Visie murmured the word to herself, eyes drifting to the table's surface as she gathered her thoughts. "Relics," she said again, more to herself than to him, before finally looking up. "Alright. Simplest version: they're objects infused with Aura that gain abilities from it. Smart Aura users like us get to utilize them. There are five types total."
"Five?" Adrian perked up. "Okay, hit me, but start easy."
"Easiest first, then. Awakening relics. Their only purpose is linking someone to the Layer of Natural Aura so they can awaken. That's it. Nothing else. Blacksmiths make them; they can't form naturally, and plenty of families keep one around as an heirloom to pass down."
"Like the ring you had me touch," Adrian said, glancing toward Eric.
"Exactly that one." Visie nodded. "Can they be reused, you're wondering?"
"I mean, yeah, actually, was gonna ask that."
"Multiple times before they wear out completely, technically. But not by the same person twice. Once you've made contact with the Layer, whether you actually awaken or not, that relic's done with you specifically. Forever."
"So it's basically single-use per person, unlimited uses total, just never on the same guy again."
"Right."
"Okay, that's actually a really clean rule. Next."
"The next type is charms. You're already wearing one." She nodded toward the black ring on his finger.
"Oh, this thing? Wait, so anyone can make these?"
"Any Aura user who is Lysi Nova Rank or above can form them. You put a little Aura into an object; congratulations, it's a charm now. Small buffs; their effects fade over time; no downside to using one. They are cheap, disposable, and every low-rank Aura user in the Aura region relies on them constantly."
"If you wish to get more complicated ones, then you will have to conceptualize a recipe and forge it yourself using different materials."
"So when I hit Lysi Nova, I could just... make a bunch and sell them?"
"That's exactly how a lot of us make our early money, yeah."
"Okay, so side hustle is secured. What's next?"
"The next are Mystical relics." Visie's tone shifted slightly, more weight behind it now. "This is the one every Aura user actually dreams about. They are ranked from Rank five down to Rank zero, with no time limit on how long you can use one. They pack real power, but real cost too; They also contain negative effects you have to actually manage the whole time you're carrying it."
"You can also use them as cores with many charms to gain a strong and more comprehensive Aura Technique; given the right technique and rank, they can easily replace hundreds to thousands of charms in a technique."
"Wow. So, how bad are we talking?"
"It all depends on the rank. The higher the rank, the stronger the power, the worse the cost. A true Rank 0 relic is said to be on par with a True Supernova." She let that sit a moment. "The kind of power that comes with negative effects even a True Supernova would struggle to handle."
Adrian's eyebrows shot up. "That sounds like the kind of thing nobody should actually be carrying around."
"Most people agree with you." Visie shrugged. "They also follow that synonymous-antonymous rule we already covered, buffs and friction, same as your primary and secondary Auras."
From beside the table, Eric had turned slightly away and started whistling under his breath, low and tuneless, entirely too casual for a man who currently had a Rank 0 relic sitting in his pocket. Nobody else at the table noticed. Max, who already knew, very deliberately did not look at him either.
"Where do they even come from?" Adrian asked. "Like, who makes something that powerful?"
"Blacksmiths, using preserved Aura, mostly. Or sometimes they form naturally, when an Aura user dies, and their Aura doesn't return to the Layer like it's supposed to. Instead, it just... binds itself to whatever object happens to be nearby."
Adrian blinked. "That's kind of horrifying, actually. Like the relic is just a ghost."
"More or less, yeah."
"Okay, wait, one thing I still don't get. What's the actual difference between charms and mystical relics? Like, structurally. They both sound like 'thing with Aura in it.'"
Visie considered that for a moment, then leaned forward slightly. "Alright, picture an apple. A magic apple, one that grows back a little every time you take a bite, as long as some piece of it survives. Now, if you wanted to make money off that apple, you'd slice off small pieces, sell those, keep the biggest chunk for yourself, and let it regrow. Repeat forever. That's charms."
"Okay, following so far."
"Now imagine someone kills you, takes the whole apple, seals it in a box exactly as it was. No more regrowing, no more slicing pieces. Just one complete, permanent, powerful thing, locked in place." She spread her hands slightly. "That's a mystical relic."
Adrian sat with that for a second. "So charms are renewable and small. Mystical relics are... one-time, but massive."
"Exactly. My metaphor's not perfect, admittedly, but that's the shape of it."
"No, that actually makes sense. Weird, dark, slightly upsetting, but it makes sense." Adrian nodded slowly, filing it away. "Okay. What's number four?"
"The fourth type," Visie said, and something in her tone shifted, quieter now, more careful, "is called dreadful relics."
She let the words sit there a moment before continuing.
"These are made using another Aura user's consciousness. Not just their Aura, their actual mind. There's a ritual involved, one that tears the Aura out of someone and binds it into an object. Except the consciousness gets dragged along with it. It doesn't stay behind."
Adrian's stomach turned slightly. "Wait. So the person's mind just... goes into the relic? While they're still alive?"
"While they're still alive, yes. And it's not quick, either. The ritual itself is agonizing for whoever's being pulled apart. Pain, desperation, hopelessness, the full weight of it, stretched out for as long as the ritual takes. It's the single biggest reason most Aura users don't fully trust each other, honestly. Doesn't matter how close you think you are with someone. There's always that possibility sitting in the back of your mind." She paused, glancing briefly at the table. "It's banned in most places. For whatever that's worth."
"Laws don't really stop people who want something badly enough," Adrian said quietly, almost to himself.
"No," Visie agreed. "They really don't."
Adrian swallowed hard, his mouth suddenly dry, the image forming uninvited in his mind before he could stop it: someone screaming, trapped, aware, while their entire self got dragged into something small and cold and permanent. He glanced instinctively at the black ring still resting on his own finger, and for a brief, irrational second, felt the urge to take it off entirely, just to make sure it wasn't hiding anything similar underneath its surface.
"You can usually tell dreadful relics apart from mystical ones pretty easily," Visie continued, her voice steady despite the subject. "Most of them still act alive, in some sense. They resist their user. Try to hurt them, given the chance. Nastier negative effects across the board too, compared to mystical relics. And they can't be made naturally, and no blacksmith can craft one either. That ritual is the only way one's ever come into existence."
"That's..." Adrian shook his head slowly, unable to finish the sentence properly. "That's genuinely one of the most horrifying things I've heard today. And today has had a lot of competition for that title."
Visie didn't respond to that, letting the silence hang a beat longer than necessary before moving on, as though some part of her needed the pause too.
"Fifth and final type," she said, tone lightening slightly, "sealing relics. Made by blacksmiths, straightforward purpose, sealing away places, people, or other relics. Dreadful relics especially. Even mystical relics get repurposed for it sometimes. Big organizations, powerful families, anyone sitting on a large vault of dangerous relics, they're usually the ones buying these in bulk."
Adrian nodded slowly, absorbing it, though his mind kept drifting back to dreadful relics despite himself, some cold, uneasy weight settling behind his ribs that hadn't been there a few minutes ago.
His head throbbed steadily now, worn thin from everything he'd taken in over the past few hours, and he'd already decided, quietly, that this really would be his last question for the night.
Then Visie's expression shifted, something distant and searching passing behind her eyes, and she leaned forward slightly.
"Actually," she said, "I have to ask. When you connected with the Layer of Natural Aura during your awakening. What exactly did you see?"