Chapter 1 - Part 6: Return to the Surface

The group of six rested for a few hours under the bright cavern canopy, mending their wounds and making conversation to bridge the soul-crushing silence reigning over the Roots of the World Tree. They tried a few more times to open the bronze box, to no avail. Perhaps Sanya's assessment that it was a fragment in and of itself was correct.

Finally, it was time to depart and return to the surface. Natalee's broken arm was swollen, and the pain made it impossible for her to climb. Luckily, Yang's pulley allowed them to raise her from right below the broken pipe in the wall, although she had to endure the water spray on the way up.

As they walked through the moss-illuminated pipe, they speculated about the potential grade and value of the fragments they had found. Allen was a walking encyclopedia, but he had never heard of an oversized smoking pipe before. Judging by its intricate design, he considered it to be at least artisan-grade.

"What do those grades mean?" Sanya asked when she pushed up the hatch with her gauntlet, and the wind rushed past her. Taking one last deep breath of the fresh air, she climbed into the dark tunnel above and helped the others up after her.

"You've heard of trinket and tool grade. The Steel Writers may be tools, but they're only trinket-grade because they're incredibly common. And the various forms of Power Loaders are all considered tool-grade," explained Allen while glancing at Sanya's gauntlet, "of course, we know yours isn't one of those."

"Above tool is artisan. It doesn't make much sense, but a wide range of rarities and types of fragments can fall under that," Kilian added while helping Yang set up the pulley to raise Natalee.

"I'd say that fragment is artisan-grade," Dyanna pointed at the blue case Sanya carried on her back and spoke with a cynical smile. While she hoped that it was a great piece of treasure, she maintained a realistic outlook.

"And then we get to the truly amazing fragments. First, there's the foretold grade," Allen took over the explanation with glittering eyes, "ancient documents or murals found in the Skypiercer sometimes depict fragments. Since the texts accompanying them can't be deciphered, the fragments are tentatively rated at this grade."

"Well, there have been some disappointments, too," jibed Dyanna with a grin, "remember the Iron Giant?"

"That was just unfortunate," the youngest replied and frowned unhappily.

"What is the Iron Giant?" Sanya inquired with a curious look.

"A giant disappointment!" the brown-haired girl guffawed, causing Allen to shoot her a deathly glare.

"From the depictions, it looked like a giant suit of armor that could be moved by a person sitting in it. Aspirants searched for it everywhere for over a century, but it was only found about three years ago by Ordric," he explained with a disappointed sigh, "that's how he got the name Debunker."

Ascendant-ranked Aspirants always received a title from the Association based on their achievements. Debunker Ordric wore his dubious title like a badge of honor since he had made it his life's work to expose frauds and bring overblown expectations back to reality. He had done so with several foretold-grade fragments, and his discovery of the Iron Giant was the final feat that earned him his rank.

Finding it had been the dream of many an orphan in Base Camp. Allen had often talked about how he would recover it and become an Ascendant. After all, judging by the interpretation of the ancient documents depicting its mechanisms, it was akin to a full-body Power Loader.

However, reality came crashing down when Ordric and his crew brought the Iron Giant back to Base Camp. It would not move no matter what the engineers tried and was finally regarded as junk-grade. It now stood in the Association Headquarters as a monument to the disappointment following a century of imagination.

"That sounds like foretold fragments could really be of any grade," tilting her head and putting a finger on her chin, Sanya mused while rolling her eyes thoughtfully.

"You're right. But those that align with the original interpretation retain their grade since they're generally unique fragments that can't be considered merely artisan-grade," Kilian said with a wry smile. Indeed, his grandmother had discovered a handful of foretold-grade fragments that met their expectations.

"Finally, there is the divine grade," Allen regained the light in his eyes after the depressing reminder about the Iron Giant, "the grade that automatically nets you the rank of Ascendant when you bring one back."

As they walked through the dark tunnel toward the deep shaft they had belayed down in the morning, Allen listed some of the divine-grade fragments everybody in Base Camp knew about.

