Chapter 165: Yrania
Yrania watches as the Sorroth bow before the Great Garenne, their smaller forward antlers touching the ground, each decorated with jewels and colorful stones. They raise their short tails high in reverence of their godlike figure.
The Sorroth are an all-female mammalian race with short forward-facing antlers and long back-facing antlers that turn downward. Their antlers keep growing and eventually have to be trimmed, otherwise it'd get too cumbersome. They wear jewelry on their antlers, looping gold and silver chains and dangling gems, crystals, and colorful stones.
Yrania is reasonably sure that having very similar antler-like features to the Garenne is the source of their faith, but just in case, she asks the legendary being.
"Why do you think they worship you, Lavaerd?"
The Garrene turns his head and looks upon Yrania's pink scales with his six radiant eyes. The halo between his massive antlers of pure light flashes once, showering the area with luminescent white orbs. He taps a talon, larger than one of the Sorroth, in thought. His white and gold fur shines lustrously from the light of his antlers and halo, casting light in the dark forest like the sun that is hidden by the canopy.
"I do not claim to know what motivates these people," Lavaerd says. "Nor will I expend effort to find out. You may ask them yourself."
She already has. Perhaps a different question will help illuminate forgotten history.
"How long have they been worshiping you?"
"Why does a dragon like you care?" Lavaerd replies. He doesn't sound annoyed, just disinterested.
"To know how the Sorroth think, of course." Yrania says as if that was obvious, "They are the first all-female race I've come across, so I want to know how their minds work when compared to bi-gender races."
Also, she wants to know how being the subject of worship affects Lavaerd. She has already studied how many races react when put in a position of power over others, with results unique to each race, but there is little opportunity to see how worship affects a singular being.
Lavaerd's halo flashes again, and the whole area is bathed in soothing, warm light; the floating light orbs drift into each of the Sorroth, who mutter praises upon the legendary Garrene.
"Longer than you have been alive," Lavaerd answers dismissively. "Twelve thousand years if you are so curious."
"What did you do?" Yrania asks.
"A simple boon to guide them through the forest and see through its lies."
The Sorroth stand up, moving into one of the trees that they shape to be hollow for them to live in. They gather baskets and other tools before walking out into the forest, where many illusory lights can be seen to try and lead them astray.
The Sorroth do not eat meat; they are completely herbivorous, which is not rare in the world. One might expect that a herbivore would not be an aggressive species, and they might also be forgiven for thinking them empathetic, but in Yrania's study she found that is not often the case. In fact, herbivorous races are often more bigoted and aggressive, which makes her think that being preyed upon is what fuels such behavior.
As for empathy, it's most commonly found in social species, which explains why many monsters, herself included, rarely feel it. The Sorroth are a herd species, so she expects them to have some level of empathy. Dragons, like Yrania, can hardly be called a social species, but they do have a sort of honor: a dragon always answers the call of another, which makes her think they aren't exactly not a social species either.
Perhaps it's the fact that birthed dragons are so rare, and most are spawned, that makes them distant to each other. Her father and mother are quite close in terms of relationship and have often doted on her, but her grandmother... she's very distant, much like Lavaerd.
In fact, their minds are very similar to many spawned, whereas her own resembles many birthed. This has always been something she noticed ever since she learned how to see the minds of others which makes her think that the answer lies in childhood. The mind grows with the body and the experiences of life, something that the spawned miss out on.
Yrania has studied many cases of a race being adopted and raised by another. It's complicated, but some behaviors are completely adapted to the parent race while some are only suppressed. For example, in one of the cases, a member of an aggressive race was raised by a peaceful one, which led to the adopted being less aggressive than normal for his race but more aggressive than the peaceful race.
Yrania's musing is interrupted by a tight magical constricting, something she has only felt once before; her grandmother is calling for her. Yrania has not heard her call, nor has she requested aid, so she is deeply curious as to why Safyr is calling her through her title.
She answers her grandmother's summons, the world shifts, and suddenly the stifling pressure of high mana density, accompanied by hot, humid air, hits her. The leylines above dance beautifully, something she has rarely seen since they only appear in places of extreme mana density.
Looking around, Yrania sees her grandmother sitting royally in front of her, her sapphire scales glinting in the sunlight. Standing off to the side is a young Runalymo wearing eyewraps. She also wears a two-piece dress, and her royal blue hair with golden tips frames her body while three long tails wave behind her. She has a partially suppressed Bond presence around her, struggling to break free and make itself known to all around.
"Grandmother," Yrania says, lowering her head. "What do you need of me?"
"Young Alysara here needs training in the ways of the mind, Yrania. I know you are interested in the workings of the mind, and hers may very well interest you."
Alysara? Yrania questions silently. For her grandmother to address a lesser being by name, she must have done something to earn Safyr’s respect, and if Safyr respects this little one, then she must too.
