“So, so and so. You, boy, want to purchase my Astral Wind?” The old man adjusted his glasses. “Has a child seen what even the experienced did not? The potential of the Blink ability?”

No, Gaius replied in his mind, just that I can actually equip a second Engine. Sure, the Blink ability has uses, but not many are willing to eat a whole bunch of disadvantages!

“Erm, can I buy it?” Gaius asked, his voice as high-pitched as possible. He tilted his head, with what he hoped was enough cuteness to overwhelm the old man’s paternal instincts.

The old man ignored him. Evidently, most of his paternal instincts had been diverted to the artefacts in the shelves of the Odd Tinkerer. Either that, or the old man didn’t know how to appreciate cuteness.

“Yes, you can.” After a long while, the old man finally replied to Gaius’ question. “But before that…boy, are you somehow able to use two Engines at once?”

Gaius instinctively shook his head. “No. I have Engine Augments for Flight and Shell though, so…”

Inwardly, however, the old man’s perceptiveness had been rather shocking. It was rather fortunate that he had remembered about the existence of Engine Augments, which were able to add abilities on to any Engine. The abilities from such Augments were most likely weaker than their Engine counterparts, but Flight was still Flight.

“An Engine Augment for Flight? Who’s that bored to create an effectively redundant augment? It’s not like they stack either!” The old man held his head. “I suppose that’s why you came trotting along, eh? Well, it is for sale, but you better have the money.”

Gaius produced six stacks of notes worth a hundred gold each, eliciting a scowl from the old man. “Six hundred notes…boy, what kind of joke are you playing at? You’re lucky I have a counting machine for odd people like you.”

Snatching the stacks of notes, the old man walked over to a rectangular box, and then placed the six stacks inside. Red light emanated from the box as the old man placed his hand above it, and whirring sounds came from within.

The small commotion ended with a ding sound after a minute or so, and the numbers ‘600’ appeared on the top of the box. The old man glanced at it and said, “Alright, the Astral Wind’s yours.”

He got up and left the room.

An uproar occurred soon after, as the old man, in front of the customers, removed the Astral Wind from its showcase and brought it back to Gaius. Like the Stellar Core, it was a work of art. Unlike the disc-like Stellar Core, however, the Astral Wind was triangular. Most of the surface area was the same purple crystal that the Stellar Core had too, but the edges were covered in a greenish metal.

The old man fixed a chain on it, and then gave it to Gaius, who promptly wore it, tucking it into his tunic.

“Can you feel it?” the old man asked. “The existence of something flowing around you?”

Gaius nodded. He could feel a dozen or so threads emanating outwards from him. They seemed to have no end, and passed through solid objects like they weren’t there.

“The flow of space, if I had to describe it. How your body’s presence affects Orb,” said the old man. “Now, with your mind, try to reach out towards a thread. Use your imagination to tie a knot within it, while making sure that you’re still focused on the Astral Wind. That’s a marker for Blink.”

The boy focused on an empty part of the room, willing himself to form a knot at the threads flowing through that area, and all of a sudden, what felt like a tether attached to him. It was tugging at him, and Gaius had to devote some of his mental resources to resist it.

“Give in to the pull, if you want to teleport there.” A voice came from behind the boy, and he obediently relaxed his mental defences. His vision turned black for the briefest of moments as something pulled at him gently, and when it returned, his surroundings had changed slightly.

“Congratulations,” said the old man. “It seems like you’re a natural. Now, make sure to wear it for the next few days. When it fully binds, you’ll be able to perceive the flow of space of not just you, but from anyway within your vision. And as your cultivation grows stronger, you’ll be exuding more threads that you can use to teleport around.”

Gaius nodded.

“Now, there’s a crowd waiting for you outside, so I suggest that you leave by the back door.” The old man got up, and motioned for Gaius to follow. As he placed his hands on a door handle, he looked at Gaius again. “Please treat it well, okay?”

“Yes.”

“Excellent. Well then, see you around.”

The door opened to reveal an empty alley. The old man nodded at Gaius, who nodded back, before making his way out of the shop. The hot afternoon sun blazed down on the small boy, who promptly decided to retreat to the inn for a good afternoon nap…or rather, some experimentation. Seconds after he began to walk, however, a sensation of weakness flooded into his body. Gaius found his vision beginning to sway, and the lines he’d seen when he focused on the Astral Wind began to appear around him once more. Gritting his teeth, he made his way back.

The boy returned to the inn with a slight stagger, but it was somewhat fortunate that no one had noticed him as he went back to his room, where he probably flopped onto the bed.

“Looks like the aftereffects are beginning to show, Master Gaius,” said Nexus. The wooden sculpture climbed out of Gaius’ tunic, and just in time too, as the boy convulsed, curling up into a ball. The sensation of superheated hammers smashing against Gaius’ skull continued to assail his nerves, and for the briefest of moments, the boy saw countless threads spreading from his body, into the world beyond.

Nexus clambered over to Gaius. “Listen to me,” said the artificial intelligence, “you are in a critical phase now. Right now, the influence of the Astral Wind is forcing the Stellar Core to fully integrate with your body. If you can stay conscious throughout the entire period, you will gain an epiphany that only a few Masters of the Library ever had!”

Gaius didn’t really understand what the sculpture was saying, not with the myriad of sensations that were assaulting his mind now. The temperature fluctuated wildly, while his vision darkened or turned white in line with some grand conductor.

But even though the boy had blocked out most of the sculpture’s words, he did hear one thing.

And as the sun continued to descend, the boy continued to cling on to his consciousness, to feel the changes wrought to his body first-hand.