“It’s gone,” Flavia confirmed as she patted her head where Wis had been sitting. She then looked at Rakna who was deep in thought. “Did you understand his clues?”

“Hm… somewhat. I might have a few ideas,” he answered and shrugged. “I’ll check them out later on. For today, I have a few errands to do.”

“What kind?”

“Well, other than training and visiting the shop… I need Evelyn for one of them actually. I want to go consult someone about Sonata’s connection with her,” Rakna said and then realized, “I guess I could’ve asked that to the damn hat as well.”

“Can I tag along?” Flavia asked.

“No.” She was denied by a stern-looking Nyx. “You need a few days of rest. Even if it’s just for a stroll, it’s better that you stay here. Soul injuries are graver than you can imagine. It’s not because you feel healthy physically that you’re out of danger.”

“Fine…” She sulked.

“You can take the occasion to learn about soul meditation,” Rakna said.

Nyx nodded. “I’ll teach her.”

“Also; Fray, do you have any books about Runecraft, Chaos Magic, or others in your library?”

“{Of course! Here, I’ll forward them to you. You can summon them.}”

Rakna cast Star Hearth, the sound of a forging hammer resounding in his ears again, and a pile of books was weaved onto his open hand by cold energy. They were about several different elements of magics and even magic circles.

‘I’ll have to check those at some point,’ he thought and effortlessly lifted them. He put them on the table. “Here, we talked about you learning runecraft before but I might need Higure’s help today so I can’t let her stay here to teach you. So, read through these instead for now. I suppose you can ask Nyx for help when there is something you don’t understand. She should know about these.”

“It should not be a problem,” the night goddess said as she flipped through one of the books with an analytical eye. “It looks rather rudimentary. There are some incoherent sections here and there it seems, but I will rectify it for her.”

Flavia groaned as she slumped on the table. “And the teacher becomes a student… I thought I was done with studying after graduating college…” She grumbled and Tyran tried to cheer her up.

“I’ll go pack my equipment and change,” Evelyn said and hurried to the room.

“Rakna,” Nyx raised her voice and tossed a ring to him. “It’s a bit overdue but we’re done sorting the items we got from Grit Castle. We also added some other things we got separately and we reserved a set of armor for you; I’ve just added the one Flavia got from her Dungeon too. See for yourself.”

“Right. I forgot about that,” Rakna admitted as his Item Box opened. “I still can’t really wrap my head around the idea of real ‘loot’…” He looked through what was inside and found a row of items. He transferred them to his storage and tossed Nyx’s ring back.

“By the way, do you girls know where Allan and Marie are?”

Nyx shrugged. “I do not. I am fairly sure Allan also got lodging from his guild but we never got the chance to ask him where it was.”

“I see… I’ll message him later about waiting for Flavia to recover before we go to the next Plateau.”

“I’m ready,” Evelyn said cheerily as she rushed out in her usual attire and cloak.

Rakna nodded and extended his hand toward Sonata who was sitting on a chair. The scarf flew to him and swirled around his arm before wrapping itself around his neck, where Pronos happily took a spot. “Let’s go then,” he said and waved goodbye as he left with Evelyn.

When the door closed, Nyx sat down at the table and adjusted a pair of glasses on her nose.

“…where did you get those glasses?” Flavia asked in confusion.

“Not important. So, here’s how it’s going to go. We will spend an hour or two for you to learn the basics of runecraft and magic circle theory. Then two hours to practice your elements. I will try to help you with space and time, although I am not that well-versed in them. In the afternoon, we’ll attack your magic control to stabilize your Chaos Magic. Then, we’ll focus on the soul meditation and maybe aim to form a soul organ within the week.”

Flavia blinked. “What about breaks? When are they?”

“What is that?”

“…save me…”

* * *

Rakna landed right in front of Old Wang’s stall with Evelyn following closely behind him. The very second that he touched the ground, the dwarf smiled at him in greeting.

“Hey, kiddo! I saw you on the TV yesterday. You’re making some big waves already. I even read on an article that the Church gifted you one of their Holy Swords. I’m almost jealous.”

“Really? The sword’s nice but I don’t really think it’s up to your standards,” Rakna said honestly as he took a seat. Evelyn quietly and shyly sat next to him. Unlike the rest of the group, she hadn’t met Wang before.

“Hah! It’s not a question of which sword is stronger or weaker,” the dwarf replied. “The sanctified items of the Church are always a treat to look at because they were made by some of the best metal workers in the System’s history. One of them was a man named Xafr. Arguably the best blacksmith ever known. He’s the one who forged their Excalibur. I would do anything to get a glimpse of it.”

Rakna snorted. He waved his hand and the ornate Holy Sword came out right out of his storage into the hands of Wang who quickly let go of his cooking utensils to catch it. He looked bewildered at it and laughed.

“You’re fearless, kiddo. Handling something like this so casually,” he said but didn’t stop himself from scrutinizing every single detail of the sword.

Rakna shrugged. “I trust you. There aren’t many people that could fool me with their intentions. I can easily tell them apart by smell or instinct.”

