Jon stared at the empty space where Itsumade the Quiet Death Of Light And Virtue once hovered. His Fragment Of Eyes or Fragment Of Intuition could not tell where the bat-summon had teleported to, his figure swiftly vanishing beneath the canopy of a particularly large oak tree.

The fact that he had caught Itsumade off guard allowed him to gleam one important factor that Jon had not considered from the kidnapper.

"Another Memento Source Fragment…" Jon let out a small tsk, channelling more spiritual energy into his Minerva-Sagacity Eyes. Including all of Avahni's summoned companions, this had been the sixth summon he had encountered which possessed a Memento Source Fragment.

Avahni and her unique Source aside, Jon's thoughts were drawn towards the White Lady Of The Winter Castle within his Sea Of Knowledge. The winter demon spirit hummed in thought, observing the information that Jon had gleamed from that split-second of observation.

"The Quiet Death Of Light And Virtue… Could it have integrated a Fragment Of Invisibility upon reaching Knighthood? Or is this the power of its Memento Source Fragment?" Eis muttered to herself.

Jon narrowed his eyes, lifting his head towards the spot where he last spotted the bat-summon.

He had not seen Avahni being carried by this "Itsumade" but felt his intuition urge him to continue following the enormous bat-creature. Whatever manner of ability it had prevented his senses from perceiving the Quiet Death Of Light And Virtue but did not extend towards his intuition which was not considered a type of "sense".

Looking down at Ru Luan Di in his arms, Jon watched as the little ginseng king pointed in a westerly direction, prompting Jon to continue sprinting after the Avahni's kidnapper.

The sound of his footfalls echoed throughout the lightless forest. The crackling of twigs and dried leaves alerting the denizens of the forest to the presence of the racing young man.

In the corner of his vision Jon noticed a particularly large looking wolf-creature, stirred awake from his continuous stamping. The sounds of soft snarling, in addition to the gentle rhythmic tapping of paws on the soft earth started to trail behind him causing Jon to scrunch up his face in annoyance.

'I don't have time for this shit!' Jon muttered to himself.

Half-turning his head, Jon started muttering a chant.

"Infallible spirit. Inviolable soul. Pierce through the infinity and penetrate through the source. Desecrated mind. Despoiled essence. Thou shalt reveal the truth, and nothing shall obscure my gaze".

His Longinus-Lancea Spirit manifested an intangible five-foot long construct of spear natured spiritual energy and launched it towards the approaching figure of the Third Initiated Underbrush Wolf. This construct was both intangible and her imperceptible when used during the daytime.

Unless one possessed a Fragment Of Eyes or a Fragment Of Sight capable of increasing the quality of retinas or visual acuity, there was no fathomable way to dodge or avoid Jon's Longinus-Lancea Spirit. He did not once slow his stride as the sound of the Underbrush Wolf yelping before having its mind and spirit annihilated pierced through the silent night.

Whatever fragments or Mana Cores the creature had integrated had already become forgotten by Jon as he continued to chase after the creature that had taken Avahni.

Every few minutes Jon paused his steps. Looking down at Ru Luan Di and watching as the Liver Of The Ginseng King pointed him in another direction.

North

East.

South.

East again.

Then back South.

A continuous changing of direction that caused Jon to grimace, panting softly amidst shadowed leaves and darkened trees. His spiritual energy was thankfully, not too drained. The mastery he possessed over his spiritual energy allowed Jon to fine-tune the amount of mana he flowed into his Seir-Glacial Heart and Murmur-Glacial Marrow.

Mastery over spiritual energy did not necessarily correlate with a mastery over abilities but did have some level of commonality between them.

Taking a deep breath Jon glanced back down at Ru Luan Di, noticing that the ginseng king had regained his ability to speak, having removed the effects of [Sanguine Sleep] from his System.

"Jonathan. This Itsumade keeps moving so as to expend more and more of your spiritual energy. Whether through its Spell effects, or through the abilities of its Memento Source Fragment it can obscure itself from one's senses preventing you from finding it."

