Then he had sensed the delegation from the Blackflame Empire next to the Life Well. It meant they had an Eye of the Deep of their own.
The heavens, it seemed, were looking out for him.
The tree trembled for a moment, its script shining and its jewels shaking, as it contemplated the question.
Then a sparkling wave of blue-and-purple light washed over him, and he knew.
The shock of the sudden knowledge left him panicking and disoriented, as though he’d woken up from a dream and not recognized the room around him. When he regained control of himself, he pressed his fists together and bowed to the tree.
“Akura Harmony is grateful for your wisdom,” he said, his voice still rough.
Then he waited.
In front of him, at the base of the tree, was a scripted basin like a birdbath. He stared at the basin hungrily.
The answer was only half the prize.
A few breaths later, a clear tube slid out from the tree and hovered over the basin. A twinkling white pearl rolled through the tube, splashing into the center of the basin.
A drop of ghostwater: the substance for which this world had been named.
Abandoning dignity, Harmony leaned over the basin and lapped the droplet up with his tongue. Lords and Ladies would kill for this.
A moment of cycling later, and he realized why.
The droplet of ghostwater traveled through his madra channels to his head, where it fused with his channels and nested at the base of his skull. It shone there like a distant star, a tiny pinprick compared to the full moon of his core.
He tapped it, and it was as though his mind was refreshed. He stood, Forging his Nine Blades of the Underworld technique. Ordinarily, the technique struck nine times at a target, and it took his full concentration to control it otherwise.
Now, he caused the blades of dark madra to rise in a perfect circle. Once again, and they appeared one at a time on the same spot, delayed by a perfect second each time.
It was like he’d struggled all his life to juggle nine balls at the same time, and suddenly it had become as natural as breathing. One of his older cousins, who had earned a droplet of ghostwater twenty years before, had described it to him as ‘strengthening his mental power,’ but he hadn’t pictured what that meant.
The power faded after only a breath of time, the point of light in his skull dimming. The ghostwater was tapped out, but it would draw from his body and spirit and restore itself over time.
One breath of increased control meant the difference between victory and defeat in a fight. Now, he could consider himself invincible among those of the same stage. And soon he would step into a new realm entirely; the tree had made his steps clear.
He pulled out the second Eye of the Deep.
He would be the first Akura since the Herald who found this place to return more than one Eye. Only a handful of people in history had attained ghostwater at all, and he would have more.
...assuming the tree accepted this one. It shone purple, thanks to the light from the construct inside the gem, and it was talking to him.
“Oh, this place is amazing! I’m a little insulted I didn’t know about it, but you know, I guess they couldn’t tell me everything. I mean, they could, because I do exist to store knowledge, but it’s fine. It doesn’t hurt at all. Although now that you mention it, I do feel a sort of connection. Like that is the place I’m supposed to return to. You think that’s the Eye talking?” He paused for a moment, considering. “Hey, how about this for a plan: let’s not put me in there. I know you’ve sealed me inside this vessel, but how about you let me go? Hm? I don’t trust mysterious compulsions that are telling me to go somewhere.”
The construct pushed against the script keeping it locked inside, and the script flared. Harmony reinforced it with his madra again.
The Blackflames had corrupted this Eye somehow, maybe fusing it with a Remnant or the memories of one of their dead sacred artists. He knelt and held it up, hoping the tree would accept it anyway.
But before he could open his mouth to ask, his spirit whispered a warning. Instinctively, he looked up to the ceiling.
A dark, furious sun had dawned above and behind him. It was like feeling a dragon’s birth.
The aura was only Truegold, but it carried such fury and destruction that his spirit trembled. It surprised him; he hadn’t thought any Truegold could be a threat.
“Did you feel that? Is that Lindon? I tell you what, let’s wait for him. I’m sure we could talk this—”
A cage drifted down from the tree, and Harmony shoved the Eye inside.
The construct shut up as though choked off. The cage started to rise, but it froze only a few feet up.
The branch trembled, and the gem shone purple. The ring of script inside glowed as the spirit pushed its way out, and suddenly Harmony could actually see it emerging from the crack in the sapphire.
It spoke as though through gritted teeth. “...not going to...stay...here...”
The tree’s light shone brighter.
When it did, the cage continued to move. The spirit was drawn back inside the gem with a yelp, and the cage settled into place.
The jewel shone purple for another few seconds, and then its light dimmed.
The spirit was finally, blessedly, quiet.
Lindon held up his hand of flesh, and the madra of a Truegold Blackflame burned the dreadbeast’s blood away.
He’d done some quick surgery on a few of the monsters in the garden, extracting the twisted corkscrew bindings in their body. They were hunger madra, the same as his arm, and he’d been able to patch up the hole in his skeletal limb.
It was still scarred, and you could tell where the different sources of madra butted up against one another, but it worked. That was all that mattered.
And he was Truegold.
With Orthos’ power running through him, and the water from the Spirit Well to guide it, he was filled with a sense of strength he’d never felt before. Orthos told him that it was always best to spend a few days practicing and cycling after advancement in order to get used to his new power. He’d heard such advice before, and generally agreed.
But not only were they out of time, something felt different about Truegold. He felt complete, as though he were a bowl that had been completely filled.
He suspected that was partially overconfidence, but it was partially that he was approaching the limit of his Blackflame core. When he reached the end of Truegold, he would have advanced as far as he could normally.
After that, he’d have to reforge his body and spirit in soulfire.
Even minutes after advancing, he was looking forward to the next step.
Lindon opened his void key, the closet doorway appearing in the air. This time, when he pulled Little Blue off his shoulder, he handed her a pure scale.
His pure core was still Highgold, but that was higher-grade than he’d ever fed her before. She smiled at him before tilting her head back and swallowing the coin whole. Her blue body rippled for a moment until she let out a drifting hiss of satisfaction.
He reached into the void storage, placing her inside. She squeaked, just as she had last time, clambering up his arm.
Now, he met her eyes. “I can’t take you with me this time,” he said.
Little Blue let out a sad note.
“I know. But we have to bring Dross back. You remember Dross?”
She whistled.
“I’m going to have to fight for him, and I’m afraid I can’t look after you at the same time. You understand?”
She frowned for a moment, but then turned and walked to the edge of his fingers. She was six inches tall now, and he actually felt her weight as she leaped off like a diver, landing lightly on the edge of a jar filled with Dream Well water.