The Torch that Ignites the Stars

By Andrew Rowe

This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this book are fictional.

Copyright © 2020 Andrew Rowe

All rights reserved.

Map of Kaldwyn by Karl Vesterberg (http://www.traditionalmaps.com/)

Dungeon interior maps by Devin McCarthy

ISBN: n/a for Kindle Edition

Version: 12-1-2020f

Dedication

For Dalia Rowe. May your life be filled with the wonder of many new discoveries.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Map of Kaldwyn

Author’s Note on Reading Order

Style Notes

Recap – Sufficiently Advanced Magic and On the Shoulders of Titans

Chapter I – Heist

Chapter II – Earlier and Later

Chapter III – Splitting the Party

Chapter IV – Where Attunements are Born

Chapter V – Detection Magic

Chapter VI – About Arbiters

Chapter VII – Mental Focus

Chapter VIII – The Missing Gem

Chapter IX – Tiger’s Den

Chapter X – Crown of Fire

Chapter XI – Extreme Shipping

Chapter XII – Words Beginning with “S”

Chapter XIII – A Party of Adventurers

Chapter XIV – True or False

Chapter XV – Iron Jaws

Chapter XVI – New Old Friends

Chapter XVII – Making Haste

Chapter XVIII – Arbiters

Chapter XIX – Dungeon Design

Chapter XX – Dungeon Defense

Chapter XXI – Dungeon Destruction

Chapter XXII – Crystal Core

Chapter XXIII – Greatest Fears

Chapter XXIV – A Reflection of The Future

Epilogue – Home Sweet Home

Appendix I – Recap on Kaldwyn’s Culture and Magic

Appendix II – Recap on Attunements

Appendix III – Recap on Enchanting

Appendix IV – Attunements of Caelford

Appendix V – Characters and Terms

Appendix VI – Corin’s To-Do List

Acknowledgements

Similar Works

Closing Notes From the Author

Preview Chapter – Carefully Worded Wishes

About the Author

Other Books by Andrew Rowe

Map of Kaldwyn

The map above shows the continent of Kaldwyn, where this novel takes place. It is divided into four major nations — Valia, Edria, Caelford, and Dalenos. Each major nation has one or more of the Soaring Spires; these are also shown on the map.

Sufficiently Advanced Magic and On the Shoulders of Titans took place entirely within the nation of Valia.

The Serpent Spire and Lorian Heights Academy are both located in Beaufort, in the eastern nation of Valia.

Corin’s home is located in Hathridge, a city south of Beaufort.

The railroad at the beginning of the story runs from Estermark (in Valia) to Westbridge (in Caelford).

Much of this novel takes place in Caelford.

You can find a larger version of the map on Andrew’s blog here.

Author’s Note on Reading Order

At the end of Arcane Ascension Book 2, On the Shoulders of Titans, Corin tells his story to several people during the train ride to Caelford.

At the conclusion of that, Corin asks Keras to tell them about how he first encountered Dawnbringer and the Six Sacred Swords.

The story that Keras tells to Corin and the others is recounted in the novels Six Sacred Swords and Diamantine, the first two books of the Weapons and Wielders series. While the majority of the content in those stories takes place years before Arcane Ascension starts, there are some parts that are relevant to this series. For example, Keras tells Corin and the others about certain characters and items that are relevant in this book.

Reading the Weapons and Wielders books is not necessary to understand this book, but Corin and the others will make some references to things that happen in Keras’ stories. I’ve tried to make sure that any of the information from Keras’ stories is explained in a way that makes sense for readers that haven’t read the other books, but readers should be aware that there are other books available if they want more context.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the book!

-Andrew Rowe

Style Notes

Some characters within the story communicate telepathically. I use square brackets to indicate telepathy. For example, [This would be what their telepathy looks like.]

I use the singular “they/them” for agender and non-binary characters, as well as characters that have not had their gender determined by the narrator yet. For example, “I didn’t know who wrote the note, but they had a peculiar style of writing”.

I use “they/them” for sentient monsters without a clear gender and “it” for monsters that the narrator does not believe to be sentient. For example, I use they/them pronouns for humanoid elementals of unclear gender, but I use “it” for things like animated statues and slimes.

I use spaces before and after em dashes (AP style). This is purely because I find this style easier to read.

Some characters are referred to with their surnames first in some circumstances, but not in others. This is because of differences in naming conventions between cultures and how they’re interpreted by local characters. For example, a character might be referred to as “Jin Dalen” by natives to Valia, since they are used to using someone’s surname as their last name. A Dalenos native might refer to the same character as “Dalen Jin”, since that would be the Dalenos style of using surnames.

For those of you who need a refresher on these books, there are three things you might want to read before starting the story proper.

Appendix I, Appendix II, and Appendix III at the end of the book are refreshers on the magic system and setting. I advise you to only read those appendices before reading the book: the other appendices have some minor spoilers.

Finally, there’s a story recap right after this. You can skip that (and the appendices) if you remember the first couple books.

Recap – Sufficiently Advanced Magic and On the Shoulders of Titans

By Sera Cadence

Since most of us have already heard Corin’s version of the first year at Lorian Heights at least once or twice now, I’m going to do us all a favor and sum it up a little faster than he would.

I’m Sera Cadence, the intrepid heroine of our story.

I was raised as “Sera Shard”, daughter of Anette Shard. Mom was a retainer to Laura Lyran, the lady of House Lyran.

Laura Lyran was a great woman. I always respected her, and she always treated me well. Her husband, Magnus Cadence, was far more distant. He was a strict disciplinarian, even then, but nowhere near as much as he’d get to be after they split up. Magnus also seemed to want to avoid me. At the time, I didn’t understand why.

I never knew who my father was. Mom was deliberately evasive; she always told me that it didn’t matter, or that she’d tell me when I was old enough to handle it.

It bothered me, but I didn’t have any recourse. I tried figuring it out on my own. I daydreamed about possibilities, like my father being some sort of heroic adventurer who had left us on an epic quest to save the world. Or maybe dad wasn’t even human — he could be a dragon, or even one of the visages...

I daydreamed a lot in general.

I was raised with the assumption that I’d be the primary retainer for Corin, much like my mother was for Corin’s mother. Corin wasn’t too bad of a kid. He was a little introverted, even back then, but so was I. We’d read together.

His older brother, Tristan...he was less kind. I didn’t understand until much more recently that Tristan had probably inherited some of his father’s methods of “discipline” for people who weren’t behaving the way he wanted them to.

So, I’ll be honest — when Tristan disappeared into the Serpent Spire when Corin and I were twelve, my first emotion was relief.

That relief quickly faded when I saw the consequences. Lady Lyran’s relationship with Lord Cadence became strained. A bit later, they split up entirely. Poor Corin was absolutely heartbroken.

Lady Lyran began to devote all of her time and resources toward climbing the spires, hoping to discover what had happened to Tristan.

Meanwhile, I had less and less time with Corin, until finally Magnus pulled Corin out of school entirely for private “training”.

Again, I didn’t understand what that meant at the time. If I had known... I’m sorry, Corin. For what it’s worth, I don’t think your mother knew how bad it was, either. That doesn’t excuse her for walking away from you, but I hope it lends some context.

We wrote to you, too. I guess Magnus was screening your letters.

The next few years were much easier for me than they were for Corin. I still had regular friends that I saw at school, like Patrick and Roland. We practiced our dueling and academics together to prepare for our Judgments.

And then, when we turned seventeen, it was time. I knew that there was a chance I’d never leave the Serpent Spire. Tristan wasn’t the only child who had disappeared during a Judgment — a good two in ten or so did.

But for the most part, I was excited.

If I earned an attunement, I’d finally be able to start making my own way in life. I’d have magic. It was something I’d always dreamed about. And maybe I’d be able to get back to seeing Corin again, since I never had any doubt that he’d succeed at his own test.

And so, I took my Judgment.

Unlike Corin, I don’t remember exactly what happened in mine. Most people have their memories of their Judgment wiped when they leave the tower, so they can’t explain the test to others. It’s like waking up from a dream; you might remember bits and pieces, but they quickly fade.

I do know what happened, though, because I apparently made some interesting decisions in there...such as backtracking after I’d earned my attunement.

You see, I earned a Summoner attunement. That allows me to make contracts with monsters. In exchange for offering a monster a portion of the mana that my body generates, I can get a bit of power from the monster. The more mana I offer, the more power they give me.

The name “Summoner” comes from a more advanced feature of the attunement — we can summon a copy of any monster we establish a contract with, provided we have enough mana to sustain the copy, and we follow certain rules that are established in the contract.

Apparently, I was feeling ambitious after I earned my attunement, and I walked back through the spire to where I’d seen a particular monster.

That monster was Seiryu: The God Serpent. The monster the Serpent Spire itself was named after. A divine beast with power only matched by the other god beasts, and of course the goddess Selys herself. Maybe the Tyrant in Gold, too, but he doesn’t count.

So, anyway, a fresh new Summoner making a contract with a monster of that level of power was an absolutely absurd idea, and I’m very proud of myself for thinking of it.

Seiryu was apparently amused, too, because she accepted my deal. The terms required that I not talk about it until I was powerful enough to summon her on my own. I think that was less about her pride and more about my own safety; there are a lot of people who would try to exploit a novice Summoner with such a powerful contract.

The contract came with some other stipulations, too. I can draw on bits of her power anywhere, but I can’t actually summon copies of her outside of the spires. Maybe I can get around that someday by renegotiating my contract, but I’ll need to be much stronger for that.

I also owe her a favor, because I didn’t have enough mana to make a “standard” contract with her. I won’t go into the details on that right now, but suffice to say that I might need to disappear for a while at some point to handle that.

Anyway, I got my attunement and headed home.

Mom was ecstatic. I’m sure Lady Lyran would have been, too, but she wasn’t home.

And then Mom told me something she’d always promised to — it was time to meet my father.

And she took me to meet Magnus Cadence, who I’d met many times before.

I’m ashamed to say that I’d never really considered him to be a serious possibility. I’d grown up around the Cadence family, but the idea of being an illegitimate child...well, it didn’t really fit the fantasies I’d pictured.

But I was still glad. I was so very glad to have a father. And the fact that I knew him made it better in some ways, at least at first. He was familiar, and he’d already been an influence on me when I was young.

He was also powerful, famous, and a nobleman. That wasn’t half bad.

And since I’d earned a Summoner attunement — broadly considered to be one of the most powerful in the kingdom — he legitimized me.

I was proud. And when I heard Corin had gotten an attunement that wasn’t quite as popular, I admit I took a bit of pride in that. I’m sorry.

It’s not that I ever disliked you, Corin. It’s more that I’d been raised to believe I was inferior to you. That at best, I’d be your loyal servant. Maybe throw myself in the way of some kind of attack and die so that you’d survive. That was the romantic ideal for being a retainer.

But as your sister, with an attunement that was arguably more prestigious than yours, something that I’d earned...well, it felt good. It felt like I’d finally proven that I could be your equal, maybe even more than your equal.

I never wanted to hurt you or anything. I just wanted to be treated with respect.

I wanted to be your family, not your servant.

And for a little while, it seemed like that would work out okay. I knew Magnus was probably trying to play us against each other, but I also knew neither of us was going to fall for that nonsense.

I loved and cherished getting to know you again once we headed to the academy together.

I was thrilled when we reunited with Patrick, one of our oldest friends, and that he’d earned a good attunement, too.

Our first few months at the school were pretty smooth, at least from my perspective.

Corin was getting into all sorts of nonsense. You see, during his time in the spire, he’d done a couple unusual things, too.

First, he’d picked up a book, Trials of Judgment, that kept having new messages appear inside. He followed some of the advice of the book and ignored other bits.

One particularly important part was that he found a jail cell inside the tower after finding a secret passage, and he managed to let out all of the prisoners inside.

One of them was Vera, a researcher of artificial attunements from Caelford.

Another was a small child, Echion, who Vera had been running tests on. Corin didn’t know about their connection at the time.

And the last was Keras Selyrian, who is so absolutely ridiculous I’m not even going to bother trying to explain everything about him right now. He’s basically some kind of foreign demigod swordsman with the most convoluted backstory I’ve ever heard.

Anyway, Corin got into some trouble with Katashi, the Visage of Valor, for letting people out of prison — and that whole affair set off a bunch of other events that would come up later. As one of the six visages of the goddess, Katashi was one of the most powerful entities in the world, so getting on his bad side was kind of a bad move on my brother’s part. Keras somehow decided fighting a visage of the goddess was a good idea and bought some time for the others to escape.

Corin got betrayed by Vera a little bit on the way out, but still managed to earn his attunement, even if it ended up being kind of a terrible one. Enchanter is better than nothing, but certainly not as good as my own Summoner mark.

Anyway, he kept the book after escaping the tower, and the book convinced him to talk to Professor Orden at the school. She started both training him and manipulating him, because she’s actually one of the villains of the story and they do that sort of thing.

Yeah, I’m skipping ahead a little. That’s fine. This is a long story; I need to do things like that.

Important things happened at the school. I met Marissa, who is the best puncher in our generation, and Jin, who is sneaky and enjoys creepily stalking Corin for some reason. They both joined our team for our yearly exams, because I’m not the only one who has made some questionable life choices.

I also met Derek Hartigan, an old classmate of Tristan’s. Derek and I participated in an arena-style sport called a Survival Match where we fought a bunch of monsters for money. It was awesome, and I used it to make bindings on a bunch of monsters. Bindings are like contracts, but more limited in scope; I can’t do all the same things with a binding that I can with a contract.

That was also when I met Vanniv, who is second only to me in importance in this story. Vanniv is a karvensi, a type of winged humanoid with stone-like skin and literal rock-hard abs. He also has abilities similar to an Elementalist and a flirtatious disposition.

Vanniv and I got along immediately, and we figured out some shenanigans to upgrade the binding I put on him to a full contract.

After that, while we were taking one of our exams, there was an earthquake and the environmental shield around our city disappeared. That’s bad. That isn’t supposed to happen.

The team and I headed to the Serpent Spire at the behest of Professor Orden, where we all very nearly died. That was also bad.

Corin made a deal with Katashi, who was angry. That was worse.

After that, we had to scramble to figure out where Vera — that artificial attunement researcher that Corin had broken out of the spire’s prison — was located. We then convinced her to go back to the tower along with us.

Once inside the spire, Orden betrayed us, used a ring to control Derek, and tried to kidnap Vera for her own purposes.

I drank something that I probably shouldn’t have (an attunement primer potion that Corin gave me), temporarily vastly increasing my power, and summoned Seiryu to save us. That worked, but at a cost — I lost my voice and the ability to use magic.

Yeah, that was pretty awful.

Corin managed to sort things out with Katashi, turning over Vera and earning himself a second attunement in the process — an “Arbiter” attunement, which meant that he’d worked directly for one of the visages. It was a rare “restricted” attunement that almost no one received, so it was pretty important. It also let him do some unusual things, like make other attuned more powerful temporarily, as well as interact with the mana in human bodies in general.

He also tried to get Katashi to heal me, but Katashi said he couldn’t do it safely, so he gave me a legendary magic artifact sword — Ceris, the Song of Harmony — instead. Which was kind of weird, but okay, I’m not complaining.

Anyway, we survived the experience in the spire, albeit barely.

That strange swordsman, Keras, was conned...I mean, “convinced” into looking out for us for a while to earn points with Katashi and clear his name of some crimes that he probably did, in fact, commit. (What? Don’t look at me like that. Heresy is an actual crime, technically, even if what Keras was saying was true.)

We headed back to the school and started working on our second half of the year.

I...admit I wasn’t doing very well for a while.

Not being able to speak took a real toll on me socially, and not being able to use magic was even worse.

Corin really looked out for me back then, and I’m grateful for it. He managed to arrange for a meeting with Sheridan Theas, an old friend (and probably lover) of Derek’s.

Sheridan is a follower of the visage Wydd. They’re also a Necromancer, which we were all pretty sure weren’t real until we met Sheridan.

Long story short, they performed some magic surgery on me to help improve my condition. I’ll save you the details, because frankly they’re gross, but I got some use of my voice and my attunement back.

I was still in rough shape. My ability to cast spells had fallen to below where I’d first started the year. I had to break almost all of my contracts, because I didn’t have enough mana to sustain them all. (Don’t worry, I kept my contracts with Vanniv and Seiryu, since they were too important to give up.)

I was pretty far behind the curve at school for several weeks after that while I tried to recover. I relied heavily on my friends for help, as well as the items that Corin made me.

It was a difficult time, but I started recovering.

In the meantime, Marissa and Corin trained with Keras. Keras taught them both bits of his foreign style of swordplay and magic use, which gave them some new and unique techniques to try.

Patrick trained with Professor Meltlake, a legendary Elementalist, and learned powerful fire and lightning magic.

Keras also helped Corin make Patrick a magic sword — a replica of Dawnbringer, one of the Six Sacred Swords. He calls the replica “Bright Reflection”.

After that, we all prepped for our final exams. We passed, with some complications here and there, like Corin being kidnapped briefly by Elora Theas — Sheridan’s sister.

That situation escalated quickly, because Elora’s group had been infiltrated by a servant of the Tyrant in Gold, and when Corin pointed that out, they called for help. That help ended up being Saffron, one of the Tyrant’s own children.

And the Tyrant’s children are basically unstoppable forces of nature, so…that was bad.

Even Elora, an Emerald-level attuned, was at a disadvantage when she tried to fight Saffron. Corin managed to distract Saffron long enough for Elora to evacuate the two of them to Derek’s house, and then the three of them fought Saffron long enough for Keras to arrive and chase Saffron off.

That once again proved that Keras is ludicrously powerful and kind of terrifying. We really need to keep more of an eye on him, guys.

Anyway, we all got back and checked on Corin, and we were relieved that he had once again somehow survived fighting someone that was a hundred times more powerful than him. Apparently, being the weakest person in a battle like that has the benefit that the enemy doesn’t pay much attention to you.

After that, we all went to the winter ball. Which you’d think would be a nice reprieve from all sort of crazy death dealing nonsense, but nope! It was actually the worst.

Mizuchi, one of Seiryu’s daughters, showed up at the ball and accused some of the important people in attendance — members of the Council of Lords, Valia’s primary ruling body — of making a deal with the Tyrant in Gold. That is admittedly pretty bad if it’s true, but I don’t think it warranted paralyzing the whole room with magic and starting to blast people out of existence.

Most of us students were paralyzed by the aforementioned magic, but Corin’s attunement allowed him to gradually start breaking us out by purifying our mana.

Meanwhile, a bunch of teachers and state officials had a huge battle with Mizuchi. Most of them were pretty ineffective, except for Teft — our dueling teacher, who I gained a little bit of respect for in that fight, and Professor Meltlake, who was powerful enough to force Mizuchi to change into something closer to her true form.

And, of course, Professor Conway, who died protecting us.

Resh. I still hate just thinking about that. I’m sorry, Professor.

Marissa managed to save a downed Teft from being killed, but got herself badly hurt in the process. The rest of us weren’t anywhere near as effective as she was, but we did what we could.

Ultimately, Professor Vellum — Corin’s other, weirder mentor figure — managed to banish Mizuchi back to the Serpent Spire, but very nearly died due to the cost of the spell.

Corin managed to prevent Professor Vellum from dying, then got Sheridan to show up and help assist with the wounded.

A lot of people still died that night, but I’d like to think that by stepping in, maybe we helped save a few. I honestly don’t know if we made things better or worse. It was clear Mizuchi wasn’t aiming for the students in the first place, but I think she would have killed Teft and Meltlake if we hadn’t stopped her.

I try not to think about whether or not Professor Conway would have lived if we’d never gotten into the fight.

We spent some time recovering after that, but not for very long.

Corin was insistent on going to the Serpent Spire to figure out more about who was pulling the strings on all the attacks we’d been seeing. He put together a team. Unfortunately, I still wasn’t in any shape to go with them.

I ended up in there anyway, against my will.

You see, during the fight with Mizuchi, I’d tried to bind her — much like I do with other monsters regularly. I’d recovered a bit of my magic, but that led to some overconfidence on my part.

I’d hoped to figure out how her magic worked and learn to use it against her.

I hadn’t realized that Mizuchi had the powers of a Summoner herself, and that our binding went both ways.

So, while Corin fought his way up the Spire with the others, Mizuchi summoned me to her.

And then she kidnapped me and used me as a tool to find the location of our brother, Tristan.

You see, Tristan had been the one sending messages to Corin through his magic book — Trials of Judgment — all along. Tristan was a key part of a conspiracy that had worked to break free of the control of the visages, and he’d been involved in an attack that had resulted in Tenjin, our local visage, being kidnapped.

Mizuchi had discovered Tristan’s role, but hadn’t had a way to find where he was hidden...until she got her hands on me, a family member of Tristan’s. My blood was linked to his, and could be used to track him any time he wasn’t hiding in a location that was protected from divination.

And, as it happened, Tristan was outside of that kind of safe area at the moment — because he was waiting for Corin to come and meet him. Oops.

All three siblings were finally reunited when Mizuchi brought me to Corin and Tristan’s location in the spire. I wish our meeting could have been under better circumstances, if it had to happen at all.

Mizuchi tried to kill all three of us, but she was still weaker than usual from being banished. And I had a new trick up my sleeve — when I’d taken that attunement primer, it hadn’t just broken my power. It’d changed it into something new; an Invoker attunement.

I still barely knew how to utilize my new capabilities, but I managed to invoke some of Vanniv’s power and hold Mizuchi at bay until Corin figured out a clever trick. He managed to mix some potions together in order to make a teleportation concoction, and Tristan and I managed to break through enough of Mizuchi’s barrier for Corin to splash her with it.

Mizuchi was teleported out of the area, and we all ran to hide in a safe spot of the tower Mizuchi couldn’t reach.

We were worried that Mizuchi might go after our companions, though, so we couldn’t stay long.

I did, however, manage one more feat during the fight: I made a contract with Researcher, an elemental librarian that Mizuchi had previously contracted. By making my own contract with Researcher, I managed to get Researcher to switch sides and help us in the battle. After that, I maintained my contract with Researcher, which allowed me to summon her to us in the future or invoke her powers.

Tristan told us a bit about what he’d really been up to — he was a member of one of three factions working against the visages, each with different motives. The Godslayers wanted to kill the visages outright. The Peacemakers still wanted the humans and visages to live together in harmony, but with more of a balanced relationship. And Tristan’s faction, the Ascension faction, wanted to level the playing field more permanently — by finding a way to get humanity visage-like powers.

I still don’t know what exactly I think about all that. We didn’t have enough time to discuss all the pros, cons, and politics in detail.

Tristan had been badly hurt in the fight. I think he might have lost an eye. But he couldn’t leave the spire with us; he had a mark on his body that would basically cause him to explode if he tried to leave the spire.

So, we had to leave him behind, so soon after seeing him again after many years apart.

I wasn’t quite as torn up about it as Corin was. Tristan had never been particularly kind to me. But he was family, and family is important.

And Tristan clearly meant a lot to Corin. Corin had this ideal in his mind that if he found Tristan, he could get our family back together. Don’t look down on him for that. It may have been a little naïve, but he worked reshing hard to try to make it a reality.

And once he learned that wasn’t possible, it just meant he had to make a new series of plans.

So, Corin grabbed the rest of us to take a train toward Caelford. Marissa and Patrick tagged along as usual. Keras accompanied us, but with the understanding that we’d probably part ways for a while after the train ride.

Corin also brought Cecily, a childhood friend of ours and fellow Enchanter who I didn’t entirely trust.

We had a lot of reasons for going to Caelford. For me, the most pressing was speaking to Ferras, the Visage of Creation, who I’d been led to believe could help treat my damaged attunement more thoroughly.

For Corin, it was more about finding new answers.

More about his Arbiter attunement.

More about artificial attunements.

More about what Tristan’s faction was really up to, and why people were working to overthrow the visages in the first place.

Corin wasn’t going to let a little thing like the truth about Tristan demoralize him.

He had a new set of goals.

He had more knowledge, more power, and new friends.

And most importantly?

He has me, his sister.

And I’m never going to let us be apart again.

And with that, I’ll let Corin take over and pick up where he last left off.

Chapter I – Heist

Corin Cadence’s Perspective

I probably should have expected the train robbery. After all, we’d heard about the Blackstone Bandit robbing trains. And, perhaps more importantly, I was beginning to sense a pattern of things going wrong any time I started to get comfortable.

I’d been enjoying Keras’ anecdotes when he stopped suddenly. His hand shot to the hilt of his sword, which was an immediate signal for me to be concerned. After all, if he’d decided to suddenly kill us, there was no question that Lorian Heights was about to have five fewer students for the next semester.

Well, four, maybe. Cecily wasn’t in the train car with the rest of us. It depended on if Keras’ sudden murderous rampage extended to the rest of the train.

Fortunately, Keras wasn’t actually in a murder mood. Not for us, anyway.

“I’m going to have to put the rest of the story on hold.” Keras stood up suddenly, then glanced at each of us. I could see him evaluating the proper course of action.

“Stay here.” He turned to me. “Corin, protective runes on this section of the car.”

I nodded to him, uncertain.

What is it this time?

Assassins?

God beasts?

Assassin god beasts?

I think the God Spider might count as one of those...

He glanced at Sera next. “Sera, call Vanniv.”

“Why?” Her voice was still scratchy, but sounding much better. She’d recovered significantly over the last week or so, both in terms of her speech and her mana levels. She was back to Carnelian, but still a good way from reaching her previous maximum mana level.

Keras grinned broadly, gazing out the window.

“Because our train is about to be robbed.”

Mara cracked her neck, stretched her arms, and headed for the train door.

Keras raised an eyebrow. “Where are you going?”

“Same place you are.” Mara grinned. “Wherever the trouble’s gonna be.”

I wasn’t sure I liked the idea of Mara leaving. Not because she’d be at risk, but because we’d be at a greater risk without Keras and her with us. I was catching up to her in combat ability somewhat, but in close quarters like a train, she’d be much more effective.

I didn’t object. I got to work. “Retrieve: Etching Rod.”

Patrick moved closer to me, drawing Bright Reflection.

I started working on writing the first of the protective runes I’d need to put on the walls. Hopefully, Keras could fix any damage I did to the train car later.

“Vanniv, I summon you.”

Vanniv popped into existence a moment later. I felt a bit of relief, not just because he could offer some extra muscle, but because I’d been a little worried that summoning someone while the train was in motion would have unfortunate results.

I was very glad he didn’t appear inside a wall. I knew he could reform if he died, but...ugh. That would have been messy.

Vanniv immediately stretched his arms and wings, which brushed against the inside of the car. “Ah. Finally, a chance to move around.” He frowned. “Although we seem to be moving without any effort on my part.”

Once again, I wondered if he could actually sense the passage of time when he wasn’t summoned. I’d have to ask that later.

Yes, yes, I know I have a bad habit of saying things like that. I’m working on it.

Sera filled Vanniv in on the situation.

“Ooh, bandits! How lovely!”

Keras and Marissa gave us a final nod and then exited the train car, presumably going bandit hunting. I wished them luck.

I slipped out right after, considering what I knew about the train.

We were toward the center of the train. Further toward the front, we’d find more sleeper cars, including Cecily’s. She was three cars down. We’d also find a dining hall, then a bunch of other seating areas for people who hadn’t reserved sleeper cars. I couldn’t imagine staying on a trip this long without one, but it was a lot cheaper.

Then beyond that, toward the front of the train, was the vault car. The vault car carried money, plain and simple. I didn’t know a lot of the details, but apparently the train itself was owned by Haven Securities, and it was often used to transport large sums of cash from place to place. It would be the most heavily guarded section of the train.

Beyond that, the engineering cars.

In the opposite direction, further toward the rear of the train, there were a few more sleeper cars. After that, another dining car, then more seating areas, a luggage car, and finally a “holding car”. I didn’t know much about the “holding car”, but it was very heavily guarded from what I’d seen when I’d first come onto the train. I got the impression “holding” was probably a nice way of saying “prison”, and that the car was being used to transport prisoners from Valia to Caelford.

I didn’t know why that might be — maybe it was for people like Keras that had committed a crime in one country and been arrested in another? I couldn’t be sure.

I didn’t think much about it at the time. Cecily was in the other direction, and so was the vault car, which was the most likely target for the bandits.

I headed in her direction immediately. I didn’t see anyone else wandering the halls, at least not at first. The section of the train we were on was a row of sleeper cars, and most people didn’t have any reason to be wandering about. There were no obvious sounds of battle or danger; I probably wouldn’t have noticed the sound of hoof beats if Keras hadn’t pointed them out.

I took a deep breath as I walked forward. I had Selys-Lyann on my hip, but I hoped not to have to use it. I’d managed pretty well in scrapes against strong opponents before, but that was largely because I had allies that were much more dangerous than I was, and they’d drawn all the attention.

On my own, I couldn’t see myself having good odds against even one of the Blackstone Bandits.

If I’m lucky, I can get to her before I even run into them.

I wasn’t lucky. Not in that sense, at least.

I found them right after I moved into the next car. Four people in hooded cloaks, black garb, and black neutral masks. They were moving through the middle, two abreast, about fifteen feet away.

They were heading straight toward me.

None of them had weapons drawn, which was good. They also weren’t in swinging range yet, so I had a moment to choose how to act.

I stepped out of the way. “Excuse me.” I lowered my head, making room for them to walk past.

My heart hammered in my chest.

The group gave me a look, then walked past me without stopping.

I started moving again the moment they passed me, my heart still pounding.

Strange that they’re going the opposite way from me. Isn’t the vault car in the direction I’m heading? Maybe some of them are robbing the wealthy passengers, too. That could get really messy.

I didn’t pause to ponder. I had to keep moving.

The second group very nearly ran straight into me when I reached the door to the next car. Three of them were coming through it, walking fast.

“Sorry,” I muttered, stepping out of the way.

Rather than brushing past me, though, they froze. I saw someone reach for a weapon.

I took a few steps back, raising my hands. “Easy, there.”

“Go back to your car, kid.” The one in front commanded. The voice was male, and I noted that he had a blue gem in the center of his mask.

“I, uh, sorry. It’s that way.” I pointed past him. I was lying, of course.

There was a tense moment while my heart threatened to leap right out of its chest cavity. I pictured that, hoping it would smack someone in the face if it did.

“I know you.” The leader spoke again. “Why do I know you?”

I tried not to panic more. This was good, I told myself. A chance. “I ran into Jade last year. She talked to me about recruitment after I graduate.”

The leader took a step forward. “Is that so...? Hm.” He paused, looking me up and down. “Take off your sword belt.”

“I, uh...” I lowered my hands to my belt. There was an important decision to be made here.

“I said lose the weapon. Don’t make a mistake.”

My hand inched for the hilt. I wasn’t going to hand Selys-Lyann over to train thieves, nor was I going to let myself be unarmed if they decided to attack.

“It’s fine,” a voice came from behind the three people I’d seen. “He’s with me.”

There was a fourth masked figure behind them. Not hidden, no. Just unnoticed.

And I knew that voice.

It made my heart pound even faster, but for different reasons.

Heads turned toward the fourth figure. Apparently, they were almost as surprised when he spoke as surprised as I was. “Is he, now?” The leader asked.

“He is. I’ll take care of him. Move on ahead, I’ll catch up.”

“You’re not in charge here.”

The fourth figure shook his head. “No, but I’ll take responsibility for this. Trust me.”

The leader grunted. “We’ll discuss this later. Don’t mess anything up.”

The fourth figure nodded. “Of course.”

“Out of our way.” The bandit leader told me.

I stepped aside, hands up.

Three bandits shoved past me. The fourth remained.

In a moment, we were left alone in silence.

The black masked figure walked closer, his eyes meeting mine. “Hello, Corin.”

I tried not to sound too agitated. “Hello, Jin.”

He lifted a finger to just in front of my lips. “Don’t use that name here.”

I took a deep breath. “What are you doing here?”

“Saving you again, it seems.” I couldn’t see him smile, but I could hear the amusement in his voice. “But I can’t help you for long. I need to get back to work. Come on, I’ll walk you back to your car. Which, in spite of what you said, is in this direction.” He pointed back behind me.

I wasn’t sure if I should be flattered or terrified that Jin knew where I was staying on the train. Probably both.

“I can’t. I still have a friend that way, and I need to make sure she’s safe.”

There was a pause. “Ah. The girl.” There was something odd in his tone. Irritation, maybe?

“She’s not much further. Please. I’ll wait with her until you finish whatever you’re doing here. As long as no one is getting hurt, that is.”

“There’s no reason for anyone to get hurt.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Then you know what they’re planning then? You’re actually a part of this...” I waved at the air. “Train ro—”

“Yes, I’m with them.”

“Why?”

He sucked in a breath. “When my parents sent me to Lorian Heights, they told me to make friends. Allies. You, Patrick, and the others were my first choice. But that didn’t exactly work out, did it?”

“So you joined...” I glanced at the nearby sleeper cars. I didn’t think anyone was probably listening to our conversation, but I didn’t want them to overhear anything.

“No one will notice us talking unless you’re too loud.” Jin said, reading my thoughts.

“Mesmer thing?”

He nodded. I felt a little jealous — that was an extremely useful ability.

“Then back to my question.”

“I didn’t join them. Not exactly. You remember when Jade mentioned that we could join after graduating?”

“Sure. They said there would be tests. Is this one of your tests?”

He shook his head. “No. I tracked them down early and asked for a favor.”

“A favor?”

He paused, then responded in a serious tone. “I have a debt to pay. Today, if we succeed...well, it’ll be a start.”

I frowned. “You’re robbing a train to pay off a debt? Who could you owe that much?”

“It’s not like that.” He shook his head. “But I’ve said too much already. You need to get back to your car.”

“I need to get to Cecily’s car.”

Jin grunted. “You’re stubborn.”

I felt a smile cross my face. “I thought that was something you liked about me.”

“Not particularly.” He jerked a thumb behind him, toward the car I’d been approaching. “Follow me. Don’t speak to anyone. We’ll be unnoticed unless you make a mistake.”

I followed him.

There were a cluster of black masked bandits in the next car, a dozen or more. Most of them were in the hallway, but some of them were going into the sleeper cars. I heard a few heated conversations, but no fighting. Not yet.

My instincts told me to step in and help the people who the bandits were robbing, but as Jin led me through the bandits, I didn’t actually hear any robbery going on.

The snippets were more like:

“Hang in there. We’ll be done soon.”

“Don’t worry, we’ve got the best guys up top.”

And weirdly, “How’s your uncle doing? I haven’t seen him in a while.”

There was no hostility. And the bandits that were standing in front of the doors weren’t facing inward, they were facing outward...like they were guarding the people inside, or just watching the halls for trouble.

What is going on here?

The strangest thing was that I knew the train had guards onboard.

Where are they? Did they all rush to the vault car?

I didn’t have much more time to think about it before we reached the next car, where Cecily was located.

There were no more bandits in this particular car. I felt some relief at that, but it didn’t mean this was over.

Jin continued to lead me forward.

“Stop. This is it.” I pointed to Cecily’s door. I didn’t know if I should be relieved that Jin didn’t know where Cecily was located or not.

Jin turned back to me, glanced from side-to-side, then nodded. “Good. Once you get in, stay inside. No matter what you hear outside.”

That was pretty needlessly ominous, but I understood his meaning. “Sure, as long as she’s actually in there.”

“Stay either way, until we’re gone. You don’t want to be walking around when things escalate.”

I didn’t like the sound of that either.

“Can you tell me what—”

He shook his head. “Not now. This is where we part ways. Stay safe, Corin.”

Jin’s eyes met mine once more, then...

Then I’d forgotten who I was talking to, and I was all alone.

In the moment, I didn’t realize anything was amiss. The Mesmer attunement is that insidious. I had countermeasures for mind-influencing spells, but I didn’t know to use them, so I didn’t. I just felt a little disoriented, took stock of where I was, and got back to work.

I turned toward Cecily’s room on the side of the car and knocked on the door.

There was a pause, then I heard her voice. “Who is it?”

“It’s Corin.”

“Oh, Corin!” I heard some shuffling. “Come in!”

I opened the door, hastily stepping inside and shutting it behind me.

Cecily was sitting on the floor, ringed in books. Her hands were covered in ink, and there was a long metallic rod on the ground next to her. An etching rod, I realized, just a different model than the ones I used.

“Sorry! I know it’s, uh, kind of a mess. Also, I can’t really move.” She gave me a sheepish look. She pointed at something draped across her lap — a piece of silvery cloth. At first, I hadn’t realized it was a separate piece from her dress.

It took me a moment to realize what I was looking at. “Oh. You’re working on a dueling tunic?”

“More like a dueling shawl, actually. I’m trying to find something I can just toss over a school uniform without breaking the dress code. And, uh, I can’t stop mid-enchanting. Explosion risks, you know?”

I nodded, understanding. “Okay. I’ll watch the door.”

“Watch the door...? Why?” She blinked. “Is everything okay, Corin?”

Oh. Right. She probably has no idea what’s going on.

“Uh...so, we might have a slight case of bandits.”

***

While Cecily worked on finishing her garment, I etched defensive runes into the wall of her cabin. Just in case.

No combat ever reached our part of the train, though. In fact, I didn’t hear any fighting at all. Maybe the combat was just far away, but the absence of obvious battles actually made me more nervous. At least if there were sounds of steel and explosions, I could gauge where the danger was coming from or how bad it might be.

In silence, all I could do was draw more runes and try not to panic.

Minutes passed.

Finally, there was a knock on the door of the room.

“Who is it?” Cecily asked.

I tensed, hand resting on Selys-Lyann’s hip.

“Hello, Miss Lambert. This is Researcher 437-C. I am pleased to inform you that the train is now secure.”

I opened the door, finding Researcher standing just outside. Wait, when did Sera summon her. Is this the same Researcher, or someone else’s…no, that’s too unlikely. It’s probably fine, I concluded. “Is everyone safe?”

“Hello, Master Cadence. Undoubtedly, some people are not safe. However, if I am properly interpreting the intent behind your question, your friends that remained in the other cabin appear to be safe.”

I felt a hint of my nervousness slip away. “Thank you. Is it clear for us to head over there?”

Researcher nodded. “Yes. I would be pleased to escort you there.”

I turned toward Cecily.

“Two more minutes on this, sorry!”

I briefly considered offering to help with her project, but jumping in mid-way on an enchantment that I wasn’t familiar with was a bad idea. And I was still too nervous.

I briefly turned back to Researcher. “Wait. You were in the spire. Did Sera summon you here?”

“Yes, that’s correct.” Researcher nodded.

“Do you have enough mana to survive here? There isn’t a lot of ambient mana, I don’t know if the bracer will be enough to help you.”

“Thank you for the concern. When Miss Cadence and I established our new contract, I was reconnected with my primary self, which vastly decreased my mana maintenance cost. The mana required provided by my contract is all that I need. Do you require the bracer to be returned?”

I shook my head. “No, that’s fine. Keep it as an emergency measure.”

“Your gift is much appreciated.”

With the knowledge that Researcher wasn’t going to suddenly die of mana starvation, I turned back to watching the halls until finally, after what felt like ages, Cecily finished her project.

She wiped her hands off on a nearby towel, tossed her new shawl on, and stood up. “Okay. Ready.”

Together, we headed to where Sera and the others were waiting.

Only one person was missing when we got inside.

***

I was still tense when we heard another knock on the door.

Vanniv opened it before I could say anything. Fortunately, it was just Keras on the other side. He was the last person to come back.

His shirt was torn to shreds. I frowned at him. “Everything go okay up there?”

“My poor, underserving shirt. Bah. I’ll get a new one.” He shook his head. “I’m fine. Everything is fine outside. You all okay in here?’

We gave him a round of nods.

“Good. I’ll go change shortly.”

Marissa frowned at him. “You didn’t have to leave me behind back there. And what happened? I heard thunder.”

I hadn’t heard thunder. That was interesting. Was someone using localized sound containment spells or enchantments, similar to the ones I used on the walls?

“That usually comes with lightning.” Keras shrugged. “It’s dealt with. Nothing to worry about.”

“I think she wants a description what happened, Keras,” I pointed out.

“Just a reunion with an old acquaintance.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You know the Blackstone Bandit?”

“Sure, we’ve met before.” He waved a hand dismissively. “Anyway, I won the battle, of course. But he got away.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. Everyone else was doing the same.

“Unfortunate that your ‘old acquaintance’ slipped away like that, and that no one else happened to be there to see exactly what happened,” Sera began. “One might even wonder—”

Marissa poked her.

“Ow!” Sera frowned. “Fine, fine. I’ll just leave the obvious questions unsaid and we can all pretend that no one knows anything.”

“I’m sure Keras would tell us anything he wanted us to know.” Patrick was trying to say it in a placating tone, but Sera only looked more irritated.

“It’s nothing that concerns you right now. I’ll fill you in if it’s ever relevant,” Keras offered. His earlier enthusiasm had died down, and he looked a little more uncomfortable with the current line of discussion.

“Why don’t you tell us more of your story instead?” Patrick asked.

“...Right now?” Keras frowned. “Don’t you all need to recover a bit first?”

“Not really. It’s not like any of us were hurt by the bandits you’re probably conspiring with,” Sera noted.

I felt a little guilty at that, given that I had, technically, been conspiring with one of the bandits myself.

Or, bandit in training, anyway. Whatever Jin was. I’d really need to figure that out at some point, but presumably he’d already left the train alongside the bandits.

Marissa poked Sera again. Sera growled in response.

Keras chuckled. “I suppose I could tell you a bit more. Let me get changed first.”

With that, Keras left the train car again, heading back to his own.

Eyes turned toward Sera.

“What?” She folded her arms. “I’m just saying the same thing you all should be thinking. He’s being suspicious.”

“I suppose I agree with you,” I admitted. I was actually hoping that Keras was hiding something, at least for the moment. If Keras knew something about what was going on, maybe he’d know why Jin was involved, too, and I could try to pry that out of him.

Sera gave me a sharp smile. “Thank you! You’ve made a good decision for the first time in...possibly ever?”

I ignored her. “But I’m not worried about it. If he’s colluding with the bandits, there’s probably a good reason. I think I know what it’s about.”

Sera leaned forward. “And what might that be?”

“I don’t think they were here to steal money.” I glanced down toward where I’d seen the bandits heading, and considered what I knew about the layout of the train. “I think they were here to steal a person.”

“Oh, kidnapping. That’s loads better. Why ever was I concerned?”

I shook my head. “Not kidnapping, Sera. I think this was a rescue operation.”

That got her to be quiet for about a second, at least.

“I think Corin is right.” Marissa took a breath. “Got an idea on why, too. But I think I should hold off on sayin’ too much for now. Don’t think Keras is holdin’ back without reason.”

Patrick sighed. “This sort of failure to communicate is exactly the kind of thing that gets us upset with each other later. We’re asking for more misunderstandings if we keep holding off on telling each other things.”

As usual, Patrick was the voice of reason, and no one listened to him.

“I can assure you that any information you provide will be kept strictly confidential, unless someone with a higher level of authority asks me about it.” Researcher offered.

I’d almost forgotten she was still with us.

...Maybe that was part of why Keras was being quiet.

Vanniv, to his credit, didn’t say anything at all. He just looked kind of bored.

“I’ll nag Keras a bit before we hit Caelford, yeah? Then fill you all in when I know more.” Marissa looked conflicted. There was a part of me that wanted to push, but with Researcher and Vanniv still present, it was probably a bad idea.

I could have just suggested sending the summoned monsters away for a bit, but honestly, I felt safer keeping them around for a bit longer. The bandit threat was supposedly resolved, but the attack had left me feeling like we could be ambushed again at any time.

“Fine, fine. Just stop poking me.” Sera sighed.

We waited quietly for a bit after that, filled with nervous energy with no good way to get rid of it.

I wrote some more runes on the walls, simply because I could.

Keras returned with a new shirt a little bit later. “Now, then. Everyone ready?”

We nodded.

“Where was I?”

“You were on your way to the tournament,” Patrick offered.

“Right. Let me continue...”

Chapter II – Earlier and Later

Keras continued telling his story for much of the remainder of the trip.

Between his story and mine, we had several hours each day when most of us were in one place. That was good for security, getting everyone properly informed about the situation, and for keeping the ever-social types like Sera and Patrick sane.

I wanted to hide in a cave well before the end of it. As much as I’d acclimated to being around people again, weeks of near-continuous social contact just isn’t my ideal.

Fortunately, I had some time in relative isolation at night, after we’d stopped storytelling for each day. And during each evening, I got to work, or talk to people in smaller group settings. Most of my chatting was with Patrick, since we shared a cabin on the train, but I spent a fair bit of time wandering around the train cars with the others and working on enchantments.

And I suppose that last part is the most important thing I should talk about.

I’m going to jump back a bit and talk about some of the things I worked on during the train ride.

***

Day one of the train ride.

When we first got on the train, one of my major goals was to figure out my priorities.

Don’t laugh, yes, I actually made a physical list of things to work on this time. I won’t pretend it was exhaustive, but it gave me a starting point.

After that, I discussed some options with Sera.

“Message necklaces.” She pointed at the one I was wearing. “We need them for everyone.”

I winced. “The materials for those were expensive. I can make some with just your mana and mine, but they’ll be a lot shorter range.”

“Better than nothing. You’re also going to have to fix the one you gave Keras.”

I blinked. “Why?”

“You didn’t notice?” She shook her head. “He’s been eying it sadly all day. I think his aura broke it.”

I frowned. He’d mentioned that his aura degraded items, but I’d hoped that something enchanted would have held up a little longer.

“...I’ll take a look at it and see which runes are damaged. If the communication ones are still intact, the rest are easy to replace. If not, I’ll have to replace his with a short-ranged version, at least for now.”

“You may want to put some sort of resilience or shielding enchantment on it to prevent his aura from breaking it again.”

I nodded at her logic. “Makes sense. I should be preparing for that with anything I make him in the future in general. It still won’t last forever, given how powerful his aura is, but putting shields on things isn’t hard for me at this point.”

“Speaking of which, you need to replace the shield sigil you gave Tristan right away. And then give the rest of us the upgrades?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I’ll get to those, and probably before the message stuff. I’d like to prioritize things that will help us more in the long term, though, now that we have a bit of a breather.”

“I think surviving is pretty important for the long term, but what were you thinking?”

I rolled my eyes. “Obviously I’m still going to make defensive equipment. I know Mizuchi and Saffron are still a threat, too, and I’ve got some items on the list to help with that in specific.”

“Such as?”

I pointed at my circlet. “Teleportation items, like this one. Right now, the range isn’t great, but evacuating is still our best option if we run into one of them again.”

“Unless it’s in a place with anti-teleportation runes like, you know, both the places we fought Mizuchi.”

“And in both of those cases, someone broke the runes eventually. That’s solvable.”

“I’d rather find a way to eliminate the problem, not just keep running.” Sera folded her arms.

“We’re not Keras. We’re not going to be able to fight people like Mizuchi or Saffron seriously for years, if ever. The only reason I survived my first meetings with them is that I didn’t register as a threat.”

“Sure, that was your situation. But I fought Mizuchi directly in the spire. She’s beatable.”

I wrinkled my nose. “That was while she was recovering from being banished, Sera. She’s going to be much stronger when we fight her again.”

“I will be, too.”

I was going to say something about how unrealistic that was, but I stopped myself.

Of course she wanted to fight Mizuchi. She’d been kidnapped and used as a tool to find Tristan — if I was in her position, I’d be pretty irate, too.

I had my own reasons for wanting to defeat Mizuchi permanently. She’d murdered people at the winter ball, and she’d probably permanently blinded one of Tristan’s eyes. But even that wasn’t as personal as what Sera had been through.

I nodded to her. “Okay. I’m still planning to make teleportation items, but I’m going to help prepare for fighting, too. I have some ideas I think you’ll like, but they’re mostly long-term, not quick fixes.”

That seemed to get Sera’s attention. “Such as?”

“Items that increase our long-term efficiency. Things like items that help me make other items more easily, or maybe eventually items that even make other items. That’s mostly for me, but I’ve also been thinking about things that can increase the rates of mana gain for everyone.”

Sera nodded. “I wouldn’t mind a pair of those mana regeneration bracers. I could probably train more efficiently with them.”

“Yeah, that’s part of what I’m going to put into the shield sigil upgrades. Mana regeneration for everyone. But I don’t think it’ll actually improve our mana gains that much. If you go through your whole mana pool too many times in rapid succession, you’ll hurt yourself, even if you stick within the ‘safe’ values.”

“Like how you lost the feeling in your right hand for a while after you first made the bracers.”

I winced at the memory. “Yeah. Don’t...do that.”

“I’d never think of repeating your mistakes. I’m perfectly capable of coming up with new ones on my own.”

I laughed. “That was more self-deprecating than you usually get.”

“Well, these last few months,” she gestured to her throat, “have put a lot of things in perspective.”

“Oh? Are you finally going to stop teasing me, then?”

“Don’t be absurd. You’re my brother, that’s an important part of my job. So, mana regeneration might help us do more exercise back-to-back, but we still shouldn’t increase our daily maximum too much. That’s fine, even if it’s a small efficiency increase. The bracers will be great if we actually get into a situation when we need all of our mana, too.”

I nodded. “I was also thinking that if I put some on Vanniv, you could keep him out all the time without having to pay the mana cost yourself. Sort of like how Researcher used to be entirely powered by the platform in the library.”

“Might be useful at times, but that doesn’t actually help increase my mana pool. In fact, the gradual strain from my attunement helps build mana, so taking that away would be counterproductive. I’m actually paying mana for Researcher’s upkeep now, too. Not a lot, but some.”

That’s right, Researcher mentioned that her new contract works differently than the one that she had with Mizuchi. Okay.

I pondered that for a moment. “...You know, you’re right. That’s actually one of the most useful parts of your attunement, if it helps increase your mana growth rate.”

“You’ve got that look like you’re plotting something, Corin. Please don’t tell me you want me to make more contracts right now, I can barely afford what I’m working with.”

I shook my head. “No, no. That’s not it. I was thinking about how absurdly powerful Derek and Elora are for their age. They both have contract-based attunements like you do. I should have thought about this before.”

Sera gave me a quizzical look. “What, that Summoners build mana faster, but have to sacrifice some of it to maintain contracts? We knew that.”

“No. Faking contracts with other attunements.”

Sera blinked. “What?”

“You know more about contracts than I do — could you make a null contract? Like, a contract with no one, that just takes up some of your mana until you get rid of it?”

She shook her head. “Doesn’t work like that. I need a creature I can initiate a contract with. The spell doesn’t complete until they accept.”

“Could you teach me the spell to make a contract at some point?”

“Sure, but you’re not going to be able to cast it. It requires a Summoner attunement.”

“Except that Soulblades can do it, too. Which means it’s not completely unique, even if their contracts are somewhat different. And I don’t need to make a real contract. I just need to understand the way contracts work, and why they increase your mana rapidly.”

“I get the idea. You’re trying to make an exercise item.” Sera furrowed her brow. “Is that really the highest priority right now?”

“In terms of immediate results? No. But I’ve been purely reactive to things for too long.” I shook my head. “I’m tired of feeling like I’m always one step behind. This is the type of thing that could be a long-term game changer for us. The type of thing that could help us get to Sapphire.”

“Sapphire? Is that your goal?” She raised an eyebrow.

I nodded. “It’s one of them. One of the most important, really. If we’re going to be able to compete with the types of enemies we’ve been encountering…Sapphire might be a low bar, honestly. We might need to aim higher.”

Sera laughed. “Well, I can’t fault you for a lack of ambition, at least. Okay. Let’s work this out. Why not make an item that just uses up some of your mana constantly?”

“Looked into that. They don’t really help.” I shook my head. “An item that just drains your mana isn’t exercising your attunement in the same way that casting spells does. If you think of casting a spell as cardiovascular exercise, holding onto an item that gradually drains your mana would be more like something syphoning out your blood through a needle.”

“Eew.”

I snorted. “Yeah. Sorry for the imagery.”

“It’s fine. Hm. I guess there’s a functional difference — when casting a spell, you’re converting the gray mana in your body to the right types, then shaping it into the exact form you want and releasing it. There are more steps.”

I nodded. “Right. An item that just drains your mana doesn’t push your body in the same way.”

“Could you make an item that forces the body to cast spells?”

I considered that. “...Maybe? That sounds kind of horrifyingly dangerous, honestly. Maybe that is what your Summoner attunement is doing, though. I don’t know.”

“The distinction could be the two-way connection, too. When I’m sending mana to a summon — say, Vanniv — I’m also getting mana in return.”

I pondered that as well. “Do Summoners still get mana faster if their contracted monsters are supplying the same types of mana that the Summoner already has? Or is it only if they get a different mana type?”

Sera shrugged. “No idea. Maybe there have been studies on that, but I haven’t read them.”

“Maybe it’s the act of trading out some of your mana for a different mana type that helps the body build mana...?” I shook my head. “I guess we can’t know that for sure without data.”

“We can ask Derek and Elora if they know more about this when we get back.”

“Yeah, but I’d like to get working on something sooner than that if it’s plausible. Building our mana pools as quickly as possible is one of my highest priorities.”

“No disagreement there, although if all you’re doing is mimicking an advantage I already have, I guess it won’t do much for me.”

“No, but I think I have other ways of helping you. The Arbiter attunement will help once you’re feeling safe to try it, and I have some other ideas as well. Derek and Elora can’t have gotten where they are just based on contracts.”

“Sure. They’re climbers. They probably get some mana growth just from fighting and recovering in the spires. The higher mana concentration in the spires helps their growth rate, too.”

“That’s true, but that should mostly help overcome the Sunstone Wall. There has to be something else actively driving their growth.”

“Maybe, but keep in mind they got their attunements at a young age. It’s not like they’re only five years ahead of us.”

“Both of them?” I raised an eyebrow. “Elora is a Summoner, though. That’s local.”

