Awe and fear blended for a moment until the cold wash of rationality swept them away, leaving Orion with the startling realization that he wouldn’t have many better chances to study a high-level rank up.

  The System wasn’t often described using theological terms — in fact, it wasn’t discussed that much at all— but rather as a reflection of the world’s laws or a gift from the gods. Still, every faction and culture agreed that it dealt with these matters personally and that its presence grew stronger depending on the rank.

  Of course, they all believed their particular flavor of belief was the main force behind it, and that their deity guided its decisions, but that didn’t really change what they knew would happen.

  It would descend and shield the person ranking up until the process was finished.

  Most people only cared about what would happen afterward. Asteria’s rise to tier four was destined to change everything. The balance of power inside the Sanctum would shift, and their dependence on Yue would become less about survival and more an alliance between equals. Morliana would have to accept that they could no longer be bullied. Hell, the High Priestess might even recall them once word reached her, if only to properly consecrate the new powerhouse of the coven.

  Those were all considerations he couldn’t ignore, but for now, they stayed at the back of his mind because he could only focus on one thing.

  “It’s here,” he murmured, feeling his glasses hum in resonance. They had been designed as a conduit with the System itself, so it was no surprise they would react to its presence, and that gave him an idea.

  Inspecting his mother as a rainbow shimmer descended all around her proved impossible, as he had expected, but the SDGs still received some feedback, even if it was scrambled beyond what a cursory examination could decode.

  Orion could feel them heat up as they struggled to handle the flood of power surging in the Mana Field around them, but they still managed to parse through some of it.

  He wanted to stop everything and focus completely on those nuggets of insight, but forced himself not to, simply storing them deep within the Computing Crystal for later review, while he pressed the glasses harder.

  They continued to heat up, making them more uncomfortable to wear, but Orion persisted. He was unsure how much data would be free of corruption or even comprehensible, given that the limited glimpses he had of the System were already straining his mind, so he was desperate to get as much information as possible.

  “What are you doing?” he heard from behind him, as smoke started rising from his glasses and his skin began to turn red from the contact.

  What had been just uncomfortable at first was quickly turning very painful, yet Orion kept pushing himself, absorbing large amounts of data from the process his mother was undergoing.

  Just a glimpse was enough to make his mind spin, so he redirected it to the CC, which wouldn’t be affected as badly as his basic biological processes.

  A hand roughly grabbed his shoulder, and someone yelled something in his ear. More hands tried to take his glasses off, but they couldn’t because they were getting too hot to touch.

  Healing light flowed into him, soothing his blistered flesh, and only then did Orion realize he’d been screaming, his throat raw and bloody from the effort. Still, he didn’t stop, fighting against the hands to keep his eyes on the tornado of rainbow light surrounding his mother.

  He only stopped when something hard hit the back of his head and knocked him unconscious, a satisfied smile spreading on his rapidly healing face.

  A low hum of worried voices greeted him as his mind broke through the sea of sleep he had been immersed in, and Orion took a moment to realize he recognized them.

  “Mom,” he asked, voice cracking halfway through.

  “Moonbeam,” Asteria was at his side in the next moment, her hands on his. That single word carried enough worry, reluctant pride, and exhaustion to show he knew a lot had happened since he’d been hit at the back of the head, and cracking his eyes open revealed at least part of it.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Asteria had always been a beautiful woman. Her skin was nothing short of flawless, and even though she was tired and beaten by the events that drove them away from the Sanctum, she carried a dignity that always impressed him.

  That was all still there. She was recognizably the same person. Yet, there was more. Her eyes, which had once been a wintry blue that somehow managed to emit warmth every time they fell on him, and her hair, which had been a platinum blonde that was almost silver under the moonlight, were now different.

  Inner light seemed to emanate from the depths of her eyes, hinting at both greatness and danger for anyone who drew her gaze. Strands of the purest white gold cascaded around her face, perfectly framing her features and giving her an almost otherworldly glow.

  She, Orion knew deep down, was a powerhouse, a woman capable of moving mountains with her sheer will.

  I hadn't realized how wide the gap truly is between tiers three and four. Everyone I met was already capable of hiding their true power or was skilled enough to only reveal a part of it. I know Mom better than anyone else, so the differences are as clear as if they were written on paper.

  If she had towered over him before, making the idea of matching up to her seem impossible, he could see at a glance that such a hope was now pointless. She existed on a completely different level.

  “You are the most reckless person in existence,” she muttered, carefully bringing her hands to his cheek.

  Orion held back a flinch, expecting pain but feeling nothing except the soothing warmth of her touch, and blinked in surprise.

