ã€ŠCrafting a Mythã€‹


 Crafting a Myth Chapter 1

    Evan stood just outside the testing building, finally next in line. He had arrived more than an hour early yet had still found a line. That had been three hours ago ¨C he was not the only hopeful searching for a better life. Many of them had already had that hope shattered, leaving with frowns and even the occasional tears. They were all aware of how rare the talent for Substance imbuement was, but still hoped they would be one of those lucky few.

    The metropolis known as Starspire, the largest trading hub of their world and his birthplace, was a competitive place. No matter the profession, mediocrity meant stagnation, and stagnation often meant death. For many of those who had been rejected today, that death would likely happen outside Starspire ¨C either at the hands of a beast or their fellow man, easy pickings outside the protection Starspires walls provided.

    He did not want that to be him.

    As he avoided thinking about his own future, should he fail here, the door opened, and he was called inside by a rather more animated young man much like himself. He must have been successful.

    Lucky bastard, he thought as he entered, the door closing behind him. The building was divided into two sections ¨C what must have been a waiting room for those who passed, along with a series of smaller rooms that would be used for the actual testing. He was waved into one of the testing rooms by a bored looking female attendant, shutting the door behind herself as she entered. She looked him over ¨C from his dirty brown hair and gray eyes to his slim and tall but fit figure, and while there was no obvious reaction, he was given the impression that she wasn¡¯t impressed. Was it his clothes that gave away his origin?

    Glancing around the room he realized it was almost entirely empty, furnished with only a small table with a chair on either side of it, and only two obviously magical features ¨C a large, bulky-looking plate bolted onto the floor, covered in dizzyingly complex inscriptions, and a somewhat disassembled lantern, the cage around the light missing and the inscriptions purposely highlighted in bright colors. The plate looked expensive, and given the bolts, he imagined it was also removable. The lantern sat on the table, off to the side as the rest of it was covered in stacks of paper, along with a small, palm-sized cube with no obvious inscriptions or other purpose. A paperweight?

    ¡°Are you aware of how the test is administered?¡± Her voice was curt, bored, and condescending all in one.

    He was tempted to say that all he knew was that he was being tested for his talent in Substance imbuement, if he had any. As if he would come here and chance squandering the opportunity by not understanding what he had to do. While the talent to imbue was mandatory, you also had to know what you were doing, at least a little, even here. The way she spoke to him was already getting on his nerves.

    ¡°Of course. I wouldn¡¯t risk otherwise, that would be ridiculous.¡± His own tone made it apparent he was a little annoyed, but he tried to be polite. It would not be the first time his own tongue had cost him. He spoke clearly, and with some confidence. Not only did he truly work hard for this moment, but he had picked up over the years that the way you spoke was important if you wanted to be treated like someone who was worth speaking with, someone who had a future worth investing in, even if that investment was just friendly advice.

    She didn¡¯t argue. ¡°Good. Sit,¡± She waved towards one of the chairs and took her own as he did the same. ¡°First you will need fill out the form on top with your basic information. Can you read and write?¡± This time he didn¡¯t blame her ¨C this was one of the only testing sites that didn¡¯t require a special pass to enter; Starspire needed crafters, but it couldn¡¯t very well have orphans like him rubbing shoulders with anyone of higher standing.

    He told her that he could, in fact, read and write, and so set to reading and filling in the forms. The top form was as she said, and required things such as his name, his orphanage, his ID, that sort of thing. Thankfully, he had all of that on him. After that was a lengthy legal document that he only somewhat understood that went over what was happening during the test, acquired his consent, and required he sign a binding agreement that should Starspire find him eligible for its crafter program, he would sign with them and get a loan. That last part made him a little nervous and set off alarm bells in his mind, but when he asked the attendant, she reassured him with a smile on her face that looked a little stiff.

    She must get the question often.

    ¡°They won¡¯t be trying to enslave you; they just don¡¯t want you walking away after taking advantage of the test ¨C the equipment in here isn¡¯t cheap. Besides that, the loan is for your own sake; Starspire would never loan what you need otherwise. There aren¡¯t many restrictions, either. You will just be required to remain inside the city, so that Starspire can benefit from helping you today, tomorrow.¡± She paused and seemed to deliberate for a moment before continuing. ¡°To tell you the truth, they don¡¯t want to burn any bridges; in fact, by making you stay they ensure you¡¯ll develop connections in the city. That¡¯s how they really keep you here ¨C I mean, Starspire isn¡¯t known for its spaceports for nothing.¡± That made some sense to Evan, and he understood that it was left unsaid that it reassured Starspire he wouldn¡¯t run away with their money if he was stuck in the city. Still, he remained wary.

    It wasn¡¯t that they were helping him out of the goodness of their hearts, but that they simply needed more crafters, and giving him a leg to stand on now would contribute to Starspires prosperity later. That was something he could understand, and he felt better knowing their motives.

    ¡°Now hurry up, I don¡¯t have all day.¡± Ah, right. He finished up the forms, and the test finally began. For something so important to his future it was incredibly simple. It was quickly explained to him, but he had made a point to chat up any crafters he had come across over the years and knew what to do. It was no big secret ¨C the simpler the test was, the better. All he had to do was imbue intent into the base of the lantern, using the inscriptions to do all the hard work, and create a small light above the base.

    The brightness would be indicative of his talent, and any light at all would demonstrate he had at least some. More talent was better, but the right Substance could shore up anything ¨C that was why the plate was present. If you failed but made the lantern react at all, they would allow you to use the plate to cultivate a little Substance for imbuing and try again.

    Needing the Substance meant failure, but such a small amount of talent was still valuable ¨C while becoming a crafter was out, the labor of someone who could imbue was valuable regardless.

    Evan shook his head and placed a hand on the lantern¡¯s base, making sure he could still see all the inscriptions. Touch wasn¡¯t required or even necessary, but he figured it couldn¡¯t hurt his chances. Settling himself, he closed his eyes as he reached inside his soul, feeling as though he was falling inwards in a strange sensation that hadn¡¯t faded since he was first able to do this a few weeks ago.

    This took some time, until suddenly he could see his soul, the sight vivid in his mind. It was lumpy and emitted a pale white light, a blobby looking mass that was him. It quivered slightly.

    He opened his eyes, and the Substance of the lantern was revealed to him.

    Inspecting it, he could easily tell that this Substance represented light or brightness. It didn¡¯t hurt to look at, but he felt like it should for some reason. Around him there was a circle of about a meter in radius wherein he could see Substance. For the moment he used his eyes for this, but it wasn¡¯t necessary ¨C more of a crutch to make it easier, or an instinctive method for those inexperienced like himself.

    The Substance looked white to him, and it filled the base of the lantern. It had the appearance of a velvety dough-like mass that sat within the lantern, inert. Nothing else he could see had any Substance at all, though the plate was too far ¨C he was sure it was full of the stuff.

    Evan felt the moment of truth approaching. Imbuing intent was the bedrock of all crafters, and how well you could do it was important. Of course, having gained access to his soul weeks before, he had tried imbuing small things at the orphanage much like the lamp, and had felt a reaction, but had no way to test if what he had done did anything or was any different, nor did he know how he stood up talent-wise to the standards of Starspire.

    He didn¡¯t dare to actually go through with the imbuement before ¨C even a lantern such as this wasn¡¯t cheap, and if he broke one, the caretakers would have his hide.

    As he focused on the Substance within the lantern he felt a connection snap into place, just as it had in the past. This time, though, he was imbuing something that was meant to be imbued, that had been specifically prepared for imbuement. Looking at the inscriptions ¨C a strange sight, as the Substance was beneath the inscriptions, but he looked clearly at both ¨C he began to craft his intent.

    First, he imparted the instructions, mercifully simple thanks to the inscriptions, as that was always to be done first. Acting as a sort of latent instruction, all he had to do was command the Substance into the clearly delineated ¡°start¡± of the simple inscription, using his intent to essentially bridge the gap between the inert Substance and primed inscription. Nothing happened ¨C his intent would not take effect until he wanted it too.

    The sensation was strange. He compared it to the act of breathing ¨C it was almost automatic, despite being something he could accurately control, and turned his thoughts ¨C his will ¨C into instructions and parameters as needed. It was quite clear he had little idea of what he was doing, and he could feel that in the way his thoughts were translated. However automatic it was, nothing it did was beyond him.

    Just like breathing, it was nothing he couldn¡¯t do himself, and its skill and understanding seemed to reflect his own ¨C nonexistent. What was important though, was that it allowed him to work far faster than if he took the reigns into his own, deliberate hands.

    Even as simple as this imbuement was, it required a countless number of instructions, parameters, and adjustments to work as a whole. It was mind-boggling that he could do all of that himself, even in this almost reflex-like manner.

    Dispelling his distracting thoughts, he followed the inscription with his eyes toward the end of the inscription, also clearly marked, and made it so that the Substance would flow through the marked patterns. Evan had no clue how the inscription did what it did, but he had been told that the lanterns inscription would guide the eventual effect, containing the location of where it should manifest and in what way, a simple sphere above the base in this case.

    Staring at the output for the inscription, where he would create the effect, he began to shape the eventual light. First, of course, he imbued the idea that he wanted a light. This light would be white, since he felt that was what the Substance was most agreeable with.

    Just this ¨C the instruction, the light, and the color ¨C already took up a sizeable portion of his intent. The Substance he was imbuing would only hold so much and was where talent came into play. The more talented one was at imbuing, the more each unit of intent could do. Because Substance ¨C that is, cultivated Substance ¨C acted on what was already there, it meant that talent was effectively a multiplier on how powerful a crafter could make anything with a given amount of cultivated Substance for imbuing.

    With what now remained of his capacity, he pushed the Substance into creating a brighter light, giving no regard for anything else. Then, he felt his intent, understanding what it was going to do, making sure he hadn¡¯t made any mistakes. Finding nothing ¨C it truly was a simple test ¨C he relaxed his will and the connection snapped like a rubber band.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Instantly the inert Substance within the lanterns base roiled into motion, the entirety of it moving at once, slow and inelegant. There was a great deal of finesse involved with imbuement, and as the inscription began to light up itself, he winced. Even to his untrained eyes, he could tell this was a terrible imbuement. Everything had felt perfect!

    In wonder at his newfound ability to see Substance, Evan had spent hours just watching the Substance of an imbued item move and transform. All of them had looked much better than his own, and he knew inscriptions should look inert unless the intent was starting to fail, or a mistake had been made in some way by the crafter. Nor should all of the Substance move at once ¨C that was probably why the inscription was lighting up, now that he thought about it.

    As several moments passed, he realized another flaw of his first creation. It was slow. Only now was the light reaching the effect when it should have been nearly instant. Still though, when the Substance reached the effect at the end of the inscription, a sphere of light appeared about three centimeters above the base.

    The light¡­ wasn¡¯t dim, but it was dimmer than the inscription, which was quite bright. Looking up at the attendant across the table from him, the lantern between them, he saw an amused smirk on her face. He scowled, the Substance winking out around him as he dropped his focus.

    ¡°Well? It lit up, did it not?¡± The confidence from before was noticeably absent, and in its place was bluster; he felt a tad flustered.

    It¡¯s my first time, okay! He tried not to worry, surely they didn¡¯t expect anything better? It had lit up, after all! Even with most of the power wasted¡­ that had to count for something.

    ¡°It did,¡± her smirk became a grin, and the amusement was a stark difference from the boredom she had held before. She picked up the lantern and the conspicuous cube and looked it over herself before sitting it back down and taking a deep breath, placing the cube against the lantern. Her grin grew even wider as she stared expectantly at the lantern, seeing something he didn¡¯t. Perhaps a minute later the inscriptions died down before the light followed shortly after.

    She could also imbue, he realized. Why did it take so long for the light to go out? What was she doing? He voiced his thoughts.

    ¡°You let the Substance pool at the end and allowed too much through the inscription. Everyone who takes the test in here uses this lantern, so after each test I have to reset it back to how it was before.¡± Having said so, she hefted the cube before him, as if to demonstrate before sitting it back down on the table.

    He wished he hadn¡¯t allowed his Substance-sight ¨C his own tentative name for it ¨C to wink out. He might have been able to learn something. Still, another question of his was answered ¨C it was no wonder the city was so touchy about the test ¨C it wasn¡¯t cheap to hire someone who could imbue, even if it was just resetting the testing apparatus. Not to mention the Substance itself, which wasn¡¯t cheap either.

    ¡°Congratulations. The work was shoddy, but you have better talent than most I¡¯ve seen today. You have a real future in crafting, and the contract will reflect that.¡± Her tone implied she was being genuine and overall seemed much more engaged and friendly than before. The transformation in attitude was unsettling.

    Shuffling through the stapled papers on the table, she found one near the bottom and pulled it out, passing it over to him to read. Instead of going straight to reading, as it was quite long, he started asking questions, and within fifteen minutes she had gone over the gist of it with him, pointing out places in the contract as she did so, having picked up on his suspicion from before. It felt too easy.

    He took some time to think, idly tapping his fingers against the table, rereading portions of the contract. Starspire didn¡¯t make this easy.

    No, they actually made this incredibly easy ¨C that was the whole point. They just didn¡¯t make it cheap or even remotely affordable. Not that he had expected them too, but even with his more ¡®generous¡¯ contract¡­ the debts were incredible. He knew little of contracts, but was aware of the phrase ¡®always read the fine print¡¯, so he made his best effort.

    Their estimates on training were actually about what he had gathered himself, but the others¡­ also made sense, even if he hadn¡¯t worked the numbers out himself. Seeing the total they expected to loan him though made his eyes bulge in shock ¨C especially when he saw the other conditions.

    Expecting him to start making payments in just a couple of years¡­ how would he manage that? None of that even included any Substance for cultivation, something he would desperately need in order to make sales, even with his newfound talent. Things would have to go very, very right for him to succeed, and he would spend decades paying off the debt to get there, hindering his progress and stalling him from leaving Starspire.

    All the while, he would be working himself to the bone.

    Looking everything over once more, he let out a deep, resentful sigh of exasperation before continuing on. The only way forward was through.

    There were several choices to make, starting with what type of crafting he wanted to pursue. Alchemy, formations, arrays, talismans. Those were what was listed, and what Starspire was willing to help him with. They weren¡¯t equal, though. The contracts would be better for him if he picked something Starspire needed more than the others. For example, alchemy was always in high demand, while arrays were virtually useless to the city other than for selling to adventurers or for simple utility.

    He decided to go with formations. It was something he was already mostly convinced of before even showing up. The formation crafters he had met were always the ones who seemed the freest, and more than once he had gotten advice that in Starspire it would serve him well.

    Part of him admitted that he might have been biased by his ultimate dream ¨C to fly off to places unknown in a Voidship of his own. Learning formations might mean that one day, he could build his own Voidship. How cool was that?! Everything else was just icing on the cake.

    Formations fell between alchemy and arrays in how generous it would make his contract, which he was satisfied with ¨C he wasn¡¯t willing to give up on everything just to save a little more. Better to be happy but broke than miserable and¡­ still quite broke.

    Next came deciding on what kind of formations he wanted to work with ¨C depending on his choice, Starspire would arrange for him to work under someone who primarily dealt with those types, so he could gain experience and build connections.

    This one was tough ¨C he was actually quite fascinated with all manner of formations, from household objects such as the lantern, to construction projects both inside and around the metropolis. Even weapons ¨C he didn¡¯t like being part of the violence but had no qualms making the tools for it. There was just something fascinating about taking a mundane structure or object and making it magical.

    Growing up in the streets, estranged even to his fellow orphans, he had spent a lot of time preparing for his future. He didn¡¯t want to be a nobody, a no-name adventurer or soldier that got murdered one day beyond the relative safety of the city. No ¨C what he wanted was to be safe and secure with the wealth to live a long, happy life. He wasn¡¯t a fool, though. Simply being a decent crafter wouldn¡¯t guarantee that, it would take everything he had and then some.

    He almost chose construction out of hand ¨C he was too weak to be of use making vehicles, and while the Voidship was his dream, he could work his way up; it was likely that imbuing structures would be good practice for that, and a decent way to earn a living. The problem was that while formations were in high demand, it was a demand created by people who could afford to pay the ridiculous sums that came with the maintenance of the imbuement ¨C in other words, people who could hire someone with several Collapses under their belt. That wasn¡¯t him, and it wouldn¡¯t be for some time.

    This was Evan¡¯s future, and whatever he decided now would determine the general trajectory of his life, at least for the next several years. He wouldn¡¯t be able to live with himself if he didn¡¯t make every effort to make the best choice and ended up relegated as some assistant for potentially decades. He wanted independence on top of everything else.

    ¡°What do you suggest?¡± He was willing to hear her out, even if whatever she told him was influenced by Starspire. Instantly he saw her eyes light up, and she smiled again ¨C this one seemed even more genuine than before.

    The attendant then proceeded to talk his ear off. She even gave him her name, which he realized she hadn¡¯t done previously. Chana espoused to him the supposedly lucrative option of joining the war ¨C something that he had not even considered. Almost immediately he began to refuse, but she assured him that as a crafter, a formations master in fact, he would always be very safe. She also let drop that should he agree to sign a contract serving in the war as a crafter, not only would he be paid for his efforts quite generously, but Starspire would even waive all of the debts he would have been saddled with for training and designs, and would give him ¡°the opportunity to improve at his own pace¡±.

    Despite his desire to immediately shut her down completely, he forced himself to think it over. The military would surely provide better opportunities than he would get inside the city with his situation, and everyone knew the military tended to have the best stuff available. Not to mention the waiving of any potential debts ¨C that was incredible.

    When it was obvious that he was reconsidering, she kept at it, talking about the different sorts of work that might interest him as a formation builder in the military. Somehow, she managed to pick up on his unmentioned interest in laying down building-sized formations and narrowed down her efforts, speaking of the practice and experience he would get, and that the military would always have a use for someone capable of laying down their military-grade formations, no matter their cultivation.

    For a time he resisted, having dealt with his fair share of violence and fighting, and had long decided he wanted no part in it ¨C he just didn¡¯t see a future in it, even if it could be lucrative. Eventually, though, she whittled down his arguments with assurances of safety and he began to come around ¨C as someone that would be laying down formations, he would never be expected to actually participate in the fighting, and the natural expense of formations ensured wherever he was posted, it would be somewhere Starspire wanted to keep away from the enemy.

    It certainly helped that he was none too keen on entering the profession with a debt attached to him, forbidden by his loan to try leaving and seeking greener pastures elsewhere. Starspire was the place for buying, selling, and exchanging just about anything. That also meant it was a great place to find some of the most skilled crafters on the planet, and the enormous market dealt not only with those on-planet but also off it ¨C the city got its name from all the trading it did with the wider inter-planetary market.

    In the end, despite his long-held refusal, he decided that sometimes you had to take risks ¨C measured ones ¨C if you wanted to get ahead of the curve and that the deal was too good to pass up.

    He knew he¡¯d be in at least some danger ¨C it was war ¨C but felt it was unlikely that he would encounter any truly life-threatening situations. If the worst came to pass, he would most likely be taken as a prisoner of war, too valuable to simply kill out of hand. He would show his loyalty to Starspire was rather tenuous at best, and maybe he could simply change sides.

    That was perhaps a little idealistic, and he could be killed in the fighting or indentured, but that was just a risk he would have to take joining the military. It would secure his future and save him loads of effort and time. Decades, perhaps.

    If everything went according to plan, then once his service was fulfilled, he could come back to the city; free of any debts or obligations, a competitive cultivation, and everything he learned in the military. With a foundation like that he could go places.

    After making his decision, despite his reluctance to violence, things proceeded rapidly. With Chana¡¯s extra-helpful attitude, they hashed out his contract and formalized his service there and then.

    The term was twelve years after he graduated from his training, which would take place outside the city, but he would still be paid as he learned. In order to facilitate his training, he would be provided with an instructor ¨C essentially, another craftsman he would shadow at the base, who would also be his direct superior. They would also give him some basic textbooks that would help cover anything his instructor might miss.

    Evan was incredibly wary of signing away such a long period of his life, even if he could get a hold of some Substance to extend it. Thankfully, there were some outs he managed to get included after some intense negotiation: he could pay the previous estimate in full and walk away with some oaths or spend at least half his remaining service on high-risk assignments. As a future formations master, that essentially boiled down into staying on the front lines, which he absolutely would not do, but that was the point ¨C maybe this would work to keep him away from that danger.

    The method of graduation from his training was to become certified ¨C not with the military, thankfully, but with the Guild of Crafting. They enforced a certification system that was, supposedly, valued even deeper into the Void and while stringent, fair. Any increases in pay or rank would also come from further accreditation with the guild.

    Finally, before even leaving for his post, they would provide him a cultivation chamber and enough imbuing-aspected Substance to reach half of the way to his first Collapse, with the other half waiting for him if he could obtain certification within two years and had yet to reach it himself. This felt ridiculously generous and it made him wonder how much of this sudden generosity was from joining the military versus his apparently decently good talent. Why didn¡¯t everyone just join the military?

    Ha!

    He signed, collected his copy, and left the room, barely containing his exuberance as he entered the waiting room from before and took a seat, waiting for someone else to collect him and take him to his temporary housing, also generously provided ¨C he¡¯d never live in an orphanage again! It had only taken a little over an hour!

    When Evan was finally guided away not long after, a smile was still beaming on his face.

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 2

    Evan was typically not very expressive but couldn¡¯t keep the smile off his face as they walked towards the main street. Over the moon, it took all of his self-control not to skip for joy. He was going to do it! It would take a long time, but if he made enough money, he could hopefully get his hands on some Substance that slowed down aging. The stuff was ridiculously expensive, one of the types of Substance that everyone wanted to get their hands on for obvious reasons.

    This hope was a large contributor to his willingness to sign such a long-term contract ¨C he knew that if he was successful enough, these twelve years of service might not make him much older already than he already was, but leave him in much better shape for success.

    As the guide flagged down a coach, a new experience for Evan, he took in his surroundings. Part of it was habit, but he also wanted to take in what could very well be his last time in this area of the city.

    Starspire was a truly enormous city, both horizontally and vertically, and many of its inhabitants would likely never see most of it. Part of that was due to its size, but for most part it was because of how Starspire was run. Everyone in the city had an identification slip, something that was free for residents of the city such as himself ¨C even though he lived in an orphanage ¨C but everyone else had to pay just for the privilege of remaining inside the city.

    Each slip contained some sort of imbuement that remained inactive unless scanned with a device the city guards had, and it in part contained what level of access one had in the city. Without the appropriate access a person would be stopped at the gates for each section of the city, which were divided by concentric rings from the center of the city.

    Over the many years since Starspire was founded it had become a point of pride to live or work within the deeper, higher sections of the city, and thus to deal in the outer sections was viewed as distasteful. It was a rare sight indeed to see one of the deeper inhabitants do anything outside their section but travel.

    As these thoughts flittered through Evan¡¯s mind, luxuriating in his traveling arrangements, one thought rang louder than the others.

    If I never see these streets again, it will be too soon.

    While they waited the guide gave him some instructions. They would pay the coach and give them a destination, but at the gate he would have to present a pass the guide gave him. When they reached his destination, an inn, he would once again present his pass before being given a room. They would also provide him with a meal in the evening, and once again in the morning before someone else fetched him to take him to a cultivation chamber elsewhere. That person would also have information on when he was leaving the city.

    Job completed, the guide left after doing as he said.

    Time passed, and after at least an hour of traveling he arrived at the inn ¨C The Rare Tusk, the sign outside read. The main thoroughfares were always incredibly busy in this section of the city, and it took longer than it should have. He was greeted by the innkeeper, a boisterous, plump, middle-aged lady that moved far too quickly to be anything other than a cultivator. He presented his pass and was immediately scolded.

    ¡°Why, young man, you should be ashamed of yourself! Showing up like that, all filthy, and you expect me to let you sully one of my rooms?¡± She looked horrified, as if he was covered in muck! These were his best clothes, and he had washed them just yesterday. Never mind that he only had two sets, including this one, and the other was more rags than not.

    ¡°W-what?¡± All pride and newfound confidence forgotten, she reminded him far too much of one of the women who ran the orphanage, and he felt his cheeks redden. She had surprised him.

    ¡°This just won¡¯t do! You must go take a bath immediately. I know your sort; it¡¯s on the house. Leave your clothes in the basket. I¡¯ll have David show you.¡± He was thankful, but his dignity was too offended to thank her. Instead, he just nodded his head, not trusting himself to speak.

    She spun around and rushed across the rather large common room too quickly for him to catch the kindness in her eyes before he was shortly escorted up a flight of stairs and escorted through one of the doors.

    The room he found himself in was warm and filled with steam. It seemed to billow out the door before they shut it behind themselves. Now inside, he glanced about the room.

    It was filled with curtains ¨C some were drawn shut, but others were open, each revealing an empty tub and a laundry basket. To his side, outside the curtains, was an elevated basin of steaming hot water with some buckets and a bell sat nearby.

    The man who had escorted him, David, bore a slight resemblance to the innkeeper ¨C perhaps a son. He wasn¡¯t much older than Evan was. He spoke, gesturing around the room.

    ¡°Alright, you can fill a tub from the basin using one the buckets and leave your clothes in the basket outside. Ring the bell by the basin when you¡¯re ready, and after a minute I¡¯ll come to take away the basket to wash your clothes.¡± There was no awkwardness ¨C when he usually took a bath, it was never private regardless.

    David exited the room without prompting, and Evan quickly put himself to task filling one of the tubs. Once he had one filled and steaming, he rang the bell near the basin and returned to his tub before closing the curtain and undressing, putting them in the basket and pushing it outside the curtain.

    He slowly slipped into the tub, somewhat afraid he would burn himself, and heard David open the door and retrieve his clothes. That only briefly registered though, as he was soon consumed by the pleasant sensation of the hot water.

    Ahhh. Now that¡¯s the stuff.

    He could get used to this, but it made him wonder how life would be in the military, even if he wasn¡¯t a grunt. It didn¡¯t seem likely that there would be much infrastructure for that, even if he felt confident in being posted in the backlines. Could he build something with formations for that?

    He shook his head. It was already done, and there was no getting out of it. He¡¯d just have to make the most of it, and bathe extra well now.

    Well, first he would enjoy his bath. It wasn¡¯t often he got to enjoy something like this, and he wanted to make the most of it. It wasn¡¯t until the water started getting cold that he began to bathe in earnest.

    After his vigorous bathing, he found a basket just outside the curtain with his clothes in it ¨C clean and dry. He got dressed and was intercepted on his way down the stairs by David.

    ¡°Hey, I was just coming up to wait for you. Sorry about my mom, I know she can be a little overbearing at times, but she means well. Are you hungry? Meals on the house if you¡¯re willing to talk while you eat.¡±

    ¡°¡­Sure, I¡¯d be good with that. What do you want to talk about?¡± Evan already had an idea, but David and his mother had been nice enough when he¡¯d expected some scorn for his obvious humble heritage. That¡¯s what he had thought David¡¯s mother was doing until he was reminded of Grace at the orphanage and deflated.

    ¡°Well, you¡¯re different than we were expecting. We already knew that some of the people who passed today would be staying here, but not where they would be coming from. Wouldn¡¯t have surprised me if some snotty-nosed brat showed up on a power-trip,¡± He grinned and clapped Evan on the shoulder ¡°but that¡¯s not you. You¡¯re from the outer ring, right?¡± By now they had reached the bar, and David gestured at him to sit, moving back behind the bar as he began to prepare a plate for Evan.

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    ¡°I imagine your good with some sliced boar and bread?¡± David asked, already loading it onto his plate. Evan¡¯s mouth was watering ¨C the orphanage made sure he got to eat, but it was never very high-quality or particularly filling. If not for the odd jobs he managed each day, he¡¯d be a lot thinner. Simple fare it might be, it smelled good.

    He gulped. ¡°Yeah, that works for me. Thanks,¡± He tried not to make it obvious, but David¡¯s sly grin showed him he noticed regardless. He seemed to be wearing his heart on his sleeve today, and blamed all the excitement.

    Passing over the plate and some silverware, he began devouring his meal, afraid that at any moment the innkeeper would return and take it from him. David had given it to him, but who knew how much authority he had around here.

    It certainly helped that he felt absolutely famished.

    David sat down beside him, having apparently walked back around while he was tearing into his meal. The inn wasn¡¯t empty, but it wasn¡¯t filled to bursting either. Evidently, David didn¡¯t seem to feel the need to do anything for the moment but chat up Evan.

    ¡°Our understanding with Starspire was that anyone showing up here at The Rare Tusk would be somewhat impressive, so how was it? You passed, so your gonna¡¯ become a craftsman, yea?¡±

    The inn had seemed to be a fairly nice one, and they even got him a coach. Had he really done that well? He knew he had done ¡°decently¡±, but here he was, eating a good meal in a good inn, with a room booked and a goddamn cultivation chamber being prepared for him tomorrow.

    Up until now he had been pushing it to the back of his head, but now, with David having brought it to the forefront of his mind, his suspicions reemerged. Everything seemed a little too easy, too good. His excuse had been that to Starspire, all of this amounted to but a drop in the ocean, and worth it for the goodwill of a future formations master. Given what David had just said, however¡­

    ¡°The attendant said I did ¡®decently¡¯, and that my talent seemed the best she¡¯d seen today, but its so early in the day I didn¡¯t think too much of it. We signed a contract, and now I¡¯m here. Is it really so surprising?¡±

    ¡°Well, yeah. Starspire is a penny-pincher, and not to sound boastful, but¡­ The Rare Tusk isn¡¯t some random inn. It¡¯s a family business, and we¡¯ve been here for several mortal generations. We might not be one of the best in the section, but we¡¯re definitely up there.¡± David seemed even more interested now. He tapped his fingers against the hardwood bar for a moment.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t mind me asking, what was the contract you signed?¡± David seemed almost hesitant to ask.

    ¡°Well, I want to go into formations. I was also thinking of going into macro-scale ones, for stuff like buildings and whatnot. Only mentioned the formations part, though. I was hesitant to bring up the construction, er, macro-scale stuff until she started trying to sell me on joining the military.¡± He let that hang for a moment, deliberating on admitting it. He wasn¡¯t one to share much, usually.

    ¡°She¡­ convinced me. Twelve years after training, but my debts are waived, and I get a lot of out of it.¡± Evan didn¡¯t mention the cultivation. Substance was expensive, and you never knew who was listening. Their conversation was mostly drowned out in the quiet murmur of the inn, but with the right Substance, who knew? Better safe than sorry, even if getting Substance out of a human soul was a fool¡¯s errand.

    ¡°Huh. I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re getting out of it, but that sounds pretty terrible. I mean, twelve years? After training? That¡¯s like a third of your life, man. I know craftsmen make good money, but even most of them struggle to afford the Substance that slows down aging.¡± He slumped, almost as though he was as devasted as he thought Evan should be.

    ¡°That¡¯s not to mention that twelve years is a long time for something to happen. Where are they even sending you? What is your official job?¡± Evan noticed he didn¡¯t push on what he was getting out of it, and he was thankful for that.

    ¡°Uh, I¡¯m not really sure where. They said I¡¯d be building and maintaining stuff, though, so I figured wherever they send me, it would involve enough money that it would be pretty safe regardless. Right?¡± Evan felt like he¡¯d had things under control, but inside, panic was starting to grow. What exactly did he sign onto?!

    ¡°You don¡¯t even know? Void have you man! You¡¯re fucked, totally and utterly fucked. Building and maintaining? Did that not scream dangerous or ¡®frontlines¡¯ to you? I don¡¯t know what¡¯s worse, being on the frontlines or posted in some dangerous hunting ground to catch cultivators, but that¡¯s what ¡®building and maintaining¡¯ sounds like to me!¡± David was huffing and puffing, having raised his voice some ¨C he was clearly getting quite worked up and angry about it. Why did he care so much?

    Evan looked down at his plate, needing a moment to think. He had hardly touched it since they started talking, too caught up in such a serious conversation.

    ¡°I¡¯m dead then? That¡¯s it, I signed a contract to go die like every other dumb grunt?¡± The panic was starting to recede, dread welling up in its place. His voice betrayed the disbelief and betrayal he felt. His stomach dropped out from under him, and he felt as though there was a heavy, cold weight in his chest. What could he do? The contract was already signed, they wouldn¡¯t let him just walk away. Now that he was part of the military, it wouldn¡¯t just be breaking the contract ¨C something he couldn¡¯t afford to do anyway ¨C but deserting in all likelihood. Even if it wasn¡¯t, for a debt like this they¡¯d indenture him ¨C he¡¯d heard horror stories about that, it was something he¡¯d never escape, toiling away for the rest of his life.

    David seemed to get a little upset at his comment. ¡°Grunts? That¡¯s not very charitable, you know. Some of the best people I know are just ¡®grunts¡¯ in the military.¡±

    Evan looked back up, tears threatening to well up, and watched as the anger drained out of David¡¯s tense face, replaced with a look of sympathy he quickly mistook for pity. Stilling his face, he wiped his eyes. He was better than this ¨C he hadn¡¯t worked so hard, come this far, just be tricked into giving up his life.

    Resolve filled him ¨C hadn¡¯t it always been this way? Struggling for every step, getting pushed back almost as often as he moved forward? When he walked into the testing room, he was certain the attendant ¨C Chana ¨C had expected him to summarily fail. To be found lacking, one way or the other. After all, the only thing resembling preparation he had was fruitless practice going back a few weeks and a childhood of snippets of advice from the passing craftsmen he¡¯d met.

    From the day he was handed over to the orphanage, everyone around him had felt his life was already written ¨C even the other orphans were content to wring what they could out of life and call it at that. He refused to accept that ¨C so he¡¯d learnt how to read and write, striving to be good at it. He practiced his speech and demeanor, trying to build a fa?ade of dignity. Everywhere he could he aspired to learn new things and sought out craftsmen ever since he learned of the future it held, even if he rarely learned anything.

    He was being sent, according to David, somewhere that even if he was a backliner meant to provide support, the likelihood of his death was not low.

    In a strange inversion of what he should be feeling, calm settled over him. So what? He had beat the odds before, there was no reason he couldn¡¯t do so again. Almost his entire life he¡¯d worked for the betterment of his future, and this was just one more step in that direction.

    Evan resumed eating, calm if not relaxed. David seemed to understand his sudden resolution and no longer brought it up, instead talking more about himself and his own life growing up in the third section of the city ¨C one closer than Evan¡¯s own, the fourth. He welcomed the distraction, even if his near future never really left his thoughts.

    Despite having only met David just today, he felt like a friend. He had been kind and helpful where he had expected only scorn or indifference. Most craftsmen lived in the third section or better after all, so seeing him at the start of his journey was nothing special.

    As Evan finished his free meal, only receiving a quick glance from the innkeeper, David showed him his room and he settled down to wait for his evening fare. The room was a nice upgrade from what he was used to, granting him privacy he¡¯d rarely enjoyed and was far more comfortable and cozy than the orphanage. After less than fifteen minutes he realized he desperately needed something, anything, to do. It was rare he wasn¡¯t doing something, and the lack of stimulation was getting to him. Not to mention the dreadful thoughts that kept threatening to break free from a corner of his mind he was deliberately avoiding.

    He headed back down the stairs into the common room, looking for David in the hopes of him having some books he could read ¨C leaving the inn didn¡¯t even cross his mind, given he was in an unfamiliar place and could lose his way quite easily.

    David did, in fact, have some books. Most of them were quite dry, but he had one that chronicled some of the wars Starspire had been in, and he decided it was a good way to learn more about his upcoming future.

    Evan read until evening, only leaving his room to eat his dinner and return the book to David ¨C books were expensive, and it had been a show of trust to loan it out to him, a near stranger.

    Heading back up to his room for the last time and slipping under the finely made sheets of his bed, Evan decided that if, no, when he got back to Starspire, he would come to visit David. He had made a friend.

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 3

    The following morning, he was woken up to an insistent banging on the door to the room. Jumping out of bed, nearly getting tangled up in the sheets, Evan realized that he was so comfortable he had overslept.

    On today of all days, he had expected to wake earlier, not later. Today was the day he stepped upon the path to greatness and immortality ¨C the day he became a cultivator!

    He called out, informing whoever at the door he was awake and getting dressed. They yelled back that he should head outside afterwards, they were waiting for him. Evan could hear them walk off after that.

    In a frenzy he donned his clothes, having taken them off the night before in order to preserve their cleanliness ¨C it was rare that his clothes felt as clean as they did, and today was a big day. Some people at the orphanage would never take even the small step he would today.

    At that he was reminded that he was only taking this step today because he had basically signed his own death warrant. That thought sapped away much of his excitement, but not all of it. He was still determined to succeed, and the transformation he would undergo today happened only once.

    Having a clearer head and away from the panic-inspiring David, he realized that even if his odds of making it home were low, it was unlikely he would perish anytime soon. After all, they still had to train him. Despite David¡¯s earlier remarks, he wasn¡¯t someone who could simply be handed a weapon or cultivation and pushed out into the battlefield ¨C crafting could appear simple, but between the inscriptions and the specifics of how his intent worked, it was a complicated affair that took a lifetime to even approach mastery, not to mention what they might get up to off world.

    Because of this, it would be surprising if they sent him somewhere dangerous in the beginning ¨C as he was now, there was very little he could do between his lack of training and small imbuement power.

    Voidships were a good example of this ¨C far beyond even traditional spaceships, they worked on the same principles he would soon be learning, just orders of magnitude more complex and powerful. He could imagine it took a true master of formations to be qualified to even do maintenance on such a vehicle. Someone like him would do more harm than good.

    Remembering the attendant¡¯s words yesterday, he had a long way to go even if his intent ¡°bandwidth¡± was pretty good thanks to his talent.

    Rushing out the door, he scrambled down the stairs getting some unfriendly looks on the way, no doubt annoyed with his actions so early in the morning. As he stepped outside The Rare Tusk, he was greeted by an imposing man who looked a little bored until he spotted Evan. Then he just looked angry.

    ¡°Get inside the coach, boy. Everyone¡¯s been waiting for you.¡± His voice was gruff, and despite looking to only be in his thirties had the same cadence to it as an elder scolding a child. As he climbed inside, the words the man had said reached him. Everyone?

    As in, there were others staying at the inn? David had mentioned he was the first, but he had shown up early. Others surely would have arrived throughout the day, even if The Rare Tusk was for the more talented or in his case, those enlisting. Maybe both?

    Sure enough, inside the coach sat three others ¨C two guys and one girl. They were all his age ¨C everyone interested would get tested as soon as they could, and they wouldn¡¯t test you for free if you looked much older than 18. All of them looked to him as one, but only one of the guys looked impatient.

    Before anyone else could speak, the girl spoke up. ¡°Hey, nice to meet you. Don¡¯t worry about being last, Alex here,¡± The guy sitting next to her, who he presumed was Alex, started to speak but she raised her voice slightly and he let the words die in his throat. ¡°Would have slept in himself if I hadn¡¯t woken him up. You¡¯re getting some Substance today too, right? Are you excited?¡± Her voice was sweet but also had the confidence of someone used to getting their way, tinged with excitement.

    If he was being honest, he was excited, the cost of becoming a cultivator be damned.

    ¡°Yeah, I can¡¯t wait.¡± He noticed from the way they were dressed, and their general demeanor ¨C that is, their openness ¨C that they were from the third section. All of them seemed excited, even the other guy who had seemed annoyed with him ¨C but that was all. It was a life-changing event for them, as it was for everyone, but in all likelihood it was just a matter of time for them instead of the elevation of status it would be for him.

    That was what it meant to live in the third section; it meant that your parents, whoever they were, likely already had at least one Collapse to their name, and would help their children to get theirs. Were any of them but him destined for service? They would probably have debts, training for craftsmen wasn¡¯t cheap after all.

    Another question arose ¨C if they weren¡¯t joining the military, did that mean they were all staying at The Rare Tusk by virtue of their talent alone? That was what David had led him to believe.

    ¡°My name is Alaina, and this is Alex.¡± Alaina looked askance at the other man. A heartbeat passed as he deliberated before responding.

    ¡°I¡¯m Luke Moss.¡± That was the first time someone had given him their last name in a long time. Most people had them, but presenting your last name was more formal than idle conversation usually warranted.

    ¡°I¡¯m Evan. It¡¯s nice to meet you too; and yes, I¡¯m excited. I didn¡¯t realize there was anyone else in the inn who had passed their test ¨C what are you guys¡¯ training for, and are you guys receiving training from Starspire?¡± He felt that was a subtle enough way of asking if they were entering the service without revealing he himself was.

    It was embarrassing how bad a contract he had signed without knowing it.

    In the future, I¡¯ll have to play it off that I¡¯m just that confident, and not a na?ve idiot.

    As he waited for them to answer, if they answered at all ¨C it was somewhat personal ¨C he settled in inside the coach as they got moving. It wasn¡¯t very big ¨C only big enough for about the four people inside to sit comfortably, with two in the front and back, completed by the doors on either side. Such a design was standard, he was coming to find.

    Alaina was the first to speak ¨C she seemed the most comfortable with other people. ¡°I¡¯m studying alchemy. One of my great-grandparents was an alchemist and left behind some textbooks, so after I get some training with Starspire I can use those.¡±

    Alex, seeing Alaina share so thoroughly, winced but shared his chosen field. ¡°I¡¯m studying alchemy as well.¡±

    ¡°I chose arrays ¨C I like the wide-scale and powerful effects of formations but don¡¯t like how static they are.¡± Surprisingly, Luke was more open than he¡¯d expected.

    ¡°I myself chose formations. There¡¯s just something about formations that leaves me in wonder.¡± Since Luke gave his reason, he¡¯d do the same since he originally asked. It only seemed fair.

    It appeared that nobody else was willing to outright state who would be doing their training or where they were headed, save for Alaina, who seemed rather proud of her heritage. He couldn¡¯t blame her, but already he had gotten the impression that any form of training or knowledge about a profession was incredibly valuable ¨C he had asked about the debt he would take on should he not join the military, and it wasn¡¯t cheap. To admit the presence of the books so openly, even inside the well-patrolled third section, struck him as a little foolhardy.

    He wouldn¡¯t have known if the debt they quoted him was massively inflated, but it wasn¡¯t something he had ever heard from the craftsmen he sought advice from, and while he was oblivious to the value of those things, he was sure there was plenty of people who wouldn¡¯t be, even in the fourth section. He was unlucky to be lacking a typical education or advice from parents he didn¡¯t have, but that didn¡¯t describe everyone ¨C there was no need for Starspire to risk it on a small-fry like him.

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    Along the way to their destination Alaina tried to strike up a conversation several times, but each time it died off after a few brief responses from himself and Luke. Neither of them seemed to be in a chatty mood, despite the undercurrent of excitement that lingered. It made him wonder about Luke¡¯s circumstances.

    Eventually, after some time, the coach came to a stop and the doors were opened. Before him, just off the main road, sat the building that would change their lives forever. It wasn¡¯t unique, far from it, but even still it was a sight to behold.

    Simultaneously it seemed to scream wealth and danger in equal amounts. It featured high stone walls, and although he could not see anyone, he was sure there were powerful cultivators within. Those same walls were adorned in murals depicting cultivation, awash with bright colors that looked brand new despite their age. Past the gate ¨C yes, a gate ¨C he could make out a central courtyard filled with beautiful green plants, some clearly magical. It was essentially a miniature fortress inside the city.

    As the gate opened ¨C quite quickly, and silently at that ¨C he was sure that if he had the time to close his eyes and sense his soul, the entire structure would be absolutely swimming in Substance. There was surely a way to hide intent or Substance, so he was sure it wouldn¡¯t look equally covered in formations, but he was also sure it was deeply tied together by many imbuements of great strength.

    The reason for this incredible defense was simple ¨C this was where people came to cultivate Substance, meaning that not only was incredible wealth always present in the building, ripe for the taking in a very literal sense, but also that said wealth was locked away in private chambers that only contained a single person, who could very well be a mortal taking in Substance for the first time.

    Cultivation was a private affair, and many did not wish for anyone to know the exact composition of their soul, so the privacy of each chamber would be guaranteed.

    All of these factors meant that cultivation chambers were excellent targets for infiltration, assassination, and theft. Simultaneously, they were places that were only used by those with serious wealth in their hands, creating the scene placed before Evan.

    A place that he himself was making use of. Seeing such a sight and knowing that he was a part of that exclusive club that made use of it, sent a surge of giddiness through him. Today was a day he would never forget.

    The four of them exited the coach and were escorted through the open, inviting gate by the same man as before. The courtyard within was beautiful, the plants positively radiating vitality and a sense of growth. Some of them even glowed, and if he was educated on the matters of magical plants he might have even spotted a few.

    Wandering the courtyard he spotted a few other individuals, many older and here of their own accord. Some of them had the same vigilance to them he had spotted on seasoned hunters or soldiers, while others were more carefree ¨C either those simply born to the privilege of becoming a cultivator or an experienced craftsman used to the fruit of their labors.

    He wondered whether any of them were like him, craftsmen who had joined the military but finished their service. Would he possess that same vigilance one day soon, always on the lookout for danger?

    They lingered in the courtyard for a few minutes until a woman entered and upon spotting them walked over. She was faster than a mortal, but not by much. Handing over a few slips of paper to their guide ¨C four, it looked like ¨C she turned back around and left the courtyard.

    ¡°Alright, I have your room numbers here. Each of you step and give me your full name. One at a time. Afterwards you are to immediately head there, use the signs for directions. Inside the chamber you will find a button and lever. The button will call for a meal but will only work if the lever is up.¡± He waited a moment for us all to take that in.

    ¡°Once you pull the lever the room will be emptied of all possible unbound Substance. Do this first or you will pollute your soul. Afterwards you can begin to open the Substance containers you paid for, which for you lot are already inside.¡± Seeing we had no problems or questions with that, he continued.

    ¡°They will emit Substance faster the more you open them, and if you pull the lever back up and call for a meal, it is likely that opening the chamber will allow some Substance still present to escape or allow for foreign Substance to enter the chamber. Pulling the lever down empties the room of all unbound Substance, so don¡¯t call for a meal until you¡¯ve cultivated all the present Substance.¡± He stopped speaking for a moment, giving us each a stern glare before continuing.

    ¡°Once you enter the chamber and seal it, the responsibility has left our hands. Keep that in mind before you do something stupid. Step forward.¡± Having already gotten into an orderly line ¨C there were only four of us after all ¨C we each stepped forward to receive our room numbers.

    Evan learned the last names of everyone present, and received strange glances when they realized he didn¡¯t have one himself. Their full names were Alaina Wright, Alex Callahan, and of course Luke Moss. His room number received, he headed for the stairs. He wasn¡¯t sure if that was a privilege.

    Along the way he noticed several guards, along with some mortals carrying meals. All of this ¨C the building itself, the courtyard, the special chambers, the security, and the food ¨C must cost a pretty penny. Was it so worthwhile? For some high-profile people he could understand, but the average successful soldier or hunter? It didn¡¯t make sense to him. Surely there were less expensive options if you just wanted the chamber itself, and didn¡¯t scream wealth.

    He was hungry, having slept through breakfast that morning, and he didn¡¯t want to start his journey to immortality and success on an empty stomach, so before he even shut the chamber, he pressed the button that would call for a meal. He smiled ¨C that was convenient.

    Now that moment was upon him, he felt a little nervous. There was no reason for it ¨C it wasn¡¯t like the test, where he could fail ¨C everything with a soul could cultivate, and while the speed at which one could do so varied from person to person, it wasn¡¯t to such a large degree that anyone could be said to be unable to do so at all ¨C at most, it would take a little more time, and even that would be increased as the size of one¡¯s soul increased from cultivation.

    No, he was nervous because nothing seemed real. He had worked since he was a young child for this moment, but a part of him just couldn¡¯t seem to accept that things had worked out, even if his future was filled with peril and uncertainty. Any moment he would wake up and it would all be a dream, or something would happen and take everything away.

    Glancing at the Substance container, it looked extravagant. It was shaped like an oversized and bulky bottle, with a nozzle at the top of it that featured a valve he could turn. Its surface was smooth and colorful but for the many markings that adorned it, various inscriptions that would keep the Substance inside from escaping. He didn¡¯t know what inscriptions should really look like in any imbuement, but from the splashes of color it had an artistic flourish to it that most imbued objects lacked.

    The container struck a harsh contrast with the chamber itself, with its utilitarian feel and featured only plain stone walls, one of the dullest environments he had ever seen. It was likely meant to be that way, in order to facilitate the meditation required for cultivation. Only inscriptions adorned them.

    It could also just be that as far as cultivation chambers go, the one he had been given was cheap. Even still the chamber was impressive, the inscriptions he could see a dizzying mass of curves, lines, and points.

    Things such as this room were what impressed him enough to take formations as his field. To most, these lines served no purpose other than as a reminder that whatever they appeared upon was likely imbued. To craftsmen, and those who worked with formations in particular, these inscriptions held a portion of the secrets of an imbuement ¨C like words on a page. He had always wished to learn that language, and soon, he would have the opportunity to.

    A short amount of time passed, the minutes seeming to stretch out infinitely as his impatience built to start cultivating. He knew that he would be in this room for some time ¨C at least a week, he would guess. It depended on how diligent he was in absorbing the Substance, and how long he could remain in the meditative trance required.

    Deep in thought, he realized the purpose of the courtyard ¨C it was for winding down, staying relaxed and clear-headed between cultivation sessions, a vibrant place that could temporarily replace the dull surroundings of the cultivation chamber.

    Extravagant.

    Just as he was beginning to brainstorm with what he had read the previous night, a middle-aged man appeared at the threshold to the chamber, a ¨C hopefully ¨C warm meal sitting on a trolley the man had brought. He looked a little winded.

    The man ran off after receiving his thanks, and he ate in peace, enjoying the quiet. It was something he had thought of often since the test, but once again, he decided that he could get used to this. He was slightly uncomfortable with how¡­ highly others had thought of him since he passed test. With individuals like the guide from yesterday and the servant from just now, they acted with a deference towards him that was completely foreign.

    Others, such as Alaina, Alex, Luke, and David, had treated him as an equal ¨C while not completely foreign, the only ones who thought of him as equals were the other orphans, especially considering he was always trying to get into the good graces of the craftsmen he managed to catch the attention of, in the hopes of some advice, or even an apprenticeship if the stars aligned.

    It all felt very strange, but he enjoyed it despite the discomfort. Growing up he had learnt that confidence and self-worth were important, but now it felt as though the idea was being impressed on him rather than him trying to impress it on others.

    Finishing his meal, careful not to make a mess, he left the dishes and trash just outside the chamber before pressing the lever and allowing the chamber to seal itself.

    It was time for Evan to take the final step of his life as a mortal and the first step towards immortality.

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 4

    Evan adjusted himself in the center of the room, being careful to keep his breathing even and measured. He discarded all thoughts of anything but his own soul, reaching inward to find it sitting there in all its lumpy glory, a glowing bastion against the Void he knew to present all around him. Doing his best to retain focus on his soul alone, he studied it.

    This wasn¡¯t a particularly difficult exercise ¨C his soul was new to him, after all, and he was deeply curious anyway. The exact reason wasn¡¯t understood, but one could only access their own soul, and therefore cultivate or see Substance, after coming of age. It was popular belief that this was either for the soul¡¯s own protection, or that this was some sort of great equalizer beyond mortal understanding.

    Evan sat firmly in the former category ¨C nothing about life was fair, and it never had been. That was just the way it was. In a way, he preferred it that way. He had no great calling or familial obligation ¨C everything he had he had built with his own two hands through blood, sweat and tears. One day, he promised himself he would sit on the other side of the fence ¨C his kids would be the ones starting ahead, because life wasn¡¯t fair, and he liked it that way.

    Using that determination, he attempted to will his soul to open, and as easy as breathing, it did. The chamber had already been cleared of any lingering Substance, and so nothing happened ¨C thankfully. A small part of him had been worried about polluting his soul because of some error in the room¡¯s imbuement and a mistake in his perception, but everything was working as it should.

    He had yet to open the Substance container, wishing to familiarize himself with the process before he started cultivating in earnest. Looking at his soul, he found that it did not seem visibly different in any way, although the lumps had begun to move. It looked as though his soul was roiling in place, straining to contain something it could not.

    That was strange, but he knew little of the soul and assumed it was typical. Why would his soul be so different from anyone else¡¯s?

    Opening his eyes caused him to immediately sense that his soul was no longer ¡°open¡±. He could still see Substance, though, and looking around he only saw what was held within the building, with nothing drifting in the air.

    While the chamber went to some length in order to ensure that there was no Substance floating about in the air, the truth was there rarely was much even outside the city. Substance was the key to immortality, it would be ridiculous if such a thing was just¡­ present in the air, free for the taking.

    No, any Substance that was scurried away in the air had long since been extracted, and there was no natural phenomenon that returned it. It took alchemy or a formation to return Substance to a material, and why would anyone do that?

    Accidents could happen though, and no matter how small, nobody wanted random, mixed, unprocessed Substance in their soul. Once it was absorbed, it was there to stay ¨C in this respect, the soul was akin to a starving animal, refusing to give up any meal no matter how small or terrible.

    He wasn¡¯t really sure why unprocessed or mixed Substance was viewed so negatively, only that it was, and that he should never absorb it.

    Now knowing the feeling of having his soul open to Substance, he reached for the Substance container. It felt nice in his hands, and seemed to have more weight to it than he expected. Gripping the nozzle he took a deep breath and released it.

    Evan turned the nozzle, expecting some kind of noise or other physical reaction. Instead, he saw a steady but small amount of Substance begin to leak out along with some particulate. It seemed more diffuse than other types of Substance he had seen, and wondered if that was done on purpose somehow or just a side effect of being contained as it had.

    Slowly, it began to fill the room. His heart seemed to be pounding in his chest as he shut his eyes but could still feel the Substance ¨C a first for him. In a hurry, he tried to return his focus to his soul, and while he was already lightly sensing his soul for his Substance-sight, it still took him several minutes to reach the focus necessary to open his soul.

    Once again, he was surprised by how¡­ anticlimactic it was. His soul seemed to roil even more intensely, and he felt something change, as if his soul had become some great weight.

    Back in the physical he saw a very, very slight pull begin to effect the Substance closest to him, It began to fall towards him, and his sense for Substance seemed to tell him it was also falling deeper somehow, closer to the Void where his soul rested.

    When the first of it reached his soul and seeped inside, a horrible pain wracked him immediately. Instantly his focus shattered as he lost sight of his soul and the Substance surrounding him vanished from view. Despite this, he could still feel his soul, and the pain only increased. Substance continued to trickle into his soul, and the pain only increased.

    He had no time to process this as he toppled over, adrenaline flooding his system in a misguided attempt to help him and failing. All that occupied his mind was a terrible pain that would ebb and flow like a wave, refusing to allow him to even attempt adjusting to the sensation.

    Insensate, he laid on the floor, his soul still absorbing Substance despite being unable to retain his focus, though he could continue to feel the mind-numbing pain that originated from it.

    After what felt like an eternity, he lost consciousness.

    ***

    Evan came to slowly, his mind almost afraid of what might lurk beyond the sweet relief of unconsciousness. For an unknowable period of time, he laid there, simply luxuriating in the lack of pain.

    He winced. Just the memory sent shivers down his spine.

    What even happened? I¡¯ve never heard of something like this¡­

    Gently he began to get up from the floor. It felt strange ¨C other than some light bruises from his uncontrolled fall, he felt fine, despite the agonizing pain he had just gone through. That it left no physical reminders made him feel strange, even knowing the pain wasn¡¯t related to his body.

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    Should he sense his soul? He didn¡¯t want the pain to return, but he needed to know where he stood. Cultivation was essential to his future ¨C he couldn¡¯t avoid it forever, or even for the next few days. He was expected to cultivate the Substance he had been provided in order to be more useful in the military.

    While he had a lot of room for improvement when it came to crafting his intent, without the enhancement this Substance would provide him, the space for his intent was limited. In order to raise that ceiling, he would need Substance ¨C he simply wouldn¡¯t have the ¡°bandwidth¡± in his intent in order to make something worth keeping otherwise.

    He set his shoulders ¨C there was no use putting it off, and it might have been a one-off. Maybe it was a perfectly normal thing, and it just wasn¡¯t discussed? No, that didn¡¯t make any sense. There¡¯s no way that pain was normal and not spoken of.

    Rubbing his head, he realized that if it was a normal occurrence, they would have given him some kind of mat or pillow for when he fell, even if they assumed he was aware of the pain. Nobody else had something like that, either.

    Shaking out all of his limbs for good measure, he sat down and resumed his meditation, seeking his soul. This time the exercise was much more difficult, constantly on the watch for that crippling pain to return.

    Eventually he managed it, his soul coming into focus as before. It was very different from before, but this he had expected.

    Whereas before it was lumpy and writhing, with a stretched appearance akin to a wrung-out rag, now it appeared as a perfectly smooth sphere, completely still. It was larger, but not by much. It was also dimmer, which was a little strange ¨C he had heard it should be brighter. Looking more intently at his soul, he swore he saw¡­ something deeper within, but it vanished just as quickly as it had arrived.

    Suddenly an intrusive thought entered his mind. It felt like it belonged to him, but it definitely not one he had¡­ thought? Nothing made sense.

    Myth ¨C 0.00%

    What?

    The thought was incredibly intrusive, sending his mind spiraling among a path of other erroneous thoughts. A hunter slaying a powerful monster with an imbued sword, another recovering from the brink of death through an ordinary looking healing potion ¨C her heavily damaged and bloodied body seeming to inflate with health and vitality. Another showed him a soldier deploying a shields imbuement, a shimmer settling over himself and his squad, protecting them from an impossibly fast series of arrows, each slamming into the invisible barrier with enough force to kick up the soil just outside.

    As he shook his head to dislodge the strange scenes, a final one came over him, leaving him in a flash. A tower, reaching high into the sky, a solid white that spoke of boldness, intricately made. Spreading out from the base was a city, though it clashed with the grandiose design of the tower. Inside the city he saw all sorts of hunters coming and going from the tower, some carrying beasts. The vision ended and left him confused. What had he seen?

    Evan smiled ¨C he would like to build the things in those visions one day, and wondered at the purpose of the tower. But what was all that about? He needed to survive his service before he could fantasize about building works of¡­ myth. His smile turned stiff as the implications flashed through his mind. Was it trying to tell him something? There had been a number attached, a percentage.

    The one thing all the scenes had in common was the presence of some object, large or small, that had saved the day. No, the last one wasn¡¯t like that. Just an object or building of incredible power? An incredibly strong imbuement then?

    Inspecting his soul again, he found nothing. There was no pain, but his soul felt strained, like it was filled to bursting trying to hold something it couldn¡¯t.

    Looking around the room for Substance, he saw that it was far more filled than it had been before. How long was he asleep? It must have been at least several hours¡­

    He vaguely remembered that his soul had continued absorbing Substance without his input, but it appeared to have stopped shortly after he lost consciousness. Did that have something to do with the word that had appeared in his mind? It seemed likely, but then was his soul containing the source? And it had tried to escape?

    Worriedly he analyzed his soul. It didn¡¯t seem like it was about to burst, or that anything was trying to escape, but he couldn¡¯t shake the feeling this was only the beginning of his troubles.

    Realizing there was nothing that could be done about it right now, he decided to try continuing to cultivate. He didn¡¯t want to be the last to finish cultivating. In addition, he decided that telling anyone about the pain or the scenes in his mind was a bad idea. Everyone knew that it was basically a crime to keep a treasure you lacked the strength to defend ¨C he had heard a few children¡¯s stories about that, and perhaps whatever seemed to be lurking in his soul was an incredible treasure ¨C if the words and vision were to be believed, he needed to craft things that could qualify as ¡°myths¡±, and he might be rewarded.

    His decision was also motivated by the fact that even if it was simple soul damage for one reason or another, it was so far beyond his means to fix as to be not worth considering. If it came to light he had soul damage, things could only get worse. The military might be more likely to throw his life away, for example, or renege on their contract.

    As he mused about the implications, he opened his soul and witnessed the same scene from before repeat itself inside the room, and while he couldn¡¯t sense it, he knew it would be incrementally faster given his larger soul.

    The change in its shape also meant the way it reacted was different from before. Now a small, perfectly smooth sphere, it had begun to rotate as he took in Substance. Staring at its changed form made him realize he had become a cultivator!

    Between the unbearable agony, waking up to thoughts that weren¡¯t his own, and the visions, he had nearly forgotten! It saddened him a little that his first step towards immortality had proven so painful, but so be it. At least the pain hadn¡¯t returned, even if just the memory of it made the entirety of his being ache.

    Settling in to his first real cultivation session, he watched his soul as it grew incrementally moment to moment, enjoying the tangible progress he was making. It made him question the nature of his soul, and souls in general.

    With imbuements, intent was laid down upon the Substance, using it to fuel an effect related to the aspect of the imbued Substance. What the intent could accomplish was dependent on the talent of the crafter, enhanced by their related cultivated Substance. Regardless of the strength of the intent, some amount of Substance was used up in this process. Yet, any Substance that entered the soul would permanently enhance the cultivator, allowing them to make use of that Substance at the same effectiveness for their entire lives, however long that might be.

    How could the soul do this? It somehow used the Substance to grow larger before reaching its limit, at which point the soul could undergo a Collapse, reducing the size of the soul while retaining all the benefits of its consumed Substance, and simultaneously allowing it to grow larger before requiring another. Somehow, it was able to do this supposedly infinitely, while always being able to exert the full force of all the Substance it had ever absorbed, despite the ludicrous amount that would eventually result.

