Perenthia rocked back and forth in an effort not to reach for her hair. She’d run out of alchemicals for growing it back already and making herself bald wouldn’t endear Nate to her. After all, he had said he liked her hair. If only he hadn’t then fled. It wasn’t her fault, she knew that. It wasn’t his fault either. He may be able to manipulate Reality like her but he couldn’t read the lines of probability. He couldn’t see how perfect they were for each other. All he could see was the familiar, the facade, the illusion that those he had surrounded himself with were who he was meant to be with.

It took a struggle of will but she could finally accept that he was simply blinded by the comfort of what he was used to. Was that even a flaw, she wondered? She wanted to spirit him off back to the Severing Blade Sect, to her home, where she was comfortable. No, she decided, she couldn’t fault him for feeling that way. Even if he was wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong! They were destined. Reality would make it true, even if she had to make it do so.

Nascent Mind whispered to her the problems even as she flew across the sky with her two remaining attendants. Silence had suggested that Perenthia was falling behind in the World Reaping, as if that mattered. Silence had been mistaken. Silence had gotten her priorities all mixed up. Silence had become silent, forevermore. Just one more broken doll doomed to become fertiliser for some hungry beast.

Nascent Mind whispered again, louder this time, to draw Perenthia’s attention back to the problems. What had her beloved gone and done now that the probability of upheaval was approaching certainty. The strongest teams, if they could even be called that, were closing in on her Nate. Well, certainly the highest teams on the Leaderboard, were all converging on a volcanic region of the smaller southern continent. Six teams in total. Only one went to her beloved, her perfect Nate’s aid. The other five went in search of blood and death. And that posed a few problems for her.

She didn’t want Nate to die. He was hers. He belonged to her. Anyone who drew the smallest fraction of his blood would offer up all of theirs in compensation. But, she had failed to win him over last time. Failed to make him see how they were two halves of a whole. Failed to cut away his ties. And now he had even more. Or probably still did. Nascent Mind hummed its agreement. Most likely those other three would still be with him, even if she couldn’t tell through all the inane and inarticulate garbage coming from them now. They would hang on to him like little leeches, sucking at his blood, his attention, and his genius to fill their empty bellies.

But, if she let the other teams attack him, sate their own hunger, then they might be able to deal with her problems for her. It was a risk. Five teams against two. The Golden Tide, she knew, could match one of the other teams. But that was their limit. One for one. Normal Seeds doing normal things. That left her beloved, and those filthy bottom feeders who clung to him, to face off against four teams on their own. She didn’t know if four was too many for him. Nascent Mind couldn’t work without information and the information she had was useless. So, she considered her own capabilities. Could she beat four teams with her two attendants? Probably.

She had yet to reach the Perfected Body stage in her Divine Vessel, the first bottleneck on the Path of Ascendancy. But she was close enough that she should be more than capable of dealing with four Seeds and their teams. The question was, how far along was her Nate? If he was comparable, then he would be fine, which meant she would need to intercede directly to cut away the ties that kept him from her loving embrace.

If he wasn’t…if he wasn’t, he might die and that was unacceptable. Nascent Mind warned her again about the one called Kiri. Perenthia could change the probabilities of anything. Absolutely anything. But the cost to do so grew exponentially the less likely her desired outcome was. That was why her Skills were heavily focused around informing her of fate lines and their possibilities. In that way, she could make the simplest changes for the greatest outcomes.

An enchanted item having a catastrophic malfunction was within the realm of possibility, more so when focused on specific components. It helped that it was a non-living part of Reality. The living had their own power, their own agency, their own mana and Divine Energy. Making an experienced warrior intentionally jump into the path of a blade was far less likely, and therefore far more costly to Perenthia. When those probabilities were completely hidden from her or, worse, based on incorrect information, her costs in mana and Divine Energy could spiral out of control.

When she’d tried to eliminate the bodyguard and the female that Nate spent time with, she had been forced to focus on her attendants and improving their probabilities because she couldn’t see anything of the one called Kiri. Her Nascent Mind had been silent except for the repeated muttering that anything Perenthia did was pointless. Pointless, her, the daughter of the Severing Blade, the greatest Lesser Divine blademaster in The Heartlands, couldn’t kill a single, stupid girl!

