Solo Strategy

Emerging from the Void of Elevation, I allowed myself only a sigh of relief. Overcoming the First Wall and reaching the Precious Coil of the Spiral of Ascension had gone even more smoothly than I dared to hope. But the Void—it was still the Void. Even a brief stay in this state unnatural for a human—dispersed fragments of my "Self," drifting through an endless-seeming Nothingness—wasn't an experience I'd like to repeat often.

It seemed I had just been sitting in a lotus position for no more than half an hour, yet it felt like I'd unloaded two freight cars of gravel. No memory of the future could have prepared me for what I had to endure during the Ritual of Redistribution. As soon as the energy flows, obeying Arien's rhythmic dance, broke into my Core, my consciousness, caught in a whirlpool, plunged into the depths of the unconscious.

I don't know—and I don't want to know—what the other participants in the ritual felt. As for me, I felt as if I had ended up inside my own Core. And, unlike Visualization, it had appeared to me in a completely different form. It was like a huge, three-dimensional, colorful puzzle made of blocks of various sizes and shapes. Visible thanks to the ritual's magic, some of these blocks yielded to my will and allowed themselves to be moved. Intuitively understanding what had to be done, I tried to group the blocks with matching properties into unified clusters.

Solving this spatial puzzle was complicated by the fact that some blocks—emitting Light or immersed in impenetrable Darkness—were entirely beyond my influence and remained immovable, no matter how hard I tried. As a result, a rather sizable fragment of scattered blocks, exuding an aura of Earth, turned out to be locked away and divided by colorless, interconnected formations, as well as by blocks whose facets were inscribed with symbols incomprehensible to me.

At first, I easily managed to combine several electricity-sparking blocks into a larger structure. Then, I expanded the cluster of earth blocks. But with each new fragment I moved, the task became exponentially more difficult. It was like trying to solve a multidimensional Rubik's cube, some faces of which couldn't be moved even a millimeter. Compounding matters, sometimes positioning one necessary block required moving more than a dozen others, and then returning them to their original places—and that last step could be even harder.

Moreover, I had this nagging certainty: if I made a mistake, chaotically mixing fragments with different properties, I would end up a magical cripple, incapable of even the simplest household spells. This understanding limited my attempts to create volumetric combinations of blocks of a single Element.

The puzzle was ruthless. Almost always, to increase the agglomerate of one Element, I had to decrease the group of blocks of another. Yes, I understood: these were the rules of the ritual. Nevertheless, when I separated a block from an already formed unity of an Element, I felt a sharp, lingering mental pain throughout my being. But it had to be done. I had to endure, not allowing the pain to break my focus.

Even harder, after what felt like half an eternity, was admitting that I had already moved everything I could without causing chaos. The problem lay with the remaining elemental blocks I could see, trapped by immovable formations. They were numerous—almost as many as I had managed to gather together. It was especially frustrating to see three Air blocks separated from the main conglomerate of the same Element by the thinnest wall of transparent, diamond-like embodiment of Mental.

Understanding the futility, I still tried to focus my attention into a narrow, laser-like beam and shift the wall of Mental. Naturally, nothing happened. The ritual only allowed altering elemental forms. Unfortunately, Mental Magic had nothing to do with the Elements, and its blocks remained entirely unresponsive to my efforts. Yet, knowing all this and understanding the limitations fully, I still tried again and again…

It didn't work. The wall of Mental remained immovable.

Frustrating, yes. But that's life: you don't always get what you want, no matter how hard you try.

Exerting considerable willpower, I forced myself to calm down—and just in time. My attempts to shift the wall of Mental nearly destabilized the adjacent formation of Air, threatening to strip me of the ability to control this Element completely. Calming my mind, I was about to finish the Redistribution when I caught a strange vibration at the edge of my consciousness... From somewhere outside. A barely noticeable melody, a rhythmic noise. It was as if someone or something from outside was trying to reach my consciousness. Not just reach—help. I didn't know why, but I had no doubt at all: it was an offer of help, not a trap.

