Chapter 252 - The Paintocalypse (Patreon)

[Achievement!]

[You have learned to skulk and deceive with the very fiber of your being. Your mastery of misdirection has manifested where you can make others doubt your very existence.]

[Skills Sneaking, Stealing, Backstab, Camouflage, Eavesdropping, Pickpocket, Silent Step, Stealth, Tracking, Ambush, Detect Lies/Truth, Infiltration, Poison Resistance, Sure Step, and Assassination have merged.]

[The Path has already been set.]

[New Skill Unlocked!]

[Tier 5:]

[Clandestine Prodigy (38)]

[Further Synergy has been detected between Skills]

[Insufficient Skill/Enlightenment]

Reivyn reviewed the System Notification as he walked back to his home. He had only had to make his way to the barracks located on the Imperial Palace grounds, so it had been a quick trip.

He had worn his unarmored uniform for the excursion, and his familiar face and actively using his Stealth Skills - I guess it would be more accurate to refer to them as Clandestine Skills, now  - had allowed the guards to simply ignore him. He had easily gained access to the barracks.

He didn’t know what he was going to do when he first arrived. He simply wandered around and observed the off-duty Imperial Guards. Many groups were formed of men and women engaging in activities or simple conversation, and Reivyn had simply slipped in among them to participate.

He never stayed long enough for anyone to question who he was or his presence, and his contributions to whatever activity or conversation was going on had been minimal. He flitted around from group to group and eventually made his way to a common area where the NCO’s hung out.

Even though he was a commissioned officer, he didn’t wear his rank insignia for this exercise. He had spotted an acquaintance, Imperial Guard Sergeant Lencet, and knowing the man and his character had emboldened his decision to join their card game.

The deck of cards had been set aside, forgotten, next to Lencet’s elbow, and Reivyn had simply skimmed the top cards from the top and “played” them in one hand. He imagined it was the difficulty involved in pulling off his stunt successfully that had finally pushed him beyond his limits. He quickly left the table after being unable to contain his excitement when the Notification popped up.

He had spent a couple of days trying to figure out exactly what he needed to merge his Clandestine Skills together. He had been so focused on simply avoiding detection he had forgotten the other aspect of being stealthy.

In conversation with his father about the subject, Refix had reminded him that “the safest place to hide the envelope was on the mantle.” He had an epiphany and realized that he didn’t need to just completely avoid detection, but he needed to be able to blend in, as well.

That was how he came up with the idea of infiltrating the Imperial Guard barracks. With all of his Skills active and at the forefront of his mind, he not only managed to convince everyone he came into contact with that he was supposed to be there, but from the comment from Lencet as he made his exit, he even managed to convince people he hadn’t been there at all.

He had no misgivings that he would have been able to walk into any situation and succeed in making others believe he belonged there. He had heavily stacked the odds in his favor. He chose the exact scenario where highly Skilled individuals in detection would have their guards down, and he was a known resident of the Imperial Palace. He even personally knew a few of the guards and had interacted with a lot of them in one situation or another over the months he had been in Wispan.

If he had decided to walk into a smuggler’s den, there was no way he would have even made it through the door.

That didn’t mean he hadn’t accomplished a brilliant feat. He was still quite proud of himself.

I’m still not done, though, he thought as he entered his parents’ house. Next I’ll work on combining my Mana Skills together.

When thinking about all the different Skills he could combine, he had also briefly considered whether the same thing could be done with his Affinities. He quickly abandoned that idea, though, as he realized they were fundamentally different. The four basic Elements already made up 99% of reality, and if he did combine it together, what would it be? The obvious answer was Veridical, but he already had that.

There was strong evidence that it was impossible to combine Affinities in the same way he combined his Skills. Not just the fact that he simultaneously had Veridical and the basic Elements, but also because he had already combined Affinities to form other Affinities, but it wasn’t nearly in the same way that combining his Skills had worked.

For one, they didn’t permanently merge. Another aspect was that the new Affinities weren’t actual combinations of the other Affinities, but they instead had their own, separate properties.

He was further convinced of his idea with the confirmation from his mother and Kefira that there wasn’t higher-Tier Affinities that incorporated the lesser Tiers in the same way his Skills did.

“Brother!” Kailey yelled down at him from their room upstairs as he entered the house.

“Come join us!” Riley echoed.

“You promised!”

