Chapter Twenty-Four: Words of Sublimation

"Investigators," or "Spacetime Explorers," are not a specialized profession within St. Byrons Comprehensive College. Ring-術ists who possess [Time]-related core runes, or those who have acquired [Time]-related runes, can use relics known as [Time Keys]—which range in grade from Poet (Level 5) to Angel (Level 1)—to traverse time and enter points in history prior to the Sixth Epoch.

[Time Keys] are one-time-use relics, with each key opening a different era. All Time Keys are connected to the fallen Old God, the [Father of the Infinite Tree].

This was an incredibly powerful Old God belonging to the benevolent faction. Contacting knowledge or traces related to Him carries a probability of acquiring a golden [Miracle] rune. According to legends and inscriptions on ancient stone tablets, the [Father of the Infinite Tree] fell during the Chaotic Era of the Fourth Epoch. However, using His concept of "infinity," He integrated His physical form into the continuous, infinite spacetime, thereby bridging the past and the future.

[Time Keys] are the [Relics] left behind by this fallen deity. Because the fallen Old God exists within continuous spacetime, the time leaps enabled by His relics are not limited to the time before the Fourth Epoch when He fell.

For reasons unknown, however, no [Time Key] capable of returning to any point in the Sixth Epoch has ever been discovered. This remains a significant subject of study for Ring-術ists researching time.

In short, the doctor had Shade draw those two runes, and while relaying the information about Shade’s core runes to the college, he provided him with a brief introduction to the common knowledge in this field.

Runes are a language of the past and are fundamentally non-repetitive. Unless one has seen a rune with the same meaning, it is impossible to fabricate one; thus, this serves as proof that he was not lying.

But before Shade could ask questions like, "What about temporal stability?" or "Will there be time paradoxes?", the college’s reply had already arrived:

"If Shade Suren Hamilton is willing to join the School of History, the School of History is prepared to list him as a key cultivation target and, upon his enrollment, provide a Keeper-level relic for self-defense."

"What does that mean?" Shade looked at the doctor.

"It means they value your talent, but your status as a correspondence Ring-術ist remains unchanged. Being a 'key cultivation target' means you won't have to complete as many mandatory practical credit tasks, and books will be slightly cheaper when purchased at St. Byrons. As for the Keeper-level (Level 3) relic... it means exactly what it says."

The doctor shrugged. "They are always like this—generous to those with talent, but they never break the rules."

"Then should I accept?"

"Unless you have a reason to refuse," the writer replied simply. She tucked a strand of golden hair behind her ear. "There are always a few key cultivation targets every year, but I don't think there’s any harm in it."

And so, Shade successfully became a first-year correspondence Ring-術ist under the School of History at St. Byrons Comprehensive College.

To become a Ring-術ist, one must interact with the Four Elements, and advancing in rank also requires the Four Elements.

For each Ring, one must engrave at least one of each: a golden [Miracle] rune, a silver [Blasphemy] rune, a brass [Enlightenment] rune, and an iron [Whisper] rune onto their Ring of Fate to accumulate enough spirit to complete the sublimation of the Ring level.

Since there is a cap on the amount of spirit that can be accumulated at any given Ring level, engraving four runes is no different from engraving four hundred before attempting sublimation. In fact, engraving too many runes can be detrimental, as the runes required for each advancement must be engraved during that specific Ring level.

Under normal circumstances, engraving runes is no simple matter. Correctly balancing the number of runes against one’s own research into thaumaturgy and sorcery is also a vital task.

Ring-術ists from the first to the fourth Ring are known as Low-Ring; the fifth to the eighth are Mid-Ring; and those above the ninth are High-Ring.

This division is not arbitrary; when sublimating at the fourth and eighth Rings, in addition to the four necessary runes, all sixteen runes acquired during that stage—one per Ring—must form a coherent meaning when linked with the Ring-術ist's core rune. This is known as the "Word of Sublimation."

Within Dr. Schneider’s group, only the doctor himself, at the fifth Ring, had completed four sublimations.

When he promoted from the fourth to the fifth Ring, he used the iron [Whisper]—[Running] from the first Ring, the silver [Blasphemy]—[Malice] from the second, the brass [Enlightenment]—[Hound] from the third, and the golden [Miracle]—[Light] from the fourth, along with his core rune [Dream], to construct the Word of Sublimation for transitioning from Low-Ring to Mid-Ring:

[The Hound of Light runs through the Dream of Malice.]

There are no restrictions on the types of runes used for the Word of Sublimation; the doctor simply happened to satisfy the four requirements.

If one does not meet the conditions for the Word of Sublimation, they can never advance from the fourth to the fifth Ring, or from the eighth to the ninth. And because the four runes used must come from four different Ring levels, there is no opportunity to go back and fix it later.