For a few moments, I tried to decipher the meaning of the rhythm, but in vain. To understand it more clearly, I would have had to leave the Core, thus interrupting the ritual. However, I knew that if I did, the melody would disappear, dissolving entirely. The help carried by this rhythm was possible only here and now, and never again.

Without leaving the Core's space, I tried to expand my consciousness beyond the Shell's boundaries to locate the signal's source. To my surprise, it worked. The source of the strange rhythm was my Guild Sign, marked with Ishid's blessing. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't understand what the Sign wanted. Moreover, after completing the Redistribution, I felt that the new formations of elemental blocks urgently needed to be stabilized, or they would fall apart. Torn by doubt for a few breaths, no matter how disappointing it was, I pushed the melody of the Sign to the back of my mind and began to secure what I had achieved, preferring the bird in hand.

Having finished the necessary actions and secured the formations, I glanced over the Core and was about to leave this strange space deep within my being when something caught my attention. The very wall of Mental, which separated the blocks of Wind, was flickering in time with the melody of the Sign. Following an intuitive hunch, I compressed my consciousness into a narrow beam again and began pushing against the wall in sync with the external rhythm.

At first, nothing happened. But when I managed to achieve perfect synchronization, the wall of Mental… No, it didn't move. It seemed to become transparent, allowing me to transfer three blocks of Wind through it directly to the main formation. Immediately, the Shell of my Core vibrated and started breaking apart. I understood: the cause of this destruction was the blatant violation of the Redistribution ritual's rules. Yet, there was no fear—thanks to the Sign's hint, I also knew how to save the Core. Quickly stabilizing the new Wind formation, I instantly concluded the ritual and exited the Core's space.

Allowing myself just one heavy, full of suppressed pain sigh, I immediately proceeded to Elevation. It was the Elevation that, forming a new, sturdy Opal shell around my Core, not only stopped the destruction of the magical center by stabilizing the internal energy flows but also eliminated all possible negative consequences.

I think that if the Echo of Magevra, the goddess of Elemental Magic in all its manifestations, had remained in Ain, she would have surely taken revenge for violating the rules of Her ritual. At the very least, I would have been cursed with something particularly nasty. Especially considering that the hint came from Magevra's eternal rival—Ishid, the deity of Ritual Magic. But there was no Echo of Magevra in Ain, and my breaking of Her ritual went completely unpunished.

Regaining consciousness after the Elevation, I slid my inner gaze along the perfectly smooth surface of the Opal Core and couldn't help but sigh in relief. I had indeed managed to trick the ritual and avoid all the consequences associated with that violation. Although, if I hadn't had enough Growth energy for the Elevation, I would most likely have died. But if I hadn't had enough energy, I simply wouldn't have dared to break the rules so boldly.

Opening my eyes, I met Arien's curious gaze. No matter how I felt about the future goddess of Spontaneous Magic, I wasn't about to explain everything that had happened to me. So, I just gave her a genuinely sincere smile. If I told her the truth—that, following the hint from Ishid's Echo, I had dared to break the rules of her ritual—there would have been no avoiding a scandal. And did I need that? Exactly. I didn't. So, a simple smile—and no explanations.

Remembering the briefing before the ritual, I stayed seated, making no attempts to stand up, as this would disrupt the structure and form of the magical lines, which could negatively affect those participants who hadn't yet completed the Transformation. To avoid a staring contest with Arien, I closed my eyes, pretending to sink into meditation.

I was sure the future goddess of Spontaneous Magic sensed that I had done something forbidden by the ritual's conditions. But since she didn't say anything right away, she probably had nothing more than vague suspicions. Otherwise, she would have immediately told me what she thought about it. Her look wasn't so much angry and annoyed as it was full of unclear doubts. It was as if she knew there was deception somewhere, but couldn't pinpoint where or how exactly.

I relaxed my palms, steadied my nearly disrupted breathing, and tried to shift my thoughts from the recent "breach" of the ritual to something else. Fortunately, there was plenty to think about besides that.