“She took her test at the same time Derek did, but in the Phoenix Spire in Edria. She walked out with a Summoner attunement and a God Phoenix contract. The God Phoenix is the reason why she ended up with a Summoner attunement, they made a deal of some kind while she was taking her Judgment.”

“How’d you know that?”

Sera snorted. “I asked her when we were at her house. It’s not often that I run into another Summoner with a god beast contract, you know. We had a lot to talk about.”

“Oh.” I did have a habit of forgetting other people could talk to each other without me being aware of it. “Okay. Good to know. So, they’ve had their attunements for around nine years.”

“Close to ten now, depending on when they got it in the year.”

That was a little disappointing. I’d been hoping Elora had some sort of crazy secret to getting to Emerald in five years I could try to figure out or improve on. Nine or ten years to Emerald was still absurdly impressive, but I wanted to get myself and my friends to that level as quickly as physically possible.

“What other ideas did you have for speeding up our growth?” Sera asked.

 “I have a few, but you’re not going to like the first one.”

She frowned. “Drinking more attunement primer?”

“...You’re close. Enhancement elixirs. Now that I can purify my mana without a still, I think I can figure out how to make them.”

“With due respect, Corin, I think I’ll wait a while before drinking any other mana-increasing compounds you offer me.”

I winced. “I’m really sorry about that.”

“I know. And it’s a good idea. You should make the elixirs if you can, I’m just going to show a bit of due caution this time.”

I nodded.

“Also, will those even help?” She asked. “You’re already using your Arbiter attunement on everyone other than me. Didn’t Sheridan say that elixirs were functionally the same?”

“They’re similar,” I admitted, “But I don’t think they work identically. Someone might be able to benefit from both at the same time, but I don’t know. Sheridan told me a little, but not a lot. They also mentioned that things like lavris fruit work differently from elixirs; maybe I could make a more powerful version of something that works like the fruit, rather than a conventional elixir. I need to study them more.”

“Maybe ask Cecily? I think she took the potions class.”

“Good idea.” I didn’t actually want to ask Cecily about it, but it was a good idea. I briefly considered asking Sera to summon Researcher so I could ask her instead, but I decided against it. I didn’t want to talk to either of them right away. I’d been talking to people too much as it was. Fortunately, Sera was much easier for me to tolerate than most, since I was so used to her. “There’s also whatever Katashi did to Mara’s attunement. It was an immediate boost of a much higher magnitude than my Arbiter attunement can handle. And, beyond that, I’d like to figure out how ascended attunements work.”

“I’m certainly not going to complain if you figure out how to upgrade people’s attunements directly, but do keep in mind that Mara was sick for weeks after Katashi upgraded her attunement. And my ascended attunement...I wouldn’t recommend going through all that to anyone.”

I nodded at both points. “Marissa’s sickness would be bad in a dangerous environment, but imagine if we could get something like that just before the train ride home. We’d be pretty much recovered by the time we got back, and maybe a full attunement level higher.”

“I do like the sound of that.” She sighed. “I’m still so far behind.”

I tapped my hand. “I could go ahead and start using this to boost your mana. It might be safe at this point.”

She shook her head. “No, I’m not risking it. We can do it after I hit 112, where I was just before the whole potion incident. Maybe sooner if Ferras actually heals me entirely.”

I nodded slowly. “That’s your decision.” I left it unsaid that I disagreed, and I changed the subject. “I’ve been thinking about how you got the ascended attunement out of drinking the primer, and it still doesn’t make sense to me. Even if that mana somehow fed into a contract function, why would that make your attunement change into something else?”

“I’ve been thinking about it, too. I can see two explanations.” She raised a finger. “One. All attunements are already set up to ascend under certain conditions. I think this is eminently plausible, given that they change at specific mana levels. It’s possible that there’s a condition on the attunement that says, ‘if you get this much mana at once, ascend’, or something similar. Or perhaps the mana just fed into a specific latent function, like a rune that wasn’t charged.”

I was surprised at how similar that sounded to my own thought process on the subject. The latent rune hypothesis was what I’d been leaning toward. I was beginning to think of attunements as being more like a collection of enchantments in general, based on how many different conditional functions they seemed to have. “And the second?”

“Seiryu.” That was all she said, but I nodded regardless.

“She was your first contract, and we were in the Serpent Spire when it happened. You think she might have been watching us and done something to your attunement to help you?”

Sera nodded. “Might have been watching, or she might have just sensed the influx of mana through our connection and reacted to that.”

“Well, I suppose that would be much more difficult to replicate than simply activating an inactive rune...”

“Corin.”

“Hm?”

Sera leaned closer. “Are you trying to force your attunement to ascend? You saw what happened to me.”

“I think that was more about the method than the process of ascending itself. It can’t be that bad in every case.”

Sera’s expression shifted. Not to angry, like I might have expected, but to show something very different — worry. “Please, don’t tinker with trying to ascend your attunement until you have a better idea of what you’re doing. As bad as what I went through was, I got lucky. And we don’t even know what an ascended Enchanter attunement would do. It might not even be useful.”

“I wasn’t necessarily thinking of ascending my Enchanter attunement. And if I break my other one, I might be able to...”

“Corin. Don’t be reckless. Please.” She was pleading now, so I nodded in acquiescence.

“Okay. I’ll be careful, I promise. Just research for now.”

I was mostly telling the truth.

***

I worked on exactly what I’d discussed with Sera for the first few days of the train ride.

I replaced the shield sigil I’d given Tristan. I upgraded the ones everyone else was carrying to the same standard as my own.

That meant heavier shielding, health regeneration, and mana regeneration functions for all of us. They took considerable work, but we had plenty of time during the train ride.

There was one major factor that made working on the items more frustrating than it should have been — my rate of mana regeneration.

While we were on the train, I was recovering mana much more slowly than usual. I’d known this would happen, but it was more extreme than I’d expected.

The reason was simple — attunements drew mana from the environment to recharge mana, just like most of my items did. In areas with lower mana saturation, my mana would recover more slowly.

In Valia, recovering my mana had taken about an hour if I drained it completely. On the train, it took me close to ten hours to recover my entire mana pool on my own.

Once I had a mana regeneration item again, that helped — but not as much as it should have. The mana regeneration item also drew mana from the environment, and it had the exact same problem. The mana regeneration items generally recovered one mana per minute — instead, on the train, they were getting about one mana back every ten minutes.

That meant that I was limited to working on a project or two each day, rather than several. I cheated a little by using multiple mana regeneration sigils once I’d built them, but even with that advantage, I was working much more slowly than usual.

After I’d finished the mana regeneration items, I replaced the broken runes on Keras’ necklace and added some shield functions to it, like Sera had recommended. Keras looked mildly embarrassed, but he was thankful.

I didn’t quite get to researching enhancement elixirs or making necklaces for everyone else at that point, though, because I got distracted.

I had another idea.

***

On the evening of day five of the train ride, I visited Keras in his cabin.

“Keras, I’d like for you to help me make infinite money.”

The swordsman laughed. “What’s your latest scheme, Corin?”

I both looked and felt mildly offended. “It’s not a scheme, exactly. I don’t scheme...wait, do I? Is that how I come across?”

“Maybe a little.” He shrugged a shoulder. “But I say that with all affection. I’ve been known to have a few schemes for getting powerful in a hurry, too. Maybe not quite as many when I was your age.”

I wasn’t sure what to say to that, so I just kind of skipped past it. “...Anyway, idea. So, you can modify the properties of metal, yes?”

“Sure.” He shrugged a shoulder.

“And that doesn’t count as an enchantment? I mean, it doesn’t use up some of your spirit, like what you were doing with Bright Reflection?”

“Nope. I can do that without a problem.”

“Okay, good.” I nodded. “When I had you separate some of the metal from coins before, we talked about having you turn the coins into a different material. You said you didn’t know what it would do to the mana capacity of the material. Do you think you could improve the mana capacity of a metal deliberately?”

He pondered that for a moment. “Tricky. I don’t know. I can’t actually sense mana enchantment capacity. My magic works completely differently. Changing shape, or mass, or color — those I can sense, and I can make the alteration intuitively.”

“What if you tried to make some changes, and then I used a device or spell to test the mana capacity of the resulting material?”

He considered that, then shook his head. “That’s a good way to see if I did something right, but it doesn’t help me initiate the process. At the moment, it’s like you’re asking me to cast a spell I don’t have the mana type for. Or, at least, a mana type I’ve never used, and can’t sense.”

That was a pretty big problem. I thought about it for a mute. “What if I cast a spell on you that allowed you to sense mana the way I do?”

He blinked. “Can you do that?”

“No. I mean, not now. My current version of the Detect Aura spell is designed to be self-only, and it doesn’t determine material capacity on its own, anyway. I was speaking more hypothetically: I could research a spell for that purpose. I’m sure they exist. Even if one doesn’t, I could probably make one.”

Keras pondered that. “I can’t make any promises that it would work.”

“That’s fine. It’ll be a useful spell for me to learn even if we can’t get the capacity increases to function.”

“Good.” Keras hesitated, then spoke again. “Another thing, before you go.”

“Hm?”

“You’re going to want to start working on a replacement for that box.”

I took a deep breath. “You’re taking it when we get off the train?”

If he wanted to, it wasn’t like there was anything I could do to stop him. I doubted the entire nation of Valia could keep the box from him if he decided he wanted it.

“Not that soon. But when it’s fully recharged, I’m going to need to use that charge. And then you’re probably going to have to give up the box.”

I understood what he meant. “You’re going to use the box to summon Wrynn Jaden and give it back to her.”

“Got it in one.”

I nodded slowly. That wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t actually the worst thing in the world, either. Now that I knew Tristan’s situation, summoning him with the box was no longer a good idea. I was grateful that I’d found him and talked to him before trying it, given that summoning him out of the spire with the box might have inadvertently killed him.

I still wanted to have the box to summon him eventually, or summon someone else in an emergency...and honestly, just to store my stuff.

But it wasn’t mine. It never had been.

It belonged to Wrynn Jaden, and in truth, I was interested to meet her. I couldn’t rely solely on Keras forever, and if I was lucky, maybe helping to summon Wrynn from wherever she was located would earn me the gratitude of someone else on Keras’ level.

She also was known to be a pre-attunement era sorcerer, so maybe she could teach us other magic...that’d be an exciting prospect.

“Okay. I’ll get to work on another box soon.”

I added it to my list. I had some other projects that I needed to work on first, but making a reasonable copy would be an interesting challenge for the future.

***

Day seven of the train ride.

After Keras finished telling us his story for the day, I went and found Cecily in the room she was sharing with Sera. Sera was still spending time with the others, so Cecily was alone in there at the time.

“Oh, uh, Corin. Hey.” She waved for me to come in, so I did. She shut the door behind me. “Please, sit. I’m sorry I don’t have any tea or anything to offer you.”

I laughed. “We’re on a train, Cecily. I don’t expect you to play host.”

“Sorry. It’s just what I’m used to.” She sat across from me and straightened her skirt. “Is there something, ah, you wanted to talk about?”

I nodded. “Batteries.”

She blinked. “...Batteries?”

“They’re devices for mana storage. I think Caelford is working on some non-magical variants for electrical devices, too, but I’m not as familiar with that variety.”

Cecily snorted. “I know what batteries are, Corin. But mana batteries aren’t usually very useful at our attunement level. There’s too much mana lost when you try to take it out and move it somewhere else. They’re inefficient. And you can’t give them to someone else to recharge their mana, because of the impurity...oh. You can purify mana. You want to make purified mana batteries, so people can recharge their mana faster?”

“Actually, no. That is a good idea, though, and maybe I should...” I shook my head. “Let’s put that on the list. You were right about one thing — my Arbiter attunement changes everything in regard to batteries.”

She seemed to follow my line of thinking. “You can move mana very rapidly, too. Have you tried measuring your efficiency percentages?”

I shook my head. “No. But I’d imagine it has to be pretty high.”

“I concur.” Cecily reached up and adjusted her glasses. “We’ll get some actual measurements later. In the meantime, however, I believe I understand the core concept of your project. With batteries, built-in purification, and rapid mana movement, you could store enough mana to potentially charge larger runes than you could ordinarily charge with your mana pool alone. Is that the intent?”

I was surprised and a little delighted that she could follow my logic so easily. “Right.”

“And why would you need my help? You’re capable of making capacity runes on your own, and we have all the same mana types.”

“A few things. My books are missing some smaller capacity rune increments, and I figured you might have copies of some other ones.”

“Potentially...go on.”

I nodded. “Ordinarily, two Enchanters at our level can’t work together to fill a rune because of a combination of control and speed problems, but in our case...”

“Ah. You want me to fill a rune part way, consuming most of my mana pool, and then you will fill the rest. Effectively, we could fill up a capacity rune that contains both of our mana totals, rather than just yours. Understood.” She nodded agreeably.

“R—right.” I paused, taking a breath. She was almost too fast at catching what I meant. “Beyond that, just having another Enchanter to check my work would be helpful. And if we can succeed with a basic battery, I have some ideas on how we could work together on some even larger projects.”

“Such as?” She tilted her head, looking curious.

“Using several small batteries to make larger batteries.”

Her eyes widened for a moment. “That’s...possible, I think. We wouldn’t be able to go too large, though. If, for example, you wanted to make a Citrine-level battery, we’d have to be able to make a Citrine-level shell for the two of us to move the mana into. Then, we’d have to be able to move all the mana from the small batteries into the large one before the shell destabilized in order to properly complete the rune. Hold on, let me do some math.”

We did some math.

And then, with more than a little excitement, we got to work.

***

Our first mana battery was an easy enough project.

From there, we made three more.

After that? Bandits found the train on day nine.

I already told you all about my side of the Blackstone Bandits attack. Now, let’s talk about what happened after that.

***

Day ten of the train ride.

I decided that I’d underestimated how horrifically dangerous everyday life was going to be, and that I needed to pause my work on batteries in favor of something more immediately practical.

Given that we seemed to have a pattern of running into threats that were well beyond what we could handle in a direct fight, I chose to focus on a time-honored tradition — running away.

“Sera, can I get you to help me with a few enchantments?”

She smirked. “Sure, but it’ll cost you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, sure. You can have all my remaining silver.” I opened my coin purse and tipped it over. “All zero of it.”

“Pfft. You’ll get more eventually.” Then she paused, raising an eyebrow at me. “Wait, how are you that broke? You definitely had more than that when we came on the train. Did those bandits shake you down or something?”

I waved a hand. “No, nothing like that. I gave it all to Keras.”

“Why?”

“I guess ‘gave’ is kind of a misleading term.” I reached into my larger bag and pulled out the Jaden Box. “Retrieve blank sigil 1.”

A silvery disc appeared in my hand. I handed it to Sera.

“Oh! You had him do the silver purifying thing to make more sigils.”

“Yep. Only had enough coins for ten of those and four of them are batteries now.”

Sera nodded, then slipped the silver disc into her pocket. “Okay, what did you need?”

I folded my arms. “Hey, I wasn’t giving—”

“Fine, fine.” She pulled the disc back out. “Gotta compensate me for my labor somehow, though.”

“I make you things! Constantly!”

Sera gave a slow nod. “Admittedly, yes. Very well, you drive a hard bargain, Corin. I will help you in exchange for you making me something at my request.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s what you wanted from the beginning, isn’t it? You have an enchantment you want in mind.”

“Maybe, maybe not. You first — what are we working on?”

I unpinned my shield sigil, then showed her a set of new engravings on it.

“Am I supposed to recognize those?”

“Sorry. They’re the same ones on my circlet. And, more frequently found on—”

“Jump bells. You want to upgrade our shield sigils with teleportation functions.”

I nodded. “Very, very basic jump bells. From a practical standpoint, we’re better off using them as escape bells for the moment — the range is too short to be practical for anything else, and they won’t function outside of high mana density areas. I plan to upgrade them to full jump bell status later, but we don’t have the crystals or the mana to manage that for six sigils before we get to Caelford. And they’re still going to require setting up an anchor in advance, so the utility won’t be fantastic...but I think they’re a good precaution.”

“Won’t adding a function like that exceed the capacity of these disc things? Don’t they already have three functions?”

“They’re fine. Pure silver can handle a lot, and all of our current enchantments are low level. Eventually, if we want things like Sunstone or Citrine level versions of the sigils, I’m going to need to split the enchantments into multiple items or get something with an even higher capacity than silver...but for now, we’re okay.”

Sera nodded. “Okay. I’ll help.”

“What did you want in exchange?”

She shrugged. “I’ll figure it out eventually.”

“You want an open-ended favor? That’s kind of dubious, Sera.”

She fluttered her eyelashes at me. “Don’t you trust your dear, sweet sister, Corin?”

“You’re obnoxious.”

She snorted. “Fine. You win. I want you to try to build something that lets me connect to Ceris.”

“Connect?” I blinked. “You mean like my mana strings?”

She shook her head. “No, more like one of my contracts.”

“That’s...I don’t even know if that’s possible.”

“I think it is. You actually gave me the idea when we were talking about null contracts earlier. I was thinking about how in Keras’ story, he made a bond with a weapon — I think that’s probably very similar to how Summoner contracts work. But Keras isn’t a Summoner. The sword initiated the contract, not him.”

I pondered that. “Hm. Dawnbringer is an intelligent weapon, that’s a little different from just an ordinary magical item.”

“Sure, but she’d still have to have a spell or function of some kind for initiating a bond, right?”

“I see where you’re going with that, but even if I figured out how to emulate that function on a separate item, I don’t know how it would actually work.”

She patted me on the arm. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Is it a deal or not?”

“Fine, fine. It’s a deal.”

There’d never really been any question about if I’d accept. Sera was mostly teasing me with the whole thing...and more importantly, she’d given me an idea for a line of research that I wanted to do anyway.

After all, she wasn’t the only one with a powerful magical sword that might be able to form a bond with a wielder.

***

I visited Keras after that. “Hey. Question for you.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Please don’t tell me it’s another money-making scheme.”

“It’s not this time. Probably. I mean, if I could get it to work, there’s definitely potential for...”

Keras sighed. “What’s the question?”

“Bonding items.” I gestured at the sword at his hip. I was curious if that was the Dominion Breaker, one of the swords he’d mentioned in his story. It didn’t look fancy, but I also knew he deliberately shapeshifted his weapons to keep their identities hidden. “Sera wanted me to figure out if there’s a way she could make a contract with an item, similar to what you did with Bright Reflection.”

“Mm. Not in the same way. I wouldn’t have been able to learn how to create those bonds without certain abilities I was born with. I think it’d be possible to make a spell that does the same, but I don’t know how to construct it.” He paused, thinking. “The foundation of the connections I make is spirit sorcery. I can’t be certain, but I suspect Summoners making contracts work the same way, just for creatures rather than objects.”

“I’ve never heard of Summoners using spirit magic...but you may be right. I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Attunements seem to have some functions that aren’t related to the magic types that they give us access to. I guess it’s possible that things like contracts don’t actually relate to air and transference mana.”

“Right.” Keras nodded. “There are those tertiary dominions that only high level attuned get access to, shrouds, and all sorts of other functions that aren’t immediately available to you. Your attunements are pretty complicated. I suppose if you knew more about how the attunements themselves worked, you might be able to do more with that.”

That line of thinking opened up a lot of options in my mind.

I’d already been thinking of attunements as potentially being constructed from a bunch of different enchantments, some of which were activated at specific power thresholds.

Enchantments could be changed. And, even without changing an enchantment, things like my mana threads could interact with existing enchantments by feeding them mana or drawing mana out of them.

Could I do that with an attunement?

The idea sounded colossally dangerous, but if I could make it work...could I unlock features of an attunement early?

Was that similar to what Katashi had done to Mara’s attunement?

The possibilities were extremely exciting.

...But also off-topic.

I took a moment to shake my head and re-focus. I definitely wanted to get into reverse engineering how attunements actually worked, but that wasn’t what Sera had asked for. “Okay. Let’s say, somehow, we got access to spirit magic. What would we need to do from there?”

“I don’t have a full understanding of the process, sorry.” Keras looked a little embarrassed at that. “I use a lot of my abilities intuitively, rather than learning the theory behind them. In this case, the basics are that I create a connection by offering a piece of my spirit to the object, which then gives me a piece of its spirit in return if it chooses to accept. If the object doesn’t have a spirit, I’m basically just sticking a piece of my spirit in it instead. In either case, if that process works, we’re sharing spirit-bits and using those as a medium by which to send mana to each other. By gradually transferring mana back and forth over time, we gradually acquire abilities from each other.”

In spite of Keras’ apologetic tone, that was a pretty good explanation. It was lacking some important details, however, like how to utilize the spirit-bits to actually form the connection. I didn’t think just jamming a piece of spirit into something by itself would serve that function.

Basically, there had to be some kind of enchantment or spell effect that served to allow the spirit pieces to work as a medium for transferring mana. “That’s enough for me to do some research, at least. Maybe I can do some digging on how Summoner and Soulblade contracts work and go from there.”

He nodded hesitantly. “Yeah, maybe that’ll work. Just...be careful about what you try to connect with. You were thinking about Selys-Lyann, I take it?”

“Sort of. Sera mentioned something about bonding Ceris. I’m certainly interested in learning more about bonding with Selys-Lyann, though. If the bond would improve my control over the sword and feed me new types of mana, I think that would be a great way to improve my skills.”

“Maybe. But that sword...it’s unique. Don’t try to bond with it without having me or Derek around. There are risks.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Did you figure something out?”

“I’m not certain. But keep in mind that Lars told you that it’s cursed, and Professor Vellum couldn’t identify one of the runes on it.”

 I blinked. “I’m surprised you remember that.”

“I keep good track of swords.” He grinned. “And I have pretty good instincts for them. That sword isn’t complete. That story about how it was broken? I think someone put it back together without all the pieces.”

That explained some things, actually. “I think you’re right. You mentioned that rune that Vellum couldn’t identify — it’s not actually that weird or rare at all. It’s just a standard weapon durability rune.”

Keras frowned. “Seems odd that she wouldn’t recognize that.”

“I think I know why.” I drew the sword out just a little, gesturing to the rune in question. “It only shows up in the latest edition of my weapon enchanting books. I think it was discovered just recently, and Vellum doesn’t pay a lot of attention to weapon enchanting. She’s more interested in miscellaneous items and alchemy.”

“...Which means that enchantment might not be a part of the original item. Either that, or it’s an older rune that just wasn’t in your books until recently. Can I see the sword for a moment?”

I nodded. It wasn’t like Keras was going to steal it from me. I drew Selys-Lyann the rest of the way, then handed it to him.

He accepted the sword with a look of reverence, then turned it over in his hands. “Thought so.” He nodded to the sword. “This isn’t the sword’s original blade at all. I can feel where the new blade was connected to the hilt.”

“What would be the point of that?” I asked. “Is the hilt even enchanted?”

“No,” he shook his head. “But the runes on the blade are drawing from the weapon’s power source, which is in the pommel. It’s designed almost identically to many of the Sacred Swords, in fact. Most of them have crystals in the hilt and pommel that supply mana for their abilities.”

That answered a lot of questions, but raised more of them. “Vellum mentioned that sword having a spirit rune. Is that part of the new portion?”

“The rune is, but the spirit itself isn’t. I can feel it in there — it resides in the pommel jewel.” He carefully pressed a finger against the blue gemstone that served as a pommel for the saber. “I think Vellum was right — it’s not actually sapient. It’s...something, but I don’t feel any conscious thought.”

“Could you make it sapient?”

Keras froze. “...Why would you want that?”

“I mean, couldn’t you make it more like Dawnbringer? That would facilitate—”

He flipped the sword over, handing it back to me. “No. Absolutely not.”

“Meaning you can’t, or...?”

“Meaning I won’t. Please don’t ask again.” There was a firmness in his tone that made it clear he would not tolerate any argument on the subject.

“Oh...okay. Uh, so, spirit. Does that make it easier to establish a bond?”

“No. Or, well, maybe.” He took a deep breath, seemingly trying to calm himself down in the aftermath to my last question. “I could manage it either way, but for something resembling a Summoner contract it would probably be easier if it already has a spirit. I might be able to help you with it at some point, but…not today. And Derek might be a better choice. He’ll be more familiar with Kaldwyn-style spirit bonding.”

From his tone, I could sense that I’d soured the mood significantly. “I don’t think I’ll be seeing Derek for a while.” I re-sheathed the sword. “If it’s an attunement thing, maybe Anabelle Farren could help.”

His expression darkened further. “She probably could.”

“You’ve met her, then? You mentioned you were on your way to meet her at one point in your story, but you haven’t gotten to meeting her yet.”

“Sorry, I won’t get to that part before we get to Caelford. I was hoping to tell you about it. It’s relevant for this trip.” He took another deep breath. “I won’t be going with you when you go to meet her. If I did, there would be consequences.”

“Why?”

“You remember that artificial attunement that Echion had?”

I nodded. “Of course. It’s based on god beasts, rather than people.”

“That…might only be part of the picture.” Keras winced. “I never got to see him use his abilities, but I could sense it. I think a part of his power is based on me.”

There was a brief pause. “...What?”

“When I met with Farren, she asked to run some tests...tests on both Reika and me. I thought she was trying to help me at the time. I was still getting a grasp on what exactly my abilities were, and trying to figure out what would be safe. Like, for example, if I’d be compatible with human attunements.” Keras drew in a breath. “She gave me some useful information. Some help with other personal matters, too.”

“Like Dawnbringer?”

He winced. “We’ll get back to that. I...don’t want to talk about her right now. The important part is I gave Farren time to study me...and I think she used that knowledge for something awful.”

“That’s...” I took a breath. “Are you sure?”

“No. I can’t be. And I don’t want to be. If I find out that she actually used me as a foundation for experiments on children...well, let’s just say that I’d probably be unwelcome in another country in the aftermath.”

“And...why is that stopping you? I mean, not to be rude, but from your stories, it seems like you’d be the type to charge in there and start swinging if you thought someone was hurting kids in general, regardless of any involvement on your part.”

“Oh, there will come a time for that reckoning.” Flecks of silver shined in Keras’ eyes for just an instant, then they were gone. “But right now, I have another goal. One I’ve put off for far too long. There’s someone who has been hurting children a lot longer, and on a much larger scale. And she and I are long overdue for a talk.”

“You’re...going to try to reach Selys, then? From the Tiger Spire?”

“I’m intending to get as high as I can. And if and when the visages get in my way this time.” Keras smiled, folding his hands together. “I don’t intend to play nice.”

That was...a little terrifying, actually, and I really hoped that he wouldn’t end up leveling the entire spire if he decided to start a fight.

I could worry about that another time, though. I needed to focus on the main topic. “So, Farren...you think she’s doing unethical experiments?”

“Her lab certainly is, even if she isn’t personally. The most important thing for you to know in advance is that she’ll come across as friendly, but eccentric. I suspect she uses that as a mask to keep you from guessing at what she’s really thinking. You absolutely cannot trust her.”

I gave him a slow nod.

Oh, good, another powerful figure I have to immediately distrust. Such an excellent start to my vacation.

I didn’t say that aloud, of course. Keras looked like he had enough on his mind without dealing with my complaints. “Any specific reasons I can’t trust her?”

“Beyond the experiments, it’s mostly a feeling. I only met her briefly, but when I did...she seemed off, somehow. Like I was talking to someone who wasn’t really there.”

As someone who has been accused of not listening to conversations on a number of occasions, I tried not to be too offended by that. I assumed Keras meant it in a more magical sense. “Meaning you might have met a projection, or an illusion?”

Keras frowned. “Maybe. Something like that. I don’t know. I didn’t meet her for long, and...my memories of our conversations are vague. Vaguer than they should be. Almost like what your Judgments are supposed to do to the mind, or the thing your stalker friend does to avoid detection.”

“Stalker...friend.” I sighed. “Jin is not a Stalker, Keras. That’s an entirely different attunement.”

“That’s not the way I meant that term.”

I was afraid he’d say that. “...He’s...just....”

“Definitely stalking you. Or, at a minimum, just obsessed with you. I’ve had pretty unhealthy relationships over the years. I won’t tell you to stop being friends with him, but if your stories about him are accurate, his behavior isn’t healthy.”

I stood. “I’m going to go ahead and flee from this conversation now. Have a good day, Keras.”

Keras laughed. “That’s fine. It’s okay to run. Just don’t forget what I said.”

I did a little bit of reading about Summoner and Soulblade contracts after escaping the conversation, but I didn’t discover enough to figure out a way to create one with items. Some bits and pieces of theory might have been useful, but Keras was right — I needed to talk to an expert.

Annabelle Farren would count as an expert, of course. She seemed to be at the center of all of the things I was looking for. That said, if Keras was right, I was going to have to be very careful about what I offered her in exchange for all the knowledge I so desperately desired.

***

Over the next few days, we listened to more of Keras’ story. During the evenings, I continued to work on my projects.

Sera helped me set up the teleportation functions for our shield sigils, as requested. Both Sera and Cecily helped me make the anchors, which sped up the process.

It only took a few days to get the whole set of them upgraded. I went through the whole process of making one for Cecily as well, since she didn’t have one of mine to start with.

I spent a little more time studying the Jaden Box and trying to figure out how to reverse engineer it, but I just didn’t have the right resources on-hand. I hoped that I could discover more about it in Caelford, or just more about items with extra dimensional storage functions in general.

We all spent a little bit of time each day exercising.

As I’d expected, the mana regeneration functions helped with our downtime a little bit, but not much. Draining the stored mana out of the bracers and exercising again immediately was an awful strain on the body, so the only real benefit was the gradual mana regeneration function.

That let us take shorter breaks between exercise sessions, but since our bodies couldn’t actually handle any extra strain, it basically just meant we could get our daily exercise done in a slightly shorter period of time. That probably improved our average exercise amounts a bit, but I wasn’t exactly recording how much we exercised each day before and after, so I have no idea how much.

And, since I wasn’t wearing the mana watch anymore, I didn’t have an easy way of checking how fast we were improving.

I had...mixed feelings about that.

The mana watch was undoubtedly useful, but my obsession with it was problematic. I restrained my instinct to ask Cecily to check my mana throughout the trip, although it got progressively harder as time went on.

Throughout the trip, people asked me various questions about the story that I was telling them. Most of them were small clarifications, nothing particularly important. But toward the end of the journey, Patrick asked one that was valuable enough that I think I should mention it.

***

“Hey, Corin. During that story you were telling — which was super exciting, by the way — you mentioned that you healed some of the bones in my chest after the winter ball?”

I winced. That had...not been a great idea. “Uh, yeah. Sorry about that. I really shouldn’t have been trying to use healing magic that I didn’t understand properly. I could have hurt you very badly.”

I could have killed him, in fact, but I didn’t want to reiterate that more than I needed to.

“No, no, don’t worry! I wasn’t complaining. You were trying to save my life. In fact, you still might have, with just the regeneration spells. I don’t know if I would have pulled through without them.”

That was a generous interpretation, but I’d take what I could get. “Maybe, but I won’t be playing with direct healing again until I get some real lessons or at least study some more. Sorry.”

“It’s okay, that’s not why I was bringing it up. It was just that you said you were replacing some of my cartilage with bone by accident...but shouldn’t that be impossible? I thought only Menders could heal bones?”

“Ah.” I nodded, understanding where he was going with that line of thought. “Yeah, that’s what they told us in class. It’s not accurate. It’s an oversimplification.”

Patrick frowned. “What do you mean?”

“So, in class, they told us that there are unique functions for each attunement, right?” Patrick nodded, and I kept talking. “That’s pretty much completely false.”

“What? Seriously?”

“Yeah.” I pointed at his hand. “Your Elementalist mark, for example. They told us the unique function of it is to make lightning, right? But a Summoner with a contract with a lightning monster could also make lightning. Or a Soulblade with a similar contract. There are work arounds.”

“I guess that’s fair, but contracts with monsters are kind of an exception, aren’t they? They’re drawing their power from someone else.”

I shrugged a shoulder. “Maybe, but I’m willing to bet that someone with two attunements — like say, an Edrian Pyromancer attunement for fire and something else with air magic, could probably make lightning. It’d just take more effort, since they’d have to figure out how to intermix the mana types manually. I don’t actually know how hard that would be, but I think it would be doable.”

Patrick slumped his shoulders. “Oh. I guess my attunement isn’t as good as I thought, then.”

I waved my hands quickly in alarm. “No, no. Not what I meant. It’s not an Elementalist issue. As far as I can tell, all of the unique functions of attunements can be duplicated through other means.”

“I can see how mixing air and fire might be able to let someone use lightning, but what about something like your Enchanter attunement? Isn’t that more, well, actually unique?”

I shook my head. “Not really. I don’t exactly know how enchanting without my attunement would work — I guess I should look into that — but it’s clear that some people from Keras’ homeland can enchant items, and they don’t have any attunements at all. And Soulblades are basically doing something comparable to enchanting, too, just through slightly different means. They’re basically like a mix between an Enchanter and a Summoner.”

“Hm.” Patrick scratched at his chin. He must have picked up that unfortunate habit from me. “Okay, I can understand all that. But doesn’t replacing bone require stone mana?”

“Creating bones outright does. That’s probably how Sheridan makes those giant bone spears, for example. But that’s a good example — I think they could make those even without their Mender attunement. Whatever their Necromancer attunement does seems to be even better at interacting with bone than a Mender.” I paused, then realized I hadn’t actually answered the initial question. “I wasn’t making bone. I was using life mana to stimulate your body to grow bone. That’s much slower than the traditional Mender route, which is probably why they call Menders ‘unique’ for their ability to conjure bone outright. The human body is capable of making any kind of material that it already contains, and life magic can be used to give it instructions. I learned the basics of that while studying my books on healing magic, but I did it wrong.”

“Got it. But that means that if you studied properly, you could learn to mend bones correctly?”

I shrugged a shoulder. “Yeah. But learning all the ins and outs of that would take years. I’d have to have a much better understanding of human physiology, otherwise I’m just going to end up hurting someone again. The regeneration spells are safer, since they just accelerate existing healing. I’m going to start practicing stronger regeneration magic, rather than experimenting with direct healing again.”

“But what if one of us is too badly injured for regeneration to work?”

I grimaced, thinking of Tristan’s eye. I’d given him my phoenix sigil in hopes that the regeneration might help him, but I didn’t think it would completely fix the damage. It took exceptionally powerful magic to heal things that wouldn’t heal naturally over time, and severe eye damage was generally on that list. “We do need better emergency measures,” I admitted. “The healing potions I purchased were good for that. They’re much stronger than my regeneration spells. But now I’m out.” I frowned. “I’ll see if I can figure out how to make some.”

“Cecily might know. I think she took the alchemy elective.”

That was good to know. “Okay. I’ll see about asking her, then.” I looked away for a moment, feeling a pang of shame for my failure to heal him properly. “...Thanks for dealing with me, Patrick.”

“You’re my friend, Corin. It’s not a chore. Are you forgetting that you helped make me an awesome magic sword?”

I felt a hint of a smile. “I guess. I just don’t think that’s a fair trade for putting you in harm’s way all the time. You never would have gotten injured if you weren’t with me at the ball.”

“If you’re feeling bad about putting me into a position where I could help people, you need to wake up, Corin. Reflecting that blast from Mizuchi with the sword you and Keras made? That was the best thing I’ve done in my entire life. I helped save one of our friends, Corin. It doesn’t matter if I got hurt in the process. For just one moment, I got to feel like an actual hero.” He leaned a little closer, then paused. “I was going to hug you, but I remembered that you’re not big on that.”

I smiled. “Thanks for remembering. I’d still rather not have a hug right now, but I’ll take the sentiment into consideration.” I took a breath. “I’m glad you got to be a hero, Patrick.”

“Me too. And given the kind of trouble we tend to get into? I think I’m just getting started.”

I had a feeling he was right, but the tone of my thoughts were a little different.

We’d have more chances at heroism to be certain, but I wasn’t the least bit confident we’d be lucky enough to survive all of them in the future.

If I wanted to make sure that my friends were safe, I had to work harder, study harder, and learn more.

I couldn’t let myself make a mistake like I’d made with healing Patrick again.

***

After that chat, I spent a little bit of time researching healing magic. I only had one book on the subject, though, and it was super dry. Most of it focused on things like human anatomy, and while I was pretty good at memorizing the terminology in there, I found it excruciatingly boring.

Still, if a bit of reading made it more likely I could save lives in the future, I’d stomach it to the best of my ability.

I spent the last days of the trip reading that book and working on one final set of enchanted items. I wanted to get more batteries made, but I’d run out of materials for them — the last remaining silver discs that Keras had made had served as anchors for our upgraded shield sigil teleportation functions.

I borrowed the rest of Patrick’s money to get two more silver discs made. I planned to save one of the two for any rare needs for on-the-spot enchanting. The last went to one of my patented (although not yet literally patented) Cadence-brand special enchanting projects.

There were a number of existing tools that were used for creating enchanted items, and most of them could be improved further. I used an etching rod to make runes, for example. That required manually cutting each rune, which was both error prone and time consuming.

I likened that process to writing with a pen — it was reliable and easy to learn, but imperfect.

After seeing a typewriter in the restricted section of the Divinatory, I’d realized that the technology wasn’t just usable for the written word. Something analogous could be used to make runes more quickly and without error.

I was willing to bet that Caelford had already invented a rune typewriter (or at least a rune printing press), but it was worth looking into whether or not I could make one myself. Or, at the very least, obtain an existing one.

I decided to start with something simpler; a rune stamp that always made the same mark. After a few false starts, I managed to make a stamp that used fire mana to melt a rune shape into a metal object. Unfortunately, due to variable melting points, it wasn’t going to work on every type of metal we used, and if I pressed the stamp against the item for too long, it would melt too much and make the rune unrecognizable.

...There was clearly some room for improvement, but I enjoyed the experiment, and it gave me some ideas for the future.

There were tons of other projects I wanted to work on. Improving my enchanting efficiency was important, and the stamp concept was just a first step.

I also considered making more devices that expelled additional mana into the air, similar to the bracer I’d made Sera for improving her summons, but ultimately, I decided those served the same function as the batteries but with less efficiency.

I still needed to make more message items, like Sera had asked for, but I hadn’t gotten around to that. There were too many things that felt like higher long-term priorities.

My biggest goals involved finding ways to increase my mana more quickly. Emulating Summoner contracts like I’d discussed with Sera and making enhancement elixirs were the two most likely candidates for that.

My third was figuring out a way to use my mana repeatedly without the risk of scarring so I’d be able to both build items faster and train more rapidly. I spent some time trying to study more about how mana scarring worked, and I got a little bit better at understanding how mana flowed through the body in general, but I didn’t make any breakthroughs. I wished Sheridan was around so I could ask them about it, but I didn’t expect to see them until I got back to Valia.

And with that, I’d run out of time.

Two weeks after our journey had started, our train pulled into the city of Westbridge.

We’d arrived in Caelford.

Chapter III – Splitting the Party

Upon arriving in Westbridge, we disembarked the train. We immediately had to go through a customs checkpoint. While the whole process made me incredibly nervous, we got through without much difficulty.

As we waited in line, Cecily made a suggestion. “Um, would you all like me to check your safe mana limits?”

I hesitated. Others had fewer reservations.

“Sure! I haven’t checked mine in a while.” Patrick grinned at her, eagerly sticking out his hand.

“121. Very impressive, Patrick.”

Patrick beamed, flexing his arm. “Ooh. I can almost feel how impressive I am.”

Cecily giggled. “Okay, who’s next? Master Selyrian, perhaps?”

Keras shook his head. “I’ll pass. It probably won’t work on me, anyway.”

Cecily looked a little confused by that and maybe a bit disappointed. “Uh, okay. If you’re sure?” It was easy to forget that Cecily didn’t know as much about Keras as the rest of us did — she hadn’t been present for his story-telling or living at the house with us. “Anyone else?”

Mara walked over. I looked away while she exposed the mark on her chest. “Hit me.”

“That’s...wow. Okay. 268, Mara. That’s incredible!”

That really was incredible. She was already even closer to Sunstone than I’d expected. She still had almost a hundred to go, but at this rate, she’d hit Sunstone well before we graduated from school.

With a couple more tricks, maybe we can even get her there before we get back.

It seemed unlikely, but it was a good goal.

“Sera?”

Sera frowned, then turned around and showed her own attunement.

“80! You’re almost caught up to where you were before, uh, the incident. Good work.”

“That’s...much better than I expected.” Sera breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Cecily. I think I needed that. Maybe I can catch up after all.”

“You’re actually already ahead of me,” Cecily explained. “I just hit 75, with Corin’s help. That Arbiter attunement is really useful. Wish I’d known about it a little sooner.”

I winced. “Sorry. I should have told you.”

Cecily blinked at me. “Oh, no. I’m sorry, didn’t mean to make it sound like you had an obligation. I’m just a little envious, since you’ve all had access to those power increases for a lot longer. You’re vastly ahead of average expected mana values for our age. I’m a little bit ahead, too, but not by anywhere near as wide of a margin.”

“You’re doing pretty good, all things considered.”

She nodded slowly at that. “I suppose so. But I’ll continue to ask for your help, if it isn’t too much trouble.”

“Sure, it’s my pleasure.”

“Th...thanks. Uh, did you want me to measure your mana?”

I took a deep breath. “Yeah, go for it.”

I really did want to know. I just also didn’t want to get back into the habit of checking it every five minutes.

“Let’s see...” She pressed the mana watch against my forehead. “128. That’s excellent growth from the last number you told me. And this one...” She pressed the watch against my Arbiter attunement. “Even better. 160. Very impressive.”

I gave her a nod. “Thanks, Cecily.” I frowned. “That actually seems a little lower than I expected, though.”

She blinked. “What were you expecting?”

“I was at 122 and 155 before we got on the train. If I kept gaining mana at the same rate as before, I should have been somewhere like 134 and 167...” I shook my head. “I couldn’t train as fast as back in Valia, but it shouldn’t have been that much of a decrease.”

Cecily tucked the mana watch away. “I don’t think you were accounting for the Sunstone Wall, Corin.”

The Sunstone Wall is a concept in attunement development theory. It states that, from the point of Sunstone onward, an attuned must train in areas of greater and greater ambient mana saturation in order to continue to improve their safe mana levels at a noticeable rate.

For this reason, most people never increased their attunement beyond Sunstone level, even if they’d reached it at a relatively young age.

I shook my head at Cecily. “That’d make sense if we were Sunstone-level or higher, but I’m not. Even if you account for both of my mana pools, I wouldn’t total to Sunstone-level.”

“No, no. You’re taking the name too literally.” She paused, seeming to have difficulty articulating her thoughts. “Okay. How long did it take you to get your mana back in Valia?”

“If I drained it completely? Around an hour or so. Less if I used the bracers.”

She nodded. “Right. And on the train?”

I was starting to see where she was going. “Several hours, due to the lower mana density on the train. My silver phoenix sigil helped, but it was recharging more slowly, too, for the same reason.”

For most people, maybe that wouldn’t have been too noticeable, but I’d gotten used to working myself to near-exhaustion by draining my mana pool multiple times per day.

“Right. The train has virtually no ambient mana, and we’re all sharing it. It’s not like school, where we’re sitting next to the Serpent Spire, and everything is saturated with mana all the time.”

I frowned. “Sure, that impacted my training, but my mana shouldn’t have gone up that slowly. I was still training, maybe, half as frequently as usual. Shouldn’t I have improved half as much?”

Cecily shook her head. “If you’re not training beyond a certain threshold, your mana pool isn’t going to grow at all. And with the lower ambient mana in the air, your body is essentially mana starved. It’s honestly surprising our mana grew at all on the train. I suspect your Arbiter attunement was the primary source of our growth, and the training served very little function.”

That was...discouraging to hear, if she was right. But it did make some sense.

For the first time, I was starting to comprehend the difficulties I might run into trying to get to higher attunement levels. My progress to this point had been relatively smooth.

If I wanted to continue to increase my attunement power rapidly, I’d have to start thinking in terms of ways to compensate for low mana areas...or simply train in areas of high mana saturation.

Derek’s choice to live right next to the Serpent Spire suddenly made a great deal more sense. It wasn’t just about being able to visit the spire and climb very easily, although that was clearly a factor. Sitting right next to the spire also offered enough mana density for him to train there.

And, of course, training inside the spire would be even faster.

If I wanted to get as powerful as people like Derek — which I obviously did — I’d have to either use a similar strategy, or figure out a way to cheat the system and continue saturating my body with mana even in low-mana areas.

Mana regeneration items were the obvious solution, but my current ones like the bracers and phoenix sigils also drew mana from the environment, meaning they were less effective in mana-starved regions. If I wanted to go that route, I’d have to study other types of recharge runes, but those had other problems.

I thanked Cecily for her insight, then spent much of the time in line lost in thought.

My frustration with my lack of growth made me even more jittery than usual. I was already thinking about checking my numbers again before we got to the end of the line. I resisted the urge. Embarrassment helped me when mere personal restraint might have failed.

I honestly don’t know how Keras talked his way in, given that he was an international criminal. Maybe his identification listed another name? I didn’t ask.

Either way, it was a relief — if a bit jarring — to be back to standing on ground that wasn’t moving.

Two weeks on a train had been plenty of time to discuss our vacation plans. We had, in fact, talked about them. We had not, however, actually come to any concrete decisions.

I had my own priorities, of course. Just after boarding the train, I’d gotten another message in Trials of Judgment.

Corin,

Thank you for agreeing to help with my cause. I can’t tell you how much it means to have you on my side in all this. With your help, I believe we have a real chance of success.

Unfortunately, I can provide you with little guidance. I won’t be able to reach you much longer, since you’re going to be out of the book’s range shortly. I can tell you what I need, but the details will largely be up to you.

In order to accomplish our goals, we will need to understand the intricacies of how attunements work. I believe our best bet on that is Warren Constantine, a man who was deeply involved with the artificial attunement project in its earliest stages.

Over a decade ago, Warren vanished. I do not know the cause. My contacts believe that he had a falling out with Anabelle Farren, the owner of Farren Labs.

In the last year, my agents have reported seeing someone who meets his description (a Valian man in his 40s with white streaks in his hair and a moon-shaped scar under his left eye) back in Caelford, but he has thus far evaded all attempts to contact him. I would like you to find Warren and attempt to recruit him, or at least discover what happened to cause him to leave Farren Labs. To that end, I would recommend visiting Farren Labs and attempting to find their records of his employment and hints about his current location.

If you do find Warren, appealing to him as a fellow Arbiter might be effective. Very few others share your attunement and he may be more receptive to you than my other agents.

Do not give any indication to Anabelle Farren that you’ve met me. She is intensely dangerous and cannot be trusted.

If you cannot gain Warren’s allegiance, I will trust you to find a suitable alternative.

Please do not disappoint me.

-Mysterious Brother Entity

That was a lot to take in. I already had planned to visit Farren for plenty of reasons, but this solidified the necessity of making that a first step. I’d shared most of that information with my group, but that didn’t mean everyone needed to come with me.

The headquarters for Farren Labs was still deeper into Caelford, in the capitol city of Medrian. If we wanted to get there, we’d have to spend a few more hours on a train.

I knew that was where I was going, but the others were a little bit less excited to jump straight onto another train. We didn’t have an exact deadline on Tristan’s request, after all, and not everyone was obligated to do exactly what Tristan wanted.

“Why don’t we go to the Dawning Festival? I’ve heard the food is amazing, and maybe we could even enter some contests!” Patrick suggested.

“Ooh. Festival food is always great.” Mara grinned.

I was less enthused by that idea. There were people at festivals. Too many people.

Sera offered a different option. “We’re right at the border of the Unclaimed Lands. We could take a quick jaunt into them, maybe find some monsters to contract...”

Keras shook his head. “I don’t think you’re quite ready for that. Not by yourselves, anyway.”

“Won’t you be with us?” Sera raised an eyebrow at him.

“I’m heading to the Tiger Spire immediately. I’ll catch up to you for the train ride back, if not before.”

“You think you’ll be there the whole vacation?” I asked.

Keras nodded. “Probably. You’re welcome to accompany me there if you want, but you probably shouldn’t go in with me. I intend to push my way up very rapidly.”

“...And we’d just get in your way?” Mara gave him a dejected look.

“It’s not that. But I can’t guarantee your safety, especially at the upper floors.”

Sera sighed at him. “Why bother, if the visages might keep interfering with you? If what Tristan told Corin is right, they’re never going to let you get to the top.”

“I can’t stop trying.” Keras clenched his fists. “It’s too important. If they put obstacles in my way, I’ll cut through them.”

“That won’t help much if they just keep throwing in random teleporters that send you back to the bottom.” I pointed out.

“True. But I don’t think that’s Ferras’ style. From what I’ve heard, the illusion of fairness and consistency is more important to her. I’d also be able to discern that more easily with this particular spire than the others.”

I nodded at that. From what I’d read about the Tiger Spire, it was much more regimented than the Serpent Spire was. Every floor had a specific theme. The contents of the early floors rotated on a weekly basis, always at a set day and time. The higher floors rotated more infrequently — monthly, and then supposedly yearly.

It was much more predictable in general. Ferras was an engineer, and she valued preparation and methodical analysis. That was reflected in the style of her spire.

Truthfully, that meant her spire was a better match for me than the Serpent Spire ever had been.

I was tempted to go with Keras, but honestly, I agreed with his assessment. We’d barely survived each of our previous spire visits, and if he was going to be brute forcing his way toward higher floors, we’d eventually run into traps and monsters that might kill us outright with collateral damage alone.

“Might be good to do some climbin’ on our own,” Mara suggested. “Be a nice change of pace to just smash through things without havin’ to worry ‘bout Mizuchi and such. Pick up some items, get some practice. Bet we could handle it.”

“We don’t have a full team without Keras,” Patrick pointed out. “Hey, Keras. Do you think someone like Reika—”

“Don’t.” Keras gave Patrick a stern look. “She’s not available.”

“Aah—okay.” Patrick withered at the glance. “Maybe we could find a veteran or two to help us?”

“They’re not likely to want to work with Quartzes and Carnelians. Mara might be able to join an existing team, given that she’s mid-way to Sunstone, but the rest of us?” Sera shook her head. “We’re not really ready to be climbers. Not without help. And moreover, we have a very limited time period we’re available. Even if someone wanted to work with us, having to leave on our schedule wouldn’t be very appealing. We could hire mercenary climbers to escort us up a ways, and I’d consider that…but it’d be expensive.”

“We could take second Judgments,” Cecily suggested, so quietly I barely noticed her.

“That’s...not a bad idea.” Sera made a considering expression. “It’s usually not advised at our age, but the Tiger Spire isn’t quite as brutal as some. And unlike first Judgments, you can bring magical items into second Judgments. That includes return bells. We probably wouldn’t succeed, but I think we’d have good odds of making it out alive.”

I thought about Tristan, and how “good of a chance” he was supposed to have of making it through his original Judgment. True, he had actually survived, but he’d been taken away from our family regardless.

What would I do if Sera disappeared? Or Patrick, or even Mara or Cecily?

I didn’t like the idea of losing anyone else, but it wasn’t really my choice what they did. The only person I could choose for was myself.

“We’re not ready.”

Surprisingly, it was Mara that made the statement.

Of all of us, I would have assumed she’d be the most excited about getting a second attunement. She was the strongest of us by a wide margin, and she was usually happy to throw herself fist-first into danger.

When she saw us all looking at her in surprise, she continued. “We’ve gotta pretty good idea on how Judgments work now. We know there are people watchin’ us, and we know they might try to kidnap us or worse. Splittin’ up right now is a bad call.”

“Sorry.” Cecily winced. “I guess it was a bad idea.”

“No, it was a good idea.” Sera gave Cecily an affectionate nudge. “I think we all want more attunements. Who wouldn’t?”

“Not sure I do, if I’m bein’ honest.” Mara somehow managed to shock us all a second time.

“Why?” I asked.

“Growth rates and side effects. Been doing some readin’ of my own. You know why Derek only has one attunement? ‘Cause if you end up with two near each other, they can have interference, like with magic items. If you get ones with opposing mana types near each other, it can cause some real bad side effects, too. That ain’t common, but it’s a big risk.”

I’d heard a little bit about that in my own reading, but getting two marks on the same location was pretty rare. Curtis, my old dorm chief, was the only case I could remember seeing. He had two marks on the same arm, which was pretty unusual. I probably should have asked him more about that, but I’d fallen out of contact with him after I’d moved in with Derek.

“We could try to get artificial attunements,” Patrick suggested. “I think we could probably pick where they go.”

“I’d probably be up for that, but I’d wanna know more ‘bout how they work. Don’t really trust ‘em.” Mara frowned. “I’d worry that they wouldn’t work quite right, or maybe they have tracking magic in ‘em or something.”

I’d considered the possibility of tracking magic, but I hadn’t worried about it too much. Mara was absolutely right, though. Whoever made and applied an attunement could easily sabotage it in some way, with tracking magic or something even more nefarious.

That made figuring out exactly how artificial attunements worked an even higher priority. I needed to be able to look at all their component parts and figure out which functions, if any, could be used against us.

That was probably a long-term goal, but I wanted to get started as soon as possible.

Patrick jumped in. “I like Mara’s first idea. What if we just go in with the five of us and take it slow? Maybe pick up a few items, leave as soon as it gets dangerous.”

“That still has the ‘people watching us might interfere’ problem,” Sera pointed out. “Keras, would you be willing to escort us through just a few floors? I think it offers benefits to all of us. Six minds could help solve any puzzle floors faster, and you’d be able to keep us safer in cases of physical danger.”

Keras smirked at Sera. “I wasn’t planning to ‘solve’ the puzzle floors, exactly.”

She rolled her eyes. “You already got in trouble with Katashi for blasting through walls. Do you want to have the same problem with this spire? You’ve drawn enough attention to yourself as-is.”

“I’m not sure doing more damage would make the visages any more likely to interfere with me than they already are, but you have a point.” He sighed. “Okay. I can drag some of you with me, if that’s what you want to do.”

