The Grand Weave

Two hours. Two hours of nonstop studying and testing with lots of shoving Galarion into strange glass tubes where she activated futuristic-looking gadgets to test shit out.

By the time the two hours were up he shook several of his curled tentacles and glared at the head healer.

He slipped behind my ears and dived into my skull, where he started devouring the memory she fed him as a reward.

I leaned back in the cloud chair and rolled around. Syrreisha watched me in amusement as she fiddled with the crystal device in her hand. It beeped and released a soft chime before spitting out a glowing screen that hovered in the air like a hologram.

She read through it and kept reading, her finger occasionally flicking upwards as if she was scrolling.

In the hammocks, Anastasia and Nathan were playing the magic marbles game and I watched from afar as Anastasia activated the surge and wiped his board.

As a result, Nathan lowered his head in shame, and she summoned a giant squeaky mallet.

Squeeekie!

Insane. Incredibly insane.

Before they could start another round, Syrreisha cleared her throat and folded her hands together. "From what the readouts tell me, your skill should be perfectly safe. If you want, we can begin tomorrow, but unfortunately, I have too many meetings and I've already postponed many."

I stood up and yawned. "Sounds fine by me. What time do you prefer?"

"Anytime is fine, except lunch. I don't work at noon."

"Surprising. I pegged you for the kind of person to go days without rest tending to people."

She laughed and shook her head. "Oh, some weeks, sure. But I hold myself to the same standards as I preach. I can't go telling patients to get rest and enjoy life, if I don't do the same."

We wrapped things up and she walked us back to the entrance depositing us in the same room before she bowed and returned underground.

As soon as the secret entrance closed, Teddy's parents took an arm each and skipped their way out of the building, much to the amusement of many.

After literally skipping through the city, we arrived at the Lightcrest manor, and they finally let go. The gates opened with melodic chimes and the house butler opened the door.

"Welcome back, sirs, madam. Is there anything I can provide?"

Anastasia patted his shoulder. "If you could prepare the usual. Nathan and I have a few meetings to sit through."

He bowed. "Right away, madam."

With Walter gone, they turned and smiled. "So, that wasn't too bad was it?"

"Not at all," I said while returning the smile. "Thank you, again."

"Plish-plosh-trapplesauce! I'm glad we could help. And don't worry about your other requests. One of the meetings we'll be handling today will be with the crown," Anastasia said.

Nathan flexed, his shirt bulging out before spewing an absurd amount of water that was sucked back into his pants. "Don't worry about a thing! We'll get you your just-deserved rewards."

I blinked at the two and smiled weakly. My social battery was starting to run low.

"Thank you," I said again.

Anastasia waved and snapped. The world turned white, and I recoiled.

As I blinked the sunspots away, the pair was gone, and I stared awkwardly at Walter, who raised an eyebrow.

"Coming in, sir?" he asked.

"I am. Did you... you know what? Never mind."

"Of course, sir."

I entered, but before escaping to my room, I stopped and turned around. Walter, the ever-consummate professional, waited patiently.

"Sir?"

"I have a question. In your opinion, what do you think is one of the invaluable skills and I do mean skills skills for a servant?"

In response, I was sent over a system prompt and I willed it open. A single skill, scrolled by, with full details written through the system text.

Helping Hand: To better serve, you help. Whatever task may be required shall be made easier with your will.

Target a person and become their shadow.

Appropriate buffs are given according to the task at hand to both the user and the target.

User is granted Intuition for as long as the skill is required until the task is complete.

Intuition, is a mental precognitive buff that lets the user intuitively know what the target requires.

High Mana Cost, Low stamina-cost

"Wow. I didn't know skills like this exist. What are the odds I can get my hands on one of these?"

"Impossible, I'm afraid," he replied without missing a beat.

Huh?

"Really?"

"I am the sole register within this world. Guaranteed by the god of knowledge. And after numerous attempts, it remains non-copyable, no matter the tier of treasure used."

Well, there goes that plan.

"Thanks for humoring me Walter. Have a good night."

"My pleasure, sir."

Walter left, and I trudged my way into the bedroom. I unsummoned Galarion and let him enjoy some time in the soulspace.

He did good, contained himself pretty well and only ate what was freely offered.

Ah damn. What kind of crazy ass throne will he want?

I chuckled to myself at the thoughts that streamed through and closed my eyes.

------

"Cyrus! Waaaake uuuup," Isaac shouted from behind the door.

"Go away! The void was so peaceful without your yelling! How am I even hearing you through the enchantments?" I yelled back.

"There's a switch for emergencies!"

I groaned and rolled out of bed. As I opened the door he grinned smugly while crossing his arms.

"What do you want. I swear to all that is unholy. I'll find an alchemist and recreate glitter."

"Sounds sooo scary,"

Pop!

"Please don't do that. I have enough gods that want to kill me as is. No apocalypse weapons. It's too early," Cal begged.

Isaac's jaw dropped, and I waved. Cal waved back and was gone within a blink.

I shrugged. "There you go. Now seriously, what the fuck do you want? I'm tired."

Isaac stared at me suspiciously before slowly backing away. "The Dawnborns have announced a change of plans. The tournament and auction are to be delayed because of Helio. The tournament will be held in a little over two weeks. Figured you should know."

"You woke me up just for that? Sereza could have told me that when I met her."

