Lukey walked alongside his mother on the road to Tranquil Waters. The beach stretched into the ocean on their left, whereas thick jungle walled off the trail on their right.

  After reflecting on himself and deciding on his future, he had walked back to his house, where Leah, Saphina, and Bohdi were waiting for him, all with worried looks. They were all overjoyed to see him okay, but those looks quickly turned to ones of confusion after they saw his face.

  Lukey refused to explain anything. He just sauntered off to bed to get over his hangover. Saphina and Bohdi left for town after that, and now that Lukey was feeling better, he and his mother were doing the same.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Lukey’s mother asked, her voice laced with worry. “You look like you’ve been crying… that and you drank all my wine.”

  “I’m alright,” Lukey groaned. “I just needed some time alone.”

  Leah knew most of Lukey's problems; she was his mother after all and the one person he could confide in should anything happen. However, there was no way he would tell her about the Flame of Judgement within his chest; that was a secret that was going to die with him. She worried enough about him as he is, and he didn’t need to exasperate that by alerting her to the fact that he had been forced to take on an impossible task.

  A moment of silence stretched between them before Leah once again spoke up.

  “I don’t like her… that zaurian girl,” Leah suddenly spoke. This surprised Lukey, who immediately turned to look at her.

  “Where is this coming from?” Lukey asked suspiciously.

  “I heard all about how you threw yourself at the tyrant to stop it from attacking her. From the way she talked about it, she seemed to have really taken a liking to you.” Leah explained.

  “I see…” Lukey said, flush with embarrassment. “So, what’s the problem?”

  Leah sighed.

  “Lukey, I’ve seen how you have a penchant for getting into trouble. Either you’re slacking off somewhere you shouldn’t be, or you’re taking on more than you can handle. Meanwhile, that girl, despite being older than you, has the temperament of a ten-year-old. There’s no way she can keep you on the straight and narrow.”

  “Mom, calm down; we’re just acquaintances.” Lukey explained. Although, now that he thought about it, she wasn’t wrong; Saphina was immature. Despite being stronger and knowing more than him, she didn’t have a mind for strategy or finesse, which resulted in him having to save her more times than she saved him.

  “I’m sorry,” Leah relented. “It’s just that you’re starting to look more like a man now. It wouldn’t surprise me if some of the women around Tranquil Water started showing interest in you.”

  Lukey wanted to deny that, but one look at his body had confirmed that what she was saying was true. His legs had begun showing muscles that weren’t there before, his waist had started flattening and becoming more defined, and he had even grown a bit taller, though he was still short compared to most men. Lukey’s hair had lengthened quite a bit at this point, and his spiky rat’s tail was beginning to look more like a rat’s nest.

  “I suppose you’re right,” Lukey digressed. “In fact, while we’re at it, what kind of girl would you want me to date?” If anyone knew who he should start going out with, it was his mother; thus, it would be helpful to hear her out. Of course, Lukey wasn’t planning on any long-term relationships, but it couldn’t hurt to have some fun before he left for another mission.

  “Hmmm, if I had to say… older,” Leah answered. “Yes, a woman a little older than you. Someone who’s levelheaded and that you can depend on if anything happens. If you’re like a violent current, you need someone who could withstand the storm and be there for you whenever things go south.”

  Lukey nodded his head in comprehension and looked down the road. Their conversation had taken up all their time, and now Tranquil Water was coming into sight. They walked up to the archway entrance, and Lukey was shocked to see so many people going around the town. Villagers from all over the island, all with tan skin like him, were all moving about, traveling around town for a variety of reasons. Women wearing chest bands and leaf skirts held bushels of vegetables and fruits, whereas men with green vests and plain shorts were hauling either construction or fishing equipment.

  “Woah,” Lukey gawked. “A lot has changed.”

  “Yeah,” Leah confirmed. “After you left, Ki’ida sold his jewelry business, and now it’s being run by a group of islanders. I heard he still provides the wares, but now it’s become quite popular among the women of the island. That led to gossip among them about how empty the town was, which led to this place gaining a lot more notoriety. Eventually, some people thought up some ways to make money here, which led to a fish market being established along with a few other small businesses.”

  This was actually pretty good. Based on what Lukey heard from Bluefin, many of the elders didn’t like the town because they thought it was Caldoon’s way to lure in foreigner money. Now, this should be proof enough that the town exists for the sake of the island and its people, rather than for outsiders.

  “Things seem to be turning up for the better,” Lukey commented. “Alright, I think I’ll start heading to the guild now.”

  “Okay, and be safe!” his mother replied.

  Then, the two split. Finally, it was time to deliver his report.

