One of the fears I had of being a leader of sorts was that I would suddenly be a lot busier. There were so many little things that Escinca had handled as the Elder of the Cult of the Sun, many of which went unseen by me and the rest of the cultists.

For instance, sending reports to the Council on exactly how funds had been allocated? Who knew that was even a thing?

Well, Elder Escinca apparently had that in hand but hadn’t bothered explaining it to any of us. I supposed there was a certain stress associated with it, a certain expectation that limited the ways we could act and conduct ourselves. To some extent, that was. Escinca, kindly old man that he had been, had seen fit to spare us that.

Thankfully, the responsibilities of leadership also came with the added power of delegation.

“These are the money orders for the furniture warehouse, Cultist Ross,” Aqrea said. “Please review them.”

She handed me a paper that stated the exact amount and contents of furniture that the orphanage had requested. Since the cult was the one fulfilling the order—with my money—we needed to be involved in the process to make sure all the T’s were crossed and the I’s were dotted.

All I needed to do was glance over it. Everything looked fine. Aqrea, one of the recent inductees into the cult, was fantastic at that sort of paperwork.

“Looks good,” I said. “What’s next?”

I got a whole sheaf of papers after that. “Here are the dispensation details from the Council.”

That one took me a little longer to review. It basically detailed all the money that the Council of Zairgon was handing over to us from the events of the recent trial—the forty-percent share of House Kalnislaw that had been confiscated to benefit Ring Four after their actions had brought on so much suffering and destruction.

Different sheets detailed different sides of that dispensation. One detailed how much went to each cult was receiving.

The Cult of the Sun, I noticed with a satisfied and somewhat egotistical smirk, was getting the highest of them all at fourteen percent, with the Earth and Fire Cults each getting eight percent, and the remaining ten percent shared between the rest of the cults.

Since there was no official leader of Ring Four, it had been left up to the cults to take care of using allocated funds for the benefit of the entire population here. To that end, another paper detailed the expectations. In generalities, thankfully, and not in strict specifics that we had to follow.

Yet another sheet detailed individual notes about the various cults. That was essentially a subtle reminder that the Council was aware of each and every one of us, as well as all our goings-on. Just a different kind of warning that any sort of shady business wouldn’t fly.

The other papers were easier, mostly thanks to Aqrea. Documents about different flows of money, an invitation to Bless the premises of the first Ring Four Ration House with a reply already written, and even letters some people had sent to the cult as way of thanks for our efforts.

That last one was rather nice. Even small displays of gratitude and appreciation made me smile.

“And here,” Aqrea said with a small grin. “Is the reward you’ve been waiting for, Cultist Ross.”

It had only been about a couple days since she had joined, and she had already worked and spent enough time here to figure me out. I shook my head with a soft snort and accepted the letter.

Master Kostis had finally responded with all the details I had been looking forward to exploring after pushing myself to Silver.

Actually, it wasn’t all the information I could have used. There was only so much one letter could contain. But, as I started reading through it, I noted it had everything I needed to focus on for the time being.

The most important information came about my Flare Aspect. I needed to know about directions I could take it, and Master Kostis was happy to help me figure that out.

One of the things I was interested in learning about was the difference between an Aspect of Flare and something like the Aspect of Fire. Because I was sure if one could exist, so could the other.

Turned out, I wasn’t wrong at all.

“The Aspect of Fire does indeed exist,” I read aloud from the letter. “So does the Aspect of Heat, and so on. The primary difference is in their forms. Heat is simply the basic, primal form of heat energy. Fire, however, is a very specific form of that energy. Flare is even further along that spectrum. In other words, each lends to certain style of use, with certain Affixes working better or worse.”

“That’s fascinating, Cultist Ross,” Aqrea said. She was puttering about in the little office that had formerly belonged to Elder Escinca. I was taking my time to make it my own. It didn’t quite feel right just yet. “Does Master Kostis say what sort of Affixes work better for each?”

Aqrea hadn’t originally known much about Aspects and Affixes and all that. But in just a few days, she had picked up a handy amount of information just from working in the office and being a glorified mix of a secretary and an accountant. Just went to show why I had picked her for helping me with all the leader business from the crop of recent inductees.

“He does!” I said. “Or rather, he gives a bunch of Affixes that can work… but a lot of those need a base Affix to function. Manifestation.”

“Is that the one that, well, manifests the Aspect?”

