CHAPTER 72: INHERITANCE

Zephyr was sure of it. Jon had never experienced what he had in his core space, and for some reason, he felt like no one else had either. ’I need to find out how to take advantage of that space.’ Zephyr thought.

"..." Jon was lost in thought for a while, and Zephyr was content to keep silent too, also considering different possibilities. ’Aegis, have you drawn any correlations from all he’s said so far?’ Zephyr asked mentally.

Affirmative. Waiting for further clarifications to further ascertain minor points, then we can proceed to charting out the next course of action.

’Good.’ Zephyr thought. Things were looking up for him for the first time, but he didn’t want to get too excited so he wouldn’t jinx it.

"Ahh... Sorry, Zephyr. I got lost in thought for a minute there," Jon apologized.

"Yeah, I didn’t want to interrupt your train of thought," Zephyr replied.

"Where was I?" Jon asked. "Yes. Modulation" he answered by himself. "In regards to what I was saying earlier. Without proper knowledge, the mana core of every awakened defaults to using the direct connection to origin as a clutch for decoding spells where concepts and processes required for a spell are lacking," he continued his explanation. "But that usually requires a high mana node count. At least eight nodes for effectiveness. Four nodes can do the same, but to a significantly lesser degree. With two nodes, one could still try, but it would be extremely difficult to effectively offload any heavy process to the source,"

"And with a single node?" Zephyr asked.

Jon stared at him blankly, "I have no knowledge of how difficult it would be. But I am sure it is even more difficult," he shrugged. "You are the first example of this I’ve ever seen, so you tell me," he said to Zephyr.

"So, multiple nodes are required anyway," Zephyr concluded. "When do you think my next evolution will occur?" he asked.

"When did you awaken?" Jon asked back.

"Some four months ago..." Zephyr replied offhandedly.

"With your identity as an Exalted, I’ll say... six months." Jon said. "But I’ll advise not to go down that route. It isn’t the correct path to power as an awakened, and would be very detrimental down the line," Jon warned. "Rather than using the source as a clutch, you should instead try to understand the processes that guide the spell’s workings. In fact, that is the best way to comprehend words."

"In the example I used earlier, the word I comprehended was modulation. It’s not particularly hard to comprehend, but my comprehension of it is better than the average awakened." He started the light spell up again, making it glow with varying intensity. "Some part of it is understanding the best way to vary intensity. The closer your comprehension is to the truth, the more efficient and effective your usage of mana nodes becomes. For modulation, variation occurs through arithmetic operations, but the method of going about these operations is what separates the end result," he explained. "In my case, I go about modulation by directly adding in multiples to imitate multiplication," he made the light spell glow brightly. "And for division, I subtract in steps," the light spell suddenly began to dim.

"Are you consciously doing this now?" Zephyr asked, intrigued.

"Not anymore. It is now an inherent process embedded into my mana nodes," Jon replied.

"Alright. So how do I go about comprehending something like modulation," Zephyr asked eagerly.

"You don’t," Jon allowed an amused smile to color his face. "Not yet... unless you want to destroy your future chances of progression. Your mana core would be so messed up and inefficient that it would have been way better to have just coasted by offloading processes to the source... at least that can get you to peak Tier 3, maybe even Tier 4 if your connection to origin is very good," he explained. "There are pre-charted paths to power, paved by generations of Exalted—Inheritances, to make our journey easier. They contain a step by step guide of words to comprehend to create a cohesive spell processing system. This is where you have to start from."

"An inheritance?" Zephyr asked. "Of the people you’re fighting against...? I don’t get how that works," he shook his head lightly in confusion. "What kind of world do you guys plan to build even after succeeding? The traces of the exalted would still remain in this world based on what I’ve seen so far." Zephyr derailed off-topic. The disconnect between what he’d seen in the very short time he’d been here and what he’d been told was very jarring. It almost felt like they were all trying to purposefully ignore the obvious.

"... We Half-Exalted cannot birth children," Jon deadpanned, crossing his legs subconsciously.

His statement silenced Zephyr. ’... Well that explains a lot,’ he was shocked by the very simple explanation, though he felt a bit bad for them.

Zephyr cleared his throat, returning to the main topic, "So, I’m guessing there’s a full inheritance here in the sanctuary?" he asked.

Jon sighed, plucking out a small watch from his pocket. "Yes. Two to be exact," he glanced at the time, noting it was already past noon. "One with a clear progression path to Tier 4, and the other only up to Tier 3, but with vague bits that supposedly lead to Tier 5," he said, standing up. "Let’s continue this another time, Zephyr. I have some things to attend to right now," he patted Zephyr’s shoulder, stepping out of the Gazebo.

"What about the inheritance!?" Zephyr called out before Jon walked too far away.

"Visit the Grand Library, a person would be there to attend to you," he waved and entered into the main building in his compound.

Zephyr filed the information away and breathed out relief. "Progress," he muttered. ’Aegis, I think we’ll find information on how to implement the processes you’ve described in the Grand Library. We’re finally almost there,’ he clenched a fist.

As he sat under the gazebo, he took in the surroundings carefully. Jon seemed to be well off for his young age. He was at most, thirty, making Zephyr wonder what exactly the man did for a living besides being a member of the council.

The compound was very unique, with a small, artificial creek that snaked across the property. The front yard was covered with colorful trees and lush, green grass, split by brick pathways connecting the gate, main house, the small house at the corner assigned to Zephyr, and the three gazebos spaced out evenly across the breadth of the yard. There was even a small arced bridge not too far from where Zephyr sat that connected both sides of the small creek.

f.(r)eew ebnov\ll.com

The whole ambience simply appealed to Zephyr’s taste in a way he never expected. Perhaps because he also valued his privacy, so seeing someone who had created their own safe, little haven, tickled his fancy.

He stood up and decided to check out the small house he was assigned, and unsurprisingly, it was well furnished and kitted with amenities, even what he wouldn’t need. How Jon simply had this place lying around was a mystery. Zephyr suspected it was simply to prevent anyone from invading his space like he said earlier. Anyone coming for a visit would be directed to this house, and because there was nothing to complain about, they wouldn’t have any cause to pester Jon. It was a level of meticulousness that Zephyr could only aspire to attain.

Regardless, the main thing was the house was very liveable, even having a small space for personal projects and experiments. There was nothing else Zephyr could ask for. And since that was checked off the list, Zephyr decided to move on to the next important matter. Finding the Grand Library and getting an inheritance!