The Path of Ascension Chapter 412

Chapter 412

Qin Jiang brought his hammer down on the circlet in slow and steady beats, following a rhythm he felt more than heard.

It was instinct and experience merging into one in a familiar rhythm he had done a thousand times before.

More than that really but Jiang liked how the round number’s cadence fit with his own hammering.

It may have been hundreds of thousands of years, but when he was alone for long stretches like this last forging session, he tended to slip back into an antiquated dialect of Sect he grew up on instead of Guild common.

The circlet wasn’t hot but he also wasn’t forging it in the traditional way; and what he was hammering wasn’t its physical form but rather its spiritual form, to link it with every other circlet.

A part of it felt like wasting his time given he, and therefore the guild, had thousands of circlets, but creating more ensured that the guild could operate for longer even once he eventually Ascended. He wasn’t planning on it anytime soon, but it was a habit at this point more than anything.

It was relaxing and served to remind him why they did what they did. Creating more circlets also strengthened his own Domain in subtle ways that other developments didn’t quite replicate.

Checking his [AI], he was pleasantly surprised.

It had only been three hundred years but he had managed to create ten more circlets.

He was getting faster.

Instead of immediately leaving, he pushed his power into his own circlet, just enough to harmonize, but not so much that he connected to the others.

Despite that, he felt there was another circlet in the link.

Brimming with happiness, he started playing some music, in Guild standard to get himself thinking in that language again, as he cleaned up his forge area.

A quick pulse through his circlet ensured everyone who was close would be coming back, so he took his time making sure everything was in order to give them some time.

A day and a half later, he stepped through the stone corridor, letting the door slide shut behind him. He noticed that the corridor was recently cleaned but it wasn’t that surprising all things considered as he had given everyone a warning of his impending exit. He was still half convinced they let his hallway fill with dust when he was deep in his work but he had never caught them yet.

These deepest portions of the guild still held traces of their time as a sect from what felt like eons ago but Jiang liked those touches.

It showed their progress, even if he was only one of two in the guild who were still alive and in this Realm from that time.

Liu Wei— Luis Westermen, Jiang corrected himself— was the first to meet him, as he was standing at the end of the hall in a lounge dress outfit that Jiang didn’t recognize the style of, which meant it was new and a subtle rebuke from one of his oldest friends.

In Guild, Luis said, “Ah and here he is. The guildmaster himself finally deigning to come out of his cave. If you hadn’t come out in two weeks, I would have dragged you out. There is big news.”

Jiang raised an eyebrow at the rebuke. “Has it been so bad?”

Luis gave him a flat look. “Yes.”

He held it for a moment before he cracked and laughed. “But really, it’s good to see you. We have two new members, both of whom are here and they are eager to meet you.”

Jiang perked up. “Two, that’s amazing.” Then realizing what that also meant he frowned. “Who died?”

He had only felt one additional circlet.

Luis sighed. “Charlotte. She was taking out a ring of people trying to poison a world’s water supply. To make a long story short, she had to choose between stopping the leak or protecting herself. She chose as any of us would have. The local healers just weren’t able to stop the toxins before they reached her brain.”

Jiang turned left instead of right at the first junction, heading back deeper into the guild into a place even better protected than his forge.

The memorial hall.

He spent a few moments passing by each name and engraved face, letting his thoughts linger on them and their sacrifices before he landed on the last one. The newest one.

‘Charlotte Pin, here she lies in memory, if not in form. Let her not be forgotten by those before or after and let those who come after to hope to perform as well as she in her final moments. “Fear not the reaper. Fear the inaction at its sight.”’

Jiang sighed, seeing all that remained of her.

After spending half an hour grieving, he stood where Luis was waiting for him at the door. “Was the incident handled in her passing?”

Luis simply nodded and so Jiang asked no more, instead moving onto happier topics.

“Anything interesting happen while I was working?”

Luis snorted. “You won’t believe me if I tell you, so let us wait until after you meet the newest guild members. They have been dying to meet you. Tier 6 and Tier 17 respectively.”

Jiang smiled at the news. It was rare but there had been instances when he came out of seclusion to find the guild was fewer in number than when he left it and those were always hard times. Losses were to be expected given their self-imposed duties but that didn’t make it any easier.

Entering the central foyer that could hold thousands, but rarely held more than fifty if everyone was present, Jiang took in a deep breath before letting it out as the sunlight washed over him.

