Bloodcrete (The Weirkey Chronicles Book 6), page 15
"Liar."
"Sporp, you didn't buy it even for a second. I guess I should have built up to it more."
"It was a good effort." Theo glanced down at her thoughtfully. Recently she had been fading in and out more, which seemed to be easier on her and rendered her much less annoying. "Is there anything I can do to further my overall advancement before ascending? I'm willing to take time to maximize my strength, but I don't feel like I can afford to spend any time pushing against walls."
"Honestly, you're doing fine. The ascensions up to Authority are very well understood, even now."
"Implying that some of the later ones are unclear?"
"Yeah, there just isn't enough data because so few soulcrafters reach that point." Senka frowned and crossed her arms in a gesture that looked strange on her doll-like body. "You don't want me to try to strain my memory on any of that blook, because I might get it wrong. But I suppose I could tell you about some other things, if you don't mind a lecture."
"Please do."
"Really? I figured you liked being the one to give the lectures, not receive them."
Theo dropped to the floor in front of the bed and gave her an over-exaggerated bow. "Instruct me, oh great teacher!"
"Heh." Senka reached out, almost like she was going to touch his head, and then pulled back. "You actually enjoy this, don't you?"
"Of course I do." He pulled himself back up to the bed. "Can soulcrafters really be effective if they don't enjoy soulcrafting?"
"More than you'd think. For a great many, it's just a means to an end. I thought you were the same way, especially given the kinds of threats you're facing. You put up a good front."
Now that he thought about it, Theo reflected that in a sense he really had thought about himself that way. Part of him still wanted to believe it: that he was a purely logical being who only wanted the most efficient means to his ends. Those thoughts were entangled with emotions he didn't want to think about, so he remained silent.
"All Archcrafters are basically just Archcrafters," Senka said. Her tone had shifted lower, and she didn't look at him as she spoke. "Oh, I know the differences seem sporping huge when you're at that tier, but everyone is playing with the same cards. Your soulcrafting starts to affect your limits more at Ruler, but honestly the difference still isn't huge. Beyond Authority, however, the gaps widen."
"Were you a teacher in your past life?" Theo asked as he dropped his head into his hands as if listening raptly. "You have a lovely, sonorous voice."
"Shut it, fumpet. The principle applies to more than just the most basic concepts of quality. Yes, you have some blooky Authorities who purchased a bunch of powerful sublime materials and slapped them together poorly. Of course there's a huge difference between them and an Authority who actually knows how to soulcraft. But you could have someone build four floors perfectly well and there would still be a difference between them and someone else at the same tier."
"Because of more abstract principles of soulcrafting, or something else?"
"Some of both." Senka gave an odd shrug. "The importance of 'theme' is hard to quantify, but I'm too scrambled to be sure about that. I wanted to talk about something else: the Five Transcendent Monuments."
Theo raised his eyebrows. That was the first time he'd so much as heard the term.
"At least, that was the preferred name in my era. Some also wanted to call them the Five Sublime Monuments, but in my opinion there's too much sublime blook. It's an objective and useful term when it comes to materials or beasts, but the Five Monuments are more of an abstract category. Some also wanted to call them the Soulworks of Power, or the Five Great Works, but-"
"So. Five Transcendent Monuments. What are they?"
"By definition, they're the works of soulcrafting that have such potency that they can make almost as great an impact as ascending a tier. Not including transformative works you can only accomplish during an ascension, which are their own category. There could debatably be more, and some argued for a sixth, but I think five makes the most sense. You're already familiar with some." Senka held up a single finger. "The most common: Corporeal Floors. A Ruler with one is substantially different than a Ruler without."
"Surely that's just a trade-off," Theo said. "They'd have an entire floor they couldn't use for techniques, and it would impact what kinds of cantae flow they can have between floors. Maybe they'd have stronger bodies and more integrated cantae, but at the cost of flexibility and efficiency."