Perenthia screamed again, not noticing the flinching of her attendants.

She would go. She would go to this ‘gathering’ and, once there, she would finally cut away the silly little connections that kept Nate from her. Then she would take him. She would take him home and even if he couldn’t see it yet, eventually he would come to understand that they would be together. Forever and ever and ever and ever.

*************

Dorin Starbeard took a seat across from Head Merchant Wu To’sama. They were in the privacy room and To’sama activated the arrays with a Low-Divine Artifact.

“How has it progressed?” asked the Head Merchant, running a worried hand over his bald pate.

“The Dynasty of the Heavenly Serpent took the bait. I believe they suspect a trap but nonetheless, they paid the Peak-Grade artifact price as well as an additional Mid-Grade for information on where they could track down Sel’kin of Flux Industries. We obliged. In addition, we were approached by the Golden Tide. They also paid a Mid-Grade, but to buy information on the questions that Kalin Silverscale was asking. Not, of course, for the answers.”

“They also traded for an Observation Mid-Grade artifact so I believe they are spying on the Dynasty of the Heavenly Serpent teams. As to which way they fall in regards to the Risen Sun Sect, I couldn’t say. Though the existing reports point to multiple interactions between Nathaniel Weber and Grand Marshal Grommir. I suspect that the relationship there is friendly in nature and that the Golden Tide may be converging on Nathaniel's position to help. Which is probably a good outcome since I believe there are at least five teams, all on the top of the Leaderboard, currently heading for him. That may grow by another two to three if they manage to get in touch with other teams from their factions.”

Head Merchant Wu To’sama stared off to the side and nodded.

“I’ll inform Nathaniel. And our normal trade operations?”

“Margins are within the expected range if you ignore the uptick in information bundle purchases. This World Reaping is set to be bigger than normal in the information trade vertical.”

Wu To’sama rubbed his hands together, “You’ll receive a commendation for your work on this, Dorin. The bonus should be sizable.”

“If I may, Head Merchant?” asked Dorin.

To’sama waved a slightly wrinkled old hand for Dorin to continue.

“I would like a slice of what you’re intending.”

The Head Merchant’s eyes focused on Dorin then and the dwarf felt a moment of discomfort at being pinned under that steely gaze. The Starbreaking Guild could be cutthroat and climbing its ranks was no easy feat. The Head Merchant had managed to impress one of the higher-ups with his acumen and ability to find an angle where none seemed to exist. Dorin had studied his history and he suspected where Wu To’sama would go next. Dorin wanted in.

“What do you think I am intending?” asked the Head Merchant, his voice too casual, the warning in his body language clear.

Dorin knew he had to tread carefully.

“You intend to broker an exclusive deal with Nathaniel Weber for his crafting services,” ventured Dorin.

Wu To’sama tapped his fingers on the table, the only sound in the sealed room as Dorin saw himself stripped down and assessed in the older man's quiet gaze.

“Twenty percent,” offered the Head Merchant. “I will cut you in for twenty percent.”

The Head Merchant quoted the price for that twenty percent and Dorin swallowed audibly. It was basically all his liquidity. He’d be fully leveraged and, if the hoped for outcome failed to materialize, then Dorin could very quickly see himself demoted with limited options for advancement and evolution. Going around the Head Merchant to Nathaniel directly was not an option. Wu To’sama had the backing to make the entire venture too expensive for Dorin. Dorin knew he was being used, but the opportunity was too great to say no. It was a calculated risk, but so long as Nathaniel was agreeable, Dorin’s path to Greater Divinity was a certainty.

“Agreed, with the contract stating that the cost is due two weeks after the end of the World Reaping and that the contract is voided in the event that Nathaniel Weber dies before payment is due.”

“Agreed,” answered Wu To’sama, leaning back in his chair. “You surprised me, Dorin. I didn’t think you had it in you to take the risk. That said, I think you made the right decision. Opportunities like this don’t come along every day. Here is to a future of wealth and prosperity together.”