Yrania turns her gaze to the Runalymo girl and examines her mind critically. Peering into the outer layers, she finds a maelstrom of turmoil, of two egos battling against each other. This is something she has only seen in old and Legacy souls… but Alysara’s is more unique, more primeval, more vast than anything she has ever seen before.
Under her surface mind are her surface memories. Yrania can't read the memories, but can see if they are good or bad, joyous or traumatic. Of the two egos, both have had good and bad times, and there is evidence of recent trauma, although that seems to have mostly healed by now.
By now, Yrania can see what's going on. The girl is a Legacy soul, but her two lives are fighting each other. She is rejecting who she was before, which is, of the three Legacy souls she has met already, normal; only one embraced who they were before.
There is a third layer to her mind, the place where deeper memories are sealed away. This usually happens due to trauma, but it can be intentional too, and in the case of Legacy souls their dormant memories are kept here. Yrania peers into this third layer and is immediately swallowed in a vast and impossibly large sea of memories, all kept within a small section of her mind. She blinks to focus her sight out of the third layer, wondering just how long this soul has been around to accrue that many memories.
Every Legacy soul has memories from the time they were adrift in the void; it is common for them to have trillions of years, or even longer, of memories locked away, their minds unable to comprehend the sheer length of time, but when compared to this girl that is like a single grain of sand compared to the world.
"What Skills do you need help with, Alysara?" Yrania asks.
"[Twin Minds], [Clear Mind], and [Mental Fortitude]" Alysara replies. Most would be unnerved by one dragon at best, but Alysara shows no fear.
No Class skills, which means she may be trying to get a mind Class.
"I see; you have two resistance Skills, yet there is no one you can trust to help train them. You'd do well to try to merge those Skills, especially your two resistance Skills, but I assume that's your goal anyway." Yrania says, appraising Alysara.
Three Tailed Mana Immune Runalymo Sage (Major) (Unique), Level 296 Distant Summoner (Major), Level 1000 Beauty Bond.
Unique?! That alone gave her Skill a few level-ups! She is also very Bond-focused; no doubt her grandmother has been advising this girl, Safyr always stresses Bond skills.
Her beauty Bond explains why her Bond's presence is so eager to be let loose. It's not a dark or shadow Bond; it wants to be known and felt. Instead of trying to cage it, she should try to influence it to be more subtle.
"That's correct; I need several general Skills to be moved to a Class."
Yrania is sure the mental Skills won't transfer over to a summoner Class, so this must mean it's for her second Class, but with a Bond level that high – compared to other peoples’ usual Class/Bond ratio – she may be trying to obtain another Bond Class.
It's not like she can't, but Beauty isn't the first thing that comes to mind when considering a mind mage, although alluring and entrancing others is very doable.
"If you don't mind me asking, what kind of Class are you trying to get? A Bond Class?" Yrania asks.
"Yes," Alysara replies with an elegant nod. "Specifically centered around multiple minds, and summoning clone bodies for those minds."
Interesting... If that's the case, then she must be trying to get the ultimate Skill [Unlimited Minds]. Yrania has to admit that centering it around clone bodies is a good way to try and get that, plus it should merge other useful Skills, like [Multitask].
[Unlimited Minds] is certainly great to get for any mage, to be able to cast hundreds of spells at once if they need to, but controlling multiple bodies – one's own or others’ – is the best way to realize the full potential of that Skill.
"You should start with the resistance Skills," Safyr advises. "Do not worry about Alysara; you won't scare her away."
Her grandmother never changes, always quick to rush into combative situations. However, to her surprise, Alysara nods in agreement.
"While I do need more breakthroughs in [Twin Minds], my resistance Skills need the growth most. Please train me," Alysara says with a graceful bow, her Bond's presence fluctuating uncontrollably.
"Grandmother, why did you not tell Alysara how to handle her Bond?" Switching to another language, Yrania almost chastises, which earns her a light tail whip.
"Watch your tone, young pup! Alysara is a smart girl; she'll figure it out eventually. Besides, there are situations where she will need to suppress her Bond, and the stronger she becomes, the more important it will be to prevent Bond resonance."
Yrania can't fault her in that; Safyr is right about Bond resonance. It's one thing she has always absolutely hated about her grandmother; she will tell you to do something, but not why. She expects one to figure it out, making it infuriating when they finally learn the 'why', all the time spent doing the wrong things or picking up bad habits and having to correct them, when it can just be properly explained. Just because she was spawned with the knowledge already there doesn't mean that birthed beings already know it too!
Well, if Yrania is going to train Alysara, then she will do it her own way! A proper education, so no effort will be wasted developing bad habits and the like.
"Follow me, Alysara; I am sure Grandmother won't want your training to disturb her further."
Safyr huffs and curls up to sleep. "Just as annoying as your father," she remarks before closing her eyes.