Moonlight Relic, Ch 37: A Night of Full Moons (Patreon)

Sam sent a look up at the Ice Palace as he studied the towers and the Frost Bells. They felt similar to the wards on the valley, but much weaker, which meant the sylphs had a hand in creating them. A moment later, he felt the valley around him trembling as the weight of the moons' aura pressed down on the earth, low and heavy, and the force in it suddenly increased by half.

His attention shot up to the three moons as he felt the change in his soul. The last indistinguishable slivers that were missing had appeared, leaving them full and round.

It wasn't the Alignment yet, but he could feel that they would stay that way for the next three days as their energy continued to increase. It meant he would also be at his strongest, with the greatest peak during the Alignment itself. The astral energy in his body was spinning, drawing in the aura and growing stronger as it rejoiced, but a longing to fly higher and travel into the distant void was also there, calling him upward.

He couldn't fly yet, but he wanted to, and he had to force himself to focus on the city around him.

As he headed back toward the city gates, a commotion in an alleyway caught his attention. At first, he thought it was something common like thieves, who were common tonight as they darted all through the crowds and took advantage of the festival, but a moment of listening changed his mind. There were two figures in hooded costumes who had paused on the street, but they were only standing by the mouth of the alley. One was wearing a stork mask and the other had an illusion that made him look like a type of forest spirit with a bow.

“I’m telling you, the Adventurer’s Guild and the Dwarven Trading Council are both putting out word to leave it alone.” The man in the stork mask shook his head. “No good will come of pushing up to the peak. The sylphs are backing him as well, and they’ve already banished one group.”

“The enchantments are stronger than they’ve ever been,” the archer replied. “The sylphs are keeping a secret for him and trying to keep everyone away. I’m going to find out what it is. There are two nights left until the alignment and something has to happen.”

“You know the council is worried about offending the Hunter. They want him to be an attraction for the city and to bring in more visitors.”

“He can’t be a World Spirit, so what does it matter? The church hasn’t declared a stance on him yet, and that means he’s not aligned. I’m free to do whatever.”

It was the first time in a while that Sam had heard about the church, since usually he stayed far away from them, with the exception of Lenei. In some ways, she’d become his shield from that side of things. That was what really made him stop and listen. He didn’t care if the man went up to the peak, since he was leaving it open as a free-for-all, but he was interested in the church’s view of the Horned Hunter.

The conversation continued in a muttered back and forth, until it was clear that both of them were newly arrived adventurers in the city. From the sound of it, they were not the only ones with an idea to climb up to the peak and find out what was going on.

Before long, the two men moved on, their argument still going as the stork mask tried to convince the other one that it was foolish, but he tuned it out. When they were gone, instead of leaving the city as he’d planned, he hesitated for a moment and then turned toward the east wall, where he’d seen a cathedral on the way in.

Silently, he slid through the streets until he was standing in front of it. It was a potential risk, but he’d never actually seen the church up close. The small one back in Cliff’s End didn’t count, especially not compared to this monumental building, which took up nearly a quarter of a mile on the front that faced the street. It also stretched back for several blocks, making a huge footprint inside the city, with separate buildings behind it that had to be barracks, training areas, and storerooms.

Unlike what he’d expected, it had no wall of its own. The grounds were open to passers-by, who could freely cut through the small gardens and courtyards between the buildings, as if the church wanted to make it clear that they didn’t separate themselves from the city. All of the structures were built of a modest white stone and careful timbers, and subtle silver-white runes marked out defensive enchantments on the walls and corners. Despite the open layout, the buildings were still prepared for attack.

There was a soft white glow from the runes that reminded him of Ayala, the church princess they’d run into beneath the Abyssinian Plains, and he wondered what had happened to her since they’d dropped her off at home. He knew that Krana kept up an exchange of messages with her friend, but he hadn’t asked for the details.