    Nobody, to his knowledge, understood how the bright speck of something that everyone possessed, floating in the Void, did all these miracles. Wasn¡¯t that fascinating? To think, civilization as a whole was built around the soul, and nobody had even a vague idea of how it worked.

    That wasn¡¯t to mention the miracle that was mana, which was also produced ¨C from nothing ¨C and stored inside the soul. Mana was unique in that unlike Substance, it could hold an infinite amount of intent, the only limit was the rate at which someone could imbue it with intent.

    Anyone could imbue their mana with intent, but mana had limited effectiveness, meaning that unlike intent imbued into Substance, what mana could accomplish with any given amount was universal.

    Mana could be told to do almost anything, and it would try. It also began to decay the moment it got too far from the soul, decaying exponentially faster as it got further away. A stronger soul and Substance helped, he knew.

    Evan could accomplish nothing simply musing at the mysteries of the soul, he knew, so he turned his mind towards something more productive. He thought of the books he had read the night before, a chronicle of the wars Starspire had fought in the past.

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 5

    As Evan maintained the concentration required for his cultivation, he thought back to those books that David had loaned him last night. They had given Evan a much clearer image of the military and how it worked, despite the fact that they were more broadly informative rather than lingering on the specifics.

    They also made him realize that despite signing away so many years of his life to the military, he knew very little of how they operated. He had never hung around the soldiers, or even the hunters, that he had seen, always preferring the craftsmen, and refusing to even entertain the idea he wouldn¡¯t make it as one himself.

    That bias had come back to bite him, as he realized that this wasn¡¯t a fault on the part of Starspire, but rather his own for not even entertaining the idea he would need to know about the workings of the military one day. There had also been some educational opportunities from the women who ran the orphanage, but it was optional ¨C it was understood they were out learning or earning their own way.

    He had only stuck around to let them teach him things he had deemed important, like reading, writing, and math. Most of what he knew he had absorbed from simply living in the city and talking to adults when he could, but those who knew much of the military or any desire to speak of it weren¡¯t who he hung around and was never his focus when talking to craftsmen.

    For that reason, he had been operating under a twisted view of how the military in Starspire worked, and what war actually looked like between it and other city-states. His expectation had been of a large, messy battlefield full of chaos, countless soldiers, and thorough destruction, but it wasn¡¯t like that ¨C and hadn¡¯t been for a long time.

    Nowadays things were done in a much more orderly, less destructive way. It was also far more mercenary in modern times, which had been a surprise. It had seemed strange that his direct superior would be the craftsman training him, but in the military that was apparently par for the course. The reason for this had to do with how the military was divided, how orders were given authority, and what responsibilities he would have.

    The military was broadly split between two divisions ¨C the combat division, and the civilian division. As a crafter he would be part of the civilian division, which meant that his command structure was different.

    They wouldn¡¯t fall so directly under the various commander ranks in the combat division; instead, they would have responsibilities that they were expected to keep up with, such as keeping things in good shape for a formations master such as himself. Their pay for this wasn¡¯t great, especially considering the danger they were in, especially for a crafter.

    It was the list of extra tasks they could pick up that would make their pay worth it, as they would offer a sort of board of commissions ¨C together with their base pay, this would make working for the military an offer that wasn¡¯t quite so terrible for crafters without much influence or ability like himself.

    Part of his contract also included making opportunities available to him, such as buying his work. This looked more generous than it was, he noticed, as he would also be required to sell to Starspire at competitive rates ¨C he wasn¡¯t allowed to manipulate the price for his wares beyond a certain point of profitability while he served.

    Starspire would ensure he had a basic wage, while also providing potential commissions occasionally, so that he never did too poorly. For a more established and powerful crafter this would be a terrible deal considering the inherent danger they would always be in, but for someone like him it wasn¡¯t too bad, minus the many years he would have to stay.

    This was all to say that the contract primarily did want to help him get stronger, and that the military didn¡¯t want to keep him weak and poor, but that they wanted him to be strong and wealthy under their thumb. If Evan was stronger, that would be good for the military, but they didn¡¯t want to need to pay outrageous prices for his work, hence the long contract term.

    Of course, this was war, and so occasionally there would be situations where this status quo had to be broken. That was where the command structure of the combat division could come in with their authority. Ostensibly he wasn¡¯t under their command, but many of the tales inside the books he read had mentioned times when commanders were able to order those of the civilian division into providing labor that would later go unpaid.

    This was evidently a big deal a little over a hundred years ago and is why the books contained such extensive details on the matter. It had caused a massive slump in those willing to join the military when word got out that commanders were using their authority in ¡®times of war¡¯ to requisition services unfairly, as the doctrine is very strict that in such stressful environments everyone, including the contracted civilians, was required to pitch however they could for the betterment of everyone.

    Corruption at the time led to countless civilians being forced into working for free ¨C and given the nature of war, it was difficult to root out this corruption. Strength was important, and those with strength inevitably lived longer than those without, leading to a complex network of favors and bias that simply wouldn¡¯t vanish.

    It was the consequence of the accumulation of power, of Substance, that would always remain in organized society. The solution at the time was the construction of the present system, where the same doctrine was in place, but was heavily scrutinized by the new command structure present for the civilian division ¨C fighting fire with fire.

    The book had explained in length the new system, no doubt to help appease anyone considering joining, but it boiled down to creating a ranking system for the civilian division that was coordinated with the guild and their certification system. They took the oppression of those certified very seriously and acted as a check towards the abuse of the military.

    Establishing this system wasn¡¯t easy, as the military was loath to bring in any third party to military matters, but the guild was a neutral entity, and was so far above Starspire that they could only grit their teeth and accept it ¨C the populace would accept nothing less, and they needed crafters, independents would gouge them blind without their own crafters, especially considering the outcry.

    Evan felt that such a radical change to how the military worked showed just how desperate a situation the city had been in. It also explained why his direct superior was his trainer ¨C it told him that the trainer had the authority to demand labor from him, which was of course necessary as his teacher, and that he could seek out his teacher if anyone else demanded things of him. An awkward byproduct of the new system, where any abuse of authority could get someone in serious trouble or even executed.

    Time passed as he deliberated on that. Hours passed as he thought over his decisions, his mind slipping into the unique trance of cultivators in seclusion, his mind dim as his soul took in all it could, growing in the process.

    When he finally came to, it had been more than a day ¨C which was impressive for his cultivation, given that he was both still young and lacked any way to delay his various needs. He had a meal, supplemented by lots of water ¨C it had never tasted so good.

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    A day without eating rare ¨C the orphanage at least made sure he had something to eat, even if it wasn¡¯t particularly good or filling. That was where the odd jobs came in.

    After his large and delicious meal, he left to spend some time in the courtyard. He felt a little guilty about indulging like that ¨C it made him feel like something he wasn¡¯t, but the drab room combined with the crippling episode of soul pain compelled him to seek out the beauty and tranquility of the courtyard.

    Perhaps there was a credible reason for all of this luxury in the middle of the city, aside from the security that very few of the patrons truly needed. Food for thought, he supposed.

    Walking in the courtyard, taking in the fresh air, made him realize how relaxing nature could be. The outermost section had nothing like this that he had ever seen ¨C no parks, the occasional tree or bush a rare sight. Everything he knew of nature was thanks to books and views from afar. Starspire had high walls, but it was possible to see the forest that surrounded the city as far as the eye could see through the outer gates.

    Would kids from the inner sections even have that? Was the courtyard even more magical for them than it was for him?

    He paid more attention to the others he could see in the courtyard, but none of them were as young as he was and had likely at least seen the wilderness outside regardless.

    It wasn¡¯t long later that he left the courtyard and made his way back to his room. He tried to distract himself but the allure of getting stronger and the guilt of not doing so immediately stayed firmly in his mind, and he was already behind on time anyway.

    The rest of the week passed this way, with his breaks becoming more frequent as his body demanded he move about more and the dullness of cultivation caught up to him. He also found himself enamored with the serenity of the courtyard, and found that it helped him settle his mind.

    What he had discovered about the military made it a more promising prospect in his mind ¨C not just the more mercenary nature of it that promised concrete progress for a hard and good worker, but that actual full scale war would destroy the landscape that was fought on as ever more powerful cultivators were brought out on either side, so almost all wars were fought in a much more restrained manner, with various outposts being constructed and destroyed across the territory of each city-state.

    Even taking special care not to disrupt the environment, large masses of weaker cultivators would cause damage and a single more powerful one could lead the destruction of entire biomes, requiring immense amounts of effort to fix and causing a delay in their production of Substance.

    Said production was something he had only recently learned about, it being a core bedrock of why modern warfare was conducted the way it way it was. Despite this, it wasn¡¯t clearly explained in any of the books he had read, seemingly a concept that was taken for granted.

    The gist he was able to gather, however, told a strange story. Apparently, magical plants and monsters grew Substance within themselves as they got older ¨C their cultivation simply increased with age, which was a strange concept to him. So long as they lived, Substance would develop within their bodies, slowly granting them an enhancement to everything that made up their existence.

    However, the caveat was that in order for this mysterious process to take place, a variety of conditions must be met ¨C some of the obvious ones he noticed were within their natural environment and being a generally free and happy creature or plant. Otherwise, it just didn¡¯t happen.

    It was easy to understand that war would easily disrupt this, and that this meant that territories were endless sources of wealth in the form of Substance from slain monsters or harvested plants.

    That was why war was fought the way it was ¨C instead of large scale battles that ravaged the landscape, scared away the various inhabitants, and otherwise disrupted this delicate process, outposts would be constructed instead with the intent of exerting control over the surrounding landscape, allowing for hunters aligned with the outposts owners to hunt in peace so long as they paid their dues.

    It had been decided that war would only extend its disruption to the outposts and their defenders, which was good news for Evan.

    This meant that in all likelihood, he would be posted to one of these outposts, and his responsibilities would include fortifying, maintaining, and perhaps even constructing these outposts.

    He felt this made him more important than he would have been otherwise, since the outposts had a lot of functions, and whoever was posted with him would no doubt want improvements. The idea of fortifying and improving such a structure made him excited; this was a real, important structure that he would get to play his own part in.

    Not only would he hold some small amount of importance for the outpost, but from the books he read it appeared that having a stronger cultivator show up to take an outpost was heavily frowned upon as it would only lead to an escalation of both parties, eventually resulting in massively expensive fights that ravaged the landscape and ended countless lives in the process.

    With this threat mostly cleared away, Evan felt that he had a real chance at walking away from his contract, and depending on how things went, he could even walk away as a moderately powerful cultivator himself.

    Despite everything that David had told him, and what he himself had concluded afterwards, the military didn¡¯t seem as terrible a bet as it had been made out to be. Originally, after having spoken to David, he had pictured himself as some helpless technician in the back of a small marching army, relegated to the maintenance of equipment and unable to secure his own life or future.

    Now thought, he knew that the military was much more mercenary than he had thought possible, and while this allowed Starspire to extract more use out of people like himself, it also gave him a chance for improving himself at the pace necessary to make this period of his life less of a burden on his future prospects.

    These were the thoughts that had slowly accumulated inside Evan¡¯s mind over the week of dutiful cultivation, the serenity and general slothful nature of cultivation giving him plenty of time to think, even accounting for the trances he would increasingly slip into while cultivating.

    As he left the facility, having finished his cultivation up to the first Collapse, he felt like a new man.

    No, not just a man. A cultivator. His smile was irresistible.

    He truly felt as though he had accomplished something, even if it was just a start. Would the military¡¯s promise of the other half of the Collapse even matter to him at that point? It was something to look forward to, if nothing else.

    The week had done great things for his soul. Before, he had noticed some sort of strain in his soul, as though it was almost bursting in its efforts to contain something it wasn¡¯t ready for. Now, it looked to be in much better condition, even though his soul wasn¡¯t that much larger than before. There were still some slight signs of strain, but it was no longer constant, and it didn¡¯t appear that his soul was in any trouble. Bloated perhaps, versus close to bursting.

    In addition, the pain had never returned. He had been constantly worried it would suddenly reappear, but it never did. The same intrusive thought would return each time he began cultivation, though.

    Myth ¨C 0.00%

    He still had little idea what increasing the percentage would do, and he only had a vague idea that it would increase from creating items of ¡°myth¡±, something he was rather far off from, in his humble opinion.

    All things considered, he felt good as he walked back through the gates with Alaina, Luke, and Alex. He still didn¡¯t tell them about his enlistment, but he wasn¡¯t as ashamed as he had been before. Now he could actually defend the decision as his best way out, instead of having just foolishly signed the contract.

    The coach dropped the four of them off at The Rare Tusk after giving them letters with further instruction, where he was excited to meet with David and tell him of his thoughts and conclusions. Unfortunately, it was late when they arrived, and he didn¡¯t manage to catch David before heading to his room to sleep after a hearty meal. Its quality wasn¡¯t as high as what he had enjoyed in the cultivation compound, but it still seemed to taste better.

    He wasn¡¯t picky ¨C it was still far and away better than his usual fare.

    Before he allowed himself to drift off to sleep ¨C something he realized he hadn¡¯t done in a week, given his cultivation, a strange quirk of the cultivation trance ¨C he first read the letter containing what he imagined were his deployment orders.

    Sure enough, as he scanned the letter he felt his heart drop into his stomach when he realized he was being shipped off to an outpost tomorrow morning. He had come to terms with his situation, and now genuinely believed that it could be much worse than it was, but he was still overcome with a feeling of anxiousness and anxiety when he realized how quickly things were proceeding.

    It made sense, there was no reason for Starspire to continue paying his housing and meal costs when they could get him shipped off and working immediately. Would he even get to have that talk with David? He had been looking forward to that¡­

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 6

    Evan awoke early. It was a stark contrast to the first time he left the inn, but this time it was a feeling of wrongness that woke him up. He wasn¡¯t in danger or anything, it just felt very wrong to be sleeping instead of cultivating.

    In fact, a small part of him wanted to cultivate inside his room instead of sleeping, but he quickly thrashed that part of him into silence. To do that was to invite disaster ¨C what if he ended up absorbing some useless, unprocessed Substance into his soul? It made him shiver on the spot.

    His room this time had a window, and through it he could see the earliest embers of dawn approaching, a curtain of gentle light slowly inching across the city. Starspire was divided into four sections, with the deeper ones being made up of far wealthier citizens and the innermost meant strictly for the leadership of the city. Additionally, further into the city it became more and more vertical as the area decreased and wealth rose.

    In the sky he could see some shuttles moving to and from the ground, transferring cargo and passengers from off-world. It was beautiful, but the knowledge that it might be his last sight of the city for quite some time, if not forever, tainted the memory already.

    Still, it was early enough that he had some extra time before they came to get him, so he went down to the common room and had some breakfast ¨C a nice change of pace from before.

    Pork seemed to be a popular choice at The Rare Tusk, and it was good. Was the food a result of the name, or the name a result of the food?

    As he found himself a seat in the sleepy common room, he noticed David was up and about, serving meals, so while they couldn¡¯t have any private, significant conversations they could at least greet each other. Evan¡¯s attitude was much less mopey than it had been before, which seemed to tip David off to the fact that he had reconciled with his future.

    ¡°Hey David! Good morning ¨C I meant to talk to you last night, but never got the chance. How has your week been since I left?¡± A smile graced Evan¡¯s face ¨C David had seemed to be of a good sort, a rarity.

    He quashed the part of himself that wondered if David had forgotten him ¨C that the friendship they had seemed to build was nothing special to David, or some ploy to learn something from him.

    ¡°Hey!¡± David¡¯s face also broke out into a smile, and instantly he seemed more relieved than he had been before. ¡°You seem to be doing better than before! I¡¯m glad to hear it,¡± his work took him away from Evan, but before long he made his way back.

    ¡°Where did they take you? I had thought that they had already shipped you off to places unknown, or that they were training you somewhere inside the city.¡± He wouldn¡¯t know about the cultivation he had been given, but hadn¡¯t he read those same books?

    ¡°Ah, no. They were getting me ready for deployment, but I¡¯m only back for a short while longer. They¡¯re actually having me leave today.¡± He took a bite of his food, it was good. The answer was a little evasive, but he couldn¡¯t help it.

    He asked about the books ¨C he hadn¡¯t thoroughly read through them, it was only one afternoon so he had mostly skimmed and thumbed through the pages, only reading the bits he found useful or interesting. Could he have misinterpreted something?

    ¡°And yes, I am doing much better than before. You gave me a real scare last week with all your talk about the military, but after reading those books you lent me and some time to think, things don¡¯t seem nearly as bad. The military seems a lot more¡­ fair, than I had expected it to be.¡± He waited a moment, then added to that.

    ¡°That¡¯s good for me ¨C I¡¯ve never been afraid of a little hard work.¡± Saying so, he felt a tinge of embarrassment. Rarely was he taken seriously when he said such things, for people only saw who he was, not who he would be.

    What would a street kid, an orphan, know of hard work anyway? The thought helped him shove away the embarrassment as he smirked at the nonsense people seemed to believe.

    David himself just grinned. ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad ¨C you don¡¯t seem the type resigned to your fate. I didn¡¯t know what was in those books, haven¡¯t ever been much of a reader and they seemed particularly boring.¡±

    Stepping closer, David whispered as though he was sharing some big secret. ¡°Between you and me, they always seemed more like propaganda than actual history books, don¡¯t know why ma even bought them to begin with.¡±

    Not much later, Evan headed back up the stairs with a full belly to take another shower. He had decided it was for the best that he made the most of it while he could, and David didn¡¯t seem to have any issue with it when he asked.

    It was a shame they didn¡¯t get to talk much more than that, but duty called for both of them.

    After his bath he just hung out in the common room, and by now things had picked up and there was no opportunity to speak with David. He did spot Alaina, Alex and Luke, but none of them seemed open to talking and he didn¡¯t particularly want too either.

    Luke, like himself, sat alone, while Alaina and Alex sat together. He wondered if any of them were leaving with him. Wouldn¡¯t be long now until he found out, he supposed. How would they even be leaving? It wouldn¡¯t be a coach, right? That seemed too¡­ civilian to him.

    The further outposts would present a dangerous journey, and only those closest to Starspire would be truly safe. He was headed towards a closer outpost, so a coach was possible, but he just couldn¡¯t see it. Would he be made to walk? March?

    That sounded terrible, but also a distinct possibility. According to the books, he was part of the civilian division, which meant that for the most part he was separated from the more military-like parts of the military, like physical training or the typical chain of command.

    At least, that was how the books he read made it out to be, along with any of the crafters he had spoken to that had worked for the military ¨C they were treated fairly well these days, so long as you discounted the inherent danger and low pay.

    Well, ¡°fairly well¡± to most people¡¯s standards, anyway. The truly rich and successful crafters would no doubt have a very different definition of a decent standard of living than he would. He had heard tales ¨C rumors, mostly ¨C that in the second section, the average person lived in untold luxury.

    The kind of luxury that included various sorts of Substance powered amenities ¨C heated water, air conditioning, general appliances, and things such as fridges. Even Substance powered personal vehicles!

    It was a level of opulence he couldn¡¯t even fathom, but that everyone strived for ¨C even though not many people believed it. To use Substance for anything but cultivation? A waste.

    Evan could believe it though. The stronger the crafter, the more efficient they make use of any Substance. Typically, this wasn¡¯t useful since every unit of intent was needed for deriving more power or control. For civilian purposes, though, it meant that a strong crafter could lay down formations in a way that wasn¡¯t terribly expensive, so long as someone could actually afford a powerful crafters work and the needed Substance to set it up.

    And if someone lived in the second section of the city, they had that kind of money.

    He wondered if one day, he would be able to move into the second section of the city and enjoy such a life. Would he look back, recalling this day ¨C the day he had to trudge to an outpost outside the city ¨C and consider it the start to his rise to a glorious future?

    He hoped so.

    The thought caused him to ruefully shake his head; whatever happened, it would happen when it happened and not a moment before. It would do him no good to daydream about a future when he could work towards it instead ¨C he had seen far too many other orphans do that, and it never worked out like they hoped.

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    As breakfast came to a close while he was lost in his thoughts, someone showed up at the entrance of the inn. He had been keeping a close eye out for anyone with a certain bearing, and this man certainly possessed it.

    His ride, or perhaps his guide, had finally shown. The man was short but well built, which somewhat surprised him ¨C the military seemed larger than life to him, and to be able to look down on the person who would set him towards that future came as an unexpected shock ¨C he was quite tall himself at nearly two meters, though he was quite thin, so looking down at others wasn¡¯t unusual.

    Despite his short stature, the man had a powerful look to him and a stern and serious expression. He looked disdainful of what he saw, and his eyes seemed to reflect an amount of experience and wisdom beyond his apparent age of just over forty years.

    It wasn¡¯t perfectly clear why Evan felt he looked powerful, but it was an impression he was certain of.

    After only a few moments the man seemed to spot Evan, and seeing as Evan was already looking his way, he nodded as though in approval before waving him towards himself.

    With only a small amount of reluctance Evan stood from where he sat and walked over, surprised that he was the only one ¨C for some reason, he had expected the others to leave with him, even if none of them were joining the military like himself.

    The man spoke. ¡°Are you ready to leave?¡± His voice was curt, but it contained none of the stern disapproval he had encountered the last time he was leaving the inn. Not being late must have helped.

    ¡°Yes sir. May I ask how we will be leaving for the outpost?¡±

    ¡°You may. I will not be leaving with you, however. Instead, I will be escorting you to the gate where you will be introduced to your fellow civilians who will remain at the outpost with you. This will naturally include your instructor.

    ¡°As for traveling, everyone ¨C including the combat division ¨C will be traveling alongside the supply convoy headed towards the outpost. The convoy is made up of Substance-powered vehicles, and will have seating for those of the civilian division along with the officers of the combat division. It is a short journey and you will arrive before the sun has set.

    ¡°Does that answer your question?¡± During his explanation, Evan noticed that he didn¡¯t like the treatment the civilian division received but seemed resigned to it. Another artifact of the change mentioned in the books he had read? He would take it.

    He also felt a surge of excitement at the prospect of traveling in a Substance powered vehicle. They were fairly rare, and never stopped in the fourth section of the city, always heading inwards. He wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they only stopped once they got to the second section but had no real idea.

    It seemed crazy that the military had the funding to use something so luxurious, but maybe there was a good reason for it? He could understand for the further outposts, since the vehicles would require less maintenance than a horse drawn carriage, but for the closer outposts? Starspire was incredibly wealthy, but that seemed ridiculous.

    Evidently his surprise and confusion must have shown on his face, as the grizzly middle-aged man smiled, pride evident in his voice as he spoke.

    ¡°Ha! Did you not expect the military to be able to afford simple powered transportation, boy? I can see it on your face, clear as day. Starspire is capable of more than that, too. You¡¯re in good hands kid. Civilians have a much laxer place in the military, but whatever you put in, Starspire will give back twice over.¡±

    The man, whom he still did not know the name of, seemed to hesitate a moment before continuing.

    ¡°Everything you might have heard about the military is out of date, kid. I know there are terrible rumors circulating in some places that joining the military as a civilian is a one-way trip out of the city, but that¡¯s not true. There was some slight corruption about a hundred years back that got a lot of attention, but Starspire came down hard on that, and now things are very different. Better.

    ¡°So, whatever it is you heard, try to forget that and give us a chance, eh? I think you¡¯ll find it¡¯s a lot better than what others have made it out to be. It¡¯s dangerous, yes, but that¡¯s par for the course.¡±

    His words of wisdom resonated with Evan, even though he understood on some level that of course this man, one of the first interactions recruits like himself, would sing the praises of the military.

    He wanted to give the military a chance, and from what he had read in that book, it seemed like what the man said was true, minus a few embellishments. What other choice did he have other than to give them a chance? He had already saddled himself with them for years to come, and his only hope of walking away with any measure of success under his belt ¨C if he walked away at all ¨C was to work as hard as possible, securing both his life and future.

    ¡°I¡¯ll certainly give it a chance, sir. I worked hard for this opportunity ¨C I¡¯m actually an orphan from the fourth section, and I have no plans of stopping anytime soon.¡± No reason not to try and score some brownie points, right? The man didn¡¯t seem the type to despise someone from humble beginnings.

    It seemed to work. He saw the man frown, but as though in sympathy rather than distain.

    ¡°Ah, well than you indeed know the value of hard work more than most. I know it must be tough, growing up as you did.¡± He paused, an awkward silence settling over them amongst the background noise of people eating and speaking.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go. We¡¯re taking a coach to the gate.¡± The man ventured, turning around and leaving as he did. Evan followed.

    None of the other future crafters were even mentioned as they left, though he did notice Luke glance his way as he left.

    It made him realize that, from what had been said before and none of them appearing to be enlisting as he was, that their talent in crafting was likely higher than his own ¨C only those with high talent or special circumstances like himself would have been staying at The Rare Tusk, and even he had at least decent talent. They had also enjoyed some cultivation, which appeared to be sponsored like his own, despite not having enlisted.

    He could have sworn that the cultivation was part of the package deal with him joining the military, but perhaps he misremembered? Or had misinterpreted? Were they just that much more talented than him? It was a sobering thought ¨C he had thought himself rather special when his talent came to light, but there were always higher peaks.

    As expected, there was a coach waiting for them outside. Evan climbed inside, just after the man himself. Inside there were two other youths like himself, both male. He must have been the last stop.

    There was little conversation on the way to the gate ¨C the other two¡­ students? ¨C had no interest in talking, seemingly resigned to a bitter fate. They must have felt like he did before having read those books, and if the other occupant had offered similar words of encouragement to them as he did to Evan, then that advice had failed to sway them. Even to Evan the advice had felt somewhat artificial.

    Said person, their guide, attempted several times to start up a conversation, but nobody was particularly interested. Evan spoke with him the first few times, but their conversation would just go in circles, and eventually he tired of it. They were just very different people, with very different trajectories and goals for the future.

    He figured it also had something to do with the fact that the entire time the man spoke, the other two gave him the stink-eye. It wasn¡¯t effective on the man, who he decided to just refer to as Stiff internally, but it did make Evan visibly uncomfortable.

    This trip was longer than the others he had taken, as they were headed all the way from the third section to the gate at the outskirts of the fourth, which gave him some time to think.

    Mainly, he wondered why the other two students were so wound up and frustrated. They would have signed the contract, same as him, so it wasn¡¯t as though they had been forced ¨C there was no point for the military to do so. Their clothes were an obvious giveaway that they were from the fourth section, just as he was, but that seemed to do himself no favors with them. They seemed to resent him.

    It wasn¡¯t hard to figure out why ¨C from how things had proceeded with where he was picked up and that he was the last stop before the gate, it was apparent that he had gotten a better deal than them, even if Stiff said nothing of the sort.

    Just knowing why they resented him wasn¡¯t enough, though. They acted as though they were death-row prisoners, off to the chopping block, when in reality their entire life was opening up before them. Even if their contract wasn¡¯t quite as generous as the one Evan had signed, that didn¡¯t change the basic way things would work in the military.

    As long as they worked hard, they would walk away just as successful as himself.

    Well, maybe not that successful. I am me, after all, and¡­

    Ah. His talent was better, and that would never change. Talent was inborn, and meant that at the same level, they would never be able to compare to him without there being a massive gap in skill. A gap he would never let happen in the first place, of course.

    Was it really that simple? People could be petty, but he had never resented someone for being more talented than himself. Jealous, maybe, but never resentful. Luke, Alex, and Alaina were a perfect example of this ¨C he was a little jealous that he didn¡¯t have the same level of talent, that they would have an easier start than himself, but it wasn¡¯t something he would resent them for.

    In a way, he even looked up to them. Not in an inspirational way ¨C they were juniors just like himself ¨C but as a peak that could be surpassed through skill and wealth. Talent wasn¡¯t everything.

    If their resentment was as simple as that, then they were fools. The best thing to do would have been to suck up to him, just as he had done with the crafters he sought out while growing up. People could be very generous, even in a world where the strong ruled by virtue of their wealth-derived power.

    He wanted to lightly shake his head but refrained. There was no reason to antagonize them, and while he found their actions foolish, he couldn¡¯t fault them. People lived and stayed in the fourth section for a reason, after all. It wasn¡¯t easy to be successful enough to move inwards, and even among crafters it wasn¡¯t guaranteed. Least of all to those who entered their fields without any backing or great talent.

    Until he had read those books, he had felt somewhat discouraged himself, thinking he had been taken for a fool, so he could imagine the hopelessness they felt, at least a little.

    And if they hadn¡¯t been so obviously resentful, he might have felt open to sharing that.

    He didn¡¯t, though, and so the ride passed in silence until they arrived at the gate, even more bustling than usual. It was time to face the music.

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 7

    Once Evan arrived at the gate, the first thing he realized was that it was busy. He hadn¡¯t even stepped outside the coach yet, but already he could tell it was even more bustling than usual. The sound alone made that apparent.

    Starspire was a city that ran on commerce more than anything else, with lots of transactions moving through the city thanks to its ¨C if what he heard was to be believed ¨C robust spaceport. If someone wanted to move things on or off planet, they most likely would need to deal with Starspire. This alone would have ensured that the city was always busy, with people and carts constantly moving through the many gates, but the city was also well managed by a competent oligarchy that knew how to run a city well.

    Thanks to the council¡¯s oversight, there were many other factors that contributed to the city¡¯s prosperity. One of these was the stance on hunting, and how the wilderness was treated. Essentially, the stance boiled down to this:

    Anyone could leave the city and go hunting in any of the vast wilderness that Starspire controlled, with no need for permits or any other oversight. The various outposts would help ensure the stability of the wilderness to prevent any environmental collapses from actions such as over-hunting, and as such might impose some restrictions on what could be hunted or how much, but that was all. Said notices would be posted liberally throughout the area, so that any potential hunters were well-informed.

    Once a hunter had felled a monster or beast, they could bring the beast to the nearest outpost, where it could be sold immediately to Starspire for convenience. They would also accept any gathered plants, but those were usually easier to carry for a better price inside the city.

    Starspire would collect a small tax off of anything sold to the outposts, and regular taxes would apply within the city, but overall, it made it very convenient for everyone. Such a stance made sure that Starspire was filled with hunters, and the bounty of such regular harvests further increased the city¡¯s wealth.

    There were of course various guilds and businesses that once could sign with for ¡®professional¡¯ hunting, but unlike with other countries, it wasn¡¯t required or even necessary. This was why many young adults from the fourth section would leave the city, in the hopes of making it big as a hunter.

    Most of them would fail, and those that did succeed only did so for a short time, but that was enough for many of them, and would inspire the next generation into continuing the same cycle.

    Not for Evan, though.

    It was why he was here today, not as a wannabe hunter, but as an apprentice craftsman. Nothing had cemented that fact in his mind as much as the sight he now laid eyes upon.

    The gate was crawling with various men and women in uniform, and just outside the gate he could see a small convoy of transports, with even more uniformed soldiers laying about the sleek, metal vehicles that he would seen be traveling in.

    As he made his way through the gate, quickly being waved through thanks to Stiff, he curiously studied every detail of the vehicles. It wasn¡¯t his first time seeing a truck, but they were still rare enough that the sight shocked him.

    The truck was big ¨C significantly larger than a coach, but mostly in its length. They were heavily built and gave off a rugged feel. There was a small cab that could only seat two people, while the rest of it was an open platform where supplies would be secured. There were no visible inscriptions, but he knew the vehicle must have been heavily inscribed with formations in order to run. The color of it was mostly a darker green, likely for helping it blend in with the forest, even if it didn¡¯t seem very effective.

    There were four such trucks, along with several more jeeps, similar in style to the trucks but obviously intended for passengers only.

    Evan was fascinated by the vehicles, being slightly different from the few he had seen before. Those that made their way through the city were not nearly as armored, and they had always been on the move, never giving him a chance to properly inspect the vehicles as he did now.

    Once he got over the pure dissonance the scene created, the convoy being situated just beside the bustling stream of more mundane carts and coaches headed in and out of the city, all other feelings were supplanted by the sheer excitement he felt.

    One of those is for me!

    He would likely be seated in one of the jeeps, but that was fine with him! He was going to ride in a car. It made him giddy.

    It was surprising how large the convoy was, but perhaps it shouldn¡¯t have been. Evan did not know how the logistics of the military worked, but maybe they used the outposts as warehouses and resting stops? That would make sense, at least for those far from the front lines.

    ¡®Outposts¡¯ was the word everyone used, but it painted a picture of a rather small encampment when many outposts were anything but. From what the books had mentioned, some ¡®outposts¡¯ were massive, closer to forts than anything else, but were always referred to as outposts regardless of size. He wondered why.

    As they approached the convoy, a few of the guards ¨C soldiers? ¨C seemed to recognize Stiff and waved him forward. Evan and the other two apprentices stuck close to Stiff and were seemingly ignored.

    Everyone seemed very relaxed, which helped to settle his own nerves. He felt a little dazed as Stiff guided them deeper inwards, passing quite close to the vehicles. Soon they were introduced to some instructors, where Stiff would quickly pass off one of the apprentices before moving on. Evan was last, and he was excited to meet his own instructor.

    Said instructor was an older man, with spots of gray in his otherwise black hair, an exhausted and stern look upon his face. He was short and thin, his head only reaching Evan¡¯s shoulders.

    Despite that, the man had a presence to him ¨C a subtle feeling that made Evan feel as though he was one being looked down at.

    He introduced himself. ¡°Hello, Sir. My name is Evan and I¡¯ll be in your skilled hands in the near future.¡± His greeting felt forced and awkward, but he still made a go of bowing, the difference in their heights making the act more comical than respectful.

    ¡°You will address me as Master Isaac.¡± Isaac¡¯s voice was stern and radiated disapproval, but it did not sound impatient, more that he was just going through the motions. Evan waited a few moments for him to continue, before he realized what Isaac wanted.

    ¡°Of course, Master Isaac.¡± The confusion was evident. He was usually better than this! All of the excitement was getting to him, but he didn¡¯t dare voice his apologies. That seemed like the wrong move.

    Another few moments passed before Stiff nodded towards Isaac and walked off, abandoning him to his fate. He watched, both in judgement and in order to release some of the tension he already felt with the conversation. Evan had not paid much attention to the introductions the others had made with their teachers, but he dearly wished he had now. Were they all this tense?

    ¡°You will follow me.¡± Immediately, without waiting to see if his order was being followed, Isaac turned and started walking towards one of the jeeps. The old man was faster than he had expected, doubtlessly supported by a powerful cultivation base.

    Scurrying after the old man they soon came to one of the jeeps. ¡°We will be traveling inside this jeep. Remember it for when we leave, I will expect you and your fellow apprentices to find their way here.¡±

    Isaac turned from the jeep to look directly into Evan¡¯s eyes. ¡°We will begin instruction after we are on the road. I have expectations for my students. Meet them.¡± He walked off, intentions made clear.

    That¡­ was an experience. Throughout it all, the man had seemed patient, his quick pace demonstrative of his cultivation rather than his irritation. Evan liked him already, despite how demanding he had been.

    One of his concerns had been that the military intended to stretch out his education, ensuring he would be unable to meet the certification goal of two years. Thankfully, that idea now seemed far-fetched. How good his teacher was had yet to be seen, but at least he seemed proactive about his education.

    He was excited to learn, to finally understand more about imbuement and how it worked, and the wait was killing him now that the opportunity was so close.

    Who would his fellow apprentices be? The military had already shown it was willing to play favorites depending on how much talent one had, did the same thing occur when their instructors were selected? He hadn¡¯t paid much attention to the others, but Isaac seemed different than the others. Stronger, and more respected.

    The sheer presence of Isaac hadn¡¯t been something he noticed with the others, but had he just not been paying attention? Maybe it could be controlled, and only Isaac was choosing to release it? That would make a little sense, as Isaac was his instructor and not the others.

    Questions such as these continued to rattle around inside Evan¡¯s head as he wandered around the rest of the convoy. He didn¡¯t seem to be under watch, which wasn¡¯t unexpected but still something he had looked out for. Even those on watch seemed rather relaxed.

    Nobody approached Evan and asked what he was doing, though he did get some strange looks every now and then. He wanted to ask someone when they were leaving, but he just couldn¡¯t bring himself to do it, not wanting to seem impatient. Even knowing everything he did and having signed to be here for the foreseeable future, he was nervous and wanted to make a good impression.

    It was silly, but seeing the difference between the convoy and the people coming and going at the gates made him feel like he was around the bigshots. Evan didn¡¯t belong with the bigshots. Not yet.

    Part of him wanted to go looking for his instructor, but Isaac didn¡¯t seem the type to chitchat, especially not with someone he didn¡¯t even know yet. For all he knew, Evan could be the least talented among Isaac¡¯s students, or Isaac could have an issue with teaching someone like him.

    Ah, now he was worried again. He decided to just wait near the jeep Isaac had pointed out ¨C he didn¡¯t see Isaac, and perhaps he would appreciate the punctuality. He wanted the front passenger seat anyway.

    The first hour passed uneventfully, as did the second one. He shifted position frequently, the sun bearing down on him without mercy, the metal of the jeep seeming to radiate misery. It was worse than usual ¨C he was no stranger to spending the day outside, but to spend so long directly in the sun and next to warm metal made for a bad time, and he felt out of place wandering the convoy.

    Nobody else showed, much to his dismay, which he found surprising. It was normal for him to spend most of his day alone, only ever interacting with others in brief exchanges as he looked for advice or odd-jobs a kid could do. Yearning for company was different, but he supposed he was also usually occupied going somewhere or doing something, seeing others as an unwelcome distraction.

    Now, he would gladly take such a distraction. It was boring just sitting around doing nothing and would take his mind off how unpleasant it was to be in the sun for so long if someone showed up.

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    Alas, it was well into the afternoon by the time he spotted a change in the convoy. In that time, he had eventually moved to and from the jeep several times, but still managed to be near the jeep by the time everyone started moving. Finally!

    It took a little longer for the entire camp to rouse, but eventually, people started streaming towards the jeeps and the drivers got into their trucks, now fully loaded ¨C something that had been ongoing throughout the day. He spotted Isaac making his way towards him, but he was quite far from their vehicle.

    Things were a little chaotic, but he also spotted what seemed two others headed his way ¨C those must be his fellow apprentices under Isaac. Was there really only three of them, or were the three of them just the ones allowed to travel with Isaac? Something to ask.

    Despite Isaac¡¯s cultivation allowing him to easily outpace the others, he was the last to arrive. It gave him a chance to study the others.

    The first to arrive was a beautiful young woman with long, straight blonde hair. She was taller than most women Evan had seen ¨C only slightly shorter than Isaac. As she approached, he could see curiosity sparkling within her ocean-blue eyes, but she refrained from saying anything. Evan remained silent himself, switching his attention to the other approaching apprentice.

    The newcomer was male and walked with a confidence that Evan rarely felt. Possessing a stout constitution, they were fit and possessed short-cut, brown hair that fit right in with the sharp gaze his green eyes seemed to radiate. Evan met his gaze calmly ¨C he might not always feel so confident, but he had his own pride.

    A grin spread across the newcomer¡¯s face ¨C Evan sighed internally. He knew the type; always looking for another peak to climb. The male was the same age as Evan, and while shorter than him, seemed to tower over others with his bearing.

    Once they got close enough ¨C but not quite close enough for a room-volume conversation ¨C they called out to Evan.

    ¡°Hey! What¡¯s your name? I¡¯m Arnav. And who¡¯s your friend?¡± He nodded at Evan before shifting his attention to the woman.

    Before he could speak up, she introduced herself. ¡°It¡¯s Iliana Brewer. Nice to meet you Arnav. Are you both also studying under Master Isaac?¡±

    Evan introduced himself. They might be working together for years to come. ¡°I am. My name is Evan. Do either of you know anything about him?¡± From the way she had mentioned Isaac, it made him think that perhaps the man had a reputation. He also noticed that both of them were better dressed than himself and had arrived before him if they knew to head towards this particular jeep. Neither of them acted like someone grasping a distant hope ¨C they had purpose in their actions and seemed more settled.

    Having heard his question, they both fixed him with a curious glance, as though he had just asked what color the sky was. Was Isaac so well known? He had never heard of him, and he had spent quite a lot of time among crafters.

    Arnav spoke up first. ¡°You don¡¯t know who Master Isaac is? You¡¯re one lucky bastard, then. He¡¯s one of the better teachers in the military, and most of his students end up graduating. Did you just end up with him by luck, or are you messing with us?¡±

    ¡°Ah, well, no. It was just luck ¨C does it really make such a difference, though? When I met him, Master Isaac did seem like a proactive teacher, but does that really make much difference?¡± It had been one of his fears, that his time training would be stretched out, but he mostly thought it would be the fault of the military, not his instructor. Was that not the case?

    Iliana responded this time, a complex emotion on her face that Evan couldn¡¯t make out. ¡°Yes, it matters! Some of the ¡®teachers¡¯ in the military do everything they can to drag out the apprenticeships, and it¡¯s mostly left up to them how they teach.

    ¡°So, of course, some of them just don¡¯t ¨C they get paid regardless, depending on how many students they have. They don¡¯t get to choose all their students, so it would be ¡®unfair¡¯ to ¡®punish them for bad students¡¯.¡±

    ¡°That¡­ makes a sad amount of sense.¡± Evan huffed, a current of fear passing down his spine ¨C the fear of realizing he had dodged a bullet he didn¡¯t know existed. ¡°Well, lucky me I guess.¡± He grinned; both for effect and in happiness that for once, his luck had carried him through.

    By now, Isaac was nearing them and all conversation was stalled ¨C it would be rude to talk about Isaac behind his back, and foolish to do so right in front of him.

    Instead, he mentally reorganized his impressions of Arnav and Iliana. Before speaking with them he would have made Arnav out to be a musclehead ¨C someone destined to go out hunting and lose his life in the process, thinking himself better than those who had failed. Despite appearances, he seemed level-headed and more friendly than he had expected.

    His initial impression of Iliana had been more positive, no doubt in part thanks to her beauty ¨C he couldn¡¯t really help it, but being honest with himself was a good start. After having spoken with her, his impression hadn¡¯t changed much, but he found it more justified ¨C she was nice, and just like Arnav, hadn¡¯t tried to lord over Evan with what they knew. He appreciated that.

    ¡°Good. You¡¯re all here already. Get in,¡± Isaac gestured towards the jeep, walking around to get into the drivers seat. Evan quickly opened the passenger side door and climbed inside. Kind words and a pretty face weren¡¯t enough to get him to give up such an incredible opportunity. Nobody raised any complaints.

    The inside was marvelous ¨C a truly new experience for Evan. The seat was comfortable and was made of well-tailored fabric. It was utilitarian, and despite his excitement, there wasn¡¯t a whole lot to see ¨C just like the outside, the inside was constructed in a rugged, dependable manner without extraneous features ¨C though that was just an impression, for he knew little about the insides of such a vehicle.

    In the middle of the vehicle there existed some knobs, but before he could even begin to question their purpose Isaac reached over and twisted one of them all the way up, and tried to twist another all the way down, only to find that it was already twisted as far as it could go.

    The vents began to blow hot air very quickly before settling down and becoming cool and refreshing. It was an air conditioner! After having spent the day outside in the heat, cooking under the sun next to the hunk of metal that was the jeep, the cool air felt positively luxurious.

    It was the first time he had enjoyed such a device, and he could instantly understand why many of the crafters he had met complained at the costs of building and running such a device.

    Such a device was simply heavenly, and he wondered how he would ever go without it again. If only every building could be equipped with such a thing. He knew of them, but had always thought them overblown and barely superior to a fan ¨C something that he had noticed in The Rare Tusk.

    Oh, how wrong I was¡­

    Isaac then put a key he had retrieved into the ignition and turned it. There was no obvious change but for a slight rumbling and some minor vibrations; a slight hitch. It was surprising ¨C Evan expected a professionally made vehicle such as this to have no signs of its functioning, according to what he knew.

    ¡°Is this your first time with an air conditioner? It¡¯s glorious, is it not?¡± The older man grinned, and suddenly Evan felt that he seemed a lot more like any other kindly, older man. Gone was the subtle pressure and disapproval.

    ¡°Ah¡­ I hate being outdoors, but they insist that it would be improper for me to remain inside the jeep with the air conditioning on.¡± All of them just sat there, enjoying the miraculous piece of imbuement that was the air conditioner. Eventually, Isaac straightened back up and placed a hand on the shifter, nestled between the two front seats. On it were several letters in different positions.

    ¡°You three are my newest students, then? You two in the back already know me, but what of you¡­ Evan, was it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sir. Er, no, I did not know of you when we met. Apologies. I am grateful for your tutelage and hope to learn more about you. Sir.¡± Evan was overcome with several different emotions at once ¨C excitement, nervousness, gratitude, and embarrassment just to name a few. The constant ¡®sirs¡¯ were awkward, but he did not¡­ oh. He did, in fact, know how Master Isaac preferred to be addressed. Panic soon joined the previous mix.

    Isaac must have seen all of that in his expression, for he stopped Evan before he opened his mouth. ¡°Stop. Be at ease; I¡¯m not going to have one of my students whipped for simply using the wrong form of address, but don¡¯t make it a habit.¡±

    ¡°Ah, thank you, Master Isaac.¡± At that, the man¡¯s grin broadened into a brief smile. The change in demeanor was unsettling for Evan.

    Silence resumed ¨C Master Isaac appeared to be fan of it ¨C as everyone watched through the thick windows as the rest of the convoy quickly got ready to depart. It was strange how easily he could tell they were being started, considering they were military equipment. From inside he couldn¡¯t hear anything, but imagined they made noise just as the jeep had. Didn¡¯t imbuements only do what they were supposed to?

    ¡°Master Isaac, how is it that all of the vehicles are making signs at being started? Shouldn¡¯t they be completely silent?¡± Evan had decided to voice his question ¨C no time to waste when he had an expert right here he could ask.

    ¡°There are two parts to the answer: first, the inscriptions are all set either inside the metal or on the unexposed side. Doing this has some obvious benefits, only one of which is hiding their activation. We¡¯ll get to how this is done another time, for it is an incredibly important skill for any self-respecting craftsman.

    ¡°Secondly, what you are likely referring too is simply a side effect of the loss of efficiency inside a formation, either from simply bad imbuement ¨C such as from an inexperienced crafter like yourself ¨C or from the decay of a formation over time or from damage; something like that.

    ¡°There are ways to suppress these effects, as they are generally bad news for a multitude of reasons, but they are also a boon in that they allow anyone to spot the inefficiency and have it addressed, whether that be a craftsman fixing it themselves ¨C something you will be doing soon enough ¨C or taking it somewhere to either have replace or fixed.

    ¡°In this particular case, what you are seeing is a result of the way the vehicles are constructed. None of them use pure force effects for propulsion through imbuement, but rather use another method where the imbuements only release the energy which is then harnessed mechanically in order to move the vehicle.

    ¡°It¡¯s a lot cheaper to do it this way rather than imbuing the entire vehicle, not just in construction but also in the Substance required. Substance than can be used to generate pure force without some physical means is rare and expensive.¡±

    Isaac took a deep breath ¨C that was far and beyond the most words he had ever heard the man speak, but already he could see that the man was a good teacher.

    On the roof of the car was a mirror that hung down slightly, and in it, he spotted Iliana nodding, as though having confirmed something.

    In the back, Arnav spoke up. ¡°Master Isaac, what do you mean by saying that¡¯s what we¡¯ll be doing soon? Will we be fixing things so soon?¡±

    ¡°Yes; that will be one of your largest duties at the outpost ¨C none of you have the cultivation needed for crafting things wholesale, and won¡¯t for a while, so you will be expected, both by the outpost and myself, to contribute by fixing things as they deteriorate. You¡¯re still getting paid, even if it¡¯s a pittance, and Starspire needs something to show for it.

    ¡°I personally find that the hands-on experience does a lot of good for students that haven¡¯t done much imbuing yet. Quality crafting requires a lot of know-how that just doesn¡¯t tend to stick until it¡¯s been applied in the field, and the variety of formations you¡¯ll get to work with will do you all a lot of good.

    ¡°It¡¯s also important that you do this in order to earn enough money to start buying small quantities of Substance ¨C this brings me to something more important for you all to know: the certification you require in order to ¡®graduate¡¯ from me won¡¯t truly be possible until you have more bandwidth to play around with, and the only reasonable way to pay for that is by doing all the jobs you can around the outpost.¡±

    After having dropped that bomb, everyone was stunned into silence, thinking about what that really meant for them. Evan was relieved ¨C he had been worried about how he would accomplish anything without being strong enough for his creations to be viable or useful, and it seemed the military was already prepared for this.

    He was also glad that the trap hidden in the graduation section of the contract had been revealed ¨C they were so generous because they knew that in order to actually obtain the rest of the Substance, he would need to work his ass off anyway, and might not even end up needing it ¨C it was only good for getting him past his first collapse, after all. It had seemed to him that the terms were a little too generous considering how expensive Substance was, and that they were encouraging training that primarily benefitted him anyway.

    Knowing why they had been so generous greatly comforted him ¨C that contract had felt like a sword of Damocles ever since he signed it ¨C filled with hidden dangers that loomed over him at all times.

    Nobody else spoke up after that, and everyone simply waited within the cool confines of the jeep as, finally, the vehicles began to move. Evan was filled with wonder as he watched the trucks, now loaded down with countless supplies, began to move forward just about as easily as the jeeps, who were themselves quite heavy considering their metal construction.

    Obviously, there was no visible strain, but it was amazing all the same. Their acceleration was smooth and seemed almost completely silent from inside the jeep. Isaac lightly pressed down on something by his feet and they were off.

    Quickly, the convoy entered a narrow formation as they began to move down the well-trodden path. For the moment there was plenty of space off to the side of the road, the forest having been pushed back more than a kilometer from the city, but as the road entered the woods proper that changed.

    The road was still quite wide in order to help facilitate the enormous quantity of people that passed through the gate every day, but the convoy was not alone on the road.

    Silence reigned for the first hour of their trip, with Evan content to keep the silence as he gazed out the window, watching a more typical assortment of coaches, carts, and carriages as they made their way past. The convoy had picked up speed but were not racing down the road like he expected.

    It felt like a missed opportunity to Evan, but he could understand that the road wasn¡¯t exactly built to accommodate such massive, heavy, and powerful vehicles.

    Iliana eventually restarted the conversation, asking a few questions of her own about Substance, each of which Isaac answered well. He was impressed, and as they all rotated their questions, time seemed to blur and before they knew it, the outpost had come up in the windshield.

    As previously mentioned, despite all of these bases being called outposts, the ones closer to Starspire ¨C such as this one ¨C were closer to fortresses in their size and scale. The healthy conversation that had easily flowed for hours was paused as the three of them took in the grandeur.

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 8

    The outpost almost appeared as a miniature version of Starspire ¨C it had high walls, no doubt heavily imbued, and countless carts, cars, and people making their way through the thick, massive gates. Only the nature of the traffic differed greatly, with most of it being more military in nature, but there was plenty of civilian traffic as well.

    On top of the walls were countless soldiers on patrol, some carrying guns ¨C a rare sight. At the gates, the lines moved more slowly than Starspire itself; perhaps indicative of a stricter bar to entry.

    As they approached the walls he noticed a side gate that was far less busy than the others. That was where they were headed, and before long the first vehicles of the convoy reached it. He expected at least some holdup, but after waving some identification outside the driver side window the gate was raised and the vehicle trundled forward.

    This continued in the same manner, so Evan shifted the conversation in a new direction. ¡°How long will we be staying here?¡±

    Isaac answered, cutting Arnav off before he could begin. ¡°It depends. You¡¯ll all be with me from start to finish unless I dismiss you,¡± he glanced at Evan, a grin on his face, ¡°but that very rarely happens. I have a reputation ¨C one that I will ensure you all uphold ¨C and so it is very possible we will be called to an outpost that¡¯s understaffed.¡±

    After a moment, he added to that, ¡°That won¡¯t happen for many months to come though ¨C none of you are very useful just yet. Later, that¡¯ll change.¡±

    That seemed to offend Arnav somehow. ¡°What do you mean we won¡¯t be useful? Won¡¯t we be fixing things to get practice?¡±

    ¡°Well, yes, but between your lack of Substance and deficit of skill, nothing you fix will be very valuable. Mostly, it¡¯ll be sold as second-hand goods at the end of its rope. Nothing you fix will work very well, or last very long.¡±

    Isaac waved his free hand ¨C he was only driving with one ¨C to feign indifference.

    ¡°Don¡¯t take it to heart. Everyone starts somewhere, and most of what you fix would be destined for scrapping otherwise. That¡¯s how you¡¯ll earn money ¨C this isn¡¯t part of your standard duties. Not only will you be fixing these things to earn a quick buck, but you¡¯ll also be buying them in the first place. Learning how to identify what can and can¡¯t be fixed is just as important as anything else, and wasting your time and money will motivate you.¡± He seemed quite proud of his methods.

    Wasn¡¯t Master Isaac supposed to be one the better teachers? This didn¡¯t seem very nice¡­ but he could see how it helped to motivate. Nobody liked losing money ¨C least of all himself.

    In the hours since they had departed, everyone had grown more comfortable with each other. Isaac ¨C the master part was hard ¨C seemed far more laid back than he had expected a military instructor to be, but he was also much older. He hadn¡¯t expected an instructor who looked to be close to retiring, but was glad for it.

    The man had a reputation for quality and reliability it seemed, and while he valued it, he did not seem to care much about propriety. He hoped that wouldn¡¯t come back to bite them, as Master Isaac was surely an outlier in this.

    Evan was surprised to find that he was genuinely looking forward to his instruction under Isaac. Before, he had been excited to learn, and felt pushed to improve for the sake of his future. Now, after having gotten a taste of Master Isaac¡¯s teaching, he wouldn¡¯t have it any other way.

    He hadn¡¯t had the opportunity to speak with his fellow apprentices during the trip, not in any significant or private way, but just being part of the discussion with them had let him get to know them better, and them him.

    They seemed like a decent sort, and he found himself enjoying their company. Already they shared a common affiliation ¨C both the military and Master Isaac ¨C so he felt that it wouldn¡¯t be a waste to get to know them better.

    As the gate loomed large, Isaac twisted the crank on his door in order to roll his window down before awkwardly reaching into his pockets and retrieving a worn-looking badge.

    Despite having little interest in the mechanical design of the car, Evan found it incredibly impressive. It couldn¡¯t hold a candle to the air conditioner of course, but was neat regardless.

    ¡°Master Isaac, you said before that much of the car works on simple mechanics, and that imbuements only provide power. Is that how most larger imbuements work?¡± He hoped not ¨C just imbuing seemed like a lot to learn.

    Isaac thought about this for a moment, waving the badge outside the window shortly before they passed the gate.

    ¡°Mostly not. The cars are mostly mechanical because it saves on costs, and greatly reduces the logistics of their construction. For things produced on an industrial scale, these are important things to consider.

    ¡°For an individual crafter, though, it matters less. Mechanical design is a field of its own, and a good enough crafter can out-perform all the benefits a mechanical design can bring to the table simply with their cultivation and skill. Cultivation is also a pyramid ¨C as you move upwards, there are fewer and fewer people at the same level. So stronger crafters are much rarer than weaker ones, and this is reflected in their prices and wares.

    ¡°At the upper levels, it is the crafter¡¯s time that is so expensive ¨C not the materials or Substance, typically. Customers want the most out of their products, and at that point, more imbuement is the way to accomplish that.¡±

    As Evan processed that, he let out a sign of relief. He had already committed to climbing the so-called ¡°pyramid¡±, so it was nice to know he could focus his efforts solely on what interested him.

    By now they had passed some ways from the gates, and along the way Evan couldn¡¯t help but be given the impression of a beehive. People ¨C mostly soldiers and adventurers ¨C were scurrying every which way as they moved between warehouses or small, utilitarian buildings.

    Signs were hung up all over the place, pointing towards different places where one could sell beasts, or plants, or ¨C and this was what he committed to memory ¨C imbued objects. Another sign pointed toward various offices, such as the requisition office, registration office, or a multitude of different offices were requests could be registered or issued, such as specifically for adventurers, crafters or mages.

    That wasn¡¯t it though ¨C there were also places for merchants large and small, shops, and more mundane craftsman such as blacksmiths, fletchers, carpenters, or even butchers and wheelwrights.

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    All of these buildings were built to similar sizes but unique in their own way, with various signs and decorations. The roads were smooth, sturdy, and clean ¨C no doubt the work of mages.

    Despite all of this, there was an order to everything ¨C soldiers marching along their routes, merchants obediently following the roads, and adventurers respectfully hurrying along. Even the construction was orderly, with wide roads and carefully sized buildings.

    It was marvelous ¨C far and away from the discord seen almost everywhere in Starspire. Why wasn¡¯t it more like this?

    Their car ¨C the jeep ¨C orderly made its way to an unloading zone reserved for the military, and Isaac popped his door open, motioning for them to do the same.

    Exiting the vehicle, he gently closed the door behind him and set foot on the smooth road underneath him. Isaac moved around to the back with practiced efficiency and popped a latch, opening the trunk.

    Inside were several bags, all of them bulging and overfilled. They looked heavy.

    ¡°Welcome to Fool¡¯s Hope! Now, I will leave it to the three of you to determine who carries what. Let¡¯s get moving!¡± With a far too smug look on his face, the man swiftly twirled on his feet, suddenly much more energetic than he had been before.

    Then, he started walking away at a brisk pace.

    Evan, Arnav, and Iliana shared a look, and before anyone could say anything, Evan grabbed what looked to be the lightest bag, made a show of it occupying both of his hands, and rushed off after Master Isaac.

    ¡°Right away, Master Isaac!¡±

    He didn¡¯t look back, even as they rudely mumbled curses and complaints behind his back.

    Rude.

    ***

    It took a solid half hour to arrive at their lodgings, making Evan thankful for his foresight ¨C Arnav and Iliana looked to be quite worn out already.

    Thanks to his brisk load, he had plenty of stamina remaining to read the signs and look about as they walked, barely keeping pace with Isaac. According to the signs, they had entered the civilian division¡¯s part of the city, and recently entered the workshop area for crafters dealing with Substance.

    Before them loomed a large, three-story building in good condition, if a little uninspiring. It was made out of some sort of stone, just as most of the buildings were, and had a nearly flat roof. Near the top, the third floor, there were windows, but they were blocked by closed curtains inside. Isaac stopped near the entrance, forcing the rest of them to stop just behind him.

    ¡°It¡¯s not the best place I¡¯ve ever stayed, but I suppose it will do. It had better be stocked!¡± He seemed unimpressed, but the structure seemed quite spacious to Evan, even if it was a little sparse of decoration. It was one of the bigger ones in the area and was even a story taller than most of them.

    Isaac told them to stay where they were while he went to get the keys, walking off in a different direction than the one they had come. Evan just patiently waited, while Arnav and Iliana caught their breath and sent him malignant stares.

    None of them seemed very happy with him, but if you snooze, you lose! He felt no shame ¨C in fact, while he wouldn¡¯t admit to anyone, he actually felt a small measure of glee and pride in deftly avoiding the labor.

    Their agitation evidently wasn¡¯t enough for them to start berating him openly, and without Isaac to draw them into common conversation, they sat in silence for around a quarter of an hour before Isaac returned, keys in hand.

    Walking right up to the door without stopping, he explained the basic layout of the house as he unlocked the door in singular, deft movement.

    In his explanation, he mentioned that while he had never stayed in this particular building, the military typically built things in a common, organized way. The ground floor contained the actual workshop, both where they would be working and where the objects they were imbuing would be stored.

    Above that, the second floor was entirely relegated to a sort of warehouse for Substance ¨C the most common Substances they would be working with would be stored there, usually accompanied by smaller areas where they could keep those needed for unique or rarer orders as needed.

    Finally, the topmost floor, the third, was where their personal quarters would be, along with a bathroom for each of them and a larger, shared kitchen and common room.

    It was all far more lavish than anything Evan had ever dealt with, and a far cry from the conditions he had expected. Evan had personally never had a private bathroom or bedroom, and what space was shared was between so few people it might have as well also been private.

    Astonished, he looked to his companions and realized that neither Iliana or Arnav treated their accommodations as anything but common ¨C expected, and not worth mentioning.

    Dutifully following Isaac into the building, he found that the man had been correct, and was surprised when the man flicked a switch by the door, illuminating the room through sections of the ceiling that suddenly began to glow softly but steadily.

    Truly, Evan was constantly finding himself on the backfoot these past few days, shown incredible displays of magic and wealth so quickly he almost found himself dizzy.

    It was exhausting.

    No rest for the wicked, right?

    Even Arnav and Iliana seemed surprised by the lights, looking expectantly at Isaac. Isaac noticed ¨C and almost expected this reaction ¨C and promptly explained.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get used to it. Fool¡¯s Hope has much better conditions than most outposts thanks to its proximity to Starspire. A lot of trade and military personnel come through Fool¡¯s Hope, but further out you can come across outposts with only a dozen men manning them, and while those near the border are highly populated, don¡¯t expect anything close to the luxury found here.

    ¡°Even here this luxury isn¡¯t free ¨C we are expected to maintain the lights ourselves, and we are only allowed to stay here thanks to my own reputation, rank, and because I have the three of you in tow.¡±

    Iliana asked, ¡°Master Isaac, is that why our building is so much larger than the others?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± He started to say more but caught himself. Then, he launched into another long-winded explanation about some ground rules for the workshop and the building in general.