Mara seemed excited, and Sera and Patrick were both warming up to the idea. Cecily was being quiet again.

I hesitated, then shook my head. “The rest of you are welcome to go, but I’m heading to Farren Labs. I need to stay focused, and every time I’ve gone into a spire, it’s ended up being messy. I can’t add more complications right now.”

“Boring.” Sera sighed. “But you’re probably right. If you really want to sit on a train for another day, I guess I’ll go with you.”

I gave Sera a grateful nod. “Thanks. What about the rest of you? You don’t have to follow me.”

“Actually, I kind of do. Retainer, remember?” Patrick grinned.

I put up my hands in a warding gesture. “Sure, sure. But you don’t have to follow me literally all the time. If Keras is willing to escort some of us through a spire, that might be valuable experience. And I don’t foresee needing all of us for a visit to a lab.”

“I guess...” Patrick looked troubled, but didn’t give an immediate answer.

“I’ma go with Keras.” Mara jerked a thumb in his direction. “Think you’re smart to be avoidin’ more trouble right now, given how much you’re already in, but I don’t have to worry ‘bout that. And if Keras ends up back in a jail, ‘least he’ll have someone to bust ‘im out.”

Keras laughed. “I’ll be busting myself out a little faster this time, but the help would be appreciated nonetheless.”

“I...think I’ll go with Corin and Sera to the lab. I’d like to learn more about artificial attunements, too.” Cecily looked at me with a pleading expression, as if she needed my permission or something.

“Sounds good, having another Enchanter will make this a lot easier. Maybe we can split up any note-taking responsibilities.”

She gave me a grateful nod. “...I’d like that.”

“Just you left, then, Patrick.” Sera turned to him. “What’ll it be? Gonna go with us to ask a bunch of technical questions about attunement design, or blast some monsters?”

Patrick snorted. “When you put it like that, I feel like you’re really not very fond of the lab idea yourself.”

“I’d much rather be climbing. But, as much fun as that’d be, I have some questions of my own. Farren Labs is one of few places that might have some idea about ascended attunements, as well as helping to repair my mana scarring further. Especially if Ferras herself might be around.”

Sera had a point. Katashi had indicated that Ferras might be able to heal Sera’s mana scarring. While Sheridan had already helped heal Sera somewhat, Ferras’ help was still something that might be worth pursuing. Sera was almost back up to her previous mana limit, but her voice still sounded rough, and we didn’t know if any remaining scarring would cause her long-term health problems.

“Point. Okay.” Patrick hesitated, taking a deep breath. “I...think I’m going with Mara and Keras. I mean, if that’s okay?” He gave me a pained look, and I briefly wondered if he wanted me to tell him he had to come with me. Maybe that would have been kinder, in some respects. I think he wanted to feel needed.

But I didn’t want his whole life to revolve around me, and I knew he’d probably be miserable just sticking with me the whole trip.

I gave him a nod and the best smile I could manage. “Of course. Just stay safe in there.”

His own smile was half-hearted at best. “You too, Corin. Don’t you dare get hurt while I’m gone.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not the one going to a spire. I’m going to a science lab. What could possibly be dangerous about that?”

***

After the talk, we discussed when and where we’d be meeting up. Sera, being the organized one, already had a list of hotels available for the area. She gave Patrick, Mara, and Keras the name of the hotel where we’d be staying. Patrick and Mara agreed to come meet us in a week if they could leave the spire safely. Keras gave no such guarantee, but he told us he’d plan to find us sometime before the trip back to Valia if possible.

It was late when we finally arrived at the hotel that Sera had selected. Fortunately, Sera was also better at money management than I was, and she was able to pay for the rooms.

The next day, we looked into Farren Labs. They had several different buildings, but it wasn’t hard to find the headquarters, where Anabelle Farren actually worked.

Much like many of the buildings in Caelford, the headquarters for Farren Labs wasn’t tall — it was wide. I suspected the architectural difference had something to do with the apparent frequency of earthquakes in the area, but it’s also possible that I was totally mistaken because I never really paid any attention to architectural history.

And I shouldn’t really call it a building — the headquarters for Farren Labs was more of a campus of structures, maybe ten or so in total. It took us a while just to find a central map, then find the “research headquarters” where we suspected Annabelle Farren herself could be found.

The research lab wasn’t the largest of the structures, at least on the surface. It was only later that I would learn that the majority of it was located deep underground, in several subterranean levels.

In retrospect, they might have been the cause of some of the earthquakes.

The building was a pristine white, with walls of smooth stone that looked like they might have been cut from a single piece of marble. If I had to guess, the building itself had either been crafted directly with earth magic or modified with it to provide the look.

Atop the building, I could see a series of metallic structures that were pointed skyward. Some simply looked like thin rods, but there was something else that had more of a bowl-shape. I didn’t know what I was looking at. They didn’t look like simple lightning rods or astronomical observation equipment to me, but I wasn’t really an expert.

I didn’t bother putting that on my list of things to study later. That was getting a little overly full.

Sera, Cecily, and I walked in the main entrance with high hopes and lofty goals. Unfortunately, we may have made a slight miscalculation.

After walking through the double doors to the lab, we met not with Anabelle Farren herself, but rather a receptionist at a front desk. “Do you have an appointment?”

Sera stepped up front. “We do not.”

He gave a bright, ever-suffering smile. “I’m sorry, but our research team is very busy, and generally do not meet with anyone without an appointment. Who were you hoping to see?”

I took a breath, suddenly realizing the scope of what we were asking. “Anabelle...Farren?”

The receptionist’s expression never changed. “I’m afraid that won’t be possible.”

Sera and I exchanged glances, then I looked back to the receptionist.

“Could we make an appointment, then?” I asked.

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible at this time, either, as Miss Farren is completely booked for the next several months. She has asked not to have any further disturbances during that time frame. If you’d like to come back in about six months, I would be able to request an appointment at that time, but there are no guarantees that she would agree to a meeting. I would advise heading to the main office to speak to, well, literally anyone else.”

Sera took over, speaking with more confidence than I could have managed. “We’ll need to speak to Miss Farren directly. She’ll want to see us, I guarantee it.”

“I sincerely doubt that.” The receptionist looked more impatient and annoyed than just skeptical. “I see that he’s an Enchanter, but just a Carnelian...is this about an internship? Such a thing is beneath Miss Farren’s concerns, but if you’d like to intern here for the winter, I can direct you to the right office to apply for one.”

Sera’s eye twitched. “No, this is not about an internship. And it’s not just about him, either.” She turned around, pulling up the back of her shirt. “Do you recognize this attunement?”

The receptionist narrowed his eyes. “No...I...don’t, actually. Which is rare, I assure you. Wait, you’re not one of the test cases, are you? If you are, then—”

Sera turned back to face him. “I’m not a test case. I have an Ascended Attunement. And this guy,” she jerked a thumb at me, “is an Arbiter. I understand you have a need for those.”

The receptionist’s eyes widened. “An...Ascended Attunement? And an Arbiter? I, uh, appear to have misread the situation. May I see the Arbiter mark?”

I pulled off my glove and showed him.

“I...uh...forgive me. This is,” he coughed, “...a rare honor. I can’t promise an immediate meeting, but, um, right this way. We have a waiting room for honored guests, and I’ll make sure you have some refreshments while I speak to Miss Farren about a meeting.”

The receptionist led us to a large room with a handful of comfortable chairs around a table. Sera angled straight for the table in the back with food, which was understandable, given that we’d been eating train food for days.

I, however, was more distracted by the tall bookshelves lining the walls. Cecily rushed to one of them instantly, grabbing a heavy tone. “Corin, look! They have the latest edition of Practical Enchantments for the Creative Climber!”

I walked over. “Isn’t that part of next year’s curriculum?”

“Well, yes, but I might have read slightly ahead.” She reached up and adjusted her glasses. “I just love finding new sources for enchantment ideas, and our first-year books were, well, sadly insufficient in that regard.”

“Sure, but aren’t most of the ones in that book Carnelian-level?”

She let out a sigh. “Yes, of course. I can’t actually use most of them yet. But I have so many ideas...”

I laughed. “That’s good. I bet you’d get a lot more out of seeing what they do here, if they’ll give us a tour.”

“Oh...I certainly hope so. I don’t have anything special like you and Sera do. I have a feeling they’ll just send me away.”

“Maybe, but we’ll see what we can do. I’m sure there’s a place at a facility like this for talented Enchanters, too.”

Cecily blushed. “I...thank you, Corin. I’ll hope so.”

We sat down with books after that, but I didn’t get much reading done. We weren’t waiting long before someone came to fetch us.

He was a tall man in an immaculate suit with the black skin of a Caelford native. His head was shaved bald and he had a spiked goatee on his chin. More importantly, he had one of the strangest auras I’d ever seen. As I watched, it flickered rapidly between red, orange, and yellow, with different sections of the aura changing at different rates. The rapidly shifting patterns were difficult to even look at.

What’s going on there? Multiple attunements interfering with each other, maybe?

That was strange enough, but as he walked closer, I felt something in the air. There was a field of pressure around him, like the world itself was suddenly pulling down on me harder. It wasn’t enough to actually force me to the ground, just enough to make my body feel heavier and more sluggish.

I’d felt something like before, with far greater intensity — from Katashi himself, the Visage of Valor. Getting that feeling again just from being near someone was more than a little terrifying.

And that wasn’t the end of the strangeness. 

When he turned to look at me, I thought I saw a symbol of some kind briefly flash in his eyes. I’d never seen anything like it.

He briefly turned toward Sera and Cecily, then turned back to me. “Miss Farren will see you now.”

Sera set down her food and stepped up next to me. “Thank you, please lead the way.”

He gave her a strangely intense look, like his eyes were searching for something, then turned back toward the doorway. “This way.”

Cecily frowned, making a pointing gesture toward herself.

I nodded to her. “Come on.”

Together, the three of us followed the heavy aura out of the room. He led us down a hallway with several more doors. After that, we passed two areas with glass — or maybe crystal — walls. Glancing through them as we passed, I barely stopped myself from freezing in awe.

The rooms beyond the glass walls were filled with golems. Dozens, maybe hundreds of them, standing in rows. Workers milled about them, working on both assembly and enchanting different parts. I saw work tables where people were drawing runes that I didn’t recognize on individual limbs, as well as areas where people seemed to be speaking to inactive golems. I wasn’t sure what the reason for that could have been, but I was intrigued.

I’d known Farren Labs worked on more than just artificial attunements, but golem creation wasn’t really something I’d looked into in any detail. That was something I’d have to learn about another time, though. The man leading the way didn’t slow down to give us time to gawk or ask any questions.

We passed more sections of the building, including a few more with windows where we could see into labs. Most of these were less surprising, including labs where I saw people working on more traditional enchanting and alchemy.

I briefly paused as I saw a group of people standing around a suit of armor as someone pressed a hand against a rune — and the armor glowed for an instant before slowly floating and hovering above the ground.

I heard a series of cheers as the armor lifted off, followed by a chorus of applause.

And, for just a moment, my heart warmed at the sight.

I’d spent my whole childhood thinking of Enchanters as being less than other attuned. I’d been raised to think that, because they didn’t have immediate combat ability, they were useless as duelists — and thus, useless to the glorious House Cadence.

When I’d stood before my father and shown him my attunement, I’d been filled with shame.

But seeing that suit of armor lifting from the ground, and seeing the people cheering for the success, I felt something entirely new. A sense of pride for the accomplishment of those Enchanters, and more than that, a sense of longing to be a part of it.

Perhaps here, for the first time, I could find some measure of acceptance. A chance to be a part of a place where my attunement would be respected, not reviled.

I had to briefly remind myself that Tristan had asked me to infiltrate this place, not try to find myself a career.

“Come on.” Sera walked back to me, reaching to grab me, then stopping herself short. “There’ll be plenty of time to gawk later.”

I nodded, moving on, but I didn’t take my eyes off that group of celebrating Enchanters until the glass was out of view.

***

The man with the strange aura stopped in front of a standard door toward the very rear of the building, then knocked on the door. “Miss Farren, I have your guests.”

“Send them in, Nakht,” came a woman’s voice from the other side of the door.

I felt a brief and familiar surge of nervousness, but I suppressed it to the best of my ability.

Nakht moved to the door, but paused before opening the handle. “I will not disarm you before you enter. I do not need to. Do not make any mistakes.”

Without giving us a chance to reply, he opened the door and stepped aside.

Sera smiled sweetly at him. “You have nothing to worry about.” With that, she stepped inside.

Nakht’s eyes narrowed at her, but he said nothing further.

Cecily and I followed Sera inside with substantially less confidence.

The door shut behind us.

Inside was what seemed like a perfectly ordinary office room. I didn’t sense a single hint of enchanted material from the walls, the floors, or the door.

Nor did I sense even the slightest bit of power from the young-looking black-skinned woman who sat at a desk across from us.

Anabelle Farren — or, at least the woman who I assumed to be Anabelle Farren — looked very much like any ordinary woman in her twenties who hadn’t slept in about a week.

Her shoulder-length hair was tangled and uneven. Her silver-framed glasses were smudged. Her gray tailored suit was a little darker than it should have been right at the cuffs, like she’d spilled something on the sleeves and hadn’t bothered to change.

It was the type of look that might have made her seem less than intimidating, or even sympathetic, if her absolute lack of an aura hadn’t set off every alarm bell in my head. I could see absolutely no chance that the owner of a laboratory that created artificial attunements didn’t have any herself. That meant she was hiding her power completely, to an extent that I couldn’t even guess at what she was capable of.

It was, in some respects, even more intimidating than if she had shined bright green or blue. In those cases, at least I would have had some idea of what I was dealing with. With no aura at all, I was left with only nervous uncertainty.

Anabelle set down her pen and pushed aside a series of papers that had been on the desk in front of her, adding them to a haphazard stack on her left side. As she gestured for us to approach, I noted that her fingers were ungloved and splotched with ink. The dark marks were a sharp contrast against the glistening silver nib of her strangely elaborate pen, which I noted to have a crescent-shaped refilling mechanics in the tip. No attunement marks were visible on her hands. “I’m so sorry about the mess! I knew you were coming, but, ah, I must have lost track of time. Or you’re early. What day is it?”

“Tensday?” Sera tried, raising an eyebrow.

Farren visibly recoiled in her chair. “It...is? It’s...uh, hm. That’s bad. Okay. Right. Sit down?” She waved vaguely at the opposite side of the table where she was sitting. There were only two chairs.

The three of us walked closer, exchanging uncertain looks.

“I’ll stand,” Sera offered. “Thank you for seeing us on such short notice, Miss Farren. Although, you mentioned that you were expecting us already?”

Sera glanced back at me, giving me a questioning look. I shook my head at her. I hadn’t sent a message ahead.

Cecily and I took seats, as Farren had asked. I was more than happy to let Sera continue to guide the conversation for the moment. Not only was she generally better with people than I was, she genuinely enjoyed talking to them. For me, meeting new people was generally an unfortunate necessity, not an interest.

Annabelle Farren might have actually been an exception for me, if I hadn’t been absolutely confident that she — or Nakht — was about fifty percent likely to obliterate me if I said the wrong thing. That sort of thing made it hard for me to be enthusiastic, even if I truly did want to know all about her research.

 “Right, right. Of course. Yes, I was informed. You’re late, then. Or I’m late. Never mind.” Farren blinked, then wiped at her face, smearing a trail of ink. “Ah. I’m sorry. Tea, anyone? Yes? Everyone? Everyone likes tea, don’t they?”

“I’d...like some tea.” Cecily’s reply was tentative, her tone tinged with obvious discomfort.

“Yes, of course. Tea. Right away, Miss Lambert.” Farren snapped her fingers. Or, tried to, anyway. They were slick with ink, and didn’t make much of a sound. She stared at them for a moment, looking vaguely flustered, then clapped her hands instead.

Nothing seemed to happen, at least at first. That was odd, but it wasn’t the most concerning thing.

I was more worried about something she’d said. I was reasonably confident that we hadn’t given Cecily’s name anywhere in the building. Someone had told Farren we were coming in advance, then. And someone who knew Cecily was with us. That was a pretty short list, as far as I knew.

Before I could think about that overmuch, someone opened the door behind us. Nakht was still standing to the side of the door, but another man — in what appeared to be a traditional butler’s outfit — was in the doorway itself. He had a tray in one hand with a teapot and four cups.

“Good. Set it down.” Farren waved a hand, and the oddly stereotypical butler set down the tray on her desk. He then sniffed the air, shook his head with an expression that looked something like regret, and left the room.

“Tea!” Farren declared. She grasped the pot’s handle, wetting it with ink, and then incautiously poured four cups. She slipped one toward her, then gestured toward the rest.

We graciously, if cautiously, accepted our tea cups. Mine was roughly half-full, with a good portion of the tea that had been aimed for it spilled on the tray instead.

It smelled delicious, though. I took a sip, only to find it was still scalding hot, and very nearly had to spit it out.

After a moment of silence while we sat and sampled our teas, Farren reclined in her chair and let out a sigh. “So, you’re all here. What shall we begin with?”

Sera set her tea down, smiling. “Miss Farren, thank you again for seeing us, and for your hospitality. If you don’t mind, we have some questions for you, and perhaps some boons to ask for.”

“Boons?” Farren’s eyes widened. “I don’t give those. Why would I give those? That sounds like a goddess thing. I don’t look like a goddess, do I? Of course not!”

Farren laughed awkwardly.

We just sort of stared at her for a second, then made the world’s most unconvincing laughter in reply.

Fortunately, Sera was quick to correct herself. “Ah, sorry. I meant ‘boon’ in a more colloquial sense. Just some small favors.”

“Oh! Favors. Yes, of course that’s what you would have meant. Right, right. Of course.” Farren chuckled, giving us a look like we were all in on the same joke. “So, what sort of favors were you thinking, young Invoker?”

We had almost definitely not told anyone that Sera was, in specific, an Invoker. Perhaps the person at the door had recognized her attunement and written it down, but it was growing progressively clearer that Farren knew more than she should...and that she was trying to hide that fact.

Badly. Comedically badly.

Maybe she was just pretending to hide things badly, as another layer of trickery? That sounded a little absurd, but Keras had warned me about Farren using obfuscating eccentricity to her advantage.

Sera gave a strained smile. “I believe each of us has something to ask you, but the main reason for our visit is in regards to your research.”

“It’s all perfectly legal, I assure you, in spite of what my siblings...” Farren winced, shook her head, then continued. “Sorry, sorry, tangent. I do that sometimes. Tea? Did we have tea? Yes, of course.” She reached for her teacup, sipped, and set the cup down. “Where were we?”

“As you likely know, we’re students from Valia that are here on our winter vacation between semesters. While we’re in Caelford, we were thinking that we could, perhaps, learn a bit about the work you’re doing here. Perhaps you could consider giving Corin and Cecily a bit of training, as a way of incentivizing them to come work here after they graduate and finish their service.”

Farren looked at Sera, tilting her head to the side in confusion, and nearly spilling her tea in the process. “Why wait that long? They can just come work for me now.”

I had to respond to that. “What do you mean?”

Farren blinked. “I meant what I said, obviously.”

I took a breath. “We’re legally mandated to finish our last year at school and do our years of service. It’s not optional.”

“Oh, that? I already signed the paperwork. You’re fine, I just need to put it in the mail. Unless I already did.” Farren nodded, more to herself than to us. “I might have.”

“You might have mailed away...what exactly?” Sera asked.

“Oh, just papers to get you out of all that school and military nonsense. You’re here now, no need to go back. I’ll take care of it. Unless I already did.”

My mouth opened, then shut again.

I sincerely did not know how to respond to that, or to this person in general.

Sera was, it seemed, at least somewhat less flustered. Perhaps her time working with summoned monsters had acclimated her to dealing with people with unusual mindsets. “That’s very kind of you, but I don’t believe we’ve agreed to anything yet. Those papers you may have sent...they wouldn’t get us discharged without our own involvement, would they?”

“Oh, I suppose you could say ‘no’, if you wanted to. I don’t see why you would.” Farren set down her tea again, looking Sera straight in the eyes. “After all, now that you’ve had a taste of real power and knowledge, why would you settle for mediocrity?”

Sera’s eyes narrowed. “Our friends and family are back in Valia. And our teachers are not mediocre.”

Farren shrugged. “If you say so. And I suppose if you don’t want my help, you don’t need to accept it. I won’t waste time on you if you don’t want me to.”

Sera made a forced smile. “We’ll have to consider your...generous offer. Perhaps we could just spend a little time here to see the place before making any longer-term decisions?”

“Oh, yes, of course.” Farren nodded. “I suppose that would be the proper sequence of events. Yes. You may tour the facility. For…let’s say one work week? You can show up on the weekend if you want an extra day. And hm. Your scarring.”

Sera frowned. “What about it?”

“You want it fixed, right? We’ll make a trade, later. Visit me in a few days. Or less. Or more. Try to surprise me.”

“I...will do my best.” Sera turned to me. “Corin, did you have anything to ask her?”

I nodded.

Before I had a chance to speak, however, Farren turned to me. “Right. Yes, I’ll teach you.”

“You’ll...teach me?”

“Yes, I already said that, I think. Try to keep up, it’s very distracting when you fail to.” She shook her head. “Anyway, I believe that’s...no.” Farren turned to Cecily. “Go take your next Judgment, you’ll be fine. We’ll talk after that.”

Cecily stared at her. “I...will?”

“Yes, of course. I said so. Now, go ahead. I’m waiting for you.”

Cecily gave me a helpless look.

I wasn’t quite sure what to say, either. “We’ll, uh, consider your offer. When should I come back about...teaching?”

“Whenever you get here is fine. But not now.” Farren shook her head. “Definitely not now.”

I took a breath. “Right. Thank you.”

“No, don’t thank me. Not until we’ve started, which we definitely haven’t yet, I think.” Farren frowned, tried to sip tea that was no longer in her hand, and then stared into space for a moment.

Sera and I exchanged glances.

“Miss Farren, thank you for your time.”

“Never thank me for that, Sera.” Farren gave her a sharp look. “I didn’t give you any. It doesn’t belong to me.”

That was apparently enough strangeness even for Sera, so she bowed at the waist. “We’ll be going now.”

Farren stared at her without acknowledging that statement.

We silently rose and left the room.

Nakht opened the door as we approached it, and we stepped outside.

“This way.” Nakht began walking, presumably toward the entrance.

I gave one more backward glance toward Farren as the door closed on its own.

...or, I tried to, at least.

When I looked back through the open doorway, I saw only an empty and unfurnished white room.

***

Later that night, I sat down on my bed in my hotel room. Cecily and Sera had a separate room, but they were temporarily visiting mine to strategize, so they sat across from me.

“Well,” I began, “That was the strangest way I’ve ever been terrified.”

Sera rubbed at her temples. “I...don’t even know where to begin. That was almost like talking to an elemental, but not of a variety I’ve ever seen. It seemed almost like she was...”

“...Not speaking to us in a linear order?” Cecily suggested.

“I was going to say ‘addled’, but yes, that’s a possibility. She certainly seemed to have difficulty with anything in regards to time, but I’m not sure I’d go as far as to assume she was speaking to us in a non-linear sequence. I would, perhaps, be inclined to believe she has seen events playing out in advance. Possibly multiple iterations of the same event, leading to confusion.”

“Chronomancy?” I speculated aloud. “I heard about a restricted attunement for that, but I wasn’t confident it was real.”

“I...don’t think it would require that. Diviners are better at seeing the past, but there’s a Seer attunement that focuses on the future.”

I rubbed at my chin, thinking. “That’s a Dalenos one, isn’t it? Not from Caelford?”

“That’d hardly be a restriction for someone with her resources,” Sera pointed out. “She could just make an attunement for herself, couldn’t she?”

Cecily shook her head. “I...don’t think it works like that. I mean, maybe it does for her, but from what I’ve read, artificial attunements don’t duplicate normal ones exactly.”

I turned to Cecily. “But they could emulate a specific function, including future sight, correct?”

“I guess so, but I don’t know for sure. I’m sorry.”

Sera gave Cecily a nudge. “You need to stop apologizing for not being omnipotent and omniscient, Ceci. No one expects you to be perfect.”

“I...” Cecily winced. “I’ll try to be better.”

“That’s...the opposite of what I was trying to say you needed to do. But never mind.” Sera sighed.

“Speaking of omnipotence and omniscience,” I interjected, “what are the odds that she’s Ferras?”

Cecily gasped.

Sera just rolled her eyes. “Let me guess — because of her name? Visage-based names are common. Unless you think Lawrence Wydmore is a visage, too.”

“It’s more than just that.” Admittedly, it was mostly that, but I kept talking anyway. “I mean, you heard her reaction to the word ‘boons’. And we know Ferras is more active about interacting with humans than most visages — maybe this is just one of her guises.”

“It’s not impossible,” Sera admitted. “But if she was Ferras, she could just hand out more attunements. Or design new ones herself. There would be no need for the whole facility.”

“Maybe it’s a method of encouraging humanity to be creative and figure out attunements on their own? It’s within the purview of the Visage of Creation to try to teach people to make things.”

“Can’t say that’s impossible, but it seems off. Farren seems too interested in getting her hands on an Arbiter for them to be the same person. Ferras could just make more Arbiters at will.”

“What if Ferras couldn’t for some reason? Maybe there’s a limit on how many Arbiters each visage is allowed to have? There certainly seem to be very few of us, and that ‘restricted’ thing has to mean something.”

Sera shrugged. “Not strictly impossible, but we’re getting pretty heavily into baseless speculation territory here.”

“Fair.” I nodded. “Sorry for the distraction.”

“It’s no problem. We’ll keep our eyes on her for any signs of visage-ness.” Sera took a breath, refocusing. “Okay. So, Farren might see the future, or might be living outside of linear time, or whatever. What does that mean for us?”

I considered that. “From a practical standpoint, very little changes, if that’s all there is to it. I mean, we should commit to not betraying her in any way if we think she can see the future.”

“Was...that ever the plan?” Cecily’s eyes widened.

“No, no.” I raised my hands in a defensive gesture. “Just saying, pragmatically, we need to play safer with her than we would have otherwise. It also means bluffing to her in any regard will be nearly impossible. Like, if we needed to negotiate a business deal, she’d presumably know what we were willing to bend on.”

“It’s possible she just gives people the impression she can see the future purely to get people to take that approach,” Sera pointed out. “Honestly, if I was in her position, I’d consider it. She has potential access to any number of powers that are unknown to anyone outside of her team. Faking virtual omniscience through some vague personality tics would be extremely effective.”

I was a pretty paranoid guy, but even I wouldn’t have guessed someone might fake something that strange. Still, I couldn’t discount it as a possibility.

That was, perhaps, a part of the problem — given her resources, disproving that she had any specific capability would be extremely difficult. So, if she implied future knowledge, or broad knowledge she shouldn’t have in general, it was easiest to just take that at face value.

After several moments of silence, I managed a statement. “I don’t like it.”

“I doubt we’re intended to. She’s put us in a difficult position. One that strikes me as calculated, in spite of her seeming...distracted, shall we say.” Sera glanced to Cecily. “Her statement about your Judgment was the most interesting to me. If you take a Judgment now and don’t return, it would show Corin and myself that Farren is unreliable. That’s quite a risk on her part, if she doesn’t have future knowledge.”

“...Meaning that she probably does know the outcome in advance?” Cecily asked.

Sera frowned. “She might, or she might be able to influence it. She could be a Whisper, for example, and intend to monitor your test and ensure the result.”

I pondered that. “Or she could simply not be that invested in our opinions of her, Sera. I don’t think Cecily should take a risk based on our guesses about Farren’s motives.”

“I’ll...think about it. Farren was right about one thing, though.” Cecily turned her head downward.

“Oh?” I asked.

“You two are worth more than me right now. I can’t keep up. I felt silly even being there.”

Sera leaned over and prodded Cecily on the arm. “None of that. We’re all just getting started. You have years to catch up in terms of mana.”

Cecily sighed. “But I just have one normal attunement. You two—”

“—Have advantages and disadvantages,” Sera cut her off. “Remember, Derek is stronger than any of us, and he has a single standard attunement. Meltlake, too.”

I raised a finger. “I...actually think Meltlake might have an ascended attunement.”

Sera leaned over and hissed at me. “Not helping, Corin.”

“Sorry, sorry.” I winced. “But, uh, normal attunements obviously can ascend. So, Cecily, if what you want is an ascended attunement, we could try to figure that out?”

“I...don’t know what I want. I suppose an ascended Enchanter attunement would be interesting. What would that even do?” Cecily frowned, but not in sadness this time, more in an introspective sense. “I mean, enchanting people is more of a Biomancer thing, or an Arbiter thing, I suppose. So what additional functions do you think an ascended Enchanter would gain?”

I’d given that a bit of thought already. “Plenty of possibilities. I think the highest odds would be for functions similar to other item-modifying attunements. Maybe the ability to bind monsters to items like Soulblades, or the ability to create temporary items like Architects. It might also be something like automatic mana purification, similar to my Arbiter attunement.”

“You don’t think it would be totally unique?” Cecily asked.

I shrugged at that. “It might be, but Sera’s Invoker attunement strikes me as sort of a hybrid between a Summoner and a Shapeshifter. I figure other ascended attunements are likely to be the same way, but we don’t have enough data. If it does have a unique function…well, there are tons of options. Enhanced mana crystal creation. Imbuing your shroud with a passive enchantment effect. A library of stored runes.”

Cecily’s eyes widened. “A library? You mean it might just…tell you new enchantments?”

“Basically. I’m thinking of a function that has images and concept stored, and when you think about something — say, a rune for making fire — the attunement function just shows you those images and what they do.”

“I suppose that’s possible…sort of like a memory crystal, but with information that displays when you’re thinking about it…” Cecily went silent, apparently caught up in contemplation.

“I hate to interrupt you two, but we need to focus a bit more on the main subject. Are we going back there tomorrow?” Sera asked.

“I think I am…in spite of any potential dangers, I think I need to learn more about what’s going on. As for Cecily, though...” I turned to her.

“Let me sleep on it. I don’t know. Taking another Judgment is a risk, but I don’t want to offend Miss Farren...”

Sera sighed. “You shouldn’t worry so much about what other people want you to do, Ceci.”

“I...I’m sorry. I’ll try not to.”

Sera and I both sighed at that reply. Then, Sera turned to me. “Okay. It’s been a long couple weeks of not doing anything, and I’m going out on the town. You’re not coming, because you hate people.”

It was not a question. She was correct.

I gave Sera a wave. “Don’t die in a way that would embarrass me.”

Sera snorted. “I would never dream of embarrassing the scion of House Cadence.” She turned to Cecily. “Come on. Let’s give Corin some room to read more about magic theory or whatever he thinks a vacation is for.”

I was, in fact, planning to read about magic theory. But not for the whole night, thank you.

...At least, probably not. Some of those books were very interesting, okay?

Sera stood up, and Cecily followed her. I waved at them.

Cecily gave me one last look, like she wanted to say something, before silently following Sera out of the room.

***

The next morning, we met up again to discuss our plans.

“I...think I’m going to go.” Cecily told us. “To the spire, that is.”

I winced. I didn’t want to be too pushy, but I still felt like this was a terrible idea. “Are you sure? Even if Farren has future knowledge, we don’t know what she’s playing at. This could be a trap.”

“It’s fine.” Cecily shook her head. “I...think I need this. Even without Farren’s prompting, it’s what I was planning on doing when I got to Caelford. Ever since what happened with Mizuchi, I’ve felt worthless. Powerless. If there’s any chance I might get something in there that could help...”

I shook my head at Cecily. “You can’t think that way. We’re barely starting as attuned. There’s no point in looking down on ourselves just because we can’t handle the children of god beasts on our own yet.”

Sera snorted at me. “You’re one to talk. We’ve all heard your story. You’re the king of self-deprecation.”

“I’m...like a minor earl of self-deprecation at best, sister, but I know you like to inflate the family’s status to make yourself look better.”

Cecily reached up and adjusted her glasses. “Thank you both. I appreciate your concern, but I’m going. If I don’t come back, you can always come rescue me, right?”

The half-smile she gave me was absolutely heart-breaking to look at. It reminded me of how much I’d already lost.

“Come on, then,” Sera grabbed Cecily by the hand. “We’ll go and wait for you outside, at least.”

I winced. “Uh, about that, Sera. Second Judgments take a lot longer. I don’t think we can do that.”

“We’ll wait for her outside, Corin.” Sera’s eyes narrowed.

“It’s...okay. Thank you. Corin is right.” Cecily smiled at Sera. “I’ve read about this. Second Judgments can take days or weeks.”

“Will you even be able to finish before our trip back, then?” Sera asked.

“Well, Farren seemed to think so,” Cecily replied, uncertain.

“She really didn’t,” I pointed out. “She seemed to be planning on us skipping going back to Lorian Heights entirely. I really don’t appreciate that presumption.”

“It...wouldn’t be such a bad idea, though, would it?” Cecily asked. “I’m not really much of a fighter. I’d much rather work on things.”

I shrugged at her. “I’m just very tired of my life being dictated by others without asking my input first.”

Sera burst into laughter, enough that she started coughing. After a moment she raised a hand. “Sorry, sorry. I shouldn’t laugh, but...Corin, coming from you, that’s just...do you even have the slightest idea how lucky you are?”

I gave Sera a hard look. “I have a hard time calling myself lucky, Sera. Do you think I was lucky that my father—”

“Please, not now, you two.” Cecily pulled her hand away from Sera, then folded both her hands. “I just...can’t.”

Sera sighed. “You’re right, Cecily. I’m sorry. We’ll...focus.” She took a breath, refocusing. “Okay. Even if we can’t stay with you the whole time, we can at least accompany you there. Would you like us to go with you to the gate, Cecily?”

Cecily nodded emphatically. “Please. I don’t want to be alone when I walk in the door.”

My mind rushed to memories of my Judgment, and how I’d felt when I first walked through that gate.

I gave Cecily a nod. “Of course. We’ll be with you right up until you go inside.”

And so, we took a train all the way back to the Tiger Spire, and headed to the Gate of Judgment.

The Tiger Spire wasn’t what I expected. For one thing, it didn’t look very much like a tiger.

The structure was far more simplistic; it was a pyramid, one constructed of hundreds of layers of blocks made from a substance I could not identify.

The blocks were white, much like Byakko’s fur was supposed to be. They were highly reflective, but not in the lustrous way of metal, and they lacked the translucence of crystal.

The material was, I realized as I grew closer, more reminiscent of rubber. But, given that the tower was so tall that it pierced into the clouds above, it couldn’t be entirely made of some kind of rubbery substance, could it?

Was I simply seeing an outer layer on each block, with some other kind of material within? And if so, what was the purpose of this outer layer?

These were the sorts of questions that people dedicated lives of research to, but for me, they were not currently important. All of my worry was dedicated to my friend, and if I needed to intervene on her behalf.

She had made her own choice, true, and she was an adult. But I’d been the one who had asked her to come with me to Caelford.

If she walked in that door and never returned, what portion of that was I responsible for?

I tried to keep my thoughts on the matter to myself. It wasn’t wise to burden Cecily any further. She was clearly already nervous, but she had steeled herself for the risks that she was taking, and I wanted to respect that.

We all stood in line together, but Sera and I paid little attention to each other. This was both because we wanted to focus on Cecily, and because we’d started an argument that we hadn’t yet had a chance to finish.

There were words lingering in the air between us, waiting to be said, but it was not the right time.

And so, with great trepidation, we waited.

It wasn’t a Judgment day for children coming of age. There wasn’t an impressive line. When the time came as we approached the Judgment Gate, I slipped my circlet off and handed it to Cecily. “It’s like a return bell. Use it if you need it.”

“I have a bell and the upgraded sigil, Corin. Don’t worry.”

I shook my head. “Take it anyway. Redundancy. You need it more than we do while we’re out here.”

Cecily grudgingly took the circlet. I told her the activation word and the limitations on it. Then, I went and turned in the anchor for it to a nearby member of the Soaring Wings, who promised to set it up in their anchor room — a location at the nearby headquarters set up specifically for returning climbers who needed a safe place to teleport to.

She kept the anchor for her upgraded shield sigil on her, rather than turning that in. Since she already had the circlet as an escape route, the shield sigil and anchor could be used to teleport in other situations. She could toss the anchor across a pit to teleport across, for example. The range and regeneration rate on it were awful, but it was still a potentially useful tool.

Sera began to slip Ceris off her belt.

“No weapons allowed for Judgments, Sera.” Cecily shook her head. “I can’t take that one.”

“That’s true for Valia, but is the rule the same here?”

We checked with the guards at the door. It was, in fact, also true in Caelford. Cecily could bring magical items inside, but no weapons.

That was going to be a serious problem if I ever decided to take another Judgment myself.

Cecily handed over more money than I expected, signed her papers, and took a deep breath. “This is it.”

I took a breath. “Take care in there. We’ll see you at the exit gate.”

Sera stepped in and hugged Cecily tightly. “Don’t die.”

“T...thanks.” Cecily pulled away from Sera, then looked to me. I nodded, opening my arms. “It’s okay for something like this.”

I braced myself. She hugged me. I did my best to hug her back.

Then the tiger spire opened its maw, and Cecily stepped inside.

Chapter IV – Where Attunements are Born

I spent much of that night worrying about Cecily, but I knew it wouldn’t do any good.

I couldn’t do anything to help her...could I?

Maybe, as an Arbiter, I could get in there and figure out how to monitor her test...

Tristan had watched my Judgment, after all, and even intervened. I knew that Whispers had some involvement in the tests that occurred in the spires in general.

As an Arbiter, do I have the authority to do that sort of thing? And, if so, how would I go about exercising that authority?

I knew precious little about what an Arbiter’s role was supposed to be in relationship to the towers. I wished Katashi had actually explained anything, but in the absence of that, I really needed to find another Arbiter to talk to — or at least someone with the knowledge of one.

Warren Constantine was the clearest example, but maybe someone else at Farren Labs could help me. I’d resolved to ask about it as soon as I got a better idea of what Farren’s motives were.

I did go visit Researcher in the other hotel room to ask some questions, but sadly, Researcher didn’t have any more information than what she’d already given me back in Valia. I hoped that now that Researcher didn’t have to worry about conflicting with her Summoner’s goals, she’d be able to tell me more — but she really didn’t seem to know anything else on the subject.

I worked through my feelings of powerlessness and frustration by practicing with my mana threads. By conjuring threads of mana and connecting them to my items, I hoped that I’d eventually be able to create effects that no single item could accomplish.

I didn’t make any breakthroughs that night, but it was good to have a task to set my mind to. Getting stronger was the only way I could fight off the feeling that I had, once again, lost someone I cared about to the depths of a Soaring Spire.

***

In the morning, I ate breakfast, practiced some more, and then sat for a bit and waited for Sera to come to my hotel room.

She didn’t. Hours passed, and my nervousness grew.

Sera almost always woke up and got started before I did. I’d expected her to knock on my door first thing in the morning, waking me up to take me to the lab.

When that didn’t happen, I hoped that she’d just been up late out of worry, much like I had...but as the morning pressed on, I knew it had to be something more.

I went and found her room and knocked.

No response.

I waited, then knocked again, louder.

Finally, I heard a groan and the sound of movement.

“...Coming...”

I felt myself start to breathe again in relief.

The door swung open, revealing my severely disheveled sister. “Get in if you’re getting in, or let me sleep.”

I raised an eyebrow, then stepped inside. Sera closed the door behind her.

“You okay? It’s not like you to be...” I made a nonspecific gesture at her whole body.

“Completely exhausted and somewhat irritated?” She asked.

“More like ‘dressed up as a medusa for a costume party’. You look like your hair got in a fight with the rest of your head and lost.”

“Thanks, Corin. You really know how to make your sister feel confident about her appearance.”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s my pleasure. Now, are you okay?”

“Well, aside from having my self-confidence utterly shattered by your callous words, I suppose I’m intact. If you’ll give me about an hour to throw myself in the shower to hide my tears, I’ll fill you in.”

“Wait. Before you go...is Cecily back?”

Sera shook her head. “No sign of her yet. I’m worried, but we knew it could take a while.”

“We did...I just still don’t like it.” I sighed and sat down. “Make the shower quick. We have business today.”

“You’re really enjoying being the early one today, aren’t you?”

I smirked. “It’s a rare occasion, I’m celebrating.”

She groaned and stomped off to the showers.

I suspect she took longer than necessary just to spite me.

When Sera finally emerged, I passed her a cup of hot tea.

“How uncharacteristically thoughtful of you.” Sera smirked. “Feeling guilty for earlier?”

“Please. Not in the slightest. I’m just being efficient.”

Sera rolled her eyes and accepted the tea. “Well, I accept your tribute, regardless.”

“So, it’s not like you to be up this late.”

“Observant as always, brother. It’s almost like you know me.”

I took a sip of my own tea. “What happened?”

Sera smiled sweetly. “I paid a trip to Miss Farren last night.”

I very nearly spat out my tea, and not just because I’d made it a little bit hotter than expected. “What? When?”

“Middle of the night. She said to surprise her. I failed.” Sera shook her head. “I was correct that she was still at her office, at least. But she seemed to know when I was coming. She had food waiting for me, and it had been freshly prepared.”

I gave a grunt. “That’s one more point in the favor of future sight, or something like it, then.”

“Perhaps, or she simply had someone at the door inform her before I made it to her office, and she had a way of getting hot food in the time it took for me to make it through the halls. It wouldn’t be impossible.” Sera sighed. “But her preparation wasn’t the most concerning part.”

I frowned. “What should I be worried about now?”

“She wants Ceris.”

My eyes narrowed. “That’s...concerning. Did she say why?”

Sera nodded, taking another drink of her tea before replying. Her throat was clearly still sore, in spite of her surgeries and all the recovery time. “Magical storage like what Ceris is capable of would be useful for her research, apparently. I think she wants to figure out how to duplicate it in order to make a new type of battery.”

I took a moment to ponder that. The claim made a degree of sense; Ceris seemed to be able to store a single spell effect, regardless of the mana cost. If it had any sort of capacity limit, it was tremendously high; it had been able to work on spells like Elora’s Sapphire-level attack against Saffron, after all.

But Ceris was the symbol of a visage, and a potent weapon against the Children of the Tyrant. Simply using it as a foundation for research was practical, but I couldn’t possibly trust that it was her only motivation for wanting the sword.

“What is she offering?” I asked.

“Fixing my scarring entirely. She thinks her facility can do things that Sheridan couldn’t, due to their advanced knowledge of how attunements actually work.”

I gave a nod. “That would certainly be useful, but not necessarily ‘trade for an item of incalculable power and cultural significance’ kind of useful. And I’m not really confident that she could do better than Sheridan, anyway.”

“We’re in agreement, and I said ‘no’ for the time being, but I’m considering a counter offer.”

“You want an artificial attunement?”

Sera snorted. “Please, brother. Don’t deride my ambitions like you would my poor hair. I want five artificial attunements.”

I frowned at her. “There are several problems with that. I don’t know if I trust these things in general, and what about interference if they’re too close to each other?”

“Putting aside whether or not they work, the advantage of these artificial ones is that we can choose where they’re placed. I asked about that already. I could have one attunement on each body location, of a type chosen for compounding effects, like how your transference attunements work.”

I gave a slow nod. “I like the theory behind it, but if it’s that simple, we’d be seeing multiple people running around with six artificial attunements already.”

“Expense is likely an issue. I did some research on the market value of an artificial attunement — they go for hundreds of thousands of silver.”

I stared blankly. “Hundreds of thousands? You could buy a small city for that.”

“That’s an exaggeration, but you could buy an apartment complex, or a few hotels like this one. You could not, however, buy Ceris, the Song of Harmony. This sword is priceless — and five attunements is frankly a cheap price to pay for it. I wouldn’t be considering it at all, but Ceris isn’t all that useful with my particular attunement.”

“I’m...not sure Katashi would be happy if you sold it.”

Sera shrugged. “Perhaps not, but I also sincerely doubt he would take any steps against me for it. And I’m not worried about him simply being disappointed.”

“Can...we do some research on these artificial attunements first? I feel like there’s a lot they’re not telling us.”

“Clearly. But I want you to know that, barring anything we find to disqualify the attunements, I am leaning toward offering that trade.”

I took a deep breath. “Okay. I suppose we need to get started with some research then, don’t we?”

“We certainly do. Just as soon as I completely change my hair style, since you’ve destroyed my confidence forever.”

***

Sera did not, in fact, completely change her hair style. She did comb it and brush it for a while, though, and then pulled it back into a single tail. I though it looked pretty good that way, but I certainly wasn’t going to tell her that.

It was close to mid-day by the time we reached Farren Labs. Not an optimal start, but we weren’t exactly employees with a set start time, so I didn’t have to worry about it too much.

There was no attendant at the desk when we arrived. Instead, two figures were standing right behind the door waiting for us.

One of them was Nakht. His expression was completely neutral as we walked in, but from the way he had his arms folded, I got the impression he was a little irritated.

The other was an older dark-skinned woman wearing a dark blue suit. She wore some of the largest earrings that I’d ever seen; they looked like the fangs of a great tiger, and they were inscribed with dozens of tiny runes. I found myself briefly staring at them, wondering how she could fit so many enchantments into something made out of a fang. Was the material artificial?

The woman spoke as we walked in, smiling brightly in a stark contrast to Nakht’s demeanor. “Good afternoon, Miss and Mister Cadence, and welcome to Farren Labs. We’ll be your guides today. I’m Kahi Zephyr. I believe you’ve already met Nakht.”

Nakht gave a curt nod.

“Yes, we’ve had the pleasure.” Sera smiled. “Thank you both. Can I ask what we’ll be doing today?”

Kahi turned to Sera. “You’ll be going with Nakht to our Applied Summoning division. We have a number of uses for Summoners here, especially ones with some of the...unusual monsters that you have, Miss Cadence. And I believe you have a non-standard Summoner attunement?”

Sera gave a hesitant nod. “Something like that.”

“That’s quite exciting. Attunement variants are relatively rare, and we’re quite interested in cataloguing and studying them here.”

“I’m certain you are.” Sera gave a strained smile. “I’ll be interested to see what your facility has to offer.”

“I’m confident you’ll be satisfied by what you find. Before we begin, you’ll need to sign some initial paperwork. Some basic non-disclosure agreements, liability waivers, that sort of thing.”

We got to work on the stack of paperwork she handed us. I was rubbing my eyes by the end and hoping I hadn’t accidentally signed away my soul by missing a line or two.

“I’m surprised you’re letting us see much of anything if you’re working on secret projects here,” Sera noted.

“Oh, you won’t be seeing anything terribly secret today. All of the military projects are at another facility. The non-disclosure agreement is there mostly to make sure you don’t talk about any details of projects that haven’t been announced to the public yet, but you won’t get to see the really impressive stuff unless you’re actually hired — at which point you’d have to do a lot more than signing documents. We have magically binding contracts for that level of secrecy.”

I blinked. “Can you tell us how those magically binding contracts work?”

“If you reach that stage of the process, we can have someone explain that to you, yes.”

I nodded to her. “Okay, thank you.”

I suppose that means that things like the god beast attunements are probably at a different facility, but that’s okay. I don’t need to start with those. Getting some foundation for how artificial attunements in general work first would be wise, anyway.

Kahi smiled brightly as we handed in our papers. “Excellent, thank you. Now, before I forget, let me give you guest badges.”

She slipped two silvery cards out of a coat pocket, each attached to a lanyard, and handed them to us. “You’ll need to wear them at all times in the facility.”

I lifted mine, examining it. There wasn’t a name on it like one might have expected from a work badge; instead, it simply had a series of runes written across it.

That’s an information storage rune, similar to what I used on the mana watch, but for text rather than number values. And that one is something related to...an alarm, maybe? Oh, maybe some kind of authentication function for entering restricted areas...?

Sera elbowed me. “Talk now, stare at enchantments later.”

“Right, sorry.” I took a breath, slipping the badge on. “When can we speak to Miss Farren again?”

Kahi gave us a very professional smile. “While you are both honored guests, Miss Farren’s time is limited, and she will be unavailable for much of the week. I’m confident we’ll have plenty to show you in the meantime, and hopefully you’ll know enough by that point to accept an offer of employment.”

I didn’t like the idea of waiting that long. I had a number of questions for Farren, but I also understood that she ran a company and couldn’t be available at our every whim. “Thank you. Can I ask where I’ll be going?”

“You’re coming with me, Master Cadence.” Kahi pointed down the hallway. “You’re going to see where new attunements are born.”

***

Sera and I split off with our respective guides.

In spite of my nervousness about Cecily’s absence and splitting up from Sera, I could barely contain my excitement.

Ever since I’d heard about artificial attunements, I’d wanted to know more about them. The potential to distribute magical power without having to go through a potentially deadly climb would undoubtedly have a tremendous impact on the world...if they were ever allowed to spread.

Given what had happened with Echion, I had serious doubts that the visages would allow this sort of research to continue to the point that they became widespread in society. Unless, of course, the visages were removed from the equation entirely like the Godslayers faction wanted...or one or more visages decided to support the process.

I had a strong suspicion that one or more visages were already backing Farren Labs. They had been around long enough that I didn’t see how they could be functioning without a visage’s direct or indirect approval, especially given how active Ferras was supposed to be in Caelford’s society.

Wydd was very possibly involved, too, given both my brother and Sheridan’s connections with them. I wished I knew more about Wydd’s motives, but they were notoriously secretive, even to the other visages.

Finding Ferras and asking her directly about both artificial attunements — and helping Sera with her condition — was one of my agenda items for my visit to Caelford, but it needed to wait. Finding out more about Warren Constantine was a more immediate concern.

 “Farren Labs is one of the largest employers of Enchanters on the entire continent,” Kahi explained. “This particular building houses branches of three of our divisions.”

As we walked down the hall, she waved toward a window I’d seen during our last visit. Within it, I could see people working on assembling and enchanting tremendous limbs of metal and stone. “This is one section of our Advanced Armor Division.”

“Advanced Armor?” I frowned. “Those look like golems to me.”

“Ah, they are. But look a little closer.” Kahi pointed at a corner of the room, where I saw a small team lifting up limbs of one of the golems to compare them against the limbs on an athletic woman wearing a heavily padded suit.

My eyes widened. “Wait. Hold on. You’re making wearable golems?”

“That is an excellent way of summarizing our Advanced Armor. We create golem shells that are custom fitted to a wearer, much like traditional plate armor would be. Advanced Armor has all of the functionality of a traditional golem, and work independently, but the area where it truly excels is when worn by an attuned. When someone wears a suit of Advanced Armor, it moves when they do — meaning that an ordinary human can have the strength and physical resilience of a golem while they wear it. It provides an unparalleled level of physical power and protection.”

A good amount of that sounded like marketing speech, but I had to admit, I was still pretty sold on it. “But...how can you make it move along with a person? Is it connected to their mind somehow, or does it simply react to your motions?”

Kahi smiled. “You’ll be able to get answers to those sorts of questions if you end up choosing to work here. For the moment, I’m afraid your tour will only include information that is available to the public.”

I nodded. I knew there had to be a catch.

I gave the Advanced Armor Division one last look as we passed by, wondering exactly how difficult it would be for me to duplicate that sort of enchanting on my own. There were several elements of it that I could sort through how to build, but I could understand why Kahi was being secretive about the techniques necessary to make the golem move. That was, in my early assessment, probably the greatest challenge.

As I pondered, Kahi continued explaining. “Beyond obvious combat applications, our Advanced Armor Division is on the forefront of research into fully articulated prosthetics. In cases when healing magic is insufficient to restore a missing limb — a common problem here in Caelford, where we do not have many Menders — our Advanced Armor Division is capable of making a replacement limb that moves naturally with the rest of the body.”

That strongly implied that some sort of mental integration was being used, rather than simply physical motion copying. “Are these available for sale?”

“Not to the general public, at least not yet. Most of our current developments are for military contracts. A handful of prosthetics are in the early testing phases outside of that, mostly for people who work for the lab or their family members.”

I nodded. “I imagine they’ll be expensive when and if they’re eventually available to the public.”

“All of our products are priced competitively for the benefits that they offer.”

That was exactly the kind of marketing speech I expected, but I couldn’t blame Kahi for speaking in that fashion. It was a natural part of this style of work. “What are the other branches here?”

“We’re about to pass the Shielded Space Division. You won’t be able to see inside there right now, unfortunately. There are no windows, as that would compromise the purpose of the rooms.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Shielded Space...I take it that means the division is for building safe rooms for magical tests and experiments?”

“Yes, as well as general safety and privacy. Many of the rooms are designed for our own experiments, but we construct buildings for influential individuals that need defenses against scrying, or for powerful attuned that need areas where they can train safely without needing to worry about demolishing the area. For example, your own university’s Professor Meltlake owns a training facility of our creation.”

I blinked. “She does?”

Kahi nodded. “Your professor is one of the most powerful offensive magic users known. In order to test her spells properly, she trains in an extra dimensional space. The facility that transfers her to and from that space, as well as the interior of that space, were designed here at Farren Labs.”

That made a lot of sense. I’d seen the level of power of some of Meltlake’s spells, and she clearly had to practice them somehow. An extra dimensional training facility sounded like a good way for her to be able to train without annihilating city blocks. “...How expensive would something like that be?”

That question seemed to catch Kahi off-guard. “I don’t believe there’s a set price for a facility of that style. There are only a handful of them, and they’re generally built to order for the military or royal families. In Meltlake’s case, I believe she was given that facility in exchange for assistance with a certain advanced magic theory problem, rather than money. The cost to build a facility of that type would range from hundreds of thousands to millions of silver.”

I paused in my step. “Millions?”

“Many of our projects operate on that scale.” Kahi kept walking. “If you choose to work here, you may be able to participate in projects that would beggar the families of kings. And, perhaps, even use them to your own advantage if time and resources permit.”