"If you want to draw it out, then you'll have to tempt it with something-." Ru Luan Di was interrupted, a certain winter demon spirit picking up the ginseng king, her expression twisted into something wrathful and angry.

Licht Weiss manifested itself on her arm. The fantastical and seemingly impractical pauldron, glove and vambrace blending in with the surrounding darkness. Despite its appearance, it possessed a hardness and durability exceeding armour constructed from mortal materials.

Its presence alone enough to inflict minute amounts of ice natured damage onto the Liver Of The Ginseng King.

"You expect Jon to use his Memento Source Fragment!?" Schwarz Eis gripped tightly onto the miniature figure of the ginseng king, "You expect him to tempt this creature with his reward!? In order to save your master!? Who the hell do you think you are Ru Luan Di!"

The little ginseng glanced down at the Memento Source Fragment gripping onto one of his limbs. The ice natured spiritual energy that circulated from the Right Hand Of Winter flowed into his body, only to be met with a growing amount of fire natured spiritual energy.

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Memento Source Fragments, to a degree, possessed their own reserves of spiritual energy, given that they were created from Mana Cores. Although this effect was limited at Mortality, Schwarz Eis was still capable of producing spiritual energy in meagre amounts.

Jon did not feel a single drop of spiritual energy from Ice Mana Core flow into his Fragment Of Summon.

He was too busy considering the proposition given to him by Ru Luan Di.

The ginseng in question staring at Schwarz Eis, looking at her dead in the eyes.

"Do you know what my Title was before I became a summon, Schwarz Eis?" Ru Luan Di asked.

Eis narrowed her eyes but shook her head in response, prompting Ru Luan Di to continue.

"I was given the Title Of Primeval Jade Throne upon my ascension to Dukedom. And the Title Imperator Of Incarnations upon my ascension to Thronehood. Do you know why I was given such Titles?" Ru Luan Di asked again.

Eis let out a small tsk, scrunching up her face in annoyance, already knowing the answer.

"You managed to figure out new fragment pathways for-."

"If you help me, I'll give him the information to develop his Archetype Avarice and Archetype Green in accordance with the fragment pathways I accumulated over my lifetime. I'll even give him the knowledge to transform his Fragment Of Shadow and Fragment Of Horrors into another incarnation." Ru Luan Di declared, watching as both Jon and Eis' expressions morphed into one of shock and awe.

Schwarz Eis glanced towards Jon, knowing that her summoner did not understand just how valuable this knowledge was.

Entire lineages spanning hundreds of thousands of years would refine a single ability from Mortality all the way up to Dukedom in the hopes of creating something terrifyingly powerful. Half-Grands would annihilate entire star systems in the event that one of their fragment pathways might have been discovered.

With more fragments containing more concepts than Eis was willing to count, there was a seemingly infinite number of combinations to try.

Fragments Of Darkness and Fragments Of Night might seem similar in appearance but conceptually the two were completely different. Concepts such as "fire" produced Fragments Of Inferno, Fragments Of Incineration, Fragments Of Blaze and even Fragments Of Burn but all of them representing similar but differing concepts.

If Ru Luan Di was willing to reveal the fragment pathways that allowed him to reach Dukedom, or perhaps even Thronehood then-.

"Deal, but on one condition," Jon responded, causing Eis to turn towards him.

"Jon! Even you must realize that this is too hasty! You have to be alive to use this information! If you die because you were too eager to fight against a Knight then-." Jon narrowed his eyes at the winter demon spirit, shaking his head from side to side.

"Memento Source Fragments will drop just the same as any other fragments right?"

Eis sent a not-so-subtle glance towards Ru Luan Di, biting her lip as the little ginseng king responded honestly.

"At Mortality? Yes it would. At Knighthood an individual may accept the System notification to become a summoned companion, transferring the concepts contained within their Memento Source Fragment into an ordinary fragment."

"This would not leave anything for the killer, if that is what you are asking," Ru Luan Di responded.

