Universe's End

Chapter 230: Cruor Dẻntro

“Is it really right for me to be involved?” Roxy asked, sounding unsure.

“I asked for the best minds to gather, did I not?” Rory said with a half smile, before it slackened into a frown. “I’m told even before Sasha’s death, you’d taken the title as the most accomplished gem crafter in Ehkorrus, besides me, that is. So why wouldn’t you be a part of this meeting?”

“It just feels a bit like nepotism.”

“Enough,” Rory rolled his eyes. “Now take your seat, Adept Roxy.”

“Is that something you just thought up?” Roxy asked, taking her spot several seats to his left.

“Yes, it sounds fancier than ‘Head of the whatever department of crafts’ or the like.”

“Wouldn’t we all be called Adepts then? Wouldn’t that get confusing regarding who is the best at what?”

“Huh,” Rory frowned. “Fair point. Lapidarist Adept Roxy. Better?”

“Marginally,” Roxy said, straightening out as the door opened.

Walking in, a rather familiar crowd appeared. Mariah, Gil, and Jed walked through before several other less familiar faces appeared.

Must be the heads -adepts, I mean- the adepts of the sub-arts.

While alchemy, gem crafting, forging, and inscription were viewed as the four ‘foundational’ arts, others existed, usually derivative of the main four. It made sense, given that just because you were the highest-tier alchemist, it didn’t mean you specialized in alchemy regarding bloodwoods, for example.

“Welcome, Adepts, to the-”

Mariah’s hand instantly shot up as Rory had to hold back the urge to roll his eyes.

“Yes?”

“Adepts?”

“You artisans are used to rebrands,” Rory said to a chitter of quiet laughter; there was almost a running joke at this point about how often the artisans’ guild renamed themselves. “Still a bit of a work in progress,” Rory’s eyes shot over to Roxy, who looked away innocently. “But yes, I’m considering a rename or a label for those understood to be the leads in their fields as Adepts. If you have any thoughts, feel free to lodge them with Irene.”

Irene was not present, though one of her people was, someone Rory vaguely recalled the name of.

Susan? Sarah? Sana? No, wait, it was definitely Ciarra. S and C can’t blame me.

“That aside, welcome to the first formal Adept meeting of Ehkorrus. Before anyone asks, the difference between this and one of your artisan meetings is that this isn’t affiliated with the guild; it’s something that I called for. As for why I called you all here, it is a matter of what will be done about the Golden Fields. I’ve already discussed plans with some, but to fill in everyone here, I will claim the former Golden Fields under my banner. Without the protection of a tier eight territory alpha, there are some challenges with that, though. They have been considered. The point of you all is that much like Ehkorrus has the Grand Sequoia overlooking it, I plan something similar within the former Golden Fields, and it is within this proposed tree that I plan to put to rest those who were slain in the Undercity Emergency.”

Rory let it sink in, making sure no one was about to raise their hand or make any complaints.

“Typically, this would be where I set about handling the task all on my own. There are benefits to this, as most of you are likely aware of by now, mainly that something created by a single person across multiple arts or fields is qualitatively greater than its contemporaries. This is not one of those situations. This second ‘Grand Tree’ will be a representation of Ehkorrus, of its people. If I were to create it entirely of my own, it would not inherit the shared significance that I’m looking for.”

Again, Rory went silent, giving the gathered Adepts time to ingest what had been said.

“I, and the Rong family, will be in charge of direct action regarding the details of this theoretical Grand Tree. But I want all

of you to find ways to contribute. Of course, just saying that and having you all go about your own merry way is a surefire way to ensure clashing concepts and harmonies. So, we are here to hash out our thoughts and ideas. I myself will remain silent, or mostly silent, as this is meant to be a meeting of the minds of Ehkorrus, not the Lord Founder and his sycophants.”Rory noticed only a moment of surprise from Mariah, as if shocked that she wasn’t a part of the ‘main team.’

“Then, if everyone understands, let the first formalized Adept meeting…. Begin!”

“Could have gone better, could have gone worse,” Rory sighed, pressing his brow with steepled fingers.

Turns out, the different crafts and their artisans got along about as well as wet cats and hungry dogs.

Not that it wasn’t without merit.

Rory briefly smiled at the memory of Roxy wading into the thick of things. At first, it had seemed the other adept would be too terrified to clash with her, always throwing poorly hidden glances at Rory in case he would smite them the moment they argued back against her.