    Mostly, this broke down into not being wasteful ¨C as laidback as he was, Evan couldn¡¯t forget that at the end of the day, Master Isaac was a military man, who wouldn¡¯t have stayed in the service for so long if he didn¡¯t truly care for it. It was easy to forget.

    Further, the workshop should stay tidy, and other such frankly embarrassing instructions. Once that was out of the way, he began to instruct them on how to go about their business in the outpost ¨C things such as requisitioning Substance or imbuement materials, and the difference between a requisition and a personal purchase.

    Where they could go to accept requests, once they had the ability to fulfill them, and where to purchase or pick up things, such as daily necessities or the broken and decaying imbued objects he wanted them to work with. Master Isaac told them these were essential things to know, and that they would mostly stay the same no matter which outpost they found themselves at. Knowing where to go, the signs should do the rest.

    All of these explanations took hours, interspersed with breaks as they all wandered the building, learning the layout and the specifics of it¡¯s construction. In particular, the workshop was very open, with little dividing walls but for where the materials were stored and as a method of marking off individual stations.

    This made sense ¨C the building was explicitly marked for instructors, who would likely want easy access to all areas of the workshop in order to keep an eye on their students and teach in a group setting.

    On the second floor, where Substance was kept, he found that it was far more secure than the rest of the building, featuring it¡¯s own locked door, imbued for toughness, and constructed out of thick metal. Substance was expensive, even for the military, and quite a bit should be stored inside¡­

    Evan and the others weren¡¯t even allowed a key for the door, even though Isaac had given them one for the front door and their quarters. Isaac said that would change once they had time to settle into the military ¨C but who knew how long that would take? He was disappointed, but understood the reasoning.

    Finally, the third floor was just as described, though the rooms were more generous than he had imagined. Once they got that far they broke for dinner, which was awkward until Isaac continued his lecturing.

    After even that, Master Isaac told them they would reconvene in the morning when they would get to really start learning crafting, even if it would mostly be lots of textbooks for some time.

    They did manage to extract a promise from him that they would be putting their lessons to practice soon ¨C maybe even within the week. Evan looked forward to it.

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 9

    The following day Master Isaac did just as he said he would, waking Evan and the rest up at the crack of dawn to follow him back into the labyrinthine roads and alleys of Fool¡¯s Hope. He introduced them to all of the places he mentioned yesterday, demonstrating the signs, ensuring they would be unable to get lost or confused, and at the requisitions office they were saddled with several books each.

    One of those books was much thicker than the others, titled as a beginners guide to learning the language of inscriptions. The others were about common practice in crafting, another more specific to formations, and finally one containing various blueprints on different standard equipment in the military.

    All of them were warned off from selling the books or sharing the information contained within, including making copies. Once they had left Master Isaac explained that aside from the blueprints, none of the information mattered much, but that it was best to develop the habit early ¨C crafting knowledge was hoarded very dearly, and it could be considered one of the most valuable things a crafter could ever sell or pass down.

    He sounded quite haughty as he told them that, no doubt thinking about how he would be passing down some of that ultra-valuable knowledge and experience to them.

    Once they got back to the workshop, or perhaps home, Master Isaac went straight into lecture mode, explaining a few things before they delved into the books.

    ¡°Before I let you all return to your rooms and start studying, I wanted to explain a few things first. First off, while those books are for military use only and contain some more valuable information, never expect what is written to be the full story.

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to get into the reasons ¨C you¡¯ll quickly discover them for yourselves ¨C but it is important to mention it beforehand. Next, I wanted to inform you all a little more about how I teach. I take great pride in my students, and demand excellence in return for all the things I¡¯ll be sharing with you in the future.

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to quiz you or such, but you should always craft to the greatest standard you are able, for I will be inspecting your work on occasion and, of course, often be in the workshop while you work in order to provide guidance and demonstrate techniques.

    ¡°So long as you continue to improve and meet my standards, we will part ways as soon as you feel confident in passing your certification; I¡¯m not going to hold you here or force you to learn ¨C if you can¡¯t do this, we will part in less fortunate circumstances. Always tell me if you have a question or need help, but I expect you to try.

    ¡°Whenever you need new books, or anything else you don¡¯t feel that you should buy yourselves, let me know, and we¡¯ll put in a requisition order. That¡¯s mostly it. Any questions?¡± They didn¡¯t ¨C Arnav and Iliana had already told Evan a little about Isaac and how he operated, and he felt everything he said was fair.

    They were soon dismissed, and he was excited to crack open the books. Each of them had received a slip of paper detailing the order the books should be read in, so he was glad to see that the first contained details on the basics on inscriptions. He had long been curious about them and how exactly they worked.

    ***

    A little over a week quickly passed as the three of them immersed themselves in their reading. Each day they would eat together in the kitchen with Isaac, taking turns on who was to prepare the meal. Afterwards, they would discuss the reading from the day before, and if they couldn¡¯t clear up everything themselves, Isaac would step in to help. Following that, they would go back to studying before having lunch and spending some of the afternoon watching Master Isaac complete various requests. He would explain each of his actions, allowing us to ask questions as he worked, and took his time so we could keep up.

    It was obvious that Master Isaac did all of this for their sake ¨C the orders were always relatively simple repair jobs, and not something he would overwise concern himself with. Evan was touched by the care he showed while he worked, going over each step intricately and allowing us to ask questions, every day, so we could pick up the process quickly. The man was a fan of repetition.

    Several hours after that they would be released and have the day to themselves, but with little to do and being unable to try their own hand at crafting, the three of them would chat and get to know each other better before returning to their rooms ¨C upon which Evan would go back to reading and taking notes.

    Overall, it was one of the driest weeks of his life, even worse than learning at the orphanage ¨C at least there he had other things to occupy his time with. Here at the outpost, everyone was busy, all the time. Arriving, working, or leaving, none of them had much time to chat with a young man new to the military, and most already had their circles.

    The military was slow to warm up to him, and the hunters thought themselves above him ¨C even the young ones of a similar age to him.

    Everywhere he might have been able to have some fun cost money or didn¡¯t interest him, and he felt bad for not taking advantage of every moment to learn.

    Back at the workshop though, his relationship with the others had taken on a new appearance. All of them were bitter rivals, always trying to one-up the other or prove themselves superior in understanding. It was all quite friendly ¨C they actually got along rather well ¨C but it seemed all of them possessed a competitive spirit that refused to admit defeat.

    This surprised Evan, as he didn¡¯t consider himself such a person. Then again, he never really had someone to compete with over anything that mattered.

    Iliana was usually the winner, followed by Evan, but he and Arnav were quickly catching up. The first few days Evan had floundered, realizing that he was a fairly slow reader ¨C he didn¡¯t get much practice, after all. Arnav, despite being the most competitive of the three, seemed to struggle more with motivation than the others, and often left after watching Master Isaac work rather than return to his room like he and Iliana often did. He had asked, but Arnav wasn¡¯t telling.

    After a little over a week Evan was beginning to catch up, getting faster and taking better notes. Arnav had seemed to find motivation in their little competition after they decided the loser would be the cook for the following day ¨C Iliana¡¯s idea.

    That morning, as they all settled in to eat ¨C Arnav had cooked ¨C they tabled the discussion of their readings for more exciting matters. Master Isaac had told them he was suitably impressed with their diligence, and that today they would be allowed to try their hand at repairing some broken swords he picked up.

    Arnav spoke up first, ¡°Finally! All this bloody studying has been driving me mad. Day in, day out, with nothing but studying!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s been wearing me down too, I will be glad to start putting all my hard work to practice.¡± Iliana responded.

    ¡°Ha! Don¡¯t you know it! Now I¡¯ll finally get to show you guys what¡¯s what. Hmph!¡± Arnav sneered, playing up the expression, though he couldn¡¯t hide the grin that soon followed.

    Evan stepped into the conversation, unable to help himself. ¡°As if! The reading is already too much for you, how will you cope with actual work too?¡± He laughed, but he meant well, mostly. Arnav was just too easy!

    As though he hadn¡¯t considered the reading would continue, Arnav lost his grin for a moment, but upon seeing the sparkling eyes of Iliana and Evan¡¯s own laughter, it returned.

    ¡°That¡¯s alright! We¡¯re already nearly done with the first set of books, how many more can there be? I think we should be moving more towards practical stuff from here on out, and I¡¯ll surely outpace you both then.¡± Arnav was still hopeful, but they all knew what they had read, and the books assured them they would never run out of material to learn.

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    The conversation was slightly interrupted as they each deliberated on that. The thickest book, the beginners guide to inscriptions, had taught them the ¡°language¡± of inscriptions was varied and complex. The language itself could change completely depending on the size one used for making the inscription and the purpose needed for each inscription.

    In addition, there were different forms for each character in the language for different dimensions. This meant that for the same character or letter, there were various versions, from two dimensional versions and extending even further than the three he was familiar with.

    Somehow, there were ways of representing higher dimensions when creating inscriptions, though the book didn¡¯t detail on how. All it mentioned was that the more dimensions the inscription extended into, the better the inscription would work, and the more could be done with each inscription. It neatly solved how more complex imbuements still used inscriptions, even on small objects.

    The ¡°level¡± in which you could make inscriptions was even one of the more highly regarded certifications in the guild for some professions. For him though, planning on working larger sized jobs ¨C maybe even a Voidship one day ¨C it didn¡¯t make a huge difference, though the added stability and smaller size would always be attractive.

    Breaking the silence, Iliana giggled loudly. ¡°You think so? I¡¯d like to see it, but I doubt any of us will.¡± Her face showed a predatory grin. ¡°But ¨C since your so confident in beating us, what if we raise the stakes?¡± She paused, as though she hadn¡¯t already decided on what to say.

    ¡°Raise them to what?¡± Arnav was guarded now, aware that Iliana could be tricky. Evan figured having to cook nearly every day had taught him that.

    ¡°Well, for starters, you tell us where you disappear to every afternoon.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­ alright, but what if I win?¡±

    Evan was only a little worried, but he still thought it best if he made the stakes himself. Iliana would throw them both under the boss with little worry, confident as the usual winner. ¡°We won¡¯t ask about it anymore, and- ¡°

    ¡°No no no, I already have the perfect thing in mind. If I win, then you¡¯ll both cover for me when I don¡¯t come back at night.¡± Arnav sounded like victory was already in hand.

    Evan considered this. Typically, Master Isaac didn¡¯t much mind what they did, so long as they dutifully studied. He wasn¡¯t with them this morning, out preparing for their practical lesson today, but he usually was and would know how they were progressing ¨C thus he was quite happy.

    He was also usually with them in the evenings for dinner, but if Arnav was missing¡­ he would notice, and surely ask. What would Master Isaac do? Surely, he would care, if for nothing else than that Arnav would be breaking the outposts curfew. Could they lie to Master Isaac and get away with it?

    No. Even if they could, it wasn¡¯t worth it.

    ¡°No. I¡¯m not going to betray Master Isaac¡¯s trust like that; he might never trust me again or do something even more drastic, like kick me out. How about instead I buy you a meal if you win, your pick.¡± They should have gotten their first pay by now; they were paid weekly. Even if it wasn¡¯t much, it should be plenty for a meal for the three of them and enough left over for some necessities. He only had one pair of clothes, after all! None of the others were worth taking.

    Iliana seemed to take his side in this matter, having the sense to know better than to potentially offend their recently met teacher. ¡°As Evan said, we don¡¯t want to upset Master Isaac. Pick something else.¡±

    ¡°¡­Alright, fine. If I win, not only will the loser buy us all a meal, but as agreed before they will make the next meal. Is this a one-time thing, or?¡±

    It was left unsaid that they probably didn¡¯t get paid enough to buy many consecutive meals for all three of them. Evan figured it was probably okay ¨C he supposed he could afford to buy a meal for them weekly, maybe twice. He planned to win every day of course, but best to consider the worst circumstances ¨C their talent might be leagues above his, and make it far easier to win even with a significant skill gap.

    A gap that probably wouldn¡¯t be that wide ¨C they both seemed competent, even if Arnav seemed to stay a little behind them.

    Voicing this, he grinned as he spoke. ¡°Sounds fair to me. Can you really afford to buy us all dinner every day though?¡±

    Iliana gave her assent, and with their updated bet made they all made their way downstairs, all the way to the workshop, where they spent a little while bickering as they waited for Isaac to return.

    When he did, he revealed six swords all of the same make, and then had them pass the swords around so everyone could get a feel for the weapons, and feel out how each weapon had decayed differently.

    Evan, like the others, brought what he now knew to be soul sense to bear, and looked at the weapon in his hands. It was a common shortsword on the exterior ¨C relatively light and flimsy considering that whoever wielded it would have likely cultivated some manner of strength or speed Substance. Maybe even both.

    The inside revealed a different story, however. Able to see the Substance moving through the blade, he didn¡¯t have enough experience to know the Substance itself, but he did know enough from the books he¡¯d been reading ¨C mostly the blueprints book ¨C that the inscriptions matched a weight and durability increasing inscription commonly used in such swords.

    Obviously, the fluctuating weight of it in his hand helped as well ¨C they had been studying dutifully, but it had only been a little more than a week, much of that spent on learning the ¡°normal¡± size language of inscriptions.

    Turning the blade in his hands idly, he pressed his will towards it as a connection snapped into place between him and the Substance inside. The books he had read didn¡¯t speak much on this connection, but it noted it as a real, genuine thing ¨C not just an impression he had. One day, that might be important to remember, as the connection could be hijacked ¨C such a measure was even used as security by crafters to keep anyone from snooping in on their work, or to force customers to come back to them, in particular, for repairs or replacements.

    It didn¡¯t detail any methods to fight this, as the book was just about common practices, nothing too detailed.

    The sword in his hand had none of this, of course ¨C just an idle consideration of Evan¡¯s. Instead, with the connection now in place, he used his will to feel out the Substance ¨C an alternative way of sensing Substance that was independent of the constraints of his soul sense, and the only way to sense the intent inside and attempt to understand its purpose.

    Feeling out the paths the Substance took, flowing through the inscriptions on the blade and the intent that guided this, he noticed that there were parts where the intent was broken or missing. The flow was uneven, and even the inscriptions seemed slightly decayed from use.

    In other places Substance that should have been there was missing, consumed to power the imbuement. All of it helped to broaden his horizon, allowing him to understand on a deeper level how imbuement worked at all.

    The Substance, broken down into immeasurable pieces, could each hold a certain amount of intent, determined by talent and multiplied by certain types of cultivation. Intent would hold the instructions and parameters imparted by the crafter, and was each a piece of the whole, too tiny to hold even a single complete instruction individually. Together, all of this would add up into what was called the imbuement ¨C the whole of all the intent combined.

    From instructions such as when, how, if, or where the Substance should move, to the various parameters such as how quickly, for how long, etc. the Substance should follow those instructions. These parameters also included things about the effect produced itself ¨C from how strong or efficient it should be, to where and how it should manifest.

    All of that was to say that there was a lot going on with any imbuement, and it was easy to flaws to come out in all sorts of ways. A distracting thought, an imprecise instruction, and so on. That was definitely present within the sword, surprisingly common, but wasn¡¯t what he was looking for.

    Because Substance was consumed by the imbuement, parts of the Substance inside would randomly vanish ¨C Substance that would still have intent within it. Since each ¡°unit¡± of intent held only a small part of any imbuement, this wasn¡¯t such a big deal ¨C like anything else, imbuements wore down, and they worked not quite as well.

    Eventually, though, the damage accumulated to a point where the whole imbuement started to break down and was unusable, when it either stopped working completely or only worked occasionally. This was especially prevalent in things such as weapons or armor ¨C nobody would willingly use a sword that could spontaneously become duller, or a helmet that only occasionally protected you adequately.

    This was the case with the sword Evan held, as it would be for all the others. He took note of these damages, appreciating the insight he had gained from looking at only one of the six. Master Isaac was right ¨C this was an excellent learning opportunity.

    Several minutes passed as Evan analyzed the sword¡¯s imbuement, finding all the places where the sword had broken down ¨C some parts seemed more damaged than others, and he wondered why.

    ¡°Master Isaac, why is it that parts of the swords are more damaged than others? I thought the damage was random?¡± He asked his question.

    ¡°Good eye Evan. This is because damage is more likely to occur in places where flaws from the crafter are present. All the pieces of intent inside an imbuement must communicate, and where these flaws are present, more communication happens or is incorrect in some way. It¡¯s like not knowing what you want, so you change your mind several times. This causes more consumption in those places, as well as throughout the imbuement in general, causing more damage.¡± Master Isaac succinctly explained the reason.

    That was one of the reasons he believed Master Isaac to be such an excellent teacher ¨C he didn¡¯t leave explanations at the bare minimum for understanding. Instead, he sought to teach them why everything worked as it did, which Evan found far more helpful and insightful.

    Happy with the explanation, Evan waited until Master Isaac felt they had all explored their swords imbuement completely. Then, he had them exchange their sword for another to do again, allowing them to gain a more general understanding of how the damage affected the imbuement.

    After all six swords had been analyzed by everyone, he left for the second floor to obtain the Substance they would need in order to fix them. It was finally time to do some crafting!

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 10

    Evan stared at the sword in his hands, thinking about how he would go about fixing it. It was best practice to always have a detailed, well thought out plan before starting ¨C going in without one could, and usually did, lead to flaws and mistakes. Similarly, it wasn¡¯t a good idea to change the plan in the middle of imbuing.

    So, staring at the sword, Evan mentally prepared the plan for how he was going to fix the sword.

    Repairing an imbuement could be more difficult than creating new ones, as a person would need to first add new Substance, taking care not to disrupt the already present imbuement before smoothly adding ones own intent to the new Substance, interfacing with the old intent and taking up the function of the decayed portions.

    This interaction between old and new was an instruction of the new intent, taking up some of the already limited bandwidth.

    Now knowing all of this, Evan once again studied the decayed portions, this time with purpose. After some time ¨C around half an hour ¨C he had a plan in mind, ready to begin.

    Picking up a Substance container in the shape of a small cube, he used another aspect of his talent ¨C the ability to manipulate Substance. Pressing the container to the blade, he once more brought forth his will and forged a connection between himself and the cube. Then, with some difficulty, he formed another connection with the sword, and the final one between the sword and cube.

    Maintaining all three connections was a strain on his concentration, so he quickly tried to tug on the Substance in the cube, the correct mixture already present thanks to Master Isaac.

    Doing so was intuitive, just as his first time crafting had been with the lantern.

    Slowly the Substance meandered its way between the cube and the sword using the connection between them. During this he continued to pull at the Substance inside the cube while guiding it into place inside the sword with the other connection ¨C if he wasn¡¯t careful, he would only damage the intent inside further.

    This took several minutes, and once it was finished and he let the connections snap. Already exhaustion had settled over him. Physically, he was fine. His heart wasn¡¯t thundering in his chest, sweat didn¡¯t crease his brow, and he had plenty of energy.

    Mentally, he felt exhausted. Juggling so many different tasks wasn¡¯t easy, and the whole time there was the constant threat of failure ¨C he could have fumbled the Substance while it was moving or settling into the sword, either of which would be an expensive mistake.

    Spiritually, he felt surprisingly fine. Not completely fresh, but not approaching exhaustion either. Unfortunately, the job was only half done. He would need to get used to this ¨C this was something he would be doing often, and not just while repairing imbuements.

    Looking over the sword once more he saw that everything was in place. The Substance had been replenished, now only missing the intent to go with it.

    Despite how technical the imbuement was, it wasn¡¯t as harsh on the mind ¨C most of the strain was on the soul, his will. Otherwise, every imbuement would take ages to craft as the human mind was not equipped to deal with the way imbuements were done, such as each instruction being broken into pieces over the whole of the imbuement.

    While this was the case, a person¡¯s will was still a part of their soul, and it took practice and active direction in order to lay down a well-crafted imbuement. As such, Even first rested for a few minutes in order to clear his mind and double-check his plan.

    After he felt he could continue, he dived right into the imbuement, quickly forging the link between himself and the sword once more. Then, following his plan, he began to write out the instructions and parameters that he noticed were missing in the sword at a slow but steady pace before forging the communication between his intent and the original. Near the end he was juggling things in order to fit everything into his intent, a mistake on his part. By the time this was done, an hour had passed.

    It all took a lot longer than he had expected ¨C Master Isaac was far quicker, and while the man had told them this would be the case, it was still strange to experience it. Even though he had spent an hour and a half working on the imbuement from planning to now, it felt like no time at all had passed.

    Only the clock on the wall allowed him to see how much time had actually passed ¨C a privilege, as this single-minded focus of crafters was well known to cause disruptions as they forgot themselves in their work.

    Inspecting the finished imbuement, he realized that eventually, the sword would need to be scrapped. Considering what Master Isaac had said, the communication between the two different intents would lead to quicker decay than before, and as it was fixed over and over again by different crafters, all of this would become unsustainable ¨C it would take too much intent just to tie together the eclectic mix, and the strain of this would cause very rapid decay.

    Only if the same person repaired the weapon, ideally the original creator, would this issue be mitigated. Even then, there was little to be done about the physical damage the inscription suffered, slowly breaking down itself.

    Could an imbuement be made without any inscriptions? He didn¡¯t see any logical reason it couldn¡¯t, other than how weak the imbuement would be without inscriptions to take off a portion of the work and freeing up the otherwise needed intent.

    Evan looked up, away from the sword he had just fixed, and realized that he had lost track of everything else while he was working, just as he had the time. Thinking back to their bet, he looked at the others, only to find them still working.

    ¡°Are you finished, Evan?¡± There was no surprise in his voice as he trained his eyes on the sword in his hands. He motioned towards it, requesting to hold it.

    Evan crossed the brief distance between them and handed him the blade by the hilt, careful to keep the sword facing downwards ¨C now that it was somewhat fixed, it was significantly heavier than before, and the weight no longer fluctuated.

    Master Isaac, an experienced and powerful crafter, only needed a minute to analyze the imbuement before speaking again.

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    ¡°Good work, Evan. There are plenty of mistakes, but I imagine it¡¯s a far sight better than your showing when your talent was tested, no?¡± His tone, along with his eyes, showed a deep-seated pride in one of his newest students.

    ¡°Yes, Master Isaac. I¡¯m certain I¡¯ll do even better next time!¡± Faced with the praise, Evan felt a rare brand of happiness ¨C receiving genuine praise from someone whom he valued the opinion of was a rare event for him. Despite the somewhat aggravating way he had introduced himself back at Starspire, Master Isaac had shown himself to be a good, caring teacher who took pride in his students.

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you did so well on your first try, but I suppose you would have had more space in your intent than the original crafter. Inspect the sword again,¡± Master Isaac had him connect to the sword with his will.

    ¡°Normally, when multiple crafters are connected to the same object, they can vaguely sense each other. If this ever happens unexpectedly, immediately break the connection ¨C it is possible to harm someone through the shared connection of the object. I¡¯m preventing you from sensing me, as the gap in our strength would be felt and distract you.

    ¡°Now, pay attention¡­¡± Master Isaac went on to explain several of his mistakes in excruciating detail, until it seemed nothing he had done was done correctly. From small imprecisions in the imbuement, to his methods of communicating with the original, his work was full of holes his master easily picked apart.

    Lamely, he tried to make the excuse that he had to make sacrifices in order to fit everything with his intent, only to be reprimanded that his masters advice already took that into account. Then, he began asking questions about his sacrifices, about what he had slimmed down to fit in everything or bulk up other parts.

    Master Isaac had plenty to say about that as well.

    Half an hour had passed by the time they were finished, and Evan felt embarrassment when he saw Iliana and Arnav staring at them both, listening. They looked more enlightened than anything else, but it was still uncomfortable to have his fellow apprentices watch on as Master Isaac trounced his work.

    At least I get to watch the same happen to them.

    Sure enough, Master Isaac gave them the same treatment as himself, and he wondered how they would decide the winner of their bet. He had noticed while first inspecting the swords that they were all roughly equal in how decayed they were, but that each had decayed differently regardless.

    Additionally, he was surprised to realize that among the three of them, he had the highest talent for crafting.

    Iliana was definitely still ahead of them in reading and understanding the material, and while he had closed some of the gap as he got more practiced with reading and taking notes, it was harder and harder to do so. Despite that, she had made more mistakes than Arnav or him, but had more talent than Arnav, just behind Evan.

    Arnav was a little more difficult to gauge, but for the most part simply lacked the same drive that himself and Iliana shared. In practice, he did better than either of them, but had the worst talent of the three.

    Evan put it all out of his mind as he listened to Master Isaac speak on their mistakes and how they could do better. While he was no longer the one being given advice, he felt it could be helpful regardless and did his best to pay attention to what he said.

    It was only an hour and a half later that he finished, and the second set of swords was passed out. They went through the same motions, only this time trying to implement the advice they were given. It took Evan a little a little longer this time, perhaps another half hour all told, to complete his imbuement.

    One of the critical pieces of advice he was given was that haste makes waste, and that he needed to spend more time on the actual imbuement ¨C just because he could move that quickly, doesn¡¯t mean he should.

    Evan knew better than to rush, but between his excitement and the desire to make sure he didn¡¯t forget anything, he had barreled through before.

    After he finished, he inspected his work, happy with the result. He hadn¡¯t needed to do as much juggling this time around, making an effort to plan around how much space he had for everything. The result looked much smoother, though he still had a long way to go ¨C although making the repairs was simple enough that even someone with as little experience as him could do it, the result was far from great, and it took a lot of skill to do the repairs well.

    Once they were finished and Master Isaac had given them all another round of advice, they were told the swords were theirs to keep ¨C to sell. It could be thought of as an investment, he had said.

    The Substance needed to fix the swords would be paid for by their master as well, though in the future they would be required to foot all of their own expenses.

    Evan was incredibly touched by this show of generosity ¨C the swords had to be worth more than he had ever owned at once, even so damaged, and he swore to himself that he would repay his master twice over for such a gift. It hadn¡¯t even occurred to him how he would go about doing this without enough capital to get started, but the problem was already solved.

    Master Isaac made sure they knew the worth of the weapons before sending them off, telling them that from now on, instead of them watching him, he would be watching them. Practice made perfect, or so he said.

    Evan was surprised at the value of the swords; containing Substance, he had expected them to be near treasures, even in their decayed state. The truth was that while they still held value, many times that of a normal sword, the small amount of Substance and simple imbuement made them affordable to a diligent soldier or successful hunter, as the imbuement made them safer and caused the swords to last longer, helping to mitigate the cost.

    Further, the cost was lower as they were rather easily fixed ¨C even he himself could do it after all, and from the blueprints he had read, he knew that such a sword was somewhat mass produced, the inscriptions doing much of the work, able to be completed by even a mortal with mediocre talent and no cultivation to speak of.

    These were his thoughts as he made his way down the busy road where he had previously seen the sign giving directions to where imbued objects could be sold. He had come alone, thinking that he could get a better deal by himself at one of the privately owned stores instead of selling directly to the military.

    It wouldn¡¯t be possible at every outpost, Fool¡¯s Hope being much larger and having far more traffic than most of them, and it went against the whole point of the civilian division, but coin was coin, and he was still an apprentice ¨C he was sure that so long as he didn¡¯t make a habit of it, the military would never find trouble with him over it.

    Along the way he saw several adventurers carrying satchels or bags filled to the brim or with a cart of various designs, a felled beast carried atop.

    He was unable to see any magical plants, but not all of the beasts were covered. There was a stench, but he was fascinated by the sight of the creatures, knowing that before their death they had been powerful foes, beyond him in every way.

    None of them were monsters, all matching descriptions of typical wildlife found in the forests, although their size varied significantly from creature to creature. He saw several boars, deer, elk, and even a bear, just to name a few. The hunters all looked worn but in good spirits for the most part and were rarely alone. Teams of up to four were common, and most of them wore damaged equipment, some still painted by the evidence of their foes.

    One such team of three was made up by two women and a man, all around his age. Their cart was filled with a multitude of smaller wildlife ¨C squirrels, hares, and foxes. Even a raccoon. Evan found this particularly clever ¨C hunting such smaller animals would have taken a lot longer, and been an act full of frustration, but it had clearly worked ¨C none of them seemed severely injured, unlike many of the others around them with bigger beasts.

    He gave them a thumbs up as he passed them, though they were too tired to notice. As he made his way down the road he kept an eye out for any stores that looked like they might buy his swords, and soon found one.

    The sign out front was titled Steel Arms, and it looked reputable, and from the windows he could see that weapons on display were a nice middle ground ¨C not too high class, but not barrel bin either. He made his way inside, his two swords bundled together in his arms.

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 11

    Evan sulked as he made his way away from the shop, swords still bundled in his arms defensively. When he had entered the shop, he was greeted by a clerk who quickly took him to see the owner, who was a crafter herself, in order to have the swords properly appraised.

    She had taken one quick glance at them before quoting a ridiculously low sum. He had responded that he knew the worth of the swords, and she had simply told him that if he did, he knew the price was more than reasonable. Still, he had refused to budge, and was promptly told to leave ¨C that her store didn¡¯t sell trash like what he had in his hands, its only worth to be dismantled and the Substance stripped from it ¨C a reply that he knew to be an insult, as without an overwhelming difference in strength, the intent would resist any extraction to the point of burning out all the Substance.

    In other words, she had said his swords were worth less than nothing.

    That was how he found himself sullenly traveling back most of the way he came, but he was less effected by the shop owner and more from the fact that Arnav had been right ¨C that trying to sell to anyone but the military with their skills was a fool¡¯s errand, and he wouldn¡¯t be able to make a little extra coin.

    He would have tried again at a different store but didn¡¯t think he¡¯d get any better an offer than what the military should give him. They would be able to easily find a use for cheap, second-hand weapons, but the stores at Fool¡¯s Hope were different. He had known that, but still wanted to try regardless.

    The stores here would cater to hunters or the more wealthy, higher ranked military figures. Fresh off a hunt, it wasn¡¯t difficult to convince a hunter that if they had a stronger weapon or more durable armor, they could bring in more dangerous, valuable beasts or hunt more safely.

    After all, beasts were quite valuable for the Substance within, and after selling them a hunter would suddenly be flush with cash while at the same time, the memory of their life-or-death battle would be vivid within their minds, the wounds still stinging, their muscles still tired.

    They would want something better than what they had, and unless it was their very first hunt and they had no support going in ¨C much like he would have been, should he have become a hunter ¨C then what they already had likely would have been better than the second-hand, mass-produced swords he was trying to pawn off. Even then, why settle for what he had when it could mean the difference between success and failure?

    No, there was no use trying to sell the swords to anyone but the military, at least not until he was crafting his own weapons wholesale. At least this way the military couldn¡¯t find any fault with him.

    Rather than try his luck with any fresh hunters he saw, such as the team with the small wildlife, he could instead save his time for more crafting and accept a slightly lower price than he might have gotten elsewhere.

    It took some time for him to find the right directions, but he eventually found his way to the orders office, which he now knew was where he could sell his swords. He didn¡¯t find Iliana or Arnav inside, likely having already passed by, and found the building to be very orderly; exactly what he expected from the military.

    The room was nicely decorated, and most of the room was taken up by a series of clerks in the back, thin separators ordering them into individual lines where people stood, waiting their turn.

    Evan quickly joined the shortest, and after a short wait he was able to speak with the clerk. Not giving them time to speak or make pleasantries, he sat the bundle containing his swords on the desk. He had paid attention while waiting and had little time or patience to chitchat.

    ¡°I¡¯m Evan, an apprentice under Master Isaac and managed to repair these swords today. He told me what I should do with them, so I came here to sell them.¡± He felt it was important to mention his teacher ¨C supposedly, he had some manner of reputation, and he hoped to leverage that to be treated fairly. Maybe even better.

    He was also particular to mention he had been schooled on what to expect, so that the clerk wouldn¡¯t attempt to shortchange him.

    The clerk paused, whatever he had been preparing to say forgotten as he oriented himself for a moment before responding. ¡°Of course, sir. Please allow me to check something before we continue.¡± Having said so, the clerk began to shuffle through some documents under his side of the desk, and a minute later, he looked back at Evan.

    He had politely smiled before, but now it seemed more genuine. A few minutes later, Evan was leaving the building, mostly satisfied. The clerk had told him the price would vary depending on the condition of the swords but had given him a range that included Master Isaacs estimation.

    Evan felt secure in that the military wouldn¡¯t try and cheat him, but the price he expected was already on the lower end of the range given, so he felt confident in leaving them with the swords for appraisal, being told he could come back tomorrow to collect the money.

    It rubbed him the wrong way, trusting anyone ¨C even the military ¨C so easily, but with a receipt in hand he felt better. There was no reason for them to cheat a small fry like himself. The money might be a big deal to him, but to the military, it was less than chump change.

    Making his way back to their building was uneventful, but he felt an undercurrent of excitement knowing that his future was finally taking off. Substance was expensive, and he had always known that crafters made good money, but experiencing it was different from hearing about it.

    Those two swords had taken hours, but he was only bound to get faster as he practiced and got stronger. For now, he couldn¡¯t even make proper use of his talent, inefficiently imbuing, but soon that would change. Already he was turning over quantities of wealth he could only dream of before, and while he would only see a small portion of that as profit, it would already add up to more than he could have hoped to make working more mundane jobs.

    Soon enough, he would be crafting things from scratch, and that was where the real money was at. He hadn¡¯t forgotten what he signed up for ¨C formations, but more specifically, larger scale formations for buildings or vehicles. Master Isaac had to even mention them, but after seeing the complexity of even simple inscriptions, he knew it would take a while before he was qualified to try his hand at them.

    Once he was back, he went up to the third floor and found Iliana and Arnav waiting for him at the table, eating dinner. It was getting late in the day now, but there was still one more thing to settle; the wager. He fixed himself a plate and sat down himself, thanking Iliana who had made it.

    ¡°Where is Master Isaac?¡± He asked, as the man would usually eat with them.

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    Iliana responded, ¡°He ate earlier, said he had paperwork to do.¡± Silence reigned as the other two finished eating and waited a few minutes for Evan.

    Arnav sounded more than a little smug as he asked, ¡°What were your thoughts on the wager? Me and Iliana have been discussing it and thought it would be best if we decided the winner based on our technique.¡±

    Once he had finished, Iliana spoke up, sounding a little guilty and¡­ ashamed? ¡°That¡¯s the only way that¡¯s fair. You have better talent than either of us, and it wouldn¡¯t be fair if you ¨C or me ¨C won simply because we were born with better talent.¡±

    Evan couldn¡¯t really find any ground to stand on and argue with them. He thought the same, even if it would make Arnav the winner, and his heart wasn¡¯t in it to argue either. The future was too bright for him to squabble over the winner, and he still beat Iliana ¨C she would be the one buying dinner.

    Why did she sound guilty? Even if he didn¡¯t win, he didn¡¯t lose, either. He looked askance at Iliana.

    ¡°That works for me. So¡­ Arnav wins, and you¡¯ll be buying us dinner?¡± He smiled, trying to soften his words, but Iliana seemed to take it the wrong way and sat a little straighter.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll buy us all a meal. What do you want, Arnav?¡± She seemed to rebuke him, as if to say it was Arnav¡¯s choice since he won. Evan knew that; he was just making a suggestion.

    Sore loser much?

    Thankfully, he had more tact than that, and kept the words to himself. He pushed his annoyance down as Arnav began to answer.

    ¡°¡­I don¡¯t know. Master Isaac rarely doesn¡¯t eat with us; it¡¯ll just have to be when the opportunity presents itself, I guess.¡± It was left unsaid they would leave Master Isaac out of this.

    All of them agreed with that, and Iliana left for her rooms. Arnav lingered, scraping at his nearly clean plate. After a minute had passed and Iliana showed no signs of returning, he spoke up.

    ¡°What was that about?¡± Arnav seemed genuinely confused.

    ¡°I think my smile just rubbed her the wrong way, and that she¡¯s frustrated at having lost.¡± He ate for a few more moments before continuing. ¡°You seem to be the one who cares the most about our little contests, but I guess being the worst of us today really got to her.¡± Once more he grinned, but Arnav seemed to type to enjoy the slight ribbing.

    He was proved right as Arnav let a smug grin grow on his own face. ¡°Ha! Yeah, I¡¯m competitive. Crafting¡­ I enjoy it, but all the learning we have to do? Just not so crazy about it ¨C I mean, the language for inscriptions is crazy, and that¡¯s the simplest, most common form of it. I can¡¯t imagine keeping track of several, for different sizes, in different dimensions. Just for part of the process!¡± He huffed, dissatisfied.

    ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for having you guys to compete over with it, I don¡¯t know how much I could push myself. I don¡¯t know how the two of you manage to pour over the books for hours and hours every day like you do. It made me feel just a little lesser, you know? Winning today has really made me feel better.¡±

    Evan felt a little awkward that Arnav had opened up to him like that, but he tried to keep it from showing. ¡°Well, don¡¯t get used to it! I¡¯m right behind you!¡±

    ¡°You wish! Don¡¯t let Iliana¡¯s bad mood make you think lesser of her, it¡¯s not fun to lose.¡± He got up, taking his dishes to the sink before making for the stairs.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you would know!¡± Evan called to him just as he vanished down the stairs.

    ***

    In this manner, two months passed as they practiced their imbuing repairing things. The money they made was less than Evan had expected, but still notable ¨C they eventually grew away from the bets and simply rotated paying for their meals, all of them happy with their progress and eager to share, even Evan.

    During this time, he learned many things about crafting, moving through several textbooks and making great headway towards being ready for his certification. It was still a long ways yet, but he could see the finish line now. They frequently pestered Master Isaac to allow them to try their hand at actual crafting, but he insisted they needed to learn more.

    What they were missing was magic. Imbuing and casting initially felt like completely unrelated fields, but the further he delved into his books, the more he realized he would need to learn at least a little magic in order to excel, especially if he wanted to genuinely craft from the ground up.

    That came in the form of forging and shaping magics, mostly. A proper crafter would need to inscribe countless inscriptions of dazzling complexity into their work, with the complexity only growing as the crafter became more knowledgeable and experienced. While it was always possible to order the inscriptions to be done by someone else, such as a magic blacksmith or such, it would be faster and better to simply do it oneself with the proper spells.

    Depending on others for the inscriptions would also make crafting both more expensive and time consuming. Perfect communication was needed for good inscriptions, and if an inscription didn¡¯t work as expected or needed to be changed, it would necessitate even more downtime as it was fixed or changed by someone else with their own projects and orders. Not to mention the security risk of a crafter spreading their work around.

    As the needed inscriptions got more complex and intricate, eventually a crafter would move towards fourth dimensional inscriptions ¨C or at the very least use techniques in order to imitate such. Rather than continue to inscribe these physically onto objects, creating weaknesses and complications, the superior method was to first create a spirit for the object and carve the inscriptions into that.

    Spirits were a pale imitation of souls, and through a mix of Substance and spells, were craftable much like imbuements ¨C only significantly more flexible in their use, and a great way to inscribe without physically marring the object. Much like anything else they had their drawbacks, but became more lucrative the stronger the crafter was.

    Evan was leagues away from any of that, but the importance of magic in crafting demanded he learning sooner rather than later. Once he realized it would let him become more independent in his crafting, saving money and time, he decided it was a necessity, and that like with everything he had been taught thus far, he would give it his all. He valued his independence and didn¡¯t want to need others to do his work properly.

    ¡­And, if he was being honest with himself, was simply awesome, even if it couldn¡¯t compare to the wonders he would accomplish with Substance and imbuement. If becoming a crafter hadn¡¯t turned out, he likely would have looked into becoming a mage, even if most mages were far too close to combat for him to be comfortable.

    When the day came for them to be introduced to the basics of magecraft, Master Isaac further spurred them on by a small demonstration ¨C utility spells that instantly converted even Arnav, who had been rather lacking in enthusiasm to add even more learning to his plate.

    These utility spells were simple things but could make life so much easier it was unimaginable.

    Cleaning spells, of which a variety was displayed ¨C a godsend, allowing easy washing of clothes, dishes, and even people. Since arriving at the outpost Evan had been required to do more hygienic upkeep than ever before and had since found himself becoming slightly obsessed with it ¨C keeping himself and his things clean had even begun to eat quite a portion of his free time and was always laborious.

    Just this alone had him far more motivated than before, suddenly seeming far more appealing than some fireball like he had previously expected to be shown.

    Next in Master Isaac¡¯s short lineup were temperature regulation spells, mimicking the air conditioner he had not enjoyed since arriving. For crafters like themselves, who placed little importance on cultivation relating to mana, such spells would likely forever remain quite exhausting ¨C something that instantly made him envious of mages. He had never questioned it in the past, but whenever he spotted a mage moving along the streets of Fool¡¯s Hope, they rarely seemed anything but perfectly collected, prim and proper, and thoroughly comfortable.

    His envy was linked to the recent change in seasons. As the months went by it got hotter, and he frequently found himself sweating and miserable as he moved about the outpost.

    Lastly, Master Isaac demonstrated a spell that provided some protection from wind and rain ¨C not as big a deal, and something he already frequently saw, but still convenient.

    All of them found themselves impressed and eager to learn if for nothing than the spells already shown, and Master Isaac escorted them to an office they had never entered ¨C one that had the devices and instructors necessary for testing their magical talent. They were nervous ¨C just like with imbuement, it was possible to have talent so poor so as to not be capable of magic at all, and Master Isaac had warned them of this before demonstrating the spells.

    <hr>

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 12

    The devices Evan encountered inside were fascinating ¨C he now knew that mana and Substance, while capable of similar things, were very different at a fundamental level, and had not up to this point encountered any imbued device that interacted with mana in any way.

    He was allowed to inspect the devices, the staff appearing resigned to crafting apprentices making such a request. They were easily the most sophisticated devices he had ever encountered, easily taking the top spot previously held by the lights of the workshop with their on/off switch. The jeep didn¡¯t count, being mostly mechanical and Evan being unable to properly examine it in any way.

    Simply put, it was more than a simple set of instructions to run an imbuement unfailingly and constantly. Instead, the devices had spaces where mana was stored and contained, a feat that couldn¡¯t be easy. Those spaces, in addition to containing the mana, had various sensors that recorded aspects of the mana as an input, recording the information before outputting it as a light of varying intensity.

    The devices were so complex that they required Master Isaac to help them understand what was what, and it was the first time Evan began to understand why there was such a disparity between crafters of similar imbuement ability.

    It took more than simple experience, power, and talent to be a truly gifted crafter ¨C especially for formation masters. Their title seemed more earned than ever ¨C truly, to be able to conceive of such a device and build it from scratch required ingenuity and cleverness, a different kind of talent altogether.

    Evan knew that these devices were built from a blueprint of course, but someone had to have originally created it and improved upon it in order to reach where it was today.

    He was excited for the day when he would be the one creating such novel designs, even if it wouldn¡¯t be for something like this. The very idea of ¡®sensors¡¯ caused an explosion of possibility within his mind, as did the concept of inputs, outputs, and the storing of information for various purposes.

    It was something he realized must have been a part of the jeep they arrived in ¨C things such as the AC or even the ignition must have depended on similar designs, he just hadn¡¯t been able to appreciate it at the time.

    Awed by what he had seen within the devices, he finally allowed himself to be tested, and was too busy learning the basics of releasing his mana and imbuing it to be enthralled any longer.

    Releasing mana was quite simple once he got the hang of it. Every soul had a reservoir where mana was stored, and by calling his soul into focus he could eventually access it after a few minutes of effort. After that, pulling the mystical energy out of his soul, through the Void, and into the room felt as natural as breathing, if a little strange. That was his first success ¨C some people had such a small natural reservoir that next to no mana could be withdrawn, and judging the reservoir without emptying it was difficult.

    Once released, the mana seemed to instinctively start to spread out, and did so quickly enough that that it had already traveled too far from his soul and decayed into nothingness by the time he tried to do something about it. He was taught that he needed to keep a firm grip on it with his will so that didn¡¯t happen, and soon enough, the mistake was rectified ¨C but not without penalty. Even after withdrawing such a small amount, his soul already felt uncomfortably empty. It was disheartening, and he was careful not to let the mana stray far from him. After only a decimeter, a tenth of a meter, it would start to decay. The testing staff gave him pitiful looks.

    Hmph!

    Next came imbuing the mana with intent, an act known as bestowal, which worked very similar to the now familiar process of imbuing Substance, only there was no need for forging any kind of connection ¨C mana was innately and deeply connected to its owner at all times. He only needed to put his will to work in order to imbue intent into it, and the process felt nearly the same even if it was dictated by a different part of his soul.

    Once he had the basics down, they proceeded with the tests. First, he was to completely empty his reservoir and stuff the mana into the first device in order to determine the size of his mana pool. He had already dissipated some of his mana from before but knowing how much he had withdrawn then made it simple to get a rough estimate.

    Next would be the size of his magical domain, the distance from which his soul could maintain his mana. They already knew that to be a decimeter or so and moved on. The density of his mana was recorded during the first test, and so they quickly moved to the intent tests.

    Surprisingly, this required intense instruction and demonstration. It was exceedingly difficult to learn spells from a textbook, and so demonstrations were critical along with an instructor to point out mistakes. Several hours passed as they guided him into forming a very simple but useful spell ¨C light.

    This took so long due to the inherent nature of mana ¨C that is, having no inherent nature. Substance would naturally conform into the effects related to its nature, meaning that even with only a vague idea of ¡®light¡¯, it was possible to create a working imbuement, such as Evan himself did during his test.

    Because mana lacked this, it required a far more solid intent and disciplined mind in order to get the same effect. This was eased by the supposedly infinite capacity of mana to hold intent, but still took quite a long time to get a handle on it.

    After he finally managed to form the working spell, he did as instructed previously. He ¡®slackened¡¯ his will over the mana as the staff prepared timers.

    Evan watched as his mana transformed into a very small sphere of dim, white light, just above his open palm. He watched as he saw yet another unique trait of mana ¨C the ability for the intent within to spread, maintaining itself or even growing as desired or instructed.

    Before his eyes the dim ball of light no smaller than the tip of his finger drew in more mana from around itself and started to grow, becoming larger but never getting any brighter ¨C just as intended.

    He only allowed a second to pass before he lightly exerted control and interrupted the spell, directly stopping it from absorbing any more mana to grow or maintain itself.

    Not much mana remained as they waited for the spell to fall apart, the final metric of his talent determined; the rate at which his intent could spread through his mana. Finally finished with the tests and thoroughly exhausted, he waited for the final results. He wasn¡¯t hopeful.

    A short amount of time passed and, unfortunately, his talent was comprehensively lacking in all areas. Comprehensively, he could be said to just barely meet the requirements to do magic at all, and in one specific capacity he was hopeless.

    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    Overall there were seven pieces to magic talent, listed in no particular order: the size of ones mana pool, the regeneration rate of mana, the size of ones magical domain, mana density, mana decay rate, intent bestowal rate, and intent spread rate.

    His regeneration had been tested while he was taught the basic ¡®light¡¯ spell and was also quite poor.

    Together, these characteristics determined the comprehensive magical talent of a person, and Evan¡¯s was quite low, with some exception to his mana decay rate, which was exceptionally poor.

    Nobody was that surprised ¨C magical talent wasn¡¯t nearly as rare as crafting talent, but it was still rare. To even have a smidgen of magical talent on top of his crafting talent was incredibly rare, even if said magical talent was terrible.

    The others were even worse off than himself, with perhaps a small exception to Iliana, though she had her own problems.

    Arnav¡¯s mana pool, like many others, was too small to test anything else, and had his hopes end there and then. Iliana fared slightly better, but was found to suffer from an incredibly low regeneration of mana, to the point where her mana pool was fully regenerated in a manner of months instead of the days that Evan would need. It was truly unfortunate, as otherwise, her talent was significantly higher than Evan¡¯s, enough to pursue a future in magic if she desired.

    Most people suffered from similar issues, having their hope bashed by one or more aspects of their magic that were horrendously poor, cutting off their future as a mage. Evan was an outlier in that while his talents were poor, his only great issue in magic was that outside his tiny magic domain his mana decayed exceptionally quickly, an easy issue to work around.

    He would make a rather poor mage, but it would not be a problem for him to learn a few spells for utility, and in the future, so long as he dedicated a small amount of cultivation to magic it wouldn¡¯t be a problem to cast the crafting spells. Iliana, too, could look forward to this for more important projects, but would always need to ration her mana.

    Arnav had drawn the short stick, and without sacrificing a significant portion of his ability as a crafter, he would never have the mana to cast even utility spells, forget using the more powerful, complex spells of a crafter.

    It made for a somber moment that they all shared, even Evan, who in these two months had begun to look at them as good friends.

    As they left the office and made their way back, Master Isaac comforted them, saying that magic wasn¡¯t needed to be an excellent crafter, that it was only a supplement that could be easily mitigated with the assistance of others.

    Their master seemed to hesitate before revealing a potential path forward. ¡°In fact, there are ways to augment yourselves without Substance.¡± All of them were instantly interested. Insofar as they knew, cultivation was the only way to increase one¡¯s limits, and even that had to be carefully minded ¨C a soul could only accept so much Substance each Collapse.

    ¡°How would I do that, Master Isaac?¡± Arnav asked, the most desperate of any of them. He could have incredible talents in magic, for all he knew, but for his mana pool!

    ¡°There are expensive elixirs that can do this through alchemy, and if you become strong enough that the lack of magic becomes a hinderance, you would be able to look into buying some.¡± That was all Master Isaac would say on the subject, saying that he himself knew little ¨C he specialized in formations, specifically large-scale formations, and had little knowledge of alchemy.

    It wasn¡¯t his field and was too expensive for him, apparently. Evan actually knew why as well ¨C it was one of the basics of cultivation that everyone learned. The reason nobody would endeavor to become a jack of all trades ¨C the more someone cultivated, the more Collapses they had, the harder it was to affect them, even beneficially, through anything but further cultivation.

    He lacked information on alchemy and what it could do, being far too upper-class for him, but every child eventually asked why they couldn¡¯t just cultivate everything, even mixed Substance they might miraculously find one day. After all, there was no real limit on Collapses.

    The answer extended even further than alchemy ¨C it was mostly taught that it would make even magic less effective, including healing magic, as well as any kind of drug, alchemy or not. Even the needs of the body would increase without supplementary cultivation, requiring more food, more sleep, etc. A strong cultivator required a strong foundation.

    Arnav seemed a little more hopeful knowing there was a solution that didn¡¯t involve hurting his cultivation plan, but was just as acutely aware of how far such a solution was from them as Evan was. However strong one got, they would need even stronger products to use ¨C meaning more expensive, and a stronger alchemist to make it.

    Once they were back home and had lunch, Master Isaac got them all together to begin their magic lessons ¨C while Arnav couldn¡¯t cast any magic, he could still learn for when he hopefully could, and Master Isaac said it wouldn¡¯t be right to teach the others but not him something.

    Nobody mentioned Master Isaac acquiring the elixirs for Arnav or Iliana, as it would be improper ¨C while their relationship had flourished, it was still an official posting and hard to close that distance between them, always feeling that while their master was a good, proper one who took pride in his apprentices, they were still a job that had been handed to the man and had no deeper bond to speak of.

    ***

    As the weeks began to pass, Evan threw himself into the provided magic lessons. Over time he had become more familiar to those stationed at the outpost and was once more able to collect information and rumors as he once did. From them, he knew how valuable magic training was, and that it wasn¡¯t necessarily granted to all crafting apprentices ¨C while magic might be necessary for more complex and powerful imbuements, it wasn¡¯t something the instructors needed to teach ¨C few of them even could.

    It was only thanks to his luck at being apprenticed under Master Isaac that he could even enjoy the free testing of his talent ¨C the others he had gotten to know at Fool¡¯s Hope were endlessly envious of his master, lamenting their own masters. It felt good to be on the other side of the fence for once.

    Soon enough he became practiced at casting a variety of small spells, with most of them requiring large portions of his mana to cast. Iliana was still struggling, unable to cast nearly as freely as he did, a small grudge growing between them for it. This was in spite of his attempts to smooth it over, but he could understand the slight resentment ¨C it couldn¡¯t be fun to watch him succeed where she failed solely thanks to the fact that he practice far more often.

    Arnav was jealous of the utility the spells granted him, but it didn¡¯t get in the way of their friendship. Every now and then Evan would even cast a spell for him, like cleaning his clothes. The relationship between Arnav and Iliana seemed to flourish.

    This also gave him a chance to get used to the flow of spellcasting, and it was strange. Spells were very structured affairs ¨C they did what they were going to do and left him little room for change or control once he cast. He always retained full control of his mana, and so could restrain spells from maintaining themselves or propagating, but that was all. It was much less freeing than he had expected.

    Spells also took enormous amounts of concentration and focus. Not only did he need an incredibly solid idea of what he wanted his mana to do, he also had to account for all sorts of variables pertaining to each individual cast. For example, several of the cleaning spells he learned required him to shape the spell to the object in question, making every cast unique. It made magic a lot less magical when so much hard work went into every spell.

    Master Isaac told him that this was simply a consequence of the spells he learned and his own magical limitations. Far more advanced spells, much like imbued objects, could give more control back to the caster and even take care of the variables themselves ¨C such was a necessity for any aspiring mage, as while Evan was only casting a single spell at a time at his leisure, proper mages needed to form several spells at once, all of them doing countless different things, while at the same time maintaining some awareness of their surroundings and casting the spells as quickly as possible.

    They would of course have all sorts of cultivation to help them cope with these demands ¨C not just for their magic, but also for their minds in order to have the solidarity necessary for forming effects and accomplishing multiple things at once.

    It all sounded very difficult, dangerous, and intensive. While he still felt awe at the fact that mages could do that, he much preferred the style of a crafter. More specifically, a formations master. Why do all the magic yourself when you could just build something that did it for you?

    That sounded much easier as well as safer ¨C and that was his style.

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 13

    Evan stared at the beautiful sword lying before him. He remembered buying it, excited to work on such a nice blade from scratch, finding that he quite liked the look of it. Most of the weapons he imbued were quite plain and unadorned, but this one had clearly been made by someone with an artistic eye.

    Probably not made by a military smith, then.

    He liked it, even though he still wasn¡¯t sure where he stood on the matter of decoration. On one hand, he wanted others to appreciate his work when they first laid eyes on it, even if most would never get to truly see what was happening underneath the surface.

    On the other hand, he was a fan of the utilitarian nature the military seemed to adore. Extraneous things such as decorations tended to get in the way and were commonly overdone, ending up looking tacky and detracting from the product instead of adding.

    In any case, he still had plenty of time to decide. Several more months had passed, and by now he was truly a part of the outpost. His life was much better than it had ever been in Starspire, even if the military seemed too strict at times.

    Picking up the sword, he quickly forged a connection with it and inspected it one last time as he made for the stairs, careful not to hurt himself or anyone moving down the stairs. For the moment he was alone in the workshop, and he knew Arnav was out.

    The imbuement was far better than when he first fixed a sword, and even Master Isaac gave him praise for the care he showed. As he had gotten better at wielding his will and began doing entire imbuements, he found that his talent truly was quite decent. It wasn¡¯t like he was some prodigy though ¨C most of the swords that he got his hands on were mass produced, the imbuement laid down in haste by those without enough talent to truly pursue crafting, but just enough to imbue with a little cultivation backing them.

    It made for sloppy work, and having some cultivation himself meant that his talent allowed him to make superior swords, able to fetch a decent profit. He still lacked the tools or spells to physically change the swords and only dealt in ones already prepared for imbuement, but he was still able to differentiate himself in the market somewhat by specializing in efficiency rather than power.

    That was what seemed to sell the best, at least for these mortal grade swords. That was their actual classification, he now knew. Mortal grade, class zero weapons. Grade represented the general quality and power of both the imbuement and the weapon, while class was determined by how complex the imbuement was. Class zero meant that they had no real complexity ¨C whatever the imbuement did, it would simply do that until it broke.

    The grades were based around the cultivation level the object could be wielded or used by. In the case of his most recent sword, it would be fine for a mortal to handle the weapon ¨C he himself could do so, and his strength was unchanged from when he was a mortal. One step upwards would be grade one, to signify a cultivator would need at least one Collapse to wield the sword, and for this sword ¨C possessing an imbuement for durability and weight ¨C that would mean a cultivation with lots of strength Substance.

    Jumps in grade were a big deal, as each Collapse was not linear. Even only being halfway to his first Collapse, his ability to imbue was a significant margin higher than it would have been as a mortal, even if he never got the chance to experience that.

    Class was less of a demonstration of power and more one of skill. While an increase in complexity required extra capacity to fit, it took skill and vision to create. Class one would be something that had some kind of control built into it, such as the lights in the workshop. Each step forward would bring more control and autonomy.

    He wouldn¡¯t get to explore any of that today, but his studying had reaped returns. Recently, he had finished studying a book on the militaries larger scale formations present in the outposts, and today he was to meet Master Isaac at the wall ¨C for the first time since joining the military, he would fulfill one of his obligatory duties as a formation master and complete maintenance on some of the less important formations.

    Evan didn¡¯t want to be all giddy about doing his job, as he still somewhat resented Starspire for making this his best option, but he couldn¡¯t help it. Working on the swords and other weapons was definitely helping him get better at imbuing, but it made him yearn for more extensive, impressive projects.

    Taking his sword back up to his room and carefully storing it, he caught Arnav in the workshop as he was leaving. It would just be him and Master Isaac today ¨C as their studies progressed at differing rates it became impractical to teach them all at once, and being taught one on one was nicer anyway, so no one had any complaints.

    ¡°Hey man! What are you working on?¡± He asked as he walked over, the small dividing walls hiding his project from view.

    ¡°A bow. And before you start, I know. I just like working on the bows better.¡± The words died in his throat, already preparing to tell him there was just more money in the swords, that they sold better, and were just easier to work on than the bows. It was something they commonly bickered about.

    This was in spite of the strange imbuements they used. Weight was a strange choice, but it was easy, cheap, and it sold. Perfect for the common soldier looking for a slight upgrade, and easy enough even for the still relatively inexperienced.

    Bows were more complicated than swords and had more demands, including a much more diverse mix of Substance of different ratios ¨C his first time fixing a bow had been a pain, and he had failed. Even imbuing was more complicated, requiring the Substance to affect different parts of the bow differently in order to manipulate the draw weight, arrow speed, and let-off. Evan didn¡¯t even know where to begin in order to make an actual bow, and while their additional difficulty in imbuing meant they were a little pricier, they also had fewer potential buyers in Fool¡¯s Hope.

    Archery took a lot of skill and because of everything else, enhancing the durability was pushed to the side. He appreciated a challenge, and had been convinced by Arnav to work on a few just for that, but ultimately just wasn¡¯t worth the effort with their situation.

    Still, Arnav persisted, always working to push his abilities further in spite of his talent, always preferring a larger challenge than a bigger payday. Evan didn¡¯t understand, but even now Arnav was better than him when it came to their imbuement work.

    Arnav loved to mention it, but it didn¡¯t bother Evan.

    Instead, he was always trying to make the most money, and right now that meant fixing or freshly imbuing swords. They were boring, but he wanted to get more Substance before they were inevitably called away further from Starspire. Master Isaac had told them in the past that his reputation meant getting called elsewhere was almost a certainty within the year, and already half of that had passed since arriving at Fool¡¯s Hope. Experience would come with time, and right now he didn¡¯t feel safe enough to pursue anything but safety.

    The man had also said that even if they weren¡¯t called away, he would have them transferred anyway. Fool¡¯s Hope was closer to a military controlled town than an actual outpost, apparently, and too saturated with stronger formation masters for them to have much on-the-job training. Even then they wouldn¡¯t be close to the front lines, but it was better safe than sorry. Evan could somewhat see his point, even if he didn¡¯t like it ¨C he also desperately wanted to work on more important things than whatever he would be tasked with today ¨C something like the actual defensive formations.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    He had no illusions about his personal combat ability. As he was now, he had little ability to resist in any way, and even after saving enough to make a cultivation chamber worth renting, he would be in the same boat ¨C for the moment, his entire cultivation plan was made up solely of crafting enhancing Substance, with just enough auxiliary Substances to maintain his current bodily needs.

    If not for the increased sleep requirement, he would have considered making do with the increased food intake. Substance that reduced the need for sleep was a lot more expensive than the same for food, almost at the same level of his crafting Substance. Given that was the case, he decided to do away with the increased needs entirely.

    ¡°Well, alright I guess. Just remember we won¡¯t be as safe as we are now, okay?¡± Evan decided to leave it at that.

    ¡°If you¡¯re so worried, you should join me for some physical training. I think that¡¯s more likely to save my life than the profit chasing you do. We¡¯re here for the training, and should embrace that while we can.¡±

    ¡°No thanks. I¡¯m fit enough, and soon enough I¡¯ll wear down Master Isaac enough that he¡¯ll teach me some combat magic, just in case. Don¡¯t have the time for all that exercising.¡± He summarily refused. Growing up as he had meant he was fit, but had never been one to engage in much purposeful muscle building. Not enough food to really support it anyway.

    Plus, it was hot outside. He had his air conditioning spells, but his mana was better spent on the cleaning spells. It was a weak excuse, but he had a slight aversion to exercise. With the cultivation of the soldiers, it wouldn¡¯t matter as it might if all the combatants were mortal.

    What good was being in top shape when the soldiers had the strength to snap them like twigs? Outpace their sprinting at a hurried walk? Evan¡¯s time was better spent trying to ensure that never happened, and that if it did, an imbuement always remained between them.