Jon nodded, producing the pure-white cube that he had stored within his Red Archives. The presence of a Memento Source Fragment perked the interest of several sapient creatures within his vicinity, causing the ears of a certain Fragment Of Bat to twitch, glancing down towards the creature that was once chasing it.

The hum of the Memento Source Fragment in his hands seemed to resonate with the two Titles within his chest. Although both Princeps Of The Wandering Mutation and Polemarche Of Jade Warfare both seemed to be pulled in by the cube in his hands, Jon did not allow the former to remove itself from his Source.

He did not stop there either, manifesting three more objects, allowing Eis to handle all three of them.

The Fragment Of Facelessness.

A Lies Mana Core.

And the Mortal Ranked Smiling Mask.

It was a little pre-emptive, but there was no better way to shout "come and get me" than creating a Memento Source Item right in front of Avahni's kidnapper. Whatever value she had in their mind would pale in comparison to the possibility of obtaining their own Memento Source Fragment.

Especially knowing how powerful one could be, seeing that Itsumade possessed one too.

Would you like to integrate this into your Memento Source Fragment?

Would you like to integrate this into your Memento Source Fragment?

Would you like to integrate this into your Memento Source Fragment or Weave Mana Core?

Would you like to integrate this into your Memento Source Fragment?

Four different System integration notices appeared in front of him, Jon not hesitating for a single moment before accepting all of them, eyes widening as the pure-white cube in his hands started to hum with a spiritual energy that he did not recognize.

Multi-coloured veins of spiritual energy appeared all over the cube, extending towards the three objects in Eis' hands and towards his Source. Jon felt his eyes widen and something inside him stretch towards that unfathomable white-black hole within him, reaching towards the Polemarche Of Jade Warfare, wrapping itself gently around his Title.

The feeling of having his concepts removed from his chest was uncomfortable, but not unexpected.

The Polemarche Of Jade Warfare was always going to be Jon's Title. From this day, till the end of his days.

But the concepts contained within were no longer constrained to just his Source.

They were being placed within the Memento Source Fragment, allowing "his" concepts to imbue the construct with "his" characteristics.

The subtle glow released by the Memento Source Fragment grew stronger in intensity, resonating with all those in the vicinity that had formed Titles. Each of them felt a pull towards the direction where Jon was standing, motionlessly feeling their legs pull themselves towards his location.

Even the Murder Of Temperance And Humility was no exception to this, glancing back between Avahni at his feet and Jon several hundred metres away. As the princeps expected, he could not resist the temptation of obtaining his own Memento Source Fragment.

Jon watched as the Fragment Of Facelessness was absorbed through the veins of multi-coloured light released from the cube. The Lies Mana Core swiftly integrated next followed by the Mortal Ranked Smiling Mask.

The concepts contained within each of them objects were combined with the essence of the Polemarche Of Jade Warfare, saturating the physical structure of the spiritual item Jon had chosen to transform into a Memento Source Item.

Ru Luan Di and Schwarz Eis both watched on in soft awe as Jon completed the process within a matter of moments. Although System assisted, the pair had seen Mortals take up to an hour to form a Memento Source Item having trouble with combining all the concepts within.

The sound of footsteps approaching caused both the ginseng king and winter demon spirit to share a glance, the former being picked up and placed on the shoulder not covered by Licht Weiss. The White Lady Of The Winter Castle glanced one last time back at Jon, but trembled noticing that she could no longer see his face.

In fact… she could no longer "see" his presence amidst the shadows and night.

His youthful expressions had been replaced with the face of an older man with similar features. With a clean stubble and piercing green eyes that seemed to gleam in the darkness. Rust brown hair cut down to a length that did not even stretch past his ears.

It was the visage of a handsome man, one that Jon was beyond familiar with.

"…" Jon breathed, realizing that even his exhalations sounded similar.

Opening his mouth to speak, Jon realized that his voice had been place with one both comforting and disquieting. This was the first effect of Lethe; Mask Of Jade Lies.

"Let's get Avahni back, shall we?"

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