"I said substantially different, not superior." Senka rolled her eyes so hard she almost fell over. "Honestly, do you even listen? Or did you just go too long without hearing your own voice?"
Theo chuckled despite himself. He leaned back on his elbows so he wasn't towering over Senka so much. "Joking aside, this is interesting. What's the fundamental difference?"
"One thing that unites all of the Five Transcendent Monuments is that they can't be created effectively by remodeling. Say someone made it all the way to Dominion, or even Bupp... or even the seventh tier. If they hadn't built any of them, they would be fundamentally limited as a soulcrafter, and they'd probably never be able to go higher, no matter how many centuries they spent remodeling."
"I'm not behind because I've built three normal floors, am I?"
"In my time it was customary to work at least one Transcendent Monument into your first three, but I'm not convinced it's actually necessary." Senka gave him a little grin that looked almost sincere. "Your cube of power containing a spherical flow is actually very clever - that sort of multi-floor design is the kind of thing people argued for a sixth Monument, since you could never remodel for it. There's plenty of time for the Monuments later, I just thought you might want to know more so you could begin planning."
Instead of throwing out any more snark, Theo just gestured for her to continue.
"There's another of the five that requires an entire floor, or at least should use one: an Ethereal Floor. You know the basics of that?"
"I was aiming for it in my first life, possibly at Dominion. What about basements?"
"I'm sporping getting there!" Senka held up two fingers, then added two more. "The next two aren't as large, but they're potentially critical: an Immortality Conduit and a Field of Abrogation."
Multiple questions immediately occurred to Theo, but since Senka was being so cooperative, he arranged them into a mental list and got started. "Immortality has obvious benefits, but what makes it worthy of being part of the Big Five?"
"Ugh, that name is by far the worst. Look, there are a lot of different kinds of Immortality Conduit, because the definition is just that it extends your lifespan. The blookiest of them don't do anything else and can run out, so they just buy more time. But the best Conduits can be a fundamental transformation that's essential for the higher ascensions."
"While we're on the subject, why are they so difficult to create? I've always been surprised that people fail at them so often, considering the potential reward."
"Several reasons, but the biggest has to do with ascension reinforcement. Generally speaking, we say that an ascension strengthens previously soulcrafted sublime materials, making them as if they had begun at a higher tier. That's not precisely true." As she spoke, Senka leaned a little closer with a new spark in her eyes. "Powerful sublime materials are powerful within themselves. Ascended materials draw their power from their unity with you. This difference becomes extremely important when it comes to completing an Immortality Conduit."
"I'm guessing that if the materials are powerful but not highly bonded to your soul, that's what leads to a Conduit breaking?"
"Exactly! Any idiot with money can buy a ton of powerful materials, but that kind of power isn't what's relevant to spiritual immortality. In my era, it was generally said that your Conduit route should be in place for a full ascension, and your materials for two."
That threw a bit of a wrench into his plans: when Theo had been designing blueprints with Brigana, they hadn't known about that factor. His old blueprint really wouldn't have had any space, but fortunately he'd become more flexible. "I'll need to figure that out later, but I'm getting us off topic. What's this Field of Abrogation?"
"The sporping worst." Senka scowled toward the ceiling. "There was no way... I..."
She trailed off, suddenly looking almost lost. Theo quickly sat up and touched her back, wishing that he could do something to help. It didn't feel like any kind of attack, but something had clearly gone wrong. Senka shivered and then slowly shook her head.
"For a moment I thought I remembered something, but... it's gone. Anyway, that Monument is a little different than the others, and I guess I had a problem with it before. I really don't think I can tell you anything else."
"That's fine," Theo said. He almost spoke soothingly, but he doubted that was what Senka needed. "Why don't you get on with your lecture instead of wallowing in memories?"
"Fumpet." Senka grinned and then raised her fifth finger. "The last one is also a bit of an exception, and it's a gurfoop to name. Everybody had their own ideas, and some really are different, so there were constant arguments about nomenclature. But the fifth Transcendent Monument involves building deep into the soil of your soulhome."