I shook my head, struggling with the idea of how any company could have projects with that kind of cost. I understood that things like artificial attunements would have tremendous value — after all, they offered power that ordinarily required risking a life — but anything selling for millions of silver was beyond what I could have estimated.

This is a fairly transparent attempt to tempt me with the perks to working for them…but it’s working. It’s definitely working.

“Ah, here we are.” Kahi stopped at a door, waving a hand toward it. “The place you’ve been waiting to see. The Artificial Attunements Division. We have several facilities for this, but this is the central location for attunement research and development. It is also very likely where you would be working if you choose to accept Miss Farren’s offer.” She turned the handle and opened the door. “Come. See what the future holds.”

***

When I’d imagined the Artificial Attunements Division, I’d expected it to look like the facilities where we tested Enchantments — basically a series of small rooms designed to contain unwelcome explosions and set off alarms if anyone was badly injured.

In fairness, this facility did have those, but that wasn’t what I walked into.

No, the Artificial Attunement Division looked more like a penny opera depiction of a mad wizard’s laboratory. There were dozens of tables covered in bottles holding many-hued concoctions, tools both common and unfamiliar strewn across every available surface, and a handful of people wearing rune-etched goggles and thick (often colorfully splattered) aprons.

My eyes widened as I saw someone hop over some kind of tool that was vibrating on the floor without even bothering to look down at it.

What in the goddess’ name…?

“Welcome to our research center,” Kahi waved an open hand to indicate the room.

My mouth opened and closed wordlessly. I simply had no idea how to react to this. The golem-making facility had seemed organized, but this…

“I can see the surprise on your face. Don’t be intimidated. You’ll learn to navigate the place quickly enough. To get you started, let me introduce you to one of our recent hires. He’ll explain how things work in this part of the facility and take care of you for the rest of the day.”

Kahi walked forward, deftly dodging as someone else ran past in an apron that was on fire, and headed toward a corner of the room. I stared at the flaming worker, only realizing after a moment that he wasn’t actually being burned and the fire wasn’t spreading further. I watched as he tossed his burning apron down on a table, gave a cheer, and began to write feverishly on a notepad.

I paused my gawking only when Kahi turned and snapped her fingers at me, drawing my attention. “Come along, Corin. You’ll have plenty of time to look at specific designs later.”

Designs? Was that some kind of strange fire Enchantment, then? How is that even related to attunements?

I frowned, considering as I finally moved to follow Kahi through the room. Fortunately, there were no further blazing individuals to dodge around. I saw a couple people mixing potion ingredients that I didn’t recognize, a few people discussing a series of runes on a chalk board, and just a couple working on what looked like more conventional Enchantments.

And then there was one last person, a skinny black-skinned man about my age with thick glasses and a strange crown-like device that covered both of his ears entirely. He stood in front of a table, staring at a featureless sheet of metal that was propped up against the wall behind it. At first, it looked like he was simply admiring a seemingly blank surface, until I noticed that he was tapping his fingers on the table’s edge in a strange rhythm.

On a hunch, I mentally activated my Detect Aura spell.

In an instant, my senses were flooded with new sources of magic, but this was nothing strange to me. I’d been in magic saturated areas before, and I acclimated fast, processing an incredible variety of mana sources flowing from items and people in the area.

The man in front of me had a standard Carnelian aura, but that wasn’t what got my attention. With Detect Aura active, I could see dozens of runes appearing on the surface of that metal sheet for just an instant, then vanishing to be replaced with new ones.

The runes themselves looked similar to the ones I was familiar with, but more compact, and flowing into each other more like a script. I had no idea what I was looking at, but it was fascinating.

Is…that some sort of runic language? And if it is, what does it mean?

I tried to watch, but after a moment, the flickering of the runes bothered me so much that I had to turn my spell off. I blinked rapidly, trying to clear the afterimages from my eyes.

Kahi walked up right behind him. “Ashon, we have a visitor.”

The strange man continued focusing on the metal surface, seemingly unaware he was being talked to.

“Ashon. Ashon!” Kahi grabbed the crown on his head and pulled it up.

“Aah!” Ashon spun in surprise, hitting his elbow on the table behind him and knocking an etching rod on the ground. Then, as he flailed in momentary panic, he managed to trip on the fallen etching rod.

I surged forward as he fell backward, catching him by the front of his apron and pulling him back upright, purely out of instinct. For a moment, we were face-to-face, and he blinked at me through rune-etched spectacles.

“…Hi?” Ashon said.

Startled, I released his apron and stepped backward as he steadied himself. “Uh, hi.”

Kahi groaned, shaking her head. “Ashon, you need to be more careful around here, or you’re going to end up in the hospital again.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’ve been working on my shroud’s defensive output, and…” He blinked. “Wait. Who are you again?”

“I’m Kahi, one of Miss Farren’s personal assistants. We’ve met…several times now. This,” she gestured at me, “Is Corin Cadence. He’s…”

“The new Arbiter! I’ve heard all about you.” Ashon reached to offer me a hand, then shook my hand rapidly and with great enthusiasm when I accepted. I pulled my hand back quickly, but as politely as possible.

Ashon brightened. “I have been so excited to open you up and get a look at—”

Kahi cleared her throat. “Please don’t scare him, Ashon.” She turned to me. “What Ashon means is that he’s a researcher for individual attunement function components, and that he’s interested in looking at the details of how your Arbiter attunement works.”

My eyes widened as my mind swam with the implications. “Function components…? Wait, hold on, back up.” I waved at the metallic surface. “Is that what you were doing with that thing? Looking at the component parts of an attunement?”

“Oh, no, no! That was some of my work on making a new supplementary component, which is…”

“…Not exactly your job.” Kahi interrupted. “Ashon, Miss Farren tolerates a good deal of your tendency to…wander, but I need you to focus today. Corin is a guest here, and he has limited time to see what our facility has to offer as a place of long-term employment. He is both an Enchanter and an Arbiter, but he’s only just finished his first year at Lorian Heights, so his education in attunement design is minimal. You’re going to need to explain some things to him from the beginning.”

Ashon looked at her, then frowned. “I kind of hate that. I’m busy. Can you bring him back when he’s ready for me to look at?”

“No.”

They stared at each other for a moment. Ashon eventually shrugged, ripped off his crown the rest of the way and tossed it on the table. “Fine, but you have to approve my next idea, no matter what it is.”

“That is…not how anything works, Ashon.” Kahi turned away from him, giving me a tense smile. “I’m sorry for this. Ashon is the best source of information on artificial attunement fundamentals we have available right now.”

I gave Kahi a nod. I understood her trepidation about leaving me with Ashon, given his unusual behavior and enthusiasm, but…honestly, I didn’t really mind it. High energy people often drained me very quickly, but I was so interested in this subject that I was happy to deal with someone who was enthusiastic about it, at least for a little while. “I’ll be fine. Thanks for showing me around.”

“I’ll be back to pick you up for the end of the day. Did you see the cafeteria?”

I shook my head. She gave me some brief directions, explained the hours of operation of the cafeteria, and then left me alone with Ashon.

I turned back to find him staring at my glove-covered hand.

“What are you…? Oh. The attunement.”

“If you could just take that glove off for a moment, and maybe give me a minute to take just a small sample…”

I briefly wondered if this was how I came across to people when I was in one of my own bouts of fixation. “Not right now, Ashon. I need to understand some of the basics of how this stuff works before I can show you anything.”

He deflated at that. “…Fine. I suppose we’ll start from the beginning.”

“Which is?”

“Well…” He frowned. “Words are hard. It’s easier to show you.” He pushed himself away from the table, very nearly tripping over the still-fallen etching rod again. “Follow me.”

***

Ashon led me to a small side-room with a couch, some chairs, and several bookshelves on the walls. One corner of the room had a chalk board on it. He walked over to the board, then picked up a piece of chalk. “Attunements. How do they work?”

“Well, I—”

“Rhetorical question,” he shook his head. “You’re new, you have no idea.”

I frowned, but didn’t interject further.

He turned back to the board, beginning to draw. The first figure was a familiar symbol — an Enchanter attunement.

“This,” he pointed to the center, “is a rune. All enchantments have runes. But this particular rune is a lie.”

“A lie?”

“Don’t interrupt. But yes. Total lie.” He drew an “x” over the rune. “When people look at this rune, they think they see an attunement. They don’t. This is just a pretty picture. It’s utterly functionless. Meaningless.”

I blinked.

Ashon continued. “Where does this symbol come from, then, you ask?”

I didn’t ask.

“This comes from one of the many, many function runes inside your attunement. In specific, the ‘display current attunement level’ function.”

My mind swam at the implications of that. “Wait, hold on. I can obviously see how an enchantment could make an image, but if runes are meaningless, why do they change with levels, specializations, and generations?”

Ashon rolled his eyes. “I don’t know, maybe it means something in some kind of weird visage language. Or maybe Selys made them work this way because she wanted attunements to be identifiable at a glance. The important part is that the power isn’t in the symbol. The symbol results from the power, not the other way around.”

I frowned at that. “I saw Katashi draw an extra line on someone’s attunement to make it stronger. You’re implying that was just…what, a theatrical flourish?”

“Sure, or intentional misdirection. Visages don’t like giving away information on how attunements work for free.”

“Okay, wait. I can see all that, but if the rune isn’t the focal point for the attunement, then—”

He turned away with a bored expression and ignored my latest question, drawing more runes. And more runes. And more runes.

“These,” he explained, “Are some of the other basic functions for an attunement. This,” he waved at one, “provides you with access to mental mana. This next one determines how quickly you draw it in from the environment. This one…”

Something clicked. “Sets your capacity for that mana type?” I guessed.

“Correct.” Ashon blinked. “Faster than I expected.”

I waved at the board. “So, you’re saying attunements are…what, a sort of meta-enchantment that contains other enchantments?”

“That’s…exactly right. Have you studied this before?”

I shook my head. “Not in any detail, but it makes sense to me. I knew Enchanters and Biomancers or Arbiters were involved with making attunements. I’d been puzzling over how attunements work, but if they basically have ‘hidden’ runes for various different functions, that actually makes things pretty simple. Sort of like compound runes.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone call this simple before.”

I shrugged. “There might be a lot of components, but it sounds like the foundation is basically the same as standard enchanting. I’ve heard about compound runes before, but we’re not supposed to study them until next year. If there’s a function rune for giving access to mental mana, I assume there’s one for each type?”

Ashon nodded slowly. “Well, they’re not exactly function runes, but you’re essentially right.”

“Makes sense…things for anything the attunement does. So, shroud generation, detecting power for other shrouds, unique functions…”

“Huh. Seems like you might not need the super basic version. Okay. Can I see your hand?”

I sighed. “No. Not right now. You mentioned that there’s a function for displaying current attunement level. That means your attunement ‘knows’ your level somehow. Does that mean there’s a rune that’s constantly detecting your safe mana capacity, or is it accomplished through some other means?”

“It’s basically that, but thinking of it in rune form isn’t exactly right. Maybe I shouldn’t have drawn rune pictures.” He paused. “Definitely shouldn’t have. Oh well, we’ll clarify later. There’s something that measures the mana in your body, then another function that governs what qualifies as safe. Then, there’s another function that sets the thresholds for what determines each attunement level. Oh, and that’s modified if there’s a mana-specialization function in place… Then, there are other functions to activate at specific level thresholds…”

“Wait. If they’re not runes, what’s controlling all this?”

He shook his head. “They’re sort of runes. We’ll get to that. One thing at a time.”

“Ah. Got it.” A grin crossed my face. “How easy are these to change?”

“Ch…change?” He stared at me. “Oh, no. You do not want to change these things. That is very, very unsafe.”

“But you were looking into adding more? That’s what you were doing earlier, right?”

He hesitated for a moment, then answered. “Yes, but…that’s for new attunement designs, not existing ones.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Once someone has an attunement, the body gradually acclimates to it. Modifying it after it’s already in the body is…risky. It’s possible, but the side effects…” He shook his head. “I wouldn’t try it.”

I definitely planned to try it.

But I wasn’t going to say that. Not right away, at least.

“Okay, never mind that. You wanted to look at my attunement. Presumably, that’s to figure out how exactly the unique functions of the Arbiter attunement work, so you can duplicate it somehow?”

“Right, right. We have spells for visualizing the component enchantments within an attunement.”

“And they look like that script you were looking at earlier? Ah, is that what you mean by ‘not exactly runes’?”

“That’s a little ahead of where I was planning to discuss today, but yes, that script is what I was talking about. And if you’d just let me see—”

“Not until I’ve decided if I’m going to work here.”

He deflated a little, but nodded. “Fine, fine. If you insist.”

“…But I’d be more inclined toward accepting if you teach me that attunement component visualization spell and how to identify those component runes, so I can try it on myself.”

“Hm.” He rubbed at his chin. “I guess I’m not technically disallowed from teaching you that. And if you might work here…I guess you’re going to need to learn it eventually.”

I grinned. “Excellent. Shall we get started?”

***

Learning the “Analyze Attunement Composition” spell was surprisingly straightforward. It required putting my hand on the attunement, then pushing mental mana into the attunement, then creating a “link” between that mental mana and my mind.

It reminded me of my mana threads, but internal, rather than external. The same could be done with other people’s attunements, but the process would require overwhelming any magical defenses on the target. Physical contact was generally required for that sort of thing, at least at my level.

The difficult part wasn’t establishing that connection — it was being able to parse through the runes that appeared in my mind.

While the core concept of attunements being composed of a set of enchantments was simple, the reality of it was somewhat more challenging.

Each individual function — like, say, shroud generation — wasn’t just one rune. It was a set of rune-like symbols, and every single symbol within that set also had symbols inside it, which I could see if I focused my mind hard enough. Those internal symbols were an entirely new language that I couldn’t read, similar to the glyphs I’d seen Ashon looking at.

And with that, I began to understand the problem, and the tremendous amount of effort that must have gone into creating these artificial attunements in the first place.

“So, to make these artificial attunements, you’re basically having to decrypt what each individual attunement function does, then figure out how to duplicate it.”

Ashon nodded. “Exactly! And the larger the set of existing attunements we have to research, the more functions we can draw from in creating artificial attunements. Of course, it would be much more exciting to write new attunement functions from scratch…”

“Which is what you were working on. Got it. But what was that spell, exactly?”

“It was a verification spell. It’s designed for checking if a specific sub-glyph combination produces a valid result.”

I raised an eyebrow at that. “How can a spell verify that anything would work without actually testing it on a person or item?”

“Don’t know, exactly. I didn’t make the spell. The spell connects to some kind of external knowledge source to get the answer. Where that knowledge is located…” Ashon shrugged at me.

Hm. Maybe he’s drawing information directly from one of those dominions that Keras is always talking about. If there’s a dominion of knowledge, it may have stored information on what valid rune combinations are…

“Can you teach me that spell?” I asked.

“Sorry, no. Not now, at least. That one is definitely a business secret. Maybe if you get hired and spend some time here.”

That was a bit disappointing, but I could understand why. Given that runes were often patented, a spell that checked the validity of sub-glyph combinations was a hugely valuable tool. Honestly, he probably shouldn’t have even told me the spell existed — which was presumably part of why Kahi was so irritated that he’d been tinkering with it.

“How about any other related spells?”

He considered that question. “Well, I can teach you Accelerated Computation. It’s pretty basic mental magic. You can use it to parse through sub-glyphs faster…but don’t use it for too long. It gives me awful headaches, and I’ve got a lot more mana than you do.”

He probably didn’t have a lot more mana than I did, but I didn’t say that. I wasn’t sure how much he knew about my general capabilities and didn’t plan to offer any more information than I had to.

Even if I did have a decent supply of mana, I winced at the idea of straining my mind with something like that. It sounded horrifying, like exactly the sort of spell that could ruin my mind permanently. The fear of doing myself permanent cognitive damage was so great that it almost made me refuse the offer.

Almost.

As terrifying as the spell sounded, my mind was racing with possibilities for using it, too. This sounded exactly like the sort of spell that could be used to make my Haste more effective. It wouldn’t let me move organically under Haste like a perception spell would, but if I could perfectly compute exactly where to move…

“Yeah.” I nodded, my expression hardening as I considered. “Teach me that spell.”

***

By the time I headed home, I had a splitting headache from experimenting with mental mana spells, but for once, the abject horror at the possible consequences was overwhelmed by the sheer weight of potential benefits.

I’d learned so much.

It was still far from enough to actually try to make modifications to attunements, let alone try to make my own functions…but I’d cracked open my own attunements and looked inside. That was an enthralling concept.

Someday, I’ll do more than just take a look.

Ashon wasn’t patient enough to actually teach me any sub-glyphs, but he did hand me a book on the subject, and I’d greedily devoured everything I could. He hadn’t let me keep the book, but he said I could keep reading the next day if I came back.

So, I did.

I spent the next few days visiting the lab, studying, and asking more questions. Notably, I learned a little bit more about compound runes — runes with multiple functions. I’d heard about those before, and even seen a few, but I hadn’t previously understood how they worked.

Broadly speaking, any rune with multiple functions was a compound rune. This general term encompassed several different things, three of which were covered in my introductory lessons.

First and simplest were multi-runes. Multi-runes were the most common type, and they both looked and functioned much like typical runes, just with lots of lines to incorporate different features.

The most common multi-runes included capacity, recharge, and a single function of the same type. A basic example would be a rune with a regeneration function, a life mana recharge feature, and a life mana capacity feature. The rune for this would look like a regeneration function rune, but with an extra line for recharge and the extra bracket-looking lines around it for capacity. There would also be lines to signify the levels of each, if it’s a higher-than-Quartz enchantment.

The only thing missing from these common multi-runes is an activation rune, which is generally still separate. With a multi-rune like this and an activation rune, you can make a functional item with two runes instead of the standard four or more.

The idea behind multi-runes is simple enough: reducing the necessary number of runes for an Enchanter to draw in order to make enchanting faster and easier. They’re commonly used in mass-production for factory-made enchantments.

The problem is that multi-runes require all the necessary mana for any features in that rune. Let’s say an ordinary Carnelian-level regeneration item normally has three life-based runes — function, recharge, and capacity — each of which cost sixty mana to charge. A multi-rune incorporating all three would require the total mana for all three runes, or one-hundred and eighty mana. Thus, someone who is just at the cusp of Carnelian and only has sixty mana could make a standard item, but couldn’t afford the mana cost to make the multi-rune version.

Similarly, this means that any multi-rune item you’re making is — by necessity — going to be weaker than whatever your own maximum mana is, since you’re basically splitting your mana three ways to make it. For that reason, I didn’t envision myself making a lot of multi-rune items. I preferred to take the time to put the strongest individual runes on an item that I could afford. The only exception was emergency situations, like when I made my rock of regeneration to help Vera. In that kind of scenario, slapping a multi-rune onto an item might be a good approach.

Next, there were runestones. The term “runestone” was something of a misnomer, as it didn’t necessarily refer to stones: rather, it was a term for any form of rune crafted in three-dimensions rather than two. These were extremely complex and I didn’t get a good idea of how they worked, but the general idea was that they worked something like multi-runes, but with a vastly greater number of available features. Presumably, this was due to the higher number of visual permutations available on three-dimensional figure, but I didn’t find a lot of details. They were very rarely used by ordinary Enchanters due to prohibitive mana costs and raw material requirements.

I’d seen runestones before without knowing what they were, most notably in the prison within the spire where I’d first met Vera and Keras. I hoped to study those eventually, but for the moment, I had a higher priority. I was much more interested in the third and final type of compound runes that I’d learned about: dynamic runes.

Dynamic runes were the type of compound runes that worked the most similarly to attunements. A dynamic rune did absolutely nothing on its own. Instead, a dynamic rune was “primed” to accept sub-glyphs of the appropriate element. You can think of a dynamic rune as being like an empty container for magical functions. Once you had charged a dynamic rune with mana, you could use a spell called “Apply Sub-Glyphs” to “write” the sub-glyphs for the dynamic rune. This wouldn’t change the dynamic rune’s outward appearance unless you added a function specifically for that.

I researched the Apply Sub-Glyphs spell and figured out how to use it; it was basically an extension of the Analyze Attunement Composition spell I’d already been working on. Relatedly, sub-glyphs could also be edited after being written by using the Analyze Attunement Composition spell. (Really, “Analyze Attunement Composition” should have been named “Analyze Sub-Glyphs”, but I digress.)

While dynamic runes were theoretically usable by any Enchanter, they had several downsides. The main issue was needing to learn a significant amount of sub-glyph language just to make basic functions. Apparently, just figuring out how to make something as simple as a dueling cane through dynamic runes generally took years of study.

Due to their complexity, dynamic runes were also prone to failures and accidents. It was easy to make a dynamic rune that didn’t do anything at all due to an error in sub-glyph language. More serious mistakes could cause deadly consequences: a failure to write a proper capacity function could make the whole item explode, for example.

Beyond that, there was also making sure that the dynamic rune was set up to hold the right amount of mana for any functions that were written in it, which was a complex endeavor in itself.

All in all, most Enchanters would never bother using dynamic runes, but I absolutely planned to study them. They had the potential to allow for levels of customization that I found enthralling, but I knew that it would be a significant amount of time before I was writing any on my own.

Visually, a dynamic rune looked a lot like a single rune for an element, but with unique pointed symbols above and below.

The knowledge of how compound runes worked opened some doors in my mind. I’d known Selys-Lyann had too few runes on it to handle the types of abilities it provided, and I’d suspected they were compound, but I didn’t have any way of evaluating them properly before. Now, I could eventually plan to analyze their sub-glyphs to figure out more about how the sword functioned.

Maybe I’ll be able to figure out how to interface with the sword’s spirit functions and get better control of it…but I probably should wait a while.

Once I crack that, though…maybe I can start making some of these myself. I wonder if there’s a class on this for second year students. I’d better pick up all the books I can here in case there isn’t.

Either way, learning this is going to take a while.

Sub-glyphs were an entire language, after all, and I was prioritizing studying the sub-glyphs related to attunement functions. Compound runes were another entire field of research.

I learned enough to understand some of the basic sub-glyphs within each of the major functions of my own attunements, but even as the end of the week approached, I wasn’t at all confident in my ability to tinker with anything safely.

That was, of course, exactly what Annabelle Farren must have wanted.

She’d given me bait. Just enough information to realize the vast potential of learning sub-glyphs and getting involved with modifying attunements, but not enough to do it myself.

And even if I’d learned the details of the sub-glyphs, the rest of the week made it clear that I didn’t actually have the resources to make entirely new attunements on my own.

They didn’t show me the whole process — trade secrets and all that — but they did show me enough to understand that it was expensive.

They had a facility for creating attunement primers, which were basically the same thing as that liquid I’d taken from the spire and given to Sera. That primer itself was tremendously expensive, but cheap compared to the rest of the process.

The more expensive part was creating what they called an “attunement application enchantment”.

Basically, it was an enchantment that, when activated, cast a spell on someone and gave them the desired attunement after they drank the primer. The component parts necessary to create that enchantment were colossally expensive. The most obvious were Class 4 mana crystals for every mana type the attunement was giving out, as well as several more crystals for other functions.

Then, there was the cost of the “applicator”, the device that was used to apply the enchantment itself. Those were also extremely expensive because they were made from a rare material (they wouldn’t tell me what it was) with a tremendously high mana capacity, which was necessary to hold all of the functions for the attunement application enchantment.

The end of the process created an attunement vial – a vial of liquid holding a primer, with a cap that served as an applicator. To gain an artificial attunement, someone would drink the primer, then press the applicator cap against their body and speak a command word, activating the applicator and creating the artificial attunement.

This also had to be done in a safe environment, often with other spells being used to suppress existing attunements to avoid interference with the process — otherwise you could get things like Sera’s contracts interfering and causing bad things to happen when someone drank the primer.

All in all? The cost of a single artificial attunement was absolutely ludicrous. They weren’t generally sold to the public — only to people like corporate investors, national leaders, and military officials — but when they were sold, it was for hundreds of thousands of silver. That was comparable to multiple Emerald-level items or at least a city block worth of property.

I had absolutely no hope of affording to buy something like that. Even buying the component parts and trying to make the applicator myself was both well beyond my finances and beyond my enchanting ability. Each of the component enchantments for making an applicator was somewhere in the Citrine range.

Which is, of course, how Caelford — which didn’t ordinarily get Enchanters from their local spire — managed to hook a number of promising Enchanters into working on their projects.

“If an Enchanter works here for four years,” Kahi explained, “they get an artificial attunement vial, as well as free use of our facilities to apply the vial to themselves or a chosen recipient. I’m sure by now you understand exactly how good of a deal that is. And as an Arbiter, we’re willing to offer you something extra if you agree to work with us.”

With two days left of my tour of Farren Labs, I headed back to the hotel with a job offer that would be terribly difficult to refuse.

Chapter V – Detection Magic

“Corin Cadence, cautious career criminal, cunningly contrives—”

I cut Sera off right there. “That’s more than enough alliteration. Get to the point.”

“You’re trying to come up with reasons why it’s safe to keep working there because you’re enjoying yourself. It’s a trap, Corin. Like, the world’s most obvious trap. They don’t want you there as a person. They want your Arbiter mark.”

I blinked. “Well, yeah, obviously. Come on, give me a little credit, here. Do you really think I’m that naïve?”

Sera just gave me a look.

I threw my hands up. “Fine, fine! I’ve made some questionable decisions where trust is involved. But most of them have worked out in the long run.”

“Orden and Jin both nearly killed us.”

“Eh, I don’t think Jin would have killed us. He probably only would have killed Vera.”

“That’s…not a lot better.” Sera sighed. “Look, I don’t want to be harsh, especially since you’re obviously enjoying yourself. Which is rare. Like, shockingly rare. But this whole thing is a huge warning sign, Corin. They’re incredibly sketchy. Like, they’re sketching several things at once, and you’re seeing them all like a final product.”

“I am at least…reasonably confident that isn’t what sketchy means.”

“My point is that if you agree to this now, you’re going to regret it later. Or, at very least, the rest of us will.”

I sighed. “I…need more time, though. I’ve asked some questions about Arbiters and stuff, but it’s been kind of hard to get much of anything about Warren Constantine specifically without sounding suspicious. Maybe if I just take a year—”

Sera reached into a bag, withdrew a file, and handed it to me.

I blinked. “This is…”

“Warren Constantine’s employment records for Farren Labs.”

I stared blankly at the file. “You…wait…how? Do they have no security at all? No, I’ve seen their security. What did you do, Sera?”

“So accusatory! I’ll have you know this wasn’t stolen.”

I stared at her accusingly.

“Hey! Don’t look so suspicious. I did have to do a little sneaking to find the right place, but the document itself is a copy.”

“A copy? How?”

Sera grinned. “Well, I was going to keep it a secret, but since you’re so impressed…hold on a moment.”

Sera left the room briefly, returning a few minutes later with Researcher.

Why didn’t she just summon her? I suppose it’s a waste of mana if Researcher is just down the hall…and maybe Researcher doesn’t like being summoned. I know she doesn’t like being unsummoned, I suppose just being teleported could cause her some distress, if to a lesser extent.

Maybe I should have asked, but I didn’t like prying into that sort of thing.

Researcher smiled at me as she entered. “Master Cadence, Miss Cadence, how may I be of service?”

Sera lazily waved a hand in my direction. “Tell Corin about your documentation abilities.”

“Of course.” Researcher nodded, then turned to me. “As a Researcher with a library focus, I have the ability to quickly absorb the information in written documents. This allows me to rapidly reconstruct any document I have viewed, either through a projection,” she raised a hand, and a phantasmal parchment appeared in front of her, “or, if desired, by physically copying that information by hand.”

I raised the document Sera had handed to me. “So, you hand-wrote this after seeing the original?”

“Not precisely. I scanned the original document magically; I never read it. Additionally, I did not write it manually. I used a device called a typewriter, which allowed for increased legibility and precision.”

I blinked. I’d seen a typewriter in the archive before, so I knew what one was. “Aren’t those expensive?”

“They are much more common in Caelford, and Miss Cadence was able to borrow access to one of them at the lab. From my understanding, she was under considerably less scrutiny than you were in general, and had more downtime.”

I nodded. That made a degree of sense. “How’d you find the right document?”

“At a certain point in Sera’s tour, they asked her to demonstrate one of her existing contracts. She wisely asked for them to wait a bit and returned to the hotel to retrieve me and acquire permission for me to join the facility tour. As we toured the facility, I silently began to scan for nearby documents for the appearance of the words ‘Warren Constantine’. I have a relatively wide range for this, but it takes some time. When I found these words, I analyzed and stored the entire relevant documents. The one in your possession is his personnel file, although he was mentioned in several others.”

“That is…pretty incredible, Researcher. I didn’t know you could do that.”

Researcher beamed. “The acquisition, storage, and presentation of knowledge are some of my core functions. I know a variety of spells for those purposes. It has been a pleasure to be able to utilize them for new information, outside of the scope of the school library.”

“I’m glad. I hope we can find you plenty more information to work with in the future.”

Researcher bowed. “It would be my great pleasure.”

Sera turned to her. “Thanks, Researcher. Good explanation. You can head back to our room.”

“I will do so.” Researcher bowed and left to return to the other hotel room.

Sera turned back to me. “Pretty useful, right?”

“Incredibly so. I knew she worked in the archive, but…I’d always pictured her just manually memorizing things, just with an enhanced mind. This is far more impressive.”

“Elementals aren’t quite like us. They’re more specialized than even the most capable humans – and because of that, they can do some truly impressive things. Which, of course, I intend to use to our utmost advantage.”

I grinned. Sometimes, Sera and I thought along similar lines. “Good. So, I’ll read this soon, but if you want to summarize…”

“In summary, Warren Constantine was the only Arbiter they could get to work here for an extended period of time. He was integral to the start of the project and super passionate. When he left, they got Biomancers to replace him, but they’re not quite as good at human Enchantment stuff because they don’t have the same automatic purification function that Arbiters do. So, they needed to get Citrine-level Biomancers to do the same work as an Arbiter, and even then, apparently Arbiters are just able to handle some elements of the project more intuitively. They implied higher-level Arbiters have some special functions that help, but I didn’t find any details.”

I nodded. That sounded about like what I expected. “From my own research, it sounds like most of the other Arbiters work for visages directly. There are normally only a handful of us at any given time — like, one or two per visage. There’s clearly a demand for more Arbiters, but the lab isn’t making artificial ones.”

“Hm. Might antagonize the visages if Arbiters are supposed to be restricted.”

“I think that’s plausible. If Wydd considers them forbidden knowledge, maybe duplicating their functions would be politically problematic. It’s very possible they simply don’t know how to make all the Arbiter functions, since it’s such a rare attunement.”

“I think you’ve caught the most likely explanation, there.” Sera gestured at my hand. “You mentioned that spell they taught you early on for scanning attunements. I get the impression that spell didn’t exist when Warren Constantine worked for them, or that he was simply too secretive to let them use it on him. Either way, I don’t think they’ve had a chance to use it on an Arbiter yet.”

“Agreed. They want the sub-glyphs. They’ve been nice about it, but Ashon hasn’t exactly been subtle about his interest.”

“Wow. If you think someone is unsubtle…”

“Come on, I’m not that bad…am I?” I gave her a quizzical look.

Sera just snorted.

I tried not to be too hurt by that. “Fine, fine. Either way, I haven’t let them use the analysis spell on my Arbiter mark yet. Unless they can do it silently, from a distance, like what Researcher was doing with books. Or they have runes on the walls that record the runes of everyone who walks in. Or…”

“I get it. It’s possible they had a way to do it subtly and remotely that you couldn’t detect. Yeah, that’s an issue.” Sera frowned. “But this Ashon guy has still been asking to see it?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “Every day. I thought it might just be a personal interest at first — and there’s probably some of that — but I was already on my guard with the facility, so I kept saying ‘no’. I’m glad I did, because it’s been more and more obvious that they assigned him to me with the intent to get that information. I suspect they tried to find someone I’d naturally be inclined to trust.”

“So, you’re saying he’s cute, then?”

I let out an exasperated sigh. “I meant someone that shared my interests in esoteric enchantment theory. I’m not here to find a date.”

“But if you were, someone who is obviously befriending you with ulterior motives does seem like your type.”

“Ouch. That happened once, Sera. Once.”

Sera shrugged. “Verdict isn’t out on Cecily yet.”

“Oh, come on. We’ve known each other since we were kids!”

She gave me a mischievous grin. “So, you’re not denying that you’re interested in Ceci, then.”

I groaned. “I don’t know. I still don’t think I get this whole romance thing, and honestly, it’s not all that important right now. Are you really concerned Cecily might be planning to stab us in the back? I thought you liked her.”

“Eh. I do like her. But she was a little too ready to jump into that spire for a second Judgment as a Carnelian. Sure, Farren said some weird prophetic nonsense, but that shouldn’t be enough to assure Cecily that it’s safe. She’s hiding something.”

“You don’t think she’s just trying to keep up with the rest of us? I thought she was sincere about feeling like she was behind the curve compared to the rest of our group.”

“Oh, I do think she was being sincere about that. I also think she was afraid to go back in that spire…but not afraid enough. I think Tristan told her something he didn’t tell the rest of us. Maybe he made arrangements for her to get a second attunement safely. He clearly has other Whispers that he’s working with, and we’re in Caelford, where the whole artificial attunement thing started. This is the spire he’d be most likely to have connections to.”

I shook my head. “Why not just tell us about that, then?”

“Compartmentalizing is a good way to determine if he has a leak somewhere in his information network. It’s also very probable that he doesn’t want you interacting with specific Whispers, since he doesn’t want other people to know how heavily involved you are in all this. That helps keep you safer. He might also think you wouldn’t approve of whatever he’s doing with Cecily. You’re extremely risk averse, and even if he’s rigging a Judgment on Cecily’s behalf, it can’t be entirely risk-free for her. Finally, Tristan is probably just used to keeping secrets. It may not be intuitive to him to share.”

Sera…had a point. Several, in fact. It was glaringly obvious that she was better at reading people than I was. I wasn’t sure if I should be jealous of that, grateful, or both.

I exhaled a breath. “Okay. Let’s say Tristan rigged this Judgment for Cecily somehow. Wouldn’t she be back by now?”

Sera shrugged. “Depends on how subtle he’s being about it. If I was in Tristan’s position, I’d want the Judgment to look as normal as possible. Maybe take measures to ensure that Cecily doesn’t die, and probably decide her secondary attunement in advance rather than basing it on the test results. That kind of thing would be harder to detect if any other Whispers are auditing it. Given that it’s a second Judgment, maybe they even have multiple Whispers monitoring it at the same time, and whoever works for Tristan is having to help in extremely subtle ways.”

“…And if they can’t find a window to do so, Cecily could still die in the process. She could be dead already.”

“True, but unlikely. She has items to escape. While we have run into anti-teleportation runes, and the chances of something killing her instantly exist, I think the odds of her survival are higher than even an initial Judgment would be.”

“That doesn’t really line up with second Judgment numbers.”

“Eh, I’ve read those studies, too, but they don’t include factors like how many people take return bells with them. It’s just success, escape, and disappearance rates. We don’t know what the odds would be specifically for people who do bring a bell, and your item is better than a standard bell.”

I nodded slowly. I hoped Sera was right. It was making me nervous just to think about it. “Okay. I’ll try to believe Cecily is still alive in there.”

“You had faith in Tristan. He survived.” Sera grinned at me. “You of all people should remember that.”

“I…sort of. Tristan’s situation isn’t exactly what I would call ideal.” I forced a weak smile. “I don’t want to think about that right now. Back to our previous talk. Warren Constantine. What happened to him?”

 Sera winced. “The records were honestly a little vague on that. The basics, though? He had a huge argument with Farren, stormed out of the building, and just…vanished. Didn’t even collect his last paycheck. Records say that they tried to contact him at his last known address, but they found the place totally abandoned.”

“Hm. Maybe we could check the place out with Researcher and see if she can find any leads on where he went?”

“We already did.”

I blinked. “What? Did you find anything?”

She shook her head. “Nothing of interest. It’s been over a decade. Unless he’s the type to keep things in secret compartments, it’s unlikely there’s any trace of him to find. Admittedly, he does seem like the type that might do that, but the new owners of the place weren’t going to let us go poking and prodding walls. They weren’t related to Constantine. Hadn’t even heard of him. There have been at least at three other owners since he left.”

“You’ve done that much research on this already? How long ago did you get this file?”

“Day two.” She shrugged.

“And you didn’t tell me? Why?”

“Because you seemed like you were having a good time. And I hadn’t seen you enjoy yourself that sincerely since…I don’t even know when. It’s supposed to be our vacation. I wanted you to actually have one.”

“…Oh.”

Sera smiled. “I do actually care about your well-being, you know.”

“I…know. Thanks, Sera.” I didn’t know what else to say to that. I probably should have told her I cared about her, too. Which I do. But I’m really bad at that sort of thing. I’m much better at awkwardly avoiding the subject. “So, uh, that house has other people in it. And no trace of Constantine.”

“Apartment, actually, but yeah. No trace we could find. You might have better luck if you want to go. The owners were pretty nice.”

“I’ll…uh, pass.” The very idea of trying to talk to strangers for a purpose like that made me shudder. “Any other leads on him?”

“There are things in the file about previous disputes between Warren and Farren, but not a lot of details. Farren herself would be the best resource, but I don’t think we should ask her. This is one place where I actually agree with Tristan — she is absolutely not to be trusted. She has an angle on this, above and beyond just experimenting with children and turning them into super weapons. I don’t know what that angle is, but I have a feeling we’re safer not prying into it right now.”

I nodded, thinking. “Okay. What about physically tracing Warren’s current location using a tracking spell? If we had something tied to him, like some of his blood…”

“I doubt they’ve got any of that handy. And even if they did, Arbiter attunements scrub mana signatures. Would an Arbiter even be traceable like that?”

“I don’t actually know. Hm. Valid question. Can you go grab Researcher again and have her try to track me?”

“Sure. Back in a few.”

A few minutes later, they returned. Researcher folded her arms in front of her in what must have been some kind of friendly gesture I wasn’t familiar with. “I am pleased to see you again so soon, Master Cadence. Is there something I can assist you with?”

“Yep. Question. Will an Arrow of Direction spell work on someone like Corin with no mana signature?”

Researcher turned her head to me, then back to Sera. “Technically, the answer to that is ‘yes’, but according to my attempts to extrapolate your intentions, the answer is somewhat more nuanced.”

Sera furrowed her brow. “Elaborate.”

“An Arrow of Direction targeting an individual without a mana signature will simply show everyone and everything in the area without a mana signature. For example, if there are other items in the area that have been purified, or other Arbiters, they would all appear the same to a standard Arrow of Direction spell. When I cast one a moment ago, for example, it displayed several arrows — one to Corin and one to each of the items he crafted that each of you are currently wearing.”

I exhaled a breath. “That’s…useful to know, Researcher, thank you.”

“I strive to be useful and informative at all times, Master Cadence.” She gave me a mild bow. “Is there anything else I can assist you with?”

“Is there another way to use an Arrow of Direction to search for Corin more easily?” Sera asked.

“Allow me a moment to process.” Exactly one moment later, Researcher spoke again. “Not with that particular spell. There are, however, variants that are capable of searching based on criteria other than mana structure. Contract-based tracking spells and spells that search based on shade or spirit signatures are possible. I am personally capable of casting a spirit-based variant on Arrow of Direction called Spirit Tracking, as well as a number of sub-variants, such as—”

Sera cut her off with a wave. “Is that spell something you could teach to us?”

“To Corin, yes. He has sufficient mental mana for that purpose. While the conditions of our contract do enable me to provide you with mental mana, I regret to inform you that your total mana capacity is too low to cast even the weakest variation on this spell.”

Sera rubbed at the top of her nose in obvious frustration. “You don’t need to remind me of my insufficient mana pool. But thank you, Researcher. What would this spell require to cast?”

“It’s largely identical to Arrow of Direction, it simply detects the target based on a different type of energy. This is somewhat more difficult to execute; as prerequisites, I would need to teach Corin a basic Detect Spirit spell, as well as a Spirit Perception spell.”

“Wouldn’t those require spirit mana?” I asked.

“There are variants that draw from spirit mana for a higher degree of fidelity, but mental mana is capable of granting senses outside of the scope of the mana types that you personally possess. This is, for example, how you are capable of identifying mana types you are not capable of casting when you cast the Lesser Identify spell.”

I nodded to her. “Ah. That makes sense. So, I’m basically doing something like Detect Aura, but tuned toward only one specific mana type?”

“You are correct. Then, from there, you will need to learn to combine that with a function similar to Arrow of Direction.”

That actually sounded pretty simple, all things considered. “Okay. Once I’ve learned the spells, what would we need?”

“Something possessing a sample of the target’s spirit. Given that the parameters you’ve given me are ‘track Corin’, you could use yourself easily enough, but my assessment is that you are merely an example case, rather than the intended subject. Is that correct?”

I gave her an affirmative gesture. “We’re looking at tracking another Arbiter, and I was an example.”

 “Understood.” Researcher looked back to Sera. “You would need something with a sample of the appropriate Arbiter’s spirit, which may prove challenging to obtain. A spirit-bonded item would serve, but such things are rare. A more likely source would be some of the Arbiter’s blood.”

“I don’t think we’re going to get blood or anything like that. Would something he used, like a pen, be good enough?” Sera asked.

“Ordinary objects do not generally contain a spiritual imprint unless the user is extraordinarily powerful. Memory sorcery can attempt to tap into the past history of an object, but that is a different discipline and requires a distinct mana type.”

I blinked. That was interesting, but not exactly what we needed. “Okay. Probably nothing mundane, then. What about a magical item he enchanted?”

Researcher put a hand to her lips, her expression turning thoughtful. “I am uncertain. There are spirit-based interactions in the Enchanting process, but I have not personally tested spirit-based tracking in that way. If you’ll permit me a moment…”

She closed her eyes. “Yes, your items do contain a spirit signature. It is minor and may be unreliable, however. My suspicion is that it will decay over time.”

I shrugged. “Better than nothing. Are you willing to teach me all those spells?”

“Of course, Master Cadence. I would be delighted!” Researcher smiled. “Summoner, you may watch us, of course, for the time when your mana is sufficient to cast these basic spells.”

Sera groaned. “I…really wish you wouldn’t put it like that. But fine.” She sighed. “Let’s learn some magic.”

***

We spent much of the evening learning a few new spells. Researcher was a surprisingly good teacher, and it helped that everything she was teaching me was just variations on spells I already knew.

Within a few hours, I felt like I had a handle on a few basics: Detect Spirit, Spirit Perception, and Spirit Tracking.

She also taught me one more spell that was only tangentially related: Identify. This was a straightforward upgrade to my existing Lesser Identify spell. It provided a bit more detailed information on the functions of the rune or item I was trying to identify, which would be useful if I came across any unusual objects during my search.

From there, Researcher taught me how to add one additional parameter: tracking distance. This was something I’d wanted to learn for my original Arrow of Direction, but the mana cost was prohibitive at the time. Now, with weeks and weeks of training behind me, it was only somewhat prohibitive. I could cast a new “Analytical Arrow of Direction” spell a few times without feeling it too much, but it depended on how high I wanted to set my maximum range.

Finally, I finished our training by learning the spirit-based variant on that spell: Spirit Tracking Analytical Arrow.

With all that finally completed, Researcher headed back to the other hotel room. I had a mild headache, so naturally I switched to reading boring paperwork to finish out the evening.

I spent a while reading the file on Warren Constantine, but Sera had already summarized the most important bits. Employment records weren’t exactly the most tantalizing reading material, and I didn’t find anything that gave me new leads.

I did find one thing that added to my picture of him. There were no records of any local family members. Not a lot of talk about friends, either. He didn’t even have an emergency contact listed.

There was something about a mother in Valia, but weirdly, all the details on her were redacted. I figured I could dig into that when I got home, but it didn’t seem likely to turn up anything useful while I was in Caelford.

There were a few notations about disciplinary action for “erratic behavior” in the file, but no details on them.

I asked Sera if she’d talked to anyone else about Warren. She’d asked around about him a bit, but he’d been gone so long that most of the employees who had been there during his time had already left the company. The others were higher-ups and executives, and she didn’t want to raise any alarms by approaching them about Warren. I agreed. I didn’t want to bring any extra scrutiny on us.

I finished reading, slept very little, and prepared for the last two days of my tour.

***

I woke early the next day with a plan. It wasn’t necessarily a good plan, but it gave us the slimmest bit of insurance against Farren’s machinations.

First, I cast the Analyze Attunement Composition spell on my own Arbiter attunement. Symbols flooded into my mind, near incomprehensible in the first moments, but progressively clearer as I began to focus.

Next, I cast Accelerated Computation. I couldn’t maintain it for long, but it made the next part of the task vastly easier.

As I continued to concentrate, I focused on individual sections of the sub-glyphs. I could pick out familiar symbols here and there, but I was still far from being able to understand the entire language. That would take months at a minimum, and more likely years.

I did, however, understand enough to pick out some major sections of the sub-glyphs. As I envisioned the sea of symbols, I identified sections that were identical to my Enchanter attunement — things like a section that caused my body to generate transference mana, as well as things I now understood to be baseline attunement functions, like creating a rune symbol on my body and activating specific functions at specific safety levels.

I ignored those sections and focused on the parts that were different.

There were some that were similar, but different. A section that controlled the generation of life mana, for example, and things like the proportion of the attunement’s mana that would be allocated toward that specific mana type. That latter part was interesting, since it meant I could potentially learn to tune the specific proportions of mana in my attunement if I had a slightly better understanding of what I was doing, but I ignored it for the moment.

The sections that I was looking for would be completely unique — things that didn’t resemble the sub-glyphs in my Enchanter attunement at all.

Fortunately, the Analyze Attunement Composition spell sorted the sub-glyphs into clear sections in my mind, which made the process of sifting through them a little bit easier.

Maybe a clearer visual would help.

When I cast the spell, I saw something in my mind that looked like dozens of pieces of paper laid flat on a table. Each piece of paper was covered in sub-glyphs that represented an individual attunement function, with sections of papers grouped together for related functions. There were symbols hovering above each group of pages, giving me a quick idea of what function each section covered.

For example, there was a section of papers that all related to the generation and control of transference mana, and another section of papers that controlled shroud functions. Connected to those were another set of papers that handled things like mana-type specializations, which I didn’t currently have.

This wasn’t quite how Ashon had described it to me before. Apparently, the spell’s visualization varied a bit from person to person. I suppose paper simply made sense to me on some kind of sub-conscious level.

Anyway, I could “look” at any individual paper to see it more closely. I could also “move” the papers in my mind without actually changing anything in my attunement, just in my visualization.

There was only one small problem: when I picked up some of the stacks of paper, they looked blank.

I stared at them in my mental space, confused and annoyed. As I focused, I poured a little more mental mana into my spell and saw…

Gibberish. Unreadable, blurred symbols. A headache blossomed in my mind, sudden and sharp in my temples. I found myself dropping the strange papers and pulling away from them in my mental space, momentarily losing my grip on the spell.

Back in the real world, I blinked, rubbing at the sides of my head.

What was that? Why did those…?

Oh.

My jaw tightened.

Security measures. Of course. There are probably certain sub-glyph functions the visages don’t want every random person with mental mana to be able to reverse engineer.

I wished I’d been warned about that, but it wasn’t entirely surprising.

It did add another level to why artificial attunement design took so much work, even with spells like Analyze Attunement Composition available. Even if looking at some attunement functions was possible, if some were protected by some kind of anti-tampering or anti-viewing functions, that meant attunements could not be entirely analyzed and reconstructed even if someone understood the entire sub-glyph language.

Breaking the security might be theoretically possible, but it would be ludicrous to put it in there at all if some Carnelian could handle it. That’s probably Emerald-level work at a minimum if I want to brute force it. More likely, I’ll have to either find a way to circumvent the security measures or simply try to reconstruct the parts that are hidden from context.

Annoying.

Let’s see what I can find without having to worry about that.

I cast Analyze Attunement Composition again, refocusing on my original task.

Fortunately, that hidden text didn’t handle the sections I was looking for. It took me some time to sift through and find the right parts — the text was still in a language I barely understood, after all. But eventually, I’d found the critical components: The two “unique” functions of my attunement. Automatic purification and the ability to transfer mana to others.

Once I’d identified those sections of sub-glyphs, I began the next section of my task, which was rather tedious. I remembered the shape of a few glyphs, then dismissed the spell and wrote those glyphs down. Then, I recast the spell and wrote down the next line of glyphs.

I repeated this until I had copied down the entire list of sub-glyphs for each function.

There was the possibility that some necessary parts were in the hidden sub-glyphs that remained unreadable to me, so I couldn’t count on these glyphs being enough to reproduce the functions elsewhere. That was a little irritating, but I was still very early in the process of analyzing my attunement, and I figured it would be solvable eventually.

I wanted to do the same thing with Sera, to find what distinguished her own Invoker attunement from a standard Summoner, but I didn’t have a “normal” Summoner to compare her functions to. Thus, that part would have to wait.

For the moment, I needed to do something important before going to the lab for the next part of the tour—

I headed to the closest local patent office.

Then I did some research, confirming that sub-glyphs for attunements could, in fact, be patented.

…And there was no existing patent on the sub-glyphs for the unique functions of the Arbiter attunement, nor any broad sub-glyph patent that clearly encompassed them.

I borrowed a few coins from Sera to pay the modest fee and filed my first patent with Caelford’s patent office.

I’d have to wait for a while for the patent to be reviewed…

…But if it worked, I’d have a patent on the unique portions of the Arbiter attunement.

And even if Farren Labs somehow got a chance to steal a glance at my attunement’s inner workings, if they decided to try to make artificial Arbiter attunements — which I expected was their plan — they’d have to deal with my patent first.

And that meant they would owe me what I hoped would be a near-incalculable amount of money.

I took the time to mail off a second copy of patent paperwork to Valia, in order to register the patent with my home nation as well. That would take even longer to process, but getting the first step done was important.

My patent-in-progress wasn’t foolproof protection by any means. I knew Farren Labs would have powerful lawyers on hand that could dispute the patent if it went through. My patent also wouldn’t last forever, even if it was approved. I was hoping for about fifteen years at best. Still, any tool at my disposal was better than none.

I felt a little better when I made my way to the office that day to continue my research. Now, at least, I had a new card to play.

Chapter VI – About Arbiters

Since I have a mental attunement, you might think that I’d be naturally disposed toward investigation. In some respects, that’s true. I love reading books, learning new spells, and experimenting with enchantments.

My trouble begins as soon as other people are involved.

If I was Sera, maybe I could have subtly manipulated people, teasing secrets out of them gradually over time. If I was Keras, I probably would have just walked up to Farren directly and demanded answers. Maybe punched a wall or something, too. If I was Jin, I probably could have just walked straight in and taken relevant documents without any of them noticing.

But I wasn’t any of those people. And while I was pretty good at pretending to be the noble heir to a house when dealing with specific social circles, playing that particular role wasn’t of any use in this situation.

So, I fell back on doing what I did best: avoiding people entirely.

Kahi was still responsible for my tour, but over the last few days, she’d given me more latitude to wander about the facility as long as I didn’t interfere with anyone’s work. As I mentioned, most of that time was spent studying sub-glyphs, which seemed perfectly fine — it was reasonable preparation work for a future career at Farren Labs.

When I felt sufficiently clear from direct observation, I turned my research toward a different subject that still was easily justified — tools used in the process of creating artificial attunements. There weren’t any full books on the subject, but they had plenty of documents for me to read through, including some that were primers intended for new Enchanters.

I took a stack of them and sat down in the cafeteria to read. Most of them contained information I was already familiar with, but occasionally, I’d come across something interesting. For example, I found one on the subject of mana purification that was potentially relevant.

When creating artificial attunement vials, we must first ensure that both the mana in the primer solution and applicator are properly purified. There are three authorized procedures for this process.

The most common procedure, which is employed by most of our Enchanters, is the process of purifying the mana through the use of a distillery. This can be done with the primer solution, but not the applicator, since the applicator’s mana is never in a liquid state. (Liquefying the mana and then moving it to the primer afterward will add a mana signature, invalidating the process.)

For this reason, low-level Enchanters can handle the primer process, but not the applicator.

Purifying an applicator requires a second process, referred to in this document as Mana Signature Erasure. This process utilizes light mana, which is available at Citrine-level in the Enchanter attunement, to purify the mana in the Enchanter’s body before transferring it into the applicator. This process is not discussed in this document; see the Mana Signature Erasure document for more details on this subject.

Finally, the Arbiter attunement is known for automatically purifying the mana in the Arbiter’s body. For this reason, Arbiters who also possess an Enchanter attunement are able to create primers and applicators without any additional steps being needed, provided they have sufficient understanding of the process and enough mana. Unfortunately, Arbiters are rare, and Arbiters paired with Enchanter attunements are even harder to find.

Due to early incidents of mana poisoning occurring from improperly purified primers and applicators, an early member of the project developed a process — known as the Constantine Process — for verifying the purity of mana.

The Constantine Process requires a three-stage check of mana purity for the primer and applicator before distribution. The first step is to use a Seal Verifier to determine that the bottle and applicator are both properly sealed, preventing any mana from leaking into the primer or applicator from the environment.

The second step is to manually use a Mana Structure Comparison spell to compare the primer and applicator’s mana signature to a stored, Arbiter-purified sample. If this is conducted properly, the mana signatures of the two should match, since they should both be pure.

The third step is a final check with a Signature Verifier to test the mana signature of the primer and applicator. This is a redundant procedure with the second step due to the possibility that the Arbiter-purified sample could have been contaminated at some point in time.

Each step is capable of detecting distinct forms of impurities, and thus, they are all necessary for safety. We are gradually working toward eliminating the first two steps, but currently, the Signature Verifier tool is not sensitive enough to detect some of the differences a Mana Comparison spell can.

