Lerva held in her hand the very cup that Arulli had made for her. Just earlier she had used it to drink a sweet beverage. One look at it made the Knight realise that to make something so clearly structured, Arulli had to be dedicated to it.
"A whole month later, Arulli finished his pet project. He handed me the cup. It felt mostly the same in my hand, that is until he explained what it did. I could still see the glimmer of enthusiasm in his eyes, barely making it through his fatigue.
"Listen, before you do anything. You wanted me to explain what a pattern smith does, and I chose to show you, so let's do it right."
I nodded at him, and so did the other knights. Even the academy staff had stopped, intrigued by this stunning display. It might have appeared like a normal cup, but the fact I was starring at it made it seem worth their intrigue.
"First, mother, can you pour inside the cup something you will never mind having your entire life. This part is crucial; I don't think I can undo it."
"That's easy, my morning nectar."
I filled my cup to the brim as I usually do. It had been a while since I used this cup, I kind of missed it.
"Okay, now, drink it all up."
With a sceptic gaze, I put the rim of the cup to my lips and let the nectar flow into my mouth. It never failed to fill me with unbelievable amounts of energy, and the bliss I got from tasting it was something to write home about too, but pretty much unremarkable, the same as any other day.
"Tell me, what is it that's supposed to be different…"
"Mother, look your cup, it's overflowing!"
I quickly balanced the cup, and I starred inside it with a disbelief I had not had in a while. After living for so long, and having gone through so much, this was the first time in a long time since something in this world surprised me. And by the jaws on the floor, I wasn't the only one. It was so brilliant.
I poured all of it to the floor, as soon at the last drop hit the ground, it refilled itself again, right back to where I filled it the first time.
"Guys, can you please save the excitement for later, I didn't spend months on making a refilling cup. Grand though it might be, it is not what will steal your hearts."
He made all of us step back, forming a large circle. A crowd humble in beginnings had become colossal in size. Arulli took the cup from my hand once again. Then asked the strongest knight there to come with him to the centre.
Arulli raised his hand high into the sky and threw it to the ground with an earth shuttering strike, leaving a crater on the floors of the academy. We all jumped in about to stop him, but before we even could, as the mist cleared. The cup stood there, unbroken, and unbothered by our piercing gazes.
Amazed, we all failed to think of questions before he took it further.
"Kol, try your hardest to slice it."
"Really? I don't know…"
"It's fine, I'll ask someone else."
Before Arulli left, he pushed him back, making room for a massive swing. It arched twice his body's length, striking the small cup with the kind of pinpoint accuracy one would expect from a knight of Kol's standing.
Those who could not withstand the strike fell to the floor. Those standing saw what had just happened, in clear visuals. The blade had been destroyed completely, leaving Kol with nothing but a lonely hilt, and a deep and massive crater he now stood in.
Sure, Kol had held back, but he was sure that no material, including his blade could withstand a strike like that. He had a spare blade, so he was happy to give in to Arulli's taunting. But what he had not been ready to face was the reality he found himself in.
"How? Not even a scratch? Not even a scorch from the heat?"
Arulli got up with the biggest smirk I've ever seen. They all ran to him instead of the cup, brimming with an endless sea of questions. Arulli puffed and collapsed to the floor. As it turns out, as marvellous as this feat was, it was proportionally just as draining.
We went somewhere else, and tried to break the cup, they all took turns. Eventually I interrupted and took my cup. Devoid of any dirt or filth, as if even a spec of dust was forbode from settling on its pristine white."
All of the Laurels raised their cups, showing the Knight that all of them had eventually gotten one too. These were rare and valuable, but there it was, so many of them in one room. They were even tougher than most armour.
"Arulli woke up a week later, lungs full of pride, he had not lost the feeling even after collapsing. Eventually, once he got better, I asked him to explain, because even after seeing, I still needed detail, what kind of researcher would that make me if I didn't ask. By the grin on his face, he was more than happy to oblige.
"My power is over patterns. This means I can see and interact with them. On a more fundamental level, I can channel them. You see mother, everything is a pattern, a great big and complex pattern, but a pattern, nonetheless.
By meticulously scribbling universal patterns on anything, I can add, improve, or register new properties to the object. All one needs to do to use them is channel their soul. Some, more complex patterns only need an infusion of soul once, like the cup, I infused it myself.
The most incredible part of it though, is that I can only get stronger, and better, and eventually do the impossible. This power makes analysing and predicting fighting patterns a sinch. It also makes coming up with battle tactics easier but gives me no direct strength. Instead, it gives me something I always wanted.
