Chapter 53 - Maze

A thousand different thoughts swirled in Kai’s head as he read the notification.

Has that really happened? Are the spirits real? Are they gods or something else?

This discovery changed a lot of things, but, before any of that, he had to take care of a more pressing issue. Elder Soluli was getting impatient as he kept ignoring him.

“Did you hit your head hard, kid?”

Kai’s gaze focused on the mayor, activating Acting as a reflex. “I’m fine.” He massaged his head.

Soluli gave him a long stare. “You just flopped to the ground for no reason?”

“I must have fainted when I saw all that blood,” Kai said looking down with an embarrassed smile and showing his still-bleeding finger. He could hear a few snickers from the group of kids.

“I’m so sorry, elder.” He performed an awkward bow to the great tree. “May Yatei offer me guidance.”

He was about to join the other seventh-year-olds that completed the ceremony when the elder grabbed his arm.

“Nothing else happened?” Soluli asked, then added in a lower tone. “Have you checked your notifications?”

Evident confusion appeared on Kai’s face. “Notifications?” He made a slight pause, moving his eyes around as if treading something. “No nothing. Should something have happened, elder?”

The mayor gave him a suspicious look, but eventually let go of his arm. “No, nothing. Go back to the others. May the spirits forgive your blunder.”

Despite their taunting whispers, Kai was glad to put a wall of kids between him and the elder. He wasn’t 100% sure he had fooled him, but when the truth was so outrageous, people rarely chose to believe it.

A half-blood kid, who isn’t even from Greenside, receiving a blessing from the great spirit? Who would trust that? Who would want to believe it? Much easier to think he was a wimp that fainted at the sight of his own blood.

Telu gave him a consoling pat on the back. “I’m sure the spirits won’t be offended. It wasn’t your fault.”

Kai gave him a distracted nod, he was sure the spirits weren’t angry.

Elder Soluli finally roused from his thoughts to address them. “Silence.” His voice resounded with authority. “The ceremony isn’t over. You have sworn the oath and asked for Yatei’s guidance. Now it’s time to see whether you are worthy.” His gaze casually lingered on Kai, more chuckles came from the other children.

“You must find your way out of the roots of the great tree on your own. If Yatei judges you worthy, he’ll show you the way.”

The group quieted at the news. The amused smiles were replaced by worry. They had done dozens of turns to get here. Kai was surprised too, but with his stats, he could climb over every root even if they were wet and slippery. The other kids had only reached Red ★★, barely stronger than normal children, there was no way they could do the same.

“It is not necessary to exit at the same place we entered. As long as you make it out you can follow the edge of the root meadow till you see us, we’ll be waiting for you there. If you have faith in Yatei and have trained diligently you need not worry.”

Just like that, elder Soluli and the hunter marched toward the root arch, ready to abandon them without a second thought. As they were about to disappear into the maze the mayor stopped and turned around. Hopes rose from the children, but the next words quickly squashed them.

“I almost forgot, if you make it out in under one hour, it will be the sign you have the favor of the spirits. Most take a little less than two hours, not everyone can be chosen by Yatei after all.” His gaze hardened. “If you take more than four hours we’ll come to look for you, but that would not be a good sign for your future.”

After adding a time limit to make things more fun, the elder was gone, leaving the group of children to look around with lost expressions. A girl was the first to react, running after the elder, maybe she hoped it was all a big joke or that she could follow them out.

She came back a few seconds later looking defeated. “They’re gone.” She muttered with disbelief.

The words triggered a reaction from the rest of the group. Kai watched from the sidelines as chaos unfolded. About a third of the children quickly decided to make a run for it in the hopes of getting lucky. Having a timer looming over their head didn’t help anybody to maintain their calm.

Of the remaining two-thirds, most began arguing about what they should do. A smaller group sat on the ground, looking about to cry. Finally, Kai noticed three kids from old town staring at him from the sidelines. They seemed to be enjoying the show with smirks on their faces.

One silver that the test is rigged and they already knew beforehand.

That would have been the easiest money of his life, unfortunately, there was no one to take the bet. The trio noticed him watching them. Kai continued to stare, putting on his most irritating smile. When they saw he didn’t look intimidated by their numbers they seemed about to march over, but one of the three stopped the other two.

It was the same kid who had looked at him scared in the square, the one who had tried to confront him a few weeks ago. He whispered something to his friends and they all left after throwing one last dirty look in his direction.