  …

  The doors to Ocean’s Bounty parted, and Lukey stepped inside to see Roman reading with his feet kicked up against the front desk. The scholar noticed him with a side glance and quickly scrambled to correct himself as he got up and went around the desk to approach Lukey.

  “Hey, you’re back! Saphina told me what happened.” Roman said. “Apparently you were unconscious for four days. Are you alright?”

  “I’m fine! Quit it with the sympathy!” Lukey spat. “I’m just here to say I’ve completed the mission, and now I’m going to go on break for a while.”

  “That’s fair,” Roman nodded, folding his arms. “I’m sure you’ll need to heal up after fighting a tyrant. As a matter of fact, Caldoon left me with a message saying that you should stay in town for the foreseeable future. The sovereign icon will be done in three days, and there will be a ceremony to announce its completion to everyone on the island.”

  “So soon?” Lukey groaned. “That’s not a lot of time to get my side business done. Speaking of which, you said you would start teaching me how to modify arts?”

  At this point, Lukey already knew all about it, but for the sake of keeping his journey escapades in the Mystic Reef a secret, he still needed to act like he knew nothing.

  “Yes, of course!” Roman asserted, his glasses giving off a faint glint as he adjusted them. He then led Lukey down to the base floor before running off and quickly returning with some reading material and notes. “First though, let’s go through a little refresher. Assuming you read those notes I gave you, tell me how each of the eight attributes modifies the body.”

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Lukey was irritated by the fact that he was being forced to undertake a remedial lesson, but he quickly obliged as he recounted everything he knew.

  “Vitality improves stamina and resistance to ailments, strength improves body strength and resistance to physical attacks, dexterity improves the ability to control your hands and perform fine movements, and agility decreases your body weight and makes your body more flexible. Those are all the body attributes.”

  Lukey continued.

  “Intelligence improves mental capacity and the ability to handle new information, focus improves eyesight and the ability to notice minute details and changes, charisma improves the ability to articulate and notice conversational signals, and luck improves the ability to notice and take advantage of opportunities. Those are all the mental attributes.”

  After Lukey finished, Roman began clapping.

  “Perfect!” He exclaimed. “Now that that’s done, we can move onto a detailed explanation of aether.”

  “A formless mass of energy that can be distilled into threads. It cycles through Eterna until it eventually twists itself into thread, which inserts itself into people and objects. These threads often manifest as rules, defining what something is and how it should function.” Lukey blurted out.

  Roman looked at him with stunned silence, and Lukey quickly looked away. He was only passively listening and giving halfhearted answers to whatever questions Roman threw at him. By the time he even realized he said anything, it was already too late.

  “That’s… a very good explanation. Did someone already give you this explanation?” Roman asked with curiosity.

  “Er… yeah, Saphina spilled everything after I bribed her.” Lukey said bashfully. It wasn’t a complete lie; Saphina explained some things, but nothing she said was as detailed as the explanation he gave. Fortunately, Roman didn’t need to know that.

  “Huh, and here I thought she would’ve given some half-thought-out explanation. It seems you already know what it is, but can you explain how it affects you?” Roman questioned.

  Lukey sighed, then recited another explanation.

  “The aether in people can manifest as several types of threads. There's the thread that stores the information for attributes and levels, which also absorbs energy from our surroundings to allow us to level up. There are the threads that store our arts, which can be found in different points along our body. Finally, there’s the thread that stores titles, which is made up of lots of little threads that manifest whenever we accomplish something of significance.”

  “Well, damn,” Roman exclaimed. “You’re more well informed than I was back when I was your level. Yes, you're correct. There are also other threads of aether in the body, like your library, which stores unused arts, and the one that houses information about your class, but let’s leave that for later.”

  Roman then started shuffling papers and placed a few of them on the table where Lukey was sitting. Each of the papers shows sets of characters; many of them showed symbols, but others showed numbers and even words. Looking at it all, Lukey had to guess that these were all scripts that Roman had prepared ahead of time.

  “These are what are known as scripts. They will help you understand the aether so you can begin modifying your arts. Part of the work the Codex does has to do with discovering and compiling all known scripts and making them available for research and study. Suffice to say, I’ve looked over a thousand of them, and after considering what your class can do, I was able to narrow it down to…”

  Lukey waved him off.

  “Thanks, but I’ve already learned a script.” Lukey said. After that, he did his best to come up with a plausible lie. “It’s a traditional script. I can’t say any more about its origins than that because Caldoon has me sworn to secrecy.”

  Roman gave a deadpanned stare, and all Lukey could see was his fogged-up lenses as he proceeded to take one of the papers and begin ripping it to shreds in calm anger. It seemed that he had put a lot of work into researching the scripts, and by learning on his own, Lukey undid weeks’ worth of work.