I snorted. “Yes, the names are very self-explanatory. You’d think having Aspects that are more elemental would mean you could just manipulate them into existence.” And I thought I had, during the fight against Glonek. Maybe it just hadn’t been channelled in a way I could actually use though, because I certainly hadn’t directed it. “Thankfully, there are bypasses.”

“Why would you need a bypass, Cultist Ross?”

“Most of these Affixes,” I continued reading from the letter. “Like Wave and Shaping need Manifestation to allow them to function. Heat, for example, needs to exist separate from the mage before the mage can mould it into the desired form. However, when you have multiple Aspects, it’s better to get Manifestation as an Augmentation rather than an Affix.”

“An Augmentation?” Aqrea asked, looking back at me from where she was tinkering with the Pipe Missive to send off some correspondences.

“You get those under your Attributes once they’re Silver-ranked. They’re like general passive abilities that aren’t restricted to any single Aspect, and from what I’ve heard, you can even transfer Affixes into Augmentations so that you can use that Augmentation on all your Aspects.”

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“Oh, I see! Smart. Are you going to learn Manifestation as an Affix first, then transfer it?”

“Well, no.” I frowned down at the letter. “Master Kostis says I can learn Manifestation as an Augmentation directly. The problem with that is I already have an Augmentation for Spirit planned, and it won’t fit under any of my other Attributes, I’m pretty sure.”

“Ah. So…”

“So, I’ll need to either get a new Attribute or push my current one up to Gold. Guess I need to see which one is easier.”

“And if you aren’t getting Manifestation as an Augmentation, you’re instead getting…”

“For my Spirit Augmentation, I’m getting Threaded Reinforcement. To help with my mana core.”

Aqrea had a look of faint interest in her eyes. She didn’t ask any further questions, but I could spot an undercurrent of curiosity. I was happy to help. Having seen Sreketh manifest a non-standard, non-profession-related, “mage-like” Path, I had a feeling Aqrea could manifest one as well. As such, I didn’t hold back from passing on the knowledge I acquired.

“So much money…” Aqrea said, staring at another page before sliding it into a folder. “No wonder you’re the leader of the Sun Cult, Cultist Ross.”

Even after the few days she had worked here, she still wasn’t used to it. Not that her reaction was that surprising. People on Ring Four in general earned pittances at best.

“Just trying to make the best use of my Paths,” I said.

She finished organizing the folder, then bowed her head shortly. “I’ll come back tomorrow and organize any new letters we have and look over the accounts. I’ve added all the funding sources, including the ones you provided, to the cult’s account as you asked. See you tomorrow, Cultist Ross.”

I waved a farewell. “See you. And thanks. Will you be heading off to the hospital next?”

“Yes! My kind of work is never done.”

She didn’t sound sad or tired about it. If anything, she had a somewhat familiar look in her eyes, one I recognized from the few times I got to look at a mirror. A look of purpose, a look that proved there was a goal to be attained and a clear path to getting there.

Her experiences working with the accounts of other places like the hospital was why I had asked her to assist me at the office as well. I blessed the day she had arrived at the cult’s doorstep.

“I’ll be leaving now,” she said, placing the glowing jar on my table. I had used my Illumination Aspect’s Imbuement Affix to light up the room. “Please remember the meeting with the other cults. And the Councillor meeting.”

“I will, thank you. Take care.”

There were some more interesting things in the letter from Master Kostis. According to the Opal-ranked mage, Flare didn’t lend itself well to Affixes I was already familiar with. Things like Infusion and Siphon, Affixes that were integral for my Gravity Aspect, wouldn’t work as well for my new Aspect.

I could see why. Flare was an expressive form of heat, not a form that could be stored in an object indefinitely. Although, was there a way storages could be used? After all, couldn’t the potential for a flare be stored up before unleashing it? Could that be an Affix somehow?

Thoughts like that were signs that I wasn’t disappointed by the lack of Affixes that felt more… foundational, in a way. I didn’t want a reprise of things I already had experience in.

Besides, transferring Gravity’s Affixes into Augmentations would allow me to use Infusion and Siphon on all of my Aspects. No point in wasting Affix slots in other Aspects when I was going to be able to do what I wanted eventually, especially since I wasn’t sure what happened to original Affixes once they were transferred into Augmentations.

For another, I wanted to focus on a slightly different direction. Namely, flight.

Before, Gravity had allowed me to float and take to the air, but I hadn’t really flown per se. There was no way to generate thrust, no easy method of controlling the direction of motion even if I could technically take off from the ground like a fleshy airplane.