"I feel like I've been getting teased about that for years. Can you finally explain basements in full?"
"I'd be afraid of directing you wrong, but I can tell you the effect. You know how two Authorities have exactly the same intensity of cantae, right? Of course you sporping do, sorry. Anyway, basement chambers change that. They're not as potent as ascensions, and they don't reforge sublime materials, but they do offer an edge you can't find anywhere else."
"So... Five Transcendent Monuments." Theo decided that he'd prefer a hard visualization, so he walked to his desk to grab some paper. He scooped up Senka, who yelped in indignation, and began sketching. "Let's compare several different Dominion-tier soulcrafters..."
Before he'd finished drawing his first tower, Senka snatched the pencil from him to mark it up. "This first blueprint will be a pure vanilla soulcrafter. That translate? Good. This design has powerful cantae and a lot of chambers for techniques and enhancement, but... that's it. I'm not saying it's blook, because any Dominion could wipe out a city, but they'll never be a higher power."
"What about a Dominion with all Five Transcendent Monuments?"
"Almost nobody crams them all into just six floors: you'd have so few techniques or special enhancements that you'd be vanilla in an entirely different way. But consider this." Senka copied his tower sketch and applied several different marks. "This soulcrafter has six floors, including an Ethereal Floor, plus a basement. They might have slightly less flexibility, but their cantae is more intense and once they activate their Ethereal Floor, they'd blow the first blueprint away. A lot more work, but more potential in the end."
"Is that a pure hypothetical, or is that a suggested model?"
"Bit of both. Let me show you another one." Senka sketched a third tower, and this time he guessed what her markings meant before she explained. "This Dominion has a Corporeal Floor and an Immortality Conduit. Ignore how long they live - that won't matter in the short term. But their soulcrafting has fundamentally transformed their bodies, and that makes them more prepared for ascension than either of the others."
"Would it have other effects?" Theo asked. "Say that all three of these are fighting, and their cantae has been drained or exhausted..."
"The third one would tear through the other two like paper. But what I really wanted to show you is how all of this makes the tiers start to overlap more. Beating a Ruler as an Archcrafter? That's a feat - good job, you're a big strong man."
"Why thank you! I've been waiting my entire life for someone to-"
Senka swatted him with the pencil and continued. "But a Stronghold defeating a Dominion isn't shocking. Against an elite Dominion, of course the gap between tiers would still matter. But if you've soulcrafted more of the Five Transcendent Monuments than your opponent, the intensity of their cantae isn't going to save them."
After a little thought, Theo picked up another pencil and added a seventh floor to the first tower. "What about the gap between sixth and seventh? It's just a large as the leap to Authority, isn't it?"
"It's definitely a challenge, and even easier to ruin yourself. I doubt the seventh tier has ever been common, anywhere in any era, but it's the last place where a soulcrafter is likely to get stuck. Anyone beyond that is a world power for the ages."
"This has been... thanks for this, Senka. Are you still feeling alright?"
"What? I'm..." She trailed off and rubbed her forehead. "I guess I was getting caught up in all this. Yeah, I should probably rest. Just keep it all in mind, alright? If you can get me to another one of the rivers, I should be able to remember more."
She wandered away from the desk and fell face-first to the floor before snoring. Theo smiled affectionately but decided to leave her there, since there was no telling how her cursed state would react. Instead he sat down at the desk and began making some sketches of his own.
Her lecture had certainly given him a lot to think about. In a way, this would fit with his modified design. For a solar-based soulhome, he had needed his higher floors to grant him new techniques of various kinds. His gravity-based design had taken longer to generate the same raw destructive potential, but his techniques were more flexible. Instead of just piling on more in higher floors, he could think about how to enhance what he already had.
