“I will show restraint in direct action, but that does not mean I will idly stand here and cast away my sight.” Jovae Chanthel parting words to the Court of the Beyond.

  Discussion long passed for all, and Hugh couldn't help but get lost in thoughts. That of his family, friends, and where he grew up.

  Due to the time he spent, he was most attached to his second, fourth, and current life. Though his longest life lived so far was his first life, his parents had died while he was still young and the village helped him out. It wasn't an understatement to say that his first life was a struggle to stay alive without the help of his parents directly. Luckily, food was shared with the whole village every day so that wasn't the largest problem.

  Looking back now from his fifth life, he is actually surprised he lasted so long comparing them to his other lives. He didn't know if there was magic wherever that was, but there didn't seem to be any major outside threats.

  Moving his thoughts back to his current life, Hugh wondered how far he would make it. At the very least, he wanted to learn how to get to the mist stage so that he could always have that knowledge if he died soon again.

  Thinking that he spoke in a quiet tone, "Heron... When will you teach me how to get to the mist stage?"

  Heron, lost in his own world of thoughts, was disturbed by Hugh and frowned for a brief instance. However, that vanished as he realized Hugh was the one who called his name. A friendly smile replaced it as he spoke, "We don't know how long it will be until they come get us. I haven't decided on which one is best yet."

  Hugh had not thought that there would be different methods to get to the mist stage. With the amount of information he knew, he just looked blankly back at Heron for a moment before asking, "Does it matter?"

  Krom, overhearing the conversation between the two that lightly echoed off the wall let out a light breath in exasperation before cutting in, "You really don't know anything at all. If you build a tower with hay, and you build a tower with steel, does it matter?"

  Heron raised a brow stating, "As he said, you can go as far as your foundation allows."

  Hugh understood and inquired, "So... Which one is the best?"

  At this point, Joff couldn't help but chuckle at the question. Heron continued, "It depends on the person, and I only know of five different methods."

  Krom turned to Heron with surprise, "What the hell are you doing with five methods?"

  Heron shrugged lightly, "It's not like I can use them, and who knows when you might meet a Hugh." Turning his head back to Hugh, he said, "Alright. I have one for people with fire affinity, earth affinity, and one with no affinity. And as Krom stated, I know that the no affinity one is equivalent to building a tower with hay. The fire and earth affinity ones are only slightly better, but you'll grow faster if it matches your affinity."

  Hugh asked, "What about the last two?"

  Heron lightly coughed, "Well. I don't actually know their affinities or anything about them really. I came across them when I was younger and was trying everything to get into the mist stage myself."

  Joff's gravel voice spoke, "Kid, with what he said about the first three, you might as well pick one of the other two."

  Krom nodded at that and Heron seemed to not be happy with that. Before Heron could say anything Hugh asked, "What's the difference between the last two?"

  Heron paused to think, letting out a hmm or two before answering, "Mind you, I'm still mortal so I don't know if anything I say really matters. But, the fourth one felt draining, and not in an exhausting way. Although, trying to do anything with the energy around feels exhausting in itself to us mortals. I really wouldn't suggest that one because of that. Also, it..."

  Krom cut in, "Yeah, yeah. What about the last one?"

  Hugh looked from Krom to Heron. Heron cleared his throat and said, "The last one... I don't really know. I tried to use it too but as you know, I am still completely mortal. I didn't feel much of anything with it and just stopped after trying for about an hour."

  Hugh and the others figured that meant it was a method with no affinity, from Heron's statement. Then Joff asked, "How many breathing techniques did it have?"

  Everybody looked back to Heron as he scratched his head. He answered the best he could, "I don't really know. I had found it on something like an inscription stone and I could only see the first one ."

  Joff instantly said, "Choose the last one kid."

  Confused by the certainty with which Joff stated that he asked, "Why that one? Heron said he couldn't feel anything."

  Joffs piercing gaze focused on Hugh for a moment before stating, "Only high-tier methods are inscribed on anything. Even if it doesn't match your affinity, it would still be better than what the others sounded like. Unless..."

  Facing Heron, Joff asked, "Are any of the others inscribed?"

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  Heron shook his head, "No. No. The other ones, people had tried to teach me for a price."

  Joff said, "There you go. Choose the last one."

  Heron sighed as Hugh nodded and said, "Thanks Joff. Heron, do you have the stone?"

  Heron sighed and said, "You're lucky that I was thinking about selling it right before they caught me."

  Reaching in a pocket and pulling out a rough-looking, looking tear-drop shaped object, Heron tossed it over to Hugh.

  Hugh reached up to catch it to only have it thump across his hand and bounce to the ground. A little embarrassed, Hugh got up to retrieve the object and sat back down.

  As he got comfortable and focused on it nothing seemed to happen. After a bit, Hugh looked back up at Heron and waited until he and Joff stopped talking before asking, "Umm... How do I use it?"

  Heron said, "Jeez, don't even know that huh? Inscription items are intent based objects. Just focus on it and with your intent, will, whatever you want to call it, think view, or read, open, or use. It depends on the object and its purpose but that one, you have to use for some reason."

  Hugh thanked Heron and refocused his attention on the stone in his hands as he observed it in detail.