Old Wang cackled and observed the sword a few more times before tossing it back, who was then promptly returned inside the spatial ring. “So, are you going to introduce the young lass?”

“Evelyn Malcanthet,” Rakna said and the succubus bowed her head.

“It’s nice to meet you.”

“Pleasure’s all mine,” Wang greeted back and went back to his wares. “So, did you visit me just to chat? Or did you need something else?”

“There is something I need help with. It concerns Evelyn actually, and this,” Rakna explained and unwrapped Sonata to put it on the counter. Pronos switched spots to his shoulder instead.

The old dwarf paused his actions to inspect it. “This is…?”

“Do you have an item appraisal skill? You can check it if you want.”

Old Wang carried out what he said and the information of Sonata revealed itself to him. His eyes instantly went wide. The only reason he didn’t grab it out of excitement was that his skill was very specialized and thus gave him more details than most about items. He knew that there was a fail-safe for unallowed wielders.

“Who made this?” He asked with shining eyes. His appraisal gave more than just words to describe the scarf; he had a whole blueprint in his mind, with the manufacturing process and its history, and he was utterly entranced.

“My uncle.”

“Well, kiddo, your uncle’s a genius,” Old Wang said seriously. “My knowledge is limited when it comes to micro and nano technology, that I’ll admit. But what I can see here is that somehow, your uncle combined thousands of miniature pieces of metal and other materials and encoded them to change shape. But… the Guandao was forged as well. It was first forged regularly then fine-tuned at a microscopic level. Same thing with the scarf; knitted and etched into the form memory.”

“This is a work of art,” Old Wang stated and stroked his chin. “Furthermore… that strange self-replicating energy source makes it a weapon capable of mimicking structure and material thanks to the System’s item conception. It will get stronger and stronger by bolstering itself with mana and new materials. The dedication, the precision, the innovation, the design; everything about this weapon is extraordinary.”

“…that certainly puts a new perspective to it,” Rakna commented.

He had never really questioned too much how Sonata had been made. He had always attributed it to the fancy high-end contraptions his uncle had access to.

‘I guess he really was a genius,’ he thought.

“{You don’t become the strongest god by being a dunce,}” Higure joked.

“So, what kind of help did you want from me? If it’s something like improving this… I’m afraid I’m not qualified. That’s how intricate the whole thing is. In fact, I doubt the original maker himself could modify it at this point without using very advanced thaumaturgy.”

Rakna shook his head. “It’s fine. I just need your help with the spiritual link between Sonata and Evelyn. I was wondering if you had an idea on how to make it possible for them to be apart.”

“That’s a tough question…” Old Wang raised an eyebrow. “To be sure; the lass is a Phantom, right?”

“Yes.”

“Hm… I have worked with Phantoms before. You see, many of them put a lot of care into the objects that bind them. In the case of something like your scarf, it is definitely one of the prime examples of the perfect catalyst. It’s self-fixable, packed with self-sufficient energy, and evolvable.”

“The whole idea of a Phantom’s catalyst is to form a stable link between physical and spiritual. If the Phantom gets away from it, they will quickly lose grip on the physical and die. In theory, you just need the ‘object’ to be close to you,” Old Wang explained and glanced at the scarf.

“Let’s see… for instance, this weapon has a twin dagger mode, correct? Technically, if the lass takes one of them, it would be plenty enough to act as her catalyst. ”

Rakna mused. “In other words… we have to use an item that is technically part of Sonata but isn’t necessarily the main body?”

“You got it. Normally, since the scarf can regenerate itself, my first idea would have been to just yank out a part of it and create an accessory of some sort with the scrap. However, the problem is that it’s not enough in this case. We’d need to add a uniform material to both Sonata the byproduct instead that can influence the physical and spiritual realm. Sadly, it is not the kind of material you see every day.”

“How hard would it be to get one that works?”

“Hm… I’m not sure. Quantum Diare, Eye of Onyx, Morbax Steel, Kralux Gold… these would work fine but not only are they very rare in the upper Plateaus, but they’re naturally expensive. A kilo of it can cost at the very least a hundred million Talys.”

Rakna groaned at the price. “Not very affordable…”

Old Wang shrugged. “I’ve personally only had the occasion of working on those because they were provided to me. I don’t have any on hand. Sorry; I can’t help you.”

“Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on asking you to give away something that valuable. I guess it’s a problem I’ll have to resolve later o-”

“{If I may interrupt you,}” Fray spoke up through telepathy to both Rakna and Wang. “{There is a material with such characteristics in your possession.}”

The therian blinked. “How would I even have that…?”

“{Fast scary monsters,}” Fray retorted jokingly.

“…oh,” Rakna exclaimed. He thought back to a certain object in his storage and brought it out. A chunk of splintered stone appeared in his hand.

Old Wang almost choked when he saw it. “Kiddo! Is that what I think it is?!”

Rakna’s lips formed a faint smile, that Evelyn dazedly noticed, and held up the stone. “Based on your reaction, I take it that this is suitable?”

Old Wang grinned back. “For sure! You know what? I’ll close shop for today. There is no way I will pass up the chance to work on this. Let’s go to my smithy.”