473 Catching Up

Ah man, there had to be a phrase for that, but I couldn't think of anything off the top of my head. Anyway, I stood up, and wafts of dust floated off of me. I shook it off, and the particles fell off me like a tiny, lint sandstorm. After going downstairs, I found several surprises. First of all, Althea was waiting with her hands on her hips. She glared at me.

"What have you been doing all this time?"

Oh shit.

Chapter Begin

I rubbed more dust off of me. It fell off in billowing clouds.

"I got caught up in work stuff and-"

She walked over before a vicious smile ran up her lips.

"You're lucky I'm glad to see you. Otherwise, I would've found a way to mess with you while you stood still."

I coughed, dust having piled up in my lungs.

"I appreciate you not, gah, the dust is so thick. How in the-"

My eyes narrowed.

"Wait a minute...Did you?"

Althea steepled her hands.

"Mwaha, you've uncovered my plan - Operation Dust."

I let out a belly laugh before picking her up in a hug. She returned the gesture before whispering.

"It's good to see you again."

I held her tight.

"I know. I'm glad to see you, too."

We stood there for a moment before I set her down. She frowned.

"Can we talk? For real?"

I took a breath before sitting down in a gravity well. She used one of the chairs made of old mahogany. It was imitation mahogany, but the architect golems made aesthetic miracles happen. Althea took a breath.

"You disappeared for over four months this time. That's quite a while for nearly anybody. You did let me know about it, but it's lonely with you away so much of the time. That's really what I wanted to talk about. What's our plan for handling us when the situation is so...Insane?"

I frowned, considering her words. I met her eye.

"I don't know."

She ruffled her hair.

"I know you're handling important stuff, but being unable to even see you for so long is crushing. You know that, right?"

I answered her with silence. She frowned at me.

"Is that all?"

I didn't use my primordial wake, instead taking time to think as I was. It felt wrong to use it against her. I leaned forward.

"I'm sorry. I have to focus for extremely long periods to get through some of the problems I need to solve. That said, I'm not going to lie to you. I enjoy being able to immerse myself as I have. There's this crafter nested deep in my mind, and it really helps to let myself go wild from time to time. That, and I must get answers to the Old Ones and Schema's origins."

I sighed.

"And I miss everyone as well, but I can't live a life where I'm going to weekly barbecues or making time to meet people every day. I have to take on large obstacles. It's to feel alive and to use all the power I've gained. Otherwise, I get anxious and broody. Miserable, really. I can understand if that's a dealbreaker."

Althea crossed her arms.

"I get that. I just wish there was time for me sometimes. It's hard being away from you for what feels like forever. If I'm honest, it doesn't even feel like we're in a relationship most of the time."

I swallowed a bit of hurt, not letting it show on my face. I tilted my head at her.

"Ok, then what is a relationship to you? What are you hoping for, and what can I do to make it happen?"

She leaned back, pondering my question. She played with her hair.

"I...I don't know. I've read some of the magazines from your old world, but those kinds of relationships look downright exhausting. I'd much rather spend my time doing what I love while you're around. Having you support me financially? Or emotionally pander to me all the time? Heh, I'm not a child, and I don't need that kind of caretaker."

Althea pursed her lips.

"Ugh, or making you compete against some, er, imaginary dream guy. That just seems so...Hm."

I smiled.

"Arbitrary?"

"Yeah, and besides all of that, it isn't like I've been the perfect girlfriend either. I've let work overwhelm me. It's something I've thought about lately. I never knew much about relationships, and most of what I learned was from talking with other guild members or reading material from your old world."

She shook her head, her eyes wide.

"The dating standards for your old world just seem so weird to me. There was some kind of unspoken competition to get one over on your partner, and like, there was this invisible benchmark that everyone had. There seemed to be loads of comparison, and er, toxicity, I think it was called?"

I scoffed.

"You've been reading too many fashion magazines from the sounds of it."

She flushed red.

"Guilty as charged. They're fun and easy to read, but I'm not holding them close to my chest, you know? Heh, you won't see me walking out into the world thinking they'll give me some path to happiness or anything like that...So, hm, I think I want someone who spends time with me, supports my goals, and is kind. That's about it."

I frowned.

"I support your goals, and I think I'm kind, though plenty of people would disagree, I'm sure."

