[hr][center][h3][b][u][March 12th, 2045 - 07:07am - Paradox - UnderCity - Stoneworks Interior][/u][/b][/h3][/center]
[center][Day 2][/center][hr]

The smell of fresh coffee and toast wafted through the manor.  Yue had woken up ravenously hungry, far before anyone else after only grabbing a couple hours of fitful, dreamless sleep.  She had ended up on the floor, sitting with her legs folded and her back to the Manor's enormous Cairn Stone.  For some reason it stood out as the most natural place to sit and read a magic book.

Yue had opted to read the [i]Silverscale Grimiore[/i] in real-time, even though she probably could have thoroughly studied the whole thing while Time Dilated in just a handful of minutes.  The idea had, oddly enough, felt like a snub to the spooky moon dragon that had insisted she have this tome... and who was [i]she[/i] to tell it "No?"  For now, she nibbled her toast while reading, and tried not to drop too many crumbs into the pages.

The lessons contained were very telling, and it had put into perspective many of the things that her father had tried to teach her when she was little and not terribly interested in what she'd thought was a sport.  She had fallen back on a lot of those teachings while she learned how to use her powers, since it had seemed to help get them under control.  Finding out that her family was Awakened put many things into perspective, father's eccentric martial arts style for one.

[color=7ea7d8][center][i]The Silver Dragon's Breath is Power and Grace[/i][/center][/color]

For the longest time she thought it was just her father's silly reminder to breathe.  Breath control [i]did[/i] tie closely with her powers, and she didn't miss that lunar phases seemed to have an impact on how easy it was to use them.  The book described it as "Tsukuyomi's Breath," in a very literal sense.  Classically, red dragons breathe fire; blue dragons breathe lightning.  Tsukuyomi's breath was [i]literally[/i] power and speed, which shed a lot of light on why her power worked the way it did.  However, if she was reading this correctly, Tsukuyomi was basically telling her that the "breath weapon" was just part of being who she was as a Champion, and that she could [i]also[/i] do magic on top of that.

Nothing quite like being told [color=7ea7d8]"You're doing it wrong"[/color] by a spooky moon dragon through a magic book.

Yue crunched her toast as she flipped back and forth through the pages of the first chapter.  It was a lot of information to parse, and reminded her of the studying she'd done to get familiar with the lore and cosmology of Final Odyssey.  There were differences, and not just surface level ones like Mana being called Aether, but there were a lot of parallels to be drawn.  Due, in no small part, to interference by the Olympians, if Archer was to be believed.  She'd listened to his stories with a healthy grain of skepticism the night before, but she'd never known him to lie to her.

[color=ce2b95][i]Well... in a manner of speaking.[/i][/color]

The more she read, the more real Archer's stories started to sound, and she couldn't decide if that was spookier than the moon dragon or not.

She closed the book in her lap and gazed out into the room in thought, half eaten toast in one hand, coffee in the other.  She focused on the currents end eddies of color flowing throughout the house and beyond.  Her [i]other[/i] sight.  Yue found that she had a much harder time controlling it than she did with her [Dual Nature] perk in the game.  Archer had explained to her last night that it was because her Aether... her [i]Astral[/i] form was wounded, most likely due to her traumatic awakening.

In the game, the perk was as much of a hindrance as an asset if you weren't careful.  For the most part, however, she could focus on specific elements and see only what she wanted to see.  She wasn't so lucky with her natural vision.  Topside there had only been the occasional "specter or hallucination."  Particularly in the Stoneworks, however, her time in the UnderCity had bordered on sensory overload.

The next thing on her mind was how to apply this information in order to not just improve, but protect herself from an entirely new world of threats.  Archer mentioned his charge was to protect her from all the stuff she couldn't see.  Yue assumed that meant threats from the Exalt... the Awakened World.  Having what amounted to the dedicated attention of a Goddess made her feel somewhat guilty.  Surely there were more important things that required Archer's attention than her.  A quick flip through her tome had revealed that there weren't any what she would consider defined "skills, spells, or features" to learn.

[center][color=7ea7d8][i]No two Awakened are alike in the way they craft their magic.[/i][/color][/center]

The book responded in shimmering silver characters to her palpable disappointment.  For some reason it came across as smug to her, and she shut the book once again in a huff, munching the rest of her toast in thought.

[b][color=#CE2B95]"Thanks.  Useless reptile,"[/color][/b] she muttered to herself as she cradled her coffee.

The rest of the house would be starting to move soon if they hadn't already, which meant that she could probably guilt Raudd or Archer into making some food that didn't contain carved up monsters.