Prince of The Abyss

Aether rested on the top layer of the barn, staring at the animals.

They were going to rest on the first day; there was no reason to rush things. While they needed to finish before Maeve’s son’s birthday, if things really went dire, he had already made it clear that he could force their way out of the book.

But he didn’t need to. This was a Reader book, while you could go and search for things like he usually did, and had done before as a Reader, they would also come to you if you waited.

So he wasn’t going to do anything but wait for something to happen. At least on the first day, if nothing happened, then on the second he was going to get to business.

He wanted a clear clue before making a plan on how to get a high ranking... even if he already had one. "Sometimes, exaggerating could give you a high score... probably not the highest but a good one."

Canonizing is a pretty hard job. It might not seem like it, since he has done it three times now in a row. But it was. It was weird; he didn’t fully understand what it meant to do it, to go completely opposite of the original ending. He didn’t think that was everything to it.

The difference between Authored and Canonized was big, everyone knew it, how much more you had to do, but at the same time, in a linear story where let’s say you had to save a princess, if you instead did the opposite and captured the princess youself and became the villan, most times you would get the Authored rank, even if by the Codex’s standards, you did exactly what you needed to do for Canonized...

’But why exactly...’

... Well, it was interesting.

If he was, and remembered all the times he had finished a book and watched the Codex decide his rank, it pointed out the main points of his action, the usual stuff, but it also took notice of little stuff like when he had found Inky, something that hadn’t happened in the main story.

And speaking of the same book, it counted killing all the guardians, meaning that in the original story not all had died, and maybe the original characters had gone to the good path, but they haven’t, which was technically already going opposite, but they also killed the villain and became the evil, alongside killing all the villagers.

That’s what he felt canonizing a book meant: doing extra things, finding hidden things.

’So thinking of it, the difference between Authored and Canonized isn’t that big, just that in the latter, you see the world to the fullest, and take a path that the Codex didn’t think about.

Or something like that. I’m a Seeker, not a Harbinger who is an expert in books.’

He was fine with either; there wasn’t that big of a difference since the rank wasn’t that big.

And Maeve was probably going to be happy no matter what; after all, when his master had helped him, she had just found the easiest route, getting Altered the majority of times, but he was still happy; actually, he had been very excited about it.

Because he was finally going inside books.

Looking at him now, his child self would be very happy; too bad he wasn’t with him anymore. He had left him behind in his trial.

"Speaking of Trials." He smirked. "I’m definitely getting a high rank again. One hundred percent. Killing the majority of humans in a book is not something the Codex takes lightly, and I still have a long way to go... plus these books with Maeve also count."

...

"But I’ve already done it one time... If I was scared of a rank, after challenging both a Godspawn and a Titan before an Echo, since my master died, it would be funny... maybe not that funny."

..."Though, A Bearer Titan definitely does not sound good, as many high ranks I have under me... hopefully this time I don’t challenge it alone." Aether crossed his fingers.

But then he felt something move in his shoulder. He frowned, already knowing what it was. He turned his head to see Inky emerge. "You know, I thought only I could summon you and make you go back, but I guess not; you can do whatever you want."

The Raven tilted its head before letting out a small croak.

Aether sighed. "You know... thinking of it." He looked down, thinking of the distance. "I should probably teach you to fly... since you don’t have a mother to teach you... but how do I even do that? I’m not a bird expert either."

Putting Inky on the floor, he distanced himself a bit before starting to use his arms to try and mimic the movement of wings...

"See this? Now mimic me, as you did before." But the Raven just stared at him for a good minute... which made him redden up a bit. Putting a hand over his face, he sighed. "Just how stupid do I look?"

...But through the cracks of his fingers, he saw Inky flap its wings slowly, which made his eyes sparkle, as he jumped down to its level, with a deep smile on his face. "You actually got it? That fast?... Is that normal?"

Aether tilted his head, resting it in his hand. "Question is... if I threw you off the edge, will you fly?" Inky quickly shook its head, scared for its life. Which made Aether laugh. "I’m just kidding; we’ll start slow... like putting you on one of my hands, and making you get to the other. I’ll increase the distance every time until you finally fly. How is that?"

The bird jumped slightly, which for Aether counted as a yes.

...

"...Though, before that, you first have to answer how you already have two growth points."

...

"Oh yeah... seems like I will also have to teach you to talk..."