For instance, my risk of being erased by the quester—since I had postponed my Elevation to Opal for almost a week—had justified itself. However, this danger wasn't as great as it seemed a few days ago. My confidence that everything would go smoothly was based on reanalyzing the dialogue with the quester when he called me the Thirteenth. Knowing that these entities never spoke without reason, I concluded that I would only be erased if at least twelve earthlings surpassed me in ascending the Great Spiral. Considering the quester had hinted that one of the Shards was none other than Ulerai Bloody Tongue, who hadn't passed the first group trial, I had one less competitor in the pace of Elevation. Of course, one could assume that some ordinary earthling non-Shards were advancing faster than me, with my memories of the future, but such a thought didn't hold up to scrutiny. Moreover, I suspected that one of those Arien invited to participate in the Redistribution ritual, specifically Shadow Master Rahu, was a Shard. And he, even with the immense amount of energy each participant received from the ritual, was still at Wootz. So, If my suspicion was correct, then I was ahead of at least one Shard in progressing through the Spiral of Elevation. This, in turn, guaranteed that I was safe from being erased by the questers—at least for this particular reason.

Of course, if I just sat around doing nothing, not only the hypothetical twelve but all the other earthlings would surpass me, and in that case, the questers would certainly carry out their threat. However, since I had no intention of slowing down my growth, I could disregard this threat. Not completely forget it, of course, but be aware of the danger without needlessly worrying.

Sensing that Arien's attention had shifted to something or someone else, I slightly opened my eyes. Ten paces from me, closer to Magevra's altar, in the same pose as mine, sat a seemingly unremarkable young man. His clothes were modest, yet of fairly good quality. If you met him on a city street or a trade route, you'd pass by without a second glance.

Perhaps, of all those the future goddess of Spontaneous Magic had invited to participate in the ritual, this person intrigued me the most. Besides Arien herself, of course. Naturally, in the central hall of the ruined Elemental Magic Temple, there were other interesting people. After all, the selection for the Ainuminati was quite rigorous, and only those who met Arien's strict criteria made it through. That is, each of the attendees was at least an extraordinary individual. But it was Rahu who caught my special attention, and there were several reasons for this.

First, he reached Wootz much earlier than most other earthlings. Of those I knew, he was surpassed in ascending the Spiral of Elevation only by Arien, Katashi, Scully, and, of course, me. Second, his mastery of Shadow Magic and the vast arsenal of spells available to him in this discipline made me ponder. Especially the fact that even the simplest Shadow Cloak, when cast by him, could deceive my ability—Shadow Player. And Shadow Player belonged to fifth-circle magic, unlike the Shadow Cloak, which was essentially a first-circle spell. This nuance objectively proved that Rahu was far more adept in this magical art than I was. Considering that, besides three Talent Stars in Shadow, I also had Shadow Affinity, it wouldn't be wrong to assume that Rahu not only possessed the same Affinity but also a greater Talent in this magic. And not just greater by a single Talent Star, but by at least two. In other words, this seemingly unremarkable fellow had five Stars in Shadow, which naturally led to the thought: "Could he be a Shard?"

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Of course, these were indirect rather than direct evidence, but they were more than enough to pique my special interest. What kept me from definitively stating that Rahu was a Shard was one thing: I knew how he died in the Last Cycle. He was torn apart by a mob, lynched on what later proved to be a false accusation. It was hard for me to imagine a Shard being simply torn apart by a crowd of townsfolk. Until I remembered one detail: Rahu's death occurred in Sun City. There, even ordinary shops were often run by retired tunnellers no lower than the Wootz Step. This meant that among the lynchers could have been a significant number of high-ranking individuals, possibly even those who had crossed the First or even the Second Wall. Memory of the future suggested that at the time of his death in the Last Cycle, Rahu was no higher than the Diamond Step of the Spiral of Elevation, and possibly a step lower—meaning such a crowd could indeed have torn him to pieces. Moreover, it shouldn't be forgotten that this young man specialized in stealth infiltration, espionage, surveillance, theft, and covert assassinations, and couldn't be called a strong fighter or duelist. So, being unexpectedly cornered and surrounded by a frenzied crowd, he was deprived of his main advantages, such as stealth and inconspicuousness. Thus, in such a case, under these circumstances, he really could have fallen victim to an enraged mob that mistook him for the killer of the city's darling.