He tapped his chin then he stared at the spot Cal appeared and shook his head. "No, not the only thing. Sereza's here, and she looks antsy."

"Lead with that. What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," he stated before phasing through the floor.

I sighed and pulled out a stamina potion. My body wasn't tired, but stamina potions had a weird headache relief after-effect.

When I walked into the room, Sereza was sitting on the ceiling, with her hair tangling downwards. I spotted the water links keeping her tied to the chair, but Nathan was strangely absent.

"Sereza? What's going on? I asked slowly.

She waved and snapped her fingers. The chair tumbled to the floor, but not before the water cushioned the fall and kept her upright.

"Sorry, Teddy's father came in and said I looked too sad and knew a way to cheer me up. I think it worked?"

"Right. Normal stuff. So what's up?"

Her happiness faded and her eyes turned downcast.

"Sorry if Isaac woke you up."

I checked the system clock and shrugged. "It was about time I got up. So are you gonna tell me what's wrong? Or what?"

She sighed and leaned back. "A few things. First, my father. He learned about what went on in Helio and now wants me to broadcast my part in helping free the city for good publicity."

"Douchebag, but I already expected that."

"Douche-bag? Like a medical device to help relieve patients who can't shit?"

I snorted. "No. But I take it you have zero desire of doing that?"

"Correct."

"Then don't."

"It's not that simple," she argued before leaning closer. "With the other felkins working in the castle for the crown, there's a lot of pressure for me to step up. And since I won't become a sycophant like the people in the square, there's an expectation—one that requires me to be famous and well known, like Broken Tower."

"Again, I say it's simple. Tell him to fuck off. If Cal asked me to do something I didn't want, I would."

Her eye twitched. "Still need to have that talk about being a scion, and apparently an adoptive child to a god."

"Later," I teased. "So what's the other stuff? I doubt you'd come over just to complain about daddy issues."

Her shoulders dropped even lower. And there was a brief pause before she collected herself. Whatever it was, it wasn't good.

"The couple I was supposed to introduce you to, the one that helps run groups through the Labyrinth, had a nasty injury. They aren't really up for meeting anybody at the moment."

Oh.

"Do we know what happened?"

"The group they were guiding, the noble brats got cocky and didn't follow orders. Two got severely injured, a third was maimed, but Crenter and Volisha stepped in. Volisha got hurt pretty badly, while Crenter took down the golems. They're fine; they had enough money to afford healing, but there are few problems they are working through."

I felt bad for the couple, but I didn't know enough about them to offer more than my sympathies.

"Like I said, it's fine."

"Good. They still wanted to meet you, but give them some time," she smiled before it darkened, and her tail lashed the air. "And the last thing."

"What's wrong?"

"Daergo and Melza's son. Lezka. He hasn't returned home since he went missing."

"Seriously? Any leads at all? What about that rival family, did they check with them?" I asked as I crossed my arms.

She held up a hand. "No leads, and they did check the rival family. But without evidence, there's nothing to go by. The authorities have been alerted and Daergo put a request inside the adventuring guild. They're hoping he'll turn up soon."

Daergo, Ernor, and Melza were incredibly nice. Even from my limited interactions with them, I knew they were good people.

I stopped and clicked my fangs.

Isaac can help.

I turned to leave, and Sereza followed.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Isaac has connections to the underground. I'm sure he can find information or hire someone who can," I explained as I marched toward Isaac's room.

As we stopped before his bedroom, I scanned the wall with my senses and found the hidden rune etched underneath the frame.

I slammed my hand against it and channeled mana through the wood. The rune activated, and I opened wide.

"Isaac!"

"Why are you yelling? Aren't rooms enchanted against sound?" Sereza asked while flinching away.

"Isaac, I'm serious. Open the door."

Before I could shout again, the door was ripped open and Isaac stabbed a tendril into my shoulder.

"What?!" he yelled. He glowered at me and jabbed a finger into my chest. "Haa haa, you got your payback. I was meditating you jerk!"

I grabbed his collar and yanked him forward. He slid closer until he was barely an inch away, our noses practically touching.

"That felt good," I grinned.

"I swear I'll-"

"Listen, just shut up for a second," I interrupted him. His face contorted, but I shook him and he closed his mouth with a click. "Really nice felkin family we met, their son has been missing for a week. Possibly nothing, possibly ran away I don't know. But I figured you'd be able to find information better than we can. Can you do it?"

He pushed me away and turned to Sereza. "Give me everything you know about the kid and the family. Even if you think its useless."

I backed away and drew both their attention.

"Cyrus?" they both asked.

"I have a meeting with the healer's guild. So I'll leave you to it."

"Oh, uh hey, Cyrus?" Sereza asked.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

I grinned. "Of course."

"Hey! I'm the one helping here. Don't be giving him all the praise!"

Sereza's eyes widened and we shared a look.

"I wouldn't have pegged you for a praise kink, but given your family history, it makes sense," I said, deadpanned.

IIsaac threw a dagger at me that harmlessly bounced off the wall as I slipped away.. Once I closed the door behind me and breathed in the fresh air outside, I lost my smile and glared at the lower ring.

Mana rushed through my channels, and I willed it to connect to my skill.

Galarion formed as a stream of swirling colors that stretched toward my ear and dived into my mind.

"Ready? You know what to do?" I asked as I started moving down the mountain.

"Yes!" he cheered. "Devour tasty, tasty memories!"