The most recent was the Tripling Mirror, a large looking glass that created a mirrored replica of objects reflected in it at the same distance behind it after a while. By some divine law, only living beings would not be duplicated, but it allowed valuables to be propagated for free. It was later smashed to pieces by foreign spies when they tried to steal it, and its remains were still kept in the Association Headquarters' vault in hopes of repairing it. It was the fragment that had earned the then seventeen-year-old Alice the Wonder her title.

Margritte the Relentless carried the Graviton Hammer, a two-handed hammer that could hit with an immense force far beyond what should have been possible from its weight alone. Normally, even Ascendant-ranked Aspirants were not allowed to keep divine-grade fragments to themselves, but nobody dared to oppose the Relentless on her decision.

In her prime, Imperishable Nox discovered the Mindslaver, a helmet that would put the wearer under the control of whoever placed it on their heads. She also somehow brought back the foretold fragment Unseen Veil, which was impossible to find, considering it was invisible. Since it granted the same to its wearer, it was upgraded to the divine grade.

Saint Bedell did not earn his title from his philanthropy work in Base Camp. Back then, the Association had still been in its infancy, and the fragment grades had yet to exist. His discovery of the Food Press, a huge machine resembling a great printing press that could generate rectangular nutrient-rich blocks with the pull of a lever, resulted in the introduction of the ranking system for both fragments and Aspirants. It stood in a large room-like cavern in the Grand Spiral section of the Skypiercer, and Saint Bedell made it open to the public so other Aspirants could stock up on much-needed rations during their ascent.

After his passing, the Association sent a retrieval squad to bring the Food Press down to Base Camp. Unfortunately, when they removed it from the Skypiercer, it stopped working, and returning it to its original position did not repair it. Since then, similar large machines were left where they were found.

There were about as many divine-grade fragments as there were Ascendants over the years. Not all of them brought one back during their careers, while some had multiple discoveries to their names. Debunker Ordric was an example of the former, while Imperishable Nox was one of the latter.

Sanya's mind was swirling due to the amount of information she had received in a short time. As they climbed the ropes in the shaft, everybody had to conserve their breath, so she was left alone with her thoughts. But everything she learned about Base Camp, Aspirants, and the Skypiercer only strengthened her resolve. She wanted to rediscover her past. And to do so, she would have to climb the seemingly infinite tower above them.

Natalee's condition was gradually worsening. She had developed a fever during the ascent and was unsteady on her feet as they walked down the tunnel. It was only a short way before they were out of the underground, and she bravely trudged on with her good arm around Kilian's shoulder.

At the back of the group trailed Yang. She had remained mostly quiet during their journey back. After listening to everything, she now understood that Sanya's backstory was as fake as her Power Loader. She lacked the basic understanding of the Skypiercer that even foreigners had. It was as if she had been born into this world the day before she joined the orphanage.

The black-haired girl caught herself staring at Sanya's back through her bangs, then shook her head and blinked her eyes in confusion. This was the first time she had become so interested in somebody since she had joined the orphanage. It was as if the girl with the unnatural green hair and the strange gauntlet was pulling her in with her pure soul.

They finally reached the tunnel leading directly to the exit. Many other children were on their way out from the depths as well. Some carried their day's yields with smiles, while others returned empty-handed and crestfallen. A few injured could be seen here and there, so their group did not stand out.

Near the tunnel entrance was the Dredging Guild Administration Building, a shabby-looking copy of the Association Headquarters that stood at the center of Base Camp. To the right of its main gate were a dozen canopied counters where guild workers received the fragments the children brought from the depths. Although their lines extended toward the tunnel entrance, they moved quite fast, showing the efficiency the dredging guild worked with when profit was involved.

Kilian wanted to take Natalee back to the orphanage ahead of the others, but she would not miss the evaluation of their fragments for anything in the world. Thus, he and Dyanna helped steady her while Sanya and Yang carried their treasures forward.

"General Orphanage," reported Yang with a glance at her companions, "everybody from room twenty-seven and room twelve."

"What you got?" the rotund guild worker sitting behind the counter adjusted her gold-rimmed glasses and asked in a bored tone. Not a single noteworthy fragment had been unearthed in months, and she did not expect that to change today. After all, finding anything above tool grade was quite rare in the Skypiercer's depths.