    Master Isaac was expecting him, so he exchanged farewells with Arnav and took off through the streets outside. He already had a vague idea of how to get there, having gotten far more familiar with the streets and side passages of Fool¡¯s Hope since he first got here.

    It wasn¡¯t long before he found himself at the same gate he had entered from. Walking up to one of the gate guards he was soon led to a nearby guardhouse. Master Isaac was waiting for him when he got there.

    ¡°There you are Evan. Come on, I already know where you¡¯re needed.¡± He followed, another guard just behind them, and soon they found themselves returning to the gate.

    So much unnecessary nonsense.

    Entering through a side door at the gate, they climbed some stairs to the top of the wall before walking some ways to one of the various towers dotting the wall at regular intervals. It was the first time he was able to see the forest from an elevated position, the walls too high in Starspire to see over.

    It was beautiful, but in truth not much different from the view he had gotten while traveling. Thanks to the natural growth of Substance in wildlife, the forest appeared almost as a wall from where it started some distance from the wall, just like at Starspire.

    Even from his elevated position on the wall, which was nearly four stories tall, the trees towered above him, coming in at more than a hundred meters tall on average. Their wide trunks told a story of how durable they were, and were partially why the forest wasn¡¯t ravaged for its Substance ¨C cutting them down was beyond a mortals capability, requiring intense effort and large amounts of manpower.

    It was also prohibited ¨C while cutting down a tree could making anyone rich overnight, it was seen as harmful to the forest, a large contributor to the prosperity of Starspire and the lifeblood of the many, many hunters that made their living inside it.

    The canopy was thick enough that within a dozen trees his vision was obstructed, and the trees grew close enough together that it would be easy to lose sight of anything but the nearest trees.

    He couldn¡¯t even begin to imagine heading out into that for a living. Within a few dozen meters you could be lost!

    Traveling atop the wall, they eventually arrived at one of the towers, once more climbing some stairs to the top. There was a large, heavy looking gong along with a mallet standing against it, along with what he recognized at a searchlight.

    There¡¯s no way¡­

    ¡°Master Isaac, is that what I¡¯m to be doing maintenance on? A searchlight?¡± Disbelief and a hint of accusation was evident in his tone, and his master grimaced.

    ¡°Yes. Sorry boy, but this is the best that can be done. There¡¯s simply no way you¡¯ll be allowed to work on anything actually critical to the defense in Fool¡¯s Hope.¡± Sparing a long glance at the guard who had escorted them, some hidden message seemed to be conveyed as their escort handed over a larger cube than he was used too before making his way back down the stairs.

    He realized he had forgotten to ask about the Substance he would need, but thankfully someone else hadn¡¯t. That would have been embarrassing.

    Now alone, Master Isaac continued. ¡°Fool¡¯s Hope is too critical to the security of Starspire, and even if the odds of it ever coming under attack so far from border are minimal, it would truly be foolish to not be prepared for it. It was hard to even get you this chance, so don¡¯t blame me.¡±

    Evan couldn¡¯t argue ¨C he truly did want to work on more important things. Instead, he asked after the gong. ¡°Am I just fixing the searchlight, or am I also repairing the gong?¡±

    At the very least, he hadn¡¯t worked with any imbuements dealing with sound. If he could work on the gong, that would be something.

    ¡°Just the searchlight. Don¡¯t give me that sullen look, it makes you look like a child.¡± Evan ignored his master and stepped towards the searchlight. He didn¡¯t lay his hands on it, having grown used to his ability to forge connections from a distance ¨C the distance from which he could see Substance, which was still only about a little more than a meter in every direction, but it was a start.

    Once connected, he first used his will to analyze the imbuement. It was quite strong, many times his current ability to match. It was also well-built, superior to his own technique in every way, though the difference wasn¡¯t as large.

    ¡°Grade one, class one.¡± He suddenly said after a few minutes. His master nodded, showing he was correct. The gap in strength was more than simply double, and his own talent was quite good, so it being grade one was easy to figure out. Class one took a little more time ¨C while he already knew this from the blueprint, part of his training included identifying unknown imbuements, and he had complied by studying the inscriptions and gauging the intent to figure it out himself.

    There was no way for Master Isaac to know this, but he had already essentially said that their training was what they made of it, so long as they didn¡¯t embarrass him.

    After that, he completed a more thorough analysis of the imbuement, figuring out which portions needed fixing and building a tentative plan for how he would do so. Evan could see why it was so difficult to get him this chance ¨C the gap in strength was large enough that even after fixing the searchlight, it wouldn¡¯t be noticeably brighter than before, and not just because it was kept it in good shape.

    Halfway through his work, Master Isaac spoke up. ¡°I¡¯ve decided. Today I¡¯ll put in a transfer request; this place is too stifling for you three.¡±

    Evan immediately began to sputter out concerns. ¡°W-what? I don¡¯t think we should go anywhere Master Isaac. Wouldn¡¯t it be more dangerous? Less comfortable?¡± He continued giving whatever complaints he could ¨C if the request got approved, he would have no choice but to comply.

    What had brought this on?

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. We won¡¯t go anywhere truly dangerous, but Fool¡¯s Hope is too populated. We need somewhere quieter, somewhere where all of you can properly contribute. Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll still have plenty of ways to make money.¡± The older man nodded, as though everything was already settled. He wouldn¡¯t consider any more of Evans pleading, and silence settled back over them as he returned to his work.

    When everything was said and done, the searchlight fixed to his master¡¯s standards, more than two hours had passed. It was easily the most difficult imbuement he had ever worked with, even if the Substance was somewhat familiar to him.

    It was also the first imbuement he had worked with since arriving at Fool¡¯s Hope that gained its primary purpose from Substance rather than simply being enhanced by it. Up until now, he had solely worked with weapons, all of them perfectly serviceable without Substance, only having certain characteristics enhanced by it.

    The searchlight wasn¡¯t like that ¨C physically, it was rather simple: a ten-centimeter-thick plate in the shape of a circle, mounted in a rotatable frame. It was the imbuement and the many inscriptions inside the plate that both created and directed the light, with a small area on the back with a switch to turn it off and on. It worked on touch, and he noticed the inscription as being very similar to the one that managed the lights back at the workshop.

    Seeing this was an eye opener for Evan, better allowing him to understand how to do this himself after completing maintenance on it. It was different than simply reading the blueprint out of the book ¨C imbuing was as much an art as a science, and words on a page simply couldn¡¯t compare, even with the meticulous diagrams the military provided.

    On their way down from the wall, they met back up with the guard who was waiting for them at the bottom of the tower, before heading back to the guardhouse and returning the cube ¨C the Substance container ¨C and heading home.

    Home?

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 14

    The journey from Fool¡¯s Hope to Iron Guard took more than two weeks, and they had arrived a few days before. Evan was bored nearly to tears several times along the way, and only his caution kept him from wandering into the forest while they were stopped. Only a single day had been needed for Master Isaac¡¯s request to be approved!

    He wasn¡¯t sure what that said about the war. Was his master just that influential, or were the outposts severely undermanned? The request had even been quite specific but was still so quickly fulfilled!

    Along the way they stopped at several other outposts, but never for long. Iron Guard was far less populous than Fool¡¯s Hope, and much closer to the border than he was comfortable with. As they traveled, he noticed the outposts surely but slowly shrink in size and population, and by the time they reached their destination, he was surprised to find only some two hundred odd men were stationed here.

    This was at least partially related to the location of Iron Guard ¨C it wasn¡¯t terribly close to the border, but still some distance from Starspire, in an out of the way location. There were some other problems as well.

    He had thought this would greatly affect his ability to make and sell products, but while there were no shops he could sell to, the military would still gladly accept anything he came to them with, and would make timely deliveries of anything he requested ¨C so long as he could pay for it. His profit margins were affected, but he was already close to having enough for his first Collapse.

    Despite the low margins the military required him to work at, hard-working crafters could still make money hand over fist. He felt like he was burning the candle at both ends, but the result would be worth it. Iliana wasn¡¯t far behind him, but Arnav was taking his sweet time ¨C seemingly completely unconcerned about his rate of progress. He felt that would change once they reached their first Collapse and overtook him ¨C currently, they were all at the same cultivation, but he was eager to pull ahead.

    Once he hit his first Collapse, he would be able imbue at almost twice the strength he could now, and that was when he first reached it. That would translate into many more options when imbuing and let him take his profits to another level ¨C even if the margins were small, when the goods were expensive enough, it added up into a terrifying sum.

    Thankfully, the outpost had a cultivation chamber, even if it was far simpler and less luxurious than the one he had used back in Starspire, and the one he saw in Fool¡¯s Hope. He had no concerns over any interruptions, even considering the more dangerous situation at Iron Guard.

    It was something that Evan had learned about since joining the military but had not yet experienced ¨C beast surges. Not only did wildlife passively create Substance, but they could also extract it from other creatures by eating them. Such an ability was not even exclusive to other wildlife ¨C if a hunter lost their fight, all of their cultivation would be absorbed by the beast, and depending on the cultivation of the fallen hunter, the beast could become a monster.

    That was the difference between a common beast, no matter how strong, and a monster. Monsters had devoured the mind and cultivation of a hunter, gaining massive benefits including the memories and experiences of the hunter.

    Because humans tended to specialize, this would cause a massive development in the beast towards a specific area, even causing their physical forms to change and their Substance generation to differ to better suit their new cultivation.

    These changes were undirected, and commonly lead to an unviable lifeform, but occasionally, they led to a far more dangerous, unique creature.

    Monsters could form from a beast eating other beasts, but the requirement was a large influx of Substance that greatly differed from their own. Usually, only hunters were able to cause that, as beasts would never attack another that so greatly outclassed them, especially in any specific way like hunters would.

    This was how beast surges happened ¨C monsters would attack a human settlement or position, either because they hungered for what looked like easy prey, or because their new memories allowed them to understand that eating more humans was their best path for evolution. Other beasts would follow, either naturally subservient to the stronger monster or simply opportunists. The mixed Substance of beasts naturally included ones suited for the mind, even if it was in tiny amounts.

    Monsters didn¡¯t get smarter automatically from feasting on humans, but most hunters ¨C or anyone, really ¨C of a certain level would inevitably cultivate Substance related to the mind ¨C even if it didn¡¯t truly make one smarter, it was incredibly important in order to keep up as one progressed, no matter the specialization. It was needed to control one¡¯s increasingly powerful body, deal with the sensory information of enhanced senses, think at the speed of high-level combat, and even as a crafter it was necessary for all sorts of reasons: larger imbuements needed a larger working memory, enhanced speed of thought for increasingly bigger plans, and an enhanced memory to remember all the intricacies were just some examples.

    While the speed at which a crafter could imbue increased with their intent¡¯s capacity, eventually a stronger, faster mind would be necessary to take advantage of it.

    Every type of cultivation required a foundation of countless different Substances, and once a beast got their hands on those, they increasingly became capable of higher levels of thought and action.

    Iron Guard was particularly susceptible to these attacks, as the outpost was built right on top of a massive mine ¨C meaning that while only some two hundred men were present to defend the outpost, many times that number lived and worked at the outpost as miners.

    This made the outpost a tempting target for the stronger beasts and monsters that lived in the forest nearby, and there was even a known monster that would periodically lead these attacks, retreating whenever it saw the surge collapsing. Said monster was thought to have eaten at least one hunter specializing in the senses, with the mental cultivation to go with it.

    Despite the military having sent several stronger cultivators to hunt it down, it always managed to evade them, and the cultivators could never stay for long ¨C they both didn¡¯t want to, and had better things to spend their time on.

    Master Isaac thought this was the perfect place for the three of them, as no powerful formation masters were stationed here, and the outpost was in dire need of reinforcements. There were even a few cheers when they arrived! Once they realized their master wasn¡¯t going to be doing anything himself though they weren¡¯t nearly as glad to see them, but still glad nonetheless.

    Two buildings were quickly set aside for them ¨C a workshop, and a communal house far more cramped than they were used too, Evan included. Neither were equipped to the same standard as the ones in Fool¡¯s Hope, and there was nowhere to store any needed Substance ahead of time.

    Whatever they needed, they would have to purchase from the military before they needed it. There wasn¡¯t even much stock already present at the outpost, and what was kept in storage was mostly reserved for maintenance of the outpost.

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    Days turned to weeks as Evan settled into his new normal, and he was swamped with work. Before, much of his work had been his own undertakings in order to earn money, but now he found himself exhausted even before he started on his own projects.

    Said projects had also transitioned ¨C instead of making weapons, mostly swords, he now found himself commonly imbuing more mundane objects ¨C lamps, pickaxes, and even building material for the mineshafts such as beams. Curious about how the miners could afford this, he asked and learned that moving to Iron Guard was intrusive and dangerous, and that what drew them here was that after they met their quota for the day, any more iron they mined would be sold at market value to Starspire, a hefty sum ¨C even if the mine was relatively shallow.

    This was good news for Evan, as his pickaxes were flying off the shelves ¨C figuratively, of course. Like in Fool¡¯s Hope, Iron Guard had an office where requests could be made, and Evan was more than happy to fulfill them. It was also good practice ¨C the pickaxes needed imbuements that let them more easily pierce the rock, and just making them heavier wouldn¡¯t do it ¨C the miners needed to conserve their stamina.

    Instead, he was required to do a rather strenuous task in imbuing ¨C shifting the effect through his intent into something less related to the Substance used. Up until now, he would take Substance that was already aspected for its intended purpose and draw it into his work before imbuing it to bring out that aspect, a rather simple affair.

    This was necessary because while even dirt came with Substance to enhance itself, once it was drawn out and processed, it lost this inherent effect and needed an imbuement to function. For the sake of efficiency, virtually all raw resources would be stripped of their Substance and then sold and used as mundane materials, and any needed enhancement would come from added Substance that had already been processed.

    It was limited of course ¨C materials could only accept so much Substance before intent would be needed for more, but this practice of society acted as the bedrock upon which crafters rested. Unfortunately, Substance aspected properly to sharpness or piercing was extremely rare, since all Substance was derived from either wildlife or unprocessed raw resources.

    Concepts like that just didn¡¯t really happen naturally in appreciable amounts.

    In order to do without, it was possible to use Substance to create less related effects, but it would quickly become prohibitive as it caused the effect to take up far more capacity than it would otherwise, bloating the entire imbuement and causing it to be much weaker. Still, it worked, and for their purposes it was easy enough to use the common weight increasing Substance ¨C to pierce easier, it was enough to concentrate extra ¡°weight¡± at the tip of the pickaxe, while trying to tone down on the actual increased weight.

    This wasn¡¯t a perfect solution, but it was close enough to the concept of piercing and using the weight-aspected Substance was far, far cheaper than buying actual piercing-aspected Substance.

    Even more requested than the pickaxes were the beams he imbued ¨C neither Iliana nor Arnav liked making them, saying they were too big, but Evan took great pleasure in working on such large imbuements, knowing they would be used to keep the lives of the miners secure.

    For the beams, he used the same durability-aspected Substance he had used in the past but threw nearly all of his cultivation into efficiency rather than power, only leaving the beams slightly more durable but long lasting. As a challenge, he also tied in a small amount of light-aspected Substance that would cause a light glow on one side of the beam whenever it was close to running out of Substance.

    He wanted for the beams to also glow when under great stress, or when the imbuement had decayed significantly, but couldn¡¯t manage either. All his attempts took up too much of his intent and were a little too complex for him.

    Despite his own labors, with a local source of imbued pickaxes, the mine was much more productive and eventually a lack of beams became a slight bottleneck in the mine ¨C only Evan was interested in making them, and in their haste, they used normal wood until a small cave-in had happened after the first month, claiming the lives of several miners.

    After that, his beams were even more sought after, and the mining stalled as they waited for more beams to keep them safe. Just unimbued beams weren¡¯t safe enough.

    Mundane wood was incredibly dangerous to build the shafts out of ¨C while Substance couldn¡¯t be found in the air or even most soil, proper underground rock and ore was a different story. Untouched by both humans and wildlife, it was rich in Substance that enhanced all of its properties, including its weight.

    This was part of the reason why miners were rewarded so handsomely, and why their work required imbued tools as well as supports. It was also partially responsible for the price of most metals, as it took a rare breed of men and women who were willing to risk their lives in the depths despite the risks.

    Because the Substance content tended to increase the deeper one went, it was incredibly costly to mine deeper into the ground and required that even the miners have substantial cultivation to rely on, in addition to powerful tools.

    Thankfully, metal veins were quite plentiful even near the surface, so while metal was expensive, it wasn¡¯t a luxury item. At least, not the mundane metal.

    All of this was to say that after getting situated in Iron Guard, he was making more money than ever, despite having far more actual work to do.

    Most of that work was maintenance ¨C on the actual defensive formations, too, which was nice. The walls were nothing as sophisticated as he was sure the walls in Starspire or even Fool¡¯s Hope were. With the beast surges coming so regularly, and strong formation masters in short supply, the best solution was a wall that simply kept the beasts and monsters out while not being too expensive.

    To keep costs down, the wall was partitioned into several different sections, with each having their own controls to turn on or off the formations. Atop the wall were the same devices he was familiar with ¨C a gong, for declaring attacks, and searchlights for keeping an eye on the woods.

    He also discovered that the walls had another formation laid across the top ¨C one that must have been made by someone far stronger and more skilled than himself. It was a reactive one-way barrier that was used to keep any enemies from bypassing the walls ¨C it wouldn¡¯t stop arrows and the like, but anything living that attempted to jump onto the wall would be repelled viciously. Evan wasn¡¯t qualified to even inspect that one, so he was unaware of how it did these things or any of the specifics.

    Still, it was impressive and made sense ¨C even with walls as high as they were, it wasn¡¯t nearly enough to actually stop opponents with sufficient cultivation. Just reaching the first Collapse would make a person several times more powerful in their specialization.

    It was only three weeks into their stay that the first beast surge occurred, and Evan wished he knew more, but anyone not actively participating in the defense ¨C as in, anyone not an actual soldier ¨C was required to stay inside the buildings until the all-clear was given.

    As part of the civilian division, he could fulfill an optional request and stay on the wall for any emergency repairs, but it wasn¡¯t required and was far too dangerous for his blood, and he obediently stayed inside. Even Arnav had decided not to take part, at least for now. During his stay, he had learnt that the surges usually occurred every few months, varying depending on how much hunting was done and how garrisoned the outpost was.

    Hunting was a popular activity for some of the garrison, which somewhat surprised him. Why be a soldier at all if they were willing to go hunting?

    By the time the second month had passed, Evan officially put in a bulk order of Substance, mostly comprised of Substance that was imbuing-aspected, though he also included enough Substance of varying types to ensure his bodily needs wouldn¡¯t increase. There were a few fees, as well as the cost of renting the cultivation chamber for his use, but after nearly emptying his bank account, he was sure he would have enough to bring him to his first Collapse, with perhaps a little left over.

    It wasn¡¯t an exact science on how much each person would need for each Collapse, with the mortal size of each person¡¯s soul varying very slightly, but he could tell ¨C vaguely ¨C how close he was and could tell he was halfway there without even being told. Nor did it truly matter whether he reached it or not; while there was some status in having a higher Collapse, passing each one wasn¡¯t that beneficial, at least not at his level. It would make him more resistant to change, even if those changes were through the body, increase his bodily needs, and very, very slightly extend his natural lifespan.

    The increase in lifespan was virtually nothing for his first Collapse, and would only truly begin to show itself once he had Collapsed his soul around nine times ¨C at that point, his natural lifespan would have been doubled, even without any Substance to slow down his aging.

    Supposedly, it would only get better from there, but records of anything past ten collapses were difficult to find ¨C it seemed that much like crafting, anything more than general knowledge on cultivation was hard to find.

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 15

    Evan released a deep breath as he rested in the cultivation chamber of Iron Guard. There were only a few such chambers in the building at all, and even that was only because the outpost had been around for many years.

    He glanced around at the walls of the chamber ¨C it was smaller than the one he had enjoyed in Starspire but was otherwise much the same. The same drab walls and almost completely empty room surrounded him.

    They didn¡¯t have anything as luxurious as Starspire proper, and much of their food was simple rations ¨C nothing like the expertly prepared meals from before. It felt a little lacking after what he had enjoyed previously but had no real complaints ¨C it had also been comparatively cheaper.

    His purchased Substance had arrived, and he was glad for it. It was finally time to get stronger. Already his mind was filled with all sorts of ideas that he could try out once he had the strength to give it a shot, and he was glad to be able to contribute to his own safety a little more.

    Additionally, his money-making potential should greatly increase, and while he still couldn¡¯t start saving to escape his service, the amount he was quoted would be just that much easier to get a hold of.

    Reaching for the nearby canister, he unscrewed it and allowed the Substance to begin filling the room. It was already sealed, and he had opened the bottle a little more this time.

    With his larger soul, he would be able to cultivate a little bit faster.

    Evan threw himself into the trance of cultivation, sat in a comfortable position in the center of the room.

    Myth ¨C 0.00%

    He ignored the thought.

    ***

    He was close ¨C he could feel it. The entirety of his being felt restricting, as if the body was a vessel that he no longer fit. It was decidedly uncomfortable, but he grit his teeth and continued ¨C there wasn¡¯t much left, he felt.

    ***

    Finally, his soul could hold no more ¨C it was full, and instinctively his soul closed without his input. He could force the issue, but that was a terrible idea for obvious reasons.

    He pulled together his everything, his soul straining under the weight of his cultivation. Flexing his will in a way he never had before, he pulled. Visibly his soul shrank, but after a moment his focus wavered and his efforts were undone.

    Master Isaac had told him what to expect before entering the chamber, revealing a secret that only those who reached their first Collapse were allowed to know.

    Cultivation was dangerous. There had been hints of it before, of how humanity just didn¡¯t sit squarely into the rest of the universe, but he had never tried to put the dots together before. Why would he?

    Humans didn¡¯t generate Substance. Substance needed to be processed before it could be cultivated. The body grew resistant to change after cultivating. They couldn¡¯t sense Substance like beasts could, and could not absorb Substance from other humans.

    Only a select few had the ability to manipulate and imbue Substance without cultivation.

    The soul, an enigma, grabbed onto Substance like a starving animal, no matter how large, until it was full. Then, it stopped ¨C utterly and completely.

    A careful foundation was required, lest cultivators find themselves starving no matter how much they ate, tired no matter how long they slept.

    The status that came with each Collapse.

    Together, the pieces of the puzzle painted a bleak picture: humans weren¡¯t meant to cultivate. Humanity just wasn¡¯t built too; for whatever reason, heavenly mandate or a fluke of nature, humanity struggled where nothing else did.

    For humans, cultivation was dangerous, and every Collapse was a life-or-death battle against their very nature. Collapses were known so well because they weren¡¯t natural; it was yet another way humanity defied their circumstances and elevated their limits.

    Once a cultivator filled their soul, they must Collapse their soul and reach higher limits, or die trying, their souls Collapsing under their own weight, perishing beyond any ability to fix. Even when the body died, souls simply move on, burning their cultivation as they fell up into the Void, like a fishing bobber rising to the surface.

    Failing a Collapse meant this never happened ¨C whatever came after death, failing a Collapse meant this never had the chance to happen.

    Despite having been told this, Evan sat here, challenging his first Collapse despite possible soul-death. This was the easiest Collapse he would ever experience, and it was hard.

    All of these thoughts flashed through his mind as he lost focus yet again, and pain began to wrack his soul. Urgency gripped him as he tried again.

    Slowly, every so slowly, he once more pulled, bringing the might of his will to bear as his soul shrank bit by bit. He squeezed his soul in an iron grip, his body sweating, heart pounding, and a headache rapidly forming behind his temples.

    Eventually, he could squeeze his soul no more, and he let go, collapsing onto the ground with exhaustion. His soul remained as he had left it, stable in its new density and size.

    I did it. I actually did it.

    Time passed as he laid on the ground, regaining his breath and massaging his pounding head. There was still a little Substance floating about the room, so he couldn¡¯t leave immediately. Evan refused to allow any of his wealth to escape him.

    No wonder strong cultivators are so rare and valued ¨C even I feel an urge to stop here, cultivate to my new peak, and stop there to enjoy the rest of my life.

    He wouldn¡¯t, though, and he knew it. Crafting had grown on him, beyond simply the luxurious life it would let him live. When he reached the peak once more, he would battle his nature once more. He had too many ideas, too many visions of grandeur to give up at the starting line. How could he build a Voidship in his current state?

    He simply couldn¡¯t, and that wouldn¡¯t do.

    Eventually, he managed to open his soul once more from his position on the floor, though his headache made that a difficult task.

    Myth ¨C 0.00%

    His soul looked similar to before, a perfect sphere, though it was now smaller but brighter. In size, it was now only slightly larger than it had been when he first became a cultivator, but he could feel how much stronger it was than before.

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    Cultivation proceeded a little faster than just the size of his soul could explain, the density increasing how easily it could pull the Substance into itself. He looked at his newly forged soul with pride, and thought of the benefits of being human.

    For one, he found that monsters were after humans for more than just the evolution it could grant them and the easy meals.

    Beasts, and essentially everything but humans, had limits, much like the limit of a human¡¯s soul. This limit was much greater than that of a human, and they lacked souls ¨C their Substance was physically bound to their bodies and was the reason why they changed with influxes of atypical Substance.

    When a beast consumed a soul, they didn¡¯t truly consume the soul itself ¨C it slipped away at amazing speed, leaving behind parts of itself ¨C its cultivation ¨C as it did so.

    There was nothing a human could do with this remnant, but beasts could devour it by consuming the fresh body. Somehow, these pieces of the soul would elevate the limit of the beast, much as a Collapse did for a cultivator, but with none of the risk or difficulty.

    So, in a way, humans had no predefined limits they couldn¡¯t break, unlike beasts, who required humans to do so.

    That¡­ was just about it. Was it worth it? ¡­Maybe.

    A few more hours passed as he finished his cultivation. He didn¡¯t know when his next session would be, but he couldn¡¯t wait to explore his new limits.

    He could understand why mortals, and cultivators below their first peak, weren¡¯t told about the dangers of cultivation. If they knew how dangerous it was, it was very possible that some would swear off ever attempting a Collapse before ever beginning cultivation, and cultivators of all sorts were essential to society. The miners of Iron Guard were a good example ¨C even they were mostly past their first Collapse, and that allowed for a massive increase in productivity compared to a mortal miner, and lower overall expenses.

    It was a lot harder to completely forgo further heights of power once you stood at the edge, after all.

    Still, he found the gatekeeping that was so prevalent in society to be frustrating ¨C it always seemed like as soon as he felt like he understood something, everything was overturned with new information. What misconceptions were he already under without even knowing?

    When would he?

    Dispelling his unproductive thoughts, he opened the chamber once his cultivation was complete and returned the Substance canister after getting a good look at it. He wasn¡¯t supposed to do that, but nobody was any the wiser that he had.

    It was still far beyond him ¨C not only was it able to store so much Substance inside, bound to the harmless particulates within, but it was very efficient at doing so, demonstrating the boundless strength of its creator. Other than that, it was actually quite simple, being made to simply be incredibly durable and reliable.

    Nobody knew when ¨C or if ¨C he was leaving secluded cultivation, so there was no one to greet him as he left but the same staff as when he entered.

    He found that five days had passed, less time than before but also a little longer than expected, but he must have grappled with his Collapse for longer than he thought.

    Cultivation was a private affair, so none of the staff was aware of his success, but he was given congratulations all the same on, if nothing else, growing stronger. Evan didn¡¯t dissuade them otherwise but kept his Collapse to himself ¨C no need to go spreading that around.

    Part of him wanted to rush home or to the workshop and tell Arnav, Iliana, and Master Isaac of his success, but an even larger part demanded he try out his new capabilities immediately.

    Thankfully, he had thought ahead for this part, and was able to pick up an order he had already made previously ¨C or rather, he convinced some nearby soldiers to pick it up for him and haul it back to the workshop for a generous tip while he only toted the Substance containers.

    His order was of course more beams, and while he did want to work on something where the result would be a little more¡­ immediate, the miners needed the beams more than anything and he had an idea to help solve their problem, for a more expensive price of course¡­

    Making so many weapons had also bored him ¨C especially the swords. He hated that they were the optimal product, but it was what it was.

    Evan already knew he would only be picking this order up after he finished his cultivation, so he had spent days coming up with a better solution to the problem of the beams.

    Currently, he knew that the miners would intersperse the imbued beams in with mundane ones, a task that took up lots of time and wasn¡¯t particularly safe, but necessary given that the military only gave them so much of a budget.

    This was because even with great strength, the tunnels were quite long and required lengthy trips back and forth, not to mention the installation itself, which was a pain. Most of the miners cared more about strength and stamina than speed.

    At the moment the mining was stalling because while they had a ready supply of imbued tools, only Evan was making the beams in Iron Guard, and only a few arrived from elsewhere, no longer enough to keep up with them.

    Even if he was able to make better beams, it wouldn¡¯t truly solve the issue ¨C it still took him quite an amount of time to make each beam, and while his cultivation allowed him to make stronger imbuements, they didn¡¯t let him do it any faster ¨C for his first Collapse, he had gone all in on simply maximizing the capacity of his intent, figuring that was more important for securing his safety at the moment, and ignored adding any Substance to enhance his mind for faster imbuing.

    He didn¡¯t think he was wrong, but with his schedule already full, his output wouldn¡¯t increase. Instead, he intended to change the imbuement of his beams, and inscribe his own inscriptions on them using a small carving knife. It would be his first original design, and he was excited to get started.

    This was also one of the reasons he liked working on the beams so much ¨C being so large made them more difficult to imbue, but it also gave them much more surface area to inscribe onto, and being made of wood meant it wasn¡¯t too difficult if he used an imbued carving knife built for strength.

    It was a carving knife he had imbued himself as well, as already it was better for him to use his own tools ¨C with the imbuement being his own, he could manipulate it on the fly, allowing him to exchange efficiency for strength as needed. This also helped him save a little money.

    Master Isaac had impressed this idea upon him, saying that not only was their pride in only using tools made oneself, but that it virtually became a requirement. The tools were made by other crafters after all, and as one climbed the scale of power it became rarer and rarer to find tools on the market, as they could in some way be considered part of the legacy of a crafter, and why help the competition?

    For that reason, getting used to making his own tools was an important habit Master Isaac had worked to ingrain into him.

    Back in the workshop, he got his knife and prepared to start carving into it. This would be his most complex inscription to date, and his first original one.

    Evan¡¯s first idea was to create a much more powerful imbuement by filling the beam with Substance, then using all it to imbue it into holding more Substance, a technique that allowed one to infinitely pile Substance into a single object through layers.

    This idea was quickly discarded though, as it required the imbuement be active at all times, and any decay from this use would lead to parts of the next layer also detaching, creating a cascade of failures rippling outwards in ever greater amounts, losing all of the Substance to Void where all Substance was somewhat anchored.

    Using that technique would allow a crafter to create an incredibly powerful final imbuement, but the whole thing would be a time crunch, with the expiration date linked to the very first imbuement, with a short lifespan and an incredibly high price tag.

    Considering the requirements of the mine, this was a non-starter. The technique was mostly considered a last resort, or a great way to build unearned fame. It only took moments to discard the idea.

    Or, a ¡°mythical¡± item? Food for thought.

    That was unfortunate, as he would need a lot in order to get the imbuement right. When he was finished, he imagined a beam that could be used to stabilize a much larger space, with imbuements to not only handle that strain but also to greatly lighten the weight of the beam.

    In this way the owner could take the beam with them into the mine and set it up by itself. Then, they could go about their mining, and when they were done, take the beam back with them, letting the newly opened space collapse behind them.

    No ¨C that wouldn¡¯t work. Cave-ins were likely best avoided altogether, but at the end of the day the beam would be quite expensive, so it was critical that it served some important purpose.

    Evan amended his idea; instead of working all by its lonesome, the device would instead offer a safety net to the miners ¨C that sounded like it would be much more convincing.

    He would add a simple toggle inscription to the beam, and once they reached an area with plenty of ore, they could set the device up and mine away, adding in other beams as per usual.

    With the device on, they wouldn¡¯t have to worry about the rocks coming down on top of their heads, and what was more valuable than that?

    Yes, that was a much better application, and since they could rely on his device to hold the ceiling up, at least temporarily, they could build most of the mineshaft all at once instead of piecemeal ¨C a productivity boost!

    He could already imagine how much of a hit this would be, so long as he could actually figure out how to build it. There was paper and pencils stored in the workshop for just this sort of thing ¨C he grabbed a handful of sheets and a pencil, and started madly scribbling out inscriptions, a trance not unlike that of cultivation settling over him.

    At some point, he needed more paper.

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 16

    Evan stared at the thick stack of paper sitting before him, his eyes bloodshot from a lack of sleep. The project was sound but had taken far more work than he had expected. He still wasn¡¯t done, not even sixteen hours later, but lacked the mental resources to continue.

    It would have to be completed tomorrow.

    He wasn¡¯t even aware of anyone entering or exiting the workshop, though looking around now, he could tell that the others had come and gone. Thankfully, they hadn¡¯t interrupted his work, though maybe he had simply ignored them in his fervor.

    Regardless, nobody was here now, and he leaned back into his chair. Now he understood why back in Fool¡¯s Hope, the bedrooms were attached to the workshop ¨C he really didn¡¯t want to make the trek home.

    Surely it would be fine if he just took a nap here in the workshop? The chair wasn¡¯t comfortable, but it would serve. He laid his head down adjacent to the thick stack of inscriptions, math, and general ramblings before instantly falling asleep.

    ***

    The project, which he had titled The Weight Redistributor, took far longer than just the next day. It wasn¡¯t until almost a month later he managed to bring it to a satisfying conclusion, having finally poured over the countless inscriptions one last time.

    In the beginning, just after he had left the cultivation chamber, part of him wondered why such a design didn¡¯t already exist if it was possible ¨C surely, he wasn¡¯t the first person to come up with the idea of a safety net? Unless, of course, it just wasn¡¯t possible ¨C or rather, feasible. He didn¡¯t believe anything was actually impossible to do with Substance.

    Well, except to make more Substance, he supposed.

    Regardless, the seed of doubt was there in the beginning, but after having spent a month on the project he knew the true answer ¨C it was doable, but it wasn¡¯t easy. The idea was simple in practice: allow the beam to be anchored somewhere upright, with a switch that would project a field that manipulated the weight of the surrounding rock and ore, such that the weight would rest on the beam, stabilizing the rock and preventing a cave-in, as though the field was properly supported.

    Alone, this approach wasn¡¯t particularly difficult, but given any amount of thought the idea would quickly fall apart. That was a lot of weight, and while the beams were strong, he wouldn¡¯t be able to reinforce it enough to support that much weight with even his increased capacity.

    Refinement of the idea proved necessary, and this was where things had gotten more complex. Instead of unilaterally transferring the weight onto the beam, a better idea was to only transfer the weight when it proved necessary to prevent cave-ins. But how would he do that? The answer was lots and lots of inscriptions ¨C at one point, he ran out of space on the surface of the beam and needed to seek out assistance to have more carved underneath the surface.

    Master Isaac approved of his project, and beneath the envious glares of Iliana and Arnav, announced that he would start teaching them their first crafting spell ¨C one that could be used to carve wood beneath the surface. He would teach them all, but only Evan would have any hope of mastering the spell ¨C it was far more complex than anything else up to that point, as it incorporated elements that would allow for a measure of control in the carving, as well as another component he learned was called a ¡®binding¡¯.

    Bindings were found in virtually all advanced forms of magic and were essentially highly refined ¡®parts¡¯ of a spell that were designed to be used in many different applications.

    In other words, bindings were a little like premade building blocks that could be used in spells, to simplify both the learning of the spell and the creation of it while achieving superior results to any homebrew solution. The only problem was that being ultra complex and refined, it took a lot of time and effort to learn them in the first place.

    The spell was added to his daily practice, and Iliana worked on it when she could, but it was pushed to the back burner for Evan ¨C while he was learning the spell, he convinced Master Isaac to help him by casting it for him. He didn¡¯t want to go to a stranger.

    If the design worked well and took off, it could make him a lot of money. He eventually asked if there was some way to put his name on it, so that others couldn¡¯t just steal his finished design, but Master Isaac had sadly told him it just didn¡¯t work ¨C there had been attempts in the past, but any kind of knowledge relating to crafting had to be kept to oneself or it would inevitably end up being stolen or taken advantage of.

    Only large institutions like the military of Starspire had any hope of keeping things secret, and even then, the knowledge had to be heavily restricted. Master Isaac explained as such while he was working away in the workshop, preparing his first finished prototype.

    ¡°Tell me truthfully, Evan. When you leave the military, are you going to lock away all that you have learned here? Obviously, you won¡¯t blatantly make and sell the designs you have learnt, but there is no question that you will modify them just enough that Starspire won¡¯t come knocking on your door.¡±

    Evan made to tell him that of course he would keep everything secret, as he wasn¡¯t a fool ¨C master or not, he would not just carelessly admit that he would take advantage of everything he was being taught. The way he saw it, it was his just reward for his service, the secrets of the military be damned.

    His master didn¡¯t give him the chance.

    ¡°Don¡¯t bother ¨C we both know anything you say is just lip service. That¡¯s my point ¨C even the guild doesn¡¯t bother to try establishing some sort of copyright. It is well understood that if you don¡¯t protect your products, their designs will be stolen, copied, and sold.

    ¡°It¡¯s also one the biggest reasons it is so useful to be able to do all of this work yourself,¡± He waved at the beam sat across the floor, too heavy and long to sit on any of the tables. ¡°If I wasn¡¯t here to help you, you would have to find someone else to do this for you until you managed the carving spell, and if this idea took off, it would be all too easy to slip whoever did the inscription work a pile of gold for a copy of the design they would assuredly keep.¡±

    Evan had understood this back when it was originally explained to him, but it only really sunk in now, after sharing his design with his master, that working without magic ¨C without the ability to easily inscribe ¨C made it a lot more difficult to keep secrets. It was no wonder that Iliana was so down these days, and why their grudge had grown from mere annoyance to shattering what he thought was a budding friendship.

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    Arnav seemed to handle it better, understanding his lack of magic had nothing to do with Evan, but even he had been increasingly distant ¨C in part, he understood, because Evan just wasn¡¯t a particularly social person.

    He much preferred quiet companionship, and his old friends ¨C few they were ¨C were used to his on and off nature of socialization. Only just now, more than half a year later, was he beginning to miss them.

    Will they even still draw breath by the time I¡¯m back in Starspire?

    It was a sobering thought, but as Master Isaac had once told him ¨C cultivation is a pyramid, and it only gets worse with time. He made a decision ¨C once he was finished with this project, he would write some letters for the orphanage. Evan wasn¡¯t the type of person to drag others up with him, but maybe he should send some money back for the orphanage ¨C Grace had always looked after him, and his situation was truly different these days.

    Earning enough money to reach his first Collapse in not even a year? Even a hunter would find it difficult to boast the same. If his idea worked out, the second one might not be too far away, either.

    He shook his head ¨C now wasn¡¯t the time for such thoughts. Instead, he once more poured over his design as he waited for his master to finish inscribing the beam. A complete redesign had been required when he ran out of space on the surface in order to allow everything to flow correctly ¨C the checks required to keep the weight on the beam to a minimum were dizzying, involving all sorts of conditions.

    Especially since he had needed to include good security measures to prevent snooping. It wasn¡¯t taught in the books, but after pestering Master Isaac, he had begrudgingly taught him some techniques to both harm any other crafter that tried to look too closely at his work and initiate a self-destructive imbuement, essentially bypassing some of the inscriptions to activate the main function without any of the checks or reinforcement ¨C something that was sure to destroy the device.

    It might even cause some damage to the area it happened in ¨C but it wasn¡¯t his problem, and nobody could blame him. Not even the military.

    He wouldn¡¯t be playing nicely. If they wanted his work, it would have to come from him or not at all. Anyone who tried to steal his work deserved what they got.

    It was an amazing imbuement, the most complex he had ever looked at to date, and it was one he had made! He was determined to make a hefty profit off it, even if he was restricted from outright price gouging, given that his deal would still be through the military, at least for the miners at Iron Guard.

    Part of him felt a little bad at the thought of engaging in profiteering against the miners, but it was fairly easy to get over it once he thought of the money he could make. The miners weren¡¯t exactly roughing it either ¨C the job was dangerous, inconvenient, and required moving to the middle of nowhere where monsters could continuously assault the walls. Starspire wasn¡¯t a great place to live, but they knew how to properly motivate people.

    Lots of money, with bonuses on top. He now realized that was exactly what they had done to him ¨C only Starspire was allowed to give out loans, and the military just so happened to be such a great deal he couldn¡¯t help but accept.

    Then they gave him a pittance for a wage, heaped him with dangerous work, and restricted his ability to make money on his own ¨C there was no doubt in his mind that by the time began to approach the end of his service, Starspire will have saved a fortune by buying his work without the markup an independent crafter would charge.

    Not to mention the ridiculousness of his exit clauses ¨C to stay on the front lines, for potentially six years? He wasn¡¯t that lucky, and it just wouldn¡¯t happen. Or he could just give them what they would have loaned to him if he stayed in Starspire.

    Incoherent rage began to well up in him, but that wasn¡¯t productive, so he changed tracks and stared at his design, thinking of the benefits other than money it brought him.

    Figuring out the design was the hardest thing he had ever done, unused to such mental tasks even as an apprentice, but was glad he had stuck with it to the end. The month of labor had required tons of experimentation, and he even had some books arrive that detailed some of the mechanics of building his own design.

    Evan now knew much better than before how imbued objects worked and felt like he had elevated his abilities to another level. Had he known what he knew now, figuring the blueprint out wouldn¡¯t have been so difficult or frustrating ¨C he had lost count of the times he had expected one result and gotten another, lesser one, or the tedium of making sure each part worked both alone and together with everything else.

    Master Isaac had told him countless times that the more he did this, the easier it would get as he refined his own ¡°mental model¡± of how imbuements and inscriptions should work, letting him better predict how things should turn out before he did them.

    The experience also now taught him why Master Isaac had always seemed so patient ¨C it was basically a required mindset for crafting, as failure after failure mounted.

    At least it hadn¡¯t been too expensive ¨C what Master Isaac had said was right, using his own tools was for the best with how quickly he was wearing them out. It also helped that since the imbuements were his own and they weren¡¯t permanent, he could remove the almost automatic aspect of his intent that would resist the Substance being stripped from its home, allowing him to recycle most of the Substance he used.

    This was the answer to an unasked question of his of why all imbuements weren¡¯t simply scrapped and recycled instead of repaired ¨C while the crafter could remove the intent that stopped the recycling, there was no reason for them to do so, and plenty of reasons to leave it in ¨C not all of them greedy.

    First, it was important so that any random person with a tiny bit of ability to imbue couldn¡¯t simple come along and ruin the item, stealing the Substance. This was especially the case when it came to large formations with lots of Substance in static, public places ¨C such as the wall.

    Not just large important formations, either. Lanterns that ran on Substance were a good example, as they were commonly used for their steady glows inside and around all sorts of establishments ¨C it would be all too easy to simply steal the Substance inside if not for this method.

    After all, Substance was not actually visible without soul sense, something was incredibly restrictive in the lower Collapses. Even after reaching his first, Evan¡¯s soul sense could only reach about three meters away from him in any particular direction, and it was rare that someone had it active without needing it for something.

    The next reason was even more important ¨C equipment made up a large portion of most combatants¡¯ strength. If this measure wasn¡¯t left inside the imbuement, there was a chance that someone could simply pull the Substance out of the equipment during a fight, given they had the talent for it. Without this measure, the imbuement wouldn¡¯t resist.

    It was also a great way to prevent the enemy from excessively profiting off the equipment of their own soldiers. While they could still use it, they couldn¡¯t recycle it for other purposes.

    Finally, there was simply greed. By leaving this as a part of the imbuement, only the original crafter would be able to properly repair the imbuement or carefully recycle it. It was a great way to have customers return, all while protecting the imbuement from being prematurely destroyed.

    As an addendum to this, if the Substance wasn¡¯t protected inside the imbuement, it would be much easier for a rival crafter to take apart and learn how it was made.

    If a crafter truly set their mind to it, they could recycle imbuements they had made with enough time. Similar to mana, crafters had an intimate connection with their own imbuements, and could leave behind exemptions to their potential security measures ¨C different from the anti-stripping intent ¨C that would respond to them alone. In this way, a crafter could modify the imbuement, allowing them to recycle the Substance.

    Doing that took more effort than simply leaving it out in the first place though, and any lock could be picked. Best practice was to make sure the imbuement was fully finished and leave no gaps in the security at all.

    None of that mattered to Evan at the moment though, as Master Isaac had finally finished inscribing his beam. It wasn¡¯t the original, as trying to fix the physical marks of the failed inscriptions was another matter entirely, but he was excited to draw the project to a close.

    Even if all this work wasn¡¯t exceptionally expensive, it wasn¡¯t cheap, either! He sat a chair next to the beam and sat down, multiple Substance containers in hand as he forged several connections.

    It was time to begin!

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 17

    Evan stared at the man before him, both of their expressions dark and angry. A moment passed as he deliberated on his options. He had run into several issues trying to sell his newest work, even with a slip from Master Isaac.

    The military just didn¡¯t want to buy it from him ¨C they said it was unnecessary, too expensive, and disruptive to normal work in the mine.

    If not for the slip, they would also likely say it wouldn¡¯t work, either. After all, Evan was not even nineteen years old yet, and only just barely had his first Collapse under his belt. What would he know of making his own designs?

    Eventually, he had worked his way up the chain of clerks, managers, and administrators until he arrived at the nicely adorned office he was now inside. Across from him, on the other side of the desk, was the main overseer for the mine, and he wasn¡¯t happy.

    Hours had passed since he sat down in the office, and while the man no doubt desperately wanted to just scream at him to get out, he couldn¡¯t.

    If the man did that, Evan would go directly to the miners, explain his invention, and then tragically tell them their lives just weren¡¯t valuable enough for Starspire to buy his device, even at the ¨C in regard to his own profit ¨C low price he was willing ¨C forced ¨C to sell it at.

    Neither of them had any doubts about what would happen should that come to pass. They would first make demands that they cough it up and buy the device, and when that didn¡¯t work, they would stop working.

    The mine used imbuements to stay standing, so every moment that went by cost the military money to keep the mine open. This was a pittance compared to money it brought in every day, but if none of the miners were working¡­

    Starspire was a long ways away, and who knew what they would find out once they arrived?

    With this implicit threat, they had reached an impasse. They couldn¡¯t even order him to do otherwise ¨C his direct superior was Master Isacc, and the old man couldn¡¯t be prouder of him for coming up with such a device. It was apparent from the slip he had brought with him that Evan had his master¡¯s full support.

    It reminded him of how lucky he was to have been assigned to Master Isaac.

    All too easily he could have been assigned to someone with little interest in actually teaching him, instead intent on keeping him apprenticed for as long as possible.

    Evan wanted to sigh ¨C he was bored. The excitement that had previously infected him so thoroughly was nowhere to be found, and now he just wanted this ordeal to be finished. It reminded him of the one maintenance task he had completed at Fool¡¯s Hope, and all the unnecessary back and forth he had done.

    He wanted to blame Starspire for being so stingy but couldn¡¯t truly fault them. His weight redistributor was expensive, as that had been part of the point of making it.

    If he couldn¡¯t skim much of a profit off his work, then the solution was to simply make every little bit he got to skim a large sum. Well, that and occasionally selling outside the military¡¯s purview, but unfortunately there was no real market at Iron Guard, and the miners didn¡¯t require much more than tools to work with ¨C and that involved the mine, a military operation.

    This wasn¡¯t all for the sake of profit of course, the device was genuinely just on another level and had costs to match ¨C he just hadn¡¯t done anything to cut costs. As it was, he had needed to stay up late just so he could get some actual work in, just so he could afford to build the prototype in full.

    Virtually all of his savings had been blown, minus enough to keep working, on his cultivation.

    Eventually though, the man seemed to relent.

    ¡°Alright. We¡¯ll buy just one for now, so we can see if it works at all. Since you have Formations Master Isaac¡¯s approval, what about this: we¡¯ll pay you half now, and if it works as intended in two weeks, we¡¯ll pay you the other half then.¡±

    Was that a slight against him or Master Isaac? He couldn¡¯t truly find it in himself to care, and this seemed reasonable, with a few other terms added.

    ¡°That sounds fair to me, but this will of course include assurance that the device won¡¯t needlessly be used or abused for purposes not in line with its main function, correct?¡±

    The man ever so slightly grimaced. Ha! Evan was not as na?ve and easy to take advantage of as he had been back in Starspire!

    Unwilling to admit otherwise, the man agreed easily, and after getting it all in writing, including his payment, he left. The writing was a little more complex, to cover all angles, but they quickly figured it out.

    His excitement was back in full force, now that he knew they were going to buy his product. Weight redistributor wasn¡¯t a very good name, but he was proud of it. It would easily last the two weeks described, even if they were a little overeager with the device.

    A big part of its design, after all, was making sure the device had to do as little as possible. This not only made the device more feasible, but also meant it would decay rather slowly.

    Evan made his way to the orders office, where he picked up some more mundane weapons ¨C including a mace, this time, in addition to some swords as per usual. He was tired of constantly making swords, but he was determined to get ahead as quickly as possible.

    The stronger he was, the more money he would make, and the safer he would be. It was a harmonious cycle even if it was a bit of a boring one.

    He wanted to immediately start work on another beam but couldn¡¯t afford it with only half of his payment. They would be the real money makers, but he expected demand to be somewhat low. There were plenty of mines that could use them, but despite his careful planning, the device couldn¡¯t do much the deeper the mine was located.

    It only worked as well as it did, or at least would, because the mine at Iron Guard was relatively close to the surface.

    A smile couldn¡¯t help but cross his face at the thought. Reaching his first Collapse had really opened up his options, even if he wasn¡¯t strong enough to do anything crazy yet. He yearned to work on larger formations, and now that he had his first collapse under his belt, maybe he could look into that.

    One of the types of requests he could fulfill were ones relating to building formations for various buildings. It was even possible to assist in the actual construction, either through imbuing various tools or even arrays to do the work by themselves.

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    That was what arrays were good for, after all. Similar to formations, they could be large in scope and accomplish all sorts of things but were considered less permanent than formations, constructed using a set of imbued tools known as nodes, typically in the form of small flags.

    Evan didn¡¯t know much more about how they were made or worked, but knew that somehow the nodes could communicate with each other, and once the master node was activated, they would form a cohesive whole that could affect the area that the nodes delineated.

    Typically, they were relegated to utility roles, as it took some time for the array to sort itself out and activate, as well as being incredibly vulnerable to disruption should any of the nodes be damaged or removed.

    As for their advantage over formations, it was simple but highlighted their utility ¨C at any time, the array could be deactivated and removed, and easily set up elsewhere. The only drawback was that there could be limitations to the placement of the nodes ¨C some requiring symmetry or specific shapes ¨C but overall, they could be used by anyone with a little knowhow.

    This made them incredibly convenient and useful for all sorts of utility roles, from trapping, concealment, comfort, defense, and construction. A formation could do any of those jobs better but lacked the mobility and convenience of an array.

    It was why they weren¡¯t seen as very useful to Starspire, and why the contract for them wasn¡¯t as good as the others. Starspire mostly dealt with static locations, and using an array was always more expensive than simple manpower ¨C something Starspire had in spades.

    For smaller purposes, they were incredibly helpful, such as for hunter teams or construction that needed to be done quickly or in a place without much manpower.

    A place like Iron Guard, for example.

    Evan couldn¡¯t build arrays, of course, but any imbuement required a crafter ¨C arrays couldn¡¯t change the fundamental rules of Substance imbuement. Once the mundane construction was completed, if it would need formations added, they would need a formations master.

    He would be more than happy to fulfill that role ¨C it was his original desire, and only now was he approaching the skill and power necessary to contribute to that.

    That wouldn¡¯t really happen in Iron Guard, though. It was too dangerous for anyone to truly want to build a life here, and while the mining represented a lot of jobs, the cultivation requirement for them would only increase as time went on, at a pace that the current miners wouldn¡¯t be able to keep up with. They would leave, finding work they could do elsewhere eventually, and had no real interest in staying at Iron Guard.

    While the beast surges rarely claimed the lives of anyone, especially the civilians, they were still present and weren¡¯t going away.

    Evan decided to mention this to Master Isaac, to see if he would let them transfer again to somewhere a little more populated, where he could start working on larger scale formations. Hopefully, he could convince his master.

    ***

    The two weeks he had agreed to with the overseer passed quietly, and the other half of his payment was delivered without fanfare. No incidents had happened in that time, though many of the miners expressed their gratitude to him for creating the device ¨C accidents were part of the job, but the previous cave in still had them spooked.

    Iliana and Arnav were both disgruntled at his quick advancement, though Iliana wasn¡¯t far behind him ¨C perhaps a another month or two, he guessed. Arnav was further behind, having spent so much time on growing in skill rather than power.

    Now that he had advanced, a fire seemed to have been lit under them, and Arnav was now bulldozing his way forward, perhaps realizing that what Evan had been doing worked after all, and well at that.

    That should teach him.

    It wasn¡¯t that easy, of course, but at least Arnav gotten his priorities straight. Evan was worried about him, he seemed too content with the status quo when he wasn¡¯t racing forward in competition.

    As for Iliana¡­ they had drifted apart and were more strangers than not these days. Evan wasn¡¯t particularly interested in trying to mend things, and Iliana seemed to bear a grudge about their magical abilities that wouldn¡¯t go away. He avoided her when he could.

    Him and Arnav were still good friends, though they were a little more distant than most would call their friends. They were both busy people, even if Arnav had different priorities than himself most of the time. Evan liked it that way ¨C he was used to keeping people at arm¡¯s length, and he wasn¡¯t sure what would happen when they graduated from Master Isaac¡¯s care.

    That didn¡¯t stop him from relentlessly pursuing it, of course. Until he graduated, his twelve years of service wouldn¡¯t start, and even if he intended to buy his way out of it, he wanted that timer to start ticking.

    Over time he had thought about his contract, and realized that in all honesty, it wasn¡¯t as bad as he had thought. Paying them the amount he would have loaned was a lot, but it was unchanging ¨C there was no interest, and if he was happy with serving, then he could ignore it altogether.

    He had also been treated quite well by the military, even if that treatment had been up in the air in the beginning. There were plenty of opportunities, the danger hadn¡¯t been that high so far, and he had an easy way of obtaining everything he needed. It went without saying his education was also coming along quite nicely.

    Should he have stayed in Starspire, he doubted he would be where he was today, knowing what he knew and having a cultivation base at the first Collapse, and having an original design to his name.

    Life was good, but it didn¡¯t change the fact that he felt stifled underneath the boot of Starspire. He wanted his freedom, and who knew when things could change for the worse?

    Thankfully, even that was shaping up well. He had dutifully worked at fulfilling the requirements for passing his certification with the guild and was getting closer by the day.

    With his cultivation as it was, he already felt it would be enough to pass the tests, even if only barely. His knowledge was also coming along nicely, and his skill grew naturally through his work.

    Completing his certification within two years was an accomplishment, and he wanted to earn it.

    He actually felt he might be able to manage it even earlier than that ¨C perhaps a year and a half, and he would feel confident in passing. It was more than his own ability and hard work, though.

    It was also his master. Master Isaac was truly a great teacher and did everything he could to help them excel. Being assigned to him was a stroke of good fortune, and he wouldn¡¯t forget that.

    Regardless, he had to keep pushing forward, and part of him wondered how things would change once he graduated. Evan didn¡¯t think of himself a braggart, but already assumed that he would the first to graduate ¨C already he was pulling ahead, and his lead would only grow.

    Now that he had reached his first Collapse, his imbuements were more complicated and powerful than ever before, and that translated into more money. Eventually, the market would narrow, but for now it was easy to sign away everything he made to the military and have the money in hand almost then and there.

    This was another reason he wanted to start working on formations larger in scope, as once he graduated, that was his overall goal ¨C he still remembered that it was the formation masters who were the most carefree in the city, and they all specialized in larger formations such as buildings.

    It was also the best way to defend himself. By getting experience in working on large formations, he hoped to reach a level where he could construct defenses that would hold up against the enemy soldiers.

    After explaining himself to his master, he had been told that he would consider getting them transferred somewhere where he could work on some buildings, somewhere prosperous but not as established as Fool¡¯s Hope.

    Two weeks hadn¡¯t been long enough for a decision to be reached, or at least for the request to be approved, but for the moment that was alright.

    His weight redistributor had been a huge success, and now instead of the military fighting tooth and nail to keep from buying his products, the overseer had sent him a message asking for a couple more to be used here in Iron Guard.

    The miners were operating back at full force, just as they had before the cave-in, and productivity had once more reached astonishing levels. As the miners gained more confidence in his work, they made liberal use of the device, becoming unafraid of most accidents, protected as they were by his device.

    Unfortunately, there was only one, and the miners in other sections of the mine had to be more careful. This difference had them ¨C overseer included ¨C chomping at the bit to get a hold of some more.

    I wonder if they tried to analyze it.

    If they had, they¡¯d failed, or they wouldn¡¯t have come to him for more.

    What this meant, though, was that Evan no longer wanted to leave immediately, as suddenly he was sitting on a goldmine.

    If I had more cultivation, I wonder how much more impressive I could make it?

    The following days were sure to be busy. Evan found he liked it that way.

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 18

    In the end, Evan didn¡¯t get the chance to leave Iron Guard for yet another few months ¨C it was only a couple weeks after his birthday that Master Isaac announced they were leaving.

    Turning nineteen had been uneventful ¨C unlike last year, there was no unlocking of his soul, and no opportunities appeared because of his new age. It was much like many of the years before, only acknowledged by Evan and perhaps a few who knew him ¨C it wasn¡¯t even truly his birthday, but the day he entered the orphanage.

    He knew that some families celebrated it, but Evan had never seen the point. What was there to celebrate about getting older? Turning eighteen and unlocking the soul was one thing, but there was nothing else that was special about getting a little closer to the grave.

    Arnav and Iliana also had their birthdays pass. Iliana wanted to celebrate with a gathering, but Arnav thought a simple affair was better. Evan shared his own thoughts, and eventually they settled on a nice meal in their communal home.

    It wasn¡¯t like Iron Guard had many restaurants, especially not any truly lavish ones.

    The thought surprised Evan ¨C when had he become so¡­ different? Over the course of the year he had truly changed, becoming demonstratively wealthy by the standards of the fourth section of Starspire. He was nineteen and had already reached his first Collapse by his own efforts, and frequently dealt in sums unimaginable to his previous self.

    Just thinking back on his old standards of living caused him to wonder how he ever managed.

    Now, after his first Collapse, even the new hunters from the orphanage couldn¡¯t compare. It was a strange reality, but it was simply the nature of crafters. Ever since he changed his methods, imbuing swords with sharpness instead of simply weight, the money he made had increased even further.

    His newest swords were grade one, class one. Because of the increased sharpness of the swords, he decided on adding a condition to the sword¡¯s imbuement being activated, lest the user destroy their sheathe or injure themselves ¨C sharpness was incredibly potent at increasing the lethality of the blade.

    This condition was that the sharpness imbuement was only active while the hilt of the blade was gripped for more than a second, something that was far simpler to accomplish than his previous project, but that he enjoyed working on nonetheless.

    Unfortunately, while he had managed to pick up the spell for carving, it wasn¡¯t something he could use on metal, and due to his small mana pool and regeneration, wasn¡¯t generally worth casting anyway.

    At least, not for such a simple alteration on the sword¡¯s imbuement ¨C the inscriptions were taken right out of a book, and there was no real value in his change but for the convenience it would give his customers, even if he never saw them after giving the swords to the military.

    It was about his principles, his reputation, and eventually, maybe even his brand.

    Because of this, he had to custom order the swords so that the inscription was included ¨C there were no blacksmiths in Iron Guard capable of laying inscriptions inside the metal. To do so required a much more powerful spell, as well as precision ¨C something that took cultivation invested into magic, or a strong talent in it, as well as mastery of the necessary spell.

    Neither was common, so he had to order the swords from elsewhere ¨C in some outpost, maybe even Fool¡¯s Hope, there was a request in the orders office for making his swords.

    Metal was also a different ballgame when it came to inscribing inside the metal. Generally, it needed to be done during the forging process, as the metal didn¡¯t take well afterwards, compromising the sword.

    Even then, it had to be done frugally ¨C generally, having gaps in the interior of a weapon isn¡¯t good for it, even if those gaps were compensated for with reinforcement. Imbuements followed the same principle as cultivation ¨C when it came to existing properties, it could only enhance, meaning that a compromised sword with an imbuement for durability would always be weaker than a sword with the same imbuement but uncompromised.

    It was one of the primary reasons swords were usually quite simple ¨C there just wasn¡¯t much space for inscriptions, and the more inscribed the sword, the less durable it would be ¨C especially for anything needing to occupy the actual blade.

    Of course, a crafter capable of creating a spirit for the blade would be able to do much more, but that was far beyond Evan at the moment.

    All of this was to say that even though getting the raw swords was more difficult and expensive, they sold well enough that he was making more money than ever, and with that money his standards had greatly risen.

    It was something of a cruel joke back at the orphanage, that kids that left to become successful hunters would almost always turn their backs at the way they lived after getting a taste of a better life.

