Enough with the distractions. Time to use the ray.

  “Finished?” the old geezer asked, always in a bad mood, isn’t he?

  “Yes.”

  “About time!” What a grump.

  No time for words. First, I create some blood with my divine spell on my index finger, then use the concepts I learned from the spellstar.

  The damn thing burned my fucking finger!

  I direct the ray at the floor a meter to my right—no chance of hurting anyone.

  Soon, a crimson ray shot out, crashing into the soil after less than a second.

  A cloud of dust rose, and a small crater formed, smaller than a golf ball.

  There, I felt a smidgen of blood. Why not? I used burning blood, and soon a small flame erupted before fading, as if there was no fuel left.

  Yes, I know what fuel you want—blood and my fucking finger.

  Still, it seems useful. At least now I don’t have to splash my blood around like a kid playing with water.

  Not that I wouldn’t do that if it worked, though.

  “That’s it?!” the old geezer asked, though I got the impression he knew it wasn’t.

  The best way to answer is by showing, as they say. So, this time, I created double the amount of blood with my divine spell and used the spell to manipulate it. Yes, that’s a good name—**Blood Manipulation**

  For the ray, **Blazing Ray** should work.

  Back on topic, the droplets floated in a sphere, half an arm’s length away from my body. Another try with Blazing Ray, and the same thing happened—though stronger this time, as I used more blood.

  All in all, I got a sense of how much energy the spell used.

  Floating a droplet of blood felt like less than the energy of creating one.

  Using blazing ray cost 9 to 11 times more energy than simply using burning blood.

  I really need a way to measure how much energy I have and how much I gain from bonding with a star.

  After this little show, I felt like I’d wasted a chunk of energy—much more than before. Mostly thanks to blazing ray.

  It feels like a lot because I’m overflowing with energy now, way more than before. I can’t even imagine how much energy the bleeding ray would’ve used the first time I got a magic spell—maybe a third of my total energy?

  I really need a better way to monitor my energy.

  But that’s not my only question. Thinking about the shards—how the hell am I supposed to find them?

  The old geezer shook his head. “Hmm, your spellset doesn’t seem focused. Spellset, in this case, is your set of spells—pretty self-explanatory, dare I say. Take Aurore as an example. She focuses her entire spellset on her metallic magic, tuned from blood. Obviously, she has some hidden spells, but it’s all about improving her efficiency through pinpoint precision.”

  After a cough, he continued, “That isn’t solely the fruit of her work—in a way, it’s the lesser part. It’s her heritage. Any powerful family has theirs. As the family of a ruler, they have more than most, all fueled by their past rulers and potential heirs.”

  Houonas added, “A domain’s shard stores all succession information and their collective knowledge—their ‘spellset,’ as Darefei calls it. This is one of the most significant benefits of being a ruler.”

  The old geezer shook his head. “That’s what a newcomer would say. There are also ways for powerful families to create relic shards—or even more powerful shards—for that purpose. Nevertheless, it has its flaws. For example, the person in question must willingly imprint their heritage onto it. Yes, they sometimes resort to torture for their more obstinate family members.”

  Darefei continued, “Still, it has many failures. My family prefers the old ways—teaching until our young heads turn to mush!” He finished with a hearty laugh.

  It seems the shortie likes to talk about his home—in his own weird way.

  I’m curious about what his planet is like, though I have better questions to ask.

  “They still have teachers, manuals, materials—all to ensure the family’s power and prestige. The domain’s shard just ensures all the heritages are safe and keeps some unique or flawed ones hidden from the world”, the old geezer downplayed.

  Makes some sense, anyway.

  “Darefei, before I go, how can I find these shards in the gardens? Just look for something shining? And do you know of something that can monitor energy?”

  As I asked, the old geezer stroked his long beard.

  “That’s a good point. Here, take this. It’s the one I used as a little lad!” He pulled out a weird, curved bronze stick.

  “Grip the longer part. The smaller end, with the slightly wider tip, will point to the nearest shard. Be careful not to fall into any beast traps. As for measuring energy, most people do it by gut feeling. That’s how I do it. If you want something more precise, you’ll have to find it in the capital.” The old geezer gazed into the distance—if that’s where the capital is, only he knows.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “The way you say it makes it sound like I won’t have you or Houonas to look after me.”

  “Ha! Obviously, we won’t be! I’ll be warding the hell out of these quarters. I’ve never been weaker, but warding—like most crafting spells—is one of the things that loses the least power during a bond. We lose most of the spells, but the knowledge we’ve gained isn’t useless without them!” He grabbed Houonas’s lower left hand.

  “You, girl, should learn it too!” the old shortie demanded.

  “Such a curriculum is standard for each of our kind, covering only the bare essentials. Warding is a concept I have considered—one that would complement my martial style. The choice lay between warding, alchemy, or a more focused crafting technique like bladesmithing. But that would require the highest approval from my master, the heir” Houonas said, unblinking and unmoving, except for her top hands brushing her antennae.