I set the primer down. I’d found what I was looking for, or at least a lead. Several, really.

If the Constantine Process was named after Warren Constantine, it was very likely that he had designed — and possibly personally Enchanted — some of the tools that were being used.

Perhaps more importantly, they had Arbiter-purified samples in storage somewhere. Those samples could have come from a different Arbiter in theory, but given how rare the Enchanter and Arbiter combination was, I thought there were good odds that at least some of the samples were from Constantine himself.

I scanned through the remaining documents for anything relevant, but I didn’t find any leads that were as solid as that one. I returned the documents. The next step of the process, unfortunately, would require talking to people.

I debated who to talk to. Kahi was ostensibly responsible for me and the obvious option, but she reported directly to Farren and seemed like the type to be paying close attention to everything I was doing. If I behaved suspiciously in the slightest, she’d probably notice. And, frankly speaking, I’ve never been great at being sneaky or subtle.

It was very plausible she was monitoring me regardless of where I was or what I was doing, but I didn’t want to be hyper-paranoid about that. I didn’t really have any way to work around it without behaving more suspiciously. And if I was already being watched, going straight to her still didn’t feel advantageous.

My options weren’t particularly appealing, either.

Nakht was around, but terrifying, so I avoided even considering him as an option.

I could have just gone and asked Farren for information directly, but I’d discounted that at the start of the process. I knew she’d had a fight with Constantine before he vanished. I still intended to ask her for teaching (whatever that meant), since she’d offered it, but I wasn’t going to involve her in my Constantine investigation when she was likely directly involved in his disappearance.

That left Ashon. He was, at once, both the best and the worst option.

I’d been given instructions to go to him about Enchanting-related matters, but he also was way too interested in my Arbiter attunement. If he somehow got a chance to analyze it without my noticing, which wouldn’t be difficult, I had to hope my pending patent would be enough to keep me valuable to Farren Labs.

So, with that in mind, I went to find him.

***

“Ah. Arbiter. Hand?” He gestured at my glove.

“No, Ashon. I haven’t accepted a job offer yet.”

His expression sunk. “But…but why?”

“I haven’t even finished my second year at school yet, you know. And I don’t live here.”

He scoffed. “School? What’s that going to do for you? And I’m sure Farren would buy you a place here if you need one. You’re an Arbiter, you know.”

“I had noticed that last part, thank you.” I sighed. “You have a point about school having minimal value in terms of my Enchanting career, but I have other reasons to be there. Friends…family.”

“Oh. I…see.” He looked noticeably disappointed. I tried not let his feelings on the matter sway me too much. “Fine, then. Did you need something?”

“Actually, yes. I was hoping you could quickly show me the whole process of making an attunement primer, applicator, and all that. I might be doing it someday, even if I decide not to take the job right now, and I’d like get a visual look at what it entails.”

“Hm.” He frowned. “Sounds boring, but I guess I’ll do it if it’ll make you stay.”

“It…won’t necessarily make me stay. But it might help the odds a little?”

He seemed to consider that, then dropped the tool he was holding unceremoniously and stood up from his chair. The tool slid precariously toward the edge of the table, but stopped before falling this time. “Okay. Let’s make an attunement.”

***

Ashon led me to a room that looked like an alchemical laboratory. This was because it was, in fact, an alchemical laboratory — just a very specialized one.

“The purification room.” Ashon waved a hand at the room from the entrance. I saw about a dozen people sitting at stations with what I recognized to be mana distilleries. “You know how it works?”

“Yeah, sure, the mana has to be purified before it—”

“Great, we’re skipping this room, then.” He shut the door. “It’s boring and you don’t need to do it.”

I frowned. It might have been nice to look at the tools there to see if any of them could be traced to Constantine, but admittedly, his equipment was more likely to be at later stages in the process.

“This way.” Ashon led me back to a hall, around a corner, and to another room. “The applicator foundry. More interesting.”  He opened the door.

Inside, I saw a bunch of people sitting at desks with what looked like fairly standard enchanting equipment, with a couple exceptions.

“Here, come on. We’ll grab a blank.” Ashon led me through the room, ignored everyone present, and opened a cabinet labeled “Do Not Open Without Express Permission from Management”.

Once it was open, I could see the contents. Empty glass vials, rune-etched tools, and the most important part — thin, silvery metal discs.

Blank applicators.

Ashon grabbed one of those, as well as handful of tools. He didn’t bother explaining any of them, but a glance at the runes on each told me that one of them was the Signature Verifier device I was looking for.

I knew the chances that Constantine had made this specific device personally were slim, but if I had access to the cabinet, maybe one of them…

“Sit.” Ashon pointed me toward a nearby chair, dropping the tools unceremoniously on the table.

I sat down as instructed. “Don’t we need purified liquid mana first?”

Ashon blinked at me. “What, did you literally want to make a whole attunement right now? Hah. Not even I’m going to get away with doing that unauthorized. I’m going to show you the good parts, but you don’t get a real attunement. Respect the attempt, though.”

I sighed. “Okay. That’s fine. So, if we actually had the fluid, then next…”

Ashon slid the metal disc in front of me, then nudged a specific tool my way. It looked like an etching rod, but more complicated — it had a dozen runes on each side.

“Know how to use this?” He asked.

“Uh, no, not this one.”

“Ugh. I guess I need to explain.” Ashon groaned. “Okay. This is, like, how you make attunements. It’s an attunement making thingy.”

“Is…that the technical name?”

“I don’t know. It probably doesn’t have one. If it does, I’m sure it’s terrible. Anyway, the attunement making thingy is how you make runes with embedded sub-glyphs, but you need to set it up — oh. I forgot a thing. Hold on.”

He walked back to the cabinet, frowning.

In that moment of distraction, I cast my newest spell — Spirit Tracking Analytical Arrow.

A gleaming arrow appeared in my vision with a number below it: 0.1. A distance, in miles, from the target.

Too close. It’s probably someone working here.

I dismissed the spell, then quickly picked up the Signature Verifier and repeated the process.

Another arrow appeared, with a 0.2 below it. The same problem. Unless Warren Constantine was still working for Farren Labs — a possibility, but an unlikely one — this wasn’t him, either.

I suppose he could be…hiding in their basement, or something. Or here in disguise? Both unlikely.

I set the device down just before Ashon returned with a small crystal.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Sub-glyph instruction crystal. You insert it into the attunement making thingy. Here, press this rune.”

He pushed the rune for me. There was a ‘click’ and a compartment opened in the device, which he slipped the crystal into.

“So, wait. This crystal has all the instructions for the attunement? The actual functions of the attunement are…imbued in this crystal somehow, then, what, moved into the applicator through this device?”

Ashon shrugged. “Something like that.”

“How do the appropriate sub-glyphs get into the crystal?”

“Oh, for that, you—” Ashon stopped as someone put a hand on his shoulder.

Nakht.

Ashon turned slowly. As he processed who was touching him, his expression dropped. “Uh, hi Nakht. I was just…”

“Master Cadence is not authorized to have this much detail on the attunement making process just yet, Ashon. You can stop right there.” Nakht’s hand tightened around Ashon’s shoulder.

Ashon winced, but didn’t recoil. “U—understood. I’ll just, uh, go put these things back.”

“Do that. Promptly. And do not make me remind you about our policies again.”

“Right, right. Thanks.”

Nakht released his hand. Ashon shuddered as Nakht turned away.

“Well, that was, uh, terrifying. You can put the things back. I need to, uh, go use the bathroom.”

Ashon fled the area.

I briefly stared at the items left on the table.

There were workers around, and Nakht was probably still observing me, otherwise I would have been sorely tempted to pocket one.

Instead, I simply picked up the items and put them back in the cabinet…

But not before running my hand over several other items and doing a few quick tests.

Spirit Tracking Analytical Arrow.

As a Mind-Marked attuned, I could cast spells on myself silently and near-instantly. It wasn’t my usual strategy, but in this case, it proved very useful.

It would have been more useful if I’d actually found anything leading to Constantine.

Several spirit trails existed, but all within the building. I did find a couple older-looking items that didn’t link to anyone nearby, but those were, frustratingly enough, outside of my spell’s range.

A dead-end, at least for now.

I’d known that was likely, since my range with the spell was so short, but I had to try.

That led to a somewhat more desperate measure.

With Ashon gone, I was alone to my own devices, at least for the moment.

So, I headed straight to Annabelle Farren’s office.

It was time for a few questions.

***

The door was already open when I approached.

“Hello, Corin.”

It took me a moment to find the source of the voice. Annabelle Farren was sitting on top of a bookshelf nearby on the right side of the room, drinking some kind of pale green liquid from a wine glass.

She set the glass down, and it floated seemingly on its own to sit down on top of her desk near her documents. I would have been impressed if it hadn’t pitched over, spilling a few remaining drops of fluid, on the nearby papers.

Farren didn’t seem to notice.

She hopped down from the bookshelf, smiling, and clapped her hands together. “Here for your lessons?”

“Uh, sort of? I was never really clear on what you were offering to teach me.”

“Oh.” She blinked. “Did I not explain that yet? Hm. Unusual. Well, attunements. Yours, specifically, and maybe others. Probably others, but mostly yours. The Arbiter one, I mean.”

I gave her a surprised look. “Are you an Arbiter yourself, then?”

“Oh, praise me, no. Not technically? Anyway, mostly no. But I know a lot about them. Much more than you do. I’m going to teach you a few things. Then you’re going to work for me.”

“I’m…not so sure about that last part.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Have you…not agreed yet? Strange. Very well, then. We’ll get to that. Problems can be resolved. Everything is still in order.”

“Right. Should I sit, maybe?”

“I suppose.” She gestured at a chair, which was pitched over.

I picked it up and sat down.

There was a chair on the other side of the table, but she didn’t bother to walk over to it. She stood near the bookshelf, looking momentarily absent, then shook her head. “Right. Arbiter attunement. You know some things. You need to know other things.” She nodded to herself. “Important things.”

“Such as…?”

“Why we need you here.” She looked away for a moment, looking momentarily saddened.

“I assumed that had something to do with automatic purification? I could either help make primer without a distillery, or maybe learn to apply attunements to people directly?”

She snorted. “You don’t have enough mana to apply an attunement to someone with your own power, nor the knowledge, nor the control. Maybe at Sunstone you could try. More likely Citrine, if you want a fully functional attunement and not just a proto-attunement.”

“Proto-attunement?”

“Ignore that. Not important right now. Oh, you have suspicions. I see. No, we’re not planning to steal your hand.”

“That…wasn’t exactly what—”

“Oh! Metaphor. Right, I see. No, no, copying the sub-glyphs…well, yes, that would be useful. Much faster for mass production. I could see that being useful…”

Wait, is she reading my mind?

I pulled extra mana out of my hand, converting it to mental and sending it to my mind.

Nothing of note seemed to happen, at least to me.

“Hm?” Farren blinked. “Where was I?”

“You don’t want to copy my sub-glyphs.”

“Right! I mean, well, I do now. But that’s not the main reason you’re here, is it? No, no. You have a couple more important things you can help with.”

“Such as?”

Farren smiled. “You’ve surely noticed how good you are at moving mana from place to place, yes?”

I nodded.

“How would you like to move attunements, Corin?”

I gawked at her. “Wait, what?”

“It’s very simple. You’ve already moved enchantments before, right? A powerful enough Arbiter can move an attunement from place to place, generally within the same person’s body. If a person is willing, you can even move an attunement from one person to another.”

I was momentarily awestruck. It was so simple, and yet, so absurdly powerful. “Wait. Couldn’t someone use that to just take someone’s attunements away?”

“Oh, no. That’s Sovereign you’re thinking of. You’re no thief, Corin.  Sovereigns can take away power from the unwilling. Your power is to give. An attunement will not allow an Arbiter to move it without the active mental consent of the attunement-holder. It’s a security feature, similar to anti-tampering runes. Attunements have a number of those.”

My mind raced.

Anti-tampering runes could be defeated.

I could learn sub-glyphs.

Could I learn how to disable the security sub-glyphs from attunements and just move them around however I pleased?

“Don’t try.” Farren shook her head. “It’s not the right route for you.”

I stared at her. I didn’t know what to say to that, but I needed to keep my thoughts more carefully guarded if she was reading them. “Of course. Now, you want me to move attunements…why?”

“We have clients that would pay a tremendous amount to have their attunement moved to a more advantageous body location. As a mind-marked, I’m sure you understand the difficulties involved in having your attunement be in a part of your body that isn’t perfectly suited to your attunement.”

She was absolutely right. “And what about moving attunements to others? I assume that’s an even more valuable service. Maybe moving a powerful attunement from a dying family member to an heir?”

“Yes, good. You’re thinking the right way, except wrong.”

I blinked. “How so?”

“Moving a high-level attunement to someone who is not acclimated to it has side effects. There’s a technical term for what happens to a person when that happens — we call it ‘exploding’.”

In spite of the joke, she wasn’t smiling or laughing.

I didn’t, either. “Right. Ah, sure. So, then…moving low-level attunements from people who don’t need them?”

“Good. Closer. With your assistance, we could allow services for people to sell their attunements to people who are capable of handling them. A dying Citrine sells their mark to another Citrine. Or, sure, we could pass on an inheritance, like you said. Or two attuned could trade their attunements with each other directly — while we extract a fee, of course.”

“And…I could do all this?”

“Eventually, yes. You’d need a much firmer understanding of the principles behind the process. And I would be prepared to offer you a small cut of the profits from any such transactions. You should know that is not a standard part of our business – your average Enchanter is simply paid a salary. But you are no ordinary Enchanter. You have capabilities no one, aside from other Arbiters, can match.”

“About other Arbiters, I’d like to ask—”

“No.” Her expression turned grim. “No, you will not.”

“Ah. Right.” I frowned, then changed the topic. I really didn’t want to antagonize her. Farren still didn’t show up on my Detect Aura as being overtly powerful, but that was in some ways scarier than if she had a glimmering green aura. “Okay. Foolish question, then. Why not just copy the sub-glyphs from my attunement that allow attunements to be copied?”

“Can’t. It’s a function of being a real Arbiter. It’s not a standard sub-glyph function.”

I frowned. “What does that mean?”

“It means,” Farren smiled again, seeming to have regained her composure, “some of your powers are the will of the visages. They cannot be so easily copied.”

“You said easily, but…”

She shook her head. “We won’t try. We have an understanding with certain visages, you see.”

“Ah.” I nodded. It made sense that the visages would at least be aware of this whole project, and that if certain boundaries were crossed, the visages might take drastic action. Like, say, wiping Farren Labs — or all of Caelford — off the map.

It seemed almost unthinkable, but then again, it must have seemed that way to the kingdom of Feria before Kerivas had obliterated it.

“So, you see, there are precious few people who can do that for us. And, perhaps more importantly, you have one final gift from the visages that cannot be copied. A place only you can go.”

“A place?” I asked.

“The Arbiter’s Gate.” She left the words hang in the air while I processed.

“The Arbiter’s…you mean there’s another entrance to the spires that only Arbiters can use?”

“Precisely.” She nodded once.

“What’s it for?”

She gestured toward me. “The primary thing your attunement was made for. Deals with the visages. Your attunement isn’t just a source of magical power. It’s a symbol. It says, ‘this person can be trusted by the visages’. It is a rare honor — and one we would like to make use of.”

“You…want me to make deals with the visages on behalf of Farren Labs?”

“Very right, Corin. Very right. We had someone—no. Never mind.”

I nodded. The reason why they’d given me so much access to the facility made a bit more sense now.

It wasn’t that they just wanted me as some kind of Enchanting intern or an easy source of mana purification.

In those moments, for the first time, I understood a bit of my own value.

Moving attunements? Speaking directly to the visages?

These weren’t the kinds of things that ordinary attuned could ever hope to accomplish.

I was more than just an Enchanter with a strange second attunement.

In that moment, I realized I could be something else—

Someone, something, that could change the fate of entire nations, if I played my cards right.

“And this gate…what are the limitations on it? It can’t be that I can just walk in and start talking to a visage directly.”

“Oh, goodness me, no. To enter the Arbiter’s Gate, you will require a token called a Petitioner’s Coin. It’s inserted into a slot next to the gate. No, I won’t give you one to try it. The traditional method of obtaining one is as a possible reward for completing one of the spire guardian rooms on a floor divisible by five within any of the spires.”

Huh. A little weird that it’s five rather than six. I’ve seen a few older things related to spires that are multiples of five, too. Wonder if those things might have been set up prior to the whole sacred six falling into Kaldwyn’s culture. Might even predate the existence of one of the visages.

I pondered for a moment. “You won’t give me one to try it…but that implies you do have them. And you’d probably give me them to use the gate on your behalf?”

“Precisely.”

“And if I worked for you, could I, perhaps, get some as a part of my payment?”

“That’s certainly something we could negotiate.”

A free pass to talk to one of the visages? It was almost too good to be true.

No, it was too good to be true. There would have to be catches. Restrictions. I’d have to do more reading.

But if there was any chance of getting the ability to talk to one of the visages without having to climb through several floors of a spire…well, that was something I couldn’t possibly afford to ignore.

Whether I decided to work for the visages or against them, access would be critical to my future plans.

Farren saw my expression and smiled. “Good, good. I see it — a spark. Candlelight. Take tonight to think about my offer. And say hello to Miss Lambert. It’s almost time for me to see her.”

“Cecily? Is she…?”

“She should be back soon. Most of her, anyway.” Farren smiled. “If you hurry, you might be able to catch her right when she arrives.”

I took one more moment to look at Farren, evaluating.

Then, I turned and ran out of the room.

***

I stopped only briefly to cast a Measuring Arrow of Direction, which pointed me straight to Sera’s location. I rushed through the halls to find her. She blinked at me as I burst into the mess hall.

“We need to go. Now,” I told her.

She blinked at me. To her credit, she stood up immediately, setting aside her half-eaten food without a second thought. “Where?”

“Tiger Spire. I’ll explain on the way.”

It took us another half hour to get to the train station, even using some basic spells — Haste in my case, Levitation in Sera’s — to speed up our movement.

Then we had a half-hour wait for a train to actually arrive, rendering our rush almost meaningless. It did, however, give me a brief interlude to explain.

“You think Farren actually knows when someone is going to come out of a Judgment?”

“Maybe not all the time, but she’s done a lot of implying future knowledge. Either she actually has it, which is plausible — Keras fought some people like that in his story, after all — or she’s just got a really solid information network. Maybe she’s got a Whisper friend inside the tower, watching Judgments and sending her messages. It wouldn’t be difficult to fake future knowledge with enough connections.”

“Fair.” Sera’s hand tightened into a fist. “Either way, we’re obviously being played. I don’t like it.”

“Agreed, but I like the idea of Cecily showing up outside of the spire alone and…missing things…even less.”

When the train finally arrived, we spent some time catching up on what we’d learned. Sera had gotten into more files via Researcher and smooth-talked some other information out of workers at the facility. “Looks like Echion is at another facility further south, if we want to visit at some point. Access is heavily restricted for that project, so I’m not even supposed to know about it existing, but since I already knew, I was able to pry a bit of gossip out of people.”

“Good to know.”

“You want to visit him, don’t you?” Sera asked.

“Not particularly.”

Sera sighed. “You know, seeing a friendly face could be good for a kid in his situation. He probably considers you a hero.”

“We all make mistakes when we’re young.”

She snorted at that. “While I’m normally more than happy to add to any self-deprecation you’re committing, in this case, I think you deserve a little more credit. You did actually rescue that kid from a spire. He might have starved or worse if you didn’t.”

“Only because Tristan manipulated me into going to that room, and because the other guy who was guided in there died before he got a chance.”

Sera shrugged. “Suppose you get some credit for not stepping on the same trap, then.”

I shot her a hard look. “Sera. Someone died in that room. That could have been me.”

“And it wasn’t. I, for one, happen to be grateful for that — at least most of the time, when you’re not being particularly difficult.”

I rubbed my temples. “Fine, fine. Maybe I deserve a little credit. Maybe he likes me. That doesn’t mean I should visit. I’m not good with kids, Sera. Or, well, people in general. You may have noticed.”

“Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.”

“You know, I think it might, in this case? Besides, there are pretty significant risks with trying to get into a government-run facility of that type.”

“Ordinarily, sure. But if you take the job, you’ll probably get access.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “You don’t actually think I should take the job, do you? I thought you were suspicious of Farren’s motives.”

“Oh, I am suspicious of her, and I don’t necessarily think you should work for her. I’m just trying to analyze every angle on this. Farren does have a point – several, actually. Lorian Heights isn’t exactly proving to be useful to you. And she might not have mentioned this explicitly, but it would also keep you further away from certain threats. Like Mizuchi. And Saffron. And frankly, even Katashi.”

I folded my arms. “And it would leave you unopposed to take over House Cadence, if I stayed here.”

Sera’s jaw dropped for a moment, no sound emerging. Not because of her throat, but because of the sheer audacity of my statement. Then she punched me in the arm. Lightly, of course, but to prove a point. “You’re a jerk sometimes.”

I winced. Not just because of the sudden physical contact. “I…”

She pulled her hand back, apparently noticing something wrong in my expression. “Sorry! I shouldn’t have hit you like that, I mean—”

“It’s…” I shuddered. “No, it’s fine. I know you didn’t mean anything by it.” I took a steadying breath. “I’m…sorry, too. I shouldn’t have implied what I was implying there. You’ve never given me any reason to believe you’re trying to steal our inheritance. It’s just…with all this cloak and dagger stuff, I don’t know what I can trust.”

“The answer is obviously me, Corin.” Sera folded her arms. “Have I ever given you any reason to doubt that?”

I paused, considering the question as I looked back up at her. “No.” I exhaled deeply. “No, you haven’t.”

“Good.” She sighed. “This whole situation is getting to us both. Can we just…start over for a bit? Maybe relax and pretend this is still a vacation?”

I let out a weak chuckle. “No, I don’t think I can do that. I’m not good at vacation. And with Cecily being in an unknown condition…”

Sera reached down for her backpack, shifting through supplies, and pulled out a Crowns board. “Settle for a momentary distraction, at least?”

“You always beat me at Crowns. And Valor. And basically every other board game.”

“Right.” Sera gave me a weak smile. “What else do you think I’d want to do on a vacation?”

***

We reached the spire without incident. Figuring out exactly where to go next was somewhat more challenging, however. The Tiger Spire was gigantic, with dozens of potential exit doors along the sides. While there were some exits that were traditionally used for second Judgments, we didn’t know exactly where she’d emerge from. And that was assuming Farren’s words were even accurate.

“We have another problem, Corin, but I didn’t want to say anything until we got here.” Sera looked conflicted.

I drew in a breath. “What is it?”

“What if she doesn’t come out one of the Judgment exits?”

I frowned. “I suppose that’s possible. I came out a strange exit. But where else would she—oh.” I winced. “I suppose Farren didn’t expressly say that Cecily succeeded.”

“Why don’t you go check with the Soaring Wings and wait at the anchor room, and I’ll spread out outside with my summons? We can cover more ground that way.”

I gave her a curt nod, then headed to the Soaring Wings headquarters. It took me a couple minutes to explain why I was there, but apparently, “Annabelle Farren says someone is coming out soon” was an explanation they’d heard before.

I didn’t know if I should feel comforted by that or more disturbed.

One of the garrison’s officers — a shorter guy named Keji with a mind-mark that indicated he was a Wayfarer — escorted me to the anchor room. “Farren say when your friend is coming out?”

I shook my head. “No, she was pretty vague.”

“Typical.” Keji sighed, leaning up against the wall. “You want anything to drink? We might be waiting a while.”

“I’m fine.” I wasn’t fine. But a drink wasn’t going to help with the hollow feeling in my chest.

How I could I have let her go in there? After what happened to Tristan, how could I have let someone else that dear to me walk into a death trap like that with hardly any preparation?

How was I going to tell Yunika if something happened?

I was neck-deep in panic when someone appeared in the anchor room—

Someone else entirely.

Just a climber, who grunted and dropped his return bell. Keji rushed over, catching the climber before they collapsed to the ground.

“Need help?” I asked.

“I’ve got him.” The pair vanished a moment later.

Oh. Wayfarer, right.

I stood there awkwardly, hoping that climber was okay. Keji had taken them straight to a medical area. That was a pretty useful application of teleportation.

He didn’t return immediately, though, which meant that I was standing there alone when the next person appeared in the anchor room.

A bell slipped from Cecily’s remaining fingers the moment she appeared. The long gash from her ear down to her cheek was worrying, but nowhere near as much as three ragged claw marks on her abdomen. She slumped forward, her eyes closing.

Jump.

I shot forward, catching her as she fell. She wasn’t particularly heavy, but the blood on her arm made it slick, and I nearly dropped her.

“Cecily, stay awake. It’s Corin, I’m here.” I tried my best to hold her up. Her eyes remained closed. “Lesser Regeneration.”

Mana poured from my hand into her body. It wasn’t much, but hopefully it would help stabilize her. I didn’t have time to think about whether or not closing the wounds on her hands would make it harder to restore her lost fingers later.

“Healer!” I yelled down the hall. “I need a healer!’

I bombarded Cecily with more regeneration spells as I waited, not willing to risk trying to repair her damage manually. I was panicked, but I remembered what had happened with Patrick. If I tried to heal her with anything other than regeneration, I risked causing her more damage.

It was only a matter of moments before I heard the clanking sound of armor signaling a member of the Soaring Wings rushing down the hall.

The moment she reached me, the armored figure shifted to stretch out her arms. “Let me take her, I’ll carry her to the healers.”

I nodded, awkwardly shifting Cecily over to her.

The knight picked Cecily up with ease and practiced discipline, then rushed back down the hallway with surprising speed. I had to throw a Haste spell just to keep up with her.

Fortunately, the medical room was only a couple doors down. The Soaring Wings had wisely structured the place with this sort of scenario in mind. I imagined it couldn’t be uncommon for people to come back injured.

When we reached the door, the knight turned to me before opening it. “Anything I should know?”

“Her name is Cecily Lambert. She’s a Valian Enchanter. I threw a couple Lesser Regeneration spells on her, but I’m not a real healer.”

“Any knowledge of her medical history?”

I shook my head.

“Understood. Go clean that blood off you and then rest in the waiting room near the entrance. We’ll get her help as soon as possible.”

I didn’t like the idea of leaving Cecily alone, but I nodded and complied. They probably had limited room in the healing area, and I would just get in the way.

I walked away with hesitation, then got some directions to a place where I could wash off.

After that, I debated going to find Sera, but stuck with the waiting room instead. I wished I’d taken Sera’s advice and prioritized making message necklaces for everyone.

I sat in the waiting room after that, running over her injuries in my mind. What had happened to her?

I felt my hands tighten into fists. I should have been more insistent with my warnings. I knew how dangerous a second Judgment was. At Carnelian level, trying one was virtually suicidal.

I was so very, very tired of people pushing the people I cared about into dangerous situations to satisfy their own ambitions and further their schemes.

Farren might not have expressly said that Cecily was going to be safe, but she knew what she was implying, and she had a responsibility for the consequences of that. Being vague and open-ended wasn’t an excuse.

It was only about an hour before someone came to get me, but it felt like ages. One of the Soaring Wings escorted me to the medical room, then took me past several curtained off areas to one that was open. Cecily was in a bed, a sheet pulled up over her lower body. She was awake.

“Corin?” She sounded half-asleep, blinking as she looked at me. “Where am I?”

I rushed to her. There was a seat next to her bed, and I pulled it closer so I could sit with her. “You’re in a Soaring Wings medical building. You just got out of the spire.”

“The…spire?” She rubbed at her head, wincing. The gash I’d seen on her cheek was bandaged. I couldn’t see the condition of her lower body, since the sheet was covering it.

“The Tiger Spire. You went in for a second Judgment.”

“I…” She took a breath. “I…okay. Did I win?”

I pondered for a moment how to answer that.

Detect Aura.

A single crimson field surrounded Cecily. It seemed a little brighter than before, but I couldn’t sense a source of a second shroud. At a glance, I didn’t see a second attunement mark on her, either.

“I…don’t think so, Cecily. You teleported out early, either using a return bell or my circlet.”

“Oh.” Cecily turned her head down. “Well, that’s disappointing.”

I shook my head. “The important thing is that you’re alive. Did the healers say anything about your injuries?”

“I…they said I’d live, at least. I’m supposed to stay here overnight for observation.”

I nodded to her. “I’ll stay with you if they’ll let me. If you’re feeling safe, though, let me go get Sera. She’s nearby.”

“Sera is here?” Cecily frowned. “Wait, how are you here? How’d you know when to find me?”

“Farren told us when you’d be coming out of the spire, but not where. Sera is waiting at one of the exit gates. As for how she knew that…well, I don’t know. Some kind of future sight, it seems. Should I go get Sera?”

“Wait with me a little longer first, please. I don’t want to be alone right now.”

I nodded. “I’ll stay as long as you need.”

***

I ended up getting kicked out a bit later when they brought in someone to perform surgery on her injured hand. I tried to get them to let me stay and watch, given both Cecily’s request and my own nascent healing skills, but they weren’t willing to allow some random person be around. I couldn’t blame them.

With that, I went to find Sera. It didn’t take long.

“She’s what?” The color drained from Sera’s face as I explained the situation.

“It’s okay, she’s in surgery. They said she’d be okay.”

Sera snarled. “That witch told us Cecily would be safe in there.”

“She implied it, certainly.”

“She implied a lot of things with her behavior. She tricked us.” Sera tightened her jaw. “She’s going to answer for this. Soon.”

I gave her a silent nod in reply, then the siblings were aligned in their cause. We headed back to wait for Cecily to get out of surgery, which took some time.

The wait was agonizing. I wished I could do more.

It was hours before they let us back in to sit with her. The Soaring Wings insisted on keeping her overnight for observation. Sera and I got a hotel nearby, and I took the first shift sitting with Cecily. Sera relieved me in the middle of the night, then I finally went and got some sleep.

Chapter VII – Mental Focus

Cecily looked much better by the time she was released from the Soaring Wings hospital the next day, but her hand was still wrapped in heavy bandages.

“They say I might get most of the use back in my hand eventually, but I think I’d still like to get a second opinion on it and maybe some extra help. Sera, do you feel like that friend of yours who helped with your mana scarring might be able to do more for me?”

“Sheridan? Yeah, they were great. And between their two attunements, they’re an expert on bones, so… I’ll introduce you to them when we get back.”

“Thanks.”

After checking out of the hotel near the spire, we headed back to our original hotel with Cecily to get showers and change our clothes. Then, in spite of my own objections, all of us went to Farren Labs. It was the last day of our guest visit, but we weren’t going for more instructions.

We made our way straight to Farren’s office for some answers.

***

Sera pushed her way into Farren’s room in a cold fury. “You nearly got our friend killed.”

Farren looked back at her with a perplexed expression. “Did I?”

“You told her to go to the spire!”

Farren blinked, then looked to Cecily. “Oh. You’re back. Is it that time, now? Good, good. You’re useful now.”

“Useful?” Sera balled her hands. “She didn’t get a new attunement, and she’s down half a hand!”

Cecily winced away from the argument, saying nothing.

Farren stared at Sera without any obvious emotional response. “I never said she’d get a new attunement.”

“You said she’d be fine! Your exact words, Farren.”

Farren shrugged. “She will be.”

“Are you kidding?” Sera fumed. “Does that look fine to you?”

Cecily winced. “Sera, it’s…it’s okay…”

Sera turned to Cecily. “It’s not okay. She told you to go into the spire. She told us you’d be fine. And, with her behavior, she implied she knew the results in advance. Without that, you might not have taken the risk.”

“That’s correct.” Farren interjected. “It took a variety of factors to encourage Miss Lambert to visit the spire.”

“And you’re just…admitting you manipulated her?” I gave Farren an appraising look. I wasn’t Sera’s equal at judging tone and body language, but Farren still seemed…off. Distracted. Maybe a little confused by Sera’s heightened emotional state. I didn’t know how much of that as an image she was deliberately cultivating, but I was convinced there was more going on than a simple lack of empathy.

“Manipulated. Perhaps that’s true.” She sounded wistful. “Not the term I would prefer, but accurate enough. I guided her toward a specific result that would be desirable to both parties.”

“Both?” Sera snapped. “How is this good for anyone?”

“Oh. You haven’t noticed the change.” Farren blinked. “She didn’t earn an attunement, but her attunement did get better.”

Sera narrowed her eyes. “Better how? It’s not like it ascended. We checked, on the off-chance that she’d managed it somehow. She’s still a Carnelian-level Enchanter.”

“Ah, yes.” Farren’s head bobbed. “But she’s almost something else. Corin can confirm.”

“I haven’t seen her mark.”

“Not yet. You will. Go ahead.” Farren waved a hand.

“This is—” Sera started, still fuming.

Cecily shook her head at Sera. “It’s fine. Let’s…see this through.” She pulled up the leg of her pants, displaying an Enchanter mark near her right ankle. “See anything different, Corin?”

“Not at a glance, but…I think I know what Farren means.” I shot Farren a look, but she just gazed absently toward us without any hint of what she was thinking. I looked back to Cecily. “May I touch your attunement mark?”

“I…okay.” Cecily looked nervous, but she waved toward the mark. “I’ve been meaning to learn that new diagnostics spell you mentioned, anyway.”

“I’ll be glad to teach it to you. Let’s see.” I reached out and put a hand on the mark. “Analyze Attunement Composition.”

I had, of course, already tested this spell on my own Enchanter attunement several times, so I knew what a Carnelian-level Enchanter attunement generally looked like.

Cecily’s sub-glyphs were virtually identical at a first glance. I wished I’d learned a spell for directly comparing the sub-glyphs in two attunements, and I made a mental note to do that later.

Instead, I cast Accelerated Computation and began to search manually. I couldn’t maintain Accelerated Computation for long, but it radically improved my speed at parsing the sub-glyphs while I had it on. I tried to narrate out loud what I was seeing. “Let’s see…no entire new functions. Nothing like a new mana type. No attunement functions activated out of sequence…”

Sera whipped her head to Farren. “You could just tell us what he should be looking for.”

“I could.” Farren simply confirmed, without adding anything else.

“Ugh.” Sera folded her arms and waited.

That’s all the obvious stuff…what else could be significant enough to be worth looking for? There aren’t a lot of other…

Oh.

I shifted my mind to search another section of sub-glyphs. An obscure section, one that I hadn’t had a chance to look at in a lot of detail yet, but one with the potential for considerable significance. And that’s where I found it.

I pulled my hand away from Cecily’s leg, straightening up. “You have a pending specialization in mental mana. It hasn’t visually changed your mark yet because it’s still processing, which takes about a day.”

“A specialization?” Sera folded her arms. “That’s it? That doesn’t require a Judgment! Anyone can get that, it just requires using a strong preference for one mana type!”

“Yes, yes.” Farren confirmed. “But she wasn’t useful to me without one, and she wouldn’t have specialized quickly without the trip. Congratulations, Cecily! You’re useful now.”

Cecily raised her eyes to Farren’s. “You put me through that just to get me to use more mental mana?”

“Oh, no. The extra mental mana itself is largely useless. What makes you useful is that each specialization enables certain new attunement functions — and I need more people with the diagnostic abilities of a mental-specialized Enchanter. You can start your tour today!”

“I…” Cecily trembled. “I’m not so sure about that.”

“Why not?” Farren blinked. “I just gave you permission.”

Sera glared at Farren. “She’s recovering from a hospital visit. And, you know, presumably near-death. Because you wanted her to have a new attunement function, which she probably could have gotten in a few months without the risk of death if she had wanted to.”

Farren blinked at Sera. “But then she wouldn’t be here, would she? So it’s irrelevant.”

“I…” An icy mist began to flow off Sera’s hands.

“I’ll take the tour.” Cecily said firmly, startling both Sera and me.

The mists around Sera’s hand vanished, and her expression shifted from anger to worry. “Cecily, you’re not in any condition to—”

“No.” Cecily gently shook her head. “I’ll see this through. I’ve already done the losing part of this process, I may as well get the gains.” After a moment, she added, “Thank you for being angry on my behalf, Sera.”

“Oh, I’m more than angry.” Sera shot a glance at Farren. “I’m furious. You can’t just toy with people like this.”

“I’m…not toying.” Farren’s expression sank. She looked perplexed, maybe a little sad. “I just wanted to make her useful. You wanted to be useful, Cecily.”

Cecily gave Farren a sharp look. “Yes. I still do. But in the future, try to give people more information about what you’re looking for.”

“I try. But it’s hard.” Farren closed her eyes. “I never know what you’ll find relevant.”

I gave Farren a hard look. “For starters, you can tell people directly if you’re giving them information based on divining the future.”

“But…isn’t that obvious?” Farren blinked at me.

I sighed, rubbing at my forehead. “Be specific. And if someone is going to get injured based on your plans, you owe it to them to tell them that.”

“No, no. That’s bad. That sometimes stops people.” She shook her head vehemently, looking momentarily…afraid, maybe? “Can’t do that. Can’t. Bad. Bad.”

I stared at her, evaluating. “You’re trying to keep the future on a set course?”

“Well, not one set course, no, no, but there are threads, paths…” She shook her head. “I need you to go now.”

“This isn’t over.” Sera hissed.

“No, no.” Farren laughed. “Nothing ever is.”

***

I had to half-drag Sera out of that office. We found Nakht standing outside. He let us leave without a word.

From there, we took Cecily to the front desk, and found an attendant already waiting for us. “Here’s your paperwork to sign.” The attendant shifted a stack of papers over. “And your guest badge.”

Cecily silently lifted a hand covered in bandages.

“Ah.” The attendant said. “The paperwork can, uh, wait. In light of your issue. Unless you can sign with your other hand?”

“I can, but it won’t look authentic.” Cecily replied. “And signatures usually need to match for this sort of thing, don’t they?”

“You’ve been authorized to tour the facility for the next week, until your time in Caelford is at an end. You’ll be temporarily assigned a guide. If your time as our guest goes well, you may be offered a position, either immediately or following the completion of your education process. I will need just one mandatory signature right now. The rest can wait until after your hand is, uh, recovered.”

Cecily nodded. We waited for her to sign her single necessary page, then the attendant went to get her guide.

“Are you two going to be staying for the day?” Cecily asked. “You still have one more day to train here, right?”

“No.” Sera hissed. “If I stayed here, I’d end up punching things like Keras. Sorry, Cecily.”

“It’s fine. Thanks for being worried about me and angry on my behalf.”

“How are you not angrier?”

“Oh.” Cecily reached up and tried to adjust her glasses with her bad hand, winced, recoiled, and then fixed her glasses with her other hand. “I’m furious. I’m just, well, also resolved? There’s nothing to be done. All I can do is make the best of the opportunity that is available. And,” she gave a soft smile, “maybe plot my revenge?”

Sera snickered softly. “Better. That’s my girl.” She ruffled Cecily’s hair. “Okay. I’m out of here. Corin, you coming?”

I shook my head. “I’ll stick it out here with Cecily for the day. I still have more…investigating to do. And maybe I can help Cecily a bit, since we’ll probably be in the same department.”

“I’d like that.” Cecily gave me a smile. “Thanks, Corin.”

“I’ll leave you to it. See you back at the hotel.” Sera gave us a wave, then headed out the door.

Cecily’s tour guide arrived a bit later. I split off from her for a while to try to find any more documents or items related to Warren Constantine, but without any significant results. I tested my tracking spell on more tools, but didn’t find anything useful.

I met up with Cecily for lunch, answered some questions for her, and got back to studying. I did a bit of research on attunement specializations, trying to figure out what Farren might have been looking for in specific, but I didn’t find anything particularly enlightening. One book, Attunement Analytics, had some basics.

Attunement specializations involve the strict use of one specific mana type that an attunement offers in preference to all others for a sustained period of time, typically about a year. This does not strictly prohibit the use of any type of magic of the other types; it simply requires maintaining a mana usage ratio that is abnormally extreme, generally estimated to be about ninety-percent. The specific mana percentage required to cause a specialization shift to occur varies from attunement to attunement.

There are ways to specialize more rapidly; these typically involve flooding your body with mana of a specific type that your attunement supports. This still is not an instantaneous process, however, and the dangers involve make this method of achieving specialization unpopular with most attunement types. This is sometimes called “forced” specialization, whereas the long-term process is called “organic” specialization.

The most common specializations tend to come from attunements that are already heavily skewed toward a specific common mana type. For example, Menders frequently find themselves with a Life specialization mark, and Guardians can frequently end up with an Enhancement specialization. Specializations for a secondary mana type for a particular attunement — such as a Guardian specialized in Life — are extremely rare, as they tend to involve deliberately neglecting the standard use of the attunement.

Specializations have two known effects.

The first is that the attunement begins to slant the mana it generates toward the preferred type, making it easier to use that sort of mana. In spite of the advantages this offers in terms of mana conversion efficiency, it is generally considered disadvantageous for attunements that value flexibility, such as Elementalists.

Second, some specific attunements have additional powers that are gained when the attunement is specialized in a specific way. The most common powers of this type are shroud variations. For example, a Lightning-specialized Elementalist generates a lightning-elemental shroud automatically, rather than requiring spells to shift the element of their shroud. Said Elementalist could still manually shift their shroud’s element if desired.

Other powers are attunement-specific, but generally passive in nature, such as additional detection abilities. In rare cases, these may lead to gaining access to new compound mana types.

Summoners, Soulblades, and other contract-based attunements can theoretically gain specializations that are not based on the mana types given directly by their attunement, but rather by mana types generated by their contracts. These cases are generally considered to be strictly disadvantageous due to the extreme risks involved. For example, the loss of a particular contract can be devastating in cases where a Summoner only has one source of that mana type.

I was already familiar with most of that, but it was all I could find on short notice. Most of the documents on specialization were apparently housed at a different facility that focused on improving existing attunements, rather than making new ones.

At the end of the day, Farren called me in to formally offer me a job.

“I know you’re going to refuse right now, of course,” Farren told me. “But do keep us in mind for next year.”

“I’ll…consider it.”

Farren frowned. “You have reservations beyond what happened to your friend. Why? This place would be perfect for you. You would be happy here. You would be happy even if you accepted it now, which you won’t, even if you should.”

I couldn’t exactly argue with that. I was enjoying learning about attunements, far more than I’d even expected. After a moment of hesitation, I just spat it out. “You experiment on children.”

Farren frowned at me. “…Yes?”

“You are making children into weapons.”

“Oh!” Farren nodded. “You mean the God Beast Attunement Project. You knew about that already. That simplifies things, if we’re ever going to assign you to it. Which…could happen?”

I let out an exasperated sigh. “Let me rephrase in a way that’s clearer. I have serious moral concerns with turning children into weapons.”

Farren frowned at me. “But they’d die otherwise.”

“What?” I was legitimately startled. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh, you haven’t heard about that part? Hm. I’m bad at explaining this part, but I’ll try.” Farren took a breath. “Centuries ago, there was a relatively common birth defect that occurred in a certain subset of the population. The original attunements given by Selys were, in part, to correct that defect.”

I stared blankly at her. I’d never heard anything like that.

Farren continued. “These early attunements stabilized the people in question, and other attunements were given to people who didn’t have that birth defect, but still required specific types of mana that weren’t available in the necessary quantities on this continent for, uh, reasons. Basically, attunements solved a lot of mana-related issues for people who needed it…but only for those people. And when those people survived and interbred with others, certain traits were passed on. And over the course of centuries, the mana composition of their descendants changed.”

I processed that. “Did that make the problem worse for future generations?”

“Not worse, exactly. Just different. Different enough that simply giving ordinary attunements to children wouldn’t fix it. We’ve tried. The so-called God Beast Attunements weren’t developed as a means of making new weapons. They were made as one branch of research into solving a fatal illness.”

“But…surely the actual power of a god beast isn’t necessary for that.”

Farren shook her head. “The name of the project isn’t an indication that those children will grow up to be as powerful as god beasts, although admittedly, they are more powerful on average than conventional attuned. Rather, it refers to the structure of their attunement being designed based on elements of god beast physiology. In specific, god beast attunements store mana in the entire body, rather than a single mark location, and process and circulate that mana differently. This is necessary to maintain proper health for one of these affected children, but the same style of attunement would be dangerous — and likely fatal — to an ordinary human. The types and concentrations of mana these children need to survive are poisonous to others.”

“That must make testing a nightmare.”

Farren nodded. “Which is why we need more experts at diagnostics and statistical analysis.”

I gave her a hard look. “You mean you’re assigning Cecily to that project?”

“That will be up to her.” Farren smiled. “But we would very much like to have her.”

My mind swam with the implications of everything she was telling me. “Okay. Saving dying kids. I can get behind that. But if they’re that powerful, you have to know that someone is going to try to use them as weapons.”

“Is that really any different from how normal spires work? We train our children to take life-risking trips into a spire. They come back deadlier, if they come back at all.”

“Oh, don’t even get me started on the spires. That whole system is awful. Not only does our culture pressure people into taking Judgments, those Judgment themselves are rigged. The whole thing is a scam. But what you’re doing? Giving hyper-powerful attunements to babies? Somehow, you might have managed to make things even worse. You’re weaponizing people from the moment they’re born.”

“We’ve looked into passing laws to protect the children from being utilized for warfare, but it’s not a simple thing. Given the choice between dead children and children with the potential to be used as soldiers in the future, what would you choose, Corin Cadence?”

“Oh, come on. That’s an absolute trap of a question. Obviously saving babies is more ethical than not saving babies, but you’ve raised a false dichotomy.” My eyes narrowed. “I would choose a third option.”

“There isn’t always a third option available, Corin.”

“Maybe, but you’ve already talked about getting laws passed. I think you should have done that first, and if you haven’t already, that should be expedited. You could also build restrictions into the attunements themselves to prevent them from being weaponized. Even if the children need a growing mana pool, you make it one of the non-lethal varieties. Or work to solve that whole ‘need growing amounts of mana’ problem itself. There are several avenues to explore.”

“Of course there are, and we are exploring many of those options ourselves.” Farren smiled at me. “But if you have strong feelings about what should be prioritized, there’s no better way to influence that than getting involved in the project. You’re very creative, and I’m sure you could influence the next phase. Perhaps make it conform to your principles a bit better.”

 “Good try, but no. Not now, at least. I will consider your offer seriously for when I’m better trained and educated. I need time to research alternatives. There may be ways to help these children without an attunement even being necessary.”

“The Prime Crystals won’t work. We’ve already tried that.”

Farren had successfully intercepted my next line of thought. “Then…couldn’t you put a maximum capacity on how much mana these children accumulate, to prevent them from being, well, terrifying?”

“That would kill them. In order to survive, their bodies require a higher and higher mana intake.”

I exhaled a breath. “Then…what about magic to make their bodies function more like ordinary humans?”

“That’s another entire branch of research, and we do have a division focused on bodily transformation, but I don’t think it would match your skill set. Rest assured that our Biomancers and Shapeshifters are evaluating new options in that regard all the time.”

“Then—”

“Let me save us both some time, Corin Cadence. You are not going to solve a centuries-old magical problem in a single conversation. You are bright and creative and have a great deal of potential, but you are not the sole owner of progress. None of us are. Not even me.”

I rubbed my forehead. “I know, I know. It’s just…I can’t know about this and do nothing.”

“You won’t. Do nothing, that is.” Farren smiled. “Just because you can’t solve it now doesn’t mean you never will be able to contribute to the process. Now that the idea is in your mind, you will pursue it, and every other tangle related to it you can think of.”

I wasn’t sure what to say to that. “I…still can’t completely approve of what you’re doing here.”

“You don’t have to. But you do have to accept that you aren’t powerful enough to change it. Not yet. Come back when you’re ready, Corin.” Farren folded her hands. “I’ll be waiting for you.”

“You might be waiting a while. I have a lot on my list.” I nodded to Farren once more, then turned and left the room. I felt her eyes on my back long after I had left her sight.

***

“So, what are the odds that Farren knows that you’re going after Warren Constantine?” Sera asked after I explained the conversation I’d had.

We were back in her hotel room, and she was sitting on her bed. I was pacing back and forth behind a chair, rather than sitting on it. Cecily was showering in the nearby washroom.

“If she’s actually seeing the future, it’s very likely she knows. It would depend on the parameters of her future sight — how far she can see in advance, if specific type of magic can block it, all that. I’d wager Keras’ mask would be useful to counter this sort of thing. If he was around, I’d ask to borrow it for a bit. But it doesn’t matter. I can’t let the presumption that Farren is seeing my future hold me back.”

Sera smiled. “Right. You can’t let fear stop you. He could be cute, after all.”

“Cute…Sera, he’s probably like triple my age.”

She gave an appraising look, then shrugged. “You’re an adult, you can make your own choices.”

I folded my arms. “No, Sera. I am not romantically pursuing him.”

“Why not? You need to think about your future. You’re a very eligible bachelor now. Unless, of course, you’ve taken too much of an interest in someone already…” She shifted her gaze toward the washroom door, a grin spreading slowly across her face as she turned back to me.

I shut my eyes, taking a deep breath. “Sera, I need you to stop.”

“Stop what? Discussing your future prospects? I know we’ve both got some trust issues, but—”

“Stop.” I opened my eyes, putting my hands up. To her credit, Sera shut up immediately. “Look, Sera. I don’t know what I want romantically, but it’s not some old guy in a tower that I’ve never met. And as for Cecily, it’s complicated, and I don’t know what I’m going to do about that. I don’t know why you keep bringing this up.”

She snorted. “I’m mostly teasing you, Corin. You’re so adorably awkward about love, it’s funny.”

“Teasing is fine, just don’t expect me to find some random guy and ride off into the sunset on a unicorn.”

Sera blinked. “…When did unicorns get involved in this scenario?”

“That’s…not the point. Look, I’m not dating anyone right now. Is that clear?”

We stared at each other for a minute, then Sera shrugged. “Fine. I do sincerely think you should be putting some more thought into your future, though.”

I let out a deep breath. “I sincerely will throw a pillow at you if you continue down this line of conversation. And given that I’ve managed to hit people with thrown swords — which is, as we both know, is the worst possible way to use a sword — I can attest that I am deadly accurate with thrown weapons.”

“The pillows are next to me, Corin.” Sera grabbed one off her bed. “And, given my mastery of air mana, I—”

I twitched a hand.

A pillow slammed into Sera from behind.

She let out a little gasp, turning to the offending pillow, then spun back around and hurled her own pillow at me.

I side-stepped it easily, only to watch it float back upward and fly toward me.

I punched the pillow with a hint of transference mana, sending it flying into the nearby wall with an ‘ooph’, then twitched my hand again.

The pillow behind Sera hit her a second time.

“How are you doing that?” She exclaimed, grabbing the pillow that kept hitting her and noting the resistance when she pulled at it.

The resistance was minor, unfortunately, and she quickly wrestled the pillow into her arms.

That snapped the frail mana threads that I’d managed to attach to it during our conversation — but not the mana threads next to the third pillow, which slammed into her a moment later.

You see, I’d been practicing with my threads a bit here and there. And while they were nowhere near strong enough to actually throw a pillow directly, they did serve as conduits for my magic — meaning I could, with a bit of effort, send transference mana through them.

And with that? Bamf. Pillow to the face.

“Augh! Oh, it’s on now.” She hurled the second pillow at me, then waved a hand to send the first levitated pillow at me again.

Haste.

I danced around both the flying pillows with speed and grace, then jerked the chair in front of me upward with more mana threads when she hurled the third pillow toward me.

Sera was mid-way through conjuring a ball of snow when we heard a startled shout from the washroom. “Is everyone okay out there? I heard a noise!”

Pillows gently floated toward the ground and snow dissipated in Sera’s hand.

“We’re fine!” Sera and I chimed in unison.

We laughed together. I tossed the pillows back onto her bed.

She patted the bed. I laid down across it, next to her, and we rested quietly until Cecily emerged from her shower.

It was the nicest moment I could remember for a long, long time.

Chapter VIII – The Missing Gem

A knock on my door in the middle of the night probably should have woken me up in a state of alarm, but I wasn’t sleeping. I had too much to think about.

So, when the knock sounded, I was only mildly alarmed, rather than severely. I did a quick roll out of my bed, drawing my sword, and then stared dangerously at the door before recalling that knocking was, in fact, a perfectly normal and acceptable form of alerting someone to your presence.

With that in mind, I lowered Selys-Lyann before heading to the door and swinging it open, braced for anything.

I found Patrick.

He was looking more than a little worn out, with deep bags under his eyes and a look of utter exhaustion on his face. I didn’t see any obvious injuries on him, unless one counted the patch of hair that was conspicuously missing and a small burn mark on his forehead. If he had any concern about seeing Selys-Lyann drawn, he didn’t show it. His expression brightened the moment he saw me. “Corin! I was afraid for a minute I might have had the wrong room.”

I turned to the wall and disabled the wards I’d written into it before waving for him to come inside. “What are you doing here so late? And where’s Mara? Is she okay?”

“Oh, she’s fine. She went to the girls room. She wanted to talk to you, but she was too tired. We both need sleep. Like, desperately.”

I nodded in understanding. “Washroom is right there if you need it. There are two beds. Get some sleep if you need to.”

“Will do. I’ll explain things in the morning.”

He went and washed up briefly, then collapsed on the bed. In spite of his snoring, I was glad to have his company.

I still reactivated the wards at the door before I went to sleep.

***

I pestered him for information first thing in the morning. “So, how’d it go?”

“It was amazing! We made it a long way. Close to a dozen floors!”

I whistled in appreciation. “That’s impressive, Patrick. There are plenty of adults that never make it that far.”

“I know! It was thrilling. I mean, Keras helped a little. Okay, maybe more like a lot, toward the end. But Mara and I did all the heavy lifting for the first few floors — Keras thought it would be bad for us if we didn’t get any experience out of it.”

I nodded in understanding. That was generally how it was supposed to work with teachers escorting students through the spire. You know, when those teachers weren’t secretly planning to betray the whole group or that sort of thing.

