The Wandering Fairy [LitRPG World-Hopping]

"Wait… Say that one more time?" Soren stared at his companion in utter shock.

"Chef's Delight. That will be my second rune."

"....." Question after question popped in his head, but he was unsure of what to even ask first. He glanced at Cassia, who already had her face covered with her hands, masking a "I knew he was going to do that," expression.

In the end, all he could say was, "Why?"

It took Myrin a moment to gather his thoughts before answering:

"Sword Summoner is the obvious choice, I get that." He sighed as he glanced at his own distant reflection. Inside the mirror, the figure of an ethereal woman stood, smiling back at him as her curly blonde hair cascaded down her shoulders and flower dress.

This was who he became. Princess Myrella of the Verdant Throne.

"But even so, I don't want my future to be tied to that identity.

"I am no longer royalty. I am no longer the lovable prince of the Zinrie Family.

"I am just Myrin. A passionate artist and magi who hopes to repay his benefactors. A rune like Sword Summoner should be left to the next royal heir."

Hearing his explanation, Soren sighed. I forgot this guy was weirder than me…

The Elven Songster chuckled, "Besides, Chef's Delight isn't a bad rune to have. I can finally explore a new avenue of art! I've struggled with cooking all my life so this will be rather exciting."

Cassia rolled her eyes, "You just want to cook for Tina, right? Admit it."

"....." The silence felt strong enough to shatter the surrounding mirrors.

While they bickered, Soren once again drowned in his own thoughts.

Perhaps it's the best choice… He rubbed his chin. Clearly, a lot went into how a rune was selected for merging with the Soul Chain. Yes, there was the matter of Topology Indexes affecting what Soul Chain these runes could merge with, but other factors existed as well. For one, Myrin's Soul Weapon—Artist's Wand—was of the Abstract class. This meant that it could transform into multiple forms, and it had a wider range of runes it could merge with, since the concepts governing its existence were much more malleable.

Soren's Soul Weapon was also the same—that was the main advantage Abstract Class Soul Weapons had over other classes. There were always many more options available when it comes to selecting the next rune compared to other classes.

Even so, there were clearly some other reasons he was unaware of too. Although what the Blossom Sword Flower had listed for Myrin were all the runes he could merge with, the divination results showed that only half of them were truly good options…

Sword Summoner was obvious. Since his affinity for Spirit Magecraft was already honed to the 4th Circle, it would mesh really well with his existing capabilities. The same could be said about Chef's Delight—as Myrin had stated, it was a rune with connections to the culinary arts, a field with its own form of artistic expression. Whisperveil on the other hand was slightly more strange, but he understood where the connection could come from. It was a rune that tied music into mind reading—both things Myrin was good at. It also gave the most rune fragments out of all the other options.

But then there were the runes that never appeared in the divination results at all… Runes like Wordweaver. This was a rune that seemed to symbolize language expression in its own artistic way… Would that not fit well with the already existing Feyscribe rune? There was also the fact that gathering its influence would be a lot easier compared to the others, according to the Blossom Sword Flower.

So why would the divination results not include it at all? Not even as a possible fourth option…

The only reason he could come up with was its connection to the Demon of Whispers. From what he knew of Tazzith, titles like these were an indication of Ascended Grade status in Daemon spirit circles. He was likely a Mythral or Sovereign level spirit. Although He was currently trapped in the Subterranean Shunning Grounds, preventing him from competing for the influence of the rune, that might not always remain the case…

Tazzith's goal was to escape after all… What's to say the other daemons wouldn't either?

In a way, one could process the results of this divination as a bad omen… He has still not heard a single word from Tazzith yet. Whatever was happening in Yadria was clearly more important than contacting him.

Even though he was able to come up with a reason for this rune, the other two available to Myrin that never showed up on the divination results page were still a mystery.

Cantor's Crown. A rune that was also available to him. Similarly to Sword Summoner, it seems to have the ability to summon its own type of spirits. It only had a Topology Index of 1, 2 and the Blossom Sword Flower only had a measly 1 Insight fragment of it.

Aside from it being inferior in strength compared to Sword Summoner, Soren found no reason for it to not be included in the divination results… It should have been at least the fourth option available to Myrin.

Waltz of the Unseen was also in the same category. Its governing concepts being related to dancing should have made it a valuable option to Myrin…

Something wasn't right. He glanced up at the distant rose and decided to ask:

"Your Excellence—"

[You may call me Petalsword Sovereign,] She interrupted.

Soren cleared his throat, "Petalsword Sovereign… I feel as if there is more to Topology Indexes than you have told us. Am I right?.."