He nodded as he looked around, studying the defenses and getting a general feeling for the place, until he felt a presence within the range of Crystal Focus that was coming closer. Based on the World Core’s stance, he should be seen as a strong ally now, so he stayed as it approached and even dropped the moonlight cloak that was concealing him.

It had been subconscious, but he was willing to admit that he’d come here to test the church and lay old doubts to rest. They could be either a great help or a hindrance to his future plans.

“Welcome, my friend,” a voice echoed across the street as a broad, bearded man in a white robe appeared in front of him. He faded into existence as light filled in a space in the night, like a reverse shadow. “You honor me with your presence. What do you think of my home?”

Even as Sam Analyzed him, the flickering sense of the same skill being used on him passed across his senses.

Human. Bishop of Law-Faithful Guard. Level 191.

It didn’t take long to figure out who he was, since his class gave it away. This had to be the bishop of the church in Highfold, the strongest individual in the area and the one in charge of all of the church’s activities. Lenei had complained about him more than once, but in a harmless way, since he kept trying to give her work to do.

He was the strongest individual that Sam had met so far, even stronger than the governor and Micas. His robes were embroidered with layers of runic symbols that merged together, which were clearly for defense. The robes ended at the shoulder, leaving his muscular arms bare, and silver bracers covered each wrist, indicating that his subclass was a type of specialized brawler. Despite the easy smile that was half-hidden in his beard, there was a fierceness about him that spoke of battles.

He wasn’t what Sam had expected from the church, but much of his early experiences had involved being resentful of it, since the organization had never helped his family. That the church treated the World Law as a god was also part of it, which was something he had trouble accepting. Still, there were expectations to uphold, especially now that the sylphs had spoken for him. He didn't want to make them look bad.

“Bishop,” Sam replied with a nod as he glanced at the white buildings behind the bishop. “It's a lovely home. The combination of study and training is clear, as is the welcome to those who live here. Some would search for many years for such a place to call their own.”

“That welcome extends to you as well, my friend,” the bishop said as his smile got wider and his stance relaxed slightly. “I wasn’t sure if you would speak to us, but I am glad that you have come. I have been hoping to meet you.” He studied Sam’s features, tilting his head back slightly to look up at him, and he couldn’t hide the sudden start of surprise as he met his eyes. Despite that, he recovered quickly.

“I have never seen one of your people before,” he said slowly, his arms hanging relaxed by his side. “Your presence speaks of stars and fire. Could you tell me your race, and what intentions you have in Highfold? I do not doubt your good will, since I can see the aura of the Law on you, but it would set my mind at ease to hear it from you.”

Even with as much time as Sam had to accustom himself to his first race change, it was still strange to hear someone think of him as a non-human race. Fortunately, there was only curiosity in the bishop’s tone. There was also a soft white aura around him that was something like Persuade, which was calling attention to itself. It seemed to be trying to set Sam at ease, but it wasn’t attempting to break through his aura, so he ignored it.

“I have no strife with Highfold. I only came to buy a few things. My home is on the peak.” He pulled a lunar gemstone out of his pouch and held it up to the bishop to see before he tucked it away again. “As for my race, the World Law will tell you if it deems it relevant. It is not something to be spread about lightly.”

The man’s aura flickered for a moment as he tried to Analyze Sam again, but then his eyes glazed over as he saw a notification. His expression turned puzzled and he shook his head as he looked back at Sam.

“My Prayer of Knowledge was refused,” the bishop said. “But there is no warning of threat for you. In that case, may I know if you are an ally? Do you uphold the cause of the church to purge the world of monsters and Outsiders, for the civilized races to grow strong and just, and for the world to become ordered in the image of the World Law?”

The words were delivered with a fervent cadence, and although no ability pushed toward Sam to convince him, there was a clear appeal of belief in the bishop’s eyes that had its own attraction.

As he looked at the man, he realized there was an opportunity in front of him, one that he hadn’t expected when he’d come here. He had imagined the bishop as being old and tired, but this one was the exact opposite, although age could be hard to determine after a certain amount of Constitution.

