VRMMO: World's First Glyphborne

Within the Fate-Breakers Guild House Elise, otherwise known as Vestra Le Fey, was standing within the kitchen. Her eyes were locked on the pale, daunting figure that stood across from her, as she seemed to be keeping as much distance from the figure as possible.

The figure in question was Bai Yin, the Vampiric Thrall and Servant of Valerie, and Elise’s distance had everything to do with the set of knives that Bai Yin was inspecting.

She had a cold and calculating look in her crimson eyes, as she lifted one of the knives up to her eye-line. She gazed down the blade before running her finger down its edge. When the razor sharp blade sliced her finger open, she didn’t even flinch.

She simply watched how the blood dripped down the blade, before spinning the knife and catching it in a loose grip.

Her eyes narrowed as she slowly and carefully placed the knife down onto the counter, where four identical blades were already resting in a fan formation. Her eyes flicked to Elise, who’s breath immediately caught as she let out a nervous whimper.

In a flash, Bai Yin moved. She snatched a knife from the counter-top and whipped her arm towards Elise, letting the knife fly across the room right towards the girls forehead.

Elise let out a sharp yelp, flinching and quickly raising her hands to defend herself, before the knife exploded into a fine, silver mist before it could hit her.

"Dammit!" Elise shouted before letting out an irritated sigh. Her nervousness and anxiety had been immediately replaced by annoyance as she realised yet another failure.

It had been close to a month since they had conquered the Siege of Infernus dungeon, and since Elise had her revelations on her illusionary abilities. But it had also been a month in which her progress had been dreadfully slow. All of the party had made various advancements either in power, skill or simply in their class.

Jason, otherwise known as Saige, had quite the visible difference since his advancement. Compare that to Elise, who barely seemed different, and it was a stark contrast.

She had been following the book diligently, using the storybook as a set of instructions on how to follow the Goddess Sylvi’s path. But it was not an easy path. Not all were built equal.

She was currently at the stage of creating physical objects with her illusion magic, one’s that would persist for a time even when she stopped casting the spell. It seemed impossible, and it certainly seemed like it. Basically, she had to trick the illusion itself into believing that it was real.

She had to understand the object to an incredible degree. Enough to deceive an expert and make it seem identical to the real thing. Only once that could happen, would she be able to deceive the illusion into persisting.

Elise brushed her hair from her face, which was also made of strands of smoke given a tangible form, and gave Bai Yin an incredulous look.

"How? How did you know? I thought I got it perfect this time."

"Almost." Bai Yin said as she plucked up another knife, one of the real ones that Elise’s illusionary knife had been attempting to blend in with.

"But there were a few minor issues."

A knife embedded itself in the wall next to Elise’s head, then two more stabbed into the wall alongside them. Each one thrown with a deadly precision that could take the wings off of a fly even at that distance.

Something that Bai Yin had actually demonstrated when one had been bothering her.

The Thrall gestured for Elise to make another knife, to which she obliged, before that knife ended up thrown into the wall next to her head a second later.

"For one, the balance is off." Bai Yin explained, gesturing to the knives beside her head. Sure enough, when Elise looked, she could immediately see which one was hers. All of the real knives were stuck in the wall perfectly horizontal.

You could put a laser level on them and it would be at zero. Then there was her creation, which was at a roughly 20 degree angle. Not much, but noticeable. Of course this difference was not entirely down to balance, but the skill of the thrower.

However, if you trained for years and developed the muscle memory to perfectly achieve such strikes, then the difference in balance, however slight, would be noticable.

"Second," Bai Yin continued, "Look at the blood. What do you notice?" As she said this, she strolled over and cut her finger on Elise’s knife, letting a trail of blood trickle down it.

Elise frowned, glancing between that trail and the trail that had been left on every other knife from the same finger cutting test. However it left her baffled, as there was no similarity between them.

Sensing her confusion, Bai Yin had Elise summon another, which she stabbed into the wall beneath the first and performed the same test. This time, there was a similarity.

In fact, the blood trickled down the blade in the exact same path. Straight down, with no detours or wiggles.

"There are no imperfections in the blade. In your pursuit of perfection, you forgot that nothing that is real is perfect. There are no little bumps, no slight shifts from the grinder, not even a chip or superficial scrape. Every blade is always the same.

Now, you should go greet your clan members. They have returned."

Elise frowned at Bai Yin’s last comment as the Thrall pulled the knives from the wall and turned away. Not even a moment later, a low roar could be heard from above. The sound of an undead dragon announcing its arrival.

She frowned deeper, shooting Bai Yin the same incredulous look. The knife thing she understood, but how did she always manage to do that?

Shaking her head, and dismissing her failed illusions, Elise made her way outside and strolled through the lush greenery that covered the once barren island.

Even after spending a month here, Elise was unable to walk through this green paradise without drinking in the atmosphere and inhaling the fresh, non-recycled air. It was a luxury she never thought she would ever get to experience outside the virtual world.

Ren had given them all some future knowledge about stocks, which was definitely and legally distinct from insider trading. It helped them afford to keep the guild hall running as well as afford their expenses.

Although Figg had spent nearly all of his money on every seed he could get his grubby little hands on. Even if it was something as lowly as grass, and mixed them together with whatever seeds he could harvest from the Breaches they had cleared.

Elise wanted desperately to chastise him and tell him that it was a waste of money, but she really couldn’t in the face of these results. It was worth every single penny.

Her stroll through the garden eventually led her to their designated landing zone, just in time for the Undead Dragon to make its landing. It’s claws scraped against the metal sheeting they had laid down to mark the landing area, and it nudged the Brick to the side with its rotten wing as if it was irate that it could be considered an equal to such an inelegant piece of technology.

Even in Death, a Dragon’s ego was unkillable.