The choice of the Word of Sublimation can be aided by past examples, which form the [Codex of Sublimation], a collection containing thousands of records. Ring-術ists look up examples based on their core runes and prepare from the beginning of each stage. Thus, every organization treats its own [Codex of Sublimation] as its most important secret.

Across the Low, Mid, and High-Ring stages, the same core rune can be used to link the Words of Sublimation. Therefore, having a larger number of core runes simply provides more options and does not significantly affect the difficulty of advancement.

If one chooses not to rely on the experience of past "Words of Sublimation," or if the core rune is so rare that no examples exist, one must experiment on their own; with enough luck, the conditions for sublimation can eventually be met.

Shade, however, would only be eligible to view St. Byrons’ Codex of Sublimation in six months to determine his choice for the most important rune of his first Ring. The college was also concerned about the reliability of correspondence Ring-術ists and needed to ensure that students who became extraordinary would not renege on their commitment. Furthermore, advancement is inherently difficult, so half a year is not considered wasted time.

Although there is no limit to the number of runes per Ring, acquiring them is quite difficult. Promotion between school years requires not only mandatory credits from exams and practical credits from college tasks but also that one's school year corresponds to their Ring level.

Therefore, it is quite normal for a school year to take two or three years to complete. If one cannot find the runes for the Word of Sublimation planned for the fourth Ring, even if the conditions for the four types of runes are met, people will still delay their advancement.

Of course, the textbooks, basic Ring-術ist courses, the Keeper-level relic promised by the School of History, and the investigation tasks for the School of History would all be discussed in three days, once the college had organized Shade’s materials.

At that time, not only would the college’s syllabus and training program be provided, but all four members of the group would be present to offer Shade advice.

So, after confirming his enrollment in the School of History, Dr. Schneider announced that Shade could leave.

"Leave now?" Shade, who had been busy memorizing these common facts just a second ago, asked with some surprise.

"Do you have other business?" the doctor asked, equally surprised.

"I mean, now that I’ve joined the college, isn't there..."

It was Miss Louisa, the woman in the group, who understood what he meant. "Mr. Hamilton, the enrollment process is indeed just that. I must repeat what the doctor said: please remember, we are correspondence Ring-術ists. Our connection to the college is not close. We educate ourselves, we draw knowledge from the college, and the college gives us practical tasks to satisfy credit requirements. We are merely correspondence students."

"I see."

Shade, who had been sitting for almost the entire afternoon, stood up. The doctor and the writer also rose to see him off. The latter had business with the doctor today and could not leave just yet.

When Shade had almost reached the door with the two of them, the doctor suddenly added:

"Also, there are two taboos you must remember. St. Byrons Comprehensive College stipulates that all Ring-術ists of this college are forbidden from setting foot on the New Continent—this is a college taboo. A taboo universal to all Ring-術ists is that suicide is forbidden.

"Stepping onto the New Continent is considered by the college as an automatic forfeiture of student status, and a Ring-術ist committing suicide would trigger a crisis at least as severe as a Keeper-level relic going out of control."

The "New Continent" refers to the land discovered fifty years ago during the Age of Discovery, located outside the current "Old Continent." It is somewhat similar to the Age of Discovery in the previous world, but the New Continent has no humans, yet possesses extremely abundant resources.

"Why?" Shade asked, puzzled.

"We do not know the reason behind the college's regulations. As for the prohibition on suicide..." Miss Louisa looked at the doctor. "The doctor believes it likely has to do with the 'other me.' If we commit suicide, the other me might do something."

The doctor shrugged. "That’s all we know for now. We have never encountered a Ring-術ist who committed suicide.

"Shade, remember to come by at ten o'clock on Wednesday morning—three days from now. Besides college matters, you will need to learn about our group’s regular study meetings and our fixed annual tasks. Oh, speaking of which, you can study your own runes over these next few days. I'll lend you this notebook."

He turned to his desk, took out a black-covered notebook from a locked drawer, and handed it to Shade. It looked quite old.

"You can try experimenting with your runes for thaumaturgy yourself, but since you’ve just acquired your power, it likely won't go very smoothly. Your most important task over these three days is to rest. Being initiated as a Ring-術ist takes a toll on the soul and body. Use your three days of bed rest to read the notes. You'll likely sleep until noon tomorrow... See you in three days. Remember, you need to repay the 10 pounds within a month."

The farewell felt a bit abrupt, but Shade knew he had already overstayed his welcome. He gathered his chaotic thoughts and said very earnestly:

"See you in three days, Dr. Schneider, Miss Louisa... thank you."

"No need to thank me; I only came today to act as a witness," the writer said, though she seemed to be in a very good mood.

"And no need to thank me either. As I said, I only wanted to find a fifth Ring-術ist for our group," the blue-eyed doctor replied softly, looking at Shade.