PftA Book 5 - Chapter 47 - Raymond

It took very little effort to convince Raymond and his parents to let me take the newly awakened youth for the next week. Once I’d explained my plan to potentially improve Raymond’s Time affinity, they were all on board.

I waited until after Raymond’s awakening celebration to take him, since I didn’t want Raymond to miss something he’d undoubtedly looked forward to for years.

It was an important part of Alliance culture, after all.

Even knowing that it would cut deeply into our time together, I promised to bring him back for a short visit every day. It wasn’t like I couldn’t continue his training after the gathering, or even during it, if necessary.

“Aunt Emie, how much higher do you really think I can get my Time affinity in just a week?” Raymond asked after I showed him around my home.

I’d only shown him the residential floor and workshops within my pod. Though I wasn’t overly concerned about people learning about my demesne at this stage, I didn’t see a reason to show him any more than that for now.

“You’ll get a lot more than a week’s worth of benefit,” I replied with a smirk. “Since I plan to keep you within my demesne the whole time, you’ll be able to take advantage of the time dilation here. After reaching Tier Ten, it’s at about a fifty-to-one ratio compared to Alliance Standard.”

It was only ten-to-one compared to the time on Sira, though I still found that quite impressive since I’d only ever managed about four-to-one before I’d tiered up.

“Time goes that much faster here?” Raymond gasped before he seemed to realize the implications. “Wait, does that mean I’ll be forced to sit here and meditate for a whole year?”

“You don’t have to meditate the whole time,” I said with a chuckle as I headed toward his room with him following along beside me. “Meditating will probably make things go a lot faster, but just being bombarded with the energy from the mana well should help your affinity improve.”

Motioning toward the far wall, I said, “I’ll start with a small portal and gradually increase the size. You can either keep the door closed or not. It won’t make much of a difference since the portal will extend beyond your room after the first week.”

As soon as I’d come up with the idea, I’d informed Patriarch Fora of my plan and teleported deep into the Time well to set an anchor. I was sure to place my access point in an isolated cavern within the well to keep from disturbing anyone from the sect who might be using it.

Unless there was another Epikairos member or ally with a dual Time/Space affinity, I doubted anyone would even know the portal was there. And though I’d been the one to discover it, I felt it was only right to let the sect know I’d be using it for a bit since they technically owned the well.

“I also plan to teach you a few things, so I’m confident you’ll have plenty to occupy your time,” I said with a smile. “Think about what crafting skills you might want to develop so I can get the appropriate materials to work with. If I’m going to effectively become your mentor for the next year, I might as well do a thorough job of it.”

I didn’t think that Raymond had any real interest in Enchanting, but I had learned the basics for most of the crafting professions over the years. It was almost a necessity within the dungeon, especially on later floors, where it wasn’t very easy to coordinate with other crafters for the items one might need.

“I also told your mom I’d bring you to visit every day, but it’ll feel like once every two months to you. Are you sure you can handle that?”

The teen’s expression shifted from nervous uncertainty to one of resolve.

“I can do it, Aunt Emie. I want to make Mom and Dad proud, and I know they’d both want me to be as strong as possible. And I’d like to learn how to craft weapons and armor out of Crystal if you can teach me anything about that. I know there are spells that can do the same thing, but they are limited by the caster’s knowledge. So…”

I patted my grand-nephew on the back. “It isn’t my strongest field by any means, but I’ve been around for a while. I’m sure I can put something together for you. Have you purchased any spells yet?”

The only Smithing I was remotely decent at involved techniques that related to jewelry-making. Even then, I often outsourced whenever possible. However, that didn’t mean I didn’t have access to schematics and blueprints.

I also reached out to Zavira and asked for her recommendations on how to guide the youth.

Using Crystal to craft weapons and armor was undoubtedly different from using Metal, but I figured she would have a better idea of how to handle his request than I would.

The youth shook his head. “No. I’ve got some ideas based on preliminary plans I made for if I awakened a Crystal affinity, but the councilors always encouraged us to wait until we knew where our path was going to lead us.

“Obviously, people going straight to the Adventurers’ Guild would choose totally different spells than those going to an academy or getting an apprenticeship or joining a sect,” he added.

The earnestness with which he’d made the statement made me want to ruffle his hair, but I resisted the urge. Though we were family and he’d heard about me all his life, we weren’t quite close enough for me to interact with him that way.

I suspected that would change by the time we returned for Xanin’s awakening ceremony and the gathering my mom was hosting in just a week.

Having collected his belongings into a storage ring given to him by his parents before joining me in my demesne, Raymond settled himself on the small meditation mat I’d placed between the bed and the far wall.

“So, I just… meditate, or should we do a lesson first or something?”

“For now, just meditate on Time. Try to connect to your affinities, paying particular attention to Time. I’m not quite sure how it’ll manifest for you. I see my affinities as ribbons in a vast emptiness, but I’ve heard of others describing them as resembling clouds or mist.

“Just envision it however it feels right to you,” I said before adding, “Normally, it would be pretty hard with how weak your affinity for the element is, but since you’ll be surrounded by Time mana, it probably won’t be that difficult for you.”