Dorin drank the offered wine and prayed to Reality that he’d made the right decision.

*************

Nate stood on the foredeck of the Solaris, his paintbrush swishing against canvas while the wind whipped through his hair. It was a risk, having his barrier not covering his head, but he so rarely got to experience the wind on his skin. At the speeds they were flying, coupled with his own Conceptual Sight and, finally, the improved Bowl of Divine Seeking, he was pretty confident that there was no one around but Frick and himself.

Everyone else was currently off the ship and hunting down every Divine Beast and Artifact in a ten kilometre range. Not Nate, though. They left him alone to paint, for which he was eternally grateful. He could’ve painted twenty paintings by now, just controlling the paint into the shapes and forms that he wanted, but doing so wasn’t the experience he was after. He wanted to feel his hand move, the subtle pressure of his brush against canvas, the way the colours meshed together slowly bringing his creation to life.

On the canvas in front of him was the custard sky of the last System Challenge. Within its slowly bubbling and sloshing form were the many things he had seen since he had left Galle for the Heartlands. A small figure in gold and red plate armour depicting Grommir, the Grand Marshal of the Golden Tide. Three other figures huddled together were Jak, Gwen, and Fili. The Solaris flew within the painting with Frick at the wheel and glowing lines of gold and blue adorning the hull. Wulfgar was leaning over the side of their flying ship, blood red axe on full display. All of these images were in the top half of the painting. Then there was Kiri, dark and powerful in her black armour floating just above the centre of the painting.

Below her, in the centre of his creation, he painted himself, hung in the middle of it all. Then below were the many problems. The two elves from the Dynasty and, below them, Worldhammer and Chairman Kalim. And, matching Kiri’s positioning but juxtaposed into the lower half, a pink-haired elf with a blade so sharp that it felt like it could cut the painting in twain.

Perenthia worried him. He put those worries on canvas so that they wouldn’t be bottled up inside of himself. And what he saw was what he knew was coming. Kiri had put the Soul Engravings on the others but that was just to confuse Perenthia a little bit. Nate knew she would’ve caught on given the lure for the ambush. She would be making her way here, one way or another, and he would need to make a decision. A decision he knew he was going to make but didn’t want to. A bad decision, because the only other option was even worse. Nothing in their first meeting had made Nate think that Perenthia could be reasoned with. She claimed to love him while simultaneously objectifying him and attempting to kill his sister and friends. Those were not the decisions of a sound mind.

Still, Nate would try to dissuade her, even if he knew in his heart that it would be pointless. When he invariably failed, he would be forced to let Kiri kill her, or potentially do it himself. Either way, they would then be at odds with Perenthia’s father, and that could cause problems for removing his Class Core. Without the protection of Reciprocity, could he stand up to a True Divine capable of killing other True Divines? As he was now, definitely not.

With a small sigh, he finished his painting and headed below deck. They had enough to advance his Divine Vessel again and, one way or another, he was going to need it.

*************

From the gaps between the layers of space that were naught but void, Vicoli watched as this junior Herald sucked Divine Energy out of the artifacts and into his body, twisting and changing it to match the Concepts of Space and two others. Vicoli had never been good at recognising other Concepts and that hadn’t changed as he became a Greater Divinity. The young Herald then guided the remaining Divine Energy through pathways that seemed to be woven into the body rather than the Class Core.

Vicoli didn’t quite understand it. Not yet. But he would. Normally, Divine Energy never remained in the body except as a foreign infection driven by the attack of another. Vicoli had some experience with that, having been attacked by others on more than one occasion. The memory of drowning as water continuously formed within his throat was not one he was fond of.

Yet, here this young Herald seemed to be able to store Divine Energy that touched upon the Concept of Space in his body. And not just a part of it, but all of it. Vicoli watched as the human’s body drank up the energies and slowly but surely the sense of Divine Energy faded. Not completely, though. The sense of Space that Vicoli had always felt around the boy had grown just a little stronger.

The question Vicoli wanted to ask was how? How could one obtain this gift? Because for the first time in many years, Vicoli experienced the feeling of desire. He wanted this power, and he was willing to make a deal with the young Herald to get it.