It’s possible I was still a little bit annoyed with Professor Orden, even after all the time that had passed. Or maybe more than a little. I’d trusted her, and she…

Ugh.

Anyway, Patrick filled me in on some of the floors that he’d gone through with Mara and Keras. I won’t spoil that, maybe they’ll tell the rest of us the whole story in detail later.

“Anyway, after we got past the second spire guardian, Keras sent us home. It was getting too dangerous for us at that point, and with the reset happening the next day, we thought it’d be more valuable to start over from the bottom if we wanted to do any at all.”

I nodded. “So, you’re feeling up for going back there?”

“Yeah, I think so. The floors will be different from what we went through, but assuming they’re about the same level of difficulty, I think the five of us could probably make it through the fifth floor without any help.”

“Five…? Oh, you’re including Cecily. That…uh, isn’t going to happen.”

“Oh? Why not?” He looked crestfallen.

“She’s doing a tour at Farren Labs for the next week. And, uh, I don’t think she’ll be going back to the spire any time soon.”

I took some time to fill him in on everything that had happened during my own week.

“Poor Cecily. I hope Deni can help.”

“Given what Sheridan was able to accomplish with Sera, I suspect this would be an easy task — it’s just a matter of whether or not they’re interested. We’ll see.”

“So…that leaves four of us, then. Assuming you and Sera want to go?”

“That’s the plan. Unless you happened to get a Petitioner’s Token?”

Patrick shook his head. “No, but I think I know what Farren was talking about. This spooky spectre thing showed up after we beat each spire guardian and offered us a list of reward options. It was kind of strange. I picked up a couple things, but they’re packed in my bag. I’ll show you later!”

“Congratulations on your prizes, and on making it so far. If you think we can make it there safely, I’d like to try the climb and see if I can get a token. From there, I can try to enter the Arbiter’s Gate.”

Patrick frowned. “With four, it’s going to be a little trickier. I know Cecily wasn’t much of a combatant anyway, but even with five, we would have been undermanned. With four…we’re getting into risky territory.”

“I know. We may want to try recruiting or call Keras back down for an escort.”

“He’d probably rush to us in an emergency, but if I’m being honest, I don’t think I’d be comfortable asking him to start over. He already was slowing down a lot escorting us the first week. I think we should leave him alone.”

“Hm. Without Keras, you’re right — this is much more dangerous. Okay. Let’s talk with the others and see if they have any ideas.”

With that, we got up for the day and headed to the other hotel room, then sat down to talk to Sera and Mara. Cecily was already gone for the day.

“Corin! S’good to see you!” Mara smiled as we came through the door. “Hug or no hug?”

“I’ll pass, but thank you for asking.” I gave her my best grin in return.

“Sure thing. C’mon in, sit down with us. I’ve got stories to tell!”

She did, in fact, have stories to tell — she had a few places she’d been separated from Patrick, and a few other details to add to his story.

After she filled us in, I told her some of the things Sera hadn’t already shared about our own week, then we got back to discussing climbing options.

“Recruitment would be the obvious answer.” Sera was writing notes while we talked, but I couldn’t see them from my angle. “There are mercenary climbers to hire, for example, or we could try one of our new friends from Farren Labs.”

“Friends?” I asked. It was an honest question.

“I’ve made a few. And you could ask one of yours, too. Maybe Ashon.”

I blinked. “Ashon isn’t my friend. He’s just someone I met.”

Sera raised an eyebrow. “Someone you met, that you spend a lot of time with, that you have shared interests with.”

“…Right, yes. In a work context. I wouldn’t call him a friend. I don’t have a lot of those.”

“What are you talking about? You have tons of friends.”

We stared at each other for a moment.

“…I have…like two?” I pondered. “Three friends, maybe, if we’re counting you?”

She folded her arms. “Why wouldn’t you count me?”

“You’re family. That’s a little different.”

Sera rolled her eyes. “Those things aren’t mutually exclusive, you know. And we were friends long before we knew about our heritage.”

I shrugged. “I guess. I consider family more important, I suppose, so it kind of supplants the other role in my mind.”

“I guess I can’t be too annoyed, then…but wait, two or three? That’s…what?”

I nodded, considering. “You’re right. Really, only Mara counts, since Patrick is a retainer now, and thus family.”

“Nonono.” Sera held up her hands. “Other direction. You have like, a lot more friends than that.”

I frowned. “Not really…?”

“What about Roland?”

“He’s your friend, not mine. I’ve barely talked to him in years.”

She stared at me. “Okay…what about Derek?”

“He’s more of a medium-term acquaintance.”

“You lived with him for like half a year!”

I nodded. “And I owe him considerably for that.”

Sera groaned. She was getting frustrated, but I didn’t understand why. “Keras?”

I blinked. “Uh, no. He’s my bodyguard and something of a mentor figure, not a friend. How could we be friends? Aren’t you the one who’s always telling me he can’t be trusted?”

“I mean, yes, but that doesn’t mean…” Sera groaned, covering her eyes with her hands. “…Cecily?”

I froze. “That’s complicated. You know that. Maybe we’re friends, maybe…I don’t know. Let’s not talk about her.” Sera opened her mouth again, but I cut her off. “…Or Jin.”

Sera sighed. “You know, most people have a broader concept of what constitutes friendship.”

“She’s got a point, Corin,” Patrick cut in. “When we first met up at school, you didn’t seem to understand that we were friends.”

“Were we? I mean, we hadn’t seen each other for years.”

Patrick scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “That didn’t really matter to me, you know? We were friends when we were younger, so…”

I was momentarily stymied by that. “I, uh…sorry about that.”

He laughed. “It’s okay. Not blaming you or anything. Just…maybe think about that when you see Roland again?”

“I…uh, sure?” I shook my head. “Can we change the topic?”

Sera sighed. “Sure. I guess we’re getting off-track. Back to the main subject, then?”

“Please.” I tried to search back in my mind for what we’d been talking about, but I’d lost track. “So, we were discussing…”

“Climbing team members,” Sera added helpfully.

“Oh. Right.” I nodded. “Since you apparently have unparalleled social acumen, do you think there are any good options?”

Sera considered that for a moment, then frowned. “No, not really. Most of the people I’ve met at the lab are working full time. Or probable spies for Farren. Or both. Mostly both.”

“Mercenaries, then?” I asked.

“Don’t like the sound of that, if I’m bein’ honest,” Mara replied. “Gotta have trust when yer climbing, and I’m not gonna trust someone who is only with us for a few coins. Not when you two, if you’ll forgive me for sayin’ so, look like easy targets.”

Sera blinked. “You mean Corin and me? We’re from a duelist family!”

“You’re from a rich family. ‘tuned or not, you look wealthy. Which, to some, means you might look like you can’t fight. I mean, I know better, ‘course, but…”

I folded my arms. “I sincerely doubt most people would have that impression. Nobility comes with a higher likelihood of getting an attunement. Wouldn’t that make us appear more dangerous?”

“Not so much as you might think. Means that to some, you come across as, if you don’t mind me saying so, like the type to buy your way up. Now, a smart merc will figure out real quick that you’ve got sword trainin’, but if they came in with dark deeds to do, they might not change their mind.”

“I’m not sure robbing people is really all that common, Mara,” Patrick objected.

She gave a shrug. “Don’t know the numbers on it, but it does happen. And all I’m sayin’ is that if you look like you’re a couple teenagers on winter break with a lot of money to throw around…”

I sighed. “What other options do we have?”

“We could look for other students that are on vacation,” Patrick offered. “We weren’t the only ones on the train and there were other trains arriving over the week, too.”

“Caelford has some schools on break as well.” Sera noted. “It’s not a bad idea. If we could find some compatriots from back at home, that’d be perfect, but if not, I wouldn’t mind linking up with some Caelford students — or even recent graduates.”

“Where would we even look into that?” I asked.

“There are places where people post that they’re interested in climbing over near the spire,” Patrick explaining. “We could go look for some familiar names, or just people our age?”

Sera nodded to him. “Seems like a better idea than just sitting here, at least. We can discuss other options on the train.”

Patrick’s stomach grumbled. “…Breakfast first?”

“Breakfast first,” Mara agreed. “I haven’t had a real meal in a week.”

***

We discussed more options as we ate, then Sera pulled me aside for a private talk.

“What are we conspiring about today?” I asked her.

She shook her head. “We’re not conspiring. This is fairly straightforward — you should write Father and tell him we’re heading into the spire.”

“Let me think about that…hmm, no. Going to go with no.”

Sera grimaced. “Corin. This is important.”

“You’re right, it is. It’s important that I be able to assert myself as an adult and say, ‘I am not telling my father a thing’.”

She shook her head. “You might be an adult, but he’s still your father. Our father. Do you remember how upset he was when we didn’t tell him about the ball?”

“Oh, you mean when I got into a fist fight with him in the middle of Elora Theas’ house? Yes, I vaguely recall that incident.”

“This isn’t funny.” She folded her arms. “You could have avoided all that if you’d kept in touch with him better.”

“Are you seriously blaming me for that?” I bristled, standing up straighter. “Are you kidding me?”

She raised her hands in a warding gesture. “No, no. Sorry, I’m…it’s obviously not your fault, but it could have been avoided. I’m…” She sighed. “Let me start over. He’s already lost one son to a spire. How do you think he’s going to feel when his other son goes into one in a foreign country without even telling him about it? What happens if you don’t come home?”

“I assume he’ll blame me for some kind of failure to follow his perfectly designed will. The man is an absolute mastermind at blaming other people for his own failings.”

“In this case, not writing him would be your failing.”

I shook my head. “That’s not a failing. That’s a choice.”

She folded her arms. “Corin. You’re being deliberately obstinate and obtuse. This is a simple, traditional thing to do.”

I rolled my eyes. “I have no obligation to pay into that tradition.”

“Maybe not, but what does it cost you to at least let him know you’re going?”

I clenched my hands into fists. “The cost is validating him. If I write him and say, ‘Greetings, honored father whom I respect and adore, I hope you will forgive me for going into this spire without asking for your permission’, he’ll take that as reinforcing his right to control me. And that,” I spat, “is unacceptable.”

“Oh, yes. That’s definitely how you’d write the letter. By all means, make a caricature of yourself to prove a point.”

“If you’re so invested, why don’t you write one for him yourself?”

“I already did!” She snapped. “I just haven’t sent it yet, because I was waiting — and hoping — that my brother would send one with me. Do you realize how angry he’s going to be if he finds out about this and I’m the only one who wrote to him?”

I sighed. “Then just don’t write him, and hopefully he won’t find out about it.”

“I don’t think that’s moral, Corin. And even if I did, he’s very likely to find out eventually.”

“How? It’s not like we’re going to go home and chat about our journey over a nice family dinner.” I growled. “That would require having a family.”

“Corin…” She reached out, then pulled her hand back. “We do have a family.”

I lowered my head. “Do we…? For years, that was all I wanted. To rescue Tristan, to bring him back home. Maybe Mother would come home, then. Maybe Father would stop trying to…train me. Even back then, I knew it was unrealistic, but I still had to motivate myself somehow. Without something to believe in, what point was there to keep doing anything at all?”

“Corin…”

“It’s okay.” I took a shuddering breath, then looked up and gave her a fake smile. “No, wait. I’m lying to myself again. It’s not okay. It was never going to be okay. I might be okay, or you might be okay, but the family? It’s not going to be okay.”

“…How long have you been feeling like this?”

“It’s been building for a long time, but…I think the key was when I found out that Father was screening the letters you and Mother were sending me. Of all the things he did to me…I think, in some ways, that was the cruelest. He deliberately sought to stop me from having connections with anyone else. He made himself the center of my world and cut off any chance of escape.” I shook my head. “So, no, Sera. He doesn’t get a letter from me. He already stole enough of them for a lifetime. He doesn’t get a thing from me.”

Sera shook her head. “You…maybe he doesn’t deserve it, but if you don’t write him…there are going to be consequences. He’s going to be angry, Corin. More than last time.”

I turned my gaze to meet hers. “Then don’t send him your letter, and we’ll swear the others to secrecy. He’ll never know.”

“I…don’t know, Corin. That’s an even bigger gamble. At least if one of us writes him, that’ll mitigate some of the damage. If he finds out neither of us wrote him at all, then…”

I took a breath. “Then I’ll handle the consequences when it comes to that.”

“…You’re sure about this?”

I nodded. “Very sure.”

She hesitated, then finally, sighed and nodded her head. “Okay. I’ll stop bothering you about this, then.”

“Thanks. Let’s get ready to go.”

“Wait.” She raised a hand. “Corin…this goes beyond Father. You’re clearly hurting. You’ve been hiding it well enough that I didn’t really notice, but if you need to talk….”

“I don’t need to talk.” I said a little too fast to be convincing. “What I need is to get moving. To get that token. To help you, to help Tristan. The only way to lower my burden is to succeed.”

“Corin…that’s not a healthy way to live.”

I gave her a sad smile. “What other choice do I have?”

***

Sera spent another couple minutes trying to convince me to open up. I wasn’t receptive.

Finally, when I proved I wasn’t capable of discussing things further, we broke off from our talk to get back to the others.

She never did tell me if she’d decided to send the letter.

After that talk, we headed to the train station. We didn’t get a private train compartment for such a short trip. Instead, I sat across from Sera, and Patrick and Mara found seats elsewhere.

For a time, we rode in relative quiet, making small talk on occasion.

I weighed our chances of making it through six floors with just the four of us. It sounded plausible, but plausible wasn’t worth risking our lives on. We’d either need to find extra people or make a better plan. Maybe someone else had one of the tokens that I needed available for sale, for example. It didn’t sound particularly likely — I’d never heard of them before, and as far as I knew, they were only used by Arbiters — but that didn’t make it strictly impossible.

We could have also just abandoned the whole climbing plan. I didn’t like abrupt changes of plans like that, but perhaps we could find a different way to track Warren Constantine. Or, of course, we could simply try to recruit someone else to Tristan’s cause. Tristan had asked for Constantine, but he couldn’t be the only valuable option available in the entire nation of Caelford.

When I mentioned that, I got a bit of a look from Sera. “Are you really sure you even want to be putting all your effort into this, Corin? I mean, I know you want to help Tristan, but…”

“You don’t trust him. I get it.”

“Oh, no. It’s not that. I mean, I absolutely don’t trust him, but that’s not really the issue. Even if he’s telling us the truth about all of his goals and all that — which he’s not, obviously — do we even agree with them?”

I’d been thinking about that a lot. “He presented it in a very idealistic fashion, but I think some of the core ideas are good.”

“Okay. But ideas alone aren’t what we’re dealing with here. We’re dealing with actual people. And as soon as people get involved…”

“Yes, yes. I know. This isn’t perfect. But what’s the alternative? Side with one of the other factions?”

Sera opened her hands in a gesture of surrender. “Or, you know, maybe a bunch of modestly trained teenagers should avoid getting too heavily involved in international politics.”

I snorted. “That’s the opposite of what I’d expect from you. You’ve always been the ambitious one.”

“Oh, true. Someday, all will tremble before my might, or whatever. But right now? We’re not equipped for this. You know that. I know that.”

“And yet here we are.”

Sera covered her eyes. “Here we are indeed. Just…let’s make sure we don’t do anything we regret, yeah?”

“If that was such an easy thing, our world would look very different.”

“…Fair.” Sera conceded. “But let’s…maybe err on the side of not starting any wars or plotting to kill any visages?”

“Yeah, that’s probably wise.” I exhaled a breath. “You think that’s Tristan’s endgame? He was pretty explicit about not working with that whole Godslayer faction.”

“Corin…they’re not going to forgive him for his involvement with Tenjin’s disappearance.”

“I know.” My reply was a whisper.

“So, even if his plan is uplifting humanity to a higher level of power, then eventually—”

“It’ll be ‘kill or be killed’ for Tristan. I know. That’s part of why this trip to the spire is important. It’s not just about following Warren. Sure, it’s possible he went through that gate, and we’ll find a trail if we go in there. But the gate has its own purpose, and…”

“You want to talk to Ferras about Tristan.” It was a statement, not a question.

“I want to make a deal. A few, actually. I want to save Tristan. And I want to help you with the scarring, too.”

“That’s two, not a few.” She gave me a look.

“And I want fantastic magical powers?”

She smirked. “Better. But don’t worry about me too much. Get me in the door and I can make a deal with her of my own.”

“What, you going to ask her to sign a Summoner contract?”

“No, Corin. It’d be an Invoker contract.” She gave me a wink. “And, of course, I’d like to get my scarring dealt with.”

“Sounds good. We both have completely implausible plans. It’s almost like we’re related.”

Sera snorted. “Sounds unlikely to me.”

We were quiet for a moment before she spoke again. “Corin?”

“Yeah, Sera?”

She looked away. “Don’t get your hopes up about a deal to save Tristan’s life. Even if Ferras agrees, I don’t think she can bind the other visages to it. And…I think Tristan knows what his odds are.”

“I’m sure he does. The way he talked…” I shook my head. “I’m glad I got to see him. And I’m going to do whatever I can to make sure it’s not the last time.”

***

It took hours to arrive back at the spire. Once we got there, we were more than ready to get rolling. I was half-tempted to go straight into the place just out of sheer boredom, but I stuck to the plan.

We went to find the boards Mara and Patrick had talked about where prospective climbers posted notifications looking for groups. I was only just starting to look at them when I heard Patrick shout something in a gleeful tone.

“Professor! Over here!”

I turned to see who Patrick was shouting at. I found the familiar face of a black-skinned woman turning in our direction in surprise. She was leaning heavily on a long cane — even more heavily than usual, if I wasn’t mistaken — but her lips twisted up into a grin when she saw us.

“Well, children. This is an unexpected surprise.” Professor Meltlake began to walk in our direction with obvious difficulty. Patrick rushed toward his mentor, immediately offering her an arm to help her. “Oh, don’t be like that, Patrick. I’m not some old woman that needs help to cross a street. Just recovering, is all.”

“If you’re sure.” He sounded worried, and I didn’t blame him. When we’d last seen Meltlake…

…Well, that wasn’t a pleasant memory.

I walked over to her as well. “I thought you were in the hospital, Professor.”

“I was, and for entirely too long. Got out of there the moment they were willing to release me. I’ve only just arrived in Caelford.”

“How’s your recovery going?” Sera asked.

“Not as well as I’d like, but my body isn’t…” She sighed. “Let’s not talk about that. It’s a pleasure to see you all, but…what are you all doing here?”

“We’re going to climb the spire!” Patrick grinned.

“Are you, now?” Meltlake gave him a dubious look. She scanned our group. “I see four of you. While Miss Callahan is quite the capable warrior, and you’ve learned a great deal over the last year, Patrick…four is not a climbing group.”

Mara blushed brightly at the compliment. “We were gonna find some other students here if we could, but we’ve only just started taking a look.”

“Well, don’t let me bother you, then.” Meltlake smiled. “I’ll leave you to it.”

“Wait,” Sera asked before Meltlake turned away.

“Yes, Miss Cadence?”

“Is Derek here with you?” She sounded maybe a little more invested in the answer than I expected. It was a good question. I’d almost forgotten that Derek was Meltlake’s nephew, and that he’d been visiting her at the hospital.

Meltlake looked strangely disappointed by the question. “Oh, Derek? Right, right. You were living with him for a while, weren’t you all?” She nodded to herself. “He’s not here. Had some business in the Unclaimed Lands, I think.”

I blinked at that. “Is he heading to the Seventh Spire again?”

She gave me a quizzical look. “He told you about that? Hm. How interesting. No, I don’t think so — not that he told me, at any rate. Boy doesn’t share as much as he used to. But I can’t blame him too much. He’s a grown man, he can make his own choices, as much as I might disapprove of some of them.”

From her tone, it was quite clear that she did, in fact, disapprove of some of his choices — and rather strongly.

“Was that all?” Meltlake asked, sounding a little impatient.

“Ah, what are you doing here, Professor?” I asked. “You wouldn’t happen to be climbing…?”

She gave an evaluating look. “I wasn’t planning to, actually.”

“Just sightseeing, then?” Sera asked. “No. Wait. You weren’t here for a Judgment, were you?”

Meltlake turned to Sera with a sad expression. “I was…considering it.”

Patrick’s jaw practically dropped. “But you’re famous for only having one attunement! You’re a legend!”

“And you saw how well that worked out. All of you did.” Meltlake shuddered.

“Mizuchi.” Sera spat the word. It wasn’t a question.

Meltlake’s hand tightened around the top of her cane. “If I was still in my prime…no, even then, I couldn’t have beaten her. Not with one attunement.”

“That’s no failing of yours. I don’t think anyone could have, Professor.” Patrick sounded heartbroken as he said it, his eyes wide and full of the kind of instant sympathy that I’d never been able to properly demonstrate.

“That’s exactly my point, Patrick.” She exhaled a breath. “I reached as high as a single attunement could take me long ago.”

I frowned at that. A question occurred to me. One that was, perhaps, a rude one to ask, but I was never good at judging that — or holding back even when I knew. “What about Sapphire?”

Meltlake turned to me without anger, but only an expression showing disappointment. “Don’t ask me about Sapphire.”

“I, uh…” I didn’t know quite how to respond to that, so I froze for a moment.

Earning Sapphire had become one of my long-term goals. Given how powerful Meltlake was, she was one of the most likely people to know about paths to get there. Things that had been attempted in the past, maybe even people who had succeeded. I hadn’t expected her to look so upset when I’d mentioned it.

What threw her off somehow? Does it have something to do with her injury?

After a beat, I managed to focus enough to change the subject. “Okay. What about ascended attunements. Do you already have one?”

“No.” Meltlake shook her head. “I’m aware of the rumors, but it’s not an ascended attunement. Just a fire-specialized one. Even I don’t know how to ascend an attunement. I’ve tried several things, but…”

“I see.” I gave Sera a questioning look.

She had an ascended attunement. She must have understood what I was asking. She shook her head and mouthed “not now”.

I turned back to Meltlake. “Maybe we could help you look for new ideas?”

“No, I’m afraid not, Corin. I’d rather not discuss my attunement further.”

I nodded. “I’m sorry, Professor. I didn’t mean to bring up a subject that was difficult for you.”

She let out a deep sigh. “It’s no bother. You’re my students…and, you have a right to know. Especially Patrick.”

“You…don’t think you’re coming back, do you?” He asked.

“I can’t be certain.” She gave him a hard look. “The odds of coming out of a second Judgment go up with each attunement level, but not by much. And with my injuries…”

“Can’t you just wait until you recover more?” Patrick asked, pleading.

“It won’t matter. Too many permanent ones.” Meltlake shook her head. “It’s this or…well, the alternatives are worse.”

“Why not buy an artificial attunement? Can’t you afford one?” Again, an impertinent question, but I had to ask.

She gave me a look. “Perhaps I could. But my pride won’t allow it. If I can’t earn another attunement on my own, what chance do I have if…”

“You’re planning to fight her again.” Mara said in a reverent tone.

“I’m planning to beat her.” Meltlake replied. And then, more quietly, she added. “And next time…one of us won’t walk away.”

“That’s…” I wanted to say “suicide by demigod”, but I restrained myself, changing my message, “…let us help you.”

“I couldn’t possibly involve you children in something like this. Not again. You’ve suffered more than enough because of my weakness. I…should have been able to protect you.”

“You did, Professor,” Patrick whispered, gently. “Better than anyone else could have.”

“It wasn’t enough.” Meltlake shook her head. “And I won’t let there be a next time.”

“Uh, about that.” I winced. “There’s something you should know. Maybe…somewhere more private?”

Meltlake raised an eyebrow at me. “What could you possibly mean by that, Master Cadence?”

With some convincing, we found a more private area to chat. I felt awful every time Meltlake was forced to take a step — she was clearly still in a great deal of pain — but I couldn’t justify letting someone overhear us.

Then, omitting any mention of Tristan, I explained that Sera and I had already fought Mizuchi again in the Serpent Spire.

“And you’re alive? How?” Meltlake demanded.

“We had help, of course. And Mizuchi was vastly weaker. That banishment spell…she couldn’t have been at a tenth of her usual strength. Not even a hundredth.”

“Vellum.” Meltlake frowned. “I’ll need to speak to her about how she managed that at some point. You mentioned help?”

“We had Keras Selyrian escort us into the spire.” Sera offered. It was technically true, but the obvious twisting of the tale drew some looks from Mara and Patrick. They held their tongues in spite of their obvious disapproval.

If Meltlake noticed their faces, she didn’t mention it. Instead, she laughed. “Selyrian? You know him?”

“Uh, yeah.” Patrick began, then added with a hint of embarrassment, “Actually, he just took me and Mara up to the twelfth-floor last week.”

“Did he, now?” Meltlake gave Patrick an appraising look. “I’m proud of you both, then. That’s an incredible accomplishment for your age.”

Now it was Patrick’s turn to blush. “I…didn’t really do much.”

“He’s lying.” Mara grinned. “Patrick was incredible in there. You should have seen how he handled the gorgon.”

“I think I would have liked that.” Meltlake sounded wistful.

“Well,” I glanced to the others, then back to her, “Maybe you can see something just as good.”

Meltlake turned to me. “Oh? Whatever do you mean, Master Cadence?”

“Well, we were looking for more people to climb the spire with. And, while you might only be Emerald-level, I think that barely meets our requirements.”

She gave me a genuine laugh. “You know what? If it’s okay with the rest of you children,” she got a series of nods and a gasp of delight from Patrick, “I’d be delighted to accompany you into the Tiger Spire.”

***

We discussed our plans a bit more after that. Meltlake was packed for a Judgment, not a climb, so we took a brief detour for her to pick up some other supplies she wanted. By evening, we were ready to climb.

We briefly discussed getting a sixth climber, but we didn’t find anyone on the postings that appealed to us. And honestly? We didn’t need one.

We were only planning to go up six floors. Even injured, Meltlake alone could probably handle the first twenty or more without any difficulty, unless they were an absolute mismatch for her skills.

And beyond that? We had emergency plans. I’d taken my circlet back from Cecily. Meltlake had her own return bell. Everyone else had return bell functions on our shield sigils. And we even had the ability to contact Keras if it really came down to it.

Honestly, it was probably the safest I’d ever felt when entering a spire. Even when we’d gone in with Keras, I’d known something was likely to go wrong (and, of course, it did).

This was a supposedly normal climb that we were vastly over-prepared for. Exactly the way I liked it.

With everything ready, we waited in line, talked, and signed in with the Soaring Wings at the entrance.

And with all that done?

We walked into the wide-open jaws of the Tiger Spire.

Chapter IX – Tiger’s Den

I always found something disorienting about stepping into a spire. Even knowing to brace myself, my stomach swam and my head spun as I arrived.

As I’d expected, the interior was completely unrelated to the outside. Walking through the doorway into a spire was largely symbolic; every door to a spire was actually a form of teleporter, leading to a different location within the spire. Climbers used sequential designations for floors to maintain their own sanity when trying to organize expeditions, but in reality, there was nothing saying that the “first floor” that we’d just arrived in had to be anywhere close to the bottom of the spire. Conventional wisdom (and a series of navigation spells) seemed to indicate that the physical location of a spire’s entry generally was near the bottom, but exceptions were always possible — like when Keras stepped through a door and ended up in a prison cell.

I’m digressing, sorry.

Anyway, we stepped into the Tiger Spire and found ourselves in a circular room that was pure white. My companions appeared all around me, some staggering with the same feeling of teleportation sickness that I’d experienced. Oddly, Sera seemed to shake it off the most easily, perhaps even more easily than Professor Meltlake. Perhaps her attunement’s teleportation abilities lent her some sort of resistance to teleportation sickness? Something to check later, maybe.

Anyway, circular room. It was about fifty feet in diameter, which was pretty standard for an entry room. In the center was a mana fountain, which wasn’t exactly comforting, given that those were normally right near spire guardian rooms. I didn’t exactly like the idea of running into a spire guardian this soon, but it wasn’t impossible. Perhaps one was through the gigantic locked door straight ahead of us with the skull-shaped keyhole.

That seemed plausible.

Aside from Mr. Skull Door, there were two other doors on the sides of the room with boring generic locks. Unlike the neatly color-coded doors in the Serpent Spire, this spire’s doors were largely unlabeled, save for the aforementioned skull-shaped lock.

The room was illuminated…somehow, but with no obvious light source. I did a quick scan with Detect Aura to see if there were any runes on the walls, but I couldn’t see any. There were no immediate threats of any kind.

The wall behind us was completely blank. This was only mildly unusual; sometimes spire entrances had exits on the first floor, sometimes they didn’t.

“Huh.” I scanned the room again, searching for any kind of hidden monsters or traps.

“Problem?” Sera asked me.

I frowned. “No, just…honestly a little surprised we’re not being teleported straight into room with a god beast or something. This feels…normal.”

Sera laughed. “I think you’ve gotten a little too acclimated to special treatment. Not every experience with a spire has to involve disproportionately deadly and dastardly…what’s a ‘d’-word for the overpowered monsters we keep running into? Oh, demigods. Deadly and dastardly demigods.”

“In fairness, only one of the demigods we’ve fought was inside a spire.” I pointed out. “But that’s beside the point. Shall we get to work?”

“Let’s.”

I waved to Sera. “Lead the way.”

She scanned each of the doors. “Mara, Patrick, any insights from your previous visits?”

“First floor for the last visit was totally different. Looked like a big carnival tent, except everyone and everything there tried to kill us.” Patrick explained.

I felt a hint of relief that our current floor wasn’t anything like that. “That’s kind of how I feel at carnivals in general.”

“Right. You suffer from a tragic allergy to anything fun. We know.” Sera shook her head sadly, then turned to Mara. “Any ideas?”

“Haven’t done any floors quite like this, but it does sound kind of like that temple Keras was describing in his story about Dawnbringer. Maybe we have to find the big skull key in one of the other passages.”

That sounded about right to me, too.

“Any preference on which one?” Sera asked.

Mara and Patrick both shook their heads.

Sera turned to Meltlake. “Suggestions?”

“I’d rather let you make the decisions. I’ll tell you if there’s anything critical you seem to be missing.”

“Fair. Okay. Well, since everyone important has given their suggestions…”

I rolled my eyes and cut her off. “In cases like this, general protocol is to open both doors and choose a path based on the contents of the rooms. There are sometimes traps in the doorways, but it’s rare at this level of the spire. Exploration is generally rewarded, rather than punished. Also, we should check the seemingly blank wall for secret passages.”

“Very good, Master Cadence. Always suspect anything that looks out of place.” Meltlake gave me a nod.

“Know something we don’t?” Sera asked.

“Plenty of things.” Meltlake smiled. “But in this case, no, I have no prior knowledge of this room’s layout. I haven’t been here in years.”

“Right.” Mara stepped toward the wall. “Guess I’m on wall testin’ duty, then, unless one of you’ve got a spell for it.”

I did not, in fact, have a spell for it. Not yet. Trap and secret door finding spells were more of Analyst territory, but maybe I could research some in the future.

With a series of confirmations that no one had a better approach, Mara took the traditional route of tapping on the wall for obvious weak spots. She found none. Then, in a possible nod to her mentor, she punched the wall.

There was a crack as her fist met the stone and sent splinters of rock flying. Several rapid punches followed the first, breaking away larger chunks of rock. After a flurry of blows, she’d worn away a large section, but there was nothing but more solid stone beyond.

With a look of mild irritation, she extended her right hand. A warbling blade of energy manifested around her hand, extending nearly a meter and burning through the ground where it made contact. She swung again, this time slicing cleanly through the stone.

She’s gotten much better with the aura blade technique.

I was impressed and a little bit jealous. I’d practiced the technique a bit on the train ride — enough that I was getting used to forming a coherent blade and I thought I could fight with it in a pinch — but my aura blade couldn’t possibly cleave through stone like she was. Her mana composition made her blade much sharper and her control was vastly superior to my own.

She really does take after Keras. She’s going to be an absolute terror to fight in dueling class next year.

After a few more sweeps of the aura blade, Mara turned around and shook her head. “Nothin’ ‘ere, so far as I can tell.”

“Very good, Mara, thank you.” Sera nodded to her, then gave me a look. “Sometimes a wall is just a wall.”

“Yes, yes. It was still worth checking. Shall we continue?” I gestured to the door on the right.

“I’ve got it!” Patrick ran to the door excitedly. I didn’t see an actual doorknob or handle to pull, but Patrick must have already known the right procedure. He put a hand on the center of the door and the door slid open, no key required. I wondered why the doors looked like they had keyholes if keys weren’t required, but I didn’t say anything about it at the time.

I jumped out of the way the moment I saw the contents of the next room. I wasn’t the only one, but fortunately, the evasive maneuver wasn’t actually necessary — not immediately, at least.

There was a golem in the center of the room, partially enclosed by a strange formation of stone pillars. Or, rather, there was the top half of a golem — a titanic torso, arms, and head made of solid stone. Beneath it was a single fist-sized crystal contained in a rune-etched metal casing: a power core, and a sophisticated one. Both the core and the golem itself were floating a few feet off the ground, putting the head of the golem about seven feet up.

Now, ordinarily, a half-made golem wouldn’t be a source of alarm, but this one had a glowing circular panel on the center of its chest. I recognized that immediately, and so did my friends: we’d been briefed on common golem weaponry, and that was one of the more irritating types: an integrated beam array. It didn’t unleash the weapon the moment we opened the door, though. Instead, it rotated ninety-degrees in the air and then fired, unleashing a torso-wide burst of light mana straight into one of the room’s walls.

Based on the brightness and intensity of the blast…well, I didn’t want to get hit by that.

It continued hovering in place after that, the weapon inside its chest momentarily dimming as the golem’s power recharged it.

“Woah, okay. Next room?” Patrick asked.

“No, wait.” I told him. I was still evaluating the rest of the chamber. The golem itself was the main feature, but I noted a few other things.

Two other doors, for example, on the right side and straight ahead. Notably, if the golem kept rotating, it would shoot a pillar next, but after that, it would blast the door on the right. Maybe that would open the right door? Was this a timing-based puzzle, where we had to run through the door right after a blast temporarily opened it?

No, that would only open that door, and there has to be a way to open the one straight ahead. And with a pillar blocking that route... I kept looking, and I noted something else of interest. It was hard to see from the entrance, but the stone pillars had something shining on one side of each of them, right around at the same height as the golem’s chest. And…were those tiny buttons on the sides of the pillars?

Sera must have noted the same thing I did. “There are mechanisms on the pillars, and if you look at the base…I think they can move. And possibly rotate.”

“Oh, goddess. It’s a mirror puzzle.” I groaned, rubbing my temples. “We’re supposed to reflect the light in a specific pattern.”

“Couldn’t we just avoid the light and go straight to the next door?” Patrick asked.

“Maybe. Doors are probably locked until we reflect the light in the correct pattern, maybe into the door, or…”

“Back to the golem?” Patrick considered. “Maybe that would open both doors?”

“Possible.” I frowned. “Or…”

The golem rotated again. I winced, but it just fired its beam into the door on the right…which did, in fact, briefly open.

“Huh. Okay. So, beams do open doors. We could go that route right now…”

The door closed. Apparently, it did only stay open briefly after being hit.

“Or not. We could wait for it come back around, or try the mirror thing and get it pointed to the other door.”

“Or we could just, you know, punch a hole in the pillar that’s blocking the way to the door we want open,” Mara suggested. “Seems faster than trying to tinker with mirror alignments, yeah?”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “That’s a very Keras solution.”

She glowed a little, apparently taking that as a compliment. “Well, I did learn from him, you know.”

“Well, if we’re going to keep chatting, we need to move. That one is going to blast us in a couple seconds if we don’t.”

We got back out of the doorway. As predicted, the golem rotated a few seconds later, blasting a beam straight through the open door, and then powered back down.

“...I bet I could reflect that,” Patrick noted.

I considered the solution. “Good if we want the golem broken. Bad if we want it to open doors for us.”

“Hm. I could probably just Bright Reflection a beam to hit the door we want?” Patrick offered.

“Okay, lots of options. This won’t be hard. Let’s check the other room before we commit to this one?” Sera suggested.

“Sounds good.” I replied. We all agreed, walking away from that door to check the one on the opposite side of the chamber.

The next room didn’t have any immediate spinny-killy-things, at least. It did have a lot of spinning involved, though. The room was circular, had three doors clustered on the opposite side, and it was filled with clocks. Some were wall-mounted, others were tall grandfather clocks. 

Exactly twelve, I noted after a moment. Six of each type.

It only took me another moment to realize they were all showing a different time. “Oh, I hate it.”

“Your good cheer is a joy to us as always, brother.” Sera peered into the room for another moment, examining the walls, floors, and ceiling. “Looks straightforward. I’m going to assume we’re timed once we step inside.”

“That does seem obvious, yes.” I sighed.

“What do you think the goal is? Get all the clocks on the same hour?” Patrick asked.

“Not enough information to know yet,” Sera noted. “Each of the doors is in a clock position; maybe we set all the clocks to the position of the door we want open.”

I nodded. “Maybe. Since there are twelve, it’s also possible they need to be sequential – one on each hour. It’s probable there’s a clue inside somewhere.”

“Or we’re just supposed to experiment. What are you all thinking? Like this more than light golem?”

“No,” I replied immediately, then bit my lip. “But it’s a mental puzzle, whereas the other one has more of a physical component. If that sets the style of our route, I suppose this one might be safer overall.”

“Wouldn’t call that safer,” Mara noted. “Less fighty, maybe, but mental challenges can still have traps and consequences. Frankly speaking, I’d rather fight a threat I can see straight out.”

Couldn’t argue with that logic. “Patrick?” Sera asked.

“Fine either way, really, but I kinda wanna Bright Reflection the golem.”

The rest of us laughed, but honestly, I didn’t blame him. I kind of wanted to go through the golem room, too, but for other reasons.

“Golem, then?” Sera asked.

“Golem,” came a round of agreements.

We headed back to the golem room door. After some discussion, we had everyone aside from Mara step out of the way, since she could jump out of the way fastest if the golem happened to be firing the laser toward the doorway right when we opened it.

We didn’t need to be concerned. When the door opened, we saw that the golem was inert. It took a few moments to begin to move again. Presumably, it had stopped moving to save mana when the door had been closed.

That’s exploitable, I realized. If we close the door again, we could move into the room and around it before it fully reactivates.

I didn’t actually express this cunning stratagem to my group immediately, though, because I’m bad at things. Instead, we moved back to the doorway to watch it rotate again. Patrick drew Bright Reflection. “So, am I shining the beam somewhere specific? We going to try to open the blocked door, or maybe knock the golem out?”

“Actually, let’s try a different tactic first. Bright Reflection can fire a beam of light like the golem can, correct?”

“Yeah, but that’s not its main function. It’s nowhere near as strong as the real Dawnbringer.”

“Strong isn’t what we need. We need to know if the doors respond to any form of light magic, or just the golem’s light magic.”

“Oh!” Patrick blinked. “Got it. So, you want me to shoot the door?”

I jumped in. “It’s hard to see from here, but…” I pointed across the room, “I’ll bet there’s a rune right at the height of the golem’s chest on the doorway that detects the beam. You want to aim for that. You can move into the room and get right near it if you need to.”

“And if the door closes behind me?” Patrick asked.

“Good point. Let’s all get in.” We waited for the golem to rotate into the safest possible position, then filed into the room.

Patrick walked to the door in question. I spent a few moments while he moved to observe the pillars, noting the positions of the mirrors in case we actually had to use them.

My efforts were unneeded. “Radiant Dawn!” Patrick shouted, pointing his sword at a spot on the door. A beam of light lanced out from the tip of his sword, striking the door…and it opened. Just like that.

“Yeah!” He cheered.

The door closed.

“Oh no!” Patrick’s expression sank. “Guess it doesn’t last long.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Sera noted. “Should be enough time to get us all through, provided you can manage a few blasts?”

“Yeah, it’s got enough mana for a couple more. We wanna head through now?”

“No. First, tell us what you saw through the door, I couldn’t see from my angle.” We rotated a little bit as the golem moved, harmlessly blasting another spot of the room.

“So, that one has a gigantic pile of stuff in it. Like, lots and lots of stuff.”

“Stuff?” I asked. “Can you be more specific?”

“I saw some other golem parts, and general bits of metal. Broken swords, shields, tools…” We walked around a bit as the golem continued blasting and Patrick continued going through a list of items he’d seen.

“So, basically a junkyard room.” Sera noted. “Maybe some half-functional golems in the pile, ready to attack. Key hidden amongst the other pieces. Sounds simple. Doors?”

“Two that I saw. Maybe there could be another one under the rubble pile?”

Sera nodded. “Good thinking. A trap door down there would make sense.”

Patrick stood a little straighter after Sera’s compliment. We waited for the rotating golem to blast open the other door, then briefly looked inside when it was open.

This one was triangular in shape, which was a little odd. There were no visible doors to other rooms, but there was a glowing rune circle in the center surrounded by bars. A portal to elsewhere in the spire, most likely. Maybe even one that could allow us to skip to a higher floor.

There were no obvious threats, but that only made me trust the room less. “Anyone see traps?” I asked.

“Tiny holes in the floors and walls. Can barely see ‘em. Gas traps, I’ll bet.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. “Anything else?”

The door shut before we could get an extended look at the room. “I think there was a discolored section on the back wall,” Patrick noted. “Might be a secret passage or something?”

“Plausible.” Sera noted. We moved again as the golem did, but…

“Is it going faster?” I asked. “I think it’s going faster, guys.”

“Okay, decisions, then.” Sera exhaled a breath. “Leanings?”

“Well, if I had to choose…” Patrick mused aloud without actually making a choice.

“Junk room.” I pointed toward it. “My magic sword looked like a rusty piece of junk. Could be valuables in there.”

“Seconded.” Mara surprised me with her agreement, but she explained quickly. “Not sure I like the idea of scavenging through the pile, but it’s better than taking a portal to a random spot, yeah?”

I couldn’t have agreed more.

“Any objections?” Sera asked. We walked faster. The golem was definitely spinning faster now, blasting the door where we’d entered only briefly before rotating to the next wall. After a moment without any concerns voiced. “Okay, let’s move. We’ll need to time this carefully.”

“Or…if you’ll indulge me for a moment…” I quickly explained a plan.

Sera snorted. “Fine, try it. Just don’t complain if you die.”

“How would I complain if I’m d—never mind. I’m doing it.”

I shifted so that I was right behind the spot the golem had just fired into, giving myself ample time, and then…

Haste.

I sped forward, right toward the golem.

As I expected, when I got within a few feet, lights flashed on the golem’s body and it swiveled toward me. “Intruder detected.”

The voice was a nice touch. I’d have to find the rune for that.

The golem’s chest glowed, preparing to fire a beam…but as I’d calculated, it wasn’t quick enough to stop me.

I snapped the Jaden Box open, pressing it against the crystal floating below the golem. “Store golem core.”

The crystal vanished.

The lights on the golem’s upper body faded instantly. I pulled my arms and the box backward as the golem’s upper half fell, the source of its levitation gone.

I was half-surprised that the golem turned off immediately; I’d assumed that taking the core would cause it to power down, but slowly, after bleeding through any remaining mana. Apparently, it must have been structured so that it was entirely reliant on the core. This was most likely a deliberate part of the challenge — one of the classic “attack the weak point for maximum damage” kind of things that the goddess loved putting into her easier challenges.

I was grateful for the weak point, as well as the newly-acquired and extremely expensive golem core.

If we had an ordinary climbing group, this might have been a bad approach, since the light from the golem was also the key to the doors. We could have gotten stuck — but we’d already confirmed that Patrick’s light beams worked as replacement keys. Thus, disabling the golem didn’t really have any downside, except for the risks involved.

I disabled my Haste spell. “So. Who wants to help me take this thing apart?”

***

It didn’t take long to separate the golem into small enough pieces that I could store them in the Jaden Box, largely because Meltlake decided to help. She had a spell that looked like a blowtorch extended from her finger, cutting through the metal with ease. This was both convenient and, frankly, absolutely terrifying.

With that all done, we moved over to the door to the junk room. Patrick reopened it with a beam of light, then we quickly stepped inside before it closed behind us.

The junk room was even messier than I’d expected from Patrick’s description. Just stepping into the room required stepping onto bits of strewn metal and debris. I was struck by the scent of an unpleasant mixture of rust, industrial chemicals, and something vaguely floral that somehow worried me more than the chemicals did.

The garbage formed something of a mountain shape, with a tall pile toward the center of the room and the rest of it strewn in a distribution pattern that made me suspect it had been dropped in from a chute above us. I didn’t see anything like that, nor any obvious secret doors above us in general, but that didn’t mean one didn’t exist.

The others shifted past me and deeper into the room. I took another step forward, feeling a crunch and something wet sinking into my boot.

I have regrets.

I turned toward Sera to express said regrets, but I didn’t have time.

Almost immediately, the first half-constructed golem began to climb out of the junk pile toward us, like something out of a two-bit horror novel. A blur of motion streaked past me, then Mara was airborne, landing a moment later on top of the golem’s head with a crunch.

“Hey, hey!” I ran after her, dodging as a gigantic golem fist flew out of the pile and missed me by a wide margin. “Don’t wreck them too much! Cores, Mara! Cores!”

“Right, right.” With a glowing aura blade, she sliced the golem’s head off. It didn’t fall inert; instead, it bucked like a horse, leaving Mara to fly off of it with a brief “eep”.

A blast of ice from Sera’s extended hand froze the broken golem in place a moment later. The floating golem hand wheeled around for another pass, only to be blasted out of the air by a well-placed burst of light from Bright Reflection.

I almost chastised Patrick for destroying the floating hand — I was curious how it had detected and attacked us without being attached to a golem body — but when it hit the floor, I realized he’d only shattered one crystal on the back of it. The rest of the hand was intact, runes and all.

I walked over to the giant hand. Out came the box. “And…in you go.”

Mara kicked the frozen half-golem, breaking off one of the frozen arms. “Mean golem. Don’t surprise me like that.”

Two more broken golems climbed out of the pile, but Sera pelted them with more ice blasts before they could get anywhere. With the golems immobilized, breaking them further and taking their more valuable bits was a trivial process.

“Not bad.” Meltlake noted. “Your teamwork could use some work, but your combat skills are much better than they were doing midterms.”

Patrick glowed at the compliment. “Th…thanks, professor. We’re trying our best!”

I was, in fact, trying my best — but mostly at looting. Looting absolutely everything.

I’m going to miss you so much, Jaden Box. I could never replace you.

I was, of course, already thinking about ways to replace the Jaden Box. I hadn’t managed to figure out exactly how its weird presumably Mythralian (or Artinian?) enchantments worked, but some of the properties were replicable…just at extreme costs, or with slightly different methods and downsides. I hadn’t quite decided on exactly what my replacement box was going to look like yet, but I was determined to have something before Keras demanded the box later on in the year to summon Wrynn.

In the meantime, I intended to exploit my near-limitless storage capacity for all it was worth.

“Detect Aura.” I scanned through the rubble pile, finding more magical auras than I expected. Most of said auras, unfortunately, weren’t from more items or golem parts — they were from some kind of disgusting goop that was smeared across much of the pile. That made finding anything of actual value much trickier, especially since I didn’t want to touch whatever that disgusting substance was. Belatedly, I told the others, “Don’t touch the gunk, it’s magic.”

Mara pulled a hand back cautiously. “What, like alchemical stuff?”

“Probably. Or just residue from a magical accident. Or…like, a dead slime that exploded, maybe?” I shrugged. I wasn’t really much of an alchemy expert. “Professor?”

“Not helping,” Meltlake insisted. “Sorry, nothing in there looks like it’s worth cheating and helping you this early.”

“It’s not cheating, Professor.” Sera shook her head. “This isn’t actually a spire test, and we’ve already defeated the risks of the room. It’s just about looting efficiency, and you do get a cut of what we’re bringing out of here.”

Meltlake seemed almost persuaded, but then a smile cracked her lips. “No. You’re not quite right on that first part.”

I processed that, then immediately panicked as I realized it meant we hadn’t handled the “risks” in the room yet. I spun around, searching for what I might have missed. Were there more golem hands? Deadlier, stealthier golem hands?

There were not.

I didn’t find anything amiss, in fact.

“Think she just means the gunk is itself a risk, Corin. You can calm down. Should be fine as long as we don’t touch it.”

I calmed down. Marginally. What if the gunk had a deadly scent? I sniffed the air, smelling something foul, then immediately realized that sniffing the potentially deadly substance to determine if it was deadly was perhaps the worst decision anyone could have made.

I’ll save you from my own anxiety; it was not, in fact, a substance with a deadly toxic odor. No, the threat from the goop was much more direct. I didn’t even realize it until Mara mentioned it, but…

“The goop is moving.” She stared at it, taking a combat stance. “Very, very slowly.”

I didn’t even see it moving, not at first. It was only after several seconds of staring that I saw a tiny bit of it twitch.

“Eew.” Sera remarked. “I think it’s trying to move toward one spot.”

“Maybe I should fireball the whole pile? Won’t hurt the metal,” Patrick offered.

“Or maybe that’s what we’re expected to do and the whole thing will explode into a cloud of toxic gas if it’s ignited,” I replied.

“Oh.” Patrick’s shoulders sagged. “…I suppose that’s possible.”

“Don’t feel too bad, Patrick. We all like to blast things on occasion. In this case, however…” Sera conjured a ball of ice. “I think this might be safer.”

“You’re doing that without incants,” I noted. “You’ve been practicing hand-based casting?”

“Right you are, Corin. Very observant. Now, if there are no objections…”

“Wait.” Meltlake spoke up, surprising all of us. “Ice will work, but you’ll ruin one of the items inside if you use it. And you’re right,” she grinned at Sera, “I am getting part of the loot. Best to keep it intact.”

“Then…”

“You’ve figured out enough. I’ll help a little.” Meltlake tapped her cane to the floor. There was a rumbling as a section of the ground shifted, disrupting the pile of junk. Stone flowed like water, forming a dome over a small section of the junk. “Now, Sera.”

Sera hurled her ball of ice, which split in mid-air and hit several sections of the gunk, freezing it solid. She repeated the process several times, freezing all of the sludge that was visible. Then, with a gesture, Patrick conjured air and carried the slime-cubes out of the junk.

With a little more air, he shifted the pile, exposing more goo. Sera and Patrick repeated the process until they’d separated the goo out entirely — or, at least as close to completely as we could tell at a glance.

“Good enough, Professor?” Sera asked.

“Good enough. Should be safe. If the slime breaks out of the ice, I’ll handle it. Now, go play in the junk, kids.”

Patrick let out a “yay” with surprising enthusiasm and rushed to the pile. The rest of us followed more slowly, picking through it.

Most of the junk was exactly what it sounded like. Useless, broken down items with no obvious value or function. Some of the items were broken or rusted so badly I couldn’t even recognize what their original function was. The majority of it looked like scrap from a factory; bits of misshapen metal and stone, and some still-intact containers of unidentifiable black sludge.

“Store black sludge.”

I took the sludge, because of course I did.

I also stored a few choice bits from the rest of the junk — somewhat salvageable weapon and armor pieces, some cogs, screws, and bolts, and a single seemingly mundane ring. Others handed similar stuff off to me to store in the box.

The remarkable section was what Meltlake had hidden beneath the section of floor she’d shifted; a potion bottle containing a strange silvery liquid. She took it herself, slipping the potion into her robe. “I’ll call that part of my fee for the escort.”

“What is it, Professor?” Patrick asked.

“A specialized type of elixir. Not the type that would help any of us, but I have a friend that might like it.”

I almost asked for more information, but it was obvious even to me that she didn’t want to talk about it, so I held off for the moment. I couldn’t guarantee I was going to be quiet about it indefinitely, but Meltlake still seemed…off. I didn’t want to risk upsetting her this early into our expedition.

With the looting process completed, I briefly debated taking bits of the frozen goop, but ultimately decided against it. That seemed like the sort of thing that would get all over the place when someone decided to empty out the whole Jaden Box at once, which I expected to happen the moment Wrynn reclaimed it.

There was not, in fact, a trap door under the pile like we’d expected — the strange potion bottle had been the hidden treasure. So, that meant there were only two doors to check: one on the right, one on the left. We also could have turned back to the previous chamber…probably.

In a moment of concern, I touched the door and confirmed that yes, we could leave if we wanted to. That was good.

“Next room?” Sera asked.

“Next room,” we all confirmed.

Patrick headed over to the next door. He seemed to be in the pattern of opening doors, which was tactically the absolute worst decision we could have made — he was our ranged fighter, and aside from Sera, probably the least versed in melee combat — but honestly, it was the first floor and no one was really too worried about it. Maybe that was unwise. No, it was definitely unwise. But with Meltlake there, everyone felt pretty secure.

And Mara was right behind him, anyway.

Patrick opened the door on the right side of the room first. The room beyond had a floor covered in alternating black and white tiles, each about five feet by five feet in size. There were three other doors within it, each exactly in the middle of one of the sides.

More importantly, the opposite side of the room was filled with monsters. A barghensi, a line of several skeletons with swords, a line of skeletal archers behind them…with each standing exactly inside one of the squares. Though I tensed when I saw them, none of the monsters moved to attack. Not immediately, at least.

When the monsters didn’t move, I recognized the nature of the challenge immediately. The tiles were a fourteen-by-fourteen game board.

“Crowns,” Sera gave a little laugh. “Excellent. And that’s…a hundred points on the others side. Should be simple enough.”

“Do you think they’ll play by the rules? Moving in turns, only attacking when they are in range, and all that?” I asked.

“Very likely. Given how easy it would be to simply fight our way through with those restrictions, I imagine that the challenge is for us to obey the rules without being, you know, brutally mauled.”

“How do we know how many points we’re worth?” Patrick asked.

“A fair question.” Sera paused, thinking. “I wasn’t considering a deployment limit. If we have one of those…well, Meltlake won’t be able to take to the field at all. She’d be half their points by herself.”