Reivyn shook his head and dismissed his thoughts about his Mana Skills. He had promised to spend some time with them today once he was done with his exercise in merging his Clandestine Skills. He had just accomplished his goal much quicker than he had anticipated.

They were either waiting and listening for me, or I swear they have the Divine Sense Skill, too, Reivyn chuckled to himself.

He made his way upstairs. He paused for a second as he sensed and saw all the Mana his sisters were manipulating on the other side of the door. He was used to it by now, but it was still quite the sight.

They didn’t even fully realize the extent at which they manipulated their Mana when they were working on their creative projects. They weren’t exactly studious, and they only gave cursory attention to learning the underlying aspects of their abilities. It came naturally to them, so they didn’t feel like they needed all the academics associated with it.

That’s their argument, at least. I have to admit, it has some merit to it.

They had been manipulating Mana for years, long before Reivyn had even gotten Skilled enough to pick up on the miniscule amounts. They had been subconscious masters of Mana Manipulation at a younger age than Reivyn had been. He could even admit that they were better at it than he was.

That didn’t mean he thought they had a higher Skill Level in the Skills than he did, though it was possible. He didn’t know what their Skill Levels were, and they didn’t have a three year stint where they were unable to work on their Skills. He had also been let into the loop that they had Epic Tier 1 Classes.

That particular revelation had made Reivyn question his entire time as a Conscript. He had viewed it with rose-tinted glasses because of the obvious advantage it had granted him with his Epic Class, but if there was something special about their Bloodline in particular - and all evidence pointed to that being the case - he might not have needed to go through such an ordeal at such a young age to have basically the same advantages.

Reivyn dismissed the thoughts from his mind and entered the twins’ bedroom after a soft knock. They knew he was coming, so he was just announcing his immediate presence before stepping into their room.

The room was an absolute mess. There was parchment literally flying all around the room with the two girls seated in front of each other in the middle of the room. Various shades of paint also flew around the room and occasionally spattered on some parchments. The girls were covered from head to toe in a hodge-podge of colors from all the paint.

“What in the world is going on in here?!” Reivyn was dumbstruck.

The two girls glanced at him and giggled.

“We’re exercising our Skills,” Kailey replied.

“You call this exercising your Skills?” Reivyn quirked an eyebrow at the duo.

“Yeah,” Riley answered. “Sometimes you just gotta feel it, you know?”

“No. I don’t know,” Reivyn answered flatly.

“Come, join us,” Kailey pointed to an empty spot on the floor where there were a couple of untouched cans of paint available.

“One of us. One of us,” Riley chanted, bouncing slightly where she was seated.

“Umm… sure?” Reivyn walked over, half-dazedly, to the indicated empty spot and took a seat. He looked back up at his grinning sisters. “Does mom know about this?” He waved his hand at the flying parchments and paint.

The girls only smiled wider.

“Of course!” Kailey said.

“Mother encourages us to experiment any way we can,” Riley added.

“Okay, then.”

Reivyn shook his head and eyed the couple of parchments sitting on the ground next to the paint cans. There was a noticeable lack of any brushes or other instruments to make use of the paint.

“What are you waiting for?” Kailey asked.

“Get started,” Riley encouraged.

Reivyn took a deep breath and reached for the paint with his Mana.

“Nu uh. Not like that,” Kailey chided him.

“You have to feel it, first,” Riley said.

Reivyn looked at his sisters with a confused expression.

“Use your hands,” Kailey said.

Riley just bobbed her head up and down enthusiastically.

Reivyn grit his teeth, but he had no reason to refuse. He had never seen his sisters have even the tiniest blemish of paint on their persons outside of their bedroom, and if this was a frequent occurrence, then it meant they were obviously able to remove the mess from themselves.

Reivyn grabbed a parchment and dipped his other hand into the open paint can. He could sense the faintest trace of Mana suffusing the paint set aside for himself. It was nothing compared to the Mana his sisters were using with their own, though.

The girls watched him critically. They grinned and continued their own artistic expressions as soon as Reivyn joined in.

Reivyn drew his hand out, dripping with a vibrant blue liquid, and thought about what he wanted to do. He was never much of an artist despite being able to draw meticulous maps and deal with camouflage and other aspects of different types of coloring.

He shrugged his shoulders and simply slapped his hand against the parchment, smearing it across the thick paper. Several droplets of the paint flew in multiple directions as he flung his hand. It immediately landed on his uniform. Some droplets even managed to defy physics somehow and flew back, striking him in the face.