But when Rory reclined and let the show play out, even Roxy had gotten into several yelling matches.

I did not expect Mariah and Roxy to be at each other’s throats like that.

Something about the two women did not get along, and that was saying something, given that no one in the room seemed to get along when push came to shove.

“Just more proof my little girl isn’t my little girl anymore,” Rory sighed.

In fact, she’s right around the age I was when I first appeared on Aelia. Damn, time really does fly.

Otherwise, the meeting had been… well, saying ‘productive’ would have been a bald-faced lie, but at least ideas had been thrown out there.

Well, it is what it is, that’s why we have another Adept meeting formally scheduled… Hmm, Adept Formal. Adept Forum? Oh, I like the sound of that. Adept Forum it is.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Nodding to himself, Rory soon found himself standing before the gates of the Rong compound, already swinging open as a woman he didn’t recognize bowed before him.

“I greet the Lord Founder. My name is Seoyun Rong.”

Korean? Really, Hao, just how much of an East-a-boo were you?

“Greetings, Seoyun,” Rory returned a bow, albeit far less deeply.

“I was sent to be your attendant. My Great-Grandfather is waiting within the Grove alongside those gathered.”

Great Grandfather? I shouldn’t be surprised, but man, always a little wild.

“Lead the way,” Rory said, ushering forward with his hand. In truth, he could have found it himself; you didn’t have his level of cognition and forget directions that easily, not when he’d spent quite a bit of time here repaying them for helping with the fallout of his tier seven summit battle against his Bane, by improving their Grove.

Oh, sure, people think my memory is terrible, but it’s more like I can’t be bothered to dredge things up to begin with. Or to add them to the memory to begin with.

Keeping those thoughts to himself, Rory followed the woman, though calling her a woman when, frankly, she was only maybe a year out of her teenage years felt a bit wrong.

Reaching the Rong family bloodwood grove only a short bit later, Rory passed through the familiar threshold as the rest of the world seemed to bleed away. It wasn’t the same as stepping into a delve or the likes, where the world literally vanished. Still, it was almost as if the rest of the world seemed further away, like you needed to squint to see what should have only been a few feet away.

I do good work.

Putting aside the nature of the spatial expansion that Rory had painstakingly worked to make possible for the Grove, Rory passed through the trees, the once-familiar sight of bloodwoods like a small forest sanctuary.

As Rory passed through, he found his gaze lingering on a single bird, a tier three monster.

Hmm.

It wasn’t the first time he’d seen it, the ‘pet’ of the Rong family, but he could have sworn it wasn’t tier three last time.

But then, that’s time for you.

Continuing, Rory found a small group gathered in the pavilion that housed the heirloom of the Rong family’s original matriarch.

“Lord Founder,” Hao Lin Rong bowed to Rory as the rest of the group copied him. “Seoyun,”

“Great-Grandfather,” Seoyun gave her great-grandfather a bow before turning to Rory. “I will be making my leave now.”

“Yep, that’s fine,” Rory said, not really feeling any more formalities.

Once the young woman had left, Rory turned back to the gathered Rong family members.

“We looked over your notes,” Hao Lin Rong said as he spoke for the group. “The Lord Founder is, as always, a visionary. While we have little experience with this ‘cruor’ concept, our experience with bloodwoods is enough that while your idea works in concept, it has some issues.”

“Oh?” Rory asked. It wasn’t often he was the one being educated on something anymore.

“Yes. Your plan to infuse a bloodwood with the energies of the Grand Tree and then ‘feed’ it the bodies of the deceased is unlikely to do anything outside of resulting in a very overfed bloodwood. It would likely reach the stage of a mature Bloodwood in short order, but that isn’t the goal. From your estimates of this ‘cruor’ element, it is essentially a transcendent form of blood.”

“Hence why I wanted to graft an aspect of the Grand Tree upon it, thus forcing that transcendence,” Rory answered.

“In concept,” Hao Lin Rong countered. “But bloodwoods are corruptive, as you know. Unless you neuter those corruptive elements, you would feed the bloodwood’s state, not evolve it.”

“But neutering the corruptive elements would cut away the tree’s ability to take in the deceased, as is the current plan.”

“Correct. And while with trial and error, I am certain that the Lord Founder would quickly realize and figure out the precise way to pull off what your goals entail.”

“I can’t afford trial and error, not in this case. All or nothing, I can’t simply collect hundreds of other bodies.”

