent you a copy of a Knowledge Theory that can help you with both learning more advanced techniques of Shadow Manipulation and ideas for areas you might like to explore.

"I do, however, suggest you look into and learn more about shaping your manipulated shadows in that book. Now that you are getting the hang of manipulating the shadows you should start learning how to shape them so you create things that you can control. Doing this will help you with an ability you will eventually learn. You will understand after you read more on it. I believe you can do a lot of interesting things with it if you do it right. Before I end this letter I will also let you know that the next time I send you a message I will have a gift I made for you that will help you with even better control with your Shadow Manipulation. Stay safe and keep striving to grow stronger. Sincerely, Lady Arachne."

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A smile slowly grew on Liam's face after reading the letter. This gorgeous, albeit very deadly woman was nothing but helpful after he met her. When he had went to join the Fiddler's Spider Web she had taken the time to explain things his own Mentor didn't bother to explain. Whether she was only doing so because she had a thing for Nabal or not was something he had tried to discern for a while, but after the events on Cashat Port and before he left the island, she had taken the time to show him trust and help him with his Shadow Magic.

He could honestly say that without her guidance he would never have reached the level he was currently at with the Field of Study. If he was left on his own he probably would have screwed up somewhere and would probably have some less than useful abilities.

Her explaining how magic reacted towards one's own belief of it, as well as giving him the most basic fundamental abilities for the field of study really helped him with shaping certain aspects of the magic. He wouldn't have discovered that he could use his shadow blobs to absorb magic and release them in a shadowy version of them. He also wouldn't have come up with a certain application he really wanted to test out.

Liam's thoughts turned to another who was doing the same thing, albeit with his other non-shadow abilities. After revealing he had Field of the Lunar to Uncle Naro, he was able to learn Lunar Manipulation and shortly after that he had finally gained the ability Lunar Step to be able to use without having to rely on his Spirit Weave Shadow Moon Cat form.

He was really happy when he received the notification. He believed he was probably on the cusp of getting it anyways since he had some experience using the ability. However, he was also kicking himself for not trying to see if he could get the ability before now.

When it came to Lunar Manipulation though he was surprised. Lunar Manipulation wasn't like his Shadow Manipulation in any way, shape, or form. It didn't gather Lunar light from the moon when he practiced with it like how Shadow Manipulation gathered shadows all around. Instead it formed into a small pale white mini moon orb that could change from a full circular orb into thin Cheshire smile shape like the different phases of the moon.

Through some practice Liam had learned when it was in full moon form it helped cast more shadows all around it as well as made them longer or bigger depending on where he had it. He could leave it floating in the air and was tough to destroy. He could also turn it into a Chesire Smile like shape and use it as a punch dagger. By gripping the middle of the fading moon, Liam could use the two pointed ends to pierce into a target and create nasty lunar singed holes that left a short Stellar Affliction From Within Debuff depending on how many times he was able to puncture the lunar shaped weapon before it shattered.

When he showed Uncle Naro this the man let out a loud laughter that many people came to check in on him to make sure he was alright. When everyone had left them alone, he had explained to Liam that he had never heard of anyone using Lunar Manipulation in a way to make a temporary weapon like that. When Liam started to get embarrassed, Uncle Naro had proclaimed that thanks to that kind of innovation he wanted Liam to keep doing it.

He believed that if he kept doing it that he would or could receive an ability that allowed him to make short lived Lunar weapons. He had full confidence that he would be able to do it since he was essentially a Crafter class holder. When asked if it was something that all Craft Class holders could do, Uncle Naro said it wasn't always the case. There was no point in making short lived weapons out of mana since buyers would need weapons for long term use. However, with the path he was trying to go down it would be useful depending on how and what he made. If he was able to do that then it would help his Crafting fighting style out even more.

Thinking back on that while staring at the letter and the book before him, Liam's mind started turning even more. If he was instructed to learn how to shape the manipulated shadows, then maybe he could either do the same thing with shadows as he was trying to do with Lunar Manipulation. A wicked grin grew on his face as he took those thoughts a step further. What if he was able to blend both Lunar and Shadow together into the form a short lived weapon? The damage caused by the combination between the two would double since they had a reaction to each other when magic of both forms landed on a target.

His thoughts shifted to the time he slammed a Shadow Hand and a Lunar Hand together. He remembered the explosion caused by them and felt a shiver run down his spine. He would need to master shaping the two separately before he even tried to attempt doing that. He came to terms with his bad habit of trying things before researching it, but he also knew he needed to draw a line somewhere and he believed that this would have to be it for now.

Liam looked back at the letter. His excitement over the book and his thoughts on what he was currently learning was a good distraction, but right now he needed to focus on the true matter of the letter and not the happy added bonus. And that was the symbol.

It didn't feel good that she couldn't find anything out on the symbol from looking through Fiddler's Spider Web connections, but he was glad she found it familiar and had another avenue to look into. He was curious about what she had meant about when she mentioned where she originated from. Did she mean where she was born? Did she mean her family? It was both vague and cryptic that made him very curious. However, that wasn't something he could ask her about at the moment, so he needed to not dwell on it for now.

And since she couldn't give him any answers on the symbol, he needed focus on something else. Luckily for him he had something he could do that with. His eyes narrowed as a new thought formed.

Did she send me this book because she knew I would need something to focus on while I waited? Liam thought to himself. After a few seconds of eyeing the book suspiciously he shrugged. That was thinking into things too much and he didn't need to do that. He looked at his internal clock and noticed the time. It wasn't too late, and he wasn't that tired. He decided to take a look at the book and see what it entailed before finally going to bed.