  “You’re starting to make me feel irrelevant here.” Roman growled. “A traditional script? Seriously? The least that brute emperor could’ve done was tell me about it. As a matter of fact, the discovery of a new script would earn me some major accolades.”

  “I’m sorry,” Lukey consoled. “As a matter of fact, if it’s any consolation, I can write it down and teach it to you. I have it all memorized and everything.”

  “Thanks, that would be helpful,” Roman said, visibly relaxing. “In fact, this might be for the best. Since we’re going to have more fishermen join the guild soon, it’s better if they all have one script to work with. It would make teaching it to many people easier and even let guild members exchange details on how their arts work.”

  “That’s great!” Lukey exclaimed. “I’ll start writing it down right away, but first can you show me how to modify arts?”

  Roman sank down in a chair and immediately began to rub his temples.

  “I guess,” Roman sighed, all excitement visibly evaporating from his body. “Search your internal channels with manual [Insight], then pull the thread that represents your art out of your body. After that you can alter it any way you see fit. Since we already discussed altering [Ripple sense], why don’t you start with that?”

  Lukey already knew how to do this but kept up appearances as his gaze sank inward. Eventually, the blue network came to the interview, and Lukey began tracing up the network towards his mind. He started in his chest, then followed the paths up to his neck, then around the back of his head, before locating the thread for [Ripple Sense +] up near the left side of his frontal lobe.

  Lukey kept his gaze centered there, then took his right hand and touched his temple near where the art was located. He then began to focus as he did his best to draw the thread out of his internal channels and out of his body. Lukey then drew his finger away from his temple, and gradually, a light blue line was pulled from his mind, attached to his finger.

  “You know, most people don’t get it this easily on their first try.” Roman commented. After that he relented with a sigh. “Whatever, now you can begin altering it as you see fit. If you look inside, you will see that the script has organized itself into a few lines. Each one performs a different action that the art must follow. Meanwhile, the details of each line should be written in your script. Give it a thorough read.”

  Lukey did just that, and everything became highlighted in blue light against a dark backdrop. As his mind read the contents of the thread, he immediately noticed two lines of script, indicating two major functions.

  The first line sends out signals; the other receives them.

  After taking a good look, Lukey gazed deeper into the first line of script, where a single character revealed itself, alongside a long, wavy line. The character was that of three curved lines coming out from a point, a ripple, which referred to the emission of energy. There were no specifications for where the sound should go, so it just went everywhere by default. Meanwhile, the wavy line represented the sound made by the art, which could be memorized for future reference.

  This section went untouched when he modified the art, so he quickly moved on to the second section. Here there was only one single character as well, alongside the same wavy line from before. While the first line sent out a specific signal, the second worked to receive and absorb that same signal. The character was that of a swirling void, which represented the character for “absorb.” This caused the art to make his brain absorb the waves, which he could then begin drawing information from.

  “Once you’ve entered the section you want to modify, pull up your library. This is the thread that stores all the different things you’ve learned from your other arts, including arts that are no longer in use. Look through it and add what you need from [Tyrant Sense] and [Labyrinth Sense],” Roman explained.

  The way Blue Stag explained it was a bit more comprehensive. Basically, each art was like a sentence, and each sentence taught you different words. Once you learn the words, you could copy them, move them, or even change them slightly. The only rule was that you couldn’t just make them up. Whatever you learned, it had to have some basis in an art.

  Lukey did just that. Pulling up his library came naturally with his practice, and it quickly came into view in his mind alongside the section he was already looking at. Only a dozen symbols came into view, but they each did something wildly different that would allow him to create his own art in the future.

  Going back to [Ripple Sense +], Lukey could see the changes he had already made. Below the second line, there was a third one with two small symbols. One looked like a monster face, highlighted in red, and the other looked like a sectioned cube, highlighted in yellow. These markings were the notifications that each art gave, and all Lukey had to do was pull them from [Tyrant Sense] and [Labyrinth Sense] and add them as a third function. Now, any time he used [Ripple Sense], his mind would automatically sift through the information to identify any tyrants and labyrinths.

  If I translated this, it would roughly say, "Emit a wavelength, absorb the same wavelength, and then identify any tyrants or labyrinths from the absorbed information."

  “It’s done,” Lukey said, releasing the thread of aether and letting it sink back into his mind. “[Ripple Sense] has been modified.”

  “Great,” Roman said. “Now, let’s do lunch. You can tell me all about how you fought the tyrant while I update you on everything that happened while you were gone.”