I hoped not, at least.

I opened a dime-sized portal into the Time well, then slowly increased its size until my grand-nephew began looking uncomfortable. I immediately shrank the portal by a touch and left him to his meditations.

A little discomfort was fine at first, but I didn’t want it to be too hard for the kid.

“How long do you think he’ll last?” Lisa asked, her avatar manifesting beside me once I left the room. I’d closed the door behind me to give the boy a bit of privacy while he got used to the place, so I doubted he could hear her.

“I don’t know. Amie mentioned they teach kids basic skills like meditation long before they unlock their system,” I said. “At least an hour, I’d think.”

“What will you do until then?”

I walked across the residence and down the stairs to my workspace. I could have easily teleported, but sometimes I just felt like walking.

“I think I might craft a few inheritances to leave behind.”

Lisa looked surprised by my statement. We’d discussed the potential of me leaving behind inheritances like the one I’d gotten from Kai all those years before, but I’d decided not to since anyone in my family should have the resources needed to find teachers and tutors for anything they might need.

I hadn’t really considered those with such weak affinities that they wouldn’t be able to draw the attention of a proper trainer. It was an oversight on my part.

Sure, with enough money, anything was possible. But it didn’t make sense to pay an exorbitant amount for something I could provide myself.

= = =

“Well?” Raymond asked anxiously. His hand rested on the affinity crystal, but the linked tablet was hidden from his sight.

Based on the increase in illumination, he already knew that his affinity for Time had increased over the time that we’d spent together within my demesne. I’d tested him before each visit with his family, once each standard day for the past four days. With weeks only lasting five days in the Alliance, the time limit I’d given us made things pretty tight.

His starting score had been a measly sixteen, the bare minimum to qualify as an awakened affinity. After a single time-dilated day, it had jumped to twenty-one. His Meditation skill had upgraded on the second day, which was reflected by the jump to twenty-eight before we visited his family for the second time.

From there, his growth slowed a little, coming in at just thirty-three after the third standard day. It was due to a mix of factors, including the increased difficulty of improving an affinity the higher it got.

The time we spent in lessons had also slowed his affinity growth a bit, but the decrease wasn’t significant since he was still being constantly bathed in the energy from the Time well as we worked.

When his rating came in at thirty-seven after the fourth time-dilated day, I’d had him focus solely on increasing his affinity in hopes that he could cross the threshold from weak to standard before our initial time was up.

I’d been a little worried that he might not make it with how much his progress had slowed. The thresholds were there for a reason, and crossing them took a lot more than gaining a level of affinity within a category.

“Did I make it?” Raymond asked eagerly when I didn’t immediately respond.

Not wanting to leave the kid in limbo any longer, I turned the tablet so he could read the results.

“Fifty-eight in Crystal and—” His face broke into a grin. “Forty in Time! I did it!”

“You did! Congratulations!” I said, pulling him into a hug.

After spending a year together, my grand-nephew and I had grown much closer. It made my impending departure all the more bittersweet.

If I’d been able, I would have lingered in the realm long enough to be a real mentor to my relative. Unfortunately, the realm was already showing its impatience.

As time had passed within my demesne, it became clear that the realm was not going to allow me to use the dimensional space to extend my subjective time in the realm. Though I’d effectively given up a year with everyone on the outside, I didn’t regret my decision.

And it wasn’t like I hadn’t seen them at all during that time. I’d taken quick trips to the outside to spend time with everyone while Raymond focused on improving his affinity. That wasn’t even counting the daily trips to visit with his family for a half-hour or so.

The breaks cut about a week total from our time together, but it had worked out in the end. If it hadn’t, I would have probably been able to squeeze out enough time to push him over the threshold before I was forced to head to the Challenge Rift.

Thankfully, that was no longer something I needed to worry about.

“Mom’s going to be so excited! I can’t wait to tell her!” Raymond exclaimed.

“Well, there’s no better time than now,” I said with a grin. “You ready to go?”

“Wait! I haven’t packed!” Raymond said with a hint of panic as he rushed back into his bedroom.

I shook my head in amusement as he ran through the room, storing everything he’d brought with him inside his ring. He had a few extras as well – small things I’d crafted for him over the year, including the inheritance crystal I’d made for him.

I’d ended up purchasing several instead of bothering with crafting them myself. Sometimes, it made more sense to buy something pre-made instead of bothering with crafting it myself. That was especially applicable for items that I was not overly familiar with.

I’d ‘programmed’ a few for each of my affinities, including Arcane, though the information included in that inheritance crystal wasn’t nearly as comprehensive when it came to the affinity itself.

However, I made up for the lack by including more knowledge on Enchanting than I’d included in the other inheritances.

I’d even added a small inheritance for Enchanting to Raymond’s crystal, though he continued to show no real interest in the skill.

“Okay! I think I’ve got everything!”

I quickly scanned the bedroom and verified he hadn’t left anything behind.

“Alright! Let’s go share the good news!” I said with a grin before teleporting us both to the hotel where his parents were staying.

Xanin’s awakening ceremony was scheduled to start in an hour, so there wasn’t much time to spare.