At least the boy learnt something. Not sure if it’s the right lesson, but better than nothing.

After fainting in front of everybody and getting the eye of the elder on him, Kai wanted to maintain a low profile. He planned to make it out in just under one hour or a little over it. The chaos also seemed to be settling down. A few more kids headed out alone or in groups of two, the rest chose to stick together.

The leader of the group was the son of a hunter with a tracking skill. He assured everyone he could find the way out. Kai was not so sure it would work. The ground was covered in roots that left little traces to follow and all the other kids running out before them were not going to make it any easier. His skill would need to be really high level to work.

Guess it’s time to go. If the elder or the hunter have a way to see us, delaying any longer would be suspicious.

Getting on his feet, Kai headed for the root arch. A relaxing walk was exactly what he needed to think things over.

“Wait! I’m coming with you.”

I'm just hearing voices. It’s not real. Keep walking.

From the corner of his eye, Kai saw Telu running after him. After his spectacular flop earlier, he had hoped the chubby kid would lose interest in him.

Reality is a harsh mistress.

“Are you sure you want to follow me? I was hoping to get lucky…” Kai said with a pinch of hesitation to sell how unsure he was.

Telu nodded his head with a grin. “Don’t worry, we can look for the exit together.”

Great.

For a moment he considered telling him to get lost, but couldn’t bring himself to say the words. “Fine. But I need silence to concentrate.”

“Do you have a skill to find the exit?” Telu exclaimed.

“Something like that. But it only works if I can concentrate, so I need the quiet, okay?” Kai stared at him straight in the eyes seriously.

Telu nodded his head. “I won’t say a word.”

Maybe this will get me ten minutes of peace.

Before another kid could choose to join him, Kai walked into the root maze. He picked the opposite direction from where they came from on purpose.

“Are you sure this is the right way?” Telu asked.

“My skill is telling me this is the right way, I can feel the spirits guiding my steps.”

He could remember most of the path they took and was confident to spot the right tracks with Inspect, but what was the fun in that?

Climbing over the roots was out of the question. Even if he had not had Telu following him, it would scream: look at me, I’m hiding secrets! Worst case scenario he could use Mana Sense to see through the root walls around him and create a mental map of the place. If he got lucky he might find some mana plant, but he didn’t have his hopes too high. Apart from moss, nothing else seemed to grow around here. He had looked around as the elder let through the maze but did not see anything.

It was a pity he could take more time to analyze the great tree. Alas, right now he didn’t have the skill levels to get anything out of it anyway.

Taking advantage of the brief moment of quiet, Kai started going over his discoveries. First of all, he needed confirmation of what happened.

• Name: Kai Tylenn
• Race: Human
• Profession: None

Body stats

• Strength: 8
• Dexterity: 10
• Constitution: 13
• Mind: 14
• Spirit: 16
• Perception: 11
• Favor: 10>13

He had really received 3 points of Favor just like that. When the elder had talked about praying for the favor of the spirits, he didn’t think he meant literally.

The existence of the seventh attribute was an open secret. Some children weren’t aware, but all adults knew. Ele had told him everyone would receive at least one point when they reached Orange, no matter how long they took.

The problem was that nobody seemed to understand how the stat worked. He had asked Moui and his family, and even made conversation with other people at the market.

Most people thought it showed how much the spirit favored someone. He knew for sure the attribute existed also outside the archipelago, so that didn’t make much sense. A few people talked about good luck and fate, but they were equally unhelpful on the specifics.

Is it a consistent effect or something unpredictable? Does it only apply when random chances are involved or directly bend events in my favor? How much does 1 point increase my chances to guess heads or tails in a coin toss? How much luckier do 13 points make me? Is it a linear increase or exponential? Maybe logarithmic?

Once more, Kai lamented the lack of a school system or even a library and the frustration of living before the digital age.

Stopping for a moment to look where they were, Kai noticed something weird. He had kept choosing random paths, staying away when he heard the voices of other kids.

Judging from the lower thickness of the roots, they were getting closer to the exit. He could almost reach the top and hoist himself up.

Telu broke the silence. “Your skill must be truly powerful. Is it Tracking or Orientation?”

Is this random chance or my Favor is starting to pay dividends?

