Ring Arcanists and Destiny Rings

The late Detective Sparrow Hamilton had taken on a rather troublesome commission about half a year ago. Baron Huntington of Tobesk City had hired the Detective to find a missing Maid. The Maid had served the Baron's family for many years and had resigned of her own accord a few days earlier.

The Baron had sent his butler with gifts to invite the Maid back, only to discover that she had already vanished. Though the Baron possessed a certain social standing, he was not, after all, the Maid's family. Moreover, he himself did not seem to trust the police very much, which was why he had hired several Detectives to investigate.

Detective Sparrow was not actually any kind of Renowned Detective. His usual commissions were no more than Trivial Matters such as investigating affairs. This time, a noble had come to hire him only because of a referral from an old client.

Sparrow Hamilton had attached great importance to this matter. Even if he was only a Baron, he was still an important figure beyond the reach of ordinary citizens. He had investigated diligently, spending a month this spring following all sorts of clues until he found an abandoned sanatorium beside the Oser River and concluded that it was the cause of the missing-person cases.

"This sanatorium was probably abandoned thirty years ago. I was only a child then, but I heard my family mention it."

The local Bill Schneider explained, raising a hand to point at the Building Complex gradually becoming clearer Not Far Away. Though the area Outside the City was also shrouded in thin mist, they could already see the Clock Tower beside the main building, as well as the spires and cross-shaped decorative turrets.

"At the time, the royal family instructed Tobesk City Hall to redraw the city plan to accommodate the enormous influx of people and the development of Steam Industry. The policy then was probably to move infrastructure such as hospitals into the city while moving Factories outside it."

"This had originally been an aristocratic sanatorium. I hope you understand what I mean—it was exclusively for important people beyond anything we could imagine. After answering the call, the sanatorium moved completely away from Tobesk City to a nearby city. It only takes half an hour by train to get there, so it was actually more convenient than this place."

"So this sanatorium was abandoned. Not even vagrants would live here. This place is deserted, and no one would know even if someone died nearby."

All around them lay vast fields and wasteland. Even the nearest rural town was an hour's walk away. There was, however, an estate and racetrack nearby belonging to some Earl. During racing season, people would use the road the two of them were walking along as a track, but there was no one around now.

Though industry was developing rapidly in this era, traces of the Steam Epoch could only be seen in major cities. Once one left the city, everything regressed toward earlier times. Shade understood what that saying meant.

The two soon followed the path to the vicinity of the abandoned sanatorium. The Doctor had not mentioned the place's name, and it presumably was not important.

From the outside, the plaster had completely peeled away, and every window and door was gone. The sanatorium's walls were surprisingly still standing, but the courtyard within was nearly indistinguishable from the wasteland outside, with no trace of its former gardens.

The tall buildings and spires stood amid the wilderness, and only the decorations on the iron gate faintly hinted at its former prosperity.

"Follow behind me. We'll talk as we walk."

The Doctor said this and kicked open the two iron gates, which seemed rusted together. The gates crashed to the ground, startling birds from the nearby trees.

Even at the city's edge, the mist had only thinned somewhat. The gloomy sky looked as though it might rain, and Shade somewhat regretted not bringing an umbrella.

The two entered the sanatorium courtyard, their boots crunching through the overgrown grass.

"A Ring Arcanist is someone who possesses a Destiny Ring."

The Doctor spoke while looking around, leading Shade toward the front entrance of the main building.

"A Destiny Ring?"

"A ring forged for us by time, years, Destiny, eras, Civilization, and the world, symbolizing ourselves. Watch carefully! I am going to show you the complete Wheel of Fate, not merely a fragment of it. Look closely—"

Walking through the wild grass, the Doctor slightly spread his arms, opened both hands with his palms facing upward, and raised them level with his shoulders as though holding something aloft.

Everything behind him became hazy, as though another layer of White Fog had appeared. Yet he himself remained unchanged, except for the faint smile on his face.

Then, in this empty abandoned courtyard, Shade actually heard the sound and Echo of a train whistle.

"What?"

He hurriedly looked around through waist-high grass, and at that moment, his skin began to sense heat.

When he turned around, he saw that what lay behind the Doctor was not White Fog, but steam. Scalding steam—steam that somehow made people tremble—seemed to blur distance and space, rendering everything behind the Doctor indistinct.

Within that steam, an enormous black shadow was approaching. The steam behind the Doctor seemed to contain infinite Spacetime.

The whistle roared, steam exploded, and the black shadow drew closer and closer. Its tremendous speed stirred up wind pressure, sending the Doctor's clothes, the wild grass in the courtyard, and the lapels of Shade's overcoat fluttering. He had no choice but to narrow his eyes.

More seriously, however, a sense of danger rose within his heart.

"What exactly is inside that steam?"

It was getting closer. In the Depths of the steam behind the Doctor, an enormous iron hammer Appeared, carrying momentum and force. All Shade could see was its silver-gray color. It was as tall as the entire building, and amid a deafening boom, it struck the Doctor.

The impact made Shade's ears ring and his vision swim. A powerful urge to vomit forced him to clutch his chest. The ground shook, the Gale howled, Thunder flashed. Amid that series of illusions, the hammer strike seemed to split heaven and earth apart, yet also seemed to strike Shade's soul.

But only the Doctor was struck by the giant hammer. The Doctor did not move an inch, yet Shade somehow felt that he had seen Doctor Schneider smashed into a copper pancake.

"Copper?"

He felt increasingly unable to make sense of his own perceptions.