Most importantly, it looked like he was well traveled, and that reminded him that the church had connections outside of the kingdom. They could be a font of information on the world, and possibly a source of support in rebuilding the relic that wouldn’t be linked to the kingdom’s politics.

“I will defend the Seal and slay any Outsider or monster that sets foot within my territory or that threatens those whom I protect. Until the mountains crumble or Aster Fall stands on her own,” Sam replied. He saw nothing wrong with the bishop’s basic beliefs.

“You stand for what is right and you are a being of Law.” The bishop’s stance relaxed another fraction as a smile began to spread across his face. “I would like to welcome you to my parish. Will you join me? It is traditional to have a friendly duel with a new ally, to better understand one another.”

He held out his hand to Sam for a handshake. It was a sudden jump in behavior, but it seemed to suit the man. There was an air of no-nonsense impulsiveness about him that wasn’t what Sam had imagined for a bishop.

“Very well, but not now,” Sam agreed after a moment. It was a risk, but the bishop felt solid, even if he had too much to deal with to pursue it right now. “I will be busy until after the alignment. If you wish to find me, come to the entrance to the third layer below the peak at moonrise.”

The trouble with organizations like the church was often that they did not live up to their own standards, but for as long as they did, he was willing to hear the man out. He already worked with Lenei, so it was worth giving the organization behind her a chance. They had helped to seal the Grand Flaw and much of his early animosity toward them had long faded.

There was a chance the bishop was trying to deceive him, or to lure him into the warded church buildings to attack him, so he would make sure the duel was on his terms. Despite the bishop’s friendliness, he wasn’t going inside with him, not until he had a chance to examine the wards. Fortunately, most of the offensive spells the church used were targeted toward monsters and Outsiders, and those didn’t harm him. If the bishop wanted to duel, given that limitation and his subclass, it would most likely be a physical brawl.

The church could be useful if they lived up to their ideals, and a duel would show off his strength, but it could also damage his reputation if he was weaker than the bishop, so he would wait until the control plateau was repaired. That would increase the amount of energy the relic had available and act as a shield if needed.

With a nod to the bishop, who gave him a pleasant smile in return, Sam disappeared in a sheet of crystal flame. This time, he teleported himself far outside the city walls.

He had work to do.

---

The control plateau rumbled as the torrent of astral energy from the moons continued to flood into the central pillar. The repair enchantment was covering the control plateau, making it look like the entire area was decorated with a silver web. Brilliant runes spun across the surface of the pillar and floated through the air above it, slowly rotating as one came to life and then another. They rarely lasted for more than a few minutes before they were replaced by a new one, changing with the moment or with the cycle of the moons.

It had only been a day since he’d checked on the plateau, but the energy here was at least three times stronger than before.

Sam took a seat on one side of the plateau, where it was slightly calmer, and poured the pouch of lunar gemstones onto the stones in front of him. They spread out like a sparkling carpet of rich, ethereal hues as they came to life beneath the moons and began to shine. Misty illusions of moonbeams and a faint aura danced between them, spinning from one gem to the next like the heavens had been woven into a tapestry.

The first one he picked up was a small emerald and he held it in front of Silvas as he let the moonlight pour through it. At the center, a flicker of green aura responded. It was barely there, just a whisper at the heart of the stone, but it was enough. Seven years of lying in an enchantment had changed the internal structure of the gem.

He reached out with Intensify Aura as he took hold of that thread and stabilized it, pouring his own moonlight aura into it. A moment later, he reached out to the light of Silvas with Transfer Aura, pulling that energy toward the gem. It was as dense as honey as it slowly poured into the gem. The flicker that was there grew brighter and larger as it began to change into the image of a full moon.

A moment later, the gem exploded into fragments, sending a cloud of gleaming green shards into his face as it covered him in sparkling powder. Without the gem’s structure to contain it, the moon at the center dissolved like a breath, fading away into the night.