But when Yang took out the bronze box from her backpack, all eyes were on her. The perfect metal surface reflecting the sun nearing the distant mountains in the west stood out from the mud-stained fragments or containers the other children carried. Dyanna looked around with a haughty smirk.

"Oh, what's that?" the woman stood up from her chair and leaned over the counter to get a better look.

"We also got this one," Sanya walked forward and placed the blue case on the counter. The guild worker's attention was divided between the two objects, but her sharp glare flicked to the green-haired girl's gauntlet.

"What are you wearing?" she inquired with her eyes narrowed. Although two potentially valuable fragments were before her, she would not allow a child to smuggle out even a dingy Power Loader.

Yang exchanged a glance with Allen but did not say a word. They were lucky they had noticed that some of the paint covering the golden gauntlet had flaked off from the crack closing around it. If they had not repainted it, they would have been in quite some trouble now.

"This is grafted on," Sanya pulled on the gauntlet to show it was stuck tightly.

"Fair enough," shaking her head with a sigh, the woman behind the counter returned her attention to the bronze box and the blue case. She touched the former's surface and raised an eyebrow. Then she took out a tiny hammer and struck it lightly, listening to the sound emerging from it.

Sanya could tell the rotund guild worker tried her hardest to hide her surprise and elation. Pushing the box aside like a mere trinket, she jotted something down in her register and moved on to the blue case. She fiddled with it for a moment, then furrowed her brow.

"Let me open it for you," Sanya offered, earning her a raised eyebrow. Kilian and Natalee watched with worried gazes as the green-haired girl flicked open the locking mechanism with seemingly practiced movements. The guild worker had doubtlessly suspected that they had opened the case before bringing it here, and this was her confirmation.

Any scolding words already on the tip of her tongue were blown away when she beheld the fragment inside. This time, her greed was readily visible on her features, and she reached out to grab the oversized pipe. But she held herself back right before touching it; handling an unknown fragment could lower its value or have grave consequences.

"General Orphanage, room twenty-seven and room twelve. Good work," without even being able to tear her eyes from the fragment in the case, the rotund woman wrote something more in her register. It was rare to hear praise from the dredging guild's workers, so the children were stunned into silence. But that moment of delay brought the woman behind the counter back to her senses, and she furrowed her brow, "what are you waiting for? Get a move on!"

Sanya and Yang blinked their eyes, then quickly stepped away from the counter and walked away with their companions.

"That was it?" the green-haired girl wondered with a glance back. The guild worker had already stashed their two fragments behind the counter and reviewed the next group's contributions.

"That's just how it is," replied Kilian with a wry smile. The orphans of Base Camp would not get accolades from dredge work, no matter how great their discovery was. Once the fragments were evaluated, the Dredging Guild would inform the orphanage of the children's contribution. Then, the orphanage would calculate how it affected their monthly quota. If they were lucky and the matron had a good day, these two fragments were enough, and they could kick back for the rest of this month.

"Not a word about your wounds either," remarked Sanya begrudgingly, "these adults don't care about our wellbeing at all."

"That's just how it is..." repeated Kilian, but he did not smile this time. To them, it was normal to be treated this way, so he wondered why Sanya felt the need to comment on it time and again.

"Here, let me take over," the green-haired girl offered to switch with Dyanna, who accepted with a thankful nod. Sanya took over her spot next to Natalee and helped Kilian carry the wounded girl.

Yang watched curiously but did not let her thoughts show on her face. Still, Allen saw through her and whispered beside her, "it makes you wonder, doesn't it?"

"What do you mean?" suppressing the urge to flinch after being addressed so suddenly, Yang turned to the boy and asked.

"Where did she come from? And why is she like this?" he replied with the questions she had been asking herself since she first met the green-haired girl yesterday.

"Does it matter?" Dyanna suddenly squeezed in between them and asked with a grin, "she's a great climbing partner to have."

Allen and Yang watched the green-haired girl under the orange glow of the setting sun and smiled warmly. Indeed, Sanya's sharp wit, brave heart, and empathetic soul made her the perfect climbing partner. She had already learned to climb better than anyone else on their first outing. Surely, she had the potential to become somebody great in the future.