But now, with Flare, I figured I had a way of finally, properly flying.

What was thrust? I hadn’t been an aerospace engineer, but basic knowledge reminded me that in jet and rocket engines, it was more or less burning fuel to create a force in a specific direction. An exchange of momentum, where heat was crucial in expanding gaseous combustion products.

I didn’t have fuel to burn or a turbine to compress air. What I did have was a certain Aspect that could—potentially—replicate that role.

It was nice to read the letter again as I strolled to the balcony and looked over Ring Four. People were returning from their day at work, making their way to their ramshackle houses. I remembered how they had been depressed and scared only a few days ago, when the threat of the Scarthralls had been so present and daunting.

Back to the letter—Kostis mentioned an Affix called Concentration. Essentially, it would use the caster’s mana to draw in heat from the surroundings, from the caster himself as well if needed, and concentrate the energy into one point.

Which could then be unleashed by a flaring burst. Just what I had been thinking of.

More importantly, it didn’t need Manifestation to function, as I was only drawing heat from the surroundings.

The vital part was that it had the potential to be volatile. Flare as an aspect was already that, but compressing even more energy into a single would only boost the explosive blast of heat.

Of course, the ultimate burst depended on the rate at which heat was concentrated. Physics was kind of unreliable on Ephemeroth, at least when it came to informing what was and wasn’t possible with all the mana present here. And yet, I couldn’t disregard the fact that some of the heat I gathered up would dissipate, thus weakening the final release of Flare.

Unless, of course, I could stuff the heat into a single location in the blink of an eye.

Essentially, I’d have to practice and rank up Flare as much as I could, and thereby rank up its Affixes. First, of course, I’d need to acquire Concentration as an Affix.

So, I did just that. It took me several hours of practice, but the process was simple. Threads of magical energy swam through me as if I had cool streams running inside my body. But those threads heated up as soon as they breached my skin, my mental focus entirely on the feelings of burning up I had experienced in the fight against Glonek and the practice I had done since.

I didn’t let the threads create warmth on their own. Instead, they emerged and reached out all around me, tagging onto the walls, the floor, even pockets of air. And myself too, of course.

Then they drew the heat.

The point where all the threads intersected in space was where I was trying to condense the energy I collected from the surroundings into. At first, it didn’t work. I thought I felt a flicker of warmth, and then a strange chill, but it was too fleeting to be sure.

But a couple odd hours later, when I was both sweating and shivering, the rice-grain-sized point was glowing a bright, warm coppery orange.

I grinned.

[ Affix Unlocked!

You have acquired a new Affix for your Flare Aspect.

Affix: Concentration ]

[ Rank Up!

Your Flare Aspect has risen by one Rank.

Flare: Iron IV ]

Simply channelling Flare over the last few days had ranked it up to Iron III, though it had been slow going, likely due to the lack of any Affix to direct it. Now, though, just a breakthrough had been enough for another rank.

“Weren’t you supposed to go to sleep, Ross?”

I turned to see Sreketh frowning at my state. “Soon.” I licked off some sweat on top of my lip and spat. “Just got an Affix for—”

“You said you had that big meeting tomorrow, right? With the Councillors on Ring One.”

I felt a lot colder. “Ah, crap. I forgot.” The meeting the Ogre Councillor had invited me to would be happening very early, so I had to rise and shine before dawn. Or whatever passed for dawn here. “Thanks, Sreketh. I’m going to head off to bed. After a quick shower. Your Path coming along well?”

She had received Path of the Artist, which hadn’t sounded anything really unique, until she had shown me her Aspect.

Sreketh’s expression brightened. “Yes! I can gain hopping powers, like the bunny you showed me how to draw!”

I laughed. “What’s your Aspect at now?”

She had others from her cultist Path, but she knew the one I really meant. “Painted Power is at Iron II. I need to get it higher.”

“That’s not bad. Just keep working… or keep painting I guess. You’ll hit Silver in no time.” I ruffled her scaly head. “And you should go to sleep too. I know the only reason you caught me was because you were sneaking off to paint more.”

Sreketh groaned as I headed off.

I wondered what sort of meeting I’d find myself in all the way up on Ring One. The Ogre Councillor had invited me as an interpreter after hearing about the reward from my very first Sacrifice. Really, all that made me think was if there were other uses for my Universal Language Approximator that I hadn’t even thought of yet.