Sam muttered as he brushed himself off and picked up another one. There had been a tiny fracture in the structure of the emerald. He’d seen it before he started, but the aura was so faint that he’d wanted to try it normally first. It looked like he’d have to refine them after all.

He held the new one between his hands as he poured his aura into it, searching for flaws. Crystal flame poured into the structure as he found and eliminated the irregularities. At the same time, he kept a hold of the moonlight in it, preventing it from dissipating as he reformed the gem around it. Elemental Smithing combined with his Aura Forging as he reached into the center of the gem and made it more than it had been before, strengthening the structure and increasing the amount of essence it could handle.

When that was done, he gathered as broad a swathe of moonlight from the world around him as he could, pulling the aura down from the heavens as he wove it into the natural crystalline structure of the gem. When it was all gathered tightly through the emerald, he closed his hands around it and crushed it together, forcing the materials to compress beneath his will and power. The muscles along his arms and back rippled as a low growl tore from his throat.

The gem’s energy blasted back against his hands like a roaring star as flames poured away from it. Aura, fragments of gemstone, and essence burned like a corona around his fingers. Time ticked away, moment by moment, but slowly the gem began to shrink, its structure realigning and strengthening as the aura of moonlight infused it.

When it was as compressed as he could make it, he pulled back his will and let out a deep breath as he opened his hands. A new gemstone sat there, gleaming with a deep, pure green like Silvas herself. The moonlight refracted through it cleanly, barely interrupted by the structure.

It had only taken about ten minutes, but sweat was running down his body in a waterfall and it felt like the shape of the gem was imprinted into his hands.

He studied it as he drew in new air and let himself recover. The sweat on his body dried swiftly in the icy wind of the peak as his essence regenerated beneath the moons.

It was the first thing he’d ever forged like this, with a combination of Elemental Smithing and Aura Forging, and he felt an intrinsic connection to the little gem. It was an attunement that linked it to his spirit. With more practice, he could remove that, but right now, it was what he needed.

If he hadn’t been aligned to moonlight, it would have been more troublesome to make, since his aura could clash with the natural concept in it, but the gem was already part of the way there. Over the last seven years, it had adjusted to the energy of the moons. That was why he had purchased them in the city.

When he was recovered, he held up the reformed emerald, framing it against Silvas as he drew in the moonlight and sent it into the gem. The flicker at the center quickly expanded, forming into a full moon again, but this time the gem held. The moon continued to grow brighter as he infused the aura until it glowed with the rich, brilliant green of forests and life and a miniature copy of Silvas shone at the center.

A full moon within an emerald.

He held the gem in one hand as he used his talons to carefully carve the rune for moon into the side. His concept of the moon had advanced a great deal since he’d made his bracer, and ever since his race had changed, it hadn’t been as necessary to use a stylus. His Agility and Essence Control were both high enough that errors were rare and it gave him a sense of visceral satisfaction to do it himself.

After a moment, the energy in the gem stabilized and a bright notification chimed in his mind, but he ignored it as he studied the result. When he was satisfied, he set the gem to the side as he picked up a new one. The moons restored his energy, but the mental strain was harder to remove. It helped that he was alone on the peak with the thrum of the relic’s absorption washing against his mind like ocean waves.

As the night wore on, he continued to work on the gems, picking up speed as he refined them one by one, enhanced the auras, and carved runes into the facets. Moon runes were the most common, but he also had other types, including ones for edge, star, fire, ice, life, and storm, as well as other elements, First Snow, the part of First Spring that he knew, binding runes, storage runes, and more. By the time he was done, he had improved his speed until each gem only took a few minutes.

The three moons were beginning to set, but a hundred full moons gleamed from the pile in front of him, shimmering in an ocean of light. He reached out, pouring his essence into the runes. As he connected with them, the gems began to float, rising up to swirl around him as they reflected the last shadows of the night.