Stepping forward, he drifted down to the central area where he noticed fifteen of his brothers and sisters were sitting, including the two newest members.

After the initial greetings with familiar faces were out of the way, he stopped before the more senior of the newest members.

A woman with dusky skin and slanted features that flickered with pulses of darkness.

An unusual but far from unheard of choice to be able to bond with a circlet but justice could and often did, come in many forms.

“It is an honor to meet you, Sister. Tell me of yourself.”

Her grin was infectious. “Victoire, Tier 17 and Crowned in Darkness to bring what lurks there to Justice.”

The circlet resting on her brow, silver with an onyx gemstone so dark it seemed to drink in the light, pulsed connecting to their shared Domain pool, allowing him to feel her unique take on Justice.

It felt… strong.

It was a little slippery; he felt that Victorie might cut a corner to do what she felt was right, might break a rule, ‘overstep her bounds’, or do something outright illegal but she would always, always be acting for the betterment of the world around her.

It was a good Domain to have and one that fit well in the guild.

A quick check told him that his suspicion that she had used a Bottled Concept at Tiers 5 and 10 was correct but not too unexpected given his short forging session and her current Tier.

Clasping arms with her, he smiled. “I have tasted your Domain and find it exceptional to add to our power. May we all be stronger for your support.”

“And may our support right the endless wrongs.”

Jiang smiled at her slight change to the return phrase. He liked it and her.

She was truly a good addition to their ranks.

Moving onto the next member, he gave the youngest member of their guild a once over.

He was taller than Jiang by almost half a head but hadn’t quite filled out. Young if he wasn’t mistaken, less than fifty which was fast for someone to both reach Tier 6 and have been able to create a Domain that was accepted by a circlet. His lighter skin was striped with darker more tanned striations that seemed genetic; Jiang made a note to look into that later, as it was an interesting trend, and if it was widespread, he’d like to visit the planet that started it and immerse himself in their culture.

“It is an honor to meet you, Brother. Tell me of yourself.” Jiang repeated himself but was happy to do so.

The boy’s smile was a bit more subdued than Victoire’s had been but there was a core of strength to it. “Mathias, Tier 6, and Crowned in Flame. My flame will bring justice if nothing else will.”

His circlet, larger, more robust than the shape Victoire’s had taken, housed a large but vibrant ruby that pulsed with power as he connected to the shared pool of power the circlets formed.

Jiang nodded as he felt it. That was a more typical Domain. Straightforward and effective. Mathias wouldn’t hide behind schemes or subterfuge if a more direct option would work. Many of the Brothers and Sisters past and present had had similar Domains and it was a welcome addition to the shared power pool. One day, when he became stronger, it would serve as a core, a touchstone for everyone, allowing them to know if their cause was still just as someone like Mathias would never waver.

It was also…

Jiang didn’t quite have the word for it.

He wanted to call it artificial but that was wrong. It was a Concept like any other but it felt like it was still growing into the ideal that Mathias championed, yet not in a normal way of a Domain growing stronger through time and lived experience. It was more like a bottled Concept, except that was entirely wrong as it wasn’t a dead thing shoved into the place a Domain should be but instead a living thing just not yet fully realized.

The core of the idea was there but it was still forming.

It almost reminded Jiang of a crystal formation in an oversaturated solution. The crystals had already started to form but they hadn’t quite completed the process and there was still some solution left in the dish just waiting to be converted.

It was incredibly interesting and he could feel all of the older members watching his introduction with Mathias, which meant they had known about this and were expecting him to notice something.

Not that he would break protocol. Despite not holding any official rank or the like, Jiang was the single person who forged their circlets, as well as the founding member. He also knew he was something of a legend, given how much time he spent in seclusion forging new circlets. Undoubtedly, Mathias had been worried about his introduction if there was something odd about his Concept, and might have worried that he would be treated differently, which Jiang wouldn’t do.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

But Jiang didn’t see this new type of Concept as a bad thing at all. He wished with every fiber of his being the guild could find new members. He knew if he checked outside, he would see the outer guild filled with millions of people he wished he could call brother or sister but whose Domains simply wouldn’t be acceptable to the circlets. People who had passed the rigorous personality tests and proven themselves time and time again but who simply couldn’t form a Concept that resonated with the specific meaning of Justice the circlets demanded.

If there was a controllable way to bypass that requirement, Jiang was very interested in it.