    He had thought himself above that, that he wouldn¡¯t change the same way, but he had. Even more than most of the hunters, even.

    Once he was back in Starspire he would still donate some money to the orphanage, but he could never go back, even as he was. Who knew what he would be like by the time he actually returned?

    Just like that, the end of his first year as a crafter ended.

    In this time, even more had happened: Iliana had completed her first Collapse and joined him as a true cultivator, and Arnav was getting close to it himself. He himself had felt threatened by their progress and was nearing the decision of purchasing even more Substance for cultivation.

    With his newfound income, he was already nearing the same sum as when he purchased Substance before, and he was excited to advance his strength even further. The improvement wouldn¡¯t be a doubling of his strength this time, though.

    Instead, it would only increase it by half of what he had now. This was the unfortunate reality of cultivation ¨C Substance was a linear improvement, always. It would take more and more cultivation to make substantial differences in his strength, even if it was increasing by large amounts in concrete numbers.

    When you had the strength of a hundred men, adding one more wasn¡¯t very noticeable, but it was still the strength of an entire man. A mortal, though, going from the strength of one to the strength of two, would find their abilities doubled ¨C that was where he had been when he advanced to his first Collapse, doubling his cultivation.

    The same amount now would increase his ability by 50% but would leave him three times as powerful as before advancing. It would only bring him a fraction of the way to his second Collapse, though.

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    Despite Substance remaining linear, this was why each Collapse was considered invincible to all those below them ¨C the total cultivation required to reach each one was many times that of the previous, and it quickly got out of hand.

    It was also why he might be growing quickly now, but it wouldn¡¯t last. He had asked his master why everyone was so weak, or at least crafters, when he seemed to be climbing the scales of power at a rapid pace.

    The answer was simple: his current needs for Substance were quite low compared to his income, and the market for his products was very large ¨C reaching the first Collapse wasn¡¯t difficult for anyone with backing, talent, or any real measure of success.

    As he got stronger, though, the market for his work would drastically shrink even as his prices rose, and his need for Substance would reach a level that took an entire economy to provide. There were actually regulations for this very thing, as else all the Substance would be bought up at ridiculous prices by those at the top, leaving none for people like Evan.

    The world was just too small to accommodate the truly powerful, especially with the world as divided as it was. It was one of the primary reasons why peace could never last ¨C only with more territory and a larger population could more Substance be brought in.

    So, while at the moment he was growing at a rapid pace, he couldn¡¯t expect that to last. At least, not according to his master.

    What was left unsaid ¨C Evan was always careful to remember that his master served Starspire, and the military in particular, so everything he said couldn¡¯t be completely trusted ¨C was how the spaceports played into all of this. Did this mean that the main import from the stars was more Substance?

    Another thought was if this was why there was so little information on cultivation past the tenth Collapse ¨C did everyone who reached that level leave their planet, Piter, for greener pastures?

    Maybe even before reaching that level? Was that the purpose of Voidships ¨C the far more prestigious version of a spacecraft?

    Evan¡¯s understanding of the Void, space, and generally anything beyond Starspire was incredibly lacking, even now. He understood the bare basics, as they related to cultivation: the soul rested in the Void, and Substance was also partially anchored there.

    That was all he knew, other than that the Void was a very, very dangerous place. It was iconic for its danger, even if he didn¡¯t know why.

    Well, he also knew that everyone wanted to travel through the Void, despite the danger, but was unaware of what was so tempting so as to travel through it.

    All of that was a problem for another time, though. For now, Evan was just enjoying the benefits of his increased cultivation, making money at a rapid pace and deciding he was okay with how he had changed so far. In this time, he decided to splurge a little, and bought some basic designs from the military on some utility devices he could make for himself, maybe even improve.

    He could have just outright bought the device but had long decided that it would be best if he always made his own things himself, so that he could always be learning new things and broadening his horizons.

    These utility devices were mostly things that could replace the spells he had learnt ¨C as he continued learning more and more spells, especially the costly crafting related ones, he had less and less mana to spend on the earlier spells.

    It was also just easier ¨C casting and maintaining spells wasn¡¯t easy, and his ability to cast them was limited. He figured he might as well splurge a little on himself and learn while he was at it, even if he felt he was quickly approaching the point where any random device couldn¡¯t teach him much.

    By the time they left Iron Guard, he was equipped with two small devices ¨C each one about the size of a brick, attached to his sides like holsters.

    One of them, the one on his left, acted as a barrier against rain. He could turn it on and off, and while on it would project an invisible barrier just above him in order to keep out rain, though this version could do little if the rain was being flung into him from the sides.

    It wasn¡¯t perfect, and was bulky and awkward to carry, but it served its purpose without any attention from him. The other would, like the spell, attempt to maintain a temperature around his person, acting as a mobile air conditioner.

    Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t very good at it ¨C a strong enough breeze would leave him right where he started, and even walking too quickly would break the very weak insulation being maintained. Whereas the rain shield was bulky, it wasn¡¯t truly that similar to a brick ¨C not so for the air conditioner, being much bulkier in order to accommodate the large amount of inscriptions required for all of its intricacies.

    He knew there were far better versions, both in being much easier to carry and not so easily disrupted, but the version the military had given him was truly lacking, and he lacked the sheer strength that would be required to slim down the devices.

    As it was, a lot of his strength went to simply creating the controlled effects of the device, with little left over for empowering the device, especially not if he wanted to keep it cheap enough. While he was splurging on comfort, he wouldn¡¯t tolerate a large, constant drain on his funds.

    The mix of both a heater and a cooler, as well as the insulation required to make it effective, was difficult to fit into such a small package, even with as many inscriptions as it had. Even the brick version required large amounts of the inscriptions be taken up by the crafter themselves while imbuing, as the other was large enough a backpack would be required.

    Still, as he entered the familiar model of jeep to travel elsewhere, he was happy with it. Once he increased his cultivation, he could further slim it down.

    ***

    Their latest assignment was ¨C at least to Evan ¨C a stone¡¯s throw away from the front lines. Master Isaac said only two outposts stood between their current location and the enemy ¨C it had taken more than a month to reach it from Iron Guard.

    He had long ago learnt that their new posting was known as the Mountain Acropolis outpost, for it sat at the top of a rather large hill, and its location near the border and so far from Starspire meant that not only was it heavily defense-minded, but it was a prospering location that saw thousands of soldiers moving to and from it, either back from the front or headed too it.

    Evan felt it was slightly ironic that such a place was considered quite prosperous ¨C while it was technically a military outpost, there was a huge civilian population looking to take advantage of the traffic, as well as countless others drawn here by the large markets, such as various hunters.

    Being so far from any large population center also meant the nearby beasts were plentiful and filled with Substance, not having seen many hunters, and were drawn out by the disruption of the moving soldiers.

    There was no concern for beast surges, either. The large amount of military personnel discouraged any attacks, and patrols were plentiful, both by the military and powerful hunters.

    Even with the front lines so close, everyone felt relatively safe ¨C Mountain Acropolis was already large enough that the enemy would simply occupy it, not mindlessly slaughter the civilians. Almost everyone here was also strong in their own right ¨C not just anyone had the confidence or funds to travel so far from Starspire, and only with a strong cultivation base could one find opportunity at such a place.

    Master Isaac told them on the way that he hadn¡¯t explicitly picked Mountain Acropolis as he had Iron Guard ¨C when he put his request in, the military made him choose between a few different options, and he liked this one the best.

    The traveling soldiers would create plenty of opportunity for Arnav to earn some money and reach their first Collapse, while the growing nature of the place created plenty of work for a formations master like Evan who wanted to get his feet wet laying down building sized formations. Iliana too would benefit from the transient population, though he did not know what her current focus was.

    It truly was perfect ¨C the streets were bustling, almost overflowing with people, and there were multiple offices to accommodate the sheer demand for everything in the city. At the same time, Evan was positioned in a good place to contribute, just strong enough not to be overlooked amidst the countless requests for formation masters.

    War, in a wicked sense, created prosperity and opportunity for those properly positioned to take advantage, and Evan had no qualms doing so ¨C he was even excited, but for one thing.

    Being this close to the border, while bringing countless benefits, meant that there was an ever-present danger of being attacked by the enemy, Antagas. A crippling sense of dread filled Evan every moment.

    Unlike many of the civilians, he was demonstrably part of the military, and his earlier na?ve thoughts of being spared started to sound like what they always were ¨C hollow.

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 19

    Evan felt this way for good reason ¨C he was required to wear an identifying uniform, marking him as a formations master under training, in service to the military of Starspire.

    This might not be too much of a problem, as he could always simply toss the uniform if needed ¨C he would know which way the wind was blowing well before he was found. Probably.

    No; the issue was that Master Isaac was far too notable in the military, and his master was quick to introduce him and the others to several higher-ranking officers, giving them all ample time to remember his face and potentially drag him down with them should the worst happen.

    This wasn¡¯t malicious, and he couldn¡¯t say anything to discourage it, as his master was helping him build valuable connections that would serve him well during his service, and perhaps even beyond it. It was all certainly good things to know for the future, but he didn¡¯t like the perceived risk it brought him.

    In addition, he learnt that the security of Mountain Acropolis was far more strict than that of the other outposts he had stayed at ¨C here, much like at Starspire, everyone had a slip that identified them in order to stem any spies from slipping inside.

    If the outpost was ever taken, they could simply gather everyone together and require them to show their slips, effectively outing him as a member of the military.

    Perhaps none of this mattered ¨C maybe they would spare him anyway, just as he hoped.

    That wasn¡¯t enough for Evan, and he was constantly gripped by a sense of foreboding dread.

    His na?ve thoughts had transformed into grim ones, but there was little he could do. The best he was able to do was to grit his teeth and work hard to get stronger, both increasing his value as a captive and allowing him to better defend himself.

    For this reason, his first month was spent on truly setting his mind to defensive formations ¨C in particular, ones he could keep on his person, rather than the large building sized ones he had been intending to work on.

    He purchased what designs he could from the military, and switched tracks from mostly swords, maces, spears, staves, and axes into shields and armor for the military, as well as interspersing of more civilian oriented defensive products.

    These devices took forms very similar to his rain shield and portable air conditioner ¨C brick-like objects of varying sizes that took on a multitude of options.

    Some were simple projected barriers, and occasionally omnidirectional. They would typically be turned on or off manually and were quite pricey ¨C items that could protect a person were generally more valuable than those that caused harm.

    Despite being more expensive, it didn¡¯t make him more money than selling weapons ¨C it wasn¡¯t that he had overlooked the idea before, but rather that such a price tag resulted in far fewer buyers, and most of these devices were far more complex than the weapons he was used too, decreasing his overall output.

    They were also necessarily designed in such a way to be longer lasting than a weapon, and to be used less frequently. At least, that was the case for the civilian devices.

    For the military, he imbued more standard shields and pieces of armor, and they were usually quite simple ¨C most of the hard work was already done in the forging of the armor, and only the addition of an imbuement focusing on durability and weight reduction was necessary, with more exotic imbuements being specially requested instead of standard practice.

    All of this opened his eyes to just how difficult it was to create an effective defense against any possible situation. The civilian devices lacked power and would falter within a few blows depending on the model, while the standard imbuements for the military left many gaps for exotic types of damage to bypass.

    These included things such as vibration-based attacks, or heat based spells, or ones that used light, or really any kind of magic or imbuement that wasn¡¯t purely physical ¨C all his imbuements would do is prevent a standard arrow or sword from injuring the soldier, and even then they were on their own to deal with the transferred forces.

    Only a far higher investment into defense could protect against these things, and no defense was truly foolproof ¨C defending was far more difficult than attacking, and was why only large, building wide formations had any chance at holding up against a true onslaught.

    It was a grim thing to learn, but he held out hope ¨C even if it was far easier to destroy rather than protect, if the difference in strength was high enough, it wouldn¡¯t matter.

    He had no true hopes of using that to his advantage for the moment, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for the formation masters who built the core defenses. For now, he contended himself by switching out his rain shield for an omnidirectional barrier that incorporated a few adjustments from the base design.

    These adjustments were nothing much, and once again he simply ordered the inscriptions he needed done. Mostly, they would add some protection against intense heat, for if the outpost was ever in flames or he was inside a burning building. Another change was automatic activation in the case of a quickly moving object; something like an arrow.

    Evan figured that if an attack happened ¨C and he was betting on it ¨C it would be more of a raid than anything else. They would find it difficult to truly occupy the outpost, especially considering the traffic that constantly moved through it. Instead, their best move would be to simply do their best to disrupt operations and strike fear into the hearts of the residents.

    Should that happen, he would be a prime target ¨C his uniform made him out as more than just a civilian, and his low cultivation meant he had little protection or true importance.

    In other words, he made the perfect target for a stealthy archer to take down.

    The imbuement would struggle to stop such an attack, but he felt confident that even with his meager strength, so long as the archer didn¡¯t send multiple arrows his way or was particularly outstanding, he would survive at least a single arrow.

    It would give him time to seek cover, and would save his life, so he put extra effort into it. He wanted to start wearing armor too, but it wasn¡¯t allowed in the outpost for anyone but on-duty soldiers.

    There was also the chance it would make him an even bigger target.

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    Imbuements that fit into his clothes existed, and he gave it a shot, but for most materials that clothes were made out of, it wasn¡¯t possible to put inscriptions into them without using a spirit, requiring that the imbuements be done entirely without them, making them incredibly laborious to create and far weaker than virtually any other type of protection.

    His own were virtually unnoticeable, even with a simple imbuement that only increased their ability to disperse force ¨C something that cost him a pretty penny to get the force-aspected Substance for.

    On top of everything else, he tried to learn some more spells ¨C he had already mastered the more important ones by now, such as the ones for inscribing onto or inside metal ¨C something he would need for his ever-approaching certification ¨C along with a few basic spells for defending himself or staying alive.

    These included a spell to fire a small bolt of force, another to create a small barrier similar to the devices he made ¨C but it was only able to project in a certain direction, as he lacked the power for anything more ¨C and finally, one that could condense a small amount of water out of the air, a channeled spell he could only maintain for about half a minute.

    Since arriving, he started learning two more, though he only had hopes for one of them: a very weak spell for stemming bleeding, along with a spell that would create a small flare.

    The flare was virtually useless to Evan, as his mana decayed so quickly and his magic domain was so small, but he wanted to learn it anyway.

    Healing spells were orders of magnitude more complex than any other spell he had learned, making the spells to carve look easier than the first light spell he had learned. They also took far more mana than he had to be very useful, but he thought it better to have and not need than need and not have.

    Of course, he had little hope of learning the spell ¨C healing magic was seen as nearly requiring a genius to learn at his level, with even the simpler spells ¨C like what he was learning ¨C being incredibly complex. Any healer was incredibly well regarded and paid handsomely for their services.

    His struggles continued into the end of his second month at the Mountain Acropolis, and while he had learnt the flare spell ¨C and it was truly useless, he discovered ¨C he had made almost no progress with the healing spell.

    Master Isaac said he had some hope though, as while healing spells were mind-numbingly complex, they could always be accomplished later in life when he had some mental cultivation to support his efforts.

    In this time, Evan also received orders for more of his imbued beams, from places other than Iron Guard. It seemed news had gotten around to some other mines at last, and he relished the opportunity to bring in even more money.

    He also stopped his efforts at defensive devices ¨C he had learned enough and would need more strength to make anything better. They just weren¡¯t very practical at his level as a personal device.

    Instead, he turned his efforts back to getting experience with larger formations, while making the beams on the side ¨C they made him too much money to ignore.

    With his self-imposed date for becoming certified fast approaching, he started to feel a time crunch to learn everything he could before leaving his master¡¯s side. Once he became certified, he would be a genuine, fully fledged crafter ¨C and that came with certain expectations.

    It would get a lot harder to learn new things, and he would lose the protection he was granted by his status that he was used too ¨C unlike Master Isaac, most crafters couldn¡¯t just make requests of the military and expect them to be mostly fulfilled, and in a timely manner at that.

    He would be at the whim of the military, and they could send him straight to the front lines if they wanted. They probably wouldn¡¯t ¨C it was in his contract that any time spent on the front lines was counted as basically double in regard to his service ¨C but it was always a possibility.

    The best way to prevent this from happening was to make himself more valuable, so he coordinated with his master and soon found a request he could fulfill while learning the ins and outs of imbuing large-scale formations.

    What was needed was simple ¨C one of the craftsmen of Mountain Acropolis, an alchemist, wanted a primary formation laid down at his newly constructed home before he arrived, along with two connected formations that would function as lighting for the entire home and a preservation formation for one of the rooms, where he would be keeping materials for his work.

    It was a perfect request for Evan ¨C the owner wasn¡¯t yet at the outpost, allowing him to work and learn in peace, and they needed the formations done from scratch; there were no imbuements already present, making it perfect for his master to teach him how everything was done, from start to finish.

    And there was a lot to learn, despite everything he had read and been taught thus far ¨C formations that went onto buildings instead of tools were very different in practice despite being in the same field. He knew of the terms, of course. The primary formation was essentially the foundation of everything else.

    When it came to a building, there were typically far more moving pieces than in smaller imbuements. At the same time, it was rare for more not to be added, removed, or adjusted as time went on ¨C unlike smaller imbuements such as his weapons, which were imbued knowing the result from the start, with changes rarely made afterwards.

    Because of this, the first thing a formations master did when laying down the formations of a building is constructing a master formation that everything else could be slaved too and controlled from, in addition to some infrastructure ¨C such as security, to keep any unwanted formations from connecting, or the easy monitoring of what maintenance was needed.

    There were even more advanced functions, but they would vary greatly. Buildings typically didn¡¯t share a common design that the crafter could simply build ¨C each building was slightly different and had different demands, so the crafter would be forced to create them anew each time.

    Evan liked this ¨C it felt much closer to his original vision of freedom a crafter experienced with their work, not the relatively strict way most formation masters followed designs without thought.

    This was especially so for the military, he had noticed. While Starspires way of doing things produced great differences between each soldier, they went to great lengths to organize them and ensure a very general type of uniformity among the soldiers. They didn¡¯t look kindly on any potential gimmicks.

    Being built in this way also meant that it wasn¡¯t simple to learn from a book ¨C the circumstances had to be considered each time, and the crafter would have to make decisions. It was also well established by now that even the military wasn¡¯t very generous when it came to giving out knowledge.

    Constructing formations for a building was one of the most profitable ways a formations master could spend their time, and for good reason ¨C it took much more effort than simply following an already established design, and while much more freeform, there were designs.

    One such example was the preservation formation ¨C each crafter would have their own understanding of how to lay down such a design, and they would each have drawbacks, strengths, and a price. Comparing this to his own design of the beams, parallels could be seen ¨C what if he didn¡¯t include the checks to reduce the load on the beam?

    It would still be able to accomplish its goal with enough strength, but it would far be inferior to his own implementation.

    Each design would still have to be adapted to the building in question, but these designs ¨C or rather, methods ¨C served as a way to build a ¡°brand¡± and increase the value of their work.

    At least, that was how it worked outside the military ¨C inside, things worked through the request system, and while demands could be made of who could fulfill an order, it wouldn¡¯t be too exacting.

    The crafter was coming to them, after all, not the other way around. Since the alchemist was currently traveling, it would be difficult to get a hold of them and decide which formations master they preferred to take up the request, and it would also be incredibly demeaning for such a thing to take place ¨C it was one thing for someone to go looking for a specific crafter to fulfill a request, and another to turn them away at the door.

    For this request, the requirements were quite low ¨C it was apparent that the alchemist was trying to keep costs low by hiring a weaker crafter, even if it would increase the maintenance costs.

    Evan didn¡¯t blame him ¨C the pay wasn¡¯t bad, but it was secondary to what he would learn by working on the request, as well as something else that was mentioned ¨C whoever did the original work would get priority for any future requests made of the building!

    This was good, as many of the other requests required a certain amount of experience.

    A few days later, when the first of the Substance he would need arrived, he was bursting with excitement to get started! The day had come!

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 20

    Evan stood beside Master Isaac, inspecting the building before him. It was brand new, and it showed. While the alchemist might have skimped on the formations, he seemed to have spared no expense for the actual building ¨C likely because mundane construction was far cheaper than the time and expertise of a formations master.

    The building wasn¡¯t as large as their own workshop, but it was bigger than their communal home. It was two stories tall and constructed out of stone bricks laid atop each other with mortar ¨C evidence that no magic was involved. The stone was granite, likely excavated from a nearby outpost ¨C it couldn¡¯t have been cheap to get it moved here, but it made the house stand out in its luxurious construction.

    Mountain Acropolis seemed to be better planned than Fool¡¯s Hope, and the building was situated on a quickly developing street full of other workshops that directly sold goods. The storefront had thick glass windows, behind which sat a display shelf that was empty.

    It was a good idea ¨C even now, in the early morning, there were crowds of people moving into and out of the buildings, fat satchels of coin tied to their waist or kept in purses.

    Some of the other nearby buildings were just as luxurious, but they were a minority amongst the mostly wood ¨C although nicely built ¨C buildings that catered to soldiers rather than hunters. He supposed that the alchemist who owned the building was trying to garner himself a reputation as high quality.

    This could be inferred from the sign above the door, which itself looked high quality, that read ¡°Lazy Hunt Potions¡±. He could already imagine the subtitle ¨C ¡°Makes hunting easy!¡± or some such. The words were written in nice calligraphy, the letters flowing and almost oozing class.

    Overall, it just barely managed to keep away from overdoing it. He wondered if that would change once he was done with it ¨C the more detailed request he had gotten to read mentioned that any embellishments would be appreciated, and Evan was eager to make a good impression and try his hand at it.

    Having gotten a good look at the front of the building, he made a casual circle around the building, speaking his thoughts aloud ¨C his master was with him, and had said that the best way to teach would be to let him do his own thing, and that he would only but in when he made a mistake or lost direction, with only occasional bits of guidance.

    ¡°There are more windows than expected.¡±

    ¡°Its construction is sublime ¨C I know we¡¯re not doing reinforcement, but it wouldn¡¯t need much anyway.¡±

    ¡°This is a perfect place for some lights.¡±

    Evan made many comments, but most of them lacked substance. He didn¡¯t really know what he was looking for, and all of his work would be done inside for the most part. Even for the lighting, the outside would make do with lanterns ¨C it would easier and cheaper to replace them from time to time than to install a formation that required maintenance.

    His master said nothing, and strangely that was more anxiety inducing than if he had been full of complaints.

    In truth, the building was very nicely built. There was even an awning in front of the door, to shelter customers from rain as they entered or left.

    Once he retrieved the key was given and unlocked the front door, he did a tour of the rooms.

    The first floor was all business ¨C most of the floor was taken up by a large shopping space with various racks placed all around, with a counter in the back that presumably an employee would stand behind to complete sales.

    Behind the counter there were two doors, each one on opposite sides of the counter that ran the entire length of the room. The one furthest from the front door revealed what appeared to be a storage room, with more shelves that were more thickly bunched together than the shopping area.

    There were also a few crates, along with some separators that could be used to divvy up the space inside the crates.

    Along the back wall of this room was a staircase that led to the second floor. Up there were an assortment of rooms that made up the living space for the alchemist, and nothing more. There was a bedroom, a kitchen, a bathroom, etc. ¨C all of them quite large and spacious. He was a little jealous ¨C their own communal home was far more cramped.

    Back downstairs in the other room was another storage area, though this one wasn¡¯t furnished. Given that the other one seemed to be meant for completed potions, he figured this room was meant for the ingredients of the potions. It must have been unfurnished as he himself would be designing most of this room.

    There was another room connected to where the ingredients were stored, though it was entirely unfurnished and empty.

    Evan realized that he should have requested the floor plan for the building, so he could know for sure what each room was intended for rather than making assumptions. His master hadn¡¯t said anything, but once he brought it up, he got an earful for wasting their time, though there was no real annoyance in his master¡¯s tone.

    Like always, the man was incredibly patient.

    Back to the empty room, though, he guessed that it was where the alchemy would happen, given it was connected to the room where ingredients ¨C and now that he thought of it, Substance ¨C would be stored.

    It was enough for him now to know the layout and see the rooms for himself. They left, locked the door behind them, and while Master Isaac headed back to the workshop, he went back to the office and got a hold of the floor plans for the building.

    Now, he would meet his master at the workshop and start figuring out the design of the formations.

    ***

    ¡°How will I add inscriptions?¡± Evan asked, sitting beside his master in the workshop. They were hunched over scribbles of paper, laying the foundations for the primary formation. It was the most important, and he couldn¡¯t afford to mess it up.

    ¡°You¡¯ll use the carving spell for metal ¨C it¡¯ll work just as well on stone as it does on metal.¡± At the expected response he frowned; the spell took a lot of mana, and having to do it all himself would make it incredibly difficult to get things done in a timely manner.

    ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that. You know better than to invite strangers into doing the work for you, and it will be good for you to start using the spell in your work.¡±

    He did of course know better, but it would still be a tiring, maddening affair given his lacking magical abilities. Was this another reason the work was paid so well?

    ¡°Can I inscribe onto the surface, or does everything need to be submerged?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s up to the discretion of the owner, but generally it should always be done out of sight. I¡¯ve already looked at the full details; the alchemist wants everything submerged.¡±

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    Hmm¡­

    The difficulty of the task was beginning to show itself to him. Everything would need to be planned in advance, for if he made any mistakes while inscribing the building, there would be nothing he could do ¨C he simply had no way of restoring any of changes he made, and the primary formation was no less complex than his Weight Redistributor, not to mention it worked at a much larger scale.

    Had he bitten off more than he could chew?

    ***

    Evan made his way back to the workshop and got down to business, learning from Master Isaac as he sketched his design down onto paper.

    ¡°The most important aspect of the primary formation is adaptability. From the full details of the request, it is apparent that the work being done now is only the start. This could also be seen from the building itself ¨C trying to market itself as a high-end store for hunters will require more than a fancy sign, stone walls and two basic formations.

    ¡°In the future, the store will need reinforcement for the entire building, air conditioning, and more. You might not be the one to install those, but it is important that regardless of who installs them, the primary formation is capable of accepting them into the grid and allowing others to work with it, within reason.¡±

    ¡°Master, how do I imbue this into the formation? I understand that some sort of key will need to be made in the security, to allow others to work on it, but how does the primary formation become ¡®adaptable¡¯? What does that even mean?¡±

    Evan was deeply confused ¨C he felt like it was his first time imbuing again. All of his work up to this point had been built with the finished product in mind, and he had no idea how to go about hooking up other formations without manipulating the primary formation each time.

    ¡°I¡¯m getting to that. Listen. With this core trait in mind, everything else is secondary, but it must work with every additional formation. Most likely, there will be a vague limit that is apparent in the design that you can offer to the client.

    ¡°How you go about making the formation adaptable is relatively simple but difficult. You will create a dynamic imbuement that can be keyed into ¡®latching¡¯ onto other formations, built with the purpose of facilitating the other functions of a primary formation. This imbuement is considered dynamic as it is programmed to cycle through all keyed in formations.¡±

    ¡°Does it cycle in order to get through all attached formations? Why is there a limit to how many can be connected if it just cycles through all of them?¡±

    ¡°The rate at which the primary formation cycles through the formations is quite slow ¨C creating such a dynamic imbuement is difficult to begin with, but improving it is even more difficult. You must remember that the scale we are working at is much larger than most devices, and the attached formations could be anywhere in the building, and of various sizes.

    ¡°Getting the imbuement to go through all of them requires a pre-laid track as it moves through the building, which means this track needs to reach most reasonable spaces inside and outside the building. That¡¯s a long path, and the imbuement has to do more than simply recognize all attached formations ¨C each additional feature of the primary formation will complicate matters.

    ¡°At some point, this cycle simply begins to take far too long, or ends up carrying far too much information. Each ¡®stop¡¯ along the track takes varying amounts of time and adds data to the imbuement that it must carry until it can discard or transfer it somewhere.

    ¡°This is how you will know the limit of the imbuement ¨C its parameters will be determined at the outset, and you can intuit how much the imbuement can handle before it becomes too much.¡±

    It took some time for Evan to process that, but eventually he understood ¨C it worked somewhat similarly to the sensors he had seen and even used.

    When he originally learned how imbuements work, his understanding was that each imbuement of the formation was spread out over the entirety of the formation ¨C this was what allowed the imbued devices to break down in parts rather than suddenly outright breaking.

    This was only true for the simplest imbuement, though ¨C class zero. More complex imbuements ¨C the pieces of each formation ¨C needed to be centralized.

    Doing this meant quicker, more complicated breakdowns, but it was necessary for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, though, was that the ability of any crafter was ultimately limited. While their ¡®bandwidth¡¯ increased with their cultivation, so did the needs of their work.

    It was yet another reason that talent was so important, even in the higher Collapses.

    Because of this, a crafter couldn¡¯t evenly elevate each imbuement. Complex imbuements like sensors needed the power to retrieve information, and large amounts of data would be needed to moved from sensors to wherever that data was used. If the sensor was evenly distributed throughout the formation, the data transfer of the entire formation would need to be elevated ¨C something that took a lot of strength.

    To get around this, as imbuements increased ¨C one for reinforcement, one for sharpness, another to act as a switch ¨C they would be increasingly centralized, with careful lanes connecting them to allow for transfer of information or whatever else.

    In small devices, this worked just fine. Everyone understood that more complicated formations broke more easily ¨C that was true even for mechanical devices. The problem with larger formations was that in most cases, such as his own, the formations laid down in the beginning weren¡¯t the finished product.

    No client wanted to be told they couldn¡¯t have this or that formation installed because the primary formation didn¡¯t have the proper pathways at that location.

    To remedy this, the primary formation would instead use a dynamic ¡®carrier¡¯ of information that moved along a track spanning most of the building, exchanging a constant line of traversal for a much ¡®cheaper¡¯ method that still worked, but didn¡¯t provide live communication or travel through the formation.

    It was a tradeoff, much like anything else.

    With his newfound comprehension, Evan started asking more questions.

    ¡°Why only have one dynamic ¡®carrier¡¯? Couldn¡¯t the load be split with more?¡±

    ¡°Yes ¨C that is definitely possible, and commonly done, but you¡¯re underestimating the cost of each one to your bandwidth. It will seem like you have more than enough given the amount of Substance involved, but by the time you¡¯re finishing up you won¡¯t feel like you have enough.

    ¡°This is the cost of a dynamic imbuement like this ¨C it changes too much, so inscriptions can¡¯t be used. It must be baked into the imbuement using only your will, making them massive hogs of bandwidth and is one of the reasons why they¡¯re so difficult to create.¡±

    ¡°Still cheaper than individual pathways?¡±

    ¡°For the entire building, yes. It also makes things a little easier to design ¨C you¡¯ll need colored pens for keeping track of all the pathways otherwise. Some mix and match, leaving extra pathways to places they expect there to be lots of transfers.¡±

    Evan found he liked that idea quite a lot. It felt incredibly satisfying when he looked over his complete design of the ¡®Weight Redistributor¡¯ for the first time ¨C he had a feeling this would feel even better when he was finished with it.

    If the dynamic imbuement was so expensive that having several was prohibitive, and they were used to increase the ¡®adaptability¡¯ of the formation, then by carefully mixing just one with static pathways at key locations he could somewhat stretch the limit of his primary formation even further.

    Wait¡­

    ¡°What about everything else a primary formation is supposed to do?¡± He asked. So much had been explained to him at a rapid pace he was losing sight of the bigger picture.

    His master laughed for a short moment before answering. ¡°Yes, this is the problem; you will never have enough bandwidth to go around and do everything, especially for this request.¡±

    Evan frowned. He didn¡¯t like hearing that, but it was true. ¡°Because the alchemist is at his third Collapse?¡±

    ¡°Exactly. Already, you will struggle to bring the formation to a suitable level. Trying to give it additional features is a thankless endeavor. The request allowed for and only paid enough for someone at the first Collapse to bother taking it on, so their expectations cannot be that high.¡±

    ¡°If I was able to, what sorts of things could I add to the primary formation?¡± Even if he didn¡¯t get to add anything fancy for his first try, he was still curious about what sorts of things others added.

    Could he read through requests and come up with ideas that way? Something worth noting ¨C even if he had to figure things out himself, just knowing what could be done would serve as great inspiration.

    ¡°Well, there are all sorts of things. The pillars of a primary formation, the must-haves, are adaptability and security. The former enables the latter, as well as opening up all sorts of options.¡±

    Master Isaac took a deep breath. ¡°Acting as the infrastructure, it is important not to let the original purpose get away from you. Basic extensions are security alerts, to catch any malignant actors trying to add unauthorized formations, and maintenance reminders.

    ¡°Intent cannot create more intent when it comes to Substance, so while automatic replenishment isn¡¯t possible, conveniences can be made ¨C such as using the primary formation as a transportation network of Substance, allowing it to be moved around the building as needed for anyone doing maintenance, or in the case of crafters, for easy access in their work.

    ¡°If possible, these are essential additions. There are others, but those are usually better served as their own formations that connect to the primary.¡± He stopped and seemed to notice Evan¡¯s starstruck gaze.

    Evan shook his head as his master stopped his rambling and got down to business ¨C how these things could be constructed in the first place.

    ¡°Let me show you. You¡¯ll need practice to manage the dynamic imbuement, though¡­¡±

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 21

    The full details of the request Evan received showed that the client, the alchemist, wasn¡¯t particularly picky ¨C they were fully aware that you get what you pay for, but such a formation was truly expensive, even for the alchemist.

    While Mountain Acropolis was thriving now, its growth was contingent on the war happening not far away at the border. Eventually, that border would move, and neither direction was great for the growth of the outpost. Further away, its importance would begin to lessen as it became more distant from the action. Closer, and the lifeblood of the outpost ¨C the civilians ¨C would begin to panic and leave in droves.

    The alchemist seemed to understand this and was wary of investing too much into his new home ¨C like many others, he was here to take advantage of the traffic the outpost saw.

    Nothing was spelled out so clearly within the request, but Evan could see the hesitation by reading between the lines. He was, after all, here for similar reasons, even if he lacked the freedom the alchemist enjoyed ¨C whether he was part of the military or not, having a cultivation at the third Collapse would bring him freedoms that Evan could only look forward to.

    Despite this, the request was domineering in its demands ¨C it asked for more than was reasonable considering what was paid, and while the sum was incredible to Evan, he knew that for this type of work it was barely acceptable.

    It was one of the reasons he was able to get his hands on the request ¨C otherwise, the low demands in cultivation and experience would have had many flocking to try their hand at it.

    He wondered how much of it was his master¡¯s influence, as even with the low pay he couldn¡¯t understand why others didn¡¯t snatch up the request.

    Regardless, Master Isaac had told him that so long as he did his best, he wouldn¡¯t face any reprisal ¨C the full details were reserved for whoever accepted the request, and such demands were unreasonable considering who was allowed to accept the request and the pay given.

    Just as Evan wasn¡¯t allowed to overcharge for his goods, so too could others not make unfair requests and underpay him for them.

    It was surprisingly fair, but he supposed that even with as corrupt as Starspire was, it required a smooth-running military to defend itself.

    That didn¡¯t mean he could not give it his all, but he wouldn¡¯t be expected to do the impossible.

    With that in mind, a week quickly passed as he worked with Master Isaac to learn how to actually craft all of these functions for the primary formation. His master assured him that by the time he finished the request, he would know enough to not need any more help ¨C as always, his master was big on having him master the basics, so he could expand from there on his own.

    ***

    The request had told him there were three months before the alchemist arrived, and that was also considered his deadline. It was a little nerve-wracking to work under pressure, but by the time the first week had passed he was mostly over it.

    With a rough timetable, things were much less stressful ¨C at least as long as he followed it. He would allow himself the first month and a half to finish the primary formation. All of the planning, design, and execution had to be done within this time.

    He allocated so much to this for two reasons; first, the primary formation was the most important in the building. Secondly, he needed this time to build upon the principles he learnt from Master Isaac in the past week.

    It was the first time he had done any work on such a scale, so he wanted to ensure he did things right and didn¡¯t pick up any bad habits.

    Once that was done, he figured it would only take him a week or two to design and build the lights for the building. It wasn¡¯t something he had done before, but it was far simpler than the primary formation and used principles he already understood.

    That would leave him with about a month to figure out the preservation formation.

    Master Isaac was leaving the rest of it to him, now that he had the principles down, but he figured it shouldn¡¯t be that difficult. The real trouble was figuring out the specific method he wanted to use.

    That would come later, though, so he set his mind to working on the primary formation ¨C something that he quickly found to be an act of maddening frustration.

    Laying out the actual design wasn¡¯t that difficult, just time-consuming. With the blueprints of the building in hand, he spent almost a week sketching out the ¡®track¡¯ his dynamic imbuement would follow, along with some typical pathways for the lighting formation.

    Even without having begun work on it, it was easy to get a good idea of where he would place the lights; he could adjust their brightness and size as needed once he got there.

    He placed the ¡®core¡¯ of the primary formation in the roof of the first floor, behind the counter. There shouldn¡¯t be much need for any other formations there in the future, so it was a good place ¨C not to mention that it was close to being the center of the building.

    The track and the pathways would stretch out all throughout the building, but the core functionality would be inscribed there. It would take up much if not all of the space for formations there, so it could be considered a weakness of the building.

    One of the reasons he wouldn¡¯t have as much Substance to work with, after all, was because he couldn¡¯t hog all of it for the primary formation ¨C each meter of the walls could only hold so much, and that space would be needed for any future formations ¨C not much could be dedicated to the pathways, and not all of the primary formation could simply rest in the roof.

    He greatly anticipated being allowed to install a reinforcement formation throughout the exterior walls of the building, and that would require lots of space in the Substance.

    The blueprints also cleared things up, though he had the right of things anyway. The room with the crates and shelves was intended to store finished products of the alchemist, both for restocking the store and for any shipping he might be doing, such as for the military.

    On the other end of the main shopping space, behind the counter, the other door led to where the preservation ward would be installed and stocked with the magical ingredients the alchemist would need for his work. Through the door in that room, the one that was completely empty and bare, was where the alchemist would be concocting his wares ¨C it was empty to allow the alchemist to fill as they pleased.

    Most crafters were necessarily picky about setting up their own workstations ¨C they would often have their own tools and methods, and would only feel safe doing things themselves.

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    Evan wasn¡¯t at that level yet ¨C most of his tools were still mundane, and those that weren¡¯t like his carving knife weren¡¯t exactly meticulously crafted with any secrets. His master was also an outlier in this, being used to frequently traveling from place to place and spending most of his time teaching instead of practicing his trade.

    It made him wonder why the older man didn¡¯t pursue furthering his craft ¨C he was of a high Collapse and seemed to be quite skilled.

    He didn¡¯t mention it though ¨C everyone had their secrets, and he was thankful for the tutelage.

    ***

    Another three weeks passed as Evan refined his understanding of the principles of large-sized formation crafting.  Half of that was spent using large sheets of wood as he tested his skills and furthered his understanding, spending a sum not insignificant in his efforts to practice.

    He didn¡¯t manage the dynamic imbuement until just a few days before the end of his first month on the project passed, frequently requiring help from Master Isaac to point out his flaws.

    ¡°It¡¯s just like imbuing without an inscription,¡± he would say, ¡°You just need to anchor it to a static loop of movement while enabling it to be accessed using a security key, and logging attempts otherwise.¡± It was frustrating ¨C hearing all of that didn¡¯t seem to help in the slightest, but while comprehension eluded him, he noticed his attempts getting better regardless.

    Evan seemed to struggle with it a lot more than most, and he often caught sly glances the others would give while he was working in the workshop with his master. Iliana and Arnav both seemed to take pleasure in his struggle to learn.

    Neither bothered him overmuch, though they did increase his frustration, likely much to their amusement. With Iliana, he had come to accept that she just didn¡¯t like him that much ¨C he thought it had to do with him besting her talentwise and remaining ahead of her. She had reached her first Collapse but was consistently improving slower than he was in all respects.

    With Arnav, well, ribbing each other had become a cornerstone of their friendship ¨C it was nice to just let go and be less than polite with someone, and none of it was meant to do harm.

    It still grated, though.

    By the end he was starting to get worried ¨C he only had a few more weeks to get the primary formation inscribed and imbued, and his lacking magical talents meant that he would spend far more time regenerating his mana than anything else.

    Thankfully, he eventually managed it. The imbuement was difficult, as it was complex, featured security, and couldn¡¯t be made easier through the use of inscriptions. All of this was further magnified by the way it had to be imbued ¨C his mind seemed to default to static imbuements, as that was what he was used too, and it took deliberate effort in just the right way to make it dynamic.

    When he finally managed it, he was working with one of the sheets of wood he used for practicing in the workshop, though one without any inscriptions underneath the surface. It was possible to layer it over inscriptions, active or not, but he didn¡¯t want the added difficulty it would bring.

    The path ¨C the track it was to follow ¨C wasn¡¯t anything special, the requirements simply being that the way be made ¡®deeper¡¯ ¨C with such a strong, concentrated imbuement moving along the walls, some reinforcement had to be done for easing the path and preventing any disturbances that might result from so much Substance moving about.

    Nobody else was with him at the time, so he allowed himself several minutes whooping and laughing at his success regardless.

    ¡°Ha! Hahaha! Whoo! I did it! I fucking did it!¡±

    Even now, it brought a smile to his face at his success. It was the largest hurdle to his learning he had faced yet, and as the failures continued to mount, he had begun to feel discouraged.

    To finally succeed had felt good.

    As the memory played in his mind, he gathered up the things he would need before setting out from the workshop towards the building. With him was the design for the primary formation, the blueprint for the building ¨C he might need it for some reason ¨C and a tied off bag containing several Substance containers.

    While the design wasn¡¯t difficult, it was still quite complex and used a variety of different aspects of Substance in its design. Some of them were completely new to him as of a month ago, and he was looking forward to exploring their effects.

    One such Substance was mind-aspected. It was incredibly expensive, but thankfully the materials weren¡¯t paid for with his dime. He was given a budget, and as long as he could justify it to his client, was allowed to freely purchase the things he needed.

    In addition to the mind-substance, he had a healthy mixing of force-aspected Substance ¨C they would make up the bulk of the formation, as much of the formation involved moving imbuements or would facilitate movement.

    He didn¡¯t bring any other types with him ¨C it would be a terrible tragedy if he was robbed ¨C but if he had space, he planned to add in some alerts and reminders. Those would likely use a mix of light and sound aspected Substance, but he would place the order when he had a better idea of how his intent would hold up.

    Mind-aspected Substance was incredibly expensive because of its rarity, and he only brought a small amount with him. He wouldn¡¯t need much, but it would take to his dynamic imbuement much better than anything else ¨C while some things could be done with any aspect of Substance, there were always superior options.

    In the case of an imbuement dealing with lots of information, like the dynamic ¡®courier¡¯, a little mind-aspected Substance would go a long ways to keeping the strain on his intent down.

    This was, as his master had said, of critical importance. With his cultivation at the bottom of the first Collapse, making everything fit wouldn¡¯t be easy and required some planning.

    Force aspected Substance wasn¡¯t cheap either, but still within his budget ¨C it was a staple of most primary formations, and the client had seemed to put that into his calculations given the budget.

    He had worked with it before, but only in small amounts ¨C here it was the primary aspect of the formation. With force being so fundamental, it was useful in a lot of different imbuements, and the primary formation was no different.

    Things would be moving around a lot, and not just the courier. Being connected throughout the entirety of the house and being connected to all of its formations, it made for a great way to move Substance around without the need for all the cubes he commonly used.

    By now he had arrived at the building, so he once more did a cursory inspection. Master Isaac wasn¡¯t with him this time ¨C he had the others to tend to, and after all of their practice, he had a good understanding of what he was doing.

    The design would also stop him from making any mistakes in the inscription, but any possible errors he made in his work.

    Once he had circled around the outside of the building, his soul sense active, he headed inside and did the same for the various rooms. Everything was just as he had left it, if a little dustier than before.

    He didn¡¯t expect anything to be any different from before, but it was always best to check, and helped reassure himself that he hadn¡¯t made any mistakes ¨C he was still nervous.

    Returning to the shops floor, he entered from the storage room that led upstairs and found himself behind the counter. The moment was upon him.

    Truthfully, not much would be done today ¨C he would inscribe beneath the surface using his spell until he ran out of mana. Depending on how much he got done, he would either test his work using the Substance he brought with him or head home for the day to make more beams.

    He didn¡¯t bring any of his mana potions with him today, though maybe he should have. They were expensive, even for him, and he figured he wouldn¡¯t need them yet ¨C if it looked like he wasn¡¯t going to finish on schedule, he would start drinking them in order to get more work done.

    This was the unfortunate reality of his magical talent in practice ¨C when it mattered, he would need to down potions to get his work done on time or be content with the slow pace of his labor.

    Perhaps I can ask the alchemist about something to increase my regeneration rate? Is the third Collapse strong enough to make those?

    It was something to consider, and it made him almost reconsider his plans to order the Substance for furthering his cultivation. He had enough to advance his strength by the same margin he had before, and had for some time, but couldn¡¯t find the time to cultivate for however long he would need.

    This time, he would have a healthy nest egg of money still in the bank after his cultivation in case he needed anything ¨C like more mana potions ¨C for his work. His beams were selling like hotcakes all across the various mines of Starspire.

    With how slow the inscribing for the primary formation was going, he would have a few days between each trip after emptying his mana pool while he waited for it to refill. That likely wasn¡¯t long enough to finish his cultivation, but two trips would definitely do it.

    He just needed to be careful about slipping into the cultivation trance. Maybe he could get a clock?

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 22

    Evan figured he would spend a little more than two hours painstakingly inscribing the stone floor above him, moving slowly in order to ensure no mistakes were made ¨C there would be no do-overs. He had lined his design up where he wanted it and went to great lengths to make sure everything would fit.

    The spell itself looked more magical than most of his spells, and more properly fulfilled what he imagined spell casting was like.

    Upon a successful cast, the spell would manifest as a thin plane of light in the shape of a square, about thirty centimeters to a side, with its center being the point upon which the spell was cast.

    This plane would only emit enough light to make itself distinct from its surroundings and was quite dim. For his purposes, inside the rather dark building ¨C the only light coming from the windows at the front ¨C this was fine.

    He could then press down onto the plane with his fingers, and it would offer some slight resistance. It would feel like pressing into a sort of viscous, gel-like substance.

    All of this was purposeful ¨C engineered to make using the spell for its intended purpose as easy as possible, though it came with a relatively high mana cost to compensate.

    The distance from the surface of the plane to where he moved his fingers was how he controlled the depth at which he was carving, and any horizontal movements he made would be carved beneath the stone at the same depth.

    He could only make two-dimensional inscriptions this way, as the spell purposefully ignored any vertical movements, assuming he was simply adjusting his depth.

    There was also some manner of insensitivity to this, so any slight deviations he made wouldn¡¯t alter the depth at which he was carving.

    All of this could be modified by changing some parts of the spell, but it wasn¡¯t easy. These features also made the spell more costly, as it required many more components, but Evan found this made his carving much neater and more precise after he made these adjustments.

    That was the purpose of the slight resistance as well ¨C it allowed for more care in his movements, as inscriptions were quite finicky.

    In this way, he was able to use his bare hands to precisely carve into the stone underneath the surface. He couldn¡¯t maintain the spell for long, but Evan had decided that it was better to go slowly and make no mistakes than use a cheaper, simpler spell and waste time trying to fix mistakes.

    His experience with ruining his first few beams had taught him that while he was designing the ¡®weight redistributor¡¯ ¨C his errors had greatly decreased in frequency when he made these changes to the spell for carving wood, so he brought them along to his metal carving spell.

    Of course, he was no great genius capable of adding entirely new components to a spell with so little experience ¨C these changes were detailed alterations he was taught in order to change the spell to better suit his needs.

    Crafters needed many tools.

    With his carefully modified spell, making the inscriptions still required his utmost, but it wasn¡¯t nearly as nerve-wracking as it might have been otherwise ¨C his current nervousness had more to do with the pressure of the request than anything else.

    His only trouble was comfortably reaching the roof of the first floor, though that was quickly remedied by asking the nearby stores for something like a small ladder or stepping stool. As he was in his uniform, nobody viewed him with suspicion.

    Some of them even had a few questions for him, having seen that he was working on a nice stone building and wondering who was moving in. No doubt, they were worried about their potential competition if the owner could afford such a nice place to be built along with formations inscribed and imbued by a formations master.

    Even if they could tell that he was only at his first Collapse ¨C which they could ¨C it was expensive to have formations laid down, even from someone at his level. They were all just as aware as he was that the prosperity of the outpost was hinged on the battles happening at the border, and that most weren¡¯t willing to truly lay down roots here.

    All of them wanted to needle information out of him, and he found the amount of respect they held for him simply due to his uniform strange. This made getting a small ladder easy, even without giving out any information he shouldn¡¯t.

    ¡°Of course, you can borrow the ladder, Formation Master Evan ¨C that¡¯s no problem at all. I¡¯m surprised you don¡¯t already have one with you ¨C the building you¡¯re working on looks quite expensive, and of course there¡¯s your own cost for adding the formations. What Collapse is the owner at?¡±

    ¡°Did the owner happen to mention what wares he¡¯ll be selling? My son is a hunter, and he might be interested in what they¡¯re selling. The step stool¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­what formations are you working on over there, Formation Master Evan? It must be quite something for you to take an interest.¡±

    Evan received all sorts of responses and he was always respectfully addressed as a fully fledged formations master, even though his uniform clearly painted him as an apprentice ¨C a clear attempt at brown-nosing if he ever saw one, which he frequently did these days.

    He didn¡¯t like it.

    When I was younger- wait¡­ no, not even when I was that much younger, just a little more than a year ago. ¡­Time sure does fly, sometimes.

    He used to think it would be nice to be the one being fawned over instead of doing the fawning himself, but having now experienced it, he realized it just made him uncomfortable. It was one the reasons he increasingly kept to himself and those he already knew fairly well.

    Being addressed as a formation master was fine ¨C he had worked hard to earn that title, and being addressed respectfully didn¡¯t bother him. He even enjoyed it, compared to the way he was treated as just another orphan.

    The problem was that everyone seemed to want something. Had he been this way as a kid? No wonder it often took a few drinks for him to get any meaningful advice out of the crafters he pestered.

    He shook his head to clear his thoughts and brought the small ladder ¨C he didn¡¯t think the stepping stool would do it, unfortunately ¨C back to the building.

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    After about three hours had passed, he had a crick in his neck, his arms were burning, and he was summarily miserable. It had taken longer than expected, as he ended up needing a few breaks. Working from the ladder while he needed to be precise with his hand movements and maintaining the spell at the same time was incredibly draining, and somewhat difficult.

    It also made apparent that he was no longer in as good shape as he used to be ¨C spending more than a year mostly sitting or standing at a table could do that, he supposed, even if he was always quite active with his hands.

    Maybe Arnav was onto something with the exercises he did. He¡¯d ask him about it later ¨C it would be a good way to chat some more and get back into shape. Their time together was coming to a close with his self-imposed deadline quickly coming up, and only now was Arnav reaching his first Collapse.

    He worried that at this rate, he would end up so far ahead of him their relationship would take on an awkward angle.

    There was nothing for it, though. He refused to slow down so Arnav could keep up, as neither of them would accept that, and Arnav refused to speed up ¨C he was determined to do things ¡°right¡±, and that apparently meant taking his time.

    Evan had no idea how he could advance at such a relaxed pace considering how competitive he was. Skill and experience were important, and he understood that ¨C he tried to do things in such a way that he could get as much experience and skill as possible, but he wouldn¡¯t slow down for it.

    It was something to worry about another time, he decided, as he made his way back towards the workshop. He first returned the small ladder to its owner and thanked them before hurrying on his way, of course.

    The streets were busy as always, especially in the market area where he was, and he found himself having to press against others as he tried to make his way home. It seemed the outpost was full to bursting, and he even spotted some kids moving through the crowd, likely looking for a mark.

    One of them caught his eye, and they exchanged glances until the kid broke it. It was all too easy to have your pockets cleaned out in a thick crowd, and Evan knew how he must look ¨C these days, his clothes were new, his hair slightly brushed, and his face and hands clean.

    There was also the matter of the bulky objects strapped to his sides, obviously magical in purpose. He looked rich, and being quite young, an easy mark.

    He had been in their shoes, once, but he still had to make it clear it was best not to approach him. Even he wasn¡¯t sure how he would handle it if they tried something.

    Other than that short interaction, the trip was uneventful, though it was getting cold enough recently that he activated his portable AC. Not that it did much good, considering how densely packed the crowds were. He was glad it could warm him up as well as cooling him down.

    After he returned to the workshop, he spent the rest of the day working on his beams while he considered the inscriptions he had done today, and the question of whether he could spare some time to cultivate.

    He was fairly happy with his inscriptions ¨C with his altered spell, mistakes were quite hard to make so long as he was slow and methodical, and from the few tests he was able to do, they worked just fine.

    The question of his cultivation was a different matter. If he went through with it, he would need to aim for two sessions, and it would be a little risky for a couple different reasons, though he could probably solve at least the first.

    He would have to ensure he didn¡¯t get too caught up in his cultivation, entering the cultivation trance and letting time get away from him. This issue could be easily solved by only taking enough Substance into the chamber to last for a couple days, though that would take some guesswork.

    There was also the matter of his current project. Any time spent cultivating was time he couldn¡¯t spend ensuring the success of his inscriptions, and while there was relatively little he could do at the moment but wait for his mana to regenerate, there was always the chance he¡¯d missed something and would only realize it after having worked on the design for the inscriptions some more.

    If he was cultivating, he wouldn¡¯t be doing that. He felt pretty confident, but it was his first time building a primary formation, so he wanted to take extra precautions. There was a second aspect to this, too.

    His savings. If he bought as much Substance as he wanted, it would cost most of his current fortune, which left him with less to spend on mana potions if he happened to need it. It would be terrible if he realized he would miss the deadline simply because he didn¡¯t have enough mana, and it would leave a bad mark on his record.

    Evan spent the rest of the morning working on some more beams, deliberating on whether he should go through with increasing his cultivation. It would make the job that much easier, and allow him to do a better job, but none of that mattered if he couldn¡¯t get the inscription work done.

    A stronger cultivation wouldn¡¯t help with that, either ¨C diluting his cultivation with some Substance to enhance his magical abilities, or at least his regeneration, never even occurred to him. He was at the beginning of his path to power, and every speck of capacity his soul possessed was reserved for becoming better at his chosen vocation, even if that made the inscriptions more difficult.

    If only he had some kind of device that could do that for him¡­

    For a moment, clarity struck.

    That¡¯s exactly what I should do! ¡­But do I even have the power to do it? It¡¯s probably not something I could buy, and just the complexity would be immense.

    His thoughts took a turn, investigating how he might bring something like that to fruition. It would, in his mind, work just as his spell did, only instead of a magically created pane of light, it would be a physical object.

    It would have to be thick, so he had a proper amount of depth to work with, but it also couldn¡¯t be heavy. Or rather, he would need some way to secure it to the surface he was working on ¨C the roof.

    These considerations continued as he worked on his beams, working slowly and even making a few mistakes as he got distracted. It wasn¡¯t like him to be this way ¨C he usually had a single-minded focus on his work, to the point where even time got away from him, but the thought of such a device captured his thoughts almost entirely and wouldn¡¯t let go.

    Enraptured, part of him wanted to put off his work on the beams and pull out some pen and paper so he could start charting things out ¨C the flows, the distribution of intent, the channels for information, the different imbuements he would need or want. It all wanted to just pour out of him-

    Or rather, it was pouring out of him ¨C he just wasn¡¯t in a position to write any of it down. He glanced at the beam he was working on and noticed the clumsy mistakes he had made.

    To hell with it. This is more important! He tried to justify to himself ¨C inspiration didn¡¯t come on demand!

    He hurried away from the floor where he was working on the beam and slung open the drawer containing the writing materials.

    Pulling out a thick stack of paper, he grabbed several pens ¨C a marvelous device that far surpassed pencils ¨C and hastily sat down at the table, words and demonstrations already spilling across the page. So caught up was he in his revelation, he even forgot to close the drawer full of paper and pens.

    He had learnt from the last time he did this and grabbed plenty of paper and pens to start with, but this time, the fugue didn¡¯t last, and he was successfully interrupted by Arnav, followed by Iliana, entering the workshop.

    The reason his feverish pace didn¡¯t last was that eventually, he started to get stuck. Unlike with the beams, he didn¡¯t have plenty of space to make use of, and it required far more care for its structure ¨C it was he himself who would be using it, after all, and he didn¡¯t want a repeat of today if he could help it.

    Everything needed to fit into what he currently imagined as a small box that was quite lengthy, and most of the interior space would need to be free for him to use as a three-dimensional pad to draw with.

    This made it incredibly difficult to figure out without ballooning the size, and he could already tell it would be like his personal shield or AC ¨C weak, due to the sheer amount of inscriptions he would have to work without.

    Still, part of him was glad it wasn¡¯t so easy ¨C that would have made him quite the fool and it showed him that the idea held great promise. He liked to think he was fairly good at design, so if he found it difficult, it couldn¡¯t be easy.

    Tearing his attention away from the paper sat before him, he glanced over at Arnav and Illiana. He instantly noticed they were holding hands, and seemed quite surprised to see him, and even more so at the paper and pens sprawled out before him.

    Suddenly, he felt quite awkward. A thought had come to him unbidden, and now it dominated his mind. He hastily ¨C almost stumbling over himself ¨C shuffled all the papers together, stuffed some pens into his pockets ¨C though he hated to do that ¨C and hurried past them, getting away as soon as possible.

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 23

    Evan rushed home, holding his papers close to his chest. It wasn¡¯t raining or anything of the sort ¨C he just felt very protective of them.

    Once he had realized that even his master hadn¡¯t mentioned creating such a device, he realized it must be quite precious, or some sort of rite of passage or something ¨C he was sure it was nothing unique, but that didn¡¯t change the fact that it couldn¡¯t be common. Not even his master had given him hints about it, and at his core, he wasn¡¯t a generous person.

    No ¨C once Arnav and Illiana had entered, he realized he couldn¡¯t let them see his work. It was too valuable, even as unfinished as it was. A core facet of his personality had shined through ¨C at the end of the day, he was selfish, and had no wish to help others without good reason.

    Even if it would cost him ¡®nothing¡¯, the mindset of a crafter had already long ago pervaded his mind. Knowledge was power, and power wasn¡¯t to be lightly shared.

    The matter of them holding hands was nothing of consequence to him ¨C he wasn¡¯t blind, and he had already noticed in the past that they seemed closer than before, and that Arnav didn¡¯t like it when he complained about Illiana.

    He also understood how his rushing about had looked but saw no reason to correct it. It would serve as a good guise for his true reason at rushing away.

    As he made his way back to their communal home, he realized he¡¯d left the beam unfinished on the floor, and that they could try and steal the secrets from it should they desire.

    That¡­ wasn¡¯t good, but he didn¡¯t think they could truly figure out the whole of the design from what little work was complete on that one, and of course the finished ones had security measures.

    He thought it unlikely they would try, anyway. While they were envious of the income the beams brought him, neither of them seemed to like working on bulky, large formations ¨C and this was in spite of it being their master¡¯s specialty.

    It was a wonder they were assigned to Master Isaac, but he liked to think it had something to do with their families pulling some strings. Neither of them had a background like he did, after all ¨C they had one, even if it wasn¡¯t much to still be part of the military.

    Learning and working with smaller formations was always meant to be a transitional period before they could take on bigger projects, but they both seemed to find their calling in the work. He didn¡¯t know what Illiana liked working on, really, but he knew it wasn¡¯t the large things he took an interest in ¨C his master had often lamented at that.

    Once he got back to the communal home, his papers safe in hand, he retreated to his room to continue his work.

    ***

    In the end, he held off on increasing his cultivation, deciding to spend his time working on his new device for carving out inscriptions. This took him far more time than he actually expected ¨C the spell, while complex, made it look far easier than it was, especially in comparison to the healing spell he had been working on ¨C something that still had seen no progress.

    He eventually attributed that to the great but subtle differences between spells and imbuements. First and foremost, spells only used mana, which could be used universally and ¨C taking advantage of its intimate connection to its owner ¨C had no concerns on limits like the transfer of information.

    After all, mana could hold an infinite amount of intent, and so spells could simply bulk up the parts required as needed without concern ¨C the only issue was the difficulty of learning and enacting the spell.

    In his device, the movements he made inside the box needed to be communicated beyond the boundaries of the box, and then translated into a magical effect. This was nothing new to him ¨C he had made his shield and portable AC, after all, but those were simple in comparison to his current project.

    They also dealt with far less raw power than he would need now ¨C it wasn¡¯t easy to carve through solid stone, and that wasn¡¯t even getting into the complicated control scheme.

    Ultimately, even by the time he had finished painfully inscribing the inscriptions of the primary formation, he was still mired by the ridiculous complexity the device required, and increasingly realized he would need a stronger cultivation base in order to bring the idea intro reality, completed design or not.

    Evan wasn¡¯t too hard on himself ¨C he hadn¡¯t given the project his all, still determined to ensure his current work stood out as exemplary, and the current difficulty would only make success that much sweeter.

    This determination was how he found himself once more inspecting the building now that the primary formation was installed and fully imbued. He had been cutting his self-imposed deadline quite close, only finishing a day earlier than the deadline, and was worried that at the end he was cutting corners and getting sloppy.