They spun around him in a wave, like a lunar hurricane turning above the ocean.

Slowly, he increased the amount of essence he was sending into them, along with a thread of astral energy, until beams of moonlight arced from one gem to the next and they turned into a spiraling sphere of light. The individual gems continued to spin through the interior, but they were nearly invisible against the whole.

He studied it for a while, tracking the flow of energy through the runes, as he sent the gems spiraling in one pattern after another. Now and then, he reached out, moving a gem or improving a rune on its surface. Around him, the sphere changed, taking on different elements. One moment, it turned to fire and began to burn like a blazing whirlwind, and the next it was cold, with ice shining in glistening arcs.

Then he started to remove gems, reducing the whirlwind one by one until there were only five gems left spinning around him. They whipped around him in streaks of moonlight. He poured essence into them, expanding the whirlwind as it became larger again. All around, the weather began to respond as billowing clouds of flame formed in its wake. Eventually, he called the gems back by pulling the essence from them, and the fire faded away.

Those were the same five runes that he’d used to create a firestorm against the Terror of the Night.

When the gems were still again, they rested in his hand, the full moons gleaming brightly from each. He studied them, making sure that they had no flaws, and then with a wave of his hand, the rest of the gems appeared and swirled around him as he went through the same process of separating them into different elements and testing the combinations. The firestorm became an icestorm, a windstorm, and stony hail, as well as a whirlwind of razor-sharp leaves, cutting blades of moonlight, and a field of spiraling stars.

When he was done testing, he let the gems hang in the air in front of him. With a flicker of will, he called back the notifications that he’d been ignoring. The World Law echoed in his mind with a rumbling presence like a giant.

Congratulations, Chaos Smith. You Have Created a Unique Aura Artifact.

You gain 20,000 Class Experience.

Do you wish to assign a name to your creation?

Sam considered the swirling gemstones for a moment before he nodded, and a moment later the notification changed.

Artifact Created: "Lunar Bracer: Endless Night of the Full Moons."

Artifact Type: Attuned Gemstone Array.

Artifact Tier: Variable.

Durability: 1,000 / 1,000.

Charge: 2,500 / 2,500.

Enchantment: Enhanced Lunar Attunement.

[Enhances spells that rely on moonlight and their connection to lunar concepts. The artifact will also slowly repair and recharge itself beneath the light of the moons.]

Enchantment: Runic Array Focus.

[Assists the wearer in creating runic formations and enhances the structure and intent of spells that incorporate the artifact as a focus.]

Enchantment: Phases of the Full Moon.

[Focuses cutting rays of moonlight as an attack. The drain on the artifact’s charge is variable. The attack will be stronger at night and during a full moon, but is usable during the day for an increased cost in charges.]

As the World Law fell silent, the gems spun around Sam as he held out his right arm. They swirled toward him, packing themselves together as they took on the shape of three bracelets around his wrist, which then fused to one another. When it was complete, it resembled a bracer with three sections.

Each section corresponded to one of the moons, with a green, blue, and purple color from the gems that made it up, and the gaps between them were nearly indistinguishable, marked only by the gleam of moonlight that shone from the surface and adhered all of the gems together. A single attraction rune within the design had helped with that.

Unlike his Starflame Bracer, the artifact didn’t enhance his attributes. It was too difficult to form those rune patterns across all of the gems, since they required a more stable surface. Instead, each of the gems was a runic focus that he could arrange into a formation as needed. They also had the ability to release a devastating amount of energy as an attack, far more than his old bracer.

When the artifact was secured, Sam walked to the edge of the plateau and looked down to Highfold far below. The moons were descending below the horizon to the west as the sun began to pale the eastern sky, sending the first rays of light to touch the valley. It was a peaceful dawn, but it was greeted by a spray of blood from the first layer where monsters and adventurers were fighting. Now, he just needed to arrange a few things at the storeroom and wait for Micas.