I saw that our armour, strong holds, and all basic structure keep crumbling one by one. And it has gotten so bad, each knight goes through dozens of blades per battle, and the blacksmiths cannot keep up. The mountain folk are faster at making them, but even they have their limits.
It came to me, what if we could impart upon the world the strength of our bodies. If an atomic bomb of old struck me now, nothing would happen to me, no wonder they failed against the darkness. But, the one thing the explosion would do, is wipe out everything around me, the ground beneath, my armour, and even the air I barely need to breath."
Arulli went on, explaining and I took notes. Just like days of old, Arulli had to end his talks with another absurd claim.
"… and one day, once I get strong enough, I'll be able to do the same for our poor planet. It has held out for us; it is only fair that I give it a fighting chance. *He clenched his hand into a fist* Also, once the Earth can handle all the fighting, we won't have to hold back anymore when fighting!"
Arulli wasn't wrong. After we reached level 300, we could no longer to go full out against the destroyers. At level 200, one had enough strength to crush the planet into smithereens. This is also why Kol had held back against the cup.
The destroyers also had this problem, they only used enough strength to finish us, making sure not to destroy the planet. But it could hardly be called a problem, they could leave this place whenever they wanted. Though breathing in space had become easy, it was not an ideal place for us to live.
And we didn't want to bring the darkness along with us to another planet, making the planet also suffer the same fate as the Earth. So, even though we had reached a level beyond planetary destructions we fought with just enough restrain to keep it from crumbling.
If what he said could be done, it would help the fight. But I had my doubts. Not because I doubted whether or not that he could do it, what I knew was, this planet was beyond saving, and by the time Arulli could save it, it would be long gone. It had even been one of the most pressing issues that I have been dealing with as of late.
Arulli got off the bed, putting on his clunky armour.
"Stop!"
"Mother?"
"I have decided that you will be given a new assignment. Maybe it is only fair I award you with a corresponding title befitting your rank. You are no longer a knight commander; you are a knight, Bachelor."
"wow that sounds great, but what is it?"
"It means I have hope once again."
"Huh?"
"Till now, we have only had knights and knight commanders. But it is improper for an Order of Knights to have such baseless ranking. Also, I gave you this rank, in hopes that one day you will rise above it, reaching status of knight Banneret, then knight Marshal, then knight Seneschal, eventually becoming the Grand Master."
Arulli always had a child like persona, it confused me at first. I came to learn that the higher on the power ladder one got, the more their persona changes, but before him, I had always thought it made all turn out like Eruil, thus I named it the 'numbness of power.'
But as it turns out, this numbness makes way for something different, an erratic persona and an even stranger world view, as if the power within them needs them to open up their minds before getting more power.
Even after I said Grand Master, he had this look in his eyes, a childlike pride, hoping and waiting for me to say something else.
"But I'm not calling you a legendary hero."
"why not?"
"Both of them changed the course of history, and not only that, but they had also become the first two threats the darkness had proactively went out of its way to end. I don't see any destroyers chasing you."
"Just wait and see mother, I'll be chasing them."
A few million years after this day, still all stuck at level 350, the events that would begin the end of the Earth would began. In all that time, Arulli had improved many and all structures, making resources accessible and improving utility.
Not only had he improved armour and weapons, but he had also took a bunch of children under his wing, and three of them had even gotten the same power as him. It was not a rare power, but it was harder than it seemed to acquire.
Through his guidance, the world began to move and change. Apocalypse still kissed our eyes wherever we looked, but now, the people, including myself, were learning to thrive in this land. Arulli had facilitated many more utility focused powers that went on to work well with his own.
Power was more understood by then. As it turns out, the authority over which someone has dominion over has to be something that is not foreign to the user. In essence, this meant that people could not deceive themselves and learn powers over things that they don't want.
As such, some of Arulli's students tended to learn fighting powers, or at least powers not mainly focused on utility, because they had actually wanted them. Basically, if power had to be summarised in a metaphor, it would be like a pet that only came to those who wanted it to.
It was not rejecting people like some sort of affinity, but it was not possible to pursue something because of any other reason than the fact that you want it, at least for those that are not born with predetermined powers like the descendants of manifestations.
Put simply, power was a dominion over something that exists regardless of your being. And no property would ever submit to a ruler that doesn't even have control over their sense of self and shuns their desires. Thus, authority for some properties was not for all to claim.
As such, it was slow to foster such powers because many lacked the spirit required to subjugate the properties that Arulli thought fundamental to resuscitate the world. People lacked the spirits that would be needed cultivate the new era, the era he was desperately trying to begin.
His spirits remained as high as ever until that delusional pair of twins came knocking at the knights Academy gates."