    Everything had certainly felt that way towards the end ¨C a week before the deadline, he had realized that he wouldn¡¯t make it and spent a handsome sum on mana potions, consuming them one after another in order to work longer each day and finish on time.

    He could still taste the overly sweet liquid on his tongue.

    So caught up in his frantic labor, he didn¡¯t even realize the way his actions made him look to those doing business on the street. On the days when they ate out ¨C most days, as it were ¨C he had even heard a few not-so-quiet jokes about how hardworking he was.

    Damned hunters! They just don¡¯t know what hard work looks like!

    It was more than a little embarrassing ¨C he wasn¡¯t immune to the thoughts of others ¨C but he tried to salve his pride by thinking of it as a good thing. Who didn¡¯t want to hire someone as hardworking as him?

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    Even to himself, the words rang hollow. It didn¡¯t help the way the others ¨C even his master! ¨C smirked at him while they ate.

    With these distracting thoughts on his mind, he took special care not to seem too frantic as he walked around the building. Before, looking around outside had contributed little to his thoughts on the project, but now, they served as one of the most important aspects of his work.

    Using his soul sense, he listened to the phantasmal hum of the active formations produced inside the walls, trying to think of how he would go about spoofing the security. With his soul no bigger than before, this would be difficult if wasn¡¯t intimately familiar with the formation ¨C his soul sense could only view a small portion of the wall at a time, and a good understanding of the whole was required.

    This was a good thing ¨C it acted as just one more layer of security, and if the attacker had a soul sense strong enough to encompass the entire building, there was little to be done anyway.

    Even with his deep understanding of the formation, it was difficult for him to consider how he would go about attaching foreign formations, at least without using his critically informed understandings of the way the mechanisms worked ¨C things such as how long a full cycle took, or how much information it could transport.

    None of those things should be easy to figure out without being explicitly told, so he didn¡¯t use those in his considerations.

    After an hour of this, and still unable to find any flaws, he moved on to something less important for the client, but critical for him ¨C the look of it.

    This wasn¡¯t to say that weren¡¯t any flaws ¨C there almost certainly were, he simply lacked the skill and experience required to figure them out. If he could truly spot a flaw in the formation from an hour of simple inspection, he would have utterly failed at this assignment. That he didn¡¯t greatly reassured him, even though he knew it probably shouldn¡¯t.

    Back to admiring his own work, he took in the beauty of it, and found it rather lacking. It didn¡¯t look bad per say, but it was a far cry from good. That was on him, and while he grumbled about it, in his heart there were no complaints.

    It was his first time working on such a large imbuement, and figuring out to make everything fit and work reasonably well required his full focus.

    Yes, the lines aren¡¯t even, straight, or make much sense, but what matters is that it works. It¡¯s a security feature!

    Not having found the reassurance he was looking for, he moved inside ¨C few would be looking at the imbuements anyway, and even fewer with benign purposes.

    Inside was much the same as outside, with only a few select differences. For one, most of the added formations he could think of would be inside, minus a select few such as reinforcement. This meant that, in accordance with the idea of mixing the schools of thought on primary formations, the inside had several static pathways running through key areas.

    Here, once more, he had to be careful not to overdo it. Nothing helped teach him that more than the limited capacity he was forced to work under ¨C near the end, things were getting quite tight, and he ended up scraping some of his ideas ¨C he just didn¡¯t have enough space to fit everything into his intent.

    For that reason, there were far fewer static pathways than he had initially planned. There were some than ran under and around the counter, several in the alchemists concocting room, along with some simple ones in both the storage rooms.

    He figured that for the storage rooms, the reminders and alerts would be best served live ¨C they would contain incredibly valuable ingredients, finished products, and Substance. All of those things were not something anyone wanted to be taking chances with.

    No matter how wealthy the alchemist was, it was inevitable that he would be working with ingredients and Substance worthy of his cultivation, and that meant expensive. If anything was stolen or degraded because of the long cycle time of the track, it would look bad on him, even if there was nothing he could have done.

    And that was¡­ it. Only those static pathways had reminders, either. The dynamic imbuement only had security alerts, and even then, it was rather simple.

    Evan walked behind the counter and laid his eyes on where he knew the security alert would go off. It was just under the counter, out of sight of the customers, but clearly visible to anyone walking or working behind the counter.

    It was a simple light that would begin to flash red if any unauthorized formations were detected on the premises. The flashing was the best he could do ¨C there was no way to narrow down the location, or record the time it was detected, that Evan knew of, and he wouldn¡¯t have had the space for it anyway.

    The project had, just as his master said, become a matter of careful balancing. It was quite exhausting, and he hated how weak he was.

    At even at the second Collapse, his options would expand manyfold, and the things he could create would truly start to seem supernatural.

    Until then, though, he was stuck with his mediocre beams, boring weapons, and subpar devices.

    He sighed and continued his inspection of the interior. There were a few cringes as he inspected the tightly bunched inscriptions that supported most of the primary formation, but considering it was his first time and the expectations weren¡¯t that high, he decided he would have to just suck it up and live with it.

    Of course, he wouldn¡¯t explicitly mention any of this to the client, as there was no need to drag his mistakes out into the light, and who knew if that would get him trouble? Admitting to being at fault was different from simple speculation.

    By the time he finished his inspection of the second floor, he was exhausted. It had been a long couple of weeks, and his stomach was still feeling a little queasy from all the mana potions he drank.

    It was also tiring to use his soul sense for so long and with so much focus. The soul seemed to drink in information without any regard for how he should frame it or process it, and he could feel the strain of the information on his mind.

    He left the building and headed home. Today, he decided he would treat himself and try to relax a little ¨C he had eventually broken down and spoke with his master about his constant dread and was told he might just be a tad paranoid and overly cautious.

    Apparently, it wasn¡¯t all that uncommon in those new to the military, and especially so in someone like himself ¨C someone with seemingly little ability to protect themselves.

    ¡°It could also very well have something to do with how hard you push yourself, Evan.¡± His master had said at the time, which he remembered vividly. At the time, when he caught his master¡¯s gaze, he remembered seeing the¡­ pity in his old eyes.

    It had unsettled him ¨C he was used to pity, but not the kind that had briefly been directed at him. A pity that seemed to lament not his past, but his future. The kind that he would feel for the other kids, so determined to become hunters and die in a blaze of glory, drunk off the wealth and power they would briefly enjoy.

    Evidently, Master Isaac thought he was working himself down to the bone, and while he was right, Evan found he genuinely enjoyed it. While the past few weeks had been rough, especially the pain of having to dip into his savings for the mana potions, most of the time he didn¡¯t feel so fed-up with his work.

    He truly loved crafting, and not just formations, either. The longer he worked on the primary formation, the more he found himself wondering about how alchemy truly worked.

    The thought of how he could make a better device for inscribing than his box with an array also flashed across his mind more than once.

    One day, he hoped to get the chance to explore all of that, but that would be in the future ¨C the point was, crafting brought him a joy he had rarely experienced, and he was good at it. Was that not enough of a reason to throw his everything into it?

    If he wanted to go places, he needed to put in the work ¨C his above-average talent and progress weren¡¯t enough. Surely, his master understood that?

    But then why the look of pity? What was he missing?

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 24

    Once Evan got back home, he spent the afternoon taking a nap. In a rare moment of introspection, he realized that maybe he did have a problem ¨C he felt a little guilty taking a nap when there was still so much left for him to do.

    Part of him wanted to get out more paper and pens and start designing the lights for the building. As he had originally thought, it wouldn¡¯t be difficult, especially with all the recent experience he had after having just finished the primary formation.

    The larger part of him, though, was tired enough to rebel against that notion, and wanted nothing more than to welcome the embrace of his bed and the peacefulness of sleep.

    He still didn¡¯t think there was any real problem, though. Yes, he was tired, but he knew how to pace himself ¨C the past couple of days were an exception, not the rule, when it came to how hard he worked.

    Being so tired was unlike him ¨C he knew when to stop. At a certain point, his mind simply no longer possessed the energy and stamina to keep working at a reasonable level, and he would retire for the night. Nobody liked working while tired, least of all him ¨C his job was mentally draining as it was.

    He let these thoughts percolate in his mind as he drifted off to sleep.

    ***

    When he woke up later that night, he decided to head out and go get something to eat ¨C he wasn¡¯t a very good cook, and he didn¡¯t enjoy doing it either. There was still a curfew, but as he looked out his small window from his cramped room, he still saw others moving about, so he figured it couldn¡¯t be that late yet.

    Besides, what was the use was wearing his uniform if he couldn¡¯t get any benefits from it? Even if he was running close to the curfew, he figured the guard patrols would cut him some slack ¨C he wasn¡¯t just anybody.

    He left his room, entering the common area slash kitchen, and took a good look at himself in the mirror. It had been some time since he last took a look at himself, and he wanted to make sure he still looked presentable after sleeping in his uniform.

    As he stood before the mirror, he inspected himself closely. Having a mirror was an incredible privilege, but considering his station beneath Master Isaac, and his future in the military, it was essentially a necessity for looking prim and proper.

    Still, he rarely used it. He didn¡¯t recognize the face in the mirror as his own. The man before him looked professional, used to a life of wealth and authority he didn¡¯t associate with himself.

    The figure stood with a straight back, a bit of posturing he didn¡¯t even think about anymore ¨C his master had trained him in more than just crafting.

    His height, for anyone else, was intimidating and imposing. His clothes were clean, and they could be considered pristine at any other time thanks to his own developed habits, and only the recent demands of his mana changed that. The uniform was a very slight shade of grey, adorned with a collar and was buttoned up with metal buttons that shined with a faint luster in the light of the room.

    Underneath it, he was no longer in quite as good a shape as he used to be but was still slim. Rather than shrink, his body had filled out slightly, now receiving the proper nutrition it needed.

    His face had a more polished look to it, as though he had shed some of the immaturity of his youth. It looked harder than it used to, and no longer gave the same carefree impression it used too.

    Instead, it matched his eyes; sharp. They had a piercing quality to them that was new ¨C no longer was he merely curious. His eyes now told a story of being piercingly inquisitive.

    Perhaps he was exaggerating some of these traits when he looked at himself, as he was still quite young ¨C only a few months past nineteen, but the man in the mirror wasn¡¯t him.

    At least, he didn¡¯t think so ¨C until he delved into his experiences over the past year. For such a short period of time, they had defined him more than the majority of his life had. Being an orphan wasn¡¯t easy ¨C far from it ¨C but it led to proclivities in posture, attitude, and action that were far from his current self.

    If before he was curious, it was of a kind that dwelled on the surface of things; different from the almost rabid fixation his current self seemed to possess. Crafting had, for a long time, been the apparent bedrock of his future, but he had never delved too deeply into the specifics ¨C always, he had figured that would come later.

    Today, he grasped knowledge like the treasure it was, and he tried to pursue his inquiries until he discovered everything available. It was why he went out of his way to make his own equipment ¨C so that he could broaden his understanding of formations as a whole.

    As an orphan, he also tended to act in such a way that he would blend in with the crowd, that tried to avoid too much attention. The current him had none of that ¨C he was basically a beacon for attention, and he almost cringed at the thought.

    It was the truth, though, and he tried to be honest with himself.

    Money was his constant companion ¨C if before he ignored most shops and stalls because he never had any money, he now considered their prices pocket change. If he wanted something, he got it, and didn¡¯t worry about the price.

    The price of most mundane goods was simply too inconsequential to the sums of silver and gold he now dealt in. In another Collapse or two, even mundane gold coins would no longer be a reasonable hard currency for his wares.

    Ha! Here I am, trying to reason when I changed so much, and I¡¯m currently heading out to a restaurant because I can¡¯t be bothered to cook!

    A dark chuckle escaped him. He couldn¡¯t understand why he had to live in such poverty as an orphan if even a formations master at the first Collapse had so much money.

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    He turned away from the mirror, running a hand through his hair ¨C it wasn¡¯t worth a mention, but it was indeed a little out of order after his nap. He kept it fairly short, so it only took a moment to straighten it out enough to go out.

    Despite his changes, he never claimed to be concerned with his appearance. Now prepared, he grabbed a pouch of coins from his room and made his way for the door ¨C their latest home was only a single story, as was the workshop.

    Just as he reached for the door handle, though, he heard someone call out to him from behind him.

    ¡°Evan? Where are you going?¡± It was Illiana. She sounded surprised, and as he turned back around, he noticed she was dressed for going out as well.

    Somehow, he doubted she slept in her uniform as he did.

    These days, their conversations were typically quite curt, and they both seemed to have a silent agreement to avoid each other. For her to ask him this, when he was obviously going out, made him wary.

    ¡°I¡¯m going out to get dinner before the curfew starts.¡± He left it at that and began turning around to leave ¨C he was curious about what she was doing, but not enough to truly ask. They would just end up arguing.

    ¡°Could I come with you? I want to go out as well, but I don¡¯t feel safe going by myself.¡± Ah, he should have expected that.

    ¡­Despite not being fond of each other, they were still fellow apprentices under Master Isaac, and while he had grown to dislike her, he didn¡¯t truly hate her or anything so strong. He shrugged.

    ¡°I guess. Let¡¯s go.¡±

    She walked over to him, and together, they walked out the door to find something to eat. Maybe she would buy him dinner? For bringing her with him?

    Yeah, I don¡¯t believe it either.

    Along the way, they passed several others, all of them seeming to be in a hurry to get somewhere. Once, he was even brushed past so forcefully he stumbled, and he couldn¡¯t help but yell out to the person after he got his footing.

    ¡°Hey! Watch where you¡¯re going, bucko!¡± He quickly patted down his pockets and hefted his coin purse. Had he just been robbed?

    ¡°What was with that guy?¡± Illiana asked, and suddenly Evan found some comfort of his own in being accompanied by someone he could ¨C begrudgingly ¨C trust. Did they not see his uniform? It had been a long time since someone had thought to get so rough with him.

    Even back in Starspire, he was tall and fit enough that most thought better of messing with him for no reason, and most pickpockets weren¡¯t so obvious.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t think he stole anything off me, but let¡¯s just keep going. Everyone out tonight almost seems suspicious.¡± It went unsaid that the person likely had some strength cultivation, and that neither of them did ¨C if it came to a fight, there would be no hope of winning.

    Evan had his shield with him, though he left the mobile AC at home. It didn¡¯t activate as the person wasn¡¯t really moving that fast when he was basically shoulder checked ¨C they just had that much force in their movements.

    He couldn¡¯t tune it differently, either. Every day he had to move through large crowds, and while nobody usually hit him, people were brushing past him all the time ¨C the streets were too crowded for any personal space, especially on the market street where he was working at the moment.

    At least, that was the case during the day, when everyone was busily rushing to and fro, whether that be from home, to outside the walls, or to the markets.

    This late in the evening, though, the streets were far less busy, and there was plenty of room for everyone to have some space. No matter how he looked at it, that person was either just an asshole, or¡­ he didn¡¯t know.

    As they both quickened their pace to the restaurant ¨C just this wasn¡¯t enough to send them back home ¨C Evan felt that familiar dread return to the pit of his stomach. He laid his hands against his shield. It was cool to the touch, and he tried to find comfort in his preparations.

    What if that was a spy? What if-

    ¡°What if that was a spy?¡± He flinched a little ¨C it was Illiana who had asked the question. Was it not just him?

    ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know. Maybe we should head back.¡± While he said that, he kept moving forward, and so did Illiana. They were both spooked, but she seemed to share his thoughts ¨C turning back after that was too much, even for him.

    He kept a close eye out the rest of the way to restaurant, and he scrutinized the strangers he saw on the streets, but nothing else happened, and nothing more suspicious than everyone hurrying along took place. It seemed a little busy for this time of night, but that wasn¡¯t too strange in and of itself ¨C he wasn¡¯t out this late often.

    Still, when he saw the bright lights of the restaurant before them, he let out a sigh of relief. He was glad Illiana had come with him.

    Never before had he appreciated the lanterns that were hung outside so much, nor the large glass windows that let them see inside, and those inside out. It looked much better in there ¨C lively, and far safer.

    They entered and were quickly shown some seats in a more private section of the restaurant ¨C their uniforms still meant something, as did the jingling pouch of coins they had both brought.

    It amused him how much more care they were shown, simply by virtue of their money and status. He liked it, and as they ordered their meals, he tried to forget about his dread.

    As the night went on, he had perhaps a little more wine than he should have, as did Illiana. He found himself opening back up to her a little, and she reciprocated.

    Neither of them got truly drunk, of course ¨C they both knew better, and there was always the trip back home. Still, as the plates kept coming and their glasses stayed full, he felt he had begun to understand Illiana a little better.

    ¡°You know, it really bothers me that your magical talent is so much better than mine.¡± She told him, in a surprising act of openness. She had never outright said as much before.

    ¡°I mean, my talent is so much better, except for my damned regeneration. It makes me jealous, watching you practice so freely.¡± Pausing, she seemed to be waiting for him to say something.

    It seemed to be the right thing to do, so he did. ¡°Ah¡­ I guess. I¡¯ve never understood why you got so hung up on that. The rest of my talents aren¡¯t that impressive, you know? Just-¡±

    She almost sneered at him, her expression morphing into almost disbelief. ¡°Not impressive? Ha!¡± A moment passed as she laughed long and hard.

    What¡¯s so funny?

    ¡°You,¡± she leveled a finger at him, ¡°are the most talented person I¡¯ve ever met, Evan. And I hate to say that. In crafting, you have the best talent out of any of us, and the only time I¡¯ve ever seen you truly struggle with anything was while you were working on that building. On a primary formation.¡±

    A primary formation? She was talking about the dynamic imbuement, of course, but what did that have to do with the primary formation? She spoke of it like it was something special, but it was truly just a means for communication throughout the building, and perhaps transportation.

    On some level, he understood what she was talking about ¨C before he had started, the primary formation seemed quite daunting, too. That was only on the surface, though. Once you got into the thick of things, while it looked and was quite complex, it wasn¡¯t as bad as she was making it out to be. What would she even know about a primary formation, anyway?

    ¡°And that¡¯s exactly what I¡¯m talking about. Look at you. I can see it in your eyes. You don¡¯t even understand what I¡¯m saying.¡±

    ¡°Of course, I understand what you¡¯re saying!¡± The constant dismissal was getting to him, and it wasn¡¯t his fault nobody else seemed to work as hard as he did. ¡°They just look so difficult because you¡¯ve never worked on one. Once you learn the basics, they¡¯re not that hard ¨C their complex, yeah, but that just means it takes effort to plan one out.¡±

    ¡°¡­No, they are not, and you don¡¯t. There is a reason it pays so well and formation master¡¯s that work on them are so rare. I¡¯m not going to sit here and spell it out for you so you can prop up your ego.¡± Illiana seemed to almost spit out the last sentence and stood. She threw some coins on the table and stormed out into the dark.

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 25

    Evan felt uncomfortable as everyone seemed to try and carefully glance his way, the sudden outburst having caught everyone¡¯s attention. He acted like nothing had happened ¨C he continued to drink his wine and eat his food, but he was internally in turmoil.

    The way she had stormed off¡­ he had thought he was the only one trying their hand at the larger formations ¨C that was the way Master Isaac had seemed to make it out to be ¨C but perhaps the truth was a little more hurtful to the others. Had they given it a shot and found it too difficult?

    He truly wasn¡¯t attempting to inflate his ego or make her ¨C or Arnav ¨C out to be stupid. The primary formation was difficult, but he didn¡¯t think it was because of its complexity. Was he just that talented? He didn¡¯t believe it.

    Tonight was easily the longest and most engaging conversation he had had with Illiana since¡­ well, basically since he met her, and that it had turned out this way saddened him. It had seemed to be going so well, up until the last few minutes.

    Did Arnav think the same of him? It hadn¡¯t even entered his mind before, but without magic, Arnav couldn¡¯t even work on something like a primary formation, at least not without assistance from someone who could do the inscriptions for him, and that was a tall order.

    Something he had noticed at the requests office was that as the value ¨C both monetarily and otherwise ¨C went up for a request, so too did the privacy the client demanded. Most of them explicitly required that only one person, the one who accepted the request, keep all the important details to themselves.

    This essentially meant that whoever accepted the request needed to do everything, and for Arnav, that was a problem. It was for Illiana too, but that didn¡¯t seem to be her issue ¨C mostly.

    He figured that Illiana could likely still manage if she drank mana potions like water, but that of course wasn¡¯t tenable at the moment with their income. After all, mana potions restored a fixed amount of mana after being consumed ¨C the kind that boosted the soul¡¯s natural production were far more expensive, and not nearly as useful for him or Illiana.

    Evan put the issue to the side. Dwelling on it and getting drunk weren¡¯t going to do him any good, and he decided to just ask Arnav about it at the next opportunity. He was usually quite open and comfortable talking about things that Evan found deeply personal.

    Instead, he decided to pay his bill and make his way home ¨C something he was dreading. Part of the reason he had stayed as long as he had was to avoid the trip home ¨C the encounter from before had him spooked pretty bad.

    Briefly, he considered trying to pay one of the hunters in the restaurant to escort him home, but he didn¡¯t trust anyone here. It was late, and if he casually revealed enough money to sway a hunter, he might just never make it home.

    Anyone from the military was a no-go as well ¨C to be able to eat here meant they were high enough up in the chain that escort duty was beneath them, at least for him.

    No, that scared me pretty badly, but I¡¯ll be fine. There¡¯s nothing to be scared of!

    In the same manner as Illiana, he dug into his coin purse and casually tossed a few coins onto the table. He was no doubt overpaying, even considering a generous tip, but the money held little value to him, and his mind was elsewhere.

    There was also the fact that this wasn¡¯t his first time here, and he enjoyed being waited on hand and foot. It was a guilty pleasure, and he wasn¡¯t too ashamed to admit it.

    Stepping out into the cold and dreary night, he found his paranoia ramped up to eleven almost instantly. He had been inside for more than an hour, he guessed, but not two hours.

    And now, the streets were empty. Completely.

    He almost turned right back around and went back inside ¨C soon enough, people would begin leaving whether they wanted too or not ¨C curfew was fast approaching, and the military enforced it quite strictly.

    That would be almost shameful though and wouldn¡¯t befit his status. Besides, if he ran, he might catch up to Illiana, their argument be damned.

    ***

    Evan sipped his water, back inside the restaurant. When he had come back inside, he told the waiter that he wanted to sober back up first, and that he wasn¡¯t quite ready to face the chill.

    Yes, I just need to sober up first¡­ somebody else leave first, damnit!

    He wasn¡¯t quite telling the truth, and he was sure the waiter knew that ¨C they knew exactly how much he¡¯d had to drink tonight, but they also knew better than to even change their expression.

    A smart man, he liked him more already. His tip hadn¡¯t gone to waste.

    An hour passed as he sipped on his water, and he slowly began to feel a little better. He should have just gone home ¨C he could be fast asleep by now!

    Just as he was beginning to gather his courage, he noticed two women approaching the restaurant from outside. They were dressed in dark colors, along with a hood that wasn¡¯t pulled up. Who would be arriving at the restaurant at this time?

    No one. They¡¯re here for some nefarious purpose!

    His paranoia kicked into overdrive, and with a startling calm he didn¡¯t feel, he got up walked over to the nearest waiter. Before they could ask him what he needed, he started talking.

    ¡°Hello, my stomach just isn¡¯t agreeing with me tonight, and I would like to use the bathroom. Is that alright?¡± A fully furnished bathroom used formations and mundane plumbing to make the experience more convenient, and as a restaurant that catered to the higher class, they had one.

    ¡°Of course, sir, here you are.¡± The waiter pulled out a key and handed it to him. He started to say something more, but Evan took off, with a little more haste in his step. They would be entering the building soon, and he wanted no part of it. If nothing happened for twenty minutes or so, he would act like nothing was wrong, but his paranoia was in the driver¡¯s seat at the moment.

    Once he reached the bathroom, he quickly began stripping himself out of his uniform, more thankful than ever that the recent cold weather had him wearing clothes underneath ¨C his mobile AC just didn¡¯t work very well while on the move.

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    He swore to himself, that if he survived this, he was ordering the Substance for cultivation and making a better shield. Maybe even a weapon, though he would have to look into that.

    Now truly looking crazy, he stood in the bathroom and waited, listening. A minute went by, and he started to calm down.

    Then he heard the screams erupt across the restaurant. His breath hitched, and he lowered himself to the floor while he tried to get his breathing under control. There were sounds of struggle ¨C his own cultivation was rather weak among those in the restaurant, and many of them were part of the military proper, with cultivation geared to combat, or powerful hunters.

    It was incredibly loud, and he hoped that the soldiers or whomever in the restaurant won, but if they lost, he hoped they didn¡¯t think to check the bathroom.

    Evan brought forth his soul sense, and analyzed the reinforcement done on the door in front of him. It featured two formations, one of which he recognized as simple reinforcement, and he figured the other was to keep the scent inside or something ¨C he didn¡¯t pay much attention to it.

    As he tried to push past the sounds of screams and combat, he realized the reinforcement was only brought to the first Collapse level, and his panic increased.

    Whoever was out there was far stronger than the first Collapse ¨C likely they were at least the third Collapse, maybe higher. The reinforcement on this door wouldn¡¯t stop them any more than paper tissue would, and if they had cultivation for their senses¡­

    He sat down on the floor and controlled his breathing and waited.

    It was only a few minutes later when everything became eerily quiet. His panic redoubled, and he stopped breathing entirely.

    There was nothing¡­ and then, before he even had the chance to flinch, an arrow slammed through the door and hit his shield at a strange angle.

    It broke instantly, offering practically no resistance as the device at his side expended all of its Substance to try and stop the attack, heating up from quick breakdowns in the imbuement and burning him.

    As it shattered his shield like it was nothing, it veered slightly off course and exited through the wall behind him, throwing up dust and shrapnel as it did ¨C the building was made from stone. The shrapnel exploded across his body and the noise caused his ears to start bleeding.

    It was almost like an explosion, and only as he fell unconscious from the shrapnel of the wall hitting his head did he even understand that he had been shot at.

    ***

    When he awoke, the first thing he felt was pain. His entire body ached, and he could tell he was covered in lacerations. It was dark, and he thanked his lucky stars he could still feel anything at all, and then everything. He could still wiggle his toes and flex his fingers, but he felt a little light-headed.

    Reaching his hands up, he felt the shattered remains of the wall shift around him as he felt his head. It hurt and was bleeding quite badly.

    He also had a terrible headache.

    Unfortunately, he had never managed to learn that healing spell, and his progress had stalled as his deadline came up. Instead, he tried to consider how long he had been unconscious. The blood on his head was dry and sticky, so it had been at least long enough for that, but how long did that take?

    He had no idea.

    Regardless, he thought trying to climb out was a good idea. Whoever had done this to him likely thought him dead, and if he didn¡¯t get moving and try and bind up his wounds, they might soon be right.

    Beginning to struggle to get to his feet, he considered himself quite lucky ¨C if he had been outside, he would probably be dead, and the building could have come down on top of him.

    Part of him was in awe ¨C that was the first time he had engaged in anything approaching high level combat in his life, and the sheer speed of events left him floored. He was already collapsing from the shrapnel by the time he realized something had even happened, and that had been an archer!

    What did the struggle outside look like? A blur? And the battle had gone for several minutes at that frantic pace! He truly began to understand just how powerless he was in the grand scheme of things, and how easy it would be to die from no fault of his own.

    If not for his shield ¨C may it rest in peace ¨C he would have perished with the others. Only the slight deviation the arrow had experienced from the door and his shield saved him, as well as the fact that they didn¡¯t think to confirm their kill.

    Amateurs. He tried to smile at the thought, but quickly thought better of it. This was no time for jokes, he could still very well be in danger.

    Once he got to his feet, he stumbled out of the door, limping, and found himself amongst a scene of carnage that would haunt his dreams in the days to come.

    Insofar as he could tell, everyone inside the restaurant was dead. The staff, the guests, the soldiers ¨C everyone. No one was spared, and he emptied his stomach at the sight. It was a grisly scene.

    He could see the signs of the struggle he had heard earlier. Those with strength, the soldiers and hunters, were cut liberally but still in one piece.

    Their weapons were missing, but amongst them were strangers, dressed in dark clothes and out of place with the rest. They too, were still in one piece.

    For the other guests and the staff, the same could not be said. So powerful were the attackers that their blows separated limbs from their owners, and heads from shoulders. The floor was liberally painted with their lifeblood.

    Evan tore his focus away from the ghastly scene, and almost ¨C but not quite ¨C wished the lights in the main room were out as the one in the bathroom was.

    He looked outside into the dark night and saw fires blooming all along the street. There were occasional bodies, though all of them were wearing something that identified them as important figures ¨C mostly, that meant a uniform.

    Stepping through the room and entering another door, he entered the back of the restaurant. He didn¡¯t see anything he could use to treat his wounds, so he took to tearing scraps of cloth from his own clothes and started binding his wounds. Just moving about had opened some of them back up, and he already didn¡¯t feel well.

    This took some amount of time ¨C he had a hard time tearing his clothes apart, as they were imbued with force resistance in mind, and he already felt quite weak and nauseous, but he pushed through.

    Eventually, he managed to dress the worst of his wounds properly enough to get back to moving, but now another question presented itself. Should he even go anywhere?

    If anything happened while he was moving about, he would almost certainly die. From how strong the ones that attacked the restaurant were, he was wildly outmatched, and he owed no loyalty to Starspire to do anything.

    Even if he did, he would best be able to contribute by rebuilding the place. Doing anything but keeping himself safe at the moment would be a foolish decision. The only purpose he could serve on the streets was as another body.

    Illiana had stormed off earlier ¨C he hadn¡¯t forgotten, but there was little he could do. He had no idea where she was, or even if she remained among the living. He also valued his own life and safety above hers ¨C he wouldn¡¯t court death just for her sake.

    If he was far, far stronger, things might be different, but as it was, a single arrow that had missed him had nearly killed him and left him severely injured anyway.

    Since the restaurant was built out of stone, and had formations to resist damage, they hadn¡¯t set it aflame. By all accounts it was safest to just stay where he was, but the stench of the dead abhorred him, and he still didn¡¯t feel safe.

    His shield was completely inoperable. When it tried to stop that arrow, the entire formation had burned itself out in its attempt, consuming all the Substance that powered it and causing a leakage that created enough heat to give him burns on the spot where he kept it.

    It was something to keep in mind for the next iteration, but for the moment he decided to creep to the back of the kitchen and steal a glance outside ¨C the front entrance wasn¡¯t the only one.

    As he got closer, his anxiety steadily increased until he was almost shaking by the time he reached the door. What if someone was still out there, waiting? Even mortals could overpower him at the best of times, and he didn¡¯t have his uniform on.

    Evan steeled himself and cracked the door open slightly. Nothing. As the air from outside reached him, he realized it didn¡¯t smell any better outside than in. Between the bodies, the fires, and all the likely still ongoing violence, the air outside tasted of ash, cinders, and other pleasant smells.

    He shut the door before the escaping light could reveal him ¨C he hadn¡¯t thought of that before he opened the door.

    Resigned to stay inside the restaurant, he found a corner of the room that was best hidden from both doors, and sat down there ¨C thankfully, the kitchen was much less grisly than the rest of the building.

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 26

    Omar did his best to look intimidating and project a sense of safety to anyone who saw him as he marched through the streets of Mountain Acropolis with his squad. He wasn¡¯t here for just anyone, but it would help all the same.

    Dawn had broken, and the raiders had been repelled.

    ¡°Hah.¡± He snorted ¨C the truth was more that they had accomplished their goals and fled, than that they had been repelled.

    ¡°What¡¯s so funny, Omar? Something you want to share?¡± His squad commander, David, just had to but in.

    ¡°No, I just think-¡± He heard the sound of shallow breathing in the restaurant a little way down the street.

    Omar was a scout, and a large portion of his cultivation was focused on the senses, and the mental cultivation required to handle that.

    ¡°Stop.¡± At his command, they all halted immediately. He wasn¡¯t their commander, but in times like this, his words carried weight.

    He listened more closely, tuning his hearing in that direction. Even with all the mental cultivation he had, it was still impossible to be aware of every little thing his senses picked up ¨C only his training allowed the breathing to come through where most things didn¡¯t. The world was filled with tiny noises that could be overwhelming, even when to a mortal, things were almost silent.

    The breathing itself wasn¡¯t important ¨C he had heard similar from many of the buildings around him, from the survivors huddling inside their homes or businesses. What was important was the location ¨C the restaurant the sound was coming from was an upper-class establishment where many officers and upstanding crafters dined.

    It was worth checking out.

    ###

    Evan tried his best to keep a close eye on his surroundings and focus, but between his injuries and the long night he couldn¡¯t stay awake. All that wine from earlier didn¡¯t help either.

    His sleep was fitful ¨C he was frequently woken up by shouts, screams, pleas, and the unmistakable sound of violence. It was like a nightmare he couldn¡¯t escape, but he stayed where he was.

    After all the blood loss and what he thought was a concussion, he no longer felt that he was in a good enough state to be making decisions, so he trusted the spot he had picked before and stayed still, even if he kept swimming in and out of consciousness.

    Eventually though, he awoke to the sounds of something different, and much more alarming. People. Inside the restaurant.

    They called out. ¡°Attention! We are searching for survivors after the tragedy that took place last night. If you can, please reveal yourselves. I am Officer David, and you may need urgent medical attention.¡±

    He ignored them and tried to breathe quietly. After the events of last night, he no longer trusted that they wouldn¡¯t be enemy soldiers trying to lure him out.

    The voices moved closer, and he tensed and looked around for anything he could use as a weapon. It wouldn¡¯t do him any good, but you never know.

    He was foolish and hadn¡¯t made a weapon, something he deeply regretted now. Perhaps a firearm of some kind was beyond him, but a sharp dagger? Easily done.

    The name wasn¡¯t one he recognized, but he wasn¡¯t that familiar with the officers in the military anyway ¨C between his own future status and the recognition of Master Isaac, a mere officer couldn¡¯t enter his eyes for long, at least without being outstanding.

    ¡°Again, this is Officer David, and a scout has already noticed the presence of someone inside the building. Please reveal yourself ¨C we understand it would be a bad idea to approach you currently, but rest assured we know your location in the back of the kitchen; we are not your enemies.¡±

    ¡®Officer David¡¯ sounded a lot less pleasant and more frustrated now, and Evan deliberated on whether they were lying to him.

    If they were enemies, they wouldn¡¯t have announced themselves, right? At least, not if they already knew where he was.

    Evan decided to reveal himself. He slowly stood, his aches and pains flaring up after having sat still for so long. He probably did need medical attention ¨C he was probably suffering from quite a bit of blood loss, and his head was still feeling a little foggy.

    Stumbling his way through the kitchen ¨C not making any attempt at being quiet, now ¨C he soon exited and found himself once more presented with the grisly scene of the slaughter that took place last night. Just outside the restaurant, clearly not wanting to step inside, was a squad of three men and one woman.

    They were dressed in the uniforms of the military, and as Collapse was often closely related to rank, he could tell that all of them were likely at their third Collapse, while the captain ¨C Officer David ¨C was likely at the peak of the third or the start of the fourth.

    Altogether, he already felt safer after having seen them. The ones who attacked last night wouldn¡¯t bother with trying to deceive him, he felt ¨C not to this level. He¡¯d have already been attacked most likely.

    They stood together in an orderly formation, and radiated confidence. It was earned, he supposed. Most soldiers were only at the second Collapse ¨C any higher and they were more useful elsewhere.

    A sudden surge of vitriol overcame him, as he realized the ones who attacked last night had to be at the third Collapse as well ¨C the restaurant was expensive, and not just anyone could dine there.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be so cocky. The attackers last night were of at least the third Collapse to have killed almost everyone inside.¡± The words were almost spat out, but at that moment, the anger felt right.

    With the danger seemingly over, his anger began to rise as he realized how incredibly incompetent the military was to have let the attackers have free reign over the outpost last night.

    How could they have let people so powerful into the outpost? He had nearly died! Would have, if not for his quick thinking!

    ¡°Watch your mouth, boy. I am an officer of the military of Starspire, and I don¡¯t like your tone. Who are you and what happened? Why did they spare you?¡±

    ¡°Who am I?¡± Evan laughed ¨C it had been a long time since someone had asked him that, what with his uniform and obvious profession. He might have been missing his uniform, but surely they could tell he was¡­ or, well, maybe they couldn¡¯t.

    He didn¡¯t care.

    ¡°I am Formations Master Isaac¡¯s apprentice, Evan, and I don¡¯t much like your tone.¡± Perhaps it was a little foolhardy, to so clearly clash with someone so much stronger than himself at a time where it would be easy to make him disappear, but he wasn¡¯t feeling well and was already angry.

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    A moment passed, as they tried to process that, but it passed quickly, and they all changed expressions immediately. Officer David seemed to have good command of his squad for none of them spoke over him.

    ¡°I apologize, Formations Master Evan. With you having lost your uniform in the struggle, we didn¡¯t realize who you were. Please forgive me and allow me to escort you back to safety. You appear to need urgent medical attention.¡± That was more like it.

    An awkward silence ensued, and after a moment, he responded. ¡°Very well. I think I have a concussion and have suffered from some blood loss. My head is somewhat woozy, and I had to use my clothes to create some bandages.¡±

    Evan almost felt bad after he saw the rapid one-eighty degree change in how he was treated, after they realized he was a bigger fish than they could handle, even if they could easily crush him with their strength.

    The woman stepped forward at a wave from David and started speaking. ¡°Formations Master Evan, I am a utility mage and know a few healing spells, and have some first aid equipment on hand. Would you allow me to rebandage your wounds and treat your pain?¡±

    ¡°That would be lovely, thank you, but I will pass on the pain spell.¡± She didn¡¯t question him and retrieved a bag from her waist, pulling out a roll of bandages almost instantly ¨C so quickly it struck him as odd, and he realized it was a spatial item of some sort.

    His estimation of them rose a notch ¨C they were incredibly expensive ¨C and it further increased as the woman fussed over his wounds, carefully removing his hack job before once again getting permission to cast a spell on him for killing infections.

    The spell stung, but he was somewhat uncomfortable with a spell that would dull his pain. He was injured and didn¡¯t want to worsen anything by not being aware of the damage he was doing to himself. As it was, he was worried ¨C magical healing was expensive, and he wasn¡¯t sure what the bill would come out to ¨C at the very least, he would want his concussion healed, as he was fairly certain those were permanent otherwise.

    Everything else, he would probably let heal on its own, even if it would make life a little miserable for a while. Some of his wounds had looked quite nasty, but he didn¡¯t think he¡¯d shattered any bones or suffered any serious damage.

    The first aid took nearly half an hour ¨C healing spells weren¡¯t quick to cast, and he needed a lot of bandages. All that stone shrapnel had really done a number on him.

    Afterwards, they set off towards some infirmary that he was assured wouldn¡¯t be filled with mortals, and that was when it really struck him.

    I¡¯m an asshole. That¡¯s not the sort of thing someone says to someone unless they¡¯ve already made that estimation.

    Even worse, a large part of him simply didn¡¯t care. They were rude to him first, likely thinking he was just part of the cooking staff or something ¨C his cultivation was nothing special for the restaurant, even the staff.

    It seemed like every day he drifted a little further from the hopeful orphan who joined the military ¨C his past self, even if he was as injured as he currently was, would simply lack the spine to talk back someone like the officer, no matter the circumstances.

    He didn¡¯t dwell on it though ¨C change was inevitable, and he hurt too much for such introspection at the moment.

    ***

    Once they arrived at the infirmary, a laborious half-hour journey that had him wishing to be carried ¨C not that he could ask, given his status ¨C he found himself once more amongst a scene of horror.

    Just as promised, nobody he could see or detect seemed to be mortals, but the infirmary still seemed to be completely packed, the walls lined with filled cots, with only a thin curtain separating them from one another at the sides.

    The front was open though, and what he saw would scar his mind forever. Dozens of men and women were less than whole and had suffered a large variety of different injuries. He saw some covered with burns, and missing a limb was nothing out of the ordinary.

    Staff ran all over the place, with bandages, medicine, and¡­ surgical tools being frequently traded between themselves. It was chaos.

    All he could smell was the stench of blood, antiseptic, and medicine. Part of him wanted to leave, but he was quickly rushed off to one of the doctors, an aged man who seemed none too happy to see him.

    He tried to ignore the background chorus of pained moans and cries.

    ¡°Who is this, Officer David?¡±

    ¡°This is Formations Master Evan, under Formations Master Isaac, sir. He was found at one of the restaurants frequently-¡±

    ¡°Enough. Get him a bed, and someone will see to his wounds.¡±

    ¡°¡­Yes, sir.¡±

    That the man was treated so respectfully by Officer David spoke volumes to Evan ¨C his cultivation was much stronger than his own, but only seemed to be at the second Collapse in his estimation. Was he a healer of some kind?

    Flagging one of the various other healthcare workers, he was soon brought to a cot of his own in the back of the infirmary, where they helped him lay down.

    Officer David left, and after seeing that he wasn¡¯t going to randomly expire, they studied his bandages before leaving without a word.

    He was happy enough with this. While he wanted to be healed, he understood that at the moment, there were others in more desperate need of attention.

    Slowly, he found himself once more falling asleep, and this time he didn¡¯t resist. He just wanted to leave this nightmare behind.

    ***

    When he woke up, there were lights inside the infirmary, for it was now dark out. The previous chaos seemed to have settled down, and the cries and moans he had heard before had decreased in frequency.

    Evan felt a lot better, and that surprised him. At some point in his sleep, someone had laid a blanket over him, and as he moved his arms out from under them, he noticed that someone had changed his bandages.

    He couldn¡¯t feel any pain, though whether that was thanks to magic or medicine he didn¡¯t know. A scent of soothing medicine was definitely present, and his head felt much better than it had previously.

    Soon enough, someone noticed he was awake, and within ten minutes of waking up the doctor he had seen previously arrived.

    Now that his mind was filled with less pain and was clearer, he could get a good look at the aged man. He reminded him a little of Master Isaac, just due to his expression ¨C it was one of calm patience, though the man lacked the slow pace his master seemed to have.

    He was shorter than Evan but taller than his master and had spots of grey in his otherwise blonde hair that he rarely saw these days. Almost everyone he interacted with was more than capable of getting their hands on some Substance to extend their lives, and he knew that healing magic could go a long ways in allowing the body to age gracefully.

    ¡°Good evening, Evan. I am Lifeweaver Quintin Grant. I trust that you are doing much better?¡± The man¡¯s voice had a casual air about it, although after how respectfully most people treated him, just being addressed by his name sounded almost odd.

    Evan chuckled politely. ¡°Indeed I am, Lifeweaver Grant. Do I have you to thank for that? I truly feel quite good at the moment ¨C a lot better than I had expected after waking up.¡±

    The man smiled, as though Evan had just allowed some great joke to pass over his head. ¡°Yes, I am the one who healed you. You suffered from a concussion, and that is not an easy to thing to heal. I did not heal anything else, though, and for that I apologize. There were ¨C are ¨C many that also need healing, and my mana is limited.

    ¡°You are quite lucky, Evan. For someone who was hit with stone shrapnel, you suffered remarkably little serious injury, and you don¡¯t have any cultivation for toughening your body up.¡±

    He suddenly felt quite awkward. It was strange that the man knew his cultivation, but he was a healer, so he supposed it made sense. Why did the Lifeweaver want to speak with personally, though? His standing sounded quite high, and while Evan had some status thanks to his master and his future ability, he didn¡¯t think it would amount to much before a true healing mage ¨C they were incredibly rare and valued for good reason.

    At least, that was what he assumed a Lifeweaver was. It wasn¡¯t a profession he was familiar with, but he didn¡¯t know much about how the professions of mages were categorized to begin with.

    ¡°Lifeweaver Grant, I am endlessly thankful for your assistance, but why did you wish to speak with me?¡±

    The man smiled again. ¡°Ah, I just wished to introduce myself to you. You were, as I said, quite lucky, and at such a young age, your cultivation is impressive considering your background. More formally speaking, I wanted to check on your condition. Concussions can affect the mind, and healing them can worsen this, but you appear to be alright.¡±

    Having heard that, Evan felt his heart flutter in his chest. That was incredibly scary and made him glad Grant ¨C someone who must have vast experience, given his apparent age ¨C had done the healing.

    ¡°You are now formally discharged from the infirmary, Evan, and I would kindly ask that you leave as soon as possible ¨C we need the bed. You should be fine after within a week or two, but if you want to avoid scars, you will need to be diligent about applying some ointment and taking it easy.¡±

    After having said that, the Lifeweaver left him to his thoughts as another healer stepped close and whispered something to him.

    What a strange old man.

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 27

    Evan soon leveraged himself up and left his cot, but not before asking about that ointment the Lifeweaver had mentioned. He also inquired about the cost of his treatment, but found that Starspire, in a rare display of generosity, wasn¡¯t charging him for the healing ¨C it seemed they were owning up to their mistake in at least this small manner.

    The ointment wasn¡¯t included in that, but he still gladly paid for a hefty amount of it, along with a satchel he could carry it home with. It wasn¡¯t cheap, but was still hardly worth mentioning to him, especially if it saved him from some scarring and other unpleasantness.

    Once that was done, he found somewhere nearby where he could wait for dawn. It was still dark out and he didn¡¯t feel safe going out ¨C the attackers could still be here, and he was still uncomfortable of going out in the dark so soon after the attack.

    As he waited, he tried to get some more sleep but found he couldn¡¯t ¨C now that he was in better shape, sleep seemed to allude him, and the uncomfortable chair he had found didn¡¯t help things.

    Left with his own thoughts, he tried not to dwell on the events of the previous night. Part of him was surprised nobody had come to see him while he was asleep, but he supposed they might be hurt as well.

    If they were, he hoped they were alright. He had tried asking around, but nobody had any answers for him and he was too afraid to venture out into the dark. Master Isaac was up to all manner of things at night ¨C the man seemed to spend more time building and maintaining connections than almost anything else ¨C and Arnav typically ventured out to hang out with some of his other ¡®buddies¡¯ he found everywhere they went.

    Illiana was likely in the most danger, but he had no idea what to do about it other than report it. He wasn¡¯t heartless, and he was somewhat worried about what had happened to her, but there was nothing he could have done ¨C not without risking his own life, something he refused to feel guilty about.

    The guilt came anyway.

    It gnawed at him as he waited for the sun to come back out and chase away the darkness in his thoughts, but by the time it had arrived, it had already found a place to stay. He set out.

    As he arrived before their home, he found it in ashes. He frowned as he stood before his charred home. It wasn¡¯t much, but it was home, and he had kept most of his belongings in there. There was nobody nearby, and he wasn¡¯t sure how he would know if anyone had been inside when it burnt down unless he came across a body.

    He didn¡¯t have many belongings, and had no sentimental objects ¨C just his clothes, his money, and¡­ his notes! A spike of concern that nearly matched the worry he felt about his friends and teacher lanced through him and he rushed forwards.

    Inside, the scent of ash and cinders welcomed him, and for a moment a wave of pure terror crashed through him, halting his steps. Then it was gone, but in its place was a pit of fear he couldn¡¯t dislodge.

    He wasn¡¯t sure what had happened to the house, or who was inside when the fire was started, or even if someone else had raided the house last night. The money wasn¡¯t a big deal ¨C he kept a good sum in his room, but it was a small fraction of what he kept in the bank. It was spending money, so he always had some physical currency on him.

    He stepped over still burning embers and around the collapsed walls ¨C their home had been made of mostly wood. High quality wood, but still wood, and still flammable. As it wasn¡¯t truly their residence, and was temporary, it also lacked any formations at all ¨C they were incredibly expensive, even for the current him.

    Much of the roof had collapsed in the fire, and he found himself blocked from accessing his room or much of the rest of house ¨C it was totally destroyed by the raging flames and collapsing structure.

    This made him incredibly angry ¨C could Starspire do nothing right? What if Master Isaac or Arnav was inside? Or if Illiana had somehow made it back before the fires started? What of his notes? Everything that mattered to him could have gone up in flames, because the military of Starspire was a joke!

    Useless! He cursed the military in his mind, but much of his anger had already been spent. That made up his mind, and after some more searching and listening, he left for one of the offices.

    That, too, was burned down and even more demolished than most of the other buildings. It had been made out of stone, and no doubt had some formations to ensure it¡¯s stability. Whoever the attackers were, this had clearly been a raid, and one meticulously planned.

    It made him realize that they must have explicitly targeted the important buildings, and that their workshop was probably torched as well.

    He shivered. It would take a lot of strength to demolish such an important building so utterly, and unlike most, it would have had plenty of guards and was close to reinforcements.

    Still, he looked around for somewhere to go. It was still early in the morning, but in the stupor his injuries left him in, the second day since the attack had already arrived. Surely, some sort of temporary office had been set up in that time.

    After looking around, he found what he was looking for. The official buildings were situated near each other in a plaza, but all of them had been destroyed. Still, there was some foot traffic to and from a location a few blocks away, and that was where he found the temporary offices that had been set up.

    Not all of the buildings in the outpost had been torched, of course. It wasn¡¯t practical, for a variety of reasons, and so the military seemed to have commandeered one of the closest intact buildings.

    Evan entered, and inside he found a chaotic mess and some very tired and fed-up clerks. He flagged one down and tried to order the Substance he needed for his cultivation ¨C he needed to be stronger. If his shield wasn¡¯t so weak, maybe it could have better protected him.

    Mostly, though, he just felt the deep need to move forward, and do something productive so he could put this behind him. He must have looked like quite the sight to the clerk, for the older man gave him a strange look.

    It must have been all the bandages, but the ointment must have been helping with the pain, for his various wounds didn¡¯t hurt all that much. The ointment wasn¡¯t cheap, so this was to be expected.

    There was also the ash he gotten on himself while searching the house. He started speaking before the clerk could get the wrong idea. ¡°Hello sir,¡± he spoke with false cheer, ¡°I need to put in an urgent request to find my master and fellow apprentices, as well as order some Substance for my cultivation.¡±

    Not hesitating for a beat, he responded, ¡°Sir, I¡¯m sorry, but everything ¨C including the logistics network ¨C is stretched quite thin at the moment, and we have been ordered to refuse all non-military requests for Substance, no matter what is offered. Everything has been put on the backburner to help expedite the repairs.

    ¡°As for your request, sir, you are welcome to put one up, but with the current situation it might be some time before anyone gets to it.¡±

    Evan waved his hand at the man, as though to dismiss his words. ¡°I¡¯m with the military. All of my uniforms were lost in the attack, but I¡¯m an apprentice under Formations Master Isaac.¡±

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    An expression of sadness seemed to briefly pass through the man before he replied in the negative. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, sir, but even as part of the military, all efforts are being dedicated to repairs. Trust me; I understand the desire to get stronger after the tragedy that¡¯s just happened, but rebuilding critical infrastructure must come first.¡±

    The man rushed away, leaving Evan stupefied. What was that expression of sadness? Had something happened to Master Isaac?

    And what a load of poppycock. Expediting the repairs? Yeah right; he understood what that really meant. All his superiors were trying to do the same thing he was, and they had priority against him for cultivation resources. At least he could put in his request.

    That didn¡¯t make a lot of practical sense, for his overall strength would increase much more than theirs would, as well as the fact that the war still had rules ¨C cultivators past a given strength, that he now knew to be the fifth Collapse, were barred from active participation in the war. Their battles were just too destructive ¨C and even then, those at that level were discouraged from being too overt in their power and were mostly only present to fight off cultivators at a similar level.

    Crafters were generally under less of a restriction, but only when it came to things that supported the defense of utility of something or someone ¨C anything meant to be incredibly destructive was still barred.

    He wasn¡¯t sure why this was, as then why didn¡¯t some tenth Collapse formations master build all the defenses, and outfit the strongest allowed cultivators with a shield like his own? Just like that, they would crush all opposition, and such crafters must surely exist.

    Shaking his head, as he tended to do, he once more approached the same man from before. He wasn¡¯t done here yet.

    ¡°Hey, wait. What if I assist in the repair efforts? The Substance I want to order is only of the standard crafter package, and I want to put a sizeable reward for the request.¡± He considered disclosing his full cultivation level ¨C the very beginning of the first Collapse ¨C but decided against it at the last second.

    The man seemed to consider this for a moment before he came a decision. ¡°Alright, I guess I can do that, but I¡¯ll need to you take on some tasks for the repairs.¡±

    Hearing this was like music to his ears. Yes! This wasn¡¯t a problem for him. ¡°I¡¯m currently ¨C or, well, I was working on the formations of a building for a client not yet in town, and I¡¯ll need to check up on that, but I would welcome any requests that involve working with some of the buildings around town.¡±

    Smiling, Evan could hear the relief in his tone. ¡°Thank goodness. I¡¯ll put your current work on hold ¨C the repair efforts are more important, and I¡¯ll see about finding something for that. Truthfully, there¡¯s not many of you composition architects in town.¡±

    Composition architect? What in the world is that? Is that what formation masters who work on buildings are called?

    ¡°Ah, a question. Why is Formation Master Isaac not known foremost as a composition architect?¡±

    ¡°Oh, well it¡¯s just that the military doesn¡¯t permit a composition architect to take fresh apprentices. The field is too advanced and requires more cultivation and learning than is reasonable of a fresh apprentice, so your master likely does that instead ¨C I don¡¯t know the man personally, but I know there are several composition architects that do the same.¡±

    Evan felt like such a fool. All this time, he had been calling his work such a mouthful when there was such a handy term? Composition architect. He liked it, and he supposed what the man said was true. Still, why had he never heard this term?

    He didn¡¯t want to reveal even more ignorance to the man in front of him, so he allowed himself to be led over to a counter where the man had another, younger clerk, dig through some sheets of paper for a few requests in specific. The man seemed to know his stuff, as they were in the pile and found easily enough.

    While the younger clerk did this, the one he had spoken to led him through the forms he needed to fill out for his request, and gave him advice on how much he should offer as a reward ¨C his wallet hurt to pay out so much, but it would be worth it if it saved their lives.

    Unfortunately, as the clerk had mentioned, he was not the only one putting out requests for finding loved ones, friends, or even masters. He could only offer a large reward and hope for the best.

    Once that was done, the younger clerk laid out the requests they wanted him to look through. Looking them over, he thought about how difficult they would be. He couldn¡¯t afford a repeat of what had happened with his first job ¨C those mana potions were expensive and had come out of his own pocket. It had been a matter of reputation to him, so he had simply swallowed his frustration and bought them.

    Now, though¡­ that seemed to have all gone up in smoke ¨C perhaps literally. What would he even be paid for his work if it was destroyed, and the task put on hold? How would that reflect on him?

    The clerk had made it seem like no big deal, but he couldn¡¯t leave without some reassurance of the fact.

    ¡°My previous contract, you said you¡¯re putting it on hold? What does that mean? Will there be any repercussions to that?¡± He hated revealing his ignorance, but in this case, he couldn¡¯t leave it alone. What if this ruined him because he simply didn¡¯t ask?

    ¡°Nothing to worry about. The contract will be put on hold pending the end of this emergency, and that¡¯s if things can continue as they were anyway. You¡¯ll suffer no consequences, and it will even leave a good mark on your record that you are willing to contribute to the repair efforts, even if it¡¯s motivated by self-interest.¡±

    As the man continued speaking, he laid out several pieces of paper before Evan, and the way he went about everything gave him the distinct impression he was an old hand at this. ¡°These are the requests I would like for you to take a look at. All of them are completable at the first Collapse, and I¡¯d like for you to pick whichever you feel is best. Under all of that is the form for ordering the Substance you need.¡±

    He spent several minutes looking over all the requests before him before picking one out that didn¡¯t seem too difficult, but still paid well. It was a request from one of the infirmaries, to add a couple formations to an already established primary formation.

    It had been constructed during the night, and the primary formation had just been established by a formations ¨C er, a composition architect this morning.

    That¡¯s a good way to go about it, Evan mused. Laying the primary formation was definitely the most difficult part of the job, and it would be interesting to do things from the other way around since he never got to actually build the lighting formation his previous contract had wanted.

    He wondered if the building he was on contract for was still standing, and how the attackers determined their targets. Surely, some spies must have been involved, right? Maybe having stronger composition architects do the primary formations was for more than just optimal labor assignment.

    Regardless, none of it was his problem ¨C at least not anymore. He studied the full details of the request ¨C was hastily written, so there wasn¡¯t much, but the desired formations were listed.

    Apparently, the previous medical centers had been especially targeted ¨C from the beginning, the attack was more of a raid than any attempt at a takeover. This meant that with all the injured after that brutal night, there were far more patients than beds.

    Evan was probably only lucky enough to get a bed thanks to his status, and the serious but easily treatable wounds he had suffered.

    Healers were rare to begin with, so something else had to be done to stem the tide. That was where he came in. He was to install a formation that would promote cleanliness by keeping the infirmary mostly sterile, as well as keeping the air clean of the stench he still vividly remembered.

    This would help morale and stifle infections, allowing some of those whose life hung in the balance to find themselves on the preferred side of the scale.

    He was especially interested in this request, as the idea of a formation that kept things clean appealed to him on a personal level, and it couldn¡¯t be simple ¨C the military even offered some notes and a method to make the task rather easy.

    There was only one issue ¨C his mana. While the primary formation was far and away more complicated than anything else he had done to date, requiring large amounts of inscriptions whenever possible to save on his intent, none of the other inscriptions would be easy, either.

    Just tying into the primary formation, properly interfacing with it for the functions of the primary formation to work as they should, would require extensive inscriptions. None of this even took into consideration the imbuing that would have to be done afterwards.

    Imbuing was far and away from the slow pace of inscribing, but it wasn¡¯t instant, either. He still remembered the first time he imbued a simple sword with a weight enchantment ¨C that had taken him upwards of an hour if he remembered correctly.

    Evan looked back up at the clerk. He liked this request, and wanted the notes and methodology ¨C eventually, he would get his own house assigned to him after he left the tutelage of Master Isaac, and he really wanted to build his own formations for the place.

    ¡°I¡¯m interested in taking on this request, but I have a severely lacking mana regeneration.¡± He left it at that. His hope was that-

    ¡°Of course. That¡¯s expected ¨C can¡¯t be good at everything, after all. We have a stock of mana potions for your use in getting things done in a timely manner.¡± The man grinned at some internal joke.

    That was exactly what Evan was hoping for. Now, with most of the business taken care of, he just had to figure out where he would be staying, now that his home was in ruins.

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 28

    Evan held his head in his hands, uncaring of how it made him look. It had been several days since he had accepted the first request from the older man ¨C who he now knew as James ¨C and put in his search request.

    The man had been very kind and accommodating, which he hoped was only partially related to how much he¡¯d gotten done in the past couple days.

    Arnav was still missing.

    It was assumed at this point that he had died during the raid at some point. Illiana had, despite leaving the restaurant just before the attack, managed to keep herself safe.

    Too many were missing, and the outpost was stretched too thin to do any true search for him ¨C he was lost in a sea of further tragedy, despite the large bounty he had put out for him. Nobody wanted to ¡®waste¡¯ their time looking for someone they couldn¡¯t find, and he wasn¡¯t the only one promising large sums of wealth in return for finding a friend or family member.

    That was what stung the most ¨C that to Starspire, he was just a number, if one higher than most. Even the influence of Master Isaac was useless. His death held little meaning when the outpost had already suffered so much.

    He¡¯d dealt with death before ¨C a few times in the past, some child at the orphanage would go missing and never be heard from again, but never before had Evan lost someone important to him.

    And Arnav had been important to him ¨C the wound of his death left an indelible mark on him he would carry forever, just like the nightmares of the night itself where he had almost died.

    Illiana sat next to him, sobbing. He wiped his own tears from his eyes before they could spill down his face.

    Evan swore that he would make them pay. That Antagas would burn.

    That wasn¡¯t enough; he still felt empty. His anger didn¡¯t fill the void of emotion he felt ¨C it just made it even clearer.

    Neither of them spoke, Illiana sobbing, himself brooding.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Evan.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry too, Illiana.¡±

    ***

    Two more weeks passed, and while the pain he felt grew a little more distant, it never went away. At night, he would alternate between nightmares of what could have occurred at the restaurant and grisly scenes of Arnav¡¯s death.

    Just as he had before, he threw himself into his work in an effort to distance himself, and at their new home, he found himself growing closer to Illiana ¨C they shared their pain and grew closer for it.

    Master Isaac had escaped the ordeal unscathed, but he soon found himself growing more distant from the man, for his master did not seem to be exceptionally affected by Arnav¡¯s death. At some point he confronted him, and the answer was chilling. He remembered the conversation with clarity.

    ¡°Master Isaac, how can you bee so calm about Arnav¡¯s death? Did he mean nothing to you? You¡¯re so¡­ unaffected, and it¡¯s not right.¡± At the time, his voice had been tinged with the raw emotion he felt, even as he tried to keep his tone even.

    ¡°Do not accuse me of things when you know nothing, Evan.¡± His tone had held a rare warning before becoming gentler. ¡°His death hurts me too, but I¡¯m older than I look, and he is not the first apprentice I¡¯ve lost, nor will he be the last. You yourself almost perished in the raid, and at some point, distancing yourself from your emotions becomes necessary.¡±

    That seemed to have been all he had to say on the subject, but after a moment he had continued, as he often did.

    ¡°If you live long enough, you¡¯ll understand what I mean. It won¡¯t ever not hurt, though. Not naturally.¡±

    Evan had done some research on the topic since then and had discovered what his master had meant in the end. Substance could manipulate the mind, so of course there were ways of dulling or removing certain emotions or proclivities.