Kai gave a non-committal answer and continued to pick their way at random, crawling under a root and climbing over another smaller one. Their progress wasn’t fast, but they were inexorably getting closer to the exit, rarely if ever backtracking.

Was the randomness of it all that allowed his Favor to make a difference? Gaining 3 points was not a little, but he had already had 10 and he had never noticed anything so unusual.

His luck might have been slightly above average. Finding a teacher with Virya and, more recently, the merfolk ship stopping in Greenside right when he returned home. However, it wasn’t like Virya offered him the apprenticeship for free or buried in expensive resources to help him grow, quite the opposite. He had to fight tooth and nail for the right to remain there and never got any of the mystical potions or treasures he read about.

The same went with the merfolk, he had been the one to propose the deal and spent three days working every single waking hour and pushing his skills.

Apart from that, he wouldn’t say his life had been particularly lucky. Perhaps if he had had lower Favor it could have been even worse. It was impossible to say.

Focusing his thoughts back on the present, it might not be only his Favor at play. He had received a blessing from Yatei, but what did that mean? Was there something else apart from the 3 free points? The Guide had not told him anything that indicated that, but he was not working with complete information.

Could the great spirit take the blessing back? Did the oath he swore bind him? His gut wrenched at the thought, cold sweat forming on his skin despite the heat. Did he get himself into something bigger than he thought?

No, even if the oath is binding I only swore to honor Yatei with my actions. That could imply he could take back the blessing if I fail him, but it’s such a vague promise I won’t condition my actions too much even if I have to keep it.

This brought him to the last topic - the spirits were real. The thought scared him.

What ar—.

“We’re almost out! I knew my grandma was right when she told me to stick close to you. It must not have been even half an hour.” Telu said, almost jumping in place from the excitement.

If they stood on the tip of their toes they could see beyond the lower roots. Climbing over their wet and slippery surface covered by moss was still a hazard. As soon as the roots got small and they could look over them the rest of the way would be a breeze.

Their time was probably closer to twenty minutes. Instead of happiness or satisfaction, Kai immediately worried this would attract too much attention.

“Come, this way.” He said, using Mana Sense to judge the path that would lead them away from the exit.

Confident in his abilities, Telu followed without hesitation. He felt a bit bad about that, but it was for the best. He needed to waste at least a dozen more minutes.

I’ll bring him out in under an hour.

Kai went back to the question. If the spirits were real, what were they? Were they gods? And if they were all-powerful, why did they allow the Republic to take over the archipelago?

On Earth, knowing his life expectancy wasn’t long, he had read a lot about religions and the afterlife. He had never found something that particularly convinced him. Now he had proof something otherworldly existed on Elydes. The written words of the Guide on a notification were an undeniable truth. It didn’t get more clear than that.

Kai looked around as if expecting to see a sign they were watching him right at this moment.

The spirits of the archipelago were talked about in a neutral or positive light. They were the shield that protected the archipelago from beasts and natural calamities. Rarely were they depicted actively harming someone even in legends. But if they were real, what about the gods of the Republic? He never cared about it, but he remembered the Merian Republic worshiped a pantheon of seven gods.

Did this mean Elydes was filled with hundreds of gods? Were spirits and gods the same thing?

The implications were frightening. Gaining the strength to be free from the whims of other humans already felt like an insurmountable mountain to climb, if godly entities were thrown into the mix…

I better get back to training and studying.

Only after he learnt more could he make the best decision. For now, there was nothing he could do. He was losing himself in hypotheticals. It was better to focus on what he could do, he had a maze to get out of.

Around 40 minutes in the challenge, Kai stopped using Mana Sense to sabotage their progress and headed in for the most direct exit. After leading them in circles, he had a pretty good mental map of the place.

“We’ve made it!” Telu excitedly said as he ran the last few meters over the outer circle of roots almost tripping. “Do you think it’s been an hour yet?”

Kai shrugged. “Only one way to find out.”

Maybe he should have waited a bit more, but after he discovered gods were real, the petty politics of the mayor felt insignificant. They were almost on the opposite side of where they entered, maybe that was his luck too. Following the edge of the meadow they soon saw the elder together with a small group of kids. The three from old town were present together with a few of the ones who decided to make a run for it. Of the big group, there was no sign yet.

“It seems the Yatei is truly merciful and didn’t take offense at your actions.” Elder Soluli said as they got closer.

Kai forced a relieved smile with Acting. “I trusted in the will of the spirits.”