2025-04-17 19:51:19Chapter 6: The Schematics of Sorcery and Steam
Suddenly, an ethereal tide of celestial data surged into Elias’s mind—a storm of diagrams etched in flowing light and glyphic geometry. The ancient schematics, impossible yet intuitive, nested themselves deep into his consciousness like runes etched upon soulstone. He saw them. No—he knew them. Every curve, seal, and spiral of conduit-chant, etched into his memory like it had always been there. Through the cryptic knowledge gifted by Nexus-1, the arcane construct bound to his soul, Elias now fully understood the ancient art of hydra-flow systems—the lost, forbidden architecture of controlled water. He could build it. Forge it. Shape running water from nothing but will, copper, and glyph-borne spellcraft. “Yes!” “You uttered something, young master?” came the gentle voice of Bernice, the elder handmaid, as she entered the washroom—her hands full with yet another gleaming pail. Elias jolted upright mid-celebration, barely suppressing his victorious grin. “Ah—nothing. Just… thinking aloud.” She tilted her head, the corner of her lip quirking with matronly mischief. “Fufufu… so the young master has entered that age, has he?” “Huh?” “Oh, nothing at all. Do enjoy your soak, young master.” Bernice knelt by the bath and poured warm water from her bucket into the half-filled basin. Steam rose lazily from the surface—but still far from enough to submerge in comfort. She’d need to make several more trips to the mana well. She winced—just barely—as a bolt of pain lanced up her back. But she revealed nothing. Her face remained soft, devoted, unreadable. “I’ve set your change of robes in your chamber, young master.” “Mm. Thank you.” Elias slid into the semi-filled tub, mind already racing through blueprints and casting sequences. His goal was simple: construct a flowglyph array for personal bathing convenience. Bernice exited at last. Only then did her shoulders sag, her expression betraying the exhaustion she had hidden. Another young maid approached her in the hallway. “Are you alright, Miss Bernice?” Bernice waved her off. “I’m fine. Just age catching up.” But the girl saw it—the tight line of her jaw, the way her hand rubbed her spine when she thought no one watched. “You really shouldn’t keep hauling water like that. We have elementalists on the Holloway payroll. They can summon gallons with a single chant.” Bernice shook her head. “The young master prefers it warm. The conjured kind’s always chilled. He deserves comfort.” The girl sighed. “You're breaking your back for bathwater. You pamper him too much.” Bernice just smiled. “It’s fine. He’s Elias.” --- When he’d finished bathing, Elias dried off and immediately made for the Celestial Archive—the Holloway estate’s monumental library. It wasn’t a room. It was an edifice—a sanctum worthy of empires. Its towering shelves, gleaming scriptoriums, and floating index wisps gave the air of divine reverence. It had to be. After all, the Holloway bloodline could afford to convert a kingdom’s treasury into tomes. He spent long minutes wandering beneath suspended chandeliers of glowing sigilglass, searching for the section he needed. Finally, a glimmer of gold-leaf lettering caught his eye.
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