To my deep regret, I couldn't confirm or refute my assumptions about Rahu yet. Even though I had been on the land rented by the Ainuminati for a whole week, I hadn't managed to talk to the Master of Shadows once. For some unknown reason, he diligently avoided meeting me. Several times, I tried to arrange seemingly random situations to be alone with him, but with incredible deftness, he easily slipped out of these traps.

Sometimes, it seemed he was afraid of me. But I had never given him any reason to be wary, except for that incident in Beziu when I tried to catch up with the one the townsfolk called the Gray Ghost. Considering that Arien once let slip that Rahu was that mysterious Ghost, it turned out I was indeed chasing after Rahu back then.

However, "Arien" and "let slip" were words from entirely different corners of the universe, so most likely, she was just subtly informing me about this nuance. Apparently, for some reason, she deemed that knowing about Rahu's past might be useful to me.

Of course, back in Beziu, I acted quite rashly, rushing to chase someone who clearly didn't want to meet. But could Rahu be so neurotic that a single such incident made him avoid me altogether? It seemed the reason lay elsewhere, for someone who took on bounty hunting assignments by definition couldn't be a complete coward. Which meant I was either missing something or failing to see the situation from the right angle to explain the Shadow Master's attitude towards me. Nevertheless, once I realized he was avoiding me, I stopped imposing. After all, antagonizing someone who might be a Shard, especially out of mere curiosity, wasn't the best decision.

Yesterday, I tried to indirectly find out about Rahu through Arien. But the future goddess of Spontaneous Magic saw through my game and led me on for almost half an hour, only to laugh and tell me directly to mind my own business. The only thing I learned was that Rahu, despite not being a member of the Ainuminati, freely moved around the guild's territory, and Arien listened to his opinion. His case seemed somewhat similar to mine, as I, too, without being in the guild, was appointed as the acting strategist. However, considering Rahu's talents, he was likely involved in reconnaissance and espionage for the Ainuminati under some personal or secret agreement. If I were in Arien's place, as the head of the guild, I'd assign just such a role to someone so gifted in the Shadows. And since my former beloved was certainly no less intelligent than I was, this possibility was not to be dismissed.

Noticing that Arien was turning toward me, I closed my eyes again and kept my breathing steady so that it seemed like I was meditating.

By this point, nearly a dozen participants in the ritual had awakened, and almost half, apparently not wanting to waste time, went for Elevation. Only, unlike me, their Elevation was not a step through the First Wall but much simpler, from Steel to Wootz. Nevertheless, this fact clearly demonstrated that the Ainuminati had gathered far from ordinary individuals.

I met many of them for the first time, and some I remembered thanks to my memory of the future. I learned many new details, as my temporary position in the guild allowed me not only to ask questions but also to get answers. And considering my global plan to help earthlings develop, this was very helpful. I suggested suitable fighting styles to some, had discussions with others about paths for further development, and gave lectures about Ain to everyone without exception. I spoke about the deities and their Scriptures, altars and prayers, the social structure of this world, and how not to perish by simply saying the wrong thing in the wrong place. I persistently tried to instill in the earthlings the benefits of Runes and developing Mental.

Looking back, I could say for certain that during my week as the guild's strategist, I had done quite a bit of good. Some wouldn't stumble out of ignorance now, others wouldn't get involved in dubious ventures, and some, perhaps, would even save their lives by shutting up at the right moment. And what was absolutely sure was that I had managed to improve the guild's combat readiness. Even though I hadn't elevated their fighting skills to the level of local tunnellers—because pulling off such a feat in just a week would have been beyond even the legendary Evelan—I had at least provided everyone with a solid foundation. I even managed to convince Arien that the heavy rapier she wore at her waist was not just a part of her image and style but a rather useful tool for keeping her life.