There was a slight pause before She answered. [You really do remind me of Her…]

Soren frowned, Her? What does that mean…

Before he could ponder more deeply over the phrase, The Blossom Sword Flower spoke once again:

[Just as you have guessed, Topology Indexes do not just dictate what Soul Chain a rune can be possessed under. It also holds another meaning—one that is equally as important: the hierarchy of runes.]

"Heirarchy?" Soren's frown deepened even more.

[Indeed,] She confirmed. [As I said before, Phantasms can possess three Soul Chains total—each one building upon the one before it. But each Soul Chain itself has its own order of things.

[Soul Chains can only possess three nodes total, and their sequential order dictates the authority of the rune in possession of that node. The 1st node in the Soul Chain has the weakest authority while the 3rd node grants the strongest and highest authority over the Soul Chain.]

Processing her words, Soren crossed his arms. "So what you're saying is… The Topology Index also dictates what node the Abstract Rune is slotted into?"

[That is correct. We can use your Fairy Witness rune as an example again. Since it has a Topology Index of 1, 2 and 3, that means that not only could it be merged into any of the three Soul Chains, but also it can possess any of the three nodes as well.]

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He rubbed his chin, "Since it has an Index of 1, 2 and 3, I assume my Fairy Witness rune is currently possessing the 3rd node in the Soul Chain?"

[In theory, yes. Abstract Runes, after all, crave the spreading of their influence. And they can only do that if they hold more authority over the Soul Chain. So logically, they will try to control the highest node their Topology Index grants them. Since your Fairy Witness rune has a Topology Index of 1, 2 and 3, it can merge into any of the three nodes in the Soul Chain, so it will go with the one that grants it the highest authority—the 3rd node.]

Soren remained speechless. Such a complicated structure…

In essence, Phantasm must not only worry about the Topology Index in the context of whether it would fit into the right Soul Chain, but also whether it could even be included into one of the three nodes…

Now that he was observing the Indexes again, he noticed a pattern in the runes available to them. They all had at least a Topology Index of 1. That was likely the base requirement, since Myrin only had the first Soul Chain—The Foundation—to work with. But then there were the secondary and tertiary indexes too. Those will probably be important to dictate the rune's placement into which node.

"May I ask… What exactly is the Topology Index for Myrin's original Abstract Rune—Feyscribe?" He said as he glanced up at rose beyond an endless array of reflections.

She answered, [It is 1, 2.]

Knew it… Soren thought.

"What did you figure out?" Myrin, who stood next to him, asked. Soren was almost startled—he hadn't realized that both his companions were also listening in.

He nodded in Myrin's direction, "I'm theorizing that perhaps the runes not present in the divination result were also incompatible due to causing unnecessary instability."

"Due to their topologies?" Cassia asked.

"Yes," he confirmed. "Since Myrin's original rune had a Topology Index of 1, 2, then logically, it would try to aim for the highest authority it could reach—the 2nd node."

"And since the second node is filled, that leaves only the 1st and 3rd nodes open in the Soul Chain…" Myrin filled in. "Chef's Delight has a Topology Index of just 1, so it could easily fit into the 1st node without much struggle. And Sword Summoner has an Index of 3 available, so it could immediately aim for the highest node. Neither of these runes would face any conflicts during the Soul Alchemy ritual.

"But Whisperveil would create a conflict. Since it has an Index of 1 and 2, it would try to assume the highest node available to it—the 2nd node."

"But that node is filled in," Cassia crossed her arms. "It would therefore be forced into the 1st node instead, which would logically create some instability. That is why it's the 3rd best option out of the three from the divination result."

Soren nodded. "That instability would also occur if Myrin had chosen Cantor's Crown, since its Topology Index is 1, 2. Though, the same excuse wouldn't fit for Waltz of the Unseen…"

Soren glanced at his Soul Weapon once again and came up with another idea. "How about we do another divination, but for those two individual runes?"

Myrin tilted his head. "You mean to discover what's wrong with them?"

"Yes. Let me come up with a divination question."

Soren closed his eyes and began to ponder over the governing concepts the Blossom Sword Flower had mentioned… Cantor's Crown holds symbolic meaning with resonant multiplicity, harmonic convergence, and worldsong embodiment. These obviously had a connection to spirits, but also, music. However, rather than creation, it seems more focused on listening to the music itself and understanding the harmonies being played.

Since the Blossom Sword Flower wants us to figure out the best choices ourselves, we might as well understand those choices better.

With these thoughts playing in his mind, he forwarded his divination question:

"Does Cantor's Crown have a downside or flaw?"

Somewhere in [The Faerie Court], the Figment of his Imagination had processed his question and began conducting the divination on his behalf.

Soren awaited the answer eagerly. It only took a few minutes for it to form on the flickering page:

"Yes."