She waved off my concern.

"I think everyone in the guild assumes that your goals are incredibly important. They all think of you as some larger-than-life character, so they can't really judge your kindness. Besides, people have weird moral standards for people who have a lot of power. As for me, well, I know you're sitting here and studying runes like Torix's ideal disciple. He'd be proud if he could ever get out of that rainbow soup you put him in."

I adjusted imaginary glasses. I took on a professor's tone in my voice.

"Ahm, myes, but of course. As is, such the case of."

She giggled before smiling at me.

"What do you want in a relationship?"

I peered up.

"What we have, but just...More of it. I think we're the same with that. We want more time, even if duty and responsibilities are constantly pulling us apart."

"We let it."

"Ah, but what if we didn't? Would we still like each other as much as we do?"

A sad smile traced her lips.

"It's a real oxymoron. What makes us like each other isn't what we want, but we want each other because of what makes us like each other."

I leaned my forehead against hers.

"Star-crossed lovers."

She rolled her eyes before a fierceness overcame her gaze.

"The stars can't stop us."

I gave her a kiss.

"Of course not. We just have to pin them against each other."

She smiled before leaning back.

"Yeah, I think I'll send messages and make more time for you, too. Let's...Let's make it more of a team effort. Also, if I'm honest, I've been floored by work on the educational side of things. It's been... A lot. Did you know Schema really likes records and documentation?"

I rested my chin in my hands, entranced by her.

"Tell me all about it."

And she did. She told a tale of how she built a continent-spanning organization across North America. Using an architect golem and Diesel's help on blueprints, Althea constructed hundreds of new schools that gave a Schemic education as the priority. She met educators from across the globe to help keep general education intact, as she did while efficiently handling logistical issues.

The more I heard, the more sense it made that she felt stretched thin. She absolutely was. She visited over two hundred cities in the last year, built relations with people, secured funding through her pharmaceutical company, and got people employed in my guild. I marveled at her progress. She also spent a month here, training herself amidst the eldritch.

She obtained a new variant class for the Breaker subline, one beyond an Executioner.

She smirked.

"I'm called an Absolution Reaper."

I inspected her titles.

"Damn. That's awesome."

Althea Tolstoy(Level 25,000 | Class: Absolution Reaper | Guild: The Harbinger's Legion | Titles: The Shapeless Arbiter, Yawm's Inheritence, The Harbinger's Hunter)

I nodded with a grin.

"Nice. Excellent leveling there."

She rolled her eyes.

"Ok, so you've sat in your room for ten months and still hit 45,000."

I waved a hand.

"I leech off of everybody with my class. It's different."

"Ooh, so now you're humble, too?"

I smirked.

"Oh, absolutely. I'm a man of all talents. Including an incredible level of humility. Truly, the most humble man alive."

She laughed before I leaned toward her.

"But what exactly does the Absolution Reaper class do? It sounds insanely powerful."

She put a fingertip to her chin.

"Hm, I think it is. Basically, it revolves around a few class skills and modifiers. The executioner class had me use arcane mana in small doses to inflict damage at times. It's absolute, so the wounds always stick. Now, my class has kind of fused together with some of my other passives from Etorhma."

She raised a hand and cut her finger. It dripped blood and didn't heal.

"I'm able to inflict wounds that won't recover. In this case, it's less like inflicting a tough-to-heal wound and more like I'm making it impossible to heal in the first place."

I leaned closer, inspecting the cut. It kept pouring out blood.

"It looks effective even on that tiny wound."

She let herself heal before raising a brow.

"It is. My class doesn't give me these crazy modifiers to my stats, but instead, it focuses on crazy skills and abilities. Personally, I prefer it that way."

I furrowed my brow.

"What? My Sovereign class is insane from what I can tell."

"It is, but not in the way I want. From talking to Opal, certain classes do different things. For example, the Sovereign class is a variant of the Ruler class. It's super rare, and people don't know much about it. However, if it's anything like the Ruler class, then it gives raw stats primarily."

I nodded. That was about right. Althea raised her hand, arcane mana bubbling forth in jagged, magenta lightning sparks.

"I got this. It lets me keep up with other people who have innate abilities or talents I can't replicate. I lack your raw stat bonuses, but I compensate using skills or abilities. Ruler classes tend to let the person forget their own way of fighting or how they want to advance, so they don't give much assistance on abilities."