    In Starspire, though, they were illegal. He agreed with Starspire in this ¨C his pain was not something that should be cut away because it was inconvenient. It was the first time he had discovered that some types of cultivation were outlawed altogether, though in this case the history of the decision was interesting.

    It was also something he could distract himself with.

    The books he had read said that in times past, cultivating the removal or extreme nulling of negative emotions like guilt, remorse, and sadness was incredibly popular. It was almost a rite of passage for becoming a cultivator ¨C cutting away everything that could hold one back.

    It disgusted him, and had held back civilization for a long, long time. Even now it was present in some parts of the world, and it led to an inhuman lack of regard for anything but oneself. The cultivators of today may not be perfect, and selfishness was almost a necessity, but most were not unfeeling ¨C like himself, they just looked after themselves first and foremost.

    The road to power got narrower the further you traveled upon it, and to succeed likely meant someone else failed.

    He would personally teach that to Antagas. While he might not have much personal battle strength, eventually ¨C and one day soon ¨C he would grow capable of making weapons of war far beyond any single cultivator of similar strength.

    Several weeks ago now, before he even knew of Arnav¡¯s death, he had spent his entire remaining fortune on cultivation resources. Having just suffered the tragedy, and finding his defenses so lacking, he ¨C somewhat recklessly ¨C threw everything into his cultivation but what he left aside for the bounty.

    At the time, he had thought what he paid out for the bounty would be enough to be near the top of the list ¨C he still wasn¡¯t thinking clearly and had thought too much of himself. The listing was high, but compared to the life savings of devasted families of cultivators, and those of higher cultivation than himself, even his entire savings wouldn¡¯t have been enough.

    He desperately hoped it hadn¡¯t made the difference between finding Arnav and not, and if it had been¡­ he didn¡¯t want to know. Part of him wanted to throw away the coming Substance, but in the end, he didn¡¯t.

    Instead he focused on the significance of it to his overall cultivation.

    When it arrived and he finished cultivating, he will have brought himself from the start of the first Collapse to just over halfway through it in a single bound, elevating his strength by just slightly more than half.

    It was much more than he had thought, but once he had done the math behind the first Collapse to the second one, he realized that it was that easy.

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    Each Collapse could be thought of as around three times stronger than the one before it and requiring that much more Substance. Math was one of the many things he had to improve at to be good at crafting, and it allowed him to sketch a much clearer path of the relative strengths of each Collapse, at least when it came to the raw numbers.

    If a mortal could be considered a one, and the first Collapse a three, then the second was a nine. When he had reached the first Collapse, he had cultivated from 1.5 to 3 ¨C doubling his strength, as he had realized before.

    This, of course, meant that when the military brought him halfway to the first Collapse, it was far less generous than he had realized. A mere change of 0.5 ¨C practically nothing, and he had felt so special!

    Back then, the true change had been the reformation of his soul ¨C going from the blobby mess he was as a mortal to the perfectly smooth, rotating sphere of perfection his soul was now. This change had also exhausted his soul, making his cultivation far slower than it might have been otherwise.

    He remembered how whatever was in his soul had seemed to nearly escape, and the pain he had gone through back then. It made him wonder if he had almost died right then and there, with whatever was inside him taking advantage of his temporary weakness to make a break for it.

    Myth. Even now, when he thought of the word, it reminded him of the visions he had seen. The value was still nothing, the last he had checked, but he had considered some ways of trying to increase it.

    All of that would have to wait for his graduation, though.

    Back on track, his current cultivation could be considered a three in numerical terms. With the entirety of his wealth, he could bring his strength forward a little more than he had last time, by perhaps two.

    To his mind, this increase didn¡¯t feel that large, but he knew that the mind was easily confused when trying to compare the magnitude of numbers, especially when things got more abstract.

    Numbers did not lie, though, and that would bring him to a five altogether, which was 60% stronger than before. And five was more than 50% of the way to nine, the second Collapse.

    Of course, all of these numbers were representations he had made, but he felt fairly confident he was right. It was a little scary, though, as it made the strength of just the fourth Collapse quite real and concrete.

    There was a difference between knowing that each Collapse is far stronger than the one that came before it and knowing by just how much.

    He shook his head. There was more to do. Standing, he left the newly assigned building where the three of them now lived. It was smaller than before, considering the size of their group had shrunk.

    Still hurts. Every time he tried to sit down and come to terms with his thoughts, he got distracted ¨C or more honestly, he avoided it.

    He headed towards the newly rebuilt requests office.

    ***

    The cultivation resources arrived, and the cultivation chambers were one of the few pieces of infrastructure mostly left alone ¨C they were fairly simple and built with the explicit purpose of defense in mind. There were few things that could boast a defense superior to them ¨C no one wanted part of their cultivation ruined, no matter how small. Every Collapse represented the majority of a persons present or potential strength, and at some point, everyone realized they could not or would not push past the barrier.

    As far as infrastructure goes, they were also rather low in importance ¨C their destruction would, at most, delay the advancements of people until more could be constructed, and only slightly affect the people cultivating inside, and that was if they weren¡¯t killed.

    This could be important, of course, but they were not as critical as almost any other piece of infrastructure.

    Evan¡¯s cultivation went as expected, and only required a few days of intense effort. Being left alone with his thoughts was hard, but he was able to grit his teeth and get through it.

    It made him feel a little guilty, but the sensation of his growing soul was like a balm to his mind ¨C it was incredible. Never before had he cultivated so much Substance, and never before had his soul absorbed it so quickly. Every moment was better than the last, and the trance cleared his mind once he got settled.

    When he left the chamber, his mind tinged with disappointment, he threw himself right back into his work, but this time not of the sort that paid ¨C he needed to remake his shield and portable thermostat.

    He had also learnt from his mistakes and intended to craft himself a dagger packed full of as much sharpness as possible. If things ever came down the wire, it could save his life.

    By now, the outpost was in much better shape, but the trauma still lingered in the residents ¨C the outpost was not as prosperous as before, but the raid could not entirely stifle the hustle and bustle the ever-increasing traffic brought.

    In fact, in response to the raid, Starspire had begun sending even more soldiers and supplies through Mountain Acropolis in a show of retribution ¨C Evan was not the only person who held no small amount of rage that the raid had been as successful as it had been.

    This allowed the outpost to still remain prosperous, enough that the previous problem of sourcing the Substance he needed went away.

    Hunters had suffered the lightest blow, for they were often outside of the outpost, and the traffic brought even more of them looking to make their fortune ¨C just last week a team had brought back a monster of particular importance, for it was not unique ¨C the team had brought back several, which meant that monster had managed to mutate in a way that remained biologically viable and found a mate.

    Evan had not seen the creature himself, but since it was not unique, a team of mages had set off to find the population and protect it while assisting in its growth. They were sponsored by Starspire, a point they had made clear before setting out ¨C the new beast was too valuable to allow it to be hunted to extinction.

    Supposedly, the monster bore resemblance to a boar, but instead of the typical growth that focused on increasing their physical characteristics, the mutation had changed the color of its skin to a pale white, discarded its tusks, and granted it a natural force-aspected magic that it used to fight from a distance and protect itself.

    For a boar, it looked strange, but the creature had been given a name ¨C a Pale Forcebore, named after its apparent favoring of force attacks that resembled a drill.

    All of this was excellent news for Evan, as it would allow the price of force-aspected Substance to go down in the coming months and years, depending on how large their population already was.

    As he worked on his new shield, he changed the design after thinking of how it saved him last time. Instead of simply forcing away any object that came too close too fast, it would instead try to redirect it around him instead of simply stopping it.

    This change should greatly increase its defensive power for kinetic projectiles such as arrows, and even against mundane weapons, forcing the objects to resist the change in velocity and helping against the direct clashes of force he would always lose against a superior enemy.

    He was lucky before ¨C the arrow had struck his shield in such a way that it was redirected, but it was not part of the way his shield had worked before. It had been mere luck.

    When he made this change, he was worried it would take too much intent, but his fears were unfounded. Leaving the shield as the same bulky object as before, the increase in his strength allowed him to make this alteration while at the same increasing the raw amount of force it could handle.

    His other protections, such a slight resistance to temperature, he left to his thermostat. Resistance to heat had never really been needed, so he only increased the insulation ability of the device to better handle his movements with it before doing everything he could to slim it down.

    The results were incredible ¨C it was much easier to wield than before, even if it was still the size of a somewhat small brick.

    With the device having shrunk so much, he even had an idea for his clothes. He had a new set made but instructed the tailor to add a small compartment in the back matching the size of his new thermostat, and then to add some slight flaps in such a way that he could secure the thermostat inside, while still being easily removable.

    He loved the result, and slimmed the thickness of the device while increasing the width so it was less noticeable as he moved about ¨C this required a redesign, but it wasn¡¯t too difficult, and he thought it was worth it.

    For the dagger, he commissioned a well-known smith to forge him one out of unprocessed steel, having the natural Substance from its makeup left alone so it would still function naturally.

    The steel was made from iron deeper into the earth than the mine in Iron Guard, and was much more effective than his own imbuements could manage at comprehensively fortifying the dagger.

    When he finally got his hands on the dagger, most of the natural Substance was still intact, and he replaced what was missing with a formation that decreased the weight of the dagger ¨C it was heavy ¨C and increased its sharpness.

    All of this had cost him a pretty penny, but his stronger cultivation allowed him to make more than before working as a composition architect, something that he had gotten fairly adept at in the past few weeks, working on easier projects from the military that allowed for more division of labor.

    Everything seemed to happen in a rush over the past few weeks, but it seemed the entire outpost had a score to settle, and the rebuilding efforts had allowed him to make money hand over fist.

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 29

    Evan woke up, had a small breakfast, and got ready as he usually did these days. His heart still panged at the mere three seats around their table, but the quick progress he had made since the raid happened helped him to keep his mind off it.

    Today was a more special day than almost any other, though ¨C today was the day he decided to graduate from the care of his master. He had already spoken with his master before about how things would actually proceed, and for Evan, the task was rather simple.

    Most looking to graduate would have to travel to the nearest guild outpost and take their test there, but Evan¡¯s master had enough qualifications in the guild to give Evan the exam himself, and if he passed, his master would contact the guild on his behalf and Evan would shortly receive his certification.

    Learning this had shattered his preconceived notions that the guild was in any way impartial, and that nepotism was everywhere, and it was inevitable.

    Just the fact that this could be done lowered his trust in the guild, and he hadn¡¯t even joined yet. He wasn¡¯t sure why he had held them in higher regard than Starspire, but he had.

    He wasn¡¯t sure if his master would bend the rules in any way to make things easier for him, but it didn¡¯t matter ¨C he was prepared for the real deal.

    The test was fairly basic, anyway ¨C at least it was for Evan, as he had truly found his passion in crafting, and poured his everything into learning how to do it right. There was also the excellent education he was afforded by Master Isaac, and the competitiveness he had taken for granted from Arnav.

    Even Illiana had contributed to his education ¨C by seeing her lacking mana regeneration, he had pushed himself even harder to master the few spells he knew and make them suit him. That was something that he might not have done, if not for seeing the struggle Illiana faced.

    A bitter smile filled his face. With Arnav¡¯s death, he and Illiana had decided to let bygones be bygones ¨C even if he still felt the blame mostly laid with her, for letting the rift in their relationship develop in the first place.

    ¡°What are you smiling at?¡± She asked, sat not far from him at their round table.

    ¡°Nothing.¡± His smile moved into a more content grin, and she huffed at him before going back to eating. They still weren¡¯t close, but their relationship had improved far past the avoidance and dislike from before.

    It was something that Arnav had always wanted, given their friendship and the budding relationship he had with Illiana.

    Other than the short conversation, their meal was filled with silence, but of the comfortable kind. Master Isaac said nothing ¨C after sharing with Illiana their previous conversation, they had both forgiven him, but they were still more distant than in the past.

    He gracefully waited for Illiana to finish her meal and leave, and she politely ignored what he was doing ¨C she knew he was close to graduating, and as much as she tried to put it behind her, she would still feel somewhat resentful if he came out and said it ¨C they both knew this, and so let the charade continue.

    Master Isaac ate more slowly than either of them, and it was not unusual for him to continue eating after all of them had left. He had said before he ¡®liked to savor his food¡¯.

    ¡°Are you ready? Today?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Master Isaac. Today.¡± The word was filled with meaning, and it seemed louder, even if he spoke both words at the same volume. It was more important, he supposed. It carried a hint of finality.

    Today.

    ¡°Alright then. When I finish my meal, we¡¯ll head to the workshop.¡±

    Evan was forced to endure the agonizing wait as he waited for his master to finish, and then they set off. The trip was much shorter than it had been before ¨C several craftsmen had died in the raid, opening up valuable real estate ripe for the taking, and his master possessed enough influence to get them the space now that it was free.

    It was a wonder how quickly things could be rebuilt with the help of some specialized mages and some arrays, the wheels of progress greased with gold and silver.

    When they reached the workshop, he was first given a verbal exam, where his master asked him question after question about the fundamentals of imbuement and inscription.

    From there, they moved on to questions about how to solve particular problems, and then ones centered on acting as a proper craftsman and maintaining his decorum ¨C the guild was wholly independent of the military, and Starspire as a whole, but even they had standards of the way their members conducted themselves. He felt he failed the most here, as the politicking and carefully crafted looks had never appealed to him.

    The prices he should charge for things, and the ethical methods of competition between crafters. Taboos he should not cross ¨C things such as making powerful bombs, experimenting on the soul, and the many, many dos and don¡¯ts that came up when manipulating space, time, and biology.

    Almost every crafter who got to a certain level of strength would begin to play with these core facets of the world they found themselves in, and it was far from outlawed ¨C rather, they just carried such incredible risks they had to be especially expounded upon.

    Right after this, he was asked to explain bits and pieces of history where crafters had broken these rules, and how they had ended up.

    It was all quite brutal, and it brought some fanciful ideas to mind. Manipulating space and time sounded almost too fantastical to be real, but he knew it wasn¡¯t ¨C manipulating space and time was a cornerstone of many powerful devices.

    Spatial storages were still beyond him ¨C some aspects of Substance, even when properly aligned to the desired effect, took massive amounts of intent to produce meaningful results, and even more to do so in a manner that could be termed as anything but ¡®temporary¡¯.

    Time was especially guilty of this ¨C perhaps the biggest offender. Of course, traveling through time was impossible, but altering it¡¯s speed? More than possible.

    In much of the history he had learnt on the subject, space and time formations were ¨C much like the culling of emotions ¨C a rite of passage for strong formation masters and composition architects, for in almost any manner considered they were incredibly powerful ¨C attack, defense, utility, it did not matter.

    To be targeted by an attack that used time was a sorry fate indeed. In some ways, it was even worse than ones that used space ¨C a common tactic was the random speeding up and slowing down of time across a person, a truly brutal method that was almost impossible to resist without defensive methods tailored to time or an overwhelming advantage in strength.

    When it came to utility, spatially expanded storage devices were incredibly valuable, and something he suspected officer David to be in possession of. Even without expanding space, just manipulating the dimensions of a space made storing things far easier and more compact. That was-

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    ¡°Evan! Listen to me.¡±

    Oh. He had gotten distracted. The exam continued ¨C it was already almost over.

    While the first part of his certification ¨C the exam ¨C was long and some questions could be quite tricky, it was more of a formality than anything else. Master Isaac had known what he would need to know for the exam, and had ensured that Evan had the books he needed, as well as pointing out things he should pay special attention to memorizing, even if he hadn¡¯t always understood why.

    After spending more than a year learning everything, even the more difficult questions were easy. He might not have spent too much time learning from books after the first half a year or so, but that was because anything further was considered too valuable to be taught to just anyone.

    He¡¯d have to earn merits if he wanted to learn anything more from the military ¨C and you couldn¡¯t just buy merits with money. It required genuine dedication to the military. At least, that was what he¡¯d been told.

    That was fine, though. Evan was content with what he knew for now and could learn everything else in his own time. Being handed the knowledge would be nice, but it wasn¡¯t necessary ¨C it wasn¡¯t as though they were the only source.

    Well, they are for now, but that won¡¯t always be the case. One more reason to leave Starspire.

    Once the exam was finished, Master Isaac retrieved a sword ¨C one quite simple ¨C and smiled as he spoke. ¡°For the next portion, you¡¯ll just need to bring this sword to grade one, class one. There are no inscriptions ¨C everything will need to be done yourself, whether that be engraving some yourself with a spell or simply using your intent. Impress me.¡±

    Evan felt a tinge of melancholy as he remembered his first proper imbuing lesson with Master Isaac, and how embarrassed he¡¯d been at having his master point out his countless mistakes while Illiana and Arnav watched on.

    Back then, they hadn¡¯t even fully settled into their new lives, and instead of the mire of competition and distaste that would come later, there had been a simple thirsting for knowledge that drove them to watch.

    He took the sword from his master¡¯s hands, and then the cube of Substance, and settled into his work. They felt heavy in his hands.

    Two hours passed as he meticulously poured Substance into the sword, bringing it as close as he could to perfection, and when he finished he had a deeper appreciation of how much load the inscriptions took off from him. He also realized that with his increasing capacity for intent, he would need some mental cultivation to keep up his speed, or he would begin spending ages on each imbuement.

    The Substance for crafting enhanced all aspects of his talent, but just because his will became capable of blitzing through larger amounts of intent, didn¡¯t mean that his mind possessed the ability to do the same.

    He wanted to sigh. There were always complications ¨C limiters ¨C on the powers of cultivators, and the need for a distribution of focus was just one more. Even specialized, there was need to divide portions of ones cultivation to maintaining balance, and the mind was a common limitation.

    An increasing need for mind cultivation was one of the most common reasons for someone to stop advancing, for as he already knew, humans had to build their own path to power ¨C their vessels were not pre-equipped for it.

    There was no inherent way to manipulate the mind the same way one could ration their strength or speed. Any accelerations of thought were permanent, and it had driven many to madness before.

    Evan did not necessarily need an acceleration of his thoughts, though it would be the best solution. Broadening his mind in other ways could help too, but weren¡¯t nearly as helpful for stressful situations, and were no better at helping one stay sane.

    He could also ignore this entirely, and follow a different path ¨C one of stronger imbuements, but where his works were farther and farther between as the time he needed to fill up his intent increased, his mind unable to utilize the vast speed his will could imbue at.

    This was the path that Master Isaac followed, but Evan wasn¡¯t sure it was for him. Even before the attack, he had wanted to make himself at least slightly capable of defending himself, but he had thought his devices activating on their own was sufficient.

    Now, he wasn¡¯t so sure. He valued his ability to make formations at a quick pace, and didn¡¯t want to spend ages on each project, even if that meant each of his products weren¡¯t as strong as they might have been otherwise.

    Quantity has a quality all its own, right?

    He glanced down at the sword in his hand. ¡°You¡¯ve finished?¡± Master Isaac suddenly said, breaking the silence and disrupting his train of thought.

    ¡°Yes, Master. Please examine it.¡± He passed off the sword to his master.

    He was quite proud of it ¨C his cultivation had increased significantly since he lasted imbued a sword, and he had given it some reinforcement on top of the greatly increased sharpness. There was even a small pad, not unlike the one his previous sword featured, that allowed for the enchantment to be turned off and on as the wielder pleased.

    It did not take long for his master to evaluate the sword before declaring him as having passed. They moved on to the next part of the trial, which was less a part of the trial and more a required final lesson. His master seemed to quietly grumble something underneath his breath before he continued.

    After all of the effort he had poured into the sword, it was a little uneventful, but he quickly got over it.

    ¡°Evan, you have essentially passed. You have demonstrated good knowledge of the history required and understand more than enough about formations to pass this certification. Next, we¡¯ll proceed to the final part of this certification ¨C a necessary broadening of your horizons.

    ¡°This will be the only time the guild ever teaches you something free of charge, and your final lesson from me.¡± That hit Evan harder than he had expected ¨C from here on out, he would be a fully fledged formations master, and was well on his way to becoming a respectable composition architect.

    Any furthering of his knowledge from here on out would have to come from his own independent efforts.

    His master pulled out some sort of badge, and it lit up with a faint green glow. When he spoke, it was with a formal, distant tone that one would reserve for a stranger, or for a ceremony.

    ¡°Piter is a small world, and at some point, you may outgrow it. It is not difficult to make ripples in a small pond, but do not forget your own strength, and know that even the furthest heights of power on Piter are less than nothing even a stone¡¯s throw deeper into the Void.

    ¡°There is a reason for this. Deeper into the Void, Substance is richer, and while the restrictions grow tighter, this also allows for a stronger soul ¨C for eventually, as you approach the tenth Collapse ¨C should you ever ¨C you will begin to face suppression as your soul grows too heavy for the Void here to support it.

    ¡°Do not fight the suppression ¨C this will be difficult, for it will be stifling, but it is your own soul that does this, for if you successfully resist the suppression, you will fall through the Void, and almost certainly perish. The only way to lift this is to head deeper into the Void or to stay inside areas where the Void has been strengthened, artificial or otherwise.

    ¡°When you reach the tenth Collapse, this will magnify even further, and becoming any stronger will foil your soul¡¯s efforts at containing itself and you will fall through the Void unless it has been strengthened by something with power exceeding the unrestricted strength of the eleventh Collapse.

    ¡°Long before this, though, it will become difficult for you to increase your strength ¨C where Piter rests, the Void is too thin, and there are too many who stay here to increase their strength while being the strongest around. Your best bet is to leave the planet and head to another, more populated one, or to once again head deeper into the Void.

    ¡°You¡¯ll need a reputable Voidship in order to do this, and the guild would be happy to help you find passage aboard one.¡±

    His master seemed to take a deep breath, and once he was finished, the badge dimmed, and he pocketed it.

    What was the badge for?

    ¡°And there we have it, Evan. You¡¯ve officially graduated from my care, and I couldn¡¯t be happier to have taught you the basics. I know that Arnav¡¯s death has put some distance between us, but you¡¯re always welcome to call on me if you find yourself in a dire situation. You¡¯ve been one of my better students, and I hope we can part on good terms.¡±

    ¡°Of course, Master Isaac. I realize how lucky I was to have been assigned to you, and I¡¯ll never forget the kindness you¡¯ve shown me by being so diligent and caring in your teachings.¡±

    His ¨C now former ¨C master laughed. ¡°You are welcome to just call me Isaac now, Formations Master Evan. I hope I might do the same?¡±

    It brought a smile to his face at being called that by his teacher. From most, it was a sign of flattery, but from the man before him, it was a sign of respect and approval.

    ¡°Always, Isaac.¡± It felt strange to call him by just his name, but he liked it. The man was still far and away better than him at crafting, so it was an honor to call him by just his name.

    The moment passed and they left ¨C both of them headed to one of the offices, but for different reasons. He needed to request a living space and workshop of his own, while Isaac needed to turn in whatever was needed for his certification to go through.

    He looked forward to the celebratory dinner they would have tonight ¨C it would be his treat. Should I invite Illiana? Or would that just upset her?

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 30

    The dinner that night was awkward, and for a multitude of reasons. Foremost, though, was how jittery everyone was. It had been several weeks since the attack, but Evan, and apparently everyone else, was still looking over their shoulder for the other shoe to drop, and the nightmare to continue.

    Still, they got through it, and Illiana was even able to be happy for him. He appreciated it, and found himself wishing Arnav could have been there, too. Maybe even David.

    It was the first time the friendly man had come to mind in a while, and he realized he shared the same name as the officer he had met the morning after the attack.

    The next morning, he returned to the office he had went to before to figure out what was happening next, and received unfortunate news ¨C he was being transferred.

    His new posting would be at one of the largest mining sites that Starspire controlled, where truly enormous quantities of metal were extracted each and every day. Rather than a single mine, the location was predominantly known for the massive borehole that took up much of its surface. It was said to be hundreds of meters in diameter and went so deep that even with it being so wide, sunlight did not reach the bottom. And that was only the start of how deep it went.

    It was situated deeper into the territory of Starspire, far from the front lines, and featured an average cultivation level higher than that of Starspire proper ¨C it took equipment of incredible strength to dig that deep, and the miners themselves required a deep cultivation base if they wanted to work at the bottom.

    At least, that was what he heard after asking around. It wasn¡¯t a terrible place to be transferred ¨C a great one, in fact, so long as he didn¡¯t suffer from any fears relating to heights or depths.

    Evan didn¡¯t suffer from either, so he should have been ecstatic, but he wasn¡¯t. Part of him was, certainly, but he hated to depart so soon after mending his relationship with Illiana and graduating from Isaac¡¯s care.

    He knew there was always the possibility of this happening, but he had expected to spend the coming months working on his own while still seeing Isaac and Illiana if not every day, then every week.

    Now, he only had a couple weeks before he left, and then he might very well never see them again. He knew, deep down, that if he had a choice after he left, he would never want to be so close to the conflict ever again. The nightmares still haunted him, and the wounds were too deep on his psyche to willingly be transferred to Mountain Acropolis after the events of that night.

    It tore at him, but in a way, he couldn¡¯t help but be relieved. Mountain Acropolis was too dangerous. At least he would still live with them for these coming weeks. No point in giving someone who was leaving a change in accommodation, especially not while the outpost was still recovering.

    He broke the news to them later that day, and Illiana seemed to take it harder than he had expected ¨C only just recently had they made up, after all.

    There was no crying or sobbing, but he could tell she was more shook up about it than she let on.

    Isaac accepted the news stoically and revealed that he could ¨C or even should ¨C have expected this. In all this time, the demand for his beams had only increased, and now that his cultivation was stronger, he could make beams that could handle deeper depths or larger spaces. While his beams were nothing special, it wasn¡¯t something everyone came up with or were interested in crafting, and it showed he held promise working in the depths.

    ¡°¡­Isaac, do you really think they¡¯ll send me down below? What reason could there be to do that? They¡¯ll have to send the beams down anyway, as well as the Substance I¡¯ll need. I don¡¯t want to go deep underground, either! What if I discover I have some terrible phobia to being so far underground?¡±

    ¡°Ha! Well, you¡¯ll just have to get over it. There are plenty of reasons to send you underground, the most obvious being to keep you around for repairs, and you don¡¯t have to worry. Starspire is more than aware of the risks that come with being deep underground, and there will be countermeasures to everything.

    ¡°It¡¯s one of the reasons the borehole is so wide, you know.¡±

    That didn¡¯t reassure Evan much ¨C being aware of the dangers was different from being properly prepared for them! They were also aware of the risk of Mountain Acropolis being attacked, were they not? And yet, Arnav had died, and nearly had he himself!

    He didn¡¯t say any of that out loud, though, for he knew that his old master was blind to this ¨C he had served his entire life for them, and seemed to be quite happy at continuing. Considering how old Isaac must be, even without Substance to extend his life, this showed that the man was clearly devoted to the military.

    Isaac must have noticed his hesitation, for he continued. ¡°Goldspire Garrison is a great place to be transferred, Evan ¨C you just don¡¯t know it yet. Enormous amounts of wealth move through the outpost every day, and as part of the military proper now it won¡¯t be difficult to participate in those countermeasures yourself if you so desire. It might help take the edge off of your anxiety, and would be a good learning experience.¡±

    ¡°Will it really be that easy? Seems like the sort of thing that would be top-secret.¡±

    ¡°For most, it would be, but you¡¯ve already got a year under your belt as part of the service and are an accredited Formations Master under the employ of the military of Starspire. Your new status, decoupled from my own, has opened many doors for you.¡±

    ¡°Huh. Well, that does make this more palatable. I still hate to leave you both, though.¡± Illiana hadn¡¯t left the room, though she had stayed quiet so far. She spoke up after hearing that.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me and Master Isaac, Evan. We¡¯ll be alright, and soon enough we might be leaving as well.¡±

    A small weight was lifted from his shoulders at that. Considering the loss they had only just recently experienced, it felt wrong to leave them so soon. It couldn¡¯t have been easy for Illiana to say that.

    Isaac spoke once more. ¡°Yes, the border is moving closer towards us lately, and the raid from before has even me a little worried. Since you¡¯re leaving as well, I think I¡¯ll put in a transfer request soon.¡±

    Before he could get his hopes up, he continued. ¡°But it won¡¯t be Goldspire Garrison. It is important that you learn to depend on yourself, Evan, since the opportunity has presented itself.¡±

    That didn¡¯t seem very fair ¨C he was plenty independent as it was, with Isaac only stepping in whenever something went wrong¡­ though maybe that was his point.

    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    After that, they all dispersed to go about their own tasks, and Evan decided to work some more on his device for inscribing ¨C ever since he had lost much of his work to the fire, he had lost most of his motivation for continuing, but now he was feeling a little more inspired.

    As the days continued to pass uneventfully, he restarted his design from scratch. He had a new idea ¨C instead of trying to figure out how to make everything fit in the walls of a hollow cube, he could instead take inspiration from his shield and thermostat, having a solid block that held the formations while projecting everything he might need away from it.

    This idea turned out to be fruitful, for he encountered far fewer hindrances as he worked on the project. As he had gotten the idea from his spell, he decided the projection he would use as an interface should mimic the spell ¨C he already knew it worked quite well and didn¡¯t need to brainstorm on how to make it easier to use.

    Progress was made rapidly, as he was somewhat retreading old ground, and by the time of his departure weeks later, he felt he was already more than halfway done with the project.

    Isaac and Illiana saw him off, but the previous somber mood had dissipated after their previous discussion. He felt good, though he couldn¡¯t help but hope Arnav was wishing him well in the afterlife, whatever that might be.

    He remembered what he had learnt just before reaching his first Collapse. That upon death, the soul fled the body. Surely that meant was an afterlife?

    Farewell, Arnav.

    ***

    The trip to Goldspire Garrison was uneventful, and incredible boring. Once more, he traveled in the now familiar military transport jeep, though this time he was among strangers.

    Despite now being a full blown formations master, he still wasn¡¯t allowed to drive, which doused much of his previous excitement for the trip.

    It took nearly a month to reach their destination, and along the way they stopped several times, with much of the convoy staying behind and others taking their place.

    Along the way, he wasn¡¯t even able to work on his designs, as he would need to frequently build prototypes and experiment to ensure things worked as he expected them too.

    Dreadful. That was the only way he could describe his journey, and when they finally arrived, he almost didn¡¯t believe it. He should have brought along some books but hadn¡¯t thought to and wanted to travel light ¨C a mistake he wouldn¡¯t make again.

    The security at the gate seemed lax compared to what he had experienced in Mountain Acropolis, and a part of him was worried about it despite knowing the reason ¨C Goldspire Garrison was simple too far from the border for it face any kind of attack, and the nature of the outpost made anything of the sort difficult and costly.

    Once the convoy was past the gate, they dropped him off at the nearest plaza, from which he made his way to the nearest office so he could report his arrival and be assigned his quarters, workshop, and duties. He didn¡¯t have much on him at all, so it was a simple affair.

    Finding the office was easy ¨C as Isaac had said so long ago, the outposts were all built to make finding the official buildings of Starspire, such as the offices, easy.

    There was a line, which was somewhat surprising, but soon enough he managed to get his affairs in order and received his duties and posting, which only mentioned the ¡®level¡¯ he would be staying at, and not the specifics ¨C such as where he would live, eat, etc. All of that would have to be handled at his destination, where the local office would have a better idea of the situation.

    It was just as Isaac ¨C calling him that still felt strange ¨C had speculated. He was put on the next trip down the shaft, as it was called here, in about an hour.

    Evan wanted to chat with someone, so he could find out more about how things worked around here, but first he decided to go see this lift for himself ¨C he didn¡¯t want to miss it just because he couldn¡¯t find it.

    The trip to the shaft itself was quite short, as much of the actual outpost was far deeper underground and decentralized ¨C that much he already knew.

    It was strange, how sparsely populated the outpost appeared to be from the surface, as he knew the outpost was home to a huge quantity of people ¨C it took a lot more than just the miners to keep the place running smoothly.

    Along the way, he noticed that when people saw him, they gave him strange looks, and that he saw very few people dressed in their uniforms.

    That was another thing that had changed ¨C after he became a certified formations master, he was able to change out his gray, unadorned uniform for one a little more colorful.

    His new uniform was olive green and had a small insignia that denoted his ¡®rank¡¯ in the military as a formations master, with the lowest certification level. As he obtained more certifications, he would gain additional insignia to represent them on his uniform. The one he had was colored bronze.

    The change meant he stood out a little more, but it wasn¡¯t enough to warrant this degree of attention. Was wearing their uniforms not typical around here?

    It was something he kept In mind as he made his way to where the lifts were located. As he approached, he saw the hustle and bustle increase considerably, and as the shaft itself came into view, he was amazed.

    Some people around him seemed to notice his sudden awe, and they smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up.

    Evan shook himself out of his obvious amazement, smiled back politely, and continued forward. Soon enough, he reached the lip of the shaft and hesitantly continued onto the wooden structures that had been attached to the wall.

    He couldn¡¯t see underneath himself, but just knowing the vast emptiness beneath him ¨C discounting any other structures below ¨C made him nervous.

    It wasn¡¯t that he was afraid of heights, or rather falls, but that a part of his instincts warned him that sticking around such a place was a bad idea.

    As he took in his surroundings, he found himself amidst a seemingly endless series of lifts that worked using several ropes and pulleys, along with imbued devices that seemed to provide the force required for moving the lifts up and down. Close by were countless men and women who were hauling crates onto and off carts and lifts.

    Using his soul, nobody he could sense was a mortal, and many were stronger than he was. It was strange to see civilians who engaged in hard menial labor with stronger cultivation bases than many of the soldiers he¡¯d seen ¨C a sort of disconnect to how he had previously viewed reality.

    He also couldn¡¯t help but notice the incredibly powerful formations under his feet ¨C they were so strong, he had no estimate of how powerful the creator was ¨C it was that far beyond his abilities.

    To think, the strongest imbuement he had ever seen was used as an overhang from the shaft.

    It made sense, though, for if those crates were from near the bottom of the shaft, they had to be tremendously heavy, even if the crates were spatial items that reduced the weight of their contents.

    He knew that was where much of the money was at here ¨C at the bottom of the shaft, where the Substance inside even the rock was astronomical. It was why even now Starspire dug the shaft deeper, though one day they would reach a point where no one on the planet was capable of digging any deeper.

    Not wanting to make his purpose obvious, he studied the lifts and the people moving off and on them while moving about, not staying in any one place for long. He very purposefully did not look past the overhang and into the shaft ¨C just a single glance gave him a little bit of vertigo.

    From what he could see, the lifts didn¡¯t take very long to move back and forth, which implied they didn¡¯t go that far down. That made sense, as there were plenty of miners who made their living mining at the sides of shaft as far down as they could reasonably manage ¨C the outpost was known as a haven for miners for a reason.

    There were also more private lifts, ones that didn¡¯t seem to be frequently used, alongside lifts that took far longer to go back and forth ¨C ones that went deeper. He guessed they were used for more convenient travel between deeper sections of the shaft. They were also, just as the regular ones, not equipped with any sort of control that the occupants could make use of.

    Instead, most of the lifts seemed to work on a schedule, where they would automatically begin moving after a set period of time, no matter what. This sounded quite dangerous, but in truth the lifts were so busy it didn¡¯t matter ¨C they were always full, and everyone seemed to have a good idea of when the lift would start moving.

    He noticed that the private, rarely used ones, had panels inside. Classic Starspire.

    By the time Evan had made these observations, he figured close to an hour had passed and that he should head toward the lift he was assigned too.

    Everything was nicely organized, and each lift had numbers painted on the floor to their sides, so he was easily able to find the one he was assigned to.

    It was time to head into the depths.

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 31

    When Evan arrived at his designated lift, he found himself amidst several miners and a few other craftsmen. They all seemed to be a bit older than him, easily into their twenties, while the miners varied greatly in age, but he didn¡¯t peg any as more than thirty. All of this barred any concepts of life extension, of course.

    Some of the miners were quite young ¨C only a year or two older than himself and had the starry-eyed look he was sure he had when he first started imbuing.

    His fellow craftsmen all seemed more experienced by comparison, but that could easily just the requirements their profession had before allowing them to be fully qualified in their work.

    Turning his attention to the lift itself, he once more recognized the lack of any controls ¨C it was somewhat worrying ¨C and was unimpressed by the lack of safety measures. There were only some rails to keep them from tumbling into freefall, and while the ropes looked sturdy, there were only four of them.

    None of it was very reassuring.

    Suddenly ¨C at least to him ¨C the lift lurched to life and began lowering, jerking at first as he watched the device responsible light up a few indicators as green.

    His heart almost left his chest, but nobody else really reacted ¨C this wasn¡¯t something he had really paid attention to while taking a look around, and it gave him a good scare.

    Some of the others on the lift looked outwards into the shaft, and Evan eventually found it in himself to also take a look.

    It was breathtaking, and a little easier to stomach once he was already inside. To say the shaft was wide was an understatement ¨C it had a diameter of what he would easily guess as a thousand meters, and all around the edges were scaffolding that hung over the lip, looking much the same as what he found above.

    This continued every hundred meters or so, with lifts between each level. It was so large and deep he could look out across to the other side and see several levels going progressively deeper down.

    Just as he had seen before, there were longer lifts that went perhaps five hundred meters each, and he saw the occasional person or two making use of them. They were larger than the regular lifts, and most were filled with the same closed crates he had seen earlier.

    It was hard to make out anything more specific, but it seemed as though the entire ring around the shaft was used for transportation and mining into deeper levels. He couldn¡¯t see the bottom from where he was, and he wondered what the actual depth of the shaft was.

    Regardless, it was a true feat of human engineering that left him floored by how impressive it was, and the sheer scale at which it operated left him humbled.

    Once he came back to himself, he decided to strike up a conversation with one of the craftsmen. ¡°Hey, I¡¯m pretty new here. Do you mind if I ask you some questions?¡±

    The man stared at him for a moment before sighing. ¡°Alright. Just until we get to the bottom, though.¡±

    ¡°Perfect. How long have you been here? Are you with the military?¡±

    Evan could tell they were crafters, if not their actual trade, by the way they carried themselves compared to the miners. All of them were at the first Collapse like himself ¨C he could roughly tell with his soul sense ¨C and didn¡¯t have the same build as the miners. None of them were equipped the same way as the miners, either.

    That is to say that they had no special equipment and were dressed in finer clothing than the miners. Some of them, like himself, sported devices somewhat similar to his own shield that hung at his side.

    ¡°A year. It¡¯s a good place to build a foundation if you don¡¯t join the military, but it takes some cultivation to be of any use.¡± He eventually responded, clearly referencing Evan¡¯s own military uniform.

    ¡°What¡¯s your trade? I¡¯m a formations master.¡±

    ¡°Arrays refiner.¡± That surprised him, but maybe it shouldn¡¯t have. In a place like this, he could see arrays being very useful.

    Resisting the urge to ask about how arrays worked, he instead inquired about how things worked down in the shaft.

    ¡°It depends on your job and how deep you go. I¡¯m not with the military, so I hang out just deep enough my arrays catch the best price while still being useful,¡± he noticed that just how deep wasn¡¯t mentioned, ¡°but most of the formation masters I know or see are usually fixing stuff or selling things the miners might need.¡±

    He kept the conversation up as the lift descended. They weren¡¯t moving very fast, but he was perfectly okay with that. Some of his next questions were about safety measures ¨C he figured this was important to everyone, and he was mostly right.

    ¡°Well¡­ I won¡¯t claim to know how it all works, as its mostly formations, but generally things feel pretty safe to me. I mean, there are cave-ins¡­¡± he cut off his next words as he spared a glance to the miners next to them ¨C the lift wasn¡¯t very large. ¡°But only where the mining is done. So long as you stay in the populated areas near the scaffolding, you won¡¯t run into any problems. Any further, though, can be risky.¡±

    Evan found it surprising they didn¡¯t know more about the measures. It was certainly something he felt the need to know about if he was going to be staying down here, but he supposed that he might have more interest as a formations master, considering most of the measures were ensured by various formations.

    The man had been pleasant to talk too at least, so he decided to offer his name ¨C connections were important, even if he hated to pursue them for that sake alone.

    ¡°I¡¯m Evan. Thanks for all the info. I¡¯ll catch you around?¡±

    They huffed. ¡°Caleb. You¡¯re welcome. Maybe give me a discount?¡±

    ¡°Ha! Tell you what, you come to me first, and we¡¯ll see about that discount.¡± By then the lift had reached the bottom and he found himself amongst a scene almost exactly the same as above, only with more lifts ¨C some going back up, and others down.

    The scaffolding extended some ways along the wall of the shaft, but it wasn¡¯t continuous ¨C the lifts had only been built where there was interest in mining or for simply continuing to head deeper, and he could make out other platforms in the distance at the same elevation as them.

    Whoever organized things around here did a wonderful job, as he was given a comprehensive list of all the lifts he would be taking, and he noticed that the traffic moving between levels was well managed, with coordinators occasionally requesting that people wait or change lifts to ensure the smooth transfer of people and cargo.

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    Managing the logistics of such a place must be hell, so he was glad things were in order. He told Caleb what level he¡¯d be ending up on before heading to his next lift while Caleb did the same.

    Caleb reciprocated, and he found that the man was on level 19 ¨C four deeper than himself. He guessed the man had changed his mind.

    At first, everything seemed rather peaceful and relaxing. Since everything was so vertical while traversing the levels, there wasn¡¯t much actual moving around to do, and the numbers painted everywhere made finding his destination easy and not nearly as stressful as he had expected it to be.

    Soon enough, though, he grew bored. Each descent only took five or so minutes, but he had to wait a few minutes on each before they got going. It made him realize why nobody was very alarmed at the lifts moving the way they did ¨C they had long been bored to tears with it and learned to come to terms with it.

    Thankfully, he wasn¡¯t headed that deep ¨C relatively ¨C and was able to stop on the fifteenth level at 1500 meters underground. By now, when looking out into the shaft, it was beginning to get quite dark without the light placed about.

    While the shaft was large enough that the sun could shine down upon much of it, and at some point during the day even illuminate the entirety of it, most of the time it was at an angle and thus only reached so far down.

    At 1500 meters, the lanterns and formations provided the majority of the light available and made things just that much spookier. They cast a dull glow on their surroundings, enough to see by but not enough to feel truly safe from the dark.

    The shadows cast by the lights made the boards of the floor look less secure, and vastness of the shaft more oppressive. Back towards the wall of the shaft he could see tunnels that headed deeper into what could be called the underground proper ¨C it was much better lit that way, and he could hear people moving about.

    It was strange, being surrounded by such darkness when he knew the sun was still out. He could no longer see the sky, and the bottom was still obscured. How deep did it go? Ten thousand meters? More?

    He had no time to ponder, as he had a schedule to keep, even after he had stepped off the lifts for good. At least for the trip down, anyway, so he started heading towards the tunnel deeper into the rock.

    If that¡¯s the trip I have to make every day to go back up or down, I can see why most just stay where they are. There¡¯s not much to do on the surface, either ¨C it would mostly just be to get some sunlight and see the sky.

    Already, he missed the sky. He often spent much of the day indoors, and rarely looked up at the sky ¨C who did? ¨C but just knowing he couldn¡¯t see it without a lot of hassle made it seem more precious.

    Entering the tunnel, he realized there weren¡¯t that many people around. There was a constant stream of people moving up and down the lifts, but he only saw a couple start heading towards the tunnel like himself.

    As he moved out of sight of the lifts, he studied the beams that held up the walls. They were simpler than his own and seemed to be focused on efficiency rather than anything else.

    The only addition was a small light midway up the beam that was emitting a dim green light ¨C an indicator, he guessed, of how in need of maintenance the beam was. It was something he wanted to add to his beams as well but had ended up shelving the idea to make room for everything else.

    In all this time, he had never updated his old design, though he always made them to the best of his abilities. Now that his cultivation had grown, and he was deep underground, it might be time to have a look at it, as well as figuring out some other products he could sell down here.

    He was on his own down here, and as he thought about it, the decentralized and enormous nature of Goldspire might work to his advantage ¨C he could finally start experimenting with his Myth and try to figure out what it did once he increased it from nothing.

    It had been with him since, presumably, before he became a cultivator, and while it did seem to try and escape, it had never harmed him since ¨C and so he was curious enough to risk experimenting with it. He had read plenty of, well, myths about various immortals and their legendary ¨C and secret ¨C treasures.

    The idea that his Myth might be one such treasure was too tempting to not give it a shot, and if he felt something was wrong, he would stop right away.

    He had plenty of ideas about how to increase it as well ¨C he had known of the¡­ treasure¡­ for more than a year now, after all. It was hard enough not to try them out while under the watch of his old master, Isaac.

    Soon enough the tunnels gave way to a large cavern occupied by several buildings alongside a couple blocks of stacked buildings that were connected and that looked residential in nature. Apartments? The lone buildings were offices, evident by the signs outside them. He entered one to once more register his arrival, and he was welcomed quite warmly by a female clerk who seemed to staff the office all by herself.

    ¡°Welcome to level 15, Formations Master Isaac. We are so glad to have you ¨C oh, where are my manners. My name is Alison. You must follow me ¨C er, if you would. Sorry but with you, there¡¯s only three formation masters on the level and it¡¯s not enough.¡±

    She let out a nervous laugh. ¡°Oh, they¡¯ll be ecstatic! Let¡¯s go meet them right away.¡± Alison spoke quickly, and moved around as she spoke, and he was unable to say a word edgewise before she was already walking back out the door.

    He sighed, realizing things might need to be put a little more on the backburner if what she said was true. Refusing to jog and ruin his dignity, he hurried after her.

    Not long later, after she had slowed down after seeing his pace, he decided to ask around about how things worked on the level, and most importantly, why there were only three formation masters around if that clearly wasn¡¯t enough.

    ¡°What is so urgent?¡± Was there something important that was actively failing? He couldn¡¯t understand why the two already stationed couldn¡¯t handle it if that was the case. There was no way they wouldn¡¯t fix something if it was actually urgent, no matter how overworked they were ¨C their lives could hang in the balance!

    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°What? It¡¯s Evan, is that not part of my paperwork?¡±

    ¡°It is, but it¡¯s rude to not let someone introduce themselves. And there¡¯s nothing that urgent, I¡¯m just sure they¡¯ll be glad to see you. They can explain better ¨C I don¡¯t know all the specifics, only that they are constantly sending requests for more help.¡±

    Wouldn¡¯t she, though? He didn¡¯t see any other clerks, and from the look of things, the place had a history of being understaffed. Would she not be the one to help put in all the requests? For more Substance, parts, and so on?

    Strange woman. Hopefully the other formation masters aren¡¯t as well.

    Evan didn¡¯t say anything to voice his doubts, and they continued on their way at a quick pace. He didn¡¯t even know where he would be staying yet, or where he could eat. Usually, he would just stop at any stall that caught his attention or go to a restaurant, but he didn¡¯t see any of that around here.

    ¡°Where will I be staying while I¡¯m here? On the level, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course! There would be too much traveling otherwise, even as close to the surface as we are.¡± Alison pointed towards the large, connected buildings he had noticed before. ¡°Those are the residential housing blocks, where almost everyone stays. That¡¯s where you¡¯ll be staying. I don¡¯t remember the exact unit that was assigned to you, but it¡¯s back at the office.¡±

    It looked rather drab, and only stood out thanks to being made out of wood in the otherwise gray stone walls of the cavern. He didn¡¯t see anyone coming or going, but if that¡¯s where the miners lived, he supposed they would be out mining at the moment.

    He wasn¡¯t sure how to feel about the housing, either. Typically, the place where he stayed was nicer looking and a little more upper class, even if they weren¡¯t usually anything exciting to look at. This¡­ just looked like the most convenient way to house people in a large cavern like this.

    Part of him was surprised there weren¡¯t just caves dug out into the sides and rented out ¨C they could even claim they were safer, as they were protected by the Substance-laden stone.

    Still, he would try it before making any complaints. He would be spending most of his time in his workshop, anyway.

    ¡°What about food? I don¡¯t see any places to get some around here.¡±

    ¡°Oh, well most people just order what they need and have the raw ingredients taken from the storage here or brought down from the surface so they can make their food themselves. Not enough of a population down here to warrant a store or restaurant, and most of the miners are trying to save their money regardless.¡±

    Ah, well that he had some complaints about. He really disliked cooking ¨C always had. It was just one of those things he¡¯d rather not do.

    He also wasn¡¯t the greatest cook, so it just made sense for him to eat out instead ¨C he considered it one of the benefits of his profession.

    They hadn¡¯t even reached what he imagined would be the true source of his troubles, and he was already starting to reconsider if he wanted to stay down here. Were the deeper levels better?

 Computer Issues

    Hey guys - sorry about missing the chapter that was supposed to come out today. I recently got a new SSD for my computer, and so installed it - replacing the Intel Octane memory I already had. I didn''t know this was important, but apparently it was working with my HDD to boot my PC, and by swapping them out, I''ve messed up the link between them.

    Long story short, I have - for at least the moment - lost everything on that drive. I can''t access it, at all, without wiping it - and it has the only copy of my backlog. So, I no longer have any of my writing to post for you guys - sorry!

    Mostly, that was the only thing of particular value on the drive, and I deeply regret not taking more care before installing the SSD, but I didn''t expect any problems. I''m currently looking into any potential solutions and will get back to you guys in the coming days. If I end up having to wipe the drive, I''ll just have to take what I have on RR and go from there, and this will lead to a few delays in all likelihood as I rush to rewrite myself a backlog.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Whatever happens, I wanted to give everyone an explanation for the delay. The next chapter will be after this, and then once everyone has had a chance to move forward, I''ll delete this - that way the follows listing doesn''t get messed up with what chapter you''re on.

    Update: Still no progress on getting this fixed, but some research says it''s possible, and that I just need to hook up the HDD externally - basically, I''m thinking I''ll need a SATA to USB adapter, and that should hopefully work. I''ll need to get that off Amazon, so it will be a few days to get here. If that doesn''t work, I''ll just start writing from what I have on here. Hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving and see you all soon!

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 32

    Not much time passed before they found themselves at one of the other lone buildings ¨C a workshop, Evan realized, as they knocked on the door. It had four floors, and he started to wonder why they mined out the ceiling so much.

    When nobody answered, Alison pulled out a key to unlock the door ¨C which seemed like quite an invasion of privacy ¨C and they entered.

    It was much less open than he had been expecting, and they found themselves in a straight hallway that led to a set of stairs. From the size of the building outside, he knew their left side to be an exterior wall, and the right had a single door along with several windows.

    Through them, he could see the messy workshop. It was disorganized, with random pieces of half-finished equipment lying about in full view of the uncovered window. Had this been his own workshop, his master would have beat him silly, former or not.

    From the window he could make out a faint noise of someone working, as well as the silhouette of someone. Whomever was inside was working on something at a table they couldn¡¯t quite see from their position.

    ¡°This is Theo¡¯s workshop. He and Rory are usually around here, but if they¡¯re not, Theo should know where he is.¡±

    Phew. For a moment there, he had been truly worried that he would be asked to share a workshop, but thankfully Starspire knew there was a limit to the patience of most crafters, military or not.

    Forcing him to share a workshop, where his secrets could easily be stolen, was a serious offence and one he would pass up the chain of command ¨C something like that was exactly why the branches were separate, now.

    He didn¡¯t know much about the guild and how they operated, but maybe they would have taken up his case as well. That reminded him to see about finding a branch of the guild at some point.

    Considering the size of Goldspire, and the population of crafters required to keep it running smoothly, he figured there should be one here somewhere. Hopefully not too deep, though. Part of him was still a little anxious about going any deeper into the ground, especially given that only increasingly powerful people could be found the deeper he went.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have my own workshop, right?¡± He thought about mentioning how much of an offense it would be to be asked to share, and that he would outright refuse, but that would be unnecessarily rude, and Alison seemed quite nice, if a little strange.

    ¡°Of course, nobody would be willing to work down here otherwise!¡± She answered him in a sweet voice before suddenly shouting. ¡°Theo! Rory! It¡¯s Alison, and I have the new guy with me that I¡¯ve mentioned before!¡±

    It was loud enough to hurt his ears in such an enclosed space, and he winced.

    How long had they known he was coming? The organization of the place continued to amaze him, but he realized that he might not see it that way if it took weeks for any assistance to actually arrive.

    ¡°Coming right out! One minute!¡± He heard the voice of the man working at the table before they quickly finished whatever it was they were doing and turned around, glancing at them through the window.

    A broad grin spread over their face as they raced over to the door and opened it, hurriedly beginning to speak before they had even shut the door behind themselves.

    ¡°So, you¡¯re the new guy, huh? We¡¯ve been waiting for you to arrive for what seems like ages. I¡¯m Theo, Rory is upstairs.¡±

    Alison seemed to decide her work was done, for she started heading for the door. ¡°You three have fun. Now you can finally quit complaining, Theo! Evan, when you¡¯re done here meet me back at the office and I¡¯ll have everything laid out for you. Bye!¡± Then she was gone, quick as quicksilver.

    Evan regarded the man before him. He was about his age and was about the same height. He had a thicker, more muscled build than he did, with brown hair and blue eyes that seemed to contain endless energy.

    He didn¡¯t like him already.

    After having spent so long with Isaac, it was inevitable that he would pick up some of the man¡¯s habits, and of them was the unhurried pace the man seemed to drift through life with. Theo also somewhat reminded him of Arnav, and it made him uncomfortable.

    It would be best, he decided, if they got right down to business. ¡°What do you mean by upstairs? Do you share a workshop?¡±

    ¡°No, each floor is its own workshop, and everyone has a key to their own door for privacy. You want to come check out mine? I know things are a little disorganized, but I have a system.¡±

    To invite him into his workshop was a great sign of trust and openness, that he found a little foolish, and he outright refused.

    ¡°No thanks, and you shouldn¡¯t invite strangers ¨C especially other craftsmen ¨C into your workshop. What if I tried to steal your secrets? There would be nothing you could do.¡± He resisted the urge to also say something about the windows not having their blinds drawn.

    Theo seemed confused. ¡°I would just tell you to leave? How would you steal my secrets right out from under my nose?¡±

    Evan decided against arguing with him. It was about the principle of the matter! Was Theo not trained properly? Information security was a cornerstone of being a proper formations master.

    ¡°Nevermind. What task is it that is so demanding you needed more help?¡±

    ¡°Well, now that you¡¯re here, it¡¯s a little embarrassing to just outright say. Let¡¯s go get Rory first.¡±

    They moved up the stairs, where he encountered a hallway that seemed almost a replica of the one below. Just like it, the hallway was lit with lanterns that were hung up on hooks.

    It also must be fairly cold, as Theo asked him how he could be so comfortable in his relatively thin clothes. Had that been why he got strange looks on the surface?

    Ever since he had upgraded his thermostat with his new cultivation it had been much better. It no longer struggled to keep the air around him regulated as he walked around outside, and he hardly noticed the temperature outside now.

    Sometimes, he would even wear it to sleep, but it still decayed at a quick enough pace he usually deemed it a waste of money.

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    ¡°I have a device that regulates the air around me, so I¡¯m not cold or hot while I walk around. You should build yourself one.¡± He wanted to talk about it more, but this was a fellow formations master, and it would be rude to speak of how comfortable he was while Theo lamented about the cold beside him.

    On the other hand, this was a fellow formations master ¨C someone who would truly understand everything he said, which was just more satisfying than talking about it to a layperson. Arnav and Illiana had never taken much interest in talking about design work at depth, and with his master it just felt¡­ weird.

    ¡°That¡¯s so cool! What a great idea. I made a heater for my workshop but hadn¡¯t considered making one for carrying around. How¡¯d you manage that at the first Collapse? I don¡¯t think I¡¯d be able to fit all the imbuements on something small enough to carry. Is that you have attached to your side?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I couldn¡¯t get it any smaller.¡± He lied, not wanting to reveal his shield or talent. The first could save his life, and the second might just ruin any positive relationship between them. He remembered how it had poisoned his relationship with Illiana until they eventually made up.

    Once they arrived at the door, Theo knocked on it loudly and waited. He seemed more patient than Alison.

    Not even a minute had passed before the door opened ¨C the windows had their blinds closed, so he couldn¡¯t see inside, and another man greeted them.

    They had a build much like Theo¡¯s but had a calmer disposition that was evident from the first words they said to him.

    ¡°Hello.¡±

    After the introductions were out of the way, Evan learned that there wasn¡¯t any true lack of manpower ¨C they were both just lazy, and he gathered that neither had been properly trained. He didn¡¯t ask, as that was beyond rude for several reasons, but their tasks weren¡¯t that difficult or even time-consuming.

    They would each rotate through all the various systems that kept everyone down here alive, taking turns doing maintenance. Maintenance was only done occasionally, but even they realized it was important to regularly check up on the formations their lives depended on.

    Even if the open air of the shaft was not far, they were still 1500 meters under the ground, and all sorts of formations were required to ensure there weren¡¯t any accidents. This included ones for ventilation, checking for bad air, the beams that kept the roof from collapsing, and some sensors that would alert them if anything changed.

    That was just for the cavern itself ¨C there were also the buildings to consider. This was the only true issue the two of them had faced, as neither of them had any training, instruction, or experience with compositions ¨C the proper term for the collection of formations that a building had.

    Since Evan had all of those things, they decided to leave the buildings to him from now on, and the two of them would continue to do maintenance on the cavern. He noted that this seemed to disappoint them but they agreed regardless. It was less work for them, and even better, work they didn¡¯t really know how to do anyway.

    He chatted with them just long enough to confirm they weren¡¯t part of the military, and picked up that their talents weren¡¯t that great.

    Not long after that, he left ¨C he wanted to check out his workshop, which would be on the third floor, but wouldn¡¯t be able to get in without the key, so he didn¡¯t bother and instead returned the way he had come. Hopefully, Alison would have everything ready, and he could finally get to his residence and kick back for the day ¨C he was quite tired, even if he¡¯d spent most of his time recently sitting down inside a vehicle.

    Thankfully, once he returned to the office and found Alison, he was able to get everything sorted and obtain the keys to both his home and workshop, as well as directions for his residence.

    She wanted to keep chatting ¨C she seemed awfully curious ¨C but he begged her off saying that the trip had left him exhausted, which was mostly true.

    The directions he was given were incredibly straightforward, and he soon found himself at the largest building in the cavern ¨C the block of apartments where everyone stayed. Everything was labeled with numbers, which made it easy to find his own room. It was on the second floor, and not far from the stairs ¨C something he was glad for.

    Moving in was even easier ¨C after the fire that had consumed his old home, he had few belongings, and hadn¡¯t picked any more up before he left for Goldspire, apart from a set of spare clothes.

    Everything else was something he kept on his person ¨C his thermostat, his shield, and his dagger, along with some coins should he need to purchase anything. If anything had remained of his notes, he would have bound them together into a notebook and kept that on him, too ¨C he had learnt his lesson.

    Despite this, the apartment felt cramped, and he wished there was something better he could live in. He reckoned that the stronger cultivators deeper into the shaft didn¡¯t have to put up with something so small.

    All he had was a small bedroom, a bathroom ¨C it came with actual plumbing, which was a rare bonus ¨C and a kitchen.

    There were no formations, neither for the house nor the appliances, and when he entered the room was dark and likely a little chilly. He would need to buy some lanterns he could hang up. He had a stove that needed wood for fuel, and some sparse space for preparing meals that he didn¡¯t look forward to using.

    As he climbed into the bed ¨C that he noted was stiff ¨C he wondered why his lifestyle had taken a downgrade and drifted off to sleep.

    ***

    The following day, Evan did what he took to calling his rounds¡¯, checking up on all the buildings and finding them in need of maintenance ¨C something he had expected, given the lack of know-how Theo and Rory admitted too.

    While he had gathered their talent wasn¡¯t great, he was only now able to get a good estimate of it by inspecting the strength of what little maintenance they¡¯d done on the buildings, and if they followed a cultivation plan like his own ¨C dedicating everything they could to their intent, barring keeping their increased needs in check ¨C then what he found could only be disheartening.

    He knew that his talent was only somewhat better than the average crafter, and while he had an advantage over Illiana and¡­ Arnav¡­ it wasn¡¯t to an incredible degree. Every little bit mattered, of course, but it wasn¡¯t so bad he outclassed them in any way ¨C it was just enough to get a little more for his products, and to make a little more money with the same effort.

    Comparing himself to Rory and Theo, though, things were different. He could only tell they were at the first Collapse, not how close they were to the second, so he assumed they were at the very beginning.

    If that was the case, then he would say they only had around half the talent he did, and he wondered why they decided to become crafters. His estimation even took into consideration that he was no longer at the beginning of the first Collapse, using an estimate of what his abilities were at that point.

    Even with lacking talent, crafters made an incredible amount of money considering the lack of danger and oversight they had, and so he could somewhat see it, but they would always be lacking compared to crafters of the same level as themselves.

    As he busied himself with maintaining the compositions of the various buildings, having already picked up the Substance he needed from the office, he considered whether he would have still become a crafter if his talent had been so lackluster.

    The military wouldn¡¯t have offered him such a ¡®nice¡¯ deal and may not have offered to take him in at all. He could have ended up assigned to someone other than Master Isaac and would have needed more cultivation to make the same products, drastically reducing his ability to derive an income.

    With a talent half as good as his own, one would need double the cultivation to produce the same items as him ¨C that was why talent was so important, as while it could be made up for with a stronger cultivation, the lacking strength would cripple the rate of progress they could make.

