You had to measure the dead matter and the binding precisely to avoid unexpected interaction, handle the materials correctly, dissect the Remnant properly, and know how to customize and tweak the functions with scripts afterward.
Unless you were making a launcher.
Gesha nodded approvingly. “You move quickly, and with confidence. This is good. Only another week or two, and we will take further steps.”
He tried to keep most of the disappointment out of his voice as he said, “A week?”
Gesha’s hand struck like a hawk taking a mouse, slapping him on the back of the head. This time, it really stung. “Keep your eyes on the present, not the future, hm?” Her spider legs shuffled, turning her back on him.
“Your instruction has been invaluable, honored Fisher,” Lindon said, although in truth she hadn’t taught him much at all before the last few days. It seemed that his endorsement from Eithan had promoted him from ‘servant’ to ‘student.’ “I bow to your wisdom.”
She reached over her shoulder, resting a hand on the hilt of her hook. Like all the members of the Fisher sect, she carried a giant bladed fishhook as a weapon, sharp on the inside. Hers was plated with goldsteel, and he’d personally seen her dissect all sorts of Remnants with it.
“You wish to run before you can stand up straight,” Gesha said firmly. “You do not travel any Path by skipping steps.”
He had skipped every step he could, and ever since leaving Sacred Valley, he had succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.
But he didn’t say that out loud.
“The honored Fisher is wise.”
“Mm. You are blind.”
“Yes, Fisher Gesha.”
“Oh, you know this?”
“Yes, Fisher Gesha.”
“That is strange to me. A man who knows he is blind would be very careful of his surroundings, lest he be taken by surprise.”
Something grabbed Lindon’s ankle and pulled him off balance.
Before his Iron body, slamming his chin against the hard-packed earth would have blinded him with pain, and perhaps lost him a tooth. Now, he only felt pressure hitting his jaw, and he instantly twisted to see what had snared him.
A line of purple madra stuck to his ankle like spider’s silk, stretching back to a figure of purple light lurking in the trees. Like all Remnants, it looked like a collection of brush-strokes, as though someone had painted it into existence. This one was tall and sunken, with inhumanly long limbs and the gaping face of a fish. Its thin, webbed fingers were tipped in claws, and its blank purple eyes were fixed on Lindon.
His heart hammered, and he had to focus to keep his breath even and steady so that his madra didn’t slip out of control. Not long ago, he would have panicked at this sudden attack.
But that was before Eithan had locked him in a stone ruin alone for two weeks. Panic could wait until the fight was done.
The spirit was still two dozen yards away, but it already had him. The purple string fastened to his ankle stretched back to the Remnant’s outstretched hand.
Lindon filled his hand with madra and struck out, driving an Empty Palm into the string…but the line only quivered. It remained fastened to his ankle, one end stuck as though it had grown out of his skin.
The Remnant made a sound like a bubble popping, and the line started dragging Lindon across the forest floor.
His breath came in ragged gasps, and he was having more trouble keeping his breathing technique steady. When he tried to grab the string and pull, his hand passed right through the madra.
Gesha was drifting alongside him, the legs of her spider-construct matching his pace. “You think too highly of yourself, and this is what comes. A Jade would have sensed my approach when I returned to camp. A Jade would have felt this fellow coming.”
“Honored Fisher,” Lindon grunted, straining to reach one of the goldsteel tools that remained on the dirt. “Help me, please!”
“An Iron child in these woods should have no more pride than a mouse, no more courage than a rabbit. But you have your eyes on the future. You stare only at your goal far away, so you miss the traps before your feet.”
Mustering all his strength, Lindon Enforced his arms, driving his hands into the soft earth. The Remnant pulled him through the dirt for another moment, plowing two furrows before his momentum stopped.
Gesha stopped as well, still speaking idly. “This is a lesson for all sacred artists, not just Soulsmiths. A snake who tries to swallow an elephant will only choke.”
Lindon may have been too preoccupied with the Remnant trying to eat him than with Gesha’s instruction, but he couldn’t see how her lesson applied to his current situation. Certainly, he should have taken the time to put down some sort of alarm circle around the camp before he started working on his construct. But he didn’t see what that had to do with his unauthorized Soulsmith experiments.
And did they have to have this talk now? He was face-down in the dirt, clinging desperately to earth with arms outstretched, shoulders aching so badly they were starting to shake.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gesha slowly draw her hook and examine it in the light. Clearly, she was in no rush to help him.
“You are always trying to skip steps, yes? To cheat. This is carelessness, and it will land you in more trouble than this.”
“I understand, Fisher Gesha,” Lindon gasped. “Please, let me free.”
Something grabbed him by the right hip, and then by the back of the neck. More webs, stretching out from the purple Remnant.
“Maybe you do, maybe you don’t.” Fisher Gesha beckoned with her left hand, and a purple line appeared between her fingers and the Remnant. “One way or the other, do not tell the Underlord I helped you out of danger.”
She heaved on her line, and the Remnant was jerked off its feet as though it weighed nothing, tumbling over the ground as her purple string shortened. When it was dragged to her feet, she swept her goldsteel hook through the spirit’s neck.
Bright sparks of violet essence sprayed into the air like blood, and the Remnant’s head fell away.
The force pulling on Lindon released, and he sagged into the ground, his arms and shoulders crying out in relief. “This one humbly thanks you, Fisher Gesha.”
“Not this one,” she said. “Before we return, tell me what you have learned today.”
“I am careless. I overstep myself, leaping forward when I should progress slowly and carefully.”
“Mm. So long as you have learned.”
He didn’t tell her what he had really learned.
He would have caught the Remnant’s approach if he were Jade. And she, a Highgold, had swatted it like a fly.
That was the real lesson: if you were powerful enough, you could accomplish anything.
Chapter 2
Tears glistened in Jai Chen's eyes as Jai Long held her hand. “Kral died fighting beside me,” he told her. “He went quickly and courageously. He died a hero.”
“The Underlord…killed him?” his little sister asked. She labored to push her voice out, every breath a fight against the invisible weight on her chest.