I leaned back.

"Aaah, but they give a ton of multipliers so that the abilities someone does have are much stronger."

Althea tilted her head.

"But I can shoot lightning now."

I shrugged.

"That is pretty awe-inspiring. Anyways, does your class have some scaling factors, or are they just flat bonuses?"

"Both. I get a large bump in stats and some multipliers. One of the best features I get is for killing S-tier bounties. Whenever I do, I get a level-cap increase of 1,000."

I guffawed.

"What? That's ridiculous. You'll outlevel me in no time. I have to own a new planet to get that bonus. Either that or a solar system."

Althea shook her head.

"It's actually harder than it sounds. S-tier bounties are never easy, and they have an inherent risk. I also didn't get a level cap increase from the class, so I had to kill ten of those bounties to get where I am."

I leaned against my knee.

"Ooh, nice. Consider me impressed."

She put a hand on her chest.

"Oh, why thank you. For real, though, your gear has helped me so much. I can't even count the number of times I would've died without it. At this point, I've kind of made my build around the expectation that I'll get a ton of survivability from your rings and stuff, actually."

I leaned forward.

"You always will have it."

She raised her brow.

"What about the Sovereign class? How has that been panning out?"

I explained it in detail, and by the time I finished, Althea glowered in disgust.

"And you're calling my class broken? You get perks for every planet that scales as you get more planets. If you owned a hundred worlds, you'd become a literal god."

I scoffed.

"At that point, stats aren't going to help me anymore. To take that next step, I need knowledge. That's where real, tangible power is."

Althea turned serious.

"You're still planning on taking out the Old Ones?"

I looked up.

"Yeah, and I adjust that plan every day. I don't have a firm path yet, but I'm building a direction. I'm hoping the next time I see them, they'll be in for a nasty surprise. Also-"

I pointed at her title.

"That healing reduction you have is based around what I'm calling laws. It's a style of magic that operates on the fundamentals of the universe."

She blinked, confusion spreading over her face. I spread my hands.

"It's like this - instead of trying to play the game better, that law magic focuses on changing the rules of the game. But, unlike a game, this is bounded by reality itself, so it tends to have a lot more wiggle room and repercussions."

She narrowed her eyes.

"Ok, so that's the plan for the Old Ones. You're going to stop playing this rigged game by changing the rules?"

A fierce grin ran up my lips.

"Yeah, that's about right. If they don't want to play fair, then why should I?"

She smiled.

"That's good. You know, I like it when you're all driven. It makes you look sexier."

I raised my brow.

"Didn't you just say you want me to spend more time with you? That and drive don't really mix."

She wrapped her arms around my neck.

"Oh, you'll make it happen."

I wrapped an arm around her waist.

"That's a lot to ask, isn't it?"

She leaned toward me.

"I'm greedy like that."

After a bit of fun, we talked the night away. I had one of the architect golems make us a few meals, and we spent the evening together. It always amazed me how restoring time by her side was. In her gentle demeanor and dancing movements, Althea breathed life into me. As she left me while hopping across the ground as if weightless, I kept my gaze steady. Our time together did the same for her.

Having handled that hurdle, I checked on everybody. Chrona and Hod sparred outside the city, and quick talks let me know they incorporated simplistic laws into the structure of their attacks. It was a huge achievement, and they did far better against both the primeval and my golems as a result.

In their case, they both mentioned how they had to be one with the world. It wasn't something I could feel or understand even after several hours of feeling my way around the idea. After they oh so brutally mocked me for my lack of skills, I figured my deficit was related to being my own dimension.

They drew from reality as they were a part of it. I wasn't, so I couldn't lean on or draw on my surroundings. That was ok though. I didn't need to drain the universe since I could carve as much strength as I wanted from myself. Well, I hoped that was the case. The fractals may help me move past a few of the barriers I previously faced.

Either way, Amara was nowhere to be found. I asked my golems for a while, and after having to peel myself away from a vanguard, I uncovered our eldritch Builder's location. Amara had created a lair underneath the ground level of the city. I hovered down an elevator shaft while holding several panels smothered in fractals.