“Only half?” Meltlake leaned heavily on her cane toward Sera. “Aren’t you underestimating me a bit?”

“Fifty is fairly typical for an Emerald-level hero unit. But if you’re saying you’re hiding more power…well, I suppose you could be a solo boss. But either way, you’d be too expensive for us to deploy.”

“That’s assumin’ we’ve got that limit at all, yeah?” Mara noted. “Maybe we should just hop on in there and see what happens. Can’t be assumin’ we’ve got extra rules and bind our hands without reason.”

“Yes, I suppose that’s one possible approach. But I wouldn’t want to be penalized for bringing in too much power…hm. Let’s check the other room first, shall we?”

We moved to the opposite side of the room, checking the other door.

A cool blast of air assailed us immediately, but fortunately, it wasn’t in the form of an attack. The room ahead was simply absurdly cold — but apparently not quite cold enough for the water that filled the majority of it to freeze over.

Not yet, at least.

Basically, the room looked like a giant swimming pool, but with tiny floating platforms hovering above it and a frigid aura in the air. The platforms were circular and just about a foot across, meaning someone could stand on one, but without a lot of room to maneuver. The gaps between the platforms were different distances, but none of them looked too far to jump across at a glance…of course, there would probably be tricks involved.

If I had to guess — and I was obviously going to guess — the room would get colder and colder after we entered, meaning that the water would likely freeze. This would, of course, be problematic for anyone who fell into the pool.

I saw two other doors in that room; one on the right side, another straight ahead. Both looked to be accessible by jumping from floating platform to platform.

Oh, to clarify, when I say floating, I don’t mean on the water. The platforms were hovering in mid-air a few feet above the water…which was actually more suspicious, now that I was paying attention. Maybe they had a weight capacity, or maybe some of them would sink while others remained stable. I started looking for identifying marks on the platforms, but Sera gestured for Patrick to move away from the door. The door shut as soon as Patrick pulled his hand away.

“Problem?” I asked.

Sera shook her head. “No, just sensed that the room was already getting cooler. Hopefully it won’t get any worse while it’s closed.”

“Understood.” I agreed with her logic. Usually, spire rooms wouldn’t change if they were closed. Sometimes they’d even reset completely if you waited long enough, but that would generally take hours.

“Any leanings?” Sera asked the group.

Mara glanced between the doors. “Jumping seems more my fit, but I know you’re a big Crowns gal.”

“Yeah, she’s great at it!” Patrick made an encouraging gesture. “Beats me every time.”

“She is good at Crowns,” I admitted, “But we don’t know what the rules will be in the spire. What happens if we’re limited to whatever abilities a Crowns unit of a specific type should have?”

Sera shrugged. “It’s probable. It’s also probably no problem.”

“With our group composition? There were a lot of skeletons in there, Sera.”

She snorted. “You’re just sad because you’ll be an Enchanter unit and they’re terrible.”

“That is, admittedly, a part of it, yes. But mechanically, we’re…what, four Carnelian-level hero units? Fifteen points apiece against a hundred-point enemy team?”

“In point of fact, there are intermediary measurements between Carnelian and Sunstone, and I think Mara is close enough to count as an Advanced Carnelian unit. And dual attunement units do exist. You might qualify.”

I waved a hand in a “maybe” gesture. “And if they give us the lowest grade possible?”

Sera seemed to ponder that for a moment. “Honestly? I could win with just Patrick and me.”

I folded my arms, giving her a skeptical look. “That’s a pretty bold claim.”

“Not really, if we presume that he counts as a standard Elementalist unit and I can use my summons.”

Summons definitely would swing things, yeah. I mean, Researcher wouldn’t, but…

I ran some ideas through my head, but I still couldn’t see her winning with just summons. Not without Seiryu, at least, which obviously wasn’t going to happen. I had a more pressing issue to bring up before I got too distracted. “Before we get into this too far, is that even the route we want to go? We have an extremely mobile group — two people with air mana, three if you count Meltlake. Then the other two of us have enhancement and transference. Crossing a platform room is trivial, and even if we assume it’s going to freeze over, we have access to both fire and ice magic.”

“Yes, true.” Sera pondered that. “But an agility focused room is likely to lead to others, yes? We’ll wear out our mana taking that kind of path. Whereas a route built around board games and other challenges of intellect is likely less mana intensive.”

She did have a valid argument: going through this way did seem more consistent with our general route strategy, and I hated to admit that my main counter was “thinking is more work”. “Okay.” I nodded. “Any objections?”

There were none. Meltlake simply told us that she’d be waiting outside the room unless something happened to force her to intervene, which we all understood. We discussed game mechanics for a couple more minutes, then headed back to the Crowns room.

It was time to play a game.

At our mutual agreement, Mara stepped into the room first, just in case things weren’t quite what they seemed. It was always possible the Crowns board was just an aesthetic and the monsters were going to charge, or worse, that there were some additional traps beyond the Valor board.

Only one event occurred when she stepped inside: A voice spoke from seemingly everywhere at once, clear and easy to understand.

[Player 1 has placed a unit: Carnelian-level Guardian. Value: 15 Points.]

That answered a lot of things right away, in the sort of way that made Sera acquire a particularly smug expression.

“E3, please, Mara.” Sera explained, referring to grid square locations on the board. The first four rows on our side were available for us to position our starting units, presuming standard rules applied.

Mara walked to the stated position. Nothing special happened, she just waited there.

“Patrick, your turn. E2.”

“Right!” Patrick walked into the room.

[Player 1 has placed a unit: Carnelian-level Elementalist. Value: 15 Points.]

With that announcement made, he positioned himself right behind Mara, as Sera had instructed. Sera’s strategy involved putting us on one side to avoid sustained fire from all the archers, but with some room to maneuver rather than being completely boxed in. I couldn’t say if it would be a good strategy until I had a better idea of whether or not some of her other plans would work.

“Corin, F3.” That put me right next to Mara, in the “front” of our group. Sera would be right behind me. I stepped in.

[Player 1 has placed a unit: Carnelian-level Multi-Attuned. Value: 25 Points.]

I blinked at that. Sera had mentioned multiple attunements showing up being a possibility, but I’d doubted it. Huh.

Patrick gave a whoop of encouragement as I stepped up into my position, but I wasn’t super excited. I had no idea how this would impact the game. I wasn’t aware of any Crowns rules for Arbiters. I doubted even Sera was; as a restricted attunement, they weren’t a part of the normal game.

On a whim, I spoke into the air. “Can I get a list of my valid abilities, please?”

There was no reply.

“Worth tryin’,” Mara offered in consolation. “S’pose we’ll find out soon enough.”

Sera stepped in last.

[Player 1 has placed a unit: Error-level Invoker. Value: 30 Points.]

I blinked. Error-level? Was that because she’d been Carnelian, but dropped down into a Quartz level range?

Either way, Sera was going to be impossibly smug about having a higher point value than mine.

…Wasn’t she?

Oddly, she looked concerned when she stepped into position behind me. I almost asked what was bothering her, but Patrick asked something more practical first. “So…with Meltlake not playing, we’re done positioning ourselves, right? How do we start?”

“I very likely just need to make a declaration. There are some standardized phrases for Crowns. Everyone feel ready?”

We gave her a circle of nods. Sera took a deep breath, still looking worried. “Then…Let the game begin.”

The door behind us slammed shut.

Chapter X – Crown of Fire

A voice echoed throughout the newly-sealed chamber.

[Player 1’s Turn.]

“Excellent.” Sera grinned. “Everyone, stay still a moment.” She gestured to the square next to her, taking a breath. “Vanniv, I summon you.”

Something clicked in my head the moment that Sera called Vanniv onto the board. The reason why she’d been so confident about winning with just Patrick and herself — it wasn’t about her own abilities. Not exactly.

Vanniv was, in effect, another entire Elementalist. His magic was near-identical to Patrick’s, both outside of Crowns and in terms of the mechanics of the game itself. That meant that we now had access to two different people with the types of abilities that Elementalists were famous for: fire and lightning based attacks.

I wasn’t quite certain what her full plan was. Chain Lightning seemed like the most valuable move against a crowd of the size we were dealing with, but Carnelian-level Elementalist and karvensi units wouldn’t have that ability.  Inferno would be available, which could blast up to four squares with fire, but that didn’t seem to be fast enough to obliterate entire crowds. Beyond that, they’d have powerful single-target Fire Bolt and Lightning Bolt spells, the latter of which might be useful against the barghensi. Finally, they had a simple Wall of Fire spell to block off up to three squares to prevent movement and attacks through those squares.

All that was useful, but there were simply too many enemies. Even if we could obliterate as many as four units in a round with perfect placement of Inferno spells, I couldn’t see how she was planning to beat them without getting us pelted with arrows. And I, for one, did not like the idea of being pincushioned by skeletal archers.

Vanniv appeared where she’d indicated, immediately turning in a circle to examine his surroundings. “Oh! Oh! Are we in a spire? It’s just like home!”

“Yes, the Tiger Spire. We’re playing Crowns. You remember the rules, of course?” Sera asked.

“Please, Sera. I couldn’t possibly forget after playing with you.” He gave her an exaggerated wink. “Now, since I’ve just been summoned…I suppose I should stand here and look dashing and adorable?”

“Quite right. No movements on your first turn, sadly. Which we’ll be ending in just a moment.”

“So soon?” I asked. “Most of us haven’t moved. You don’t want us to at least get a little closer?”

“Nope. We want as much information as possible before they get near us. Assuming normal mechanics, it’s going to take a minimum of two turns for them to get in archery and spell range. More, if we move backward or take some other steps. Let’s see what they do. Everyone good with that?”

We agreed.

Sera said, “End turn.”

[Player 2’s Turn.]

A skeleton walked forward for exactly three squares, then stopped. Then the next one did. Then the next.

It was kind of eerie. Was something giving them telepathic instructions? The same voice as the announcer, maybe?

The skeletal archers moved next – also exactly three squares. Then, the barghensi was last, moving only two squares.

Standard unit movement rates. I nodded to myself. Given that the archers aren’t loosing arrows at us, they may have standard range on shooting at us, too.

[Player 1’s Turn.]

“Perfect.” Sera smiled. “Patrick, lay down a Wall of Fire between E5 and C5.”

Patrick blinked. “Uh, sure. But they won’t get that close this turn.”

“Right. It’s not to stop them from walking. It’s to block line of sight for the archers, which have a range of four squares. Without obstruction, they could fire at Mara and Corin next turn.”

“That wall won’t stop them from shooting me.” I noted.

“Yes, yes. Vanniv will be putting up a second Wall of Fire, between F5 and H5. That will block the archers from shooting you.”

I processed that. “That’s…oh. You’re just going to wall us off entirely, aren’t you?”

“Precisely. A little mana intensive, but they should never get in a shot.”

“We can’t attack through the walls, either, though. So…you’re expecting the skeletons to walk right through the walls?”

Sera nodded. “Indeed I am.”

I sighed. “Okay. And if they don’t?”

“Then we’ll unload on them as soon as the walls fall and run.”

That sounded a little risky for my tastes, but if it worked…

Patrick and Vanniv put up their Walls of Fire.

“End Turn.” Sera declared.

[Player 2’s Turn.]

The enemy skeletons and barghensi moved up, just as expected. I tensed, but no shots were fired.

[Player 1’s Turn.]

“Patrick, move to B2. Then, Wall of Fire on A5 and B5.”

“Got it!” Patrick moved and cast his wall, blocking off the last couple skeletons on that side of the board.

“Vanniv…” Sera started.

“Fire wall from H2 to H4?” He gestured at the squares expectantly.

‘Quite right. It seems you’ve been paying attention during our games after all.”

“Anything to please you, mistress.” He gave a little mock bow, then waved a hand. A brilliant wall of flame moved to block off most of one of our remaining sides, leaving only a single square gap — and that gap was too far away for anyone to reach in one round.

“Aaaaand…End Turn.”

[Player 2’s Turn.]

I felt my shoulders tighten. I did not like the idea of waiting with skeletons this close to us, especially as obscured as they were by flames.

But those skeletons were a lot less intimidating the moment they began to step into the fire.

[Player 2’s Skeleton has been eliminated.]

That message repeated as more than half the skeletons walked into the fire wall.

Then, to my surprise, another series of actions that were even less explicable happened.

[Player 2’s Skeleton Archer has been eliminated.]

The archers were walking into the walls, too. There was…no reason for that. They could have simply waited on the other side of the fire walls for the duration to expire in a couple more turns.

Either the other player was very, very bad at Crowns, or simply very forgiving.

I counted myself grateful either way, although I quickly reminded myself that this was just the first room of the first floor of the spire. If we had run into a similar puzzle on a later floor it could have been much messier.

And we weren’t done. Not quite yet, at least.

[Player 1’s Turn.]

“Okay. First set of walls go down after the next enemy turn,” Sera noted. “At that point, we will have a brief window of vulnerability, depending on where their archers and the barghensi end up. Current plan is to bombard then when the walls go down and end the game, but if there are too many, we’ll refresh the walls and fall back instead. Patrick, back to your starting position.”

“Got it!”

“End turn.”

This was…absurdly nerve wracking for something where I had literally nothing to do. I gripped the hilt of Selys-Lyann tightly, but didn’t draw it. I couldn’t even know if I could use it safely in the match.

[Player 2’s Turn.]

A series of messages sounded as skeletons continued to advance toward us, burning and vanishing inside the walls.

[Player 2’s Skeleton has been eliminated.]

[Player 2’s Skeleton Archer has been eliminated.]

And then…

[Player 1’s Turn.]

The first walls of fire dropped, just as planned. They’d done their job, though — only two archers, one normal skeleton, and the bhargensi remained.

“Okay, looks good.” Sera nodded. “Patrick, move to F4.”

“That close?” I asked.

“It’s fine.” Sera waved a hand dismissively. “We’ve got them this turn.”

Patrick inched his way to the square, only about ten feet from the barghensi — a much more dangerous opponent than the mere skeletons. He looked nervous, but held himself tall regardless. “Uh…now what?”

“Cast Inferno on G6 and H6.”

“Oh! Got it.” Patrick waved a hand, conjuring a conflagration that enveloped the two designated squares — obliterating one of the two remaining skeletal archers and burning the barghensi. The latter was damaged, but remained in the game.

“Vanniv, move to G4, then Inferno the remaining skeleton and archer.”

“Gladly!” He stepped up, cast an inferno on I5 and I6, and obliterated the two units there.

Then only the barghensi remained.

“Mara, it’s time for your ultimate technique.”

Mara sauntered up to G5, right in front of the barghensi, and pulled back her arm. A bright wave of power flashed over her arm, then she jumped into the air and….

“Star Descends from Sky!”

She punched the barghensi out of existence.

[All of Player 2’s Units have been eliminated.]

[Player 1 has won the game.]

There was a brief musical chime, then then the voice sounded again.

[You have been awarded a bonus for winning without losing any units.]

[You have been awarded a bonus for winning without taking damage.]

A pair of keys appeared in the center of the room — one blue and one purple. The latter was gigantic and, perhaps more importantly, had a head shaped like a skull.

The key to the door near the entrance, I realized. We could go back and head to the next floor right away.

Sera conjured a jet of wind to bring them to her, smiling. “Not a bad start.”

***

We walked back to the door to the previous room. My nerves were still on fire. There had been no harm done to any of us, but that…almost made things worse. I didn’t like standing around with nothing to do.

I’m going to have to ask to avoid more challenges like that…or find a way to calm myself down.

Sera re-opened the door, revealing a nervous-looking Meltlake waiting for us.

The professor let out a sigh of relief when she saw our group intact. “How did it go?”

Sera quickly summed up the game.

“You did very well,” Meltlake said simply. It was tame, as far as praise went, but Sera seemed to devour it.

“T…thank you, Professor.” Was she more nervous than she’d been letting on? I supposed that it made sense, given how much was riding on her strategies.

I didn’t say anything. It probably would have just embarrassed her.

“Now, shall we choose where to go next?” Sera asked. “Oh, and Vanniv, thank you for the help. You were instrumental to our success.”

“I am always pleased to be of use to you.” He puffed himself up a bit, looking pleased. “Shall I continue to conquer this spire in your name?”

Sera let out a little snort. “I think we’ll take it from here for the moment, thank you. Need to conserve mana.”

“If you insist.” A hint of disappointment flashed across his face, but he didn’t let it show for long. “Let me know when you’re in need of me again.”

“I will. Vanniv, return.” She extended a hand in a magnanimous and unnecessary gesture, then Vanniv vanished into nothingness. I’d seen the effect dozens of times now, but I still found the idea of unsummoning a person…unsettling.

I tried to focus on the situation around us instead of my broader ideas about summoning ethics. This room had three other doors, but none of them looked to be any more locked than the previous ones had been.

“We could backtrack and head straight to the next floor,” I offered. “That’s the safest route.”

“Yeah, but then I’d probably lose my chance to try out this key.” Sera waggled the non-skull shaped key. “This is valuable practice, too. I say we hit a few more rooms before we go back.”

We discussed briefly, ultimately settling on taking a look at the other room options before deciding if we wanted to backtrack or not.

“I’ll go open the next one!” Patrick headed toward the door on the left side of the room. Mara silently moved right along with him, ready to take action if anything dangerous happened.

Patrick opened the first door, revealing a titanic room. I couldn’t even see the ceiling from my angle, but I could see some of the contents of the chamber. There were four massive wooden pillars holding up some sort of structure, as well as several peculiar figures.

One was a gigantic golem of some kind, wearing a long dress and with strangely smooth painted skin. It was lying on its side, inert.

Another was what looked like a twenty-foot tall fuzzy monstrosity resting up against a nearby wall, with a single shoulder torn out of position and exposing…stuffing?

I blinked, noting two other similar figures on the ground, and sensing a pattern. “Are…those…children’s dolls?”

“Yeah, sure, if the kids are about the size of a god beast.” Sera mused. “…Which I suppose is possible.”

“Step back.” Meltlake instructed in a no-nonsense tone.

We stepped away from the room. Just before the door closed in our absence, I saw something moving down from the side of the structure. When it struck the ground, I felt our entire room shake.

“Insights, professor?” Sera asked as we shifted away from the door.

“We should avoid that room.” The professor explained.

I stared back at the closed door. “Yeah, let’s stay as far from possible from the giant baby.”

Sera nodded. “I do try to keep my distance from you, brother, but it’s difficult when we’re in such confined spaces in the spire. Oh, you meant the giant baby in there.”

I rolled my eyes. “That was a weak jab, even by the standards of your usual ones.”

“Well, not all of my abilities can be quite as prodigious as my Crowns-playing. Shall we check the next room?”

We moved to the door that was directly across from where we’d entered. Once again, Patrick opened it.

Inside was a small room with a single blue treasure chest in the center. The box itself was huge; nearly neck-height and about six feet wide. There were absolutely no monsters or obvious traps. Somehow, I think that terrified me even more than the giant baby room.

No, I’m lying. The giant baby room was still worse. Still, treasure on its own was incredibly suspicious. There were no other obvious doors within that room, so it seemed like that particular path terminated there.

“Same color as her key,” Mara noted. “The non-skully one, that is. Maybe it’s our bonus prize?”

“Could be. Seems a bit…obvious, though.” Sera turned to Meltlake. “Odds that’s just a box?”

“Not quite zero, but it’s probably not a traditional mimic, either. Too obvious. It’s possible it’s a trap, but only for people who don’t have the proper key…which you might actually have earned.”

Sera frowned. “I suppose that’s possible. I was thinking of the skull key as the bonus key, but if that was the default and my key was the extra one…hm. Might be worth just levitating the key over to the box from here?”

“I think that would be largely safe,” Meltlake replied, “But perhaps it would be wise to check the other room first.”

There were a series of nods at that. We headed to the final new door, with Patrick opening it as usual.

A monster hurled itself through the door the moment that Patrick opened it.

The beast was something like a tiger, but with large, bird-like wings and huge, knife-like claws extending from its fingers. I felt an instant of panic as it lunged for Patrick. My hand went to my sword, but I wasn’t fast enough to do anything.

As it turned out, I didn’t have to. Patrick swept his right hand across his body and a gust of wind followed his gesture, blasting the winged tiger across the room and into a nearby wall. It didn’t impact particularly hard, but it still looked dazed.

Patrick splayed his hands out to the sides, staring at the creature with a hard look. “Easy, there, friend. We’re not here to hurt you.”

The beast landed on the ground and raised its head, its muscles tensing as if preparing to leap. It let out a low growl, then licked its lips, turned its head to scan the people present, and took a step back toward the wall.

I stayed my sword hand for the moment. If Patrick wanted to talk, I’d let him.

Mara surged across the room, landing in front of Patrick. Her aura blade was gone; she’d dismissed it, presumably deliberately. That didn’t stop her from taking a defensive posture, though.

“Wall.” Sera waved toward the doorway. A wall of ice manifested in the door, freezing the entrance to the next chamber shut a moment before a second monster slammed into it. Through the ice, I couldn’t quite make it out, but it looked more like some kind of boar.

Good catch, I noted mentally. I’d been so distracted by the first monster that a second would have caught me off guard.

Meltlake watched the doorway warily, bracing her arms on top of her long cane. Based on the way her shoulders were set, I suspected she was having difficulty restraining herself from attacking. I appreciated that she was giving us a chance to handle things without her intervention.

Sera took a few steps closer as the winged tiger began to back away from our group, seemingly searching for a way out. “Easy, there. We’re not here to hurt you. I’m a Summoner. Can you talk?”

The creature turned its head toward Sera, growling. “Summoner. I have no business with you.”

I blinked, briefly startled. I knew about plenty of smart animal-like monsters — pegasai, unicorns, gryphons, all that — but most of them didn’t talk. I didn’t quite recognize this one, but it did seem similar to another monster I was more familiar with.

Fortunately, I wasn’t the monster expert. Without missing a beat, Mara stepped forward. “I’ve got a riddle for you, if you’d like.”

The creature immediately swiveled toward Mara, the muscles in its back tensing as if it wanted to leap, but instead, it simply narrowed its eyes. “You believe yourself worthy to feed me?”

“I’ll wager I’ve got one you haven’t ‘eard before. Don’t know if it’ll stump ya, but I think you’ll enjoy it regardless.”

“Hmpf.” The monster briefly tensed again, seeming to evaluate something, then shifted into a sitting position. And, in a much more conventionally cat-like fashion, reached up to lick one of its own knife-like claws. “Very well, then. Amuse me, if you would. But I will require more than one riddle if you wish to be permitted to stay.”

“Of course, great one.” Mara bowed her head. “Will you permit us a few moments to discuss the best riddles to offer you, then?”

“Pah. You offer food and then withdraw it?”

“No, no. Merely wanted to give you the best offerings, is all. I’ll give you one now, then talk to my friends while you think about it?”

“I can give you a few moments.”

While they talked, Sera was inching her way over toward me. She leaned over to whisper. “Tiger-sphinx. Very smart. Very temperamental.”

“It eats riddles instead of giving them out like a traditional sphinx?” I asked.

“It does both. If you can both stump it and defeat its own riddles, it will offer you something. In this case, probably clues for the rest of the area.”

Mara came over to us. “Any of you have somethin’ you feel like startin’ us off with?”

I shook my head. “I can come up with something, but you’ll need to give me a bit. I’m no riddle expert.”

“Same.” Sera frowned. “I’ve got a few options, do you want to discuss—”

“It has been a few moments. You may tell me a riddle now.” The tiger sphinx made a “come hither” gesture with a paw.

Apparently the “few moments” were very literal. That wasn’t much time to talk.

Mara took on a thoughtful expression, then walked back over to present her first offering. “Right, right. Here you go. I run, but cannot walk. I sing, but cannot talk. I have no arms, but I have hands—”

The tiger-sphinx groaned. “A clock. A better effort than some, but if you wish to feed me, you must do better.”

Mara just smiled. “Well, I s’pose it’d be your turn, then, now wouldn’t it?”

“Hmpf. You have not yet warranted my own questioning. Give me a true meal before you seek scraps of your own.”

“Of course, beggin’ your forgiveness. Just a moment, then, while we have a little chat, yeah?” Mara bowed her head, then slowly backed away, nudging Patrick to do the same. She never took her eyes off the tiger-sphinx. Taking that as a strategy, I tried to do the same as I moved closer to Patrick and Mara. Eventually, we were all facing toward the sphinx, but standing close to each other and toward the opposite side of the room.

“Can we really discuss this without the tiger-sphinx just overhearing us?” I asked my friends quietly.

“No,” the tiger-sphinx replied to my whispered question. “Not if I wish to listen. I will nap now. We will begin when I wake.”

The cat unceremoniously laid down on the ground, closing its eyes. I blinked at the sudden change, then glanced to my companions. “Are they really…?”

“Sleeping?” Sera narrowed her eyes. “I think so. Or, at least, we should play along either way. Come on. Riddles. Mara, I take it you gave an easy one as bait?”

“Right you are, Miss Cadence. I have some better ones. We’ll each want to have one good one — we all need to make a personal exchange unless we want to be considered ‘prey’.”

“How much of a concern would that be?” I asked. “How strong are these things?”

Mara shrugged. “Probably not that dangerous to us, if I’m bein’ honest. They can get powerful, but at this floor? Not a concern. It’s more about just bein’ nice and gettin’ some clues.”

“Sounds good.” I nodded to her, thinking. Riddles weren’t really my strength, but I did know a few. “Do we all have to stump them?”

“Him, I think. And no, I think only one of us will need to. The rest of us just have to be at least mildly entertaining. And we do want to answer his riddles correctly, either alone or as a team.”

We spent the next few minutes discussing options, playing riddles against each other, until we made some choices. I kept casting glances toward the ice wall to see if the other monster would break through, but it seemed to get bored and stop trying after a minute or so.

Then, after just a few minutes of riddle discussion, the tiger-sphinx opened its jaws in a surprisingly humanlike yawn, blinked, and turned toward us. “You may feed me now.”

“I’ll go first.” Sera stepped up. “Ready?”

“Yes, yes.” The sphinx yawned again. “Go ahead, make your effort.”

Sera bowed and began. “I have words, but no voice. I have no eyes and ears, but I spread wisdom to each that holds me.”

The creature paused for just a moment, closing its eyes. “A book. Somewhat pedestrian, but an appropriate choice. I will permit it.”

“Then, will you offer us a riddle in return?” Sera asked.

Without preamble, the tiger-sphinx began. “Harder to catch than it is to hold, I cannot be seen unless it is cold.”

Sera smiled. “Thank you for giving us an easy one to begin with. The answer is breath.”

“Very good. It seems your answering abilities exceed your questions. Who is next?”

I stepped up to offer one of my own. “I am the beginning of the end and the end of time and space. I stand within creation, but I surround every place.”

“A slight variation on a classic. The answer is the letter ‘e’. I care little for linguistic riddles such as this, but I will reply regardless.” The sphinx paused for a moment, then began his own query. “It is dark and cold, and your window is broken, allowing in a chill wind. You stand alone in your home, bereft of magic. You have a candle, an oil lamp with minimal oil, and a wood-burning stove. You have but a single match. What do you light first?”

I frowned, thinking.

Well, with the candle, I could easily light the others…except for the wind. That might put it out right away. If I could get the lamp lit, I could light the others, if the oil lasts. Lighting the stove would provide the most heat, but I feel like it would be the hardest to…

Oh.

It's a trick question.

I sighed. “It’s the match, isn’t it? You have to light the match before you light the others.”

“Well-done.” The tiger-sphinx nodded. “Who shall go next?”

Mara stepped up, and I hoped she had a harder one. We were rapidly running out of chances to stump him, and I wasn’t sure if Meltlake was going to intervene if Mara and Patrick failed. “Air is my chariot and water my guard. Earth is my mother, but by fire I’m scarred.”

“Ah, I always appreciate an elemental challenge. Yours is quite broad, however. A leaf would be the most obvious, given the line about air, but perhaps a seed or sapling could also work.” He didn’t wait for Mara to acknowledge that his answer was correct, he simply launched into his own riddle in reply. “Perhaps you would appreciate something similar? I am born of the earth, but my bones are frail. I am molded by flame, but bear no heat. From wind I protect, and water shines beautifully against me in the light.”

“Think I know that one. Glass, yeah?”

The sphinx nodded. “That is the traditional answer, yes. Certain gems or crystals are valid answers as well. Anyone else?”

Patrick stepped a little closer. “Uh, hi, Mr. Tiger-Sphinx. Do you have a name?”

The tiger-sphinx stared at Patrick. “I…what an interesting riddle. I do not believe I’ve been asked that before. Allow me to contemplate.”

That was definitely not intended to be a riddle. Patrick, to his credit, played along marvelously and puffed up his chest contemptuously.

“As with most spire creatures, I am a copy. I know the name assigned to my original self, but is that my name? Dare I to call it my own? It is a perplexing question, one with no simple answer.” The tiger-sphinx nodded to Patrick. “Well done, young one. You have succeeded, and I owe you a reward. You may ask me a single question, and if it is within my ability, I will answer.”

I’m going to be honest, I thought we were going to have to go with my backup plan of “summon Researcher to out-riddle the sphinx”.

Who would have thought that a little common courtesy might accidentally solve our problem?

“I would like a moment to confer with my friends.” Patrick was wise enough to not phrase his request as a question.

“Of course, go ahead. I will nap.” The tiger-sphinx lowered his great bulk back to the floor and closed his eyes.

“I can’t believe that worked.” Mara nudged Patrick. “Good thinking, there!”

“I, uh, thanks Mara. But it was kind of an accident.”

Sera shook a finger at him. “Solved is solved, Patrick, deliberately or otherwise. Give yourself some credit.”

“I…uh, thanks.” Patrick blushed a little, looking away. “So…what should we ask him?”

Sera beckoned Meltlake over to join in the conversation. We huddled up to discuss ideas.

“If there’s any secret treasure on this floor, he probably knows about it,” Patrick suggested. “Might be worth asking. Could be something valuable.”

“Secret passages, too,” Mara offered. “Might be willin’ to tell us where that weird portal goes. If it skips a few floors, could save us a lot of time ‘n trouble.”

I nodded at that. As much as I liked looting the spires, we had a specific goal, and expediting that goal was probably wise if it was possible. On the other hand, if the portal was useless, we’d just wasted a question. “We need to weigh the value of the information, the likelihood he has the information, his willingness to share, and the utility of any possible responses.”

Sera rolled her eyes. “As pretentiously as he phrased that, Corin is right. Something more open-ended might be better, like treasure located anywhere in the spire, rather than on this floor.”

Patrick grimaced. “But too broad could get us, ‘oh, yeah, there’s this crazy sword up on the fiftieth floor. This guy named Keras is carrying it.’ He’s not going to give us a trick answer like some kind of elemental or spirit might, but if we ask something too open-ended, the answer may not be useful.”

“Fair.” Sera nodded. “Wait, is Keras that high up in the spire now?”

Patrick laughed. “No idea! He was slowing down a lot for us, though. Admittedly, some problems couldn’t exactly be brute forced. ‘Survive until sundown’ or whatever. Doesn’t matter how strong you are for that sort of thing, gotta spend the time.”

I briefly pictured Keras punching out the sun to try to meet that requirement faster, but didn’t comment on the mental image.

“We’re gettin’ a bit sidetracked here,” Mara pointed out. “Professor, any advice?”

Meltlake shrugged a shoulder. “Doubt the sphinx has anything particularly impressive to offer. We’re on the first floor. Don’t overthink it. Could ask for the simplest method to solve whatever is in the skull room, for example. Miss Callahan’s suggestion about the portal isn’t a bad one. Yes, it’s a waste if the portal doesn’t go somewhere we want, but if it does, it saves enough time that knowing it has considerable value.

I couldn’t disagree with that. “Fair. We just have to weigh a question with a guaranteed useful answer against things like that. And honestly, I don’t know if any guaranteed answer is going to be useful at all.”

“Actually, if we’re talking about gambling on something that may not have a useful answer, I might have something more valuable than the portal to ask about…but only for me, personally.” Sera frowned. “Would you all be willing to give me the question as my split of the treasure for this floor?”

“Uh, sure, Sera.” Patrick frowned. “I don’t think we really need any kind of formal treasure splitting rules in general. We’re all friends here.”

I frowned, thinking back to my conversation with Sera about my stricter definitions of “friends”. I certainly didn’t consider Professor Meltlake a friend, but I supposed Patrick probably did. She was more of an acquaintance to me, but one that I looked at positively. And she clearly didn’t care much about the sphinx’s question, so… “I’m fine with that.”

The others quickly agreed as well, then Sera went to ask her question.

“Honored tiger-sphinx, I have my question for you.”

The sphinx opened his eyes, blinking and stretching in a surprisingly human-like yawn. “Hm? Question? Oh, right. Yes, go ahead, ask.”

Here it goes. I had a pretty good idea of what she was about to ask, but the phrasing was going to be relevant.

“What is the easiest way I could safely contact Byakko, the God Tiger, to arrange for a summoning contract without climbing any higher than the fifth floor and without requiring the help of anyone outside of my present climbing group?”

The sphinx blinked at her. “…What? Really? You do know that you’re less than an insect to Byakko, right? And that he’ll probably just, say, eat your face?”

Sera smirked. “I do have a delicious face, but I’m reasonably confident that he’ll choose to talk — if, of course, I can approach him in the right way. And I did ask for a safe method.”

“You did, you did.” The sphinx growled, but not in an aggressive way.  It sounded more like he was thinking, maybe. “There is no safe way to speak to a god beast.”

“I know, but—”

“Cease speaking, I will answer your question to the best of my ability.” The sphinx took a breath. “Your conditions are too restrictive for me to give you the type of answer you truly wish, however…there is one method that technically meets your criteria.”

“Oh?” She raised an eyebrow. “And that is?”

“Take a second Judgment.” The sphinx closed his eyes. “That would not technically require external help or going higher than the fifth floor.”

“And this would…be a reliable way to find Byakko?” Sera asked, uncertain.

“No. But as a Summoner, there is a high likelihood that Byakko would appear in your Judgment in some form.” He winced. “Speaking of a Judgment is forbidden knowledge. For this transgression, I must leave you now. I bid you luck in your journey, and thank you for the meal.”

With that, the tiger-sphinx lowered his head.

“Wait! Could we discuss a co—”

The sphinx vanished.

“….And he’s gone.” Sera sighed. “Oh well. It’s not like I needed another mental mana focused summon.” She turned to the rest of us. “Thank you all for permitting my question. I know it was selfish, but…”

“No, it was amazing!” Patrick raised a fist encouragingly. “You’re really set on getting the most dangerous contracts possible, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Sera smiled. “I most certainly am.”

***

We did a quick check on the room that the tiger-sphinx had come from, removing the wall of ice. The boar-monster charged us again, but Mara grabbed it by its gigantic horns, flipped it over her head, and slammed it into the ground so hard that I heard something crack. Then, a moment later, it vanished and left a tiny crystal behind in its absence.

“Huh.” I reached down and picked it up. “Class 1 Gray Mana Crystal. Not bad.” I tossed it to Mara and she deftly caught and pocketed it.

The room itself had three more monsters in it, all variations on ordinary animals that had slight magical modifications. A bird with metallic feathers. A wolf-like creature with paws of ice. A gigantic metal bee.

A hail of offensive spells from our group obliterated them before they could get anywhere near us. Our group lacked a few things, but ranged offensive magic was not one of them. Between Sera, Patrick, and me, we had all the basic elements covered — and these were some of the weakest monsters available.

Patrick and Sera each claimed a mana core. I took the remains of the mechanical bee.

Beyond the bee (heh), the chamber didn’t have much of interest. There were two more doors, but we didn’t bother checking them. We had the key to the spire guardian room and didn’t feel like it was necessary to go any further.

We did, however, have one last thing to check before we made our way to the next floor. We went back to the Crowns room, then reopened the door to the giant treasure chest room. We stood in the doorway for a little while, just scanning the room for any obvious signs of traps.

“We’re being too paranoid.” Sera retrieved the key from her bag. “I think Keras’ tragic past with mimics is getting to us. Even if that thing is trapped, we can handle it. Let’s do this thing.”

I drew Selys-Lyann, just in case. Patrick already had Bright Reflection out. Mara just took a combat stance.

Behind us, Meltlake just looked a little amused.

“Levitate.” The key floated out of Sera’s hand and into the lock in the front of the chest. With a twist of her wrist, she manipulated the floating key to turn. There was a click, then the key vanished.

“So far, so good.” Sera frowned. “Was hoping the box lid would just pop off once it was unlocked, though. And I can’t levitate the lid from here. Corin, think you can hit the lid at the right angle to open it with a transference burst?”

“Depends. The weight of the lid would influence how much force I have to use. Let’s see, assuming it’s a wooden chest that’s a couple inches thick on each side…it’s about eighteen feet away…” I knelt down, angling my hand and gathering transference mana.

One…two…good.

I released the burst of mana. It hit so hard that the lid did flip open, but also slammed back shut again. The whole box slid back a few inches.

“Too hard, huh? Okay. One more.”

My second blast got it open properly.

It was tough to see the contents of the box from the doorway, since it was so abnormally tall. To accomplish this without going inside, Sera levitated herself up a few feet, then looked downward at an angle. “Huh. Just a sack inside. Much smaller than the box itself. Nothing else I can see in there.”

“False bottom with more treasure, maybe?” I suggested.

“Very plausible.” Sera paused, contemplating. “I hate to say it, but I don’t think we can get the bag or check the bottom without going in. Any volunteers?”

No one volunteered. Not even Mara. Apparently, even her usual bravery was tempered by Keras’ tales of treasure box horrors.

Patrick looked like he was about to very hesitantly step forward when Sera spoke again. “Vanniv, I summon you.”

Vanniv appeared with a bright grin. “Ah, I knew you’d need me!”

“We most certainly do.” She gestured to the box. “We need the bag. We’re concerned the box is trapped. Can you check for us?”

“But of course! A trivial thing.”

He bowed and took one step into the room. The door slammed shut.

What followed was a cacophony of thunks, shinks, and something that sounded like a gigantic circular saw. I took an instinctive step away from the closed door, eyes widening.

Mara paled. “Should we…uh…maybe…”

“No.” Sera raised a hand in a warding gesture. “Just wait.”

We waited. More sounds. Thunk. Crack. The sound of a muffled voice.

Then finally, after a tense minute, the door reopened.

Vanniv stood in the doorway. Or, what was left of him, anyway. His shirt had been obliterated. Half of his hair was gone — hair that, I’ll remind you, was made of stone. His skin was broken in several places. There was no obvious blood, but some kind of sticky blue substance — liquid mana — was leaking from the cracks. He was dragging one leg behind him and standing at an awkward angle. He half-lifted the sack, shoving it at Sera.

She hesitantly accepted it. “Vanniv…are you…”

“I’m going to go now.” Vanniv shuddered. “Never again. Never again.”

Then he vanished without so much as a “Vanniv I dismiss you”. I didn’t even know he could dismiss himself.

We stared at the room in growing horror. Aside from the bag being missing from the box and a trail of blue on the floor, there was absolutely no visible change.

“…Are we still checking the box for a false bottom?” Patrick asked hesitantly. “We could summon Vanniv again and ask—”

“No, Patrick.” Sera stared into the chamber. “Some mysteries are better left unsolved.”

We backed away from the doorway slowly. I didn’t feel safe until we were all the way back in the entrance room.

***

I was almost too nervous to even ask what was in the bag, but eventually, I summoned up the courage.

Cautiously, Sera opened it. “Gems!” Her eyes widened. Cautiously, she levitated a finger-sized red crystal out. “Or, more specifically, I think these are mana crystals?”

My eyes narrowed as I looked at it, activating Detect Aura and inspecting it. “Fire Crystal, Class 2. What else is in there?”

She opened the bag wider. “Bunch of crystals of different colors.” She floated them out one at a time — none of us trusted that there wasn’t some kind of additional trap inside the bag itself, or some kind of evil slime coating one of the crystals. It only took a quick check to evaluate our find.

“One mana crystal of each base mana type, all Class 2. Not bad. You can put them back in the bag if you want, or I can box them.”

“Box them.” Sera said. “Assuming you’re willing to touch them.”

“Let’s rinse them off first?”

It may have been excessive caution, but after the last couple rooms, we were willing to delay a few minutes to clean the crystals before packing them away.

With that done, we burned the bag, wishing we could burn our memories of that room at the same time.

“What ever happened to that universal crystal of yours, Corin?” Patrick asked.

“Still saving it. Haven’t found the right purpose for it yet.”

“Was wonderin’ ‘bout that.” Mara gave me a curious look. “Could you use a universal crystal to copy somethin’ like Keras’ unique mana?”

I shook my head. “I looked into it a little more. Universal crystals aren’t truly universal — they can only copy base mana types, not compound ones or other weird stuff. And even if it could copy what Keras does, I doubt I could enchant with it. No runes of that type.”

“Fair.” She nodded. “Any idea what you’re savin’ it for?”

“No, but it’ll probably be one of the more obscure types, like light. We’ve got Bright Reflection, but we’re short on other sources of light mana.”

“Let’s get back on track.” Sera motioned to the room with the skull lock. “Any preparations we need to make before heading to the next room?”

“Better to refresh our mana.” I sat down at the base of the mana fountain, removing my waterskin and filling it with the mana water. “Maybe stock up on this, too.”

We spent a few minutes drinking mana water, resting, and storing a bit of mana water for later use. Then, we headed to the door with the skull lock.

“Patrick, Mara, any advice based on your last expedition?” Sera asked.

“The last spire guardian we fought was a big armored bear. Strong and tough, but not very fast.” Patrick paused, then belatedly added, “Oh, also it was on fire.”

Mara shook her head. “Fire bears are the worst.”

“Any traps, or was it a fairly conventional fight?” I asked.

“Just a standard fight. Was a little tough for just the two of us, but doable. We beat it through attrition.”

“Was that the only spire guardian you fought?” Sera asked.

“Yeah, only the first floor had a conventional spire design. Everything afterward was…weirder. We had plenty of fights after that, including some that were harder than the fire bear, but nothing else I’d call a spire guardian.”

“Sounds simple enough. Let’s see if we can get an eye on our opponent from the entrance. Be ready to move in case it jumps or attacks through the doorway.”

We headed to the door. Sera inserted the skull key, which vanished into the lock. Patrick reached for the door, but Mara put a hand on his arm.

“Let’s be a little safer about this one, yeah?”

“Fair.” He took a breath, stepping back.

Mara touched the center of the door. It vanished entirely.

The room ahead was much larger, probably a hundred feet across and fifty feet wide. It was much taller, too, probably about fifty feet in height. There were four colossal pillars reaching upward toward the ceiling, each several feet wide. At the far end was a circular stairway blocked by stone walls on three sides and a barred metal gate on the front. There was an obvious keyhole for the gate.

We found the key easily enough. It was attached to the collar of a titanic three-headed lupine beast that snarled at us the instant the door vanished.

The moment we saw the wolf, we stepped out of the doorway out of instinct. This may have been a bit preemptive: the wolf didn’t exhale a breath of blistering flame from one of its three heads for at least two or three seconds.

Right after the wave of fire passed through the now-open doorway, Sera waved a hand in that direction. “Wall.” A wall of ice appeared, blocking the entrance. Given the power of that flame breath, I didn’t expect it to last long. The wolf itself wouldn’t fit through the doorway — it was about ten feet tall and several feet wide — but if it could get a head through the doorway after melting the wall, we’d be in trouble. “Suggestions?”

“I’ve got this one.” Patrick cracked his neck, stepping up to the ice wall. “It’s a tri-hound. Three heads, three breath weapons. It’s pretty similar to the chimera we fought in the final exam, just a little more agile and probably lower on durability. If you’ll get rid of the wall, I can handle it.”

“By yourself?” I blinked. “That’s a spire guardian, Patrick. You sure?”

“Yep. And I won’t be alone.” He lifted his sword. “I’ve got Bright Reflection, remember?”

I picked up on the basics of his plan immediately, but gave him a dubious look. “Does the sword have enough mana left for that?”

“It’s recovered over the last few rooms and during our break. I don’t think I’ll need full mana for this. You can always jump in if—”

A blast of lightning smashed into the ice wall, melting straight through the center of it.

“We’ll be on standby.” Sera waved a hand, shaping the remaining ice out of the way. “Go for it, Patrick.”

Patrick gave a grateful nod. I stared incredulously as he rushed straight into the spire guardian room. As he moved inside, the wolf focused all three heads on him immediately, growling and pawing at the ground.

I felt a surge of panic.

It’s going to charge. He can’t magically reflect a charge.

I stepped forward, but Sera put an arm in my way. “He needs this.”

The wolf roared and leapt. It crossed the space toward Patrick in a moment, ready to eviscerate him with now-flaming claws.

Just before it reached him, Patrick ducked down…then launched himself straight into the air.

A loud crack filled the air as he shot upward with blistering speed, easily evading the tri-hound’s pounce. Then without pause, he hurled a blast of lightning straight at the hound’s leftmost head. The blast connected before the hound could react, causing it to shudder and roar, turning its heads upward to inhale.

Patrick was already moving again, shooting across the room to avoid an exhaled gout of ice potent enough that I could feel the chill from the doorway. He hurled a blast of fire in response, but the hound was quick enough to see it this time, shifting one of its other heads to exhale a fireball and blast Patrick’s flames out of the air before they connected.

Patrick hurled a jagged bolt of lightning at the hound, but it sprang out of the lightning’s path, growling and sniffing at the air. Three heads focused narrowed eyes on Patrick, seemingly considering how best to devour someone who was floating in mid-air.

“Come on!” He cheerily waved with Bright Reflection. “I’m right here!”

The hound roared, then inhaled again, the eyes of its central head glowing bright crimson. Patrick floated in place until the moment the hound exhaled a wave of fiery breath, then casually evaded the jet of flame by flying to the side.

…Or, he tried to, anyway. The burning breath curved in mid-air, following his path.

Patrick didn’t panic — instead, he simply pulled back his sword and said, “Bright Reflection.”

His sword, a mere facsimile of the true Sacred Sword of Light, nevertheless glowed with a brightness rivaling the rising sun itself. It was too bright to even look at directly, but I was able to follow the result. With a casual swing of the brilliant brand, he smashed the incoming flame breath back at the hound.

The blast caught the hound dead-on, lighting a portion of its back fur on fire. It howled in agony, rolling on the ground to extinguish the flames — and in that moment, Patrick shot downward from the sky, ramming Bright Reflection into the tri-hound’s underbelly.

The sword sunk in deeply. Too deeply.

When the massive beast continued to roll, Patrick’s sword was embedded so far into it that the sword was torn from his grip. He barely managed to fly out of range before the hound smashed him with its flailing movements. A moment later, he was in the air again, but without his primary weapon. And while he’d done some damage with that lunge, it didn’t look anywhere close to fatal.

He hurled a few weak blasts of flame from the air, but the hound ignored them entirely, continuing to roll until the stronger flames from its own breath were extinguished. Then it pushed itself back to its feet, looking upward and growling loudly.

I thought I saw Patrick reach for something glittering in one of his sleeves, but then he hesitated, choosing to launch another blast of lightning instead of grabbing the object. The lightning arced in mid-air to the hilt of Bright Reflection, channeling straight through the sword and into the hound’s body. The tri-hound howled and shuddered, briefly pawing at the sword embedded in its underbelly, but the sword remained trapped in place.

Resh, that was a good plan. If he had his sword back…

But it had failed. The hound turned back toward him, and I could see Patrick wobbling in mid-air. His mana was running low. Maybe critically low — it was too hard for me to tell at a glance.

Then all three heads began to inhale at the same time. Lightning sparked in the nostrils of one head, frost formed around another, and smoke gathered around the central head.

Meltlake took a step forward, but Mara raised a hand. “Don’t worry, Professor. He’s got this.”

The hound exhaled a torrent of three types of mana at once, each of the three attacks curving toward Patrick at a different angle. Without Bright Reflection, he had no way to turn the attacks against the hound, and they were far stronger than his own magic. The blasts might have been avoidable on their own, but three at once, with each head being able to control one…he didn’t stand a chance at evading them.

He didn’t need to.

Patrick’s hands shot out, one burning and the other wreathed in lightning. As the attacks approached, he hurled his own straight into them. His attacks weren’t even close to the same power as the hounds, but he didn’t need them to be.

Like deflects like, Teft’s words echoed in my mind.

That wouldn’t work against attacks that were overwhelmingly powerful, but Patrick had grown much stronger over the months since the year had begun. He couldn’t hope to contest the hound’s breath weapons directly, but such power wasn’t necessary — he just needed to nudge them slightly out of the way. Just enough to cause the two blasts he could deflect to collide with the one he couldn’t.

Nudged from their original path, the three attacks met in mid-air. Patrick needed to time his counterstrikes close to the point of impact to prevent the hound from reshaping its own breath like it had with the fire, which meant that they were almost close enough to hit him when it happened — and the explosive detonation in the air was a little too close. The sheer force of the explosion hurled Patrick backward, smashing him into one of the chamber’s walls.

In that moment, he was dazed. And in that moment, the hound chose to strike. The tremendous beast ran forward as Patrick shook his head to collect himself. He was still floating in mid-air, twenty feet off the ground. Too high even for the hound to reach in a single bound…but not, it seemed, too high to reach when it jumped on one of the chamber’s pillars, landing sideways on the surface, and then somehow leaping off of that and straight toward Patrick.

At that point, Mara got out of the way to let Meltlake move, but it was too late. The hound was airborne, lunging for Patrick with the jaws of its central head open wide, trailing smoke and fire.

Patrick was too slow to dodge, but not too slow to act. His right arm shot out and pointed with his wand. “Freeze.”

A lance of ice flashed out from the wand — and straight into the hound’s open mouth. Then, as it met with the flames within, the tri-hound met with a particularly explosive case of indigestion.

By which I mean to say that the tri-hound exploded.

The blast slammed Patrick into the wall again, and he sunk toward the floor. With a waved hand, Professor Meltlake steadied him on a gust of wind, slowly lowering him to the ground.

The key from the hound’s collar — the only thing remaining of the hound after the creature detonated — hit the ground with a “tink” before Patrick did.

I rushed over to Patrick as he landed on the ground. He was blinking rapidly and looked like an absolute mess, but he was otherwise visibly unharmed.

I grabbed him to help him to his feet. “Lesser Regeneration.” A flare of mana passed between us. Just because I didn’t see any injuries didn’t mean he hadn’t suffered any. “You okay?”

“Yep!” He took my hand and pulled himself back up. “Thanks, Corin!”

Sera came up right behind me. “Patrick. That was…amazing. You beat a spire guardian on your own!”

He blushed bright crimson. “Th—thanks, Sera. It wasn’t, uh, that big of a deal.”

“No, it was.” Meltlake put a hand on his forehead, rustling his hair. “You’ve made me proud, apprentice. Even I wouldn’t have tried that at your age.”

“I…uh, gosh. I…don’t know what to say.”

I pulled my hand back just in time to avoid Mara coming in and hugging him. “No more solo work like that for a while, yeah? You did great showing off there, but you can’t hog all the fun.”

Patrick laughed, still blushing. “Fine, fine. Thanks, everyone.”

“So, the ice was the wand, I get that. But how were you flying?” I asked. “I know you can levitate, but full-on flight is a higher-level spell than Carnelian, isn’t it?”

Patrick grinned. “You didn’t think I came out of the spire without any new toys, did you?” He lifted a foot to show me something I hadn’t paid attention to — a wing pattern on his boot. I hadn’t even realized he was wearing new boots, since I didn’t really pay much attention to fashion.

“Ooh. Flying boots. And since you’re already an Elementalist….”

“I can recharge them. And since I already had levitation experience, picking up on the fine control of flight wasn’t too hard.”

“And I take it the wand is your other reward from the last spire trip?”

“Yep. Rounds out one of the last elements I needed. If I can get my hands on an earth item, I’ll have all the basics covered early, and I can start practicing for when I get them from my attunement at higher levels.”

“You get all of them from your attunement?” Mara asked. “Thought there was just a tertiary mana type at Citrine.”

“For most attunements, yeah. Elementalists get more mana types as a perk of the attunement. It’s how you see Meltlake using earth on occasion.”

“Well, it’s a little more complicated than that,” Meltlake said. “But this isn’t class. Let’s get to that next floor, shall we?”

Sera picked up the key, then offered it to Patrick. “I think you deserve to do the honors.”

Patrick laughed gleefully, finally dislodged himself from Mara’s hug, and took the key. “Thanks, Sera.” He glanced around. “Everyone ready?”

We gave him a round of confirmations. I did one last cursory check to make sure Patrick wasn’t visibly injured, and we took a couple minutes for Patrick to go drink some more mana water from the fountain in the previous room and recover. We retrieved Bright Reflection, of course, and Patrick gingerly replaced it in the scabbard at his side. Then, with Patrick looking somewhat refreshed, we walked as a group to the gate guarding the stairway. Patrick turned the key and the entire gate vanished, as if it had never been there.

Huh. Was that some kind of solid illusion or spell effect? I wonder if I could learn how to make gates that—

“Corin, we’re going.” Sera gently nudged me, pointing toward the stairway.

“Oh, sorry. Coming.” I stared upward as my friends stepped onto the stairway, walking upward. Then, after one last look at the spire guardian’s room, I followed them.

And for the first time, I walked up the stairs to the second floor of one of the Soaring Spires.

Chapter XI – Extreme Shipping

There was a door at the top of the stairway. We briefly checked it for traps, finding none. When we opened it, we saw only a white space ahead.

“Is that…?” Sera asked.

“It’s perfectly normal,” Meltlake said in a reassuring tone. “All the doors in the spire teleport us. This one is just being a little more blatant. We’ll be in for a change of scenery on the other side of it, but that’s nothing to worry about. The Tiger Spire has a bit more variety than you’re probably used to from the Serpent Spire.”