Although, much to my regret, I only managed to train the future goddess of Spontaneous Magic in swordsmanship twice. She was far too busy—both with guild matters and her new projects, as well as her studies of Ain's magic.

However, I couldn't blame her for not training enough with the blade either. Because I saw how overloaded she was. Throughout all this week I spent with her, she slept no more than ten hours. Besides, she was constantly on edge, needing to keep all preparations for the Redistribution ritual secret from the locals. This was no simple task, as the actions of the Ainuminati and the Radiant Arien herself attracted the keen attention of all the serious local players, including the city council of Katiyer—represented by the sheriff's office—as well as the Great Guilds. Not to mention the royal spies and the merely curious.

Nonetheless, despite such intense surveillance, Arien managed to outplay everyone by disguising the preparation of the ritual as a search for the long-lost altar of Magevra. Incidentally, she really did somehow retrieve that altar from the lake's bottom. I genuinely couldn't grasp how she succeeded where hundreds of search parties had failed for more than twenty centuries. Unfortunately, the future goddess of Spontaneous Magic refused to tell me how she found the True, albeit Silent, altar lost in ancient times. Maybe she got lucky, as Shards often did, or perhaps she pieced together all the facts and used familiar scientific methods to solve the complex puzzle. I'd bet on the latter, but the former couldn't be dismissed either.

Arien—I thought I knew her in my "past life," but she remained a mystery to me. On one hand, she was impulsive, ready to explode at any moment like a volcano, yet at the same time, she was calm and cool-headed, like a snow-covered mountain peak. How such opposites could coexist in a single person, and so harmoniously at that, I didn't think I'd ever understand.

A young man lying a couple of steps ahead of me in a fetal position woke up, exhaled noisily, and, struggling to sit up, looked around. In his eyes, I easily noticed the shadow of a recent horror. Apparently, unlike me, he hadn't been as lucky with the visualization of the Redistribution ritual and had encountered something truly terrifying in the depths of his subconscious. Nonetheless, he was alive, and his Core wasn't leaking streams of mana and prana, which meant he had succeeded and completed the ritual despite all the challenges he faced.

His name was Thetos, and since he was most inclined to wield a spear, possessing four Stars of Talent in it, I had been training him particularly intensively all week. Once, I even pushed him so hard that, despite the bonus of his Mithril Body, he passed out from exhaustion right in the middle of a practice spar. But Thetos had a truly bullheaded stubbornness, so after coming to a couple of minutes later, he resumed training until he collapsed again. From his stories, I learned that on Earth, he was a high-rise installer and an amateur boxer. A determined and fairly talented young man—if he didn't die a stupid death, he'd be sure to cut down quite a few demonic creatures.

The sorceress sitting nearby, who had also completed the ritual, leaned over to help Thetos, but hearing a warning snap of fingers from Arien, she immediately pulled back. This girl called herself Aliyah and, despite her diminutive height and fragile appearance, had the makings of an excellent Earth mage and clobbered so hard with her staff that she even managed to knock out a nend of Steel rank. Moreover, this sorceress possessed a substantial arsenal of support spells from the Life magic section.

According to the new Ainuminati charter, Aliyah and Thetos formed a combat duo, complementing each other's strengths and mitigating individual weaknesses. During these days, I tried countless times to convince Arien that pairing wasn't the best approach and that grouping people in teams of at least five would be more promising. However, all my arguments crumbled against the future goddess of Spontaneous Magic's steadfastness on this matter.

Then again, considering that in the Last Cycle, she didn't recruit warriors into the guild for a long time at all, preferring only mages, even this "warrior plus mage" pairing, in my view, was a huge breakthrough and at least doubled the Ainuminati's combat potential. So, I didn't push too hard on this issue. Instead, using my position as a strategist, I grouped these combat pairs into sextets, training them in teamwork. Besides the training, I also sent these "triple pairs" on dungeon-clearing missions as a single squad, ensuring that they developed cohesion under combat conditions. Naturally, Arien noticed all my tricks, but she was too busy with other tasks and, seeing that my methods worked and improved efficiency, at least didn't interfere.