  The tear-shaped stone was a yellowish-brown color and smooth like a polished tile. The entire surface felt unblemished as he dragged his finger around it curiously. Like there was a shallow transparent layer encompassing the object, Hugh could not feel a trace of the visible etchings scrawled across its surface. Even if he could, it wouldn’t help. The particular stone he was holding had multiple layers, each one opaque and concealing the next.

  Hugh paused his inspection as his curiosity got the better of him. Whispering to the room in hopes of answers, “What’s with the shape? Are all inscribed stones this shape? And why the light brown color? Doesn’t that show what affinity it is?”

  After the last question, Heron interrupted before Hugh could get more out, “Hey. Just use the damn stone. I’m not an expert in those things and I don’t think anybody here, and maybe even in this town could answer you anyway.”

  Hugh registered the reality of his situation again and refocused on the stone. Staring intently at it once more, he stopped his thoughts about the whys and hows for the object as a whole. Uncertain how to actually use it, he thought about how he would use any other rock as he visualized throwing it.

  Nothing happened.

  Remembering his first life and due to the pointed shape of the stone Hugh pictured affixing it to the end of a long piece of wood to make a spear.

  Nothing happened.

  Hugh went through a few different ideas on how to use the stone but all resulted in nothing happening.

  A little too embarrassed to ask what he was doing wrong, Hugh remembered some of the other commands he could try.

  Staring intently at the unrecognizable patterns hiding just beneath the surface, Hugh wished he could understand them as he visualized himself doing the same in his mind. The only difference was that he seemed to be studying with some understanding internally.

  Hugh's eyes went blank as his gaze unfocused in a trance. As his visualization shifted into a Blur, everything turned to a white background and the stone appeared in the center of a large space oriented with its pointed end aimed at the sky.

  Hugh noticed it began to spin as the colors shifted from the dull yellowish-brown to a deep and vibrant red. The immediate surroundings began to glow with the same intensity in stark contrast to the simple plain background.

  Just as Hugh thought that was it, the colors were instantly sucked back into the stone and a pulse of energy was released in reality. No pressure was given to anybody and the only person who would have noticed anything had long fled.

  In Hugh’s mind, right after the color disappeared, it bloomed with a brilliant yellow as dazzling as the sun before another pulse was released upon being pulled in. Hugh watched as this happened multiple times with more colors than Hugh could name. The whole time Hugh watched a dazzling display of colors coming and going, he only noted a few times that there seemed to be a pause in between before it began again with different ones.

  After what seemed like at least half an hour passed, Hugh saw the stone in his mind rise up from where it was as he was presented with a choice.

  No text, no voice spoke, and no other movement was seen. Yet, Hugh understood that the stone had an intent to question him and demanded an answer. Not knowing exactly how to respond, Hugh inadvertently gave off confusion as a response.

  In turn, the will left in the stone attempted to rectify the situation by separating three distinct intents. The first was to give itself to another.

  The instant Hugh felt that thought encroach on his mind, he immediately rejected it since it went against everything he wanted. That still made a subtle change in Hugh’s mind as he felt like the object he was holding was not an inscription stone anymore but a seed. Of what, he did not know.

  Unable to dwell on that small bit of new understanding, the seed sent the second choice to Hugh by will.

  Hugh felt a new intent with the same distinct flavor wash over him as he felt what was intended before he knew what was intended. Hugh’s eyes lit up at the initial bit of intent as it would guide him to break through to the half-transcendent stage. Hugh had never heard of that before but he was sure it was higher than mist.

  The only problem was the trailing part of the intent. Hugh would be bound to the seed for the entirety of his life and that stage would be a limit. He would also have to allow the seed to, find and scan others.

  Hugh thought that this might be alright since he would at least have a starting point that he could use in the next life and so on since he was already a slave, but the seed felt Hugh's hesitation as it stopped the intent behind the choice.

  Hugh was a bit worried he was too late as he felt a new sensation wash over him. As he shifted from feeling the intent to understanding it and the meaning behind it, Hugh was certain he wanted it, even with the cost and requirements.

  The seed felt a strong desire and will contained in Hughs own will as the seeds will changed to a feeling of acceptance before Hugh blinked in the real world.

  The others watched Hugh as he focused on the stone. They all noticed when his attention shifted to a daze and they knew he had started using the odd inscription stone.

  However, after only ten seconds a huge change came as the stone began to glow. Quickly becoming brighter and brighter, everybody in the room couldn’t help but close their eyes. The actions result but a blink, as the cell returned to dark just as fast. Hugh and the others watched and the object seemed to shed a layer of material, dissipating into motes of faint sparks trailing away before converging onto the stone.

  A second had passed since the flash of light, and the stone shifted becoming translucent before shooting toward Hugh's head.

  Faster than any of them could react as mortals, Hugh's head was forced back and into the wall as the object passed through his skin. Hugh felt the burst of pressure but could not react as a grunt escaped his lips before a sharp pain assaulted him that shook his very soul.

  In the final instant of consciousness, Hugh glimpsed something in his mind that he had never seen before. An ethereal object that looked to be tied to a string that led off into the distance. Along with that, the tear-shaped object he now knew was a seed had somehow stabbed into the string with its pointed end like a ripened fruit hanging there, waiting to fall and begin its journey to start a new life. Its existence was nothing but patience as the host grew and it could one day be pulled from the proverbial vine.