They all looked at each other in amusement. Myrin scratched his hair as he smiled nervously, "So it really does have some kind of hidden flaw…"

"Soren, your divinations are far more confident than most," Cassia glanced at him suspiciously.

He nodded. "The method I am using is a bit hard to explain, but I can assure you that the results are accurate."

Since the divinations were happening within [The Faerie Court], it was free from the grasp of most outside influences. They did not need to worry about the results being tampered with.

"Alright, I'll trust you." She nodded. "But I feel like the question should be a bit more specific."

"What do you mean?" His brows furrowed.

"Well, although the divination confirmed there is a flaw, we still don't fully know what it is…"

Fair point… He rubbed his chin slightly then decided to pose another question:

"Is this flaw conditional?"

After a few minutes, an answer appeared in his book: "Yes."

He asked another question, "Is it a condition Myrin could satisfy?"

Another answer appeared: "No."

Myrin frowned. "How strange…"

Soren and Cassia both agreed. But inquiring about it specifically was difficult, since the divination could only answer Yes or No questions. In the case of the first divination he conducted for ordering which runes were the best for Myrin, the Figment of his imagination had to likely divide it into multiple divination questions until a list was formed.

However, Soren could still likely narrow the results further.

He decided to ask, "Is another rune required to satisfy this condition or flaw?"

This time, the book took much longer to come up with an answer:

"Yes."

Their eyes widened. "This…"

Suddenly, another thought formed in Soren's mind. He hurriedly forwarded the divination question:

"The rune required to satisfy this condition or flaw has to be a Forgotten Rune."

He could count each of their heartbeats as they awaited the answer in anticipation.

Finally, the answer formed on the ethereal page:

"Yes."

All three of them remained silent for a while, trying to process what they had just learned…

A Forgotten Rune… Cantor's Crown requires a Forgotten Rune to forgo its flaw…

Since Myrin was already compatible with Cantor's Crown, Soren had realized that the flaw would likely not be satisfied by just any average Abstract Rune… And after realizing that his own Fairy Witness rune required [The Faerie Court] to reach its other fragments scattered in other worlds, his instincts told him this may be a similar situation…

Still, Soren was unsure of what Forgotten Rune it even required… It could be the Spirit Blossom Willow, or The Nameless Mist.

It could even be an entirely new Forgotten Rune that he was currently unaware of…

Perhaps I can perform another divination… But he decided to slow down—there was still other things to consider first.

Before he continued, he decided to do a few divinations on Waltz of the Unseen. Sure enough, it too had a flaw. But unlike Cantor's Crown, there was no condition to satisfy it.

Myrin theorized that it might perhaps be a side effect from its use. Though what exactly that issue was could not be fully divined.

"Petalsword Sovereign…" Soren glanced up once more at the distant rose. "Could you perhaps provide me with more information on my choices?"

Although Cantor's Crown was one of his options, he still had other runes to consider as well.

The voice echoed in their ears, [Very well. It's only fair that you receive the same answers.

[I will gloss over Cantor's Crown and Whisperveil, since I have already covered their information extensively. That leaves us with Wraithblade Pact and Mirror Thorn.

[The first's governing concepts are anima severance and spectral edge. It has a Topology Index of 1, 2 and allows you to manifest sharpness from the Astral Anima your Soul Weapon controls.]

Sharpness?.. Soren figured it meant creating attacks from pure Astral Anima. Perhaps the very pages of his Soul Weapon would become sharp enough to cut through anything…

He chuckled inwardly, Imagine dying to a thousand paper cuts… The image in his head only became more and more silly as he continued to think about it. He decided to dismiss the thought before the Blossom Sword Flower realized.

[As for Mirror Thorn, the governing concepts are illusory perforation, fractured passage, and reflection hatred. With a Topology Index of 1, it is capable of creating tiny mirrors that could manifest one's darkest thoughts into being through their reflection.

[I possess 4 Insight fragments for each of these runes.]

Soren remained silent as his thoughts ran wild. Worried, Cassia tapped his shoulder, "Will you perform another divination?"

It took a moment for Soren to nod his head. "Yes. Let's do it now." His instincts, however, were telling him it was unnecessary. There was already an answer in his mind—one that he was unsure of.

Regardless, he still glanced at his Soul Weapon once again and forwarded the question:

"From the 4 runes presented to I, Soren Andersen, which would be the best option for my next Tier as a Phantasm?"

The answer formed rather quickly on the page, as if The Records had already come to its own conclusions before he even asked the question:

Divination Result:

Cantor's Crown.

Myrin leaned back in astonishment. "Only one option?!"

The flames of madness in Soren's eyes grew as he stared nervously upon the divination answer… His smile mirrored that of a crazy person.

"So even you agree with my choice… The Records."