It might not have helped him ascend, but at least he had something to do again. An hour before, Theo would have welcomed a distraction. Now, when he heard a knock on the door, he got up with a scowl on his face. He could feel Dhan's presence outside, but he didn't want to talk about politics.
When he opened the door, Nauda stood alongside the Blacksilver Authority.
Chapter 14
Nauda hadn't been planning to hug Theo when he opened the door, but she'd done so before she could consciously think about it. The beetles might be friendly enough, but there was no comparison to simple human touch. Thankfully Theo didn't mock her for it and instead rubbed her back in the proper Tatian manner.
If Dhan hadn't been looming right behind her, she might have embraced him longer. Since he was likely to start coughing forcefully if they wasted any more of his precious time, she pulled back. Honestly, she would have been happy to stay and talk in Theo's room, since she felt an odd affection for the Blacksilver chambers, but Dhan gestured for them to follow toward a secure chamber.
"No discussion of sensitive matters outside," he said tersely, "but the weirkey is a known quantity."
"Oh, that's right!" Nauda reached into her soulhome and revealed the chitin key for Theo to see. "Not the weirkey you wanted, I know, but it's great to finally have it."
"How was your time on Slest?" Theo asked.
"It was... a lot. I really want to talk to you about healing blueprints, and signalscent translations... for that matter, we need to talk about castes on Slest."
"I never traveled there before last year, remember? You're probably more of an expert than I am now."
"Not like that, more about... the societal structures we discussed." Nauda glanced toward Dhan, since she wasn't entirely sure what he would think of her thoughts. Best to leave that for later... possibly much later. "Anyway, I technically own this weirkey, but since I'm not an Authority, it will be in the keeping of House Blacksilver."
"Your offering to the House is greatly appreciated," Dhan said. "There are some who doubt it, but you have already contributed more than most. If you do ever reach Authority, the weirkey is yours."
"I was wanting to ask about Slescan trade," Theo said. "In theory you have access to the entire world, but you only know a small part of it, and most of it doesn't seem friendly."
"Actually, I had some thoughts about that." Nauda partially cut Theo off, and she expected him to glare at her, but he only glanced in her direction. When Dhan did as well, she continued. "Gray-Blue-Gold hive is open to formal trade, but I think you might want to trade with some groups directly. The leafpuller b- certain species on Slest mass-produce some sublime materials that I think would be beneficial to raising your younger soulcrafters."
"There are protocols for such things." Dhan stared down at her without expression. "Finding a weirkey is the most difficult step, but establishing contact is the most dangerous. There are entire regions of some worlds where Authorities arriving by weirkey will be attacked on sight. Rest assured that House Blacksilver will proceed with due caution."
That killed the conversation well enough, but they'd traveled half-way through the Blacksilver complex. Everything seemed much tenser than Nauda had last remembered. During her brief time in the city, she'd been surprised to see the presence of the Order of the Deepest Blue again, and even signs in the windows of some shops proclaiming that outsiders weren't allowed. Fortunately House Blacksilver didn't buy into any of that, but it troubled her more than she expected.
As they mounted the steps to the main building, Theo glanced over at Dhan. "So the reason you were busy is that you were picking up Nauda?"
"Among other work." Dhan glanced to the sides and spoke in a lower voice as he escorted them to one of the secure rooms. "I was also conducting investigations based on your own work. Due to something Nauda has found, I thought we should all discuss it together."
Once they were finally inside, Dhan stepped to one wall and folded his hands behind his back. "The situation on the Dustwind Plateaus has worsened. With the Asplundat Movement less active, the demons are causing more damage, which gives the Deepest Blue cultists more of a platform for their views. So this temporary reprieve will lead to war if we don't act."
"What do you want us to do?" Theo asked.
"You've already done enough for now. We used your contacts to establish a toehold in the region, providing aid with no strings attached. No military assistance, but we can replace their lost crops. We're much more concerned about problems from our side: there's evidence that House Crimson is increasingly active in the region."