    The Evan of the past would have still taken the same offer, whether it made his future more limited and difficult or not, he realized. At the time, he had just wanted the easy money crafting offered without the risk hunters had to face.

    Now, though, he had set his sights on moving up the ranks of power, both so he could enjoy more wealth and security, and so he could leave the planet. Crafting had become more than just a job to him ¨C he wanted to truly improve, and not just subsist on what he had ¨C within limits.

    In those myths, the great heroes typically went through harsh ordeals, pursuing strength and keeping their lives by the skin of their teeth. That wasn¡¯t him. Each Collapse might be an ordeal unto itself, but it was the distant kind he could face when ready.

    Maybe one day, he would turn those myths on their head, and instead of conquering those trials, he would build them. Surely, that would count for his Myth, right?

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 33

    Evan spent most of his day doing maintenance, and even wished he could dismantle the work the others had done, as it would break down faster than if he had done the work himself. He could see why they didn¡¯t have any interest in becoming composition architects ¨C it was harsher on how much talent one needed, something he hadn¡¯t considered before.

    Once that was done, he finally got a good look at his workshop. He didn¡¯t like the lengthy trip up the stairs, but the workshop was serviceable. He had been worried they would skimp on it just as they had his residence, but that thankfully hadn¡¯t turned out to be true.

    It was actually somewhat spacious, considering he had it all to himself, and he could see the appeal of just leaving things where they were, and coming back to them as he pleased.

    He wouldn¡¯t do that, though, as his master had taught him that a cluttered workshop made for a cluttered mind, and he believed Isaac.

    The workshop was entirely open, but for one small room off to the side that was locked and even had formations protecting it ¨C the storage room the Substance he kept around.

    It was nice to have one again ¨C it had been a pain needing to go fetch all the Substance he needed, and it reminded him of the time Isaac had first introduced the room, telling them they couldn¡¯t yet have a key.

    Good times.

    Once he was familiar with the workshop, he left to go place some orders for Substance he would commonly be needing ¨C such as the kind for his beams and called it a day at that. He still needed to figure out the cooking situation ¨C he hadn¡¯t eaten since he arrived yesterday and was starving.

    While he was at it, he decided to order some Substance for improving his stove ¨C that should make things a little more bearable.

    He considered doing the same in order to make some kitchen equipment ¨C a knife, really ¨C but decided against it. There was always his dagger, and his funds were still low after his last splurge on cultivation.

    Once that was settled, he asked Alison about how he could get some food delivered, along with some wood to work his stove until he could improve it ¨C he would design it tonight, as he didn¡¯t imagine it would be too complicated.

    ¡°Well, you order it just like you do Substance. Here,¡± she passed him a list, ¡°this has all the different kinds of food we have right here on it. If you want something else, you¡¯ll have to go to another level and hope they have it, or I can put an order in for it here, but you¡¯ll have to wait if you do that.¡±

    He studied the list, and decided on a couple of things that didn¡¯t seem too difficult to prepare. First, though, he had to ask.

    ¡°Is there anywhere I can get pre-cooked, ready-to-eat meals? I¡¯m very busy, as Theo and Rory have told you, and it will be hard to find the time to cook.¡± He gave her a look that said this was perfectly ordinary. Yesterday, he had asked a similar question, but he realized he may have given up too easily ¨C and he now had the perfect excuse ¨C it was something he spent a little while thinking about.

    Alison gave him a strange look. ¡°Well, yes, but not on this level. Nobody around here has the money to splurge like that, but you could try heading a couple levels further down and try your luck there.¡±

    What¡¯s that look for? He decided he¡¯d do that. If it was only a level or two down, that was close enough for him. Still, he decided to go ahead and purchase a few things on the list just in case.

    Once that was done, he headed for the lifts and started heading deeper. As he didn¡¯t have any pre-planned list of lifts, it took a little longer, but he eventually managed.

    As he went lower, the flow of people decreased, and there were fewer and fewer people on the lifts. On each level, he found the nearest person who seemed to be residing on the level and asked them about any places to eat. He got some strange looks, but most people didn¡¯t think too hard about it.

    Eventually, he got a different answer on the 26<sup>th</sup> level ¨C 2600 meters below the ground. It seemed that level 26 had a higher population than most, and that the stone and ore was rich enough in Substance that a restaurant was a profitable enough affair for someone to have set up.

    That was eleven levels deeper, which took him a fair amount of time to travel, but not so long he was unwilling to consider it. Could he get the food delivered? Part of him was a little embarrassed, as the community on level 15 was quite small, and it seemed like he was quite a bit wealthier than they were, or at least more willing to spend his money.

    It was strange, and downright weird, for him to be the richest person in any social circle. At this point, he was used to having the income of a talented formations master, but he was also constantly surrounded by people as rich or richer than himself, and it felt strange for that to not hold true.

    He was also unadjusted to such a small community ¨C usually, there were so many people he interacted with each day he didn¡¯t pay them much mind, nor did they him.

    While he ate, he thought about the conversation he and Illiana had held at that restaurant shortly before the attack. She had seemed frustrated by his talent, but he had never thought that was the case.

    It wasn¡¯t talent that got him where he was, it was hard work, day after day, to better himself and increase his worth. He had that massive debt looming over him, and the twelve years of service would inevitably contain many moments where if he wasn¡¯t strong enough, he could ¨C or would ¨C die.

    Twelve years was a long time, and it was a great motivator for him to kick himself into high gear. He wasn¡¯t loyal to Starspire, and even now, after having just been let out on his own and given his first posting, he was chafing at the bonds the military held him under.

    He didn¡¯t like the small community of level 15, and he didn¡¯t like that he had to learn to operate where they posted him ¨C what the guy on the lift had said yesterday struck a chord in him, and he yearned for that kind of freedom.

    Even Theo and Rory had more than he did ¨C they weren¡¯t with the military, and only stuck around because they wanted to. They were less fortunate than he was, but they had a choice, which he lacked.

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    While he was being trained under Master Isaac, he hadn¡¯t really felt it ¨C he had thought himself to be quite free, even if he didn¡¯t get to choose where they went or stayed.

    Now, it was different, though.

    All of this was to say that Evan hadn¡¯t found himself to be particularly outstanding, just motivated and hardworking, but perhaps that was wrong. His talent wasn¡¯t anything crazy or particularly outstanding, but he was talented.

    More than that, he had an interest in making and iterating on his own designs, as well as working as a compositions architect ¨C neither of which seemed to be popular among other formation masters, if he understood correctly.

    Everything seemed to come together to make his current life a reality, and he wondered how different things would be if any one of those things were different. Theo and Rory hadn¡¯t been all that motivated to learn ¨C if he wasn¡¯t as talented, as successful, would he be the same?

    ***

    Once he finished eating, he enquired about having more meals made to go or delivered. The restaurant had no problem with making him some meals to take home, but delivery was out, at least when it came to having the restaurant do it directly.

    At some point in the history of the shaft, there was a lot of congestion on the lifts because of all the interlevel traffic, so there were now harsh limits on how much businesses were allowed to operate between levels.

    That was a shame, but the logistics of the place had thus far amazed him, so he kept his complaints to himself. He ended up not ordering anything to take with him, instead eating with gusto before he left, but decided to figure out some sort of device he could use to preserve his food so that in the future, he could leave with some and keep it fresh at home.

    He wouldn¡¯t be able to bring much with him, of course, but every bit helped. Perhaps he could eat dinner here each night ¨C or whatever passed for it here ¨C and bring the following days lunch with him.

    Yeah. That¡¯s a good idea. I can even keep up appearances that way, though I should still improve the stove for the times I do end up cooking.

    Mind made up, he paid his bill with a generous tip and made his way back up to level 15, though he noticed the prices were higher than ever. Why couldn¡¯t he have been posted to level 26? He had paid attention to everyone there, and they were all also at the first Collapse, though they might have been at its peak ¨C he did see a few at the second, but they were a rare bunch.

    Once he was back he made his way to the office where he picked up his order of Substance ¨C everything he needed was the sorts of Substance they kept around anyway ¨C and chatted with Alison for long enough to not appear rude.

    Truly, she should try and get transferred to somewhere with a higher population ¨C she seemed much too social for such a small community as this. He had yet to find anyone else in the office with her.

    He dropped off the Substance at his workshop, storing them securely in the appropriate room before getting to work. It hadn¡¯t been that long of a day, and most of his labor was simple maintenance that didn¡¯t require much thought ¨C he had enough energy to work on some designs.

    First, he decided to work on the preservation device. This was simple enough, though he would like a better method than simply cooling a box down. He hadn¡¯t ever gotten around to designing the preservation room for his first contract, so all he had were the same ideas he¡¯d had then.

    Well, he did have the methods the military had taught him for creating sanitary spaces, but he wasn¡¯t sure that would work like it should. Was keeping the food sterile enough to keep it from going bad?

    It might help, but it also might ruin the food. He didn¡¯t think sterilizing it was enough, and that it would be unnecessary if he was cooling it down already.

    Evan pondered on this for a couple minutes before deciding that cooling the food down would be fine. He could just heat it back up with his improved stove.

    A couple hours passed after he found some paper and pens in the workshop to start making his notes with, and it was truly night by the time he managed to pull himself away from his work, tidy everything up, and head home for bed.

    Sleep came easily.

    ***

    It was in this manner that his first two weeks passed on level 15 of the shaft, and he had grown comfortable in his daily routine. Each day, he would do his rounds, ensuring nothing needed his attention and repairing it if it did, before heading back to his workshop to work further on his designs.

    The military didn¡¯t pay him very much for doing this, so after spending a couple hours working on his designs, he would switch tracks and work on making some more beams.

    Since they were his main source of income now, he ended up putting off everything else and finished the redesign of his beams first.

    It helped that down here, they were selling like hotcakes ¨C something he let fade to the back of his mind, given his surroundings, was that the shaft was massive, and not just in how deep it went into the ground. The large diameter meant that were countless small communities just like level 15, which was itself not the level 15, but the one he was familiar with.

    At the same depth, there could be dozens or even hundreds of small communities where a group of miners had started digging into the earth where ore was visibly located before the built lifts and open invitation of Starspire drew even more into the location, and then before one knew it, there was a small community there as others moved in to take up the needs of the miners in return for their coin.

    Theo and Rory were good examples of this ¨C they had no obligations to Starspire to be here, they had simply arrived to meet the needed demands of maintenance for steady pay and to have easy access to the rich market that only got richer the deeper one went.

    It really put the small community here into perspective and helped him realized the massive market he was sitting on top of, waiting for his products.

    His new beams weren¡¯t that much different from the older ones, though he now incorporated a small light much the same as the ones he saw upon first entering that detailed the maintenance needed. Green for none, yellow for non-urgent, and red for panic.

    Part of him had wanted to make them less heavy, maybe even weightless, so that they could more easily be transported ¨C there were a couple movers that came by to pick them up, and they seemed to struggle a little ¨C but he eventually decided to instead increase the strength of its primary purpose as much as possible.

    Once that was done, he had sold some at a discounted price to one of the miners of level 15 to take notice of how well it performed and let him know.

    Unlike when he had first designed them, he needed more assurance that they worked properly than the very simple tests he¡¯d done before and some rough estimates for their sale. He needed people to swear by his product, that it worked and could save their lives.

    The first miner had done a good job, and he was able to rest assured that the beam did its job as it should, though he cautioned his buyers against getting careless ¨C it could still fail, as his cultivation was nothing spectacular, and there was a lot of heavy stone above them.

    Ever since, he¡¯d had no trouble finding buyers, and while the lifts were somewhat slow, they still allowed news to travel quickly enough that he had no problems, even if the beams couldn¡¯t handle much deeper depths than he was at already.

    Whatever limits there were on the transportation of goods he managed to avoid, as nobody gave him any trouble ¨C though he supposed that technically, he was just providing his labor to the military, and they were the ones who sold it.

    Getting all of this done hadn¡¯t even taken him a week, and so by the time the second week was out, he had completed his designs for both the cold box and the stove.

    Both had been fairly simple to design, especially considering all the experience he was starting to accumulate. The sensation of progress in his designing skills filled him with pride.

    The stove, though, had been more complex, but still manageable. While the cold box would always keep its contents cold, no adjustment necessary, the stove required controls.

    He wasn¡¯t a cook and had only operated a stove a couple times in his life, even as an orphan, so he decided to keep things simple ¨C there was a switch to turn the stove off and on, and a slider to set the temperature.

    Both controls featured a simple light as a gauge, with the light being on if the stove was on, and the light changing hue from blue to red as the temperature increased.

    At least, for what it was set too. There were no sensors or anything ¨C he didn¡¯t think he¡¯d need them.

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 34

    It only took a couple days for Evan to relent and once more modify his stove. The two simple controls he¡¯d given it just weren¡¯t enough and were badly designed ¨C he knew that now.

    The biggest change he ended up making was including a sensor to evaluate the heat inside, and to stop powering the heat-emitting formation once it was reached, keeping the temperature at that level.

    Without this, it got far hotter than the setting would suggest.

    Next, he included some insulation formations, as the heat that had been leaking out was unpleasant, even if his thermostat protected him. It would also, when combined with the previous sensor, increase efficiency. Not to mention the danger of any kind of fire that might get started ¨C down here, that could be truly dangerous. He hoped the cavern had a formation for dealing with that.

    These two changes alone made a massive difference in how usable the stove was, and actually made him view cooking ¨C or at least, heating up the meals from the restaurant back up ¨C as something a little less frustrating.

    His cold box, by comparison, worked perfectly. It kept things cold and went a long ways to helping him preserve his food so that he could avoid cooking.

    Doing all of this made him wish for a home of his own, so that he could make up plans for building a personal composition, even if it was pricey enough that he probably wouldn¡¯t go through it with it.

    Since he didn¡¯t have one, though, he instead channeled his efforts into completing the design for his inscribing device while avoiding the drama that Theo, Rory and Alison seemed to constantly create.

    They all seemed to know each other well and had been friends since childhood. All of them came from families of miners who lived in the shaft but had each decided to pursue something other than mining.

    It was in this manner that Theo and Rory ended up becoming crafters, and that Alison took up a job with Starspire running one of their offices.

    He had been somewhat curious, but he never even had to ask ¨C Alison loved to just talk and talk, to the point where he found himself avoiding the office whenever he could.

    To that end, he started placing larger orders of Substance, and keeping a larger stock in his workshop.

    Speaking to them had at least one positive, though; it allowed him to get a better idea of what it was like living in the shaft, and what sorts of things he could create to sell.

    None of them seemed to mind his probing, and by the end of the week he had several other ideas. They weren¡¯t original, of course, but every addition to his repertoire helped, even if he was just selling to the military.

    At first, part of him was excited at the idea of renting out a store to sell his products from ¨C over his childhood, he had spent many hours just watching through the windows of such stores, yearning for any of the products inside.

    Of course, that wasn¡¯t really realistic here in the shaft ¨C each community was too small, and traveling through the lifts just for shopping was frowned upon and inconvenient at best.

    For now, he¡¯d just have to settle for his growing balance with the bank, while increasing the different types of objects he sold.

    According to Theo, Rory and Alison, any kind of equipment that could make the miner¡¯s life easier, more profitable, or safer was a good bet. His beams accomplished all three, in a way, so it made sense they were so popular.

    Well, there was also the fact that his beams were foundational to mining, and somewhat consumable. Every miner needed beams to hold up the rock above them ¨C there was just no other way around it.

    They could be used sparingly, but doing it that way was a huge inconvenience when they weren¡¯t that expensive ¨C not for miners with much cultivation, anyway.

    Circling back to his future products, he settled on commercializing his thermostat, as well as making some mining helmets, and maybe even pickaxes.

    Typically, he preferred sticking to bigger products ¨C it was one of the reasons he had made the beams in the first place, but he had been making them for so long he needed something new.

    He was also curious about what he could manage with some smaller projects, and he hadn¡¯t forgotten about his ultimate goal here at Goldspire ¨C figuring out what his Myth did, and how to increase it.

    Before he could get around to doing that, though, he would need a lot of money ¨C money he could get by selling more products and increasing his repertoire.

    Doing this would also help him become a better crafter in general ¨C he had decided on taking the generalist approach, as he thought overspecializing in anything was a bad idea. He should be able to craft anything himself ¨C even if a specialist could do a little better.

    Jack of all trades, and all that.

    With his decisions made, he first did something he¡¯d been meaning to do for a while ¨C inspect the work of Theo and Rory. It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t trust them, it was more that¡­

    Well¡­ no, I just don¡¯t trust them to do a good job.

    He also wanted to check out how the formations worked, as Isaac had said that there was a learning opportunity there.

    To do that, he met up with Theo the next morning after getting up early to do his own rounds. Honestly, he¡¯d have preferred Rory, but Theo had been much more receptive to the idea, and generally more welcoming.

    "Hey Theo, I¡¯ve been meaning to check out the formations you guys do maintenance on for a while now ¨C I¡¯m curious about how they work and figured you might be willing to show me around?¡±

    He didn¡¯t know where they were, exactly, and he figured there wasn¡¯t any issue having Theo tag along ¨C he wasn¡¯t doing anything strange. Evan would also need his access badge to actually inspect anything without getting attacked.

    ¡°Sure man, I guess. You good to go now? Might as well get it over with.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. So, what are all the formations that keep us safe down here?¡± Even after a couple of weeks he wasn¡¯t entirely sure what the entire list was, or how they worked.

    ¡°Well, there¡¯s a lot. You have the obvious stuff ¨C the one that keeps the air good and clean, the one that keeps the temperature reasonable, the one that ensures the roof stays held up, and the one that manages the lights. Honestly, that¡¯s all you really need to stay safe down here. What makes everything so frustrating is how big they are; makes doing anything at all to them take ages and way harder than it should be.¡±

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    That was interesting ¨C he knew that when his will was connected to something, he could explore and manipulate it even past where his soul sense would have reached, but he had never had to work on anything that truly required it ¨C even the compositions of buildings that he had worked on before easily allowed him to reach wherever it was he was imbuing, and so he had never done so from any real distance.

    He didn¡¯t interrupt, though, as he would soon get to experience this for himself, and he didn¡¯t want to reveal he hadn¡¯t ever worked on something so large before. Theo continued, and even started to get a little heated ¨C he seemed truly frustrated by how hard his maintenance work was.

    ¡°All of that is pretty reasonable, though! The formations are massive, and I get why. I¡¯m not so childish that I get upset over the way the world works. What really grinds my gears are the processing formations. They¡¯re so stupidly complex and massive, but they expect me ¨C and Rory, I guess ¨C to keep them in good shape! Starspire-¡±

    ¡°Wait, processing formations? What are those?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Evan gave him a dangerous look. ¡°Ah, well I suppose you¡¯re not from the shaft, so you probably don¡¯t run into them very often. They¡¯re the formations that process raw Substance into the stuff we use to cultivate, or imbue, or whatever ¨C and they¡¯re ridiculously complex. As I getting to before, their so complicated they need specialists to build them. How are we¡­¡±

    Evan ignored his grumbling as he considered that. He knew that the Substance he used every day ¨C for pretty much any purpose ¨C was not the same kind you could get straight from a beast, or from stone and ore. It was processed first, but he had never run into one of the formations that did that.

    For good reason, it sounded like ¨C by ¡®specialists¡¯, Theo probably meant those formation masters had a special certification for it from the guild, or maybe just the military.

    The only thing he knew about how processed Substance differed from the raw kind was that it was specialized. Raw Substance was an eclectic mix of everything that it was for needed, but most of those aspects weren¡¯t needed or wanted for use in cultivation or formations ¨C one of his earliest lessons in imbuing was to never use raw Substance, as it would gum up the formation after it finished using the aspects it actually needed, and wouldn¡¯t work nearly as well in the first place, if it worked at all.

    At the time, the lesson had seemed so out of place he had nearly forgotten it, but with this conversation it came back to him.

    He mused over how hard this certification would be to get as they traveled across the cavern to their first destination. Their trip took them near the entrance of the cavern, where they saw a massive formation that stretched around the entrance.

    It wasn¡¯t something he had noticed on his way in, but he was tired at the time and dreadfully bored ¨C that first trip through the lifts had almost put him to sleep near the end.

    The formation didn¡¯t look like anything special, so long as you discounted its size. It stretched around the cavern, a dull looking belt of metal that seemed to sit partially inside the rock, only showing its surface.

    Like most of the more advanced formations he had seen, there were no inscriptions on the surface ¨C everything would instead be set inside the metal itself, to protect the rather fragile inscriptions from any damage. To his mundane eyes, it looked rather ordinary and plain.

    As he got closer, though, he could begin to make out a dull hum that resounded from it. That wasn¡¯t a good sign ¨C it showed that the formation was beginning to show its age, or that it wasn¡¯t properly maintained.

    Either could be the case ¨C Theo and Rory didn¡¯t seem very passionate about crafting, at least not like he was ¨C to them, it was just a job like any other, and he was sure part of that to do with not being very good at it.

    ¡°Well, here we are. Man, I hate this thing. There is no way it possibly needs to be this big. Sorry about the humming, Rory probably didn¡¯t finish up¡­¡± He seemed almost embarrassed.

    Evan would be too, if another crafter saw such a shoddy work of his, but he just nodded and gestured for Theo to explain which of the formations this was.

    ¡°This is actually two of them ¨C it keeps the air fixed up and the temperature tolerable. It¡¯s easy to miss, but you can feel a very slight breeze if you¡¯re standing close enough. You probably didn¡¯t even feel it coming in, but I think that¡¯s by design. Go ahead and take a look at it. Just¡­ don¡¯t be too harsh, okay?¡±

    ¡°Relax. I wanted to look at it, but I¡¯m not going to insult you while I do so. I¡¯m sure the hum is just from the age of the formation. I don¡¯t know how old they are, but some wear and tear on the inscriptions is inevitable.¡± Theo and Rory were always so wound up around him as though he was going to berate them for being terrible crafters or some such.

    He knew he could be a little¡­ uptight when it came to crafting ¨C Arnav had complained about it before, and Illiana had mentioned it before he left ¨C that he was very meticulous about how he went about his work.

    But he had been quite close with them ¨C they shared a workshop, so it was inevitable their attitudes while crafting would come out. With Theo and Rory, he had mostly kept his distance ¨C he didn¡¯t want to grow close to someone new so soon after Arnav¡¯s death, and he didn¡¯t like how easy going they were about their lives.

    It just rubbed him the wrong way.

    He made a gesture to Theo, and he took out a small badge from his pocket before handing it over to Evan. This was how Goldspire managed security for the formations, and it was a rather novel way of doing it after what he¡¯d experienced elsewhere.

    The badge would function as a ¡®key¡¯ to the security of the formation, so that it wouldn¡¯t do anything nasty to him when he connected to it with his will. It would have a short grace period, so long as he didn¡¯t take any actions, so that he could establish the connections necessary.

    Stepping forward, he placed his hands on the formation. The metal was, surprisingly, warm to the touch. Another sign of the abuse the formation had taken with the passing of time. As he had done countless times before, he forged the connections needed between himself, the badge, and the formation ¨C though this time, things were a little different.

    Usually, whenever he connected to something with his will, he could sense the entire object ¨C along with its formations, inscriptions, and Substance ¨C entirely. It would appear in his mind so intimately and deeply he could conjure the entire object, in perfect detail, without needing to see or feel it.

    Every imperfection, every worn edge, everything would be almost branded into his mind.

    It hadn¡¯t always been this way ¨C it had gotten stronger as his cultivation increased and his capacity for crafting increased, but by now he was used to knowing almost everything about whatever he connected with.

    Now, though, he didn¡¯t have that. Instead, he could only vaguely sense a portion of the metal band, and his understanding of what he could sense was hazy, like the resolution he had grown used to had been completely reversed.

    He was thrown for a loop ¨C even though the feedback he received was largely useless, the suddenness of it combined with the overwhelming amount had his head pounding intensely after only a moment and he hastily broke the connection, his vision swimming as he almost lost his balance and fell.

    Anger began to flare up in his mind before it was doused with the knowledge that this was his own fault ¨C he should have known better.

    He wasn¡¯t an apprentice anymore; he shouldn¡¯t be making mistakes like this ¨C of course Theo hadn¡¯t said anything.

    The sense his will gave him was not omnipotent at revealing the details of an item. It worked like soul sense in that it was a formless perception that worked off esoteric principles he didn¡¯t understand ¨C but was different in that the size of this perception was related to his crafting cultivation and was able to grasp more information than his present soul sense.

    Additionally, this sense was limited to items he was connected to through his will ¨C in other words, it wouldn¡¯t help with analyzing another¡¯s work, as connecting to something, as he had previously learned, was two-way and could open himself to harm.

    Finally, the crux of how he was just harmed was that his perception was limited to the item he was connected too ¨C in the case of something relatively small, like a sword, this meant that his perception was ¡®thicker¡¯ ¨C it deepened, allowing him to have more clarity or ¡®resolution¡¯.

    Since the metal band was so large, his perception had instantly spread out as much as it could, overwhelming him and giving him only a few sparse details about the band ¨C the only thing he truly knew was its size, so lacking in depth had his perception been.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    Evan glanced over at Theo, who looked like he was fighting back a laugh. His anger began building again.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. I just¡­ I was distracted.¡±

    The words came out sloppily, missing his usual measured cadence, but he was too focused on retaining his balance to care.

    ¡°Right. Well, why don¡¯t you rest for a minute? I¡¯ve done that a couple times, and I know how terrible that can make you feel.

    Agh. He didn¡¯t want to admit to his mistake, but at the same time, he did need a minute to rub his head and try to work away some of the pain. Maybe he should sit down.

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 35

    In the end, Evan relented and leaned against the wall of the cavern for a minute while massaging his temples. That had hurt.

    Most of his anger at Theo ebbed away as he slowly started to feel better, and Theo allowed for some precious silence so as not to make things worse.

    One minute had turned into ten before he felt better, though the headache hadn¡¯t faded entirely. Wisely, Theo remained silent as he once more laid his hand on the band and forged the connections anew.

    This time, he controlled his perception and kept it more concentrated while making an active effort to let most of the information remain at the edges of his awareness. He already did this while imbuing, as otherwise he would get too many details he didn¡¯t need for his work.

    It was a skill that required practice, but by now he had plenty.

    With his self-imposed limits on his will, along with keeping all the information just out of mind, he experienced no worsening of his headache, though it did seem to throb more painfully.

    Slowly, he started exploring the formations inside. As he began to cast his perception further and further from his physical body, he noticed a sort of¡­ difficulty and delay.

    It was like he was walking up a hill with a steadily increasing incline, with each step taking more effort than the last. He had never experienced this before, having never needed to cast his perception of an object so far from himself.

    The delay was even stranger ¨C he could sense a small disconnect between himself and the area he was observing, like it was taking a moment for his perception to relay back information.

    He quickly decided that the sensation wasn¡¯t pleasant, and he wondered how much worse it must be for Theo and Rory with their lacking talent.

    From there, he began to analyze the formation in truth.

    As Theo had already said, this metal band contained the formations that regulated the air ¨C both ensuring it was good to breathe and not too cold ¨C so deep underground, it could get quite chilly very quickly.

    Part of him had expected something altogether more fantastical than what it was, considering how powerful the formations on the surface were.

    Unfortunately, there were no great secrets or ingenious methods ¨C but he still took his time, spending more than two hours filled with slight breaks and chitchat as he inspected the entire thing.

    The further from his physical body he was viewing, the worse the delay got and the more difficult it was to do anything ¨C he could imagine how bothersome it would be to work on it, rather than the simple inspection he was doing.

    By the end, he was impressed by the sheer scale of the various formations that ensured life on the level was tolerable, if not completely comfortable ¨C the few times he wasn¡¯t using his thermostat, he found the air to be somewhat chilly.

    As they left, he tried to pay attention and could notice the very slight change in temperature and gentle movement of the air ¨C it was definitely there if a person paid attention to it.

    From there, he spent another few hours touring the cavern with Theo, allowing him to show him some of the other areas around the cavern that assisted in maintaining the conditions of the cavern.

    Interestingly, they were all connected by thin bands of metal that ran along the edges of buildings ¨C he supposed that if a powerful enough crafter was working on them, this would allow them access to everything from any central station ¨C though it would require a lot of power.

    These auxiliary formations were like the ones near the entrance, but much smaller and only built given the sheer size of the cavern ¨C only having everything managed from one place wasn¡¯t very efficient or even reliable.

    He never did get around to exploring the processing formations, as while he was very excited to see them, they were actually a good ways into the mine and Theo had begun to brush him off when he mentioned it.

    ¡°That should do it, Evan. You pretty much know where everything is now, so I¡¯m gonna head back to the workshop.¡± By now, Theo was sounding more than a little bored and tired, which was something Evan could understand ¨C watching someone else work could often be more draining than doing it yourself.

    It probably didn¡¯t help that when Theo did his rounds, they no doubt took nowhere near as long ¨C he already knew what he was looking for, and no doubt had a ¡®system¡¯ to the fastest way of doing things. He himself was just looking things over, taking more time just looking over everything.

    While they were all very similar, he wanted to look at everything so he could put his mind to rest ¨C ever since he arrived, a not-so-small part of him had been anxious that the roof would collapse, he would suffocate from bad air, or wake up one morning with his thermostat failing him as he froze to death.

    Of course, none of those were very likely to happen, but not knowing the state of things had been bothering him ¨C it helped to be able to look things over himself, to ensure that everything was working smoothly.

    ¡°Thanks for showing me around and being so patient, Theo. I know it was boring just watching me, and that you took some time out of your day to do this for me. I appreciate it.¡± Evan wasn¡¯t ungrateful ¨C he understood the favor Theo had done him.

    Theo shrugged his shoulders as if to brush off his comment. ¡°It¡¯s not a big deal man, I didn¡¯t have much to do anyway today, and part of me feels a little guilty for dropping all the buildings on you like that. Some of them almost make my head spin, I can¡¯t imagine how much effort it takes keep them repaired every day.¡± At the mention of the buildings, he let some humor slip into his voice.

    It was a good joke, but Evan could tell some of the guilt was real.

    ¡°Really, it¡¯s not so bad. I actually prefer working on buildings than the smaller stuff, and I¡¯ve got enough practice that it doesn¡¯t take me so long.¡± He gestured back towards the entrance, where the massive metal band was. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you guys have to work through that band every day. It was a real struggle to even analyze the furthest parts of the band, so I can¡¯t imagine how difficult it would be to actually maintain them.¡±

    Something he said must have been surprising, as he saw a flicker of it pass through Theo¡¯s expression before he let out a long sigh.

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    ¡°Well, we manage. I¡¯ll catch you later if I see you.¡± Theo started walking away, but after a moment, Evan decided to do a little something to repay some of the gratitude he felt ¨C technically, it was against orders to give your access badge to anyone, even other formation masters who worked with you, and so everything they had done today was just a little risky.

    Neither of them had mentioned it, so he wasn¡¯t sure if Theo thought things were different considering his military status, but he still wanted to do something for the man.

    ¡°Wait a minute, Theo. What I was getting too, was if you¡¯d like head with me to level 26 to get something to eat, my treat. It¡¯s the least I can do.¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± the man scratched the back of his neck, ¡°I guess, if you¡¯d be so kind. Isn¡¯t that kinda pricey though? You don¡¯t have to do that.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine. I make a little more since I¡¯m part of the military.¡± He didn¡¯t, but it worked well enough to assuage the man enough to agree. He still wasn¡¯t comfortable with sharing his actual income.

    Theo seemed to take the answer at face value, and finally accepted.

    Together, they made their way down to level 26 and had a somewhat early dinner together. Evan spoke of some of his training ¨C most of it was fairly ordinary ¨C and Theo regaled him with some of his own stories.

    Growing up in the shaft was very different from what he had experienced in Starspire. Theo came from a legacy of miners who had been working here for generations. His father was impressive at the fourth Collapse, and so lived and worked far, far deeper down into the shaft.

    Down there, the communities were actually much larger and far more impressive. There was so much Substance found inside even the rock that virtually every building was equipped with compositions, and the average quality of life left him so bewildered he almost didn¡¯t believe it.

    It sounded almost like a paradise, and he couldn¡¯t believe that Theo had given that life up.

    ¡°Why¡¯d you leave? I mean, this place is far and away from what your describing, and I can¡¯t imagine how strange it would be to go from so many conveniences to almost none.¡±

    ¡°It was hard at first¡­¡± he seemed almost ashamed, ¡°but I got used to it. I just didn¡¯t want to be another miner, you know? Growing up, there were cave-ins all the time, and it wasn¡¯t unusual for people even stronger than my father to suddenly die one day. I¡¯d always be so scared when I heard the news that he or my mother wouldn¡¯t come back.

    ¡°When I got older, my parents stopped making sure one of them was with me, and they would both head into the mines. It only got worse. I don¡¯t want that to be me ¨C or my kids. I wanted to do something that didn¡¯t put my life in constant danger, even if it meant striking out on my own.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean striking out? Is that your own only at the first Collapse?¡± It was a little insensitive to just ask, but Evan was enraptured by his story. The way he described it¡­ he yearned for it. To have grown up with parents, to have been born into a legacy ¨C to have direction.

    ¡°Ah, well my family has picked up some tricks over the years, you know?¡± A sly grin spread across his face, proud of his legacy. ¡°You just¡­ pick stuff up from your parents about their work. Were your parents¡¯ crafters? I¡¯d reckon that they were, with how skilled you are. It¡¯s like that.¡±

    Evan did not, in fact, know what that was like ¨C he hadn¡¯t told Theo about his childhood, that he was an orphan. The comment on his skill and the surety he had help to get where he was fanned his pride, and so he smiled regardless as the man continued.

    ¡°And my parents offered to help me get my cultivation up ¨C it was hard to refuse them, but I wanted to take things slow. I didn¡¯t want to do an apprenticeship with some old stodgy master, either. My talent¡¯s not great, and if my cultivation was too high, I¡¯d be expected to meet a different standard of quality and skill than I can do.¡±

    Theo didn¡¯t ask if he was the same. Evan found it strange, though, that he done things that way. If he was planning on taking the same development path as himself, that of enhancing his mind to keep up with his will, he could have easily dedicated his first Collapse to purely mental Substance and used that to enhance his learning.

    It might not directly make him learn faster, but any kind of mental enhancement would help ¨C a better memory, a larger mind, sped-up thoughts¡­ all would help.

    If he did that, he could probably learn fast enough that gaining cultivation too fast ¨C what an idea! ¨C wouldn¡¯t be an issue. That¡¯s what he would have done ¨C why struggle so weakly if your parents could bring you to a height of power some people never saw in their lives?

    As it was, with how lacking ¨C suddenly, it occurred to him why Theo might have done things the way he had. If he was unsure about dedicating himself to crafting, likely thanks to his lacking talent, doing things the slow way would leave him a way out without compromising his future strength as a miner, or whatever else he decided to do.

    It could also just be that he wanted to follow the same path as his old master, enhancing his intent while discarding mental enhancements ¨C with his limited talent, he could have much more cultivation before it became a bottleneck to his crafting.

    He didn¡¯t ask, though, as that would be overstepping. If there was only one thing he had truly learned about polite society, it was that everyone tried to be polite and stay out of others business ¨C with higher cultivation levels and easy access to life extending Substance, it was easy to accidentally offend someone who might hold that grudge for countless decades or even centuries, depending on how far they went in life.

    Evan didn¡¯t want to poke at any sensitive matters, so he backpedaled and went back to asking about the many differences between level fifteen and however deep he grew up was.

    ¡°Oh, there are too many to count! For one, every building had its own air conditioning ¨C it was basically a requirement down there.¡± He couldn¡¯t imagine. ¡°Storage bags were common, and some even had rings for smaller items. I myself have a bag, but I don¡¯t keep it on me.¡±

    ¡°We had a Lifeweaver on standby, funded by the level as a whole, and you only cooked if you enjoyed it. Our clothes came with formations for comfort and protection, and instead of the standard lifts we had force platforms that worked off Substance alone.

    ¡°Some people had vehicles, mostly miners, but they weren¡¯t much use down there but for transportation or storage ¨C my father had one with a special formation imbued, so it could hold even more between each trip.

    ¡°There were¡­¡± Theo continued to regale him with grand tales of the sheer luxury the lower levels experienced, and it left Evan feeling disgruntled. From the way he told it, the lower levels might as well be private paradises.

    Even the orphans were well-cared for ¨C as Theo had already mentioned, deaths were not altogether uncommon, and so there was a concentrated effort to make the families of those who died more comfortable.

    Healthcare was freely available to any of the residents, by a Lifeweaver no less! He didn¡¯t know much about them other than that they were mages who specialized in healing magics, but he did know that magical healing of any kind was incredibly expensive ¨C it was why, when one had healed him, he was worried about the price.

    Even as well off as he was now, he wasn¡¯t sure he could afford any real healing from a Lifeweaver ¨C the requirements to become one were even stricter than those of a crafter, something he had personally experienced when he was trying to learn one of the most basic healing spells ¨C one that could stem bleeding.

    Genuine restoration of the body was far beyond that in complexity, and he hadn¡¯t managed even the bleeding spell; after struggling with it for such a long time, he¡¯d given up on it. This was on top of having the magical talent required to successfully cast the spells to any effect, not to even mention doing so multiple times.

    While he was blown away by the quality of healing they received, he was also amazed by how the cavern must look down there ¨C so filled with magic, formations, and comfort, he figured it must look completely different from the dirty slums he grew up in.

    To hear about it was one thing, but what would it be like to see it for himself?

    Despite this, it didn¡¯t sound altogether too far away from the luxuries he could obtain himself. He was disgruntled to be reminded once more of the unfairness of the world, and while the entire community was easily able to enjoy that luxury, none of it seemed too far from what he could bring himself through his crafting as he was now.

    Personal attention from a lifeweaver was beyond him, but air conditioning? He had his thermostat. Substance-powered appliances and transportation? A vehicle might be beyond him, but he had already upgraded his stove to be run on Substance, as well as a cold box not dissimilar from the ¡®freezers¡¯ Theo mentioned.

    If he was still the same orphan who had just left the slums after being conned into joining the military ¨C because that¡¯s what it was ¨C he would have held disbelief that anyone who wasn¡¯t some incredible powerhouse could enjoy such luxuries.

    Now? They seemed¡­ achievable, and his journey had only just started.

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 36

    Another week passed before Evan brought up his next query ¨C where was the Substance ¡®processed¡¯, and how could he get a look at it? Before they had never gotten around to it ¨C it wasn¡¯t that he had forgotten, though after he hurt himself in the beginning it no longer seemed quite so exciting, but that he could tell as the day went on that Theo was losing interest in showing him around.

    So, he tactfully refrained from bringing it up. Instead, he inquired with the military about when, if, and how he could start doing some ¡®official¡¯ learning on the subject.

    Alison was helpful for this ¨C she took her job seriously, even if she was a little too chatty for his liking and made filling out the requisite forms a breeze ¨C most of the time, clerks would just hand him the forms and tell him to come back once he¡¯d filled them out.

    Some of it might have had to do with how quiet things were down here ¨C he wasn¡¯t privy to the sorts of things a clerk needed to do each day, but he didn¡¯t imagine it was much considering the small size of the community.

    It was a very presumptuous thought, but he didn¡¯t mean ill will by it ¨C just the opposite; he wished every clerk was so helpful.

    Unfortunately, the military replied as expected ¨C if he wanted to learn anything from here on out, especially about something as critical as the Substance processing formations, he¡¯d have to earn some merits first.

    Even worse news was that Theo didn¡¯t seem nearly as receptive to the idea of showing him around as he had before, even after that lovely meal he had bought the man!

    Rory was no better, always begging him off, so for the moment he decided to shelve the idea. He wanted to know, but it wasn¡¯t worth poking around at a formation that might very well have countermeasures both strong enough and merciless enough to kill him outright if he dared to forge a connection with it without the proper badge.

    As for asking after the badge, he didn¡¯t even consider it. That was a measure of trust that he didn¡¯t have with Theo or Rory, and if they had asked the same of him, he¡¯d have to refuse. It was one thing to show someone around while they were somewhat under supervision, but another entirely to just let them walk off with it.

    Instead, he just continued to move with the flow, quickly putting together some simple designs for equipment and selling everything to the military.

    His overall profits didn¡¯t increase much ¨C the military was already buying everything he had to sell ¨C but the change of pace was nice, even if he soon returned to his beams.

    As days turned to weeks and then to months, he started experimenting with his Myth. Small things. The first thing he tried was something he needed to do anyway ¨C he needed a logo, a brand.

    Something that he could engrave onto his products, to show that he had made them and that they met his own standards ¨C something he hoped to make a staple of his brand. Part of him hoped that this link between himself and his products was all that was required, but another hoped not ¨C he could have done this far sooner if he had so desired.

    It took him a while to decide on something, but he eventually settled on something that would reflect his attitude towards crafting ¨C that of being a generalist. Even if it might take a while for him to manage the opportunity to learn any other trade, he still wanted to investigate arrays as an alternative to his inscribing device, as well as alchemy in order to make his own concoctions.

    What he ended up with was a small quill and paper, set inside a circle, that was in the process of finishing the image of a small flag and potion. At the top of this page rested a stylized ¡®E¡¯ ¨C the initial to his name. He didn¡¯t have a last name, at least not yet.

    At least, that was his present desire. In reality, all the details were a little too fine for him to manage with his spells, and even then, they took too long to engrave onto everything he made.

    For now, he settled with just the quill and paper, along with the initial at the top. It was also a little bigger than he¡¯d like, around two centimeters, but when he was able, he¡¯d shrink it.

    It was a simple engraving and lacked any color or depth ¨C he could even describe it as somewhat crude ¨C but it was his. He felt pride upon completing it for the first time ¨C it was the start of his legacy.

    His story, legend, or perhaps even his myth.

    The quill was meant to allude to his skill in formations ¨C like writing words upon a page, he bound new purpose to mundane objects. As he was able, or even better, once he had learnt another trade, he would add an appropriate symbol to the page.

    By the time he had decided on his mark, which took most of a month thanks to his indecision, he had also decided to change up his plans on the control method for his inscription device.

    It was already the most complex, sophisticated thing he had ever crafted, and it would also be one he would be using for almost all his projects going forward.

    Since that was the case, he decided to go for broke and spent a large sum of money on some mental-aspected Substance, so that he could implement something he had little experience with:

    Controls that were operated by thought alone. Up until now, all his controls had been somewhat physical, at least in the respect that they operated through touch.

    None had mechanical controls, as that would be more of a novelty than anything else, but everything included controls that responded to touch or holding a certain part of his devices.

    This had never been a problem before, as the controls were always quite simple ¨C turn on while being held, toggle between on and off, stuff like that ¨C nothing complex.

    His inscribing device would be different, though. With his current implantation, that of a brick like his shield, he attempted to replicate the spell that inspired it as closely as possible ¨C and while that spell was great, it wasn¡¯t perfect.

    Of course, there were better versions of the spell available, but they came with their own requirements to his magical talent and/or cultivation path ¨C requirements that as he was now, he wouldn¡¯t be able to meet, nor would he be able to in the near future.

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    It was here that his device came through, allowing him to emulate a superior version of the spell. This upgrade was focused on adaptability, as well as some rudimentary automation ¨C he wanted to have the inscription device add his mark all on its own, without any additional hand holding.

    Adaptability was why he wanted to make the leap to mental controls, as well as just the experience he would gain from designing it.

    Mental controls were considered by many to be the peak controlling method, even if they suffered from their own issues. Properly done, they were simply superior in every way to other methods, and allowed countless controls be to be effortlessly utilized.

    He didn¡¯t have any examples this time, nor did he have the luxury of advice from his master. All on his own, he could only experiment time and time again. This meant that as far as mental controls went, they wouldn¡¯t be stellar, and that he would have to spend countless hours figuring them out.

    It was brutal, going through failure after failure. Several times, he debated giving up on the idea, but he persisted. Even if he was moving at a snail¡¯s pace, he could distinctly feel the progress he made with each attempt ¨C each one was just a little more refined and got a little bit further to activation before failing.

    The device he was using to test his ideas was a small board ¨C made of wood, easily carved and replaced, and featuring a simple function; allowing the operator to control five small lights, arranged in each of the cardinal directions with another in the middle.

    For each test he would attempt to mentally ¡®grasp¡¯, for lack of a better word, the controls by focusing on the board intently while remaining very close.

    At the same time, he would be connected through his will, so that he could watch as the intent and inscriptions began to cascade with purpose, like a ripple on the surface of a pond.

    It was a month into his work that he succeeded, and as he watched the formation activate, he analyzed what was different. Each test was iterative, where he tweaked things in the direction he thought was best.

    Just as previously, the formation took some of the mental Substance, bound it into the control construct, then launched it out at him with a thin tether. What was different, this time, was the construct was a little more developed, and the launching force a little higher.

    He lost sense of it after it left the device, but it wasn¡¯t long later that he felt it impact his mind in a very distinct way.

    It seemed to slam into his mind, and only its weak speed and small size prevented it from hurting him. That was definitely something to fix ¨C the present construct was far simpler than the one that would hold the controls for his inscribing device.

    The speed would also need to be addressed ¨C he was essentially breathing on the board, and even still it seemed to barely carry the force necessary to reach him. His previous adjustments weren¡¯t enough, but he didn¡¯t want to hurt himself ¨C playing around with mind-aspected Substance could be incredibly dangerous.

    He pushed all of that to the back of his mind and engaged with the construct that seemed to stick to his mind like mud on a wall ¨C it was unpleasant, but not painful.

    Slowly, he went through a previously created set of tests, activating each of the lights alone and then in pairs. Part of him was amazed that it worked at all ¨C he was controlling the device through thought alone! ¨C but the rational crafter he had become only saw it for what it was ¨C a shoddy prototype.

    Once the battery of tests was complete, he had a whole list of complaints. There was a noticeable delay on what he conveyed, and there were occasional errors as what he sent was garbled, lost, or misinterpreted by the receiver. Security-wise, it was especially lacking, but that wasn¡¯t a huge concern for his current project.

    It was also more cumbersome to relay what he wanted than it should be ¨C rather than have controls for each grouping he wanted, he had to mentally ¡®press¡¯ all the buttons individually ¨C something that would get out of hand quickly with anything more complicated than a couple lights.

    There was also no way for him to give standing orders ¨C it was only on while he sent his desire, and then off. It flickered, too.

    None of that was important, though ¨C what mattered was that it worked!

    He had underestimated how much mental Substance he would need by a longshot, but it worked! It wasn¡¯t tenable for anything but his personal devices, and even then, only on ones he considered critical, but it was a massive step forward in his abilities.

    Evan hadn¡¯t become much more skilled than before ¨C progress like that couldn¡¯t be made so quickly anymore ¨C but with this, he had another tool in his repertoire, without needing to be taught by the military with their damned merits.

    Another two months passed as he refined the prototype and purchased more aspected Substance for the 1.0 version. During this time, not much changed, though he was inching ever closer towards having enough money to reach the peak of the first Collapse.

    He got more comfortable with Theo and Rory during this time, often running into them as he was entering or leaving his workshop. Alison, too, became more familiar with him as he often sent in new orders for Substance ¨C while he could reuse Substance as he had in the past, some of it was still consumed through each test, and over such a long period of experimenting that added up.

    As for his experiments with his Myth, he started small ¨C from those visions, he knew that it had something to do with grand feats or fame, so in the hopes it would be so easy he offered a discount on his products to the miners living in his level, so long as they gave his name when they bought them.

    Getting this organized presented some trouble, as apparently it made some of the logistics quite complicated, but Alison knew what she was doing and helped him basically tell the military it was their problem ¨C after all, they were the ones who were obligated to sell his products, and if he wanted to offer selective discounts, why couldn¡¯t he?

    Alison confided in him that while the military wasn¡¯t under any obligation to oblige him, part of the training a clerk received about dealing with crafters was that they could be a little eccentric, especially as they got older and stronger, and that it was often easier to just let them have their way, within limits. A discount for the level was well within those limits.

    By the time he was happy with his mental control construct, his efforts had borne fruit, but not the kind he was looking for. Several miners had moved into their level from other, likely similar depth caverns, and the place was looking a little livelier than it used to.

    Myth ¨C 0.00%

    Nothing had changed regarding his Myth, which was a shame, but he hadn¡¯t expected that to actually work ¨C it would have been too easy, and had he not done similar things in the past?

    Well, actually¡­ I haven¡¯t.

    It didn¡¯t bother him much, either. Growing up, he had seen precious little true charity, and he didn¡¯t feel any obligation to give back what hadn¡¯t been given to him. Images of the luxury the lower levels lived in sprang forth from his mind. He hadn¡¯t seen any of that for himself, but Theo painted a vivid picture.

    Still, he decided to leave the discount in place. He preferred the cavern looking livelier, and enough people in the same place might cause a restaurant or store to pop up. Taking down the discount now, after so many people had disrupted their lives to move here and take advantage of it, would be disingenuous and might hurt his reputation.

    The increased population might also help him with figuring out his Myth, but that felt more like a consolation prize than anything else.

    From there, it only took another couple of weeks before he finished the improved design for his inscribing device. Most of that time was spent on adapting the mental controls; adding all the different mental ¡®buttons¡¯ and ¡®levers¡¯ and so on that would make using the device a breeze.

    He needed a lot of Substance for this, and his overall ability was still limited ¨C he still had to operate the spell like before but could manipulate the fineness of his work at will through several different settings, as well as freezing things like the depth he was working at, to help stop him from making mistakes.

    After all, his dexterity was limited.

    It could also automatically inscribe his mark, and was able to do a much better job at it than he could himself. That took up a lot of intent, but it was worth it.

    So far, the mark hadn¡¯t done him any visible good, but he figured it was only a matter of time, even if it didn¡¯t help with his Myth.

 Crafting a Myth Chapter 37

    Evan had only been working with his inscribing device for a couple of days, but he was over the moon with it. It vastly sped up the rate at which he could complete his work, especially his beams, thanks to him no longer needing to spend his mana on casting the spell for inscribing.

    His mana had always been the bottleneck to his crafting, as he could only trust himself with inscribing his work for fear of it being stolen. It was one of the reasons he had so much time on his hands ¨C he just didn¡¯t have the mana to spend all day working.

    Not having to spend his mana also had other benefits ¨C it let him save it for his own experimenting, for one, and took away the mental strain he was under while using the spell to keep it stable and control it.

    Mana control wasn¡¯t considered a part of one¡¯s magical talent, as it was more a skill than an inherent quality, but as with everything, some were better than others. He wasn¡¯t sure where he landed on the scale, but it couldn¡¯t have been very high, for he struggled with most spells even after mastering them.

    It was also like a muscle ¨C it could be exercised and grown, so he had gotten better over time, but not enough to make controlling his spells easy.

    Had he been a mage, working on his mana control would have been one of his utmost priorities, but he wasn¡¯t, and so he rarely practiced for the sake of practicing ¨C especially considering one needed mana to control to do so, something he rarely had enough of to go around.

    All of this was to say that he wasn¡¯t very good at magic, and so not having to use it anymore in his crafting was a great boon to his mental fatigue at the end of the day.

    He really shouldn¡¯t stop practicing though, as eventually magic would become necessary for his crafting once he started working with spirits, but¡­ just this once, he was going to give himself a pass, and start it back up when he had less requirements on his time.

    At the end of each day, he found himself less exhausted than before, and he actually had the mana to spend on his quality of life ¨C things such as his cleaning spells, or the one for light. He didn¡¯t cast them very often anymore, as he needed to save it for his work, but now that had changed, and it was glorious.

    He had investigated making a device that could clean his clothes, but it would be complex and likely have to rely on mechanical processes. Theo had mentioned a ¡®washer and dryer¡¯ they used to clean their clothes, and that they were mostly mechanical in nature ¨C a version that relied solely on Substance required a lot of different parts, and few formation masters could build them in the first place ¨C nobody was sharing their designs, after all.

    Since that was out of the picture for now, he instead turned his attention back towards figuring out his Myth. He tried to nail down what might do it ¨C but the visions were vague, and only gave him a general direction.

    He felt it had something to do with creating exceptional products, but that was all. In all the visions, they were used to do something exceptional ¨C they saved the day, fixed something that couldn¡¯t be fixed, or made legends of men.

    In each, these feats were done by otherwise ordinary people ¨C sometimes alone, sometimes in groups, and in others entire cities or towns were part of the vision.

    Their allegiances were never made clear, nor why they did what they did. Some of them were obvious, though ¨C he had seen great battles between two armies, though the focus was usually on a few heavy hitters.

    With only these vague, discordant visions to guide him, he spent several days putting together a plan to try out some tests. The easiest would be to make something simple, like a sword, and use a technique he had long earmarked for use in testing his Myth. That of layering a series of connective Substance layers onto an object to artificially increase how much Substance, and therefore intent, it could handle.

    This would drastically increase the power of the object, but at the same time, would cause it to fall apart exceptionally quickly as each interior layer caused a much larger outer portion to collapse with it.

    Like a house of cards, as soon as some of the bottom scaffolding collapsed, much of the rest would follow.

    Doing this was also expensive, but if it helped him figure out his Myth, it was worth it.

    Before he could do that, however, he needed to already have someone waiting to receive it. Otherwise, it would decay so quickly that by the time he found a buyer, it would be nothing but scrap. This was another detriment to this technique ¨C each of the supportive formations had to be always active, such that even while crafting the item, it was already on a timer before it collapsed.

    There would be no turning off the weapon once it was made, so he had to be ready to sell it right away.

    Finally, there was the matter of what would someone even do with the weapon down here? As far as he knew, there were essentially no hunters at the garrison, and he didn¡¯t know what else the weapon would be useful were.

    Thankfully, a quick chat with Alison the next morning when he visited her at the office gave him a direction to head in.

    ¡°Well, weapons are certainly still needed down here. Not all the caverns are man-made, you know? With how hard working the miners are, they run into natural caves and caverns pretty frequently. There¡¯s a whole department here at Goldspire that manages those, keeping the miners safe by clearing them out.

    ¡°There¡¯s not as much money in it as mining equipment, though, but I¡¯m sure they¡¯d be happy to receive some of your work, Evan! They have some lists of equipment they need that I can get for you, if you¡¯d like?¡±

    ¡°No, no, that¡¯s fine. I already have something in mind. Is there somewhere I could go to sell to them directly? I¡¯d like to meet them, face to face, if I could. Get to know my valiant customers a little better.¡±

    ¡°Sure, but I¡¯ll have to request the information, so it¡¯ll take a couple days to get here.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine, just let me know?¡±

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    ¡°Sure thing, Evan!¡±

    After taking care of his usual requests for Substance, he headed back to the workshop to think on how the sword would work.

    It was only a few hours later that he realized a sword wasn¡¯t a good fit at all. After all, there was only so much he could do with a sword before it was no longer a sword ¨C most imbued swords were simply geared towards being better swords; sharper, more durable, lighter, that sort of thing, with perhaps some kind of elemental attack.

    A sword also required a lot of skill ¨C even if he made an exceptional sword, a beginner ¨C or someone close to it ¨C wouldn¡¯t be able to truly demonstrate it¡¯s prowess and might even hurt themselves with it.

    No; what he needed was something that took as little skill as possible while still being quite grand and dangerous.

    It didn¡¯t take long before the answer came to him ¨C a scepter! Many mages used one, and they were typically used as repositories of mana, crafted with formations to create a space where their mana could be stored in advance, able to be retrieved at a critical moment.

    Others acted more directly to help their wielders, coming equipped with ¡®spells¡¯ of their own ¨C formations that could mimic them, anyway. Most mages didn¡¯t like these types of staves, viewing them as a waste of resources and demonstrative of the lack of confidence the wielder possessed in their own magic.

    It was this kind that Evan decided to build. Featuring its own spells, all built by himself to be as grand and overbearing as he could make them, he figured he could turn anyone into a certified battle mage for at least as long as the weapon lasted.

    This project wouldn¡¯t be easy, as he needed to ensure that everything worked out perfectly ¨C not only in truly making the wielder an incredible force to be reckoned with, but to also ensure that his own name was attached to the feats.

    If this had the possibility of working to increase his Myth, then he had to ensure there were no potential issues with himself not getting the ¡®credit¡¯ for the achievements of his testing subject by simply not putting enough of the spotlight on himself.

    Thus, with a direction to head in and a design to complete, he set to it.

    At first, a month slowly passed as he wasted tear-inducing amounts of money on gaining familiarity with the layering technique. Because of how it worked, much more of the Substance invested was lost, and with the already massively inflated amounts of Substance involved, the loss between each test brought actual tears to his eyes.

    Not much design work was done, as he spent much of his days busy either in his usual labor or figuring out how he could sell his finalized weapon. Every way he thought of looked strange, and as he felt the need to publicize himself to cover all his bases, if he did things wrong or he chose the wrong person he could ruin his budding reputation and become a laughingstock.

    Already, his use of the layering technique wouldn¡¯t do him any favors ¨C at best, considering he would be ¡®selling¡¯ the weapon for virtually nothing, he would be considered a particularly eccentric formations master with delusions of grandeur.

    Taken in the most negative night, it might be seen that he was misleading others on what he could actually accomplish and trying to build a false reputation ¨C a conman, through and through.

    With these facts in mind, he had to ensure that the way he went about this clearly spread his reputation, but in a manner that came off as generous and only perhaps a little eccentric.

    This took more than a little planning, but by the end of the month he felt he had an appropriate idea worked out.

    He would first find someone young, like himself, that seemed to be down on their luck. Someone who wanted to be a mage but for whatever reason was having a hard time. This would require some scouting but was nothing he couldn¡¯t figure out.

    Then he would offer his scepter ¨C it would be a stylishly designed staff that screamed high quality ¨C on the condition that they use it to help clear out some of the surrounding caverns, doing so in a public manner that would help him garner a ¡®reputation¡¯.

    Doing it this way might seem a little¡­ strange¡­ but if he played his cards right, everything would work out. To help this along, he would promise that so lang as the result satisfied him, he would make a proper weapon for whomever he ¡®sold¡¯ the scepter.

    Additionally, because he admittedly didn¡¯t really know what he was doing, he would separate this reputation from who he really was.

    This way, no matter what happened, he could keep some distance between the result and his actual reputation and status.

    He was weary of putting too much creativity into this alternative persona he would be donning, so he simply decided to coin it with a simple mark of a well-trodden path leading beyond a hill. The name of this mysterious, fictitious brand would be the seekers ¨C suitably mysterious, and different from himself.

    None of these actions were random ¨C they were all meant to confuse and mystify anyone trying to tie himself to this reputation, as if this worked ¨C something that was still up in the air ¨C he would be using them going forward for things related to his Myth.

    At least when it came to situations such as this one.

    Whether this would work at all, or fail because of this distance to himself, he didn¡¯t know. But he wasn¡¯t comfortable with attaching himself to this ¨C it was just a little too¡­ weird, and who knew if someone was looking for his Myth? By not using it as inspiration for anything related to the seekers, this might help him avoid the notice of anyone who knew of its existence.

    After all, it must have been possessed by someone before him. It didn¡¯t make sense for something like his Myth, something that could reside inside his soul, to have been anything other than some incredible creation by an awe-inspiring crafter.

    Through all his learning, nothing explained that easy fact ¨C that it resided inside his soul. It simply wasn¡¯t something even mentioned in all his lessons, as though it was so beyond belief it wasn¡¯t even worth a mention.

    So, he had to be careful. Even now, he wasn¡¯t sure what his Myth would do, but over time he had convinced himself it was a heavenly treasure he could never reveal, even if it meant he had to¡­ kill someone to keep his secret.

    Evan was no saint ¨C he knew that his actions had, even now, no doubt been used in countless violent acts to take another¡¯s life. Some of his first creations had been weapons of war, after all, but the idea of doing the deed himself was different.

    He shook away those dark thoughts ¨C none of that mattered right now.

    ***

    The river of time flowed incessantly as months passed. Evan continued his daily routine as a normal technician of level 15, but with every day that passed it became harder to contain his excitement as the fateful day approached.

    He had sorted everything out regarding how he would sell the scepter, prepared a disguise, and was only days away from finishing the design for his weapon.

    It was unexpected that it would take him this long to finish his designs, but he wanted everything to go perfectly, and he demanded nothing less from his own work.

    Staves were a different category altogether from what he usually worked on, and it took him a while to figure out the ¡®spells¡¯ his scepter would hold ¨C they were complex, and he had foolishly underestimated this when he first started on the design.

    Despite this setback, it was worth it. He found he truly enjoyed working on the scepter, designing spells that were meant to be impressive and deadly. After spending so much of his time crafting each day, for what was soon approaching two years, much of the mystery and larger-than-life excitement surrounding formations had long ago dissipated.

    It just wasn¡¯t quite so exciting when the first thing he did upon seeing a formation was mentally dissect it and figure out how it worked.

    Working on the staff, though, had brought some of that back for him, even if he was intensely aware of how everything worked. Testing the weapon filled him with childlike glee every time, no matter how many times he tested it.

    He admired it in his workshop, staring at the richly designed scepter that was nearly as tall as he was ¨C he wanted it to be imposing, but still practical.

    It was thin, easily gripped with his hand, and painted black with a gold-colored trim. He had considered a brighter color, something like red, but he didn¡¯t want it to be gaudy, so he stuck with black.

    Now that it was finished, he was a timer to get it handed off to whomever would use it for it¡¯s purpose, so he quickly picked it up and made for the stairs.

    Everything was coming together.