“A gruesome thought indeed,” Hao Lin Rong nodded.

“Then, your idea?” Rory questioned.

“We divide the concept of blood, split apart and evolve each fragment of the base concept, before taking the newly transcended fragments and reweaving them together.”

“That’s ballsy,” Rory crossed his arms, impressed. “That requires identifying aspects that make up the concept of blood itself, understanding exactly how one would ‘improve’ them, and then reweaving them in a way, all while avoiding conflicts. Not to mention, that’s not something just anyone can do on the fly, not for something of this scale.”

“Indeed,” Hao Lin Rong said. “The most difficult part will be the reweaving, the ability to handle several conceptual threads at once, and making sense of them, is beyond what any of us can do.”

“But not beyond what I can do,” Rory answered.

“Which is why if this attempt at creating this Cruor Tree is to pan out, it will be you who must handle the apex of the alchemical ritual, while the most talented members of the Rong family will handle the rest. Furthermore, the energy burdens involved mean that the Rong family members will be opening themselves to a high degree of danger. This isn’t any ordinary alchemy.”

“Corruptive energies and vital energies, perfect combination for breaking your soul or something,” Rory snorted. “Are you willing to try?”

“Oh, more than willing,” Hao Lin Rong laughed. “This is the sort of challenge that carries the significance to smooth one’s ascension. Success will result in those participating finding a new path forward, their next ascensions all but guaranteed to be offered potent skills.”

“Glad you see it that way,” Rory chuckled.

“Of course, that is speaking frankly of selfish reasons,” Hao Lin Rong said. “Then there is, of course, our desire to aid the Lord Founder.”

“Is there anything else?” Rory asked after a moment.

“Yes,” Hao Lin Rong said. “I believe there is one member of the family who would be useful.”

“Let me guess… Gon Rong?” Rory asked, already certain of the answer.

“Yes. Having spent time training under your tutelage and exposed to the nature of a more difficult environment, I believe he will, without a doubt, be one of the most important members to involve.”

“Anything else?”

“Having examined your idea, no,” Hao Lin Rong shook his head. “Simply nurturing itself off of the bodies of so many deceased, alongside a fragment of the Grand Tree, should be enough in conjunction with the efforts of your-”

“Adept Forum,” Rory answered, giving the newly minted name.

“Adept Forum, yes, that one,” Hao Lin Rong nodded. “My Lord, may I voice a thought?”

“Sure,” Rory said, noticing several of the Rong family members sharing a look.

“This ‘Adept Forum,’ we of the Rong find it… Somewhat insulting?”

“Oh?” Had Rory been a less patient man or quick to anger, he would have found the comment itself insulting. “How exactly does it insult you?”

“Oh, you misunderstand,” Hao Lin Rong said, shaking his head. “Not insulting to us, but to you. Having interacted with quite a few members of the artisan’s guild, or whatever their most recent fad of a name is, over the years, we know what they’re like. We believe they do not show you the reverence you deserve, nor the proper loyalty. They may respect or fear you, mostly the latter; they do not consider your words within their very hearts the way they should.”

You know, Irene once mentioned this. A loyalty to me more than to Ehkorrus itself.

Letting the words rest, Rory finally shook his head with a chuckle.

“That’s fine. People are people. Even if they worshipped me-”

In fairness, there is a religious movement centered on us Founders.

“-that would not prevent them from still being people to their core.”

I mean, how often on Earth were some of the most fervent religious folk often the most hypocritical?

Hao Lin Rong seemed to mull over the words for several seconds before sighing.

“If you insist, Lord Founder.”

Rory crossed his arms, nodding along. “I do.”

While the comment was appreciated, if only from the sincerity with which Hao Lin Rong spoke, it wasn’t something Rory needed to be told. He understood that his relationship with the people of Ehkorrus would always be odd. For some, he was a sort of minor deity; to others, he was a representative of order, to others still, he was evidence of what was possible.

To very few was he a flesh-and-blood man.

The Adepts were all the best in their fields; it wasn’t all too shocking that they were more likely to see Rory for what he offered as a symbol and as an existence than as a Lord to pledge their loyalty.

How very Samurai of the Rong. Rory mentally snorted before he shook his head.

“Well, I have another task to handle, so do your best to find the folks needed for the ritual.”

“This other task, may I inquire as to its nature?”

“Oh, simple enough,” Rory said. “I’ve got a Sleepless Dragon to make.”