To be honest, I thought she appointed me strategist and dumped the combat training on me in the hope that I'd quickly get bored and run away. But that plan wasn't destined to succeed. Not only because I could feel the value of what I was doing, but also because that week brought a lot to me personally.

True, I didn't earn any significant new achievements. But I didn't need that at the moment, as I was ready for Elevation to Opal even before I returned to Katiyer. Nevertheless, I certainly didn't waste my time, significantly expanding my magical arsenal. Over these seven days, I not only learned a multitude of household spells, which would make my journey, if not easier, then definitely more comfortable, but also got several combat spells. I didn't just learn them; I practiced enough to continue improving their use on my own later.

In Earth magic, I learned the Echolocation spell, which would definitely come in handy for clearing dungeons. I also replaced Stone Skin in my arsenal with Arien's new creation—"Metallic Scale." Functionally, the new spell did the same as Stone Skin but on a new level, providing almost one and a half times better protection.

In the Lightning Magic section, my arsenal had been enriched with three spells. The first was simply and straightforwardly named "Ordinary Lightning," essentially an electric strike from above on the target. Its main advantage was its range, though its casting time and damage were not the best. Nonetheless, it could come in handy. Next, I learned "Chain Lightning"—quite a decent spell, popular among local mages, allowing me to hit several targets at once. True, in my execution, its effect looked rather weak and unimpressive. But that was yesterday, when I had only two and a half Stars of Talent in Lightning Magic, whereas today, after completing the Redistribution Ritual, everything was supposed to change. For, according to Arien, this magical technique fully revealed its potential at four Stars of Talent. The third spell I mastered in this Element was "Static Discharge," or as I shortened it for myself, "Static." It allowed me to accumulate Lightning energy in an object and then instantly discharge it by throwing the charged item at a target. Thanks to the future goddess of Spontaneous Magic, I now carried a dozen metal orbs the size of half a ping-pong ball on my belt, which could be quickly detached and thrown wherever needed. Since I had an Affinity with Metal, an orb charged with this spell delivered a very impressive electric discharge and, upon hitting the target, inflicted damage only slightly less than the Rune of Destruction.

The trick was that to actually harm someone with this spell, you had to hit the target with the projectile, and I was having some trouble with that. No, I could hit stationary targets without much difficulty even at fifty meters. But that was with stationary ones. As soon as it came to even Steel-rank warriors who didn't just stand like posts but dodged—landing a hit became a major issue. Nevertheless, I was so impressed by the destructive power of "Static" that I started serious throwing practice. True, I wouldn't become a master of aimed throws, as two Talent Stars in this skill were too few to reach real heights, but there was definitely room for improvement.

Of course, I wanted to learn everything and more, but the duties of a guild strategist left almost no time for anything else. Training, assigning groups considering the traits and abilities of each guild member, managing the dungeon clearing schedule, endless lectures—and that's not even counting the dozens of other responsibilities required by the temporary position I had accepted. I had to admit, Arien played my arrival in Katiyer like a true grandmaster. Not only did she offload a massive number of organizational tasks onto me, freeing up her time and energy for more creative endeavors, but—I had no doubt—this was also a kind of test from her. She seemed to be checking how true all the rumors about me were. Was I really that good? I hoped I passed this test, if not with flying colors, then no less than with a "good" grade. At the very least, I noticed that in the last couple of days, the future goddess of Spontaneous Magic argued with me less and less, preferring to say things like: "You sure? Can handle it? Do it! And don't bother me with every little thing—are you a strategist or what?"

To Arien's credit, it had to be said that not only did she saddle me with a massive workload, but she also allocated material resources to help me carry out the responsibilities entrusted to me. And much more importantly—she personally taught me magic. For that alone, I was ready to forgive her a lot, because I didn't think there was a better teacher of the magical arts in all of Ain than her.

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud clap.

"Congratulations!" the clear, resonant voice of my former beloved echoed over the ruins of the ancient temple. "We did it! The ritual is complete."