Once at the bottom of the abyss, I entered a reinforced cavern. It was a naturally occuring one, but the architect golem incorporated several pillars and struts to enforce different parts of the cavern. Amara's decor sensibilities added to the appeal as she hung up bodies, empty skins, and dried organs.

Charming.

At least Jasmine would've enjoyed the dried organs hanging from different spots. Every other open patch of the cavern held dozens of runic carvings. Mana drenched the air from an architect and guardian golem nearby. They noticed me before she did, and they bowed. I raised a hand, motioning them to be at ease.

Not interrupting Amara, I watched her carve. She used precise, confident strokes with a steel chisel to make her markings. Her hand shot back and forth, filling in the details she found lacking. Every motion carried a purpose, and her adjustments improved the overall picture each time she finished a section.

Despite that intense showcase of skill, my physical carving far exceeded hers in virtually all aspects. She lacked my tools, and her chisel couldn't match the precision of my telekinetic points. However, her conceptual application left mine in the dust. She tied together hundreds, if not thousands, of concepts.

Every aspect accounted for an unseen contingency or lack of understanding, and Amara left no aspect of her runic work to chance. It left me awed and overwhelmed by it. After a few minutes, she hissed.

"What are you watching me for, Harbinger?"

"For tips from a fellow carver. Speaking of carving-"

I turned a cipheric fractal to her, and the panel glimmered.

"I learned a new runic language. What do you think?"

Amara turned to me and lifted her palms. She grabbed a slate before inspecting it closely.

"Hm, the engravings are incredibly intricate, rigorous, yet plain. Why have you structured these in this way?"

I pulled out a few other panels detailing various fractal characters. Amara gazed at them, becoming entranced by the ethereal beauty. She blinked before a few tears fell from her eyes. She snarled.

"I don't...I don't understand why I'm feeling this way. Warmth. Protected...Yet so alone and sad. Gah, what do these mean?"

I leaned back.

"Uhm, they're fractals. These are just for temperature regulation. They don't evoke that kind of emotion."

Amara took a step away from me.

"R-really? I'm...I'm not reacting to the words then. I...I feel something from seeing the language itself. Tell me, where did you find these?"

I told the story of facing Emeralga. Amara frowned.

"So these are the fractals you mentioned in your reports. Hm. They are so different compared to what I expected. It's odd seeing them in person versus the pictures you kept us updated with."

I shrugged.

"Just wait. I have a lot more information than what I sent earlier. I was waiting until I had a good grasp on it instead of trying to give a pish-posh, half-baked thesis on the stuff."

She hissed.

"That sounds like something Torix would recommend. I hate to admit it, but it's good advice. It's much harder to unlearn falsehoods than to learn something correctly the first time. You are also the most prepared for any unforeseen consequences."

She examined them for a while. I explained the fractal's purpose and what I learned. Along the way, I forwarded my document detailing its intricacies. Amara read through it, partially to learn but partially to calm down. After a while, she gawked at them.

"What...These markings remind me of Schema's runes. It is as if the cipher bred with these fractals to create a deformed abomination."

I blinked.

"Uhm...What?"

"Schema's thetic sigils."

I blinked.

"Man, you could've taken longer to learn that. It makes me feel bad."

She frowned.

"That's self-evident from even a momentary glance. That being said, I could never write in this language. It's far too detailed and ornate. This kind of lettering would need machines, and I lack the skill to make them. It would take decades to decode and uncover the hidden minutiae if not centuries. How did you unveil all of this?"

I furrowed my brow.

"By putting hundreds of years' worth of time into the project. Time magic is one hell of a drug, after all. So are multiple minds."

Amara winced.

"To do so must drive you insane, does it not?"

"Ahh, but what if I was already crazy, eh? I can't lose what I never had."

Amara frowned.

"Who is to say what is sane in this insane world? But...I can hardly carve the cipher, let alone incorporate these kinds of patterns. I need tools to make that happen, advanced ones that Schema would likely regulate."

I gave her a knowing grin.

"That's where I come in. Later on, I'll be able to get us the machinery we need, but for now-"

I raised a hand, and I turned a panel in it. My body glowed with ascendant mana as I carved into the panel.

"I'll be the guide, and you'll be the explorer, eh?"

Amara smiled. Her eyes narrowed.

"Then let it be so."