Reivyn sat there stunned for a second. He looked at the aftermath of his actions. It wasn’t anything catastrophic, but he had definitely not intended to get paint on his uniform or face. He shrugged his shoulders and dipped his hand in a different can of paint. He chose red for his next color.

The girls had apparently been apprehensive that he would freak out and quit on them. As soon as they saw him shrug and continue painting, they breathed out in relief and continued with their own painting.

Parchment and paint flew all around the girls. They didn’t seem like they were doing anything specific. ,Colors were just being flung about randomly, and it was anyone’s guess as to what would be added to any of the parchment papers flying about.

Reivyn watched the whole scene with his Divine Sense as he paid attention to his own work. Oftentimes, paint would fly through the air and hit multiple pieces of paper as they flew about randomly. The girls managed to somehow create interesting and complicated color patterns through their random application.

Reivyn didn’t pay attention to the products themselves. He only watched the process and the joy the girls gained from the activity. He threw away his own caution and delved into the activity with gusto.

“Use your other hand!” Kailey called out to him.

“You’d be surprised at the difference your coordination can cause,” Riley said.

Reivyn had Ambidexterity, but it wasn’t perfect. He had great coordination with his off-hand, especially when he wasn’t using both hands at the same time, but it was different than his main hand. He shrugged and did as they suggested.

Other colors found their way onto his parchment. He also didn’t limit himself to putting everything on one piece of paper. He went a bit wild for a while, applying random colors to random pieces of paper, just like the girls were doing.

Well, sort of, Reivyn wryly thought.

“I think I’m ready for the next step,” he said.

The girls looked over at him as Reivyn grabbed the parchments with his Mana. He still used his hands to manipulate the paint, but he now had his own little tornado of paper flying about himself. The girls cheered and continued their own work.

More and more paint covered not only the papers, but Reivyn’s uniform and exposed skin. He sometimes forgot he had paint covering his hands, and he wiped at his face to get rid of an imaginary itch or to fix his hair. He was a complete mess, and there was almost no spot on him that didn’t have at least a little bit of paint on him.

He looked just like his sisters. They had zero care in the world for where the paint flew. Whether it was on the paper, their bodies, or simply flung across the room. There was even paint on their bed covers and sheets.

Reivyn let all of his worries go and just enjoyed the craziness with his sisters. None of his papers were going to turn out as any kind of exquisite work, much less a masterpiece, but that wasn’t the point. His sisters didn’t seem to care what they were making, either, and they were obviously having a blast.

The longer the session went on, the more joy his sisters seemed to get from the silly activity. They were practically falling over each other with laughter.

“Okay, okay,” Kailey said, catching her breath.

“I think we’re done,” Riley said, equally out of breath.

They stood and assumed a pose. The stood shoulder to shoulder, hands outstretched in front of themselves.

“Combine!” They shouted together.

Reivyn thought the verbal command was wholly unnecessary, but he wasn’t going to say anything. They were having fun.

The flying parchment papers accelerated and began truly spinning as a paper tornado around the girls. Reivyn watched with his eyes and his sensed. The Mana in the room coalesced and seemed to mimic the random patterns of paint the girls had created, but there was some sort of order to the chaos.

The papers spun so fast that it appeared to become a solid cone around the girls. A flash of power blinded Reivyn’s eyes, but it didn’t stop him from witnessing the entire ordeal with his Divine Sense.

The papers literally combined into a large tapestry. Painted upon it was the exact scene of the three of them in the room performing the exact exercise that led to the tapestry. It had exquisite detail. If Reivyn hadn’t watched the girls create it in person, he would have assumed they had spent hours meticulously getting every single tiny point perfect with a fine brush.

Reivyn’s jaw dropped as he witnessed the artistic miracle happening in front of him. His own paper and paint still floated about himself. He hadn’t fully lost control of himself, but they weren’t spinning and adding to the mix anymore.

“What the f-” Reivyn started.

Right at that time, the door opened and Ameliyn popped her head in. Her eyes immediately found Reivyn’s, and it was clear she had heard what he was about to say.

“I had a sudden intense premonition that something was about to occur that needed my attention,” Ameliyn said. She fully stepped into the room and gave Reivyn a stern glare. “Care to explain?”

Reivyn spluttered for a second. His sisters were shaking like leaves in a storm, but he didn’t have the time to worry about them right now.