  Darefei let go of her hand and stroked his beard. “Hmm, each is a good choice. However, I think this lost cause would be better supplied with warding—especially since warding ties into runecrafting. That’s why my kind always focuses on warding as a required spelltree. Which one to specialize in is a personal choice. Mine is time! I started with obfuscation, but time has far more appeal to me!”

  Houonas didn’t stop rubbing her antennae. “Some of our kind are also known to use concepts of their warding in ritualistic blessings and other applications. I will gladly oblige.” She finally stopped.

  “Splendid! There’s no better way to learn than from a professional! I dare say I can teach you more than any spell directly through your mush brain!” The old geezer clapped for emphasis. Great.

  Really fucking great. Now it’s me against the world again.

  “Alright, I’ll be alone in a garden with all sorts of perils threatening my life for three days.”

  “Two days and seven hours, by thou measure of time,” Houonas added.

  “What? The three days were in your time?” She should’ve said that earlier. Why confuse me?

  “Actually, it’s one day and...five hours. It’s because your pea brain didn’t remember that the three days started from the ritual of bonding! Time has passed! And you’ll need to be back here one day before you lose the protection the succession is giving to your territory! We need to strike while the iron is hot, even if the hammer is flimsy and weak!” The old geezer was getting agitated. “The wards can’t hold off a bunch of lackeys for more than a few hours. Against Fion or Aurore, they’ll last only seconds!”

  “Ah, right.” He has a point. It’s better to go with Houonas and Darefei while I’m still incognito. It would all be for nothing if I’m trying to finish off the heirs while my territory is exposed.

  The weakness of the wards isn’t a surprise—Darefei’s power is now tied to me, it seems.

  “I’ll take five of these hours to sleep, though.” I’m also going to take a bath.

  “...Fine! Sleep for six, then—just so you don’t use fatigue as an excuse! You’ll come back in one day and six hours. We’ll save one hour for discussion, and then we’ll go finish this succession!” The old geezer was more hyper than me.

  “Agreed,” Houonas said.

  “I have to take care of this shield, though. Having a flag marking my location won’t be good right now.” I started letting a few drops of blood from my divine spell float up, preparing another Blazing Ray.

  “The energy you two put into it is a pittance. Alright, try your ray on it.”

  I added a few more drops of blood—and even some more—before Darefei could complain. I activated the Blazing Ray, the ray flashing out faster and stronger this time, reaching the mirror’s surface directed at me and...destroying the mirror, turning it into essence, which returned to my hand.

  Interesting. But I smelled my burned beard, the stench of burned hair, and the ashes of my dignity.

  “Let that be a lesson. You need to fuel the amount of energy necessary for what you want to do, whether it’s an artifact or a spell. Just a pinch of energy in the artifact made this a flimsy shield! Remember not to disrupt the essence in this state, or the shard can be broken. Also, it’ll take a few hours before you can use it again,” the old geezer said, a little too late.

  “Could’ve told me sooner. One less thing to protect my life.” Isn’t that technically their job?

  “Crybaby. This lesson will be burned into your head from now on. Another thing—you two, take these.” The old geezer handed us two rectangular metallic things that looked like oversized adhesive bandage.

  “Stick them to the side of your head, above the ear. Use some energy to glue them in place, like this, and think about the person. The device will understand the concept.” The old geezer stuck one to his head.

  It wasn’t too difficult, though a little weird—like a mix of a clip and an adhesive.

  Let’s see. Think about the old geezer and push some energy through my head.

  “Hey, young boy, that’s it.” Hearing the old geezer’s voice doubled was like a nightmare.

  “Incredible. The voice sounds so real,” I said. Even some of our cheaper long-distance gadgets had interference. Let’s see if this is the same soon.

  “The wonders of runecraft! It’ll work within the proximity of the castle—maybe half that distance farther. Beyond that, energy, shard, and essence interference will disrupt it. Only with bigger equipment can we circumvent that! Also, don’t use it outside of emergencies! It’s easy to track!” The old geezer seemed proud.

  “Okay, I’m going down these fucking stairs. It seems I’ll only have five hours of sleep after all.” A slight exaggeration, but every second of sleep counts. The drop from the window seemed bigger from up here.

  “No more! Time is working against us!” the old man yelled as I reached the top of the window.

  “Have fun, Houonas. Drain this old geezer of all the wisdom his dusty brain has left!”

  “It will be done, master,” Houonas replied with a curtsy.

  “You brat!” If the old geezer said anything else, I didn’t hear it.

  I’m not sure how I feel about being called “master,” but I do feel pretty good about annoying the old geezer.

  Time to focus on getting down these stairs as fast as I can. The moonlight is fine, but I’ll use my cellphone’s flashlight for extra light.