  “I would have berated my foolish apprentice more for jumping off the deep end without being prepared for the consequences, but I was forced to hold my tongue after seeing how incredibly foolish you managed to be. Of course, she would feel that way when she has a son like you,” Yue’s cold tone cut into the warm scene, making Orion pull back slightly to meet the elder’s eyes.

  She sighed, shaking her head, “I can already tell you are completely unrepentant. No wonder your mother felt the need to go this far if you are always like this.”

  Attempting to roll his eyes turned out to be the wrong move, as a splitting headache caused him to whimper in pain. His mother’s hand was quickly on his forehead, offering soothing light that spread through his battered flesh.

  “Moonbeam, you will need to be careful for a little while. I’m preparing a restoration brew specifically for your condition, but I need to wait a couple of days for the ingredients to finish growing,” Asteria said, running her hand through his hair, which he belatedly realized had received a sudden cut at the sides.

  “What happened? Things got a little hazy after a certain point,” he muttered, and heard his mother sigh.

  She pressed a kiss on his forehead and pulled back, gently helping him lie down on the bed. “I didn’t see most of it, of course, what with the rank-up I was going through, but as the others told me, your glasses started smoking and became incandescent as you observed the process, and any attempt to remove them failed until Master intervened directly to stun you.”

  Turning back to the old woman, he was met with a deeply unimpressed look. After a moment, she clicked her tongue, “It’s a good thing I’ve been preparing for the possibility of your rank-up for a while, girl, or I would have been forced to choose between the two of you, lest I collapse the Light-rich environment I had created and risk interfering in your growth.”

  Surprisingly, Asteria didn’t take that badly and instead released a bright chime of laughter, “Oh, to think the feared Elder would even consider abandoning her apprentice to save a child! Truly, in the Mother’s embrace, everything is possible, and every heart can soften.”

  Yue sputtered, the scene so at odds with the constant air of control that Orion had to stifle an incredulous giggle.

  “You! I only considered it because I knew you would swear vengeance if I didn’t save your stupid child from his stupid enchantment! What have you been teaching him, that he’s walking around with an open connection to the System stuck to his face?!”

  Asteria giggled a little longer before sighing. “You are right, master, I should have taken better precautions. And Orion, I hope you realize how lucky you are to have survived this ordeal.”

  He attempted to lift an eyebrow, but the feeling of skin that wasn't fully healed pulling restrained him, causing a grimace. “I admit that was somewhat reckless, but I promise it was worth it.”

  “Moon Mother, save us!” Yue groaned, rising and heading for the door. “Try to teach some sense to your child, will you? I need to go inform the High Priestess of what happened today before someone else does, and if I stay with that kid any longer, I might do something I’ll regret.”

  The door swung open and slammed shut behind her as she left, and Orion was left bemusedly watching the empty air where the Elder had been a moment earlier. “That was a bit dramatic, wasn’t it?”

  Asteria sighed, and he knew that pitch enough to tell she was disappointed in him.

  “Moonbeam, I understand your curiosity is endless, and that no matter the risks, you will never pass up the chance to learn more, but you should know you nearly died yesterday.”

  “I know,” Orion answered, “that damn orc shaman really had us on the back foot. If you hadn’t intervened, we’d have been done for.”

  Asteria shook her head. “No, love, that’s not it. I know you were aware of the Basilisk Fang being around you. I’m referring to whatever you did with your glasses. The heat they were emitting was enough to melt through your skin and bones, and if it hadn’t been for Bart healing you constantly until the Elder arrived to stop it, you would have died.”

  “Ah.” Orion couldn’t say he’d expected that. He knew it was dangerous, of course, and also that he was harming himself, but his mind was so full of raw data from the connection with the System that he hadn’t noticed just how much danger he was in.

  After a moment of contemplation, he turned back to his mother and asked, “Did it adversely affect your rank?”

  Asteria sighed, shaking her head fondly. “No, no, it didn’t, you foolish boy. Why would you worry about that, when I told you you almost died?”

  This time, Orion didn’t bother trying to shrug, but he conveyed the emotion with his eyes, and saw Asteria soften. Eventually, she got around to telling him what he so clearly wanted to know. “Alright, I won’t keep you on your toes any longer. With the Mother’s guidance shining on me, I successfully managed to rank up and became a tier four Divine Brewer, and achieved A-rank.”

  Orion’s eyes widened. The class alone promised a lot of power, and reaching A-rank would guarantee his mother a place among the Sanctum's elites.

  His hand twitched up to adjust his glasses and check her out for himself, but he paused halfway through, realizing they couldn’t have possibly left them there.

  “Congratulations, I’m very proud of you,” he remembered to say first, then turned his head to look for his second most valuable possession. “Where did you put my glasses, by the way?”

  Asteria smiled at his praise before blinking in surprise at his request. “Moonbeam, they were fusing with your skull. Elder Yue had to erase them completely, or they would have burned right through.”