It truly was a piece of copper. After being struck and forged by the giant hammer, an enormous rotating copper ring appeared behind the Doctor. It was a brass-colored metal ring.

The steam gradually dispersed. The brass metal ring, with a pentagonal cross-section, slowly rotated behind the Doctor. Strange light drifted across the Destiny Ring alongside more than twenty Spirit Runes.

With the halo reflected on his face, the Outlander heard the woman in his mind chuckle softly. His eyes reflected that magnificent, wondrous ring filled with power.

"This is a Destiny Ring. Ring Arcanists only summon it in its entirety when fighting at full strength. Otherwise, they need not summon it at all, or can summon only part of it. Do you have any questions?"

The Doctor stopped amid the wild grass in the sanatorium courtyard and asked the dumbfounded Shade. Shade could still feel the heat left by the dispersing steam behind the Doctor, as well as the high temperature radiating from that enormous brass ring.

The Destiny Ring was not an illusion. It was real.

"Why steam? Why brass?"

He did not even notice the urgency in his own voice.

The middle-aged Doctor smiled.

"Young man, power cannot be separated from its era, and the world influences us as well."

"I told you that the Destiny Ring represents oneself and the world. This era is the era of steam and machinery, so the Destiny Ring emerges from steam, is forged beneath the strike of a giant hammer, and takes on the luster of brass."

"If this were the era of rainbows, then the Destiny Ring might be rainbow-colored. If it were the era of the deep sea, then the Destiny Ring would be water. Do you understand?"

Shade nodded with difficulty, his heart racing from witnessing that frightening scene.

"I understand."

He was unwilling even to blink, wanting to burn the ring's complete form behind the Doctor into his eyes. But the Doctor waved a hand behind him, and the Destiny Ring slowly turned transparent and vanished, leaving Shade able to remember only a few of its runes.

As for Northern Kingdom Common Language, even without the knowledge granted by the woman's voice in his mind, Shade could understand it when he saw or heard it, though he could neither speak nor write it. Yet now, Shade somehow understood the meanings of those powerful Spirit Runes as well. The few he caught sight of were Joy Hound and Dust Mote.

A sudden swelling pain filled his head, as though someone had struck the back of it. He gave up trying to memorize any more of those powerful runes.

In this world, knowledge truly was power. Therefore, it was understandable that the supernatural organization the Doctor had invited Shade to join was an Academy.

But if my special trait is being able to read and understand every kind of writing, is that really a good thing in this dangerous world?

As Shade contemplated his own Secret, the Doctor continued forward through the wild grass and explained, "The cross-section of my Destiny Ring is currently pentagonal, which means I am a five-ring Ring Arcanist. It also means that I am a fifth-year correspondence student in the Academy's adult education program."

"A one-ring Destiny Ring is a flat circle, with Spirit Runes engraved on one side. A two-ring one is also flat, but Spirit Runes can be engraved on both sides. A three-ring one has a triangular cross-section, a four-ring one has a quadrilateral cross-section, and so on. Do you understand? The higher the ring, the closer it is to the most standard circle."

"Yes, I understand."

As they spoke, the two entered the building. Over so many years, countless people had likely visited this place. All the furniture was gone, and a layer of Gray Dust covered the floor, rising into the air the moment they stepped on it.

They did not linger on the first floor, instead climbing the Seemed unsteady stairs toward the second floor. Shade was quite worried about the safety of such a dilapidated building.

"Spirit Runes are the core of the Ring Arcanist system. By engraving Spirit Runes upon our own Destiny Rings, we accumulate spirit, experience the four great elements—Miracle, Blasphemy, Enlightenment, and Whisper—and continuously advance."

"Spirit? Elements?"

Shade asked in confusion, his heart full of excitement. He was finally going to learn about these things.

The Doctor led Shade up the stairs.

"As for spirit, it had many names in earlier eras: magic power, aether, mana, spirituality, Mind's Light. But in this era, it is uniformly called spirit. It is information, elements, energy, the sum of everything in the world that you can understand, and one manifestation of a Ring Arcanist's mind interfering with matter."

"The way to accumulate spirit is to come into contact with elements, and the safest way to contact elements is by reading stories and knowledge from before the epochs—culture, customs, Hero legends, and myths passed down by word of mouth."

"Contact with such knowledge is also dangerous. The slightest carelessness can lead to madness. Therefore, what we generally read are copied originals or translated editions."

Shade simply translated "spirit" as a blue bar.

"But accumulating enough spirit alone does not allow one to enter the next ring. The most important thing for a Ring Arcanist is not spirit, but elements. By accumulating Spirit Runes of the four great elements, one can effectively raise the upper limit of spirit, sublimate the soul, and temper the body. The four great elements can be sensed in many ways."

Shade recalled the woman's voice in his mind mentioning that he had encountered "Whisper," "Enlightenment," and "Miracle": respectively when he witnessed Sparrow's death, stepped onto the street and saw the world, and contemplated the meaning of gods.

"Merely sensing and contacting them is not enough. You must engrave the elements upon your own Destiny Ring, thereby proving your Fusion with them. Every advancement of a Ring Arcanist requires different combinations of Miracle, Blasphemy, Enlightenment, and Whisper Spirit Runes. Once you decide to join the Academy, I will explain that to you."

"For now, I will introduce the differences between the four elements."

The Doctor paused, then smiled as he Looked Towards the front.

"I think the person we are looking for should be here."

PS: Thank you all for your enthusiastic support. There was actually a donation yesterday, so I'll add another update. I hope readers of this book will leave more comments, so the author can learn everyone's opinions and suggestions.