“I’m sorry, mother, I was just so surprise,” Reivyn said. “I shouldn’t have lost control of my tongue like that.” He lowered his head in shame.

Reivyn never used bad language, and he especially didn’t do so in front of his sisters. They were in their teens, now, and growing into adulthood.

They were only three years younger than him, and he had fully matured a long time ago. They still acted a bit immature, but it was mainly their love of pranks. If Reivyn looked at them with an objective eye, he could see that they were turning into little women in front of his eyes.

He didn’t know how he felt about that. The loss of three years still messed with his expectations sometimes.

“You’re an adult, Reivyn,” Ameliyn said. “And your sisters are old enough that it’s not like they haven’t heard worse before. I’m not talking about you almost using colorful language. I’m talking about your other colorful presentation.” She gestured at Reivyn.

Reivyn looked down at himself and took in his appearance. He had been so caught up in the painting session that he had forgotten all about his own appearance. He frowned, though, and looked back up at Ameliyn.

He was confused as to why she would point it out when she apparently let the girls do this all the time.

Suddenly, an incongruence made it’s way to the forefront of his mind. He had been so shocked by the appearance of the wonderful painting appearing out of such chaos and then distracted by his mother’s intrusion that he had failed to notice a very significant detail.

Reivyn practically sat in a puddle of paint. He was colored from head to toe and even had paint dripping from his hair like sweat.

That wasn’t the incongruence, though. That was as he expected. He looked around with his own eyes at the room.

The pristine, spotless room.

There was not so much as a smudge of paint on anything outside of his little circle other than the twins’ painting. They had absolutely zeros paint on themselves, too. He also noticed the lack of Mana suffusing the entire room.

He looked at the girls’ eyes in turn, and he saw the mischief dancing in them.

“You…” Reivyn started.

The girls bolted from the room, laughing hysterically. Ameliyn was confused and simply let them run past her. They could hear them laughing as they ran out of the house and down the path leading toward Kefira’s residence.

They hadn’t been shaking out of fear or nervousness, Reivyn realized. They were holding in their laughter.

“What was that about?” Ameliyn asked.

Reivyn’s mouth formed a thin line as he looked at his mother.

“I’ve been tricked,” Reivyn said.

“Oh? How so?” Ameliyn asked. She seemed incredibly interested in the topic of the girls getting one over on him. She walked over and took a seat on the bottom mattress of the bunk bed.

Reivyn gestured to himself.

“The way I look now is how the girls looked to me when I first arrived,” Reivyn explained. “They told me it was fine and that they did it all the time with your permission. They convinced me to participate, one step at a time.

“First it was convincing me it was fine, then they got me to use one hand to directly paint with, then my other hand. It escalated after that, slowly but surely, until you see the result before you.

“I had gotten so used to them expertly using Mana in everything that they did with their artistry that I dismissed it out of hand. The entire time, the whole thing was simply an illusion. They used my own abilities and understanding against me.”

“You don’t sound too upset,” Ameliyn pointed out.

“To be perfectly honest, I am a bit upset,” Reivyn responded. “But more than that, I’m proud.”

Ameliyn gave Reivyn a surprised look.

“They formulated a plan using their own strengths and turned my strengths against me,” Reivyn said, a bit of admiration in his voice. “And they executed their tactics flawlessly. I’m half considering having the girls give lessons on planning and tactics to my soldiers.” Reivyn chuckled.

“Yes, well, I’m not sure they intended to impress you with their military acumen,” Ameliyn smiled wryly.

“I’m sure,” Reivyn replied.

“Anyway, get this mess cleaned up.”

Ameliyn promptly got to her feet and walked out of the room, leaving Reivyn alone in his paint puddle.

Reivyn shook his head and grabbed a hold of the paint with his Mana. As soon as he intended to draw the paint away from himself, his Mana interacted with the miniscule amount of Mana still invading the Mana that he had since forgotten about.

The paint worked loose from his grasp on its own and floated to the center of the room. All of the paint. Not a drop was left anywhere on his body or around him. The papers that he had been using combined together in a smaller combination as compared to his sisters’ work.

The paint mixed together and formed a picture on the parchment paper. It was a snapshot of Reivyn’s astonished face as he realized what had happened to him. His mouth was open and he had a look of bewilderment.

Underneath was a final message:

“Sorry, but you should have seen your face.”