Sera looked a little uncomfortable, but Mara squeezed her hand reassuringly. “We did a bunch of these doorways on the last trip. It’ll be fine.”

That seemed to help. Sera gave a weak smile. “Come on, then.”

Mara practically dragged Sera through the doorway. The rest of us followed.

I was ready for a change, but not quite the scale.

The most famous examples of teleportation tend to be titanic in scale. The ancient gateways in the Unclaimed Lands that supposedly used to allow people to walk from one place on the continent to another in an instant. Or Keras being sent from one continent to another by some bearded old wizard. Even the legends of fiends and heroes from other worlds finding their way to our own.

The teleportation I’d seen had been frankly pretty mundane by comparison. Routine. Fake escape bells to switch group members in the school exams. Real escape bells to leave a spire. Jump bells to cross a room. That teleportation potion I’d used to get rid of Mizuchi.

Okay, that last one was admittedly pretty good.

But small in scale, right? Nothing too flashy, nothing world-shaking. Nothing that felt like long-distance travel.

So, it kind of took me off-guard a little when I stepped through a doorway and found myself staring into the heart of the ocean.

My first instinct was to freeze. This was good, since if I’d done what Keras probably would have and attacked the ocean or something, things would have ended badly for me.

(I make no claims as to whether or not Keras could have successfully punched out the ocean.)

Anyway, there was only a thin guardrail between me and a long drop off the side of the…

…Was I on a ship?

I was on a ship! And a huge ship, too.

It was at least a couple hundred feet wide and several hundred feet long. We were near one of the edges on the front of the ship — that’s, uh, the prow, right? No, I’ll just stop talking about ship terms. Okay.

The front of the boat. Yeah.

There were multiple sails. Four, I think? I also thought I heard the hum of something far below that sounded like an engine, but I didn’t see any stacks emitting steam. Maybe a mana-based engine, then, or something like one of those fancy combustion engines from Caelford? I wasn’t sure.

There were multiple doors leading to cabins on the top level, as well as a raised platform to another door. I thought I could see the wheel up there, but there were people in the way.

I tensed. We had room to maneuver, but there were a lot of people on board. My whole group had appeared around me, and we were hardly the only ones. I saw dozens, maybe hundreds of people standing around and chatting, or reclining on the deck, or working on what I presumed to be ship-running tasks. I noted a few in what looked like uniforms, as well as a much broader variety of outfits among other people. Most were in what looked like typical civilian garb, but I noted a few that looked like they were wearing military uniforms, and even one woman in a full suit of heavy copper armor.

A Soaring Wings member? Huh. Given her armor, we might have to be ready for a fight…which would be bad. Crowds get chaotic, and on a ship…

I took a few steps away from the railing, remembering that my swimming abilities were, uh, let’s say “not good”.

While I reacted with my usual caution, the others were processing things differently. Patrick’s eyes were wide as moons as he stared out over the sea. “Oh, goddess above. It’s beautiful!”

I followed his gaze, and…well, I had to admit, he was right.

The pool of shimmering blue stretched beyond the horizon, with the sun shining brightly overhead—

But that couldn’t be right. No, it was night time by now, wasn’t it?

And, of course, we were obviously still inside the spire.  Sure, some spire doorways were exits, and weirder things had happened than stepping through a spire door and ending up in another place.

I stared across the water, stretching in all directions further than I could perceive and wondered…

How?

I could feel the deck shifting beneath us as the waves gently rocked our vessel.

I could hear the sounds of birds crying out in the air as they soared across the water — some solitary, some in tremendous flocks.

I could see tiny aquatic animals breaking from the surface of the water to jump briefly through the air in playful fashion.

I could smell something in the air. Salt, probably, and…uh, sea brine? Honestly, I had no idea what sea brine actually was, but I was pretty sure it had a strong smell. Maybe.

Was…that all in my head? I didn’t feel any foreign mana, but maybe a sufficiently subtle spell could avoid my detection.

Was it just an illusion? Was I standing on a stone spire floor, sensing things beyond it that didn’t exist?

Was this real, but on a smaller scale than it appeared? Were we on a boat in a swimming pool, with carefully projected illusions around it to make it seem—

Nearby, I heard a gasp. I turned out of concern, but Mara was just gawking at a tremendous flight of birds that were moving overhead in formation. There had to be thousands of them. My own jaw went a little slack as I saw them wheel and shift directions as a group, seemingly without prompting.

Sera tapped her foot. “Impressive as this is, we need to focus. Over there. We’ve got people coming.”

I shifted to follow Sera’s gaze, finding a group approaching wearing what I’d guessed were uniforms — black outfits with loose pants, heavy boots, gloves, and tailored tunics with some sort of unfamiliar insignias. A quick flash of Detect Aura told me that the insignias weren’t magical, but the people approaching had Carnelian-level auras.

There were four figures approaching, led by an older woman with an easy smile and a confident gait. She had a wicked curved blade on her left hip and a dagger on her right. “Enjoying the sights?” She asked.

The three that trailed behind her were similarly armed, although much younger, and two of them were also carrying pistols. Modern revolvers, not the kind of old-fashioned flintlocks I associated with pirate stories.

Also, one of them — a guy with auburn hair about our age — had a parrot on his shoulder. A parrot.

Odds that these are pirates…rising.

From a quick gander around the rest of the ship, I didn’t get a pirate vibe. The ship was luxurious, well-maintained, and huge in stature. There were no obvious cannons or other weapons on the deck, nor did I see any peg-legs or claw prosthetics.

…Yes, yes, I know those are ludicrous stereotypes. But scenario floors were just as likely to be based around iconic images as they were to mirror historical events. Over-the-top faux pirates were absolutely a possibility, even if I didn’t see any at the moment.

Anyway, Sera reacted fastest to the oncoming group, giving a smile she probably would have called ‘cute’ and folding her hands in front of her in an unthreatening manner. “It’s a wonderful view. Have there been changes we should be aware of?”

What wonderfully vague leading question, I realized. Mentally, I grudgingly awarded Sera credit for prying for information instantly.

We certainly needed it — both in terms of the scenario itself and, uh, how to do basically anything involving a ship.

People from Kaldwyn didn’t sail virtually ever, and I was no exception. With the rest of the world conquered by the Tyrant in Gold, expeditions to other continents were a rarity. Sure, there were ships that circled around the continent rather than taking overland routes, but with the advent of trains, they were a lot less common.

And, as most of you know, I was sort of…isolated, as a youth. So, no ocean experience. Not a lot of water experience in general, strictly speaking.

The older woman shook her head. “No, sea is calm as a sleeping babe today. We’re making excellent time. If the goddess wills it to stay this smooth, we should make landfall early tomorrow.”

“That’s excellent news. Is there anything you need from us?”

The woman snorted. “What a polite young lady. No, dear, you’re our guests. Since payment was already rendered, you can just relax and enjoy the journey. Just make sure to spread the word about our excellent service when the voyage is over.”

“Of course. I’d be delighted to.”

“Excellent. Lunch is at the next bell, then…” The older woman frowned, getting the sort of distracted look that told me she’d noticed something amiss…or maybe gotten a telepathic message. “…If you’ll excuse me, I’ll hope to see you all at lunch.” She nodded her head, made a few quick hand signals to the crewmen following her, then headed swiftly toward an upper cabin. The crewmen dispersed throughout the ship, heading different directions.

I stared after them, trying to ignore the ominous feeling in my mind.

After the crew members were out of range, our group huddled up. “So…we’re on a boat.”

“You are, as always, a master of deductive reasoning, brother.” Sera shook her head in disapproval. “Yes, we are obviously on a boat.”

“I was just leading into the broader questions about that, Sera. Given the size, the demeanor of the crew, and the sheer number of people who aren’t wearing uniforms, this is probably some sort of private ship — either for mercantile purposes or simple luxury.”

“Reckon it’s more likely luxury or political,” Mara noted. “Too many people wearing their fanciest. Could be some mercantile goin’ on, but I don’t get the feelin’ that’s the main purpose.”

“You’re quite right, Mara.” Sera beamed at her. “It’s a luxury cruise.”

I raised an eyebrow at Sera. “And you know this…how, exactly?”

Sera turned to Meltlake. “Do you want the honors of explaining exactly how doomed we are, professor?”

Meltlake gave Sera a smile. “I wouldn’t dream of ruining your fun. Please, Sera, go right ahead. I’d love to hear your reasoning.”

“It’s simple, really. I suspected as soon as I saw the size of the ship and an older woman captain, but the pins gave it away. They’re the insignia of the Pan-National Sailing Foundation.”

I reached up to cover my face with my hand. “No. You’re kidding.”

“Not at all, brother.”

“Uh, sorry, not getting this one.” Patrick frowned. “Who are they?”

Mara winced and gave Patrick a sad look. “You’ve heard of the Iron Redoubt, yeah?’

“Oh, sure! That was one of the biggest ships in history! It….” He looked down at the ship, then back up at the crew. “…Wait, this isn’t…”

“I’m afraid it is, Patrick.” Sera gave him a strained smile. “The Iron Redoubt. Welcome to the world’s most famous nautical disaster.”

***

I’d heard stories about the Iron Redoubt since childhood. It was a famous mystery — a powerful, well-equipped ship with hundreds of attuned on board had simply vanished. The ship was equipped with devices to send distress messages, both magical and mundane, as well as passengers with communication and teleportation magic at their disposal.

No distress messages had been sent. Instead, the last logged communication from the boat was a strange, eerie song, sent from every messaging device at once.

Sail, sail, into the distant breeze,

Sail, sail, upon the open seas,

Sail, sail, our hearts once filled with glee,

Sail, sail, our cage eternally

Sail, sail, into the distant breeze,

Sail, sail, until our bodies freeze,

Sail, sail, for we can no longer flee,

Sail, sail, until our souls are finally free

There were numerous theories about the vanishing of the Iron Redoubt. Perhaps an unexpected natural disaster had claimed the ship, like a powerful storm. Maybe they’d run into some sort of magical phenomenon that had thrown the ship off course, leading them to sail in the wrong direction without realizing it until they were out of communication range. Perhaps the ship had been captured by mutineers, who had disabled the communications devices and incapacitated or killed the on-board Wayfarers. (Or maybe the Wayfarers had been involved in the coup, if one had happened.)

Also, uh, ghost pirates. Popular hypothesis, ghost pirates.

I’d never given the idea of ghost pirates much credence, of course — even if those were actually a thing, which I was pretty sure they weren’t, I couldn’t see why their presence would have involved preventing communication or escape. Sure, maybe they were ghost pirates with powerful anti-magical abilities, but that just felt like a stretch, you know?

…But standing on the deck of that ship, or at least a recreation of it, I was quickly beginning to be concerned about the possibility of ghost pirates. You can’t blame me.

How did you even deal with ghost pirates?

I really hoped I wouldn’t have to find out.

***

I had a pretty good idea of what we were dealing with — a scenario floor. Rather than having a whole bunch of rooms with separate challenges, this entire floor had a single central theme and very likely a single main goal.

I turned to Patrick and Mara first. “Suggestions based on your previous climb?”

“Didn’t hit anythin’ quite like this.” Mara shook her head. “Think it’ll be simple. Probably just solve the mystery in time to save everyone.”

Oh, good, all we have to do is solve one of the world’s most infamous unsolved mysteries. Easy.

I kept my thoughts to myself, at least in part because Sera spoke faster. “It’s possible we just need to escape ourselves. Saving the crew and passengers is more likely to just be a bonus with additional rewards, like the extra key I earned earlier.”

I shook my head at Sera. “It’s very important that you continue to remind us about your winnings, which we’ve already forgotten about in the few minutes that have passed.”

“Yes, of course.” She nodded. “Glad we’re in agreement.”

I coughed.

Patrick spoke up next. “Maybe we should start by figuring out what our role is supposed to be? We’re passengers, but we don’t know what we’re supposed to be doing, exactly.”

“Is there usually something more specific?” I asked him.

“Sometimes scenario floors give people specific roles to play. Not all of them, but it may be worth checking.”

“How would we…”

Sera reached into a bag at her side, pulling out a booklet I didn’t recognize. “Huh.”

I blinked. “Is that…”

“A passport. With a boarding pass stuck into it.” She flipped it open, eyes widening. “It has my name on it. And a room number. And a profession.”

I reached into my own bag, finding a similar booklet and boarding pass immediately. “Huh.”

That was pretty impressive…and also a little terrifying. I knew that Whispers — and very likely other entities that were involved with running the spire — were probably observing us, but had they gathered enough information from seeing us on the first floor to prepare specific things for us on the second?

And how’d they get things into our bags without us noticing?

Creepy.

I looked at my documents regardless. My boarding pass and passport both had Corin Cadence written on them, so I apparently was still supposed to be myself for the scenario. Except there were a few little details that threw things off.

Corin Cadence

Birth Date: 6-18

Profession: Magical Engineer, Farren Labs

Passport Expiry Date: None

Attunements: Classified

Room Number: 142

I noted the distinct lack of a birth year, but beyond that, my profession was, uh, interesting.

Does Annabelle Farren herself have a hand in this, or am I simply being that closely monitored?

I frowned, glancing to the others. “Apparently I work for Farren Labs.”

“I’m military.” Sera noted. “Also, you may congratulate me on my recent marriage.”

I snorted. “Who’s the unlucky match?”

“Why, you’re looking at the newest candidate for archduchess of House Theas.” Sera extended her arms in a magnanimous gesture. “Sadly, my spouse or spouses are not listed. Presumably they’re busy preparing the house for my eventual ascension.”

“Huh. Think I’m married, too.” Patrick blushed. “To, uh…”

“Me.” Mara laughed uproariously. “Wow, someone obviously had no idea who they were dealing with. Right, Patrick?”

“R-right. Of course.” He laughed a little awkwardly. “Obviously.”

“Well, congratulations to you both, but let’s get focused. What are your listed professions? They might be relevant to who we have access to on the ship.”

“Duelist,” Mara noted. “Renowned duelist, apparently.”

“Not bad. Patrick?” Sera asked.

“…School teacher.” He looked vaguely disturbed, but I think Meltlake’s expression changed to something proud.

Speaking of Meltlake… “What about you, professor?” I asked.

“Just says ‘redacted’. Presumably, I’m assumed to be back in military service in some capacity.” She slipped her documents back in her bag. I got the impression she was hiding something, but I couldn’t get a good read on what it might be.

“Okay. We’ve got a baseline of who we’re supposed to be. That likely dictates the types of social circles we’ll have easy access to. It’s a broad spread, which is good.” Sera turned to me. “Corin, go track down anyone else from Farren Labs or similar corporations. Maybe see if you can figure out anything in regards to the engine — I don’t think pretending interest in a magical engine would be out of character.”

“…Could I just go take a look at it?” There would be fewer people involved that way, and I was sincerely interested in looking at the runes on it.

“If you can talk your way into the engine room, sure, but I doubt it’ll be that simple. I suppose you might be in a role that’s involved with engine construction or maintenance?”

“Worth trying to feel that out.” I nodded. I didn’t like the idea of blindly trying to sort out my access level and role, but it could be worse. At least my role was similar enough to my own interests that I didn’t have to pretend a skill set that was distinct from my own.

“Patrick, you’re looking for other academics. Professor, if you’d be willing to go with him and assist?”

“Acceptable.” Meltlake nodded. “Given that this happens significantly in the past, we’ll have to be cautious about how much we should say. Lorian Heights exists, but we should avoid mentioning specific teaching staff names.”

Patrick nodded. “Got it.”

Sera turned to Mara last. “You’re with me. We’re schmoozing with military types. I’ll see if I can flag down the captain and see what that disruption was about, too. Any questions?”

I had a lot of them, but I held off. After a moment of silence, Sera said, “Good. Meet back here in an hour, unless you find something obviously amiss, in which case try to flag us down sooner. Let’s move.”

***

Predictably, I went straight toward the engine room. The fewer people I had to deal with, the better.

There were guards, of course. Two of them stood in front of the engine room’s open doorway. Any cruise with a crew of this size was going to have guards for the engine room. I had to hope I could sweet talk my way past them.

Sweet talk, of course, being the key skill of Corin Cadence.

First, I activated Detect Aura, taking some mental notes.

Carnelian-level, both hand-marked. No gloves…Elementalist and Guardian.

I dispelled the spell, then gave a little wave as I approached. “Hi. Can I see the engine?”

“…No?” One of the guards responded, blinking. “Why would you even ask that?”

“Oh, oh, sorry!” I raised my hands in mock-surrender, trying to look as helpless as possible. “I’m Corin Cadence. Farren Labs. Just wanted to see if I could…”

“Nice try, buddy,” the other guard cut in. “Our rune combinations are proprietary. You filthy lab rats aren’t stealing them. Not on my watch. Now, screw off.”

“Hey,” the other guard nudged him, “we’re not supposed to be that aggressive with the guests.”

“Right, of course. Kindly go screw off.” The guard tipped his hat mockingly.

“Yes, of course, forgive me.” I bowed in exaggerated fashion, then slowly turned and walked away to retreat around the corner.

I couldn’t walk too quickly. That would have torn the mana threads that I’d hurled through the doorway as I’d waved.

I hadn’t quite figured out how to see through my mana threads yet, although I was absolutely certain it was possible. I planned to study some divination for that purpose once I got back home, but alas, for the moment, I had to improvise.

Once around the corner, I closed my eyes and concentrated on the threads. Gradually, I unspooled the end of each of them and let them spread out further, then used transference mana to push the threads across the room. I’d been able to see the engine from the doorway, just not the runes themselves. It wasn’t difficult to get the threads going in the right direction.

Standing nearby, just around the corner, was going to look suspicious. I began walking back toward the location of my quarters, carefully extending the mana threads as I walked.

Mana threads were invisible to anyone without the proper types of magic to see them. Neither Elementalists nor Guardians had access to the necessary mana types to see them.

The hardest part of the process was avoiding tearing the threads as I moved into my assigned room, then closed the door behind me. The threads were thin enough to fit in the cracks under the door, but only just.

Then began the real work: cautiously pushing the mana threads around the engine until I found the runes on the surface.

Identify.

I pushed the spell through my mana threads each time I found a rune, mentally processing functions.

Transference Recharge.

Transference Function: Push.

Air Recharge.

Air Function: Weight Reduction

Transference Recharge…

I mentally mapped each of the runes on the surface, making notes about how they worked, and, with growing alarm, the ones that were missing.

Oh, no.

It was possible I was missing some of them somehow. I was flailing around with my mana threads blindly, after all. But even after an extensive search of every possible surface of the engine, I hadn’t found any capacity runes.

And without capacity runes, an engine would eventually, you know…

Explode.

***

I didn’t wait the full hour before heading back to the main deck to find the others. Sera was already there, chatting with someone that looked important.

I ignored propriety entirely. “Sera. Talk. Now.”

Sera gave a strained smile to her conversation partner. “Forgive my brother’s impertinence, Earl Freemont.” She glared at me. “Can this wait?”

“It probably shouldn’t.”

The Earl gave me a disdainful look. “It’s fine. We were just finishing, anyway.” Then, without another word, he spun on his heel and walked away.

“Wait, I…” Sera winced, raising a hand, then slowly lowering it. With an exasperated sigh, she turned back toward me. “This had better be good. I think I was about to swing an important international trade agreement.”

I rolled my eyes. “On a scale of one to dead, how would you rate the importance of the ship combusting?”

“…Go on.”

I explained the problem.

“Okay. Yeah, that does seem like an issue…or, maybe not. I mean, as long as we’re moving, it’s using mana, right?”

I nodded. “At approximately the same rate as the recharge runes are refilling it. Currently. It’s plausible, if extremely foolish, that this could have been corner-cutting in the design: they might have thought they didn’t need capacity runes as long as the engines are always on, since they wouldn’t accumulate enough mana to explode. The danger occurs under one of two conditions: one, we stop moving, the engine overcharges and explodes. Two, we move into a region with a higher mana concentration, causing the recharge runes to pull in mana faster. The engine explodes.”

“Don’t only some recharge runes pull from the environment?”

“Yeah. These ones do. I checked.”

Sera nodded. “Okay. So, we’re fine, just as long as neither of those things happen, right?”

“I mean, in theory, sure. It’s a terrible engine design, but, yeah, as long as nothing like that happens…”

The sound of a horn cut me off mid-sentence, then a booming voice made an announcement:

“All hands, brace for anchor. Another ship is approaching.”

For once, Sera and I were perfectly in sync as we covered our faces with our hands in abject disbelief.

***

My dismay at the situation quickly gave way to desperation as the ship’s motion jerked into a halt.

“Okay, new plan.” Sera glanced from side-to-side, then leaned over and whispered the words to her cunning plan.

I stared at her. “Sera. I am not going to seduce the guards.”

“Okay, fine. Here’s the actual plan…”

***

I walked back down the stairway to the engine room, approaching the same pair of guards. I got a similar expression to last time.

I waved again. “Hey, just thought you should know…” I pointed a thumb upward. “Ghost pirates.”

The guard on the right narrowed his eyes. “Ghost…pirates.”

The guy on the left went sheet-white. Or, uh, ghost white, maybe. “…Haha. That’s, uh, a real funny joke, guy. Very amusing.”

“No, not kidding. That’s why we’re anchored. They can probably use your help up there.”

The guard on the right sighed. “Look, buddy, we’re not going to move and let you—”

An ear-piercing scream tore through the air.

Then another.

Then another.

I shuddered at the sounds. The guards gave each other glances, then reached for the swords on their hips.

“Get to your quarters and lock the door,” one of the guards told me. “Quick.”

I nodded, trying to look a little more afraid, then ran back up the stairs.

I had, of course, once again thrown the mana threads. This time, however, I wasn’t trying to reach the engine: I had simply spread them across the floor.

When I got to my room, I used the mana threads to sense when the guards ran across them and up the stairs, abandoning their post.

Then, slowly, I reopened the door and snuck back down to the engine room.

I tugged on another mana thread, already in place. A few moments later, Sera came down the stairs and met me at the engine room.

I’d given her a thread before going down stairs to use for signaling. I’d tugged it when I’d been ready for her to make the scream — not naturally, of course. Generating an ear-splitting scream was one of the easiest applications of air magic.

Then, I’d tugged it again as a signal that the area was clear.

I suspected that real guards on a real ship wouldn’t have abandoned their posts so easily. Maybe this had only worked because it was a scenario for the tower…but maybe that was just wishful thinking.

Maybe people really were, at times, simply that easy to fool.

It didn’t take me long to perform a visual inspection of the engine, confirming what I suspected. “Ready?” I asked Sera.

“Ready.”

“Let’s make this quick. Retrieve: Etching Rod.”

It didn’t take long to carve the necessary capacity runes for Air and Transference. Once I’d carved them, I filled the transference one myself, then made a shell. Sera had a harder time filling that one on her own quickly enough to reach capacity, so she summoned Vanniv, and they poured air mana into it together.

With that done, she dismissed Vanniv, and we raced upstairs as quickly as possible.

After all, the others probably needed our help fighting the ghost pirates.

***

“Hah!” Mara’s fist swirled with energy as she slammed it into a half-corporeal pirate’s chest.

“Yarrr!” he yelped sadly as he flew off the side of the boat, producing a splash several seconds later.

Mara grinned, making a gesture of dusting off her hands. “Think that was the last one.”

…Ghost pirates, it seemed, were more comedic than terrifying. At least in this particular case.

An hour later, the boat resumed its journey, pirate-free and no longer liable to explode the next time it made a lengthy stop.

“So, think that was it?” Patrick asked. “We solve the mystery?”

“Hm.” Sera frowned. “I’m going to go with no.”

“Why is that?” Patrick asked.

“Because,” Sera raised a finger and pointed off the side of the ship, “There’s, uh, a giant tentacle behind you.”

***

After that, we fought a kraken.

Or, more accurately, we screamed like children and fled as a gigantic tentacle smashed down on the deck of the ship, then spread out in all directions, preparing for battle.

The kraken emerged from the water in its full glory, a squid-like beast nearly the size of the ship itself, with a maw open wide enough to swallow the crew in a single ferocious bite.

…And about two seconds after that, the entire world went white. The clouds evaporated.

And a sphere of fire larger than the creature itself descended from the sky.

Meltlake snapped her fingers. The sphere exploded in a cacophonous destination that shook the entire ship.

And then, in a heartbeat, it was over.

The kraken was gone, the only evidence of it ever having existed was a single charred tentacle that remained draped across the deck of the ship.

Meltlake gazed over the deck, her expression uncharacteristically serious.

Both crew and students alike stared at her, awe-struck and jaws slack.

She frowned, turned away from the destruction, and said to no one in particular…

“I’ve never liked squid.”

If there was some squid-related story that gave rise to that encounter, not one of us had the courage to ask.

We did learn that evening, however, that kraken meat was absolutely delicious.

***

Later that night, I knocked at the door of Professor Meltlake’s room.

“Come in,” she called out.

I opened the door, finding her sitting at her room’s small desk. She turned toward me and frowned. “What is it? I’m sure you can handle whatever danger you’ve found without me.”

I folded my arms. “I’m not so sure about that. But there’s no danger right now…or, at least, none that I’m aware of. That’s part of what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Meltlake winced. “Close the door behind you, would you?”

I stepped in further and shut the door. “Better?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “Now, out with it.”

“Why’d you obliterate the kraken like that? It was very impressive, but I thought you were supposed to be letting us do the work…unless you thought we couldn’t handle it on our own?”

Meltlake’s hands trembled. “You…I….” She took a breath. “I panicked.”

I blinked.

This was not what I expected. “What?”

“I panicked, Corin. I saw a threat to my students, I remembered my failure at the ball, and…I couldn’t let that happen again. So, I attacked, and I…I’m sorry. I ruined it. I didn’t give you all a chance.”

Her unexpected emotion caught me more than a little off-guard, so I wasn’t really sure what to do. I certainly wasn’t equipped to comfort someone that much older and more experienced than myself. I wasn’t even equipped to see her looking vulnerable. So, I kind of stammered a bit, then said, “Uh, it’s fine. It was…a great attack?”

She raised a hand, rubbing at her forehead. “Perhaps by the standards of these early tower floors. It wouldn’t have done a thing to Mizuchi.”

“…Okay. But I’m sure you have attacks designed for people like her. Things like that white fire that you sometimes use with your cane, or…”

“It’s not enough.” Meltlake trembled. “And it never will be, will it? Even if I earn another attunement, it’s…just a big joke, isn’t it? I will never match her.”

I exhaled a breath. “I don’t know if that’s true. Mizuchi was horrifying, yes, but…we hurt her, didn’t we? And if she can be hurt…”

Meltlake gave a bitter laugh. “She was holding back more of her strength than she showed. All my life, I’ve striven to reach the pinnacle of human strength…but it seems the peak simply isn’t high enough.”

I frowned at that. “Professor…I know you didn’t want me to talk about it before…but…what about Sapphire-level? If you reached that, then—”

“There is no Sapphire-level, Corin.”

I froze.

“I spent the best years of my life working toward Sapphire.” Meltlake turned her head toward me, meeting my gaze with sad eyes. “I made hard choices. Sacrifices…some too large to even speak of. I…I wanted nothing more. It was everything to me, but… it was never real. It’s just one big legendary joke.”

“…No. Wait. That doesn’t…” I took a moment to process. “It can’t be a lie. I’ve seen blue auras.”

“Ah. Yes.” Meltlake cleared her throat. “As a teacher, I should be ashamed of my lack of clarity. Humans do not have a Sapphire level. Attunements do not have a Sapphire level. Monsters, on the other hand, do. They have Sapphires…and beyond it. And that is why we will never be enough. Why I will never be enough.”

“I…wait. No. That can’t be right. Is it something like the Sunstone Wall, but at Emerald? You can’t build mana fast enough to reach the amount you’d need—”

“I have the mana. I have for years.”

I was once again rendered speechless.

“Sixty for Carnelian. Three hundred and sixty for Sunstone. Two thousand one-hundred and sixty for Citrine. Twelve-thousand nine-hundred and sixty for Emerald.” She paused, looking down with a crestfallen expression. “Seventy-seven thousand, seven hundred and sixty for Sapphire. It’s always a factor of six. And yet, I reached that mana value years ago. And…nothing happened.”

“N…nothing?”

She shook her head. “Not a thing. And before you ask, I have, of course, researched if there may be mistakes in my safe mana calculations. Checked them a hundred times, using different spells, different sources. I’ve researched if there might be alternate requirements to reach Sapphire. And what I’ve found…? Nothing.”

“But…wait. There are hidden attunement functions, things that even Arbiters can’t see, things that…”

“It’s not Sapphire, Corin.” She shook her head. “It never was. We were told a bitter lie about human potential. We have, and always will be, incapable of reaching the heights of monsters. And with that…I know I will never be strong enough to protect my students. Not from Mizuchi, and certainly not if someone worse strikes. If the God Beasts emerge from their homes, or if Katashi chooses to exact vengeance for Tenjin’s absence…”

She put her face in her hands. “I will be helpless.”

“…You’re not helpless, Professor.” I took a step closer, then hesitated. Reaching for her physically wasn’t something I was comfortable with, and I simply wasn’t good at this sort of situation in general.

But I knelt by her chair and looked up at her. “You’re still a hero. You’re a legend. And when you fought Mizuchi, you did make a difference. Beyond that…there’s a whole wide world out there. Attunements aren’t the only forms of power. There are the crystal shrines, artificial attunements, all the types of magic in the outside world…”

Meltlake sighed, wiping at her eyes. “I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to see this weakness in me. It’s…unbecoming of a professor, and I am setting a bad example for you.”

“I’m glad to have a professor who’s greatest flaw is that she cares about her students well-being too much.” I paused, exhaled a breath, and shook my head. “…You really have more than seventy-seven thousand mana?”

She nodded slowly. “I do.”

I folded my arms, smiling as best I could. “Then you’ve been holding out on us, professor. You have to have figured out some incredible tricks to advance that quickly.”

“…Maybe a few.” She made a weak smile in return.

“Well, then. Rather than worrying so much about being able to protect us on your own…” I clasped my hands together. “How about you focus a little more on getting us to your level, or higher? And then, maybe, just maybe…a few silly kids like us might be able to help you, if the time comes when we face a major threat.”

Her expression shifted, playing through several complicated emotions at once. More than I could read.

Then finally, after a moment of hesitation, she said, “I’ll consider your proposal, Master Cadence.”

I nodded, taking that as a sign that the discussion had reached its conclusion. “Thanks.” I took a breath, then added, “Thanks for everything, Professor. And keep fighting. We still need you.”

I made my way out of the room. As I turned to close the door, I thought I heard a faintly whispered reply:

“…I’ll try.”

***

The following morning, we made landfall. This was a good thing, because we’d spent the night sleeplessly awaiting any further twists.

More dangerous ghost pirates.

More krakens.

Ghost pirate krakens.

Nothing would have surprised me at that point. We were all exhausted when we finally disembarked.

Mara led the way down the platform onto the shore…and vanished. I might have been more alarmed if I hadn’t suspected that we’d reached the end of our floor.

One at a time, we stepped off the ship.

And one at a time, we each vanished, finding ourselves on the third floor of the spire.

Chapter XII – Words Beginning with “S”

I found myself stumbling as soon as I stepped back onto solid ground. That stumble was almost fortunate, since it took me out of the range of where my friends were stepping through with similarly unsteady feet. Sera almost fell over completely, but Mara caught her and steadied her.

“Thanks,” Sera mumbled, followed by, “Oh, no.”

I processed the area we were standing in and concurred with her assessment immediately.

We stood on a wooden floor, but it wasn’t the deck of a ship. It was the ancient and scratched hardwood floor of a decrepit manor house. The entrance was lit only by a half-broken chandelier that flickered with what looked like faulty electrical lighting. The room was filled with dust, which coated nearly every piece of furniture in sight — a sofa and a handful of chairs that looked like they might have been comfortable if they’d been a bit better maintained. There were bookshelves along the walls, but given their visible age, I didn’t know if any of the books would be intact.

The only object in the room that wasn’t covered in dust was a piano in one of the corners, strangely pristine. I immediately marked it in my mind as being a puzzle piece, but I couldn’t identify the function without more context.

The opening chamber branched out to two other rooms on the sides and a huge staircase stood straight ahead, leading upward toward a second floor. A brightly-colored section of carpet covered the wood floor to make a pathway from the entrance to the stairs. In spite of the purple color of the fabric, darker stains were clearly visible.

The only other item of interest in the entrance room was a tall grandfather clock. It was audibly ticking, but that sound was momentarily overshadowed by the slam of the doors shutting behind us of their own accord.

“Resh,” I mumbled. “Should have held that open.”

“Probably wouldn’t have worked.” Sera sighed. “Everyone okay?”

She got a round of confirmations, then we turned to look outward.

“So…” Sera began. “Haunted house?”

“Haunted house,” I concurred. We got a series of nods. “Seems like we’re dealing with a theme today.”

“That’s not uncommon,” Meltlake explained. “Sets of floors often have a uniting principle of some kind, especially in this tower. Here, it could easily be ghosts — or it could be something broader, like ‘mysteries’ or ‘the ancient past’.”

“Thank you, professor. Any initial impressions on this one?” Sera asked.

“Nothing beyond the obvious. I would advise you to avoid the bloodstains on the carpet.”

I frowned at the dark stains, then activated Detect Aura and scanned the room. “Getting magic on the clock, piano, and carpet. No obvious ghosts present, though.”

“Still best to be cautious. If there are haunts, they could be observing us from elsewhere, and no one likes people stepping on their remains.” She frowned. “Well, unless they’ve got some really strange tastes.”

“…Let’s ignore that line of thinking.” I shuddered.

“If it’s just ghosts, we’ve gotta’ figure out how to lay them to rest, yeah?” Mara asked.

“Or blast them hard enough.” Patrick offered. “Can’t talk everything down.”

“Might be able to avoid them entirely, too.” Sera noted. “Either way, let’s get to investigations, shall we? Corin, take the room on the—”

“Oh, no,” I cut her off. “We are not splitting the party in the creepy ghost house. Have you ever read any ghost story ever?”

Sera rolled her eyes. “It’s more efficient.”

“Sure, and dying is the most efficient way to end an adventure. That doesn’t mean it’s the best way.”

“Ugh. Fine. We’ll play it safe for now. Let’s at least split up within the room?”

I nodded at that. “I’ll hit the bookshelves.”

“Perfect. Mara, can you see if the piano is functional and correct?”

“Got it.”

I blinked. “Mara plays the piano?”

Sera raised an eyebrow at me. “How could you not know that after…never mind. You’re Corin. Yes, Mara plays. Quite effectively, too.”

Mara glanced away. “I’m just an amateur. Don’t think much of it.”

“I think you’re excellent,” Patrick offered. “I love listening to you play.”

“Uh, thanks. I’ll…uh, go check the piano now.” Mara scuttled off, looking a little awkward as she sat down, glanced back to us, and then began to open the top of the piano and inspect the mechanisms within.

“I’ll get the clock!” Patrick scampered off without waiting for any confirmation. I headed to the bookshelves while Sera and Meltlake exchanged some whispers near the entrance.

As I reached the shelves, I noted the distinct lack of any kind of smell of decomposition from the books. They were dusty, but apparently well-maintained. The spines, however, were all strangely blank.

That’s odd. Maybe…

I scanned the bookshelf for magic, but didn’t find any. A mundane search didn’t show any obvious books that stood out, either. A shame, really. I’d been hoping to pull out a large book and trigger some kind of secret doorway, but I wasn’t quite that lucky.

“Clock is going backward,” Patrick reported.

“A countdown, then? Or something involving the room resetting?” Sera frowned. “Keep inspecting it, see if you can find the mechanism to turn time forward.”

“Got it.”

“Mara?” Sera asked.

“Some keys aren’t working. The lines for them have been cut. Might be somethin’ we need to fix, might be that we’re supposed to ignore ‘em.”

“Okay, see if you can find a pattern to the cuts. Corin, any music in the books?”

“Still looking.”

“Look faster.”

I pulled out a book at random, then flipped it open. The pages were blank — at least at first. As I watched, crimson letters flowed across the page.

Listen, listen.

A whisper in the dark.

Listen, listen.

Or you will be her mark.

Once there was a bright young girl,

With talent for a sword.

She made herself an ess,

And Aayara's latest ward.

Her pride grew with her prowess,

She said, "No one can match my skill."

And she believed a fool's belief —

That she could rise further still.

In deep of night, with blade in hand,

She sought her master's lair,

But when she found Aayara's bed,

She found nobody there.

A voice rang out from all around,

A song of deep lament,

"You lost your way, my darling girl.

This path leads to your end."

Listen, listen.

Aayara finds her mark.

Listen, listen.

A dagger finds a heart.

The writing stopped there with a large splatter of red fluid over the final letters. I frowned at the destruction of poor, innocent paper, but the book itself didn’t worry me much. I might have been a little more creeped out if I didn’t already own a magic long-distance communication book.

Clearly, this was something similar and nothing for me to worry about. I reached into my pouch to fiddle for the Jaden Box, intent on retrieving a quill to write a reply.

Mark isn’t a great rhyme for heart. They missed out on a chance to use ‘dark’ with ‘mark’ again like in the opening. Maybe a last breath in the dark? Hm.

“Corin, behind!” Mara yelled.

I spun, my eyes widening as I took in the form of a translucent woman wielding a long dagger. She was covered from head-to-toe in white veils, but the silk was pressed so closely against her face that somehow, I could make out the line of a smile as she regarded me.

Her lips moved against that thin layer of cloth, but I couldn’t hear any sound emerge.

Then she thrust a dagger at my heart.

There was a thump as I shifted my hands and opened the book, blocking the knife. In spite of the woman’s semi-corporeal appearance, her weapon felt solid as it impacted. I twisted in an attempt to disarm her, but she moved backward and withdrew the knife too quickly.

Fortunately, she seemed similarly solid when Mara shot across the room in an instant and slammed a gleaming fist into her veiled face.

The spirit flew backward on impact, straight into — and through — the nearest wall.

I heard a feminine-sounding laugh come from beyond the walls, but saw no further sign of the spectral figure emerging. I took a few steps toward the center of the room, still holding the book. It was damaged, but intact. “Thanks, Mara.”

She nodded, then scanned the book. “Got somethin’ important there?”

“Nursery rhyme involving Aayara killing one of her apprentices.”

Sera snapped her fingers. “Aayara’s name as a thief was Symphony. We’ve got a piano. Probably have to play a song relevant to her?”

Mara seemed to consider something, then gestured. “Corin, book me.”

I handed her the book, then drew Selys-Lyann. I wasn’t getting caught unarmed when that ghost came back.

There was a click as Patrick finished adjusting something in the clock. “It isn’t built to move forward, but something was going to happen when it hit midnight, so I stopped it entirely.”

“Good.” Sera nodded to him. “Probably controls some event with the ghost. Or ghosts. You probably stopped a trap. Let’s not count on that, though.”

I groaned. “Really?”

Sera smiled. “The goddess loves her puns. I can indulge every once in a while.” She turned to Meltlake. “Any insights, professor?”

“You’re doing fine.” She glanced around the room. “Continue.”

“Mara, then?” Sera waved toward the piano.

“Think I’ve got it sorted.” Mara moved back to the piano, then set the book down atop it.

“Let’s see…listen, listen, a whisper in the dark…” Mara began to play, and immediately I understood her intent. A poem wasn’t exactly sheet music, but maybe she could estimate what it would sound like if set to song.

“Listen, listen…” Mara intoned as she played. I didn’t know if she was reading it to make playing the song easier or as some part of the puzzle, but it honestly made the whole thing a lot creepier.

“Listen, listen…” As she progressed, I found myself focusing on her more, listening as each note echoed and reverberated throughout the house.

“A dagger finds a—”

A knife-wielding hand shot out of the front of the piano. Mara expertly deflected the knife with her forearm, then grabbed the ghost’s wrist and pulled.

The spectral woman let out a shriek — the first sound I’d heard her make — as Mara hauled her out, twisted her wrist, and then shoved her to the floor. “Wasn’t very kind of you to ruin my song like that.”

The ghost turned her face toward Mara and hissed.

Mara slammed her forehead into the ghost’s nose. The ghost’s neck snapped back, then she struggled ineffectively against Mara’s grip for a moment before her body began to fade from translucency into transparency.

After a moment, the ghost had almost entirely vanished, and Mara’s hands were gripping nothing but a hazy image that had begun to slip into the floor.

“Nice try.” Sera pointed a finger. “Bind.”

There was a flash of light across the spiritual assassin, then a moment as the ghost’s eyes locked on Sera.

“…What?” The ghost said, perfectly audible, and ceased to sink into the floor.

Sera threw the spectral creature a wink. “Spooky murder ghost, I summon you.”

A duplicate ghost appeared right next to Sera, regarding her silently for a moment, then tilting her head to the side. “Huh. Can’t say that’s happened before.”

Sera turned to her newly-summoned ghost. “Hiya. Care to tell us how to solve this place?”

The original ghost shot upward, passing half-way through Mara in the process, then began to solidify in mid-air. “Stop. You cannot.”

The new creepy ghost stuck out their tongue, which was pretty bizarre looking, given her semi-transparency. “Pfft. Sure I can! Rules say you have to play a certain way. I’m not you, technically.” The new ghost leaned toward Sera and whispered something in a conspiratorial tone.

“Seriously?” Sera blinked. “Okay, sure.”

The original ghost’s eyes widened, then she said. “No. You wouldn’t.” It raised its knife, then began to glow bright red. “I won’t allow—”

Mara jumped, grabbing the ghost by the ankles, and dragging it to the ground. “That’s enough out of you, song-ruiner!”

Sera clapped her hands once. “Ghost, ghost, go to sleep. Else your mother, she shall weep.”

Both ghosts dropped like rocks.

Sera gave a chagrinned look at the newly summoned ghost. “Huh. That actually worked?”

The unconscious ghosts made no reply.

Sera shrugged, then knelt down and gently shook her newly bound summon. “Wakey, wakey, spooky lady.”

The newly-summoned ghost groaned, blinked, and sat up. “Coulda warned me, you know.”

Sera snorted. “Sorry, partner. The other you looked mad.” Sera reached down with a hand, helping the ghost back to her feet.

“Yeah, she gets like that. Part of the design of the place.”

“Speaking of, does that mean you can tell us how this place works?”

The ghost nodded affably. “Oh, yeah, sure. I’ve got the run of the place. Or, I mean, she does. But I know her whole deal. Attacks in different rooms, lots of traps, she gets stronger as you get deeper into the haunt. Toward the end, you can either kill her the same way Aayara did,” she made a gesture of stabbing her own chest, “or try to redeem her. Or, you know, you can just skip the whole thing and take the trap door out of here. She hates it when people do that.”

Sera grinned. “And that door is…”

“Under the rug?” Mara guessed.

The ghost snapped her fingers, then frowned when that didn’t actually make any sound. “Got it. Just pull the rug up and open the door. Takes you straight to the next floor.”

“…Really?” I asked. “That’s it?”

The ghost turned and shrugged at me. “Not the way I’d make a haunted house, but whoever made it had a thing for shortcuts.”

“Thank you.” Sera beamed. “You’ve been very helpful.”

“Oh, sure. Always glad to help my Summoner. I mean, theoretically, since I just started existing and all that.” The ghost paused, frowning. “You gonna release me as soon as you’re out of here?”

“Hm. That depends. What exactly are you looking for in a Summoning contract?”

***

After some clarification that there were no further threats left in this particular room, we sat down and chatted while Sera began to draw up a contract.

“You sure you have enough mana to do this?” I asked Sera.

“Sure, I’m almost back where I was when we first entered the spire. This will put a dent in my reserves, but Susan,” she jerked a thumb at her new ghost friend, who was currently playing the piano with Mara, “is an incredible find.”

“For spying, you mean? I imagine passing through walls and going near-invisible would be excellent for reconnaissance.”

Sera nodded. “That’s a large part of it, yes. But she’s not just a ghost, Corin. She’s a spectre. She’s a spellcaster, like Vanniv.”

“Ah. And because of that, she can sign a contract with you on behalf of her true self, just like he did?”

“Yep. And she’ll give me access to some new types of magic that I’m very excited to try out. Not immediately, of course: I’ll need to practice. But this is a good deal.”

We discussed it for a little while longer before she finally passed the contract to Susan, had a brief and surprisingly professional discussion about contract terms, and finally reached an agreement.

“By my name, I, Sera Cadence, offer you this contract.” Sera formally extended the page.

“By my name and my spirit, I, Susan the Spectre, accept this contract.” There was a brief glow across the ghost, then she let out a gasp. Then giggled, pumped her arms, and cheered. “Yeah! I’m a real girl now! Or, realish, at least!”

Sera smiled at her, tucking the contract away in her bag and extending a hand. “I’ll be pleased to work with you, partner.”

“Likewise!” Susan grabbed Sera’s hand and shook it enthusiastically. “Now, I know of another me that needs a good shanking.”

***

We did not, in fact, end up shanking any other versions of Susan the Spectre. After a brief discussion and the revelation that the house had a shockingly low quantity of items worth looting, we opted to open up the secret door beneath the carpet.

“This leads straight to the next floor?” I asked.

“Yup.” Susan nodded. “You sure you don’t want to go up and,” she made a stabbing motion, “stabby stab me, just a little?”

“I think we’ll pass.” Sera patted the ghost on the arm. “Lot of effort, lot of risk, very minimal reward.”

Susan looked mildly disappointed.

“I could stab the current you later?” Mara offered. “You know, like in sparring practice?”

“Ooh! Promise?” Susan visibly brightened, in a literal sense. Her whole white outfit glowed a little bit along with her enthusiastic smile.

“Uh, yeah. Sure. S’long as Sera is okay with it.”

Sera shrugged. “I see no reason why not. Okay, we all good to go?”

We gave a chorus of agreements, save for one.

“Can’t help you on the next floor,” Susan sighed. “It’s too bright. I’m not good with natural light.”

“Not a problem. We’ll see you later.” Sera gave her a wave.

The ghost gave us a forlorn wave in return. “G’bye for now, then. And don’t forget to murder me later!”

I wouldn’t. I don’t think any of us ever could.

Chapter XIII – A Party of Adventurers

The trap door under the bloodstained carpet revealed a rickety ladder leading down into darkness. Mara grabbed on and began to climb down immediately after Susan vanished, then the rest of us followed with a slightly greater degree of caution.

It wasn’t long before a wave of increasingly familiar vertigo hit me and my vision went white.

When my vision cleared, I stood in what looked like the entrance to an elegant noble manor.

The fourth floor. We’ve almost made it.

We stood on dark green carpet, with a bright blue rug covering it. The hall ahead was lined with statues, and I could see a variety of paintings on the walls, mostly depicting what looked like members of the same family — a group of people with short brown hair and prominent foreheads.

My companions appeared around me within moments, but even before I saw them, I wasn’t alone. There were dozens of people within the chamber — most notably a man only a few feet away from us who looked like the world’s most stereotypical butler. He wore a pristine suit, an elegant hat, and a badge of office. His neatly-trimmed mustache was black, but what little hair remained on his head was gray.

“Welcome, guests.” The presumed-butler bowed deeply. “We are deeply honored that you’ve chosen to attend young Miss Verena’s debut. Please, come inside. The other staff will be pleased to serve you food and drinks. You may leave your coats here,” he gestured to a nearby rack, “if you wish to lighten your load.”

I frowned, opening my mouth to ask a question, but Sera was faster.

“Thank you, sir. Might I inquire as to what is expected of us at this gathering?”

“Of course, Miss…”

“Cadence. Sera Cadence.” Sera flashed him a bright smile.

“A Cadence…?” He gasped. “From that military family in Valia? How very strange and wonderful! I’m Anthony, the Head Manservant for the Verena family. To answer your question, very little is required of you at this gathering — you may simply relax and enjoy your time here. It is, of course, traditional to present the Mistress or the Master of the household with an appropriate gift to honor their daughter’s debut.”

I frowned at his response to my family name. We were in Caelford, so I supposed that it wasn’t a common name, but his reaction had been oddly extreme.

“Of course, naturally.” Sera beamed at him, then waved a hand to the rest of us. “Come along, then, everyone.”

“Um, hold on, sorry.” Patrick winced. “Hi, sorry, I’m Patrick. Retainer. I’m not as versed in all this — what exactly would be an appropriate gift?”

“Of course, young retainer, I am happy to help. That,” the older man smiled, “is always a matter of some debate. You must impress the hosts, but without being too ostentatious — you do not wish to make yourselves appear overzealous. Too valuable of a gift could imply you are belittling the wealth of the hosts, or perhaps showing up the other guests. Something with a personal touch is, of course, always appreciated.”

“Come on, Patrick.” Sera gestured to the rest of us as she began to move into the main living room area. “I think we’ve got the idea. We’ve wasted enough of the good man’s time.”

I gave a quick glance to Professor Meltlake and Mara before we moved in. Meltlake was frowning silently at the décor, while Mara was staring at everything with wide, awe-filled eyes. She’d seen noble manors before — she’d lived with us at Derek’s place, after all — but even Elora’s house hadn’t been quite this overtly fancy. It was clearly set up for a party, and I was beginning to feel more underdressed and underprepared by the moment.

“Oh, one last thing!” Anthony remarked as I followed Sera deeper into the room. “If you didn’t have time to prepare a proper gift…” He raised a hand as if to half-cover his mouth and gave us a conspiratorial look, “the crafting hall is to the right, past the dining hall. And, if you’re in need of some inspiration, you can always check the library. It’s one of Lady Verena’s favorite places, and I can assure you that she’s read each and every book.”

“That’s much appreciated, thank you.” Sera gave a curtsey, then waved for the rest of us to follow her.

There were dozens of other people present in the chamber, as well as other nearby rooms that I could see from the entrance. I’d never been an expert on clothing style, but the garb was both excessively formal and overtly antiquated. There were a few people in military-style uniforms, which were bright crimson. Caelford did have crimson as one of their flag colors, but I thought I remembered their uniforms being predominantly black. That was a little strange.

From the entrance chamber, I could see a broad spiral stairway heading up to a second floor, as well rooms branching off to the left, right, and straight ahead. The left was the library that the butler had mentioned, the right was a dining area, and I couldn’t quite get a good look at the room straight ahead because of the crowd. I could hear music coming from it, though, so maybe some sort of main entertainment lounge or ballroom.

People chatted, discussing the Lord and Lady of the house, local politics, and recent events.

My initial read was that the goal was probably something like “impress the noble family”, “present a proper gift for the daughter”, or maybe just “ignore everything and find a stairway to the next floor”. That said, scenario floors could be tricky, and I already knew that there was a good chance that the floor could be designed to subvert our expectations.

I glanced around at the crowd. Are those other Climbers, or summons playing scenario roles?

The butler was almost certainly a summon — or a Whisper, maybe — that was part of the challenge. Everyone else was too hard to tell without more information. A brief use of Detect Aura while we walked showed me mostly red auras, meaning mostly Carnelian-level people or monsters. That didn’t clarify if they were climbers, but it made me lean slightly more toward scenario creatures, since most climbers would be stronger than Carnelian.

“Corin, focus.” Sera snapped her fingers. I’d gotten distracted by staring at the crowd.

“Sorry.” I followed her the rest of the way into an adjacent room.

I caught a few of chatter tidbits along the way.

“…sickly, hope she doesn’t collapse again…”

“…Valians? What were they thinking, coming here with the current political…”

“…heard a rumor that monsters are coming…”

“…can’t believe the audacity…”

That last one caught my attention more than the others. It came from a man with dark blond hair in a crimson uniform with a thick moustache and an elaborate black-hilted rapier hanging at his hip. The rapier had an impressively-large black crystal on the pommel, with a layer of runes on the metal portion that kept the pommel in place. As my gaze turned toward him, he sneered at me. Like, actually sneered. 

I rolled my eyes and turned back away, following Sera as she led us toward the library.

The library itself was a grand one, but sparsely occupied. It was three stories, with a massive stairway leading between them and several…ladder things. I don’t know the term for them. Ladders for reaching books? I don’t know. There were a lot of them, and they were obviously necessary given the sheer quantity of the collection.

A few uniformed servants were giving tours to other guests, but we ignored them and simply found a quiet corner to talk.

We formed a loose circle. Sera turned straight to Meltlake. “Care to explain, professor?”

Meltlake smiled. “No, no. I’ll step in if I’m truly needed, but you’ve been doing fine so far. This whole exercise is a good stand-in for your missed final exam. I’d like to see how you can do without my intervention.”

Sera nodded, clearly expecting that answer. “Very well, Corin?”

I blinked. “What?”

“Do you want to begin?”

I stared at her. “This is a historical scenario. You know I’m terrible at history, Sera. I barely made it through a certain someone’s lessons.”

“You were a little behind at first, but I think you caught up just fine,” Meltlake reassured me. “Any guesses?”

“Somewhere around Six Years War era, based on the outfits and manner of speech. We’re lucky they’re speaking Valian. Based on the uniform color, we’re not in Valia — it’d be either Caelford or one of the Edrias.”

“Edria.” Sera noted. “Specifically, the lands of Archduke Tychus Verena.”

“Very good, Miss Cadence.” Meltlake raised her cane in an approving gesture. “I’d award you points if they were relevant here.”

“I’ll take them for next year?” Sera tried.

Meltlake chucked, but with a sad twinge to it. “I…don’t think I’ll be teaching you then. We’ll see.”

“Archduke Tychus…” Mara frowned. “That’s not one of ‘em, is it? Kjell, Sheng, Wolff, and Jing, right?”

She knew a lot more of those names than I remembered.

“That’s currently true,” Meltlake responded, “but the houses were different in this era.”

Sera’s brow creased. “I remember all that, but I can’t recall how exactly the changes happened. It’s been a while since we had our Edrian history class.”

I wasn’t sure I’d ever taken that class. Missing three years of school was, at times, a serious disadvantage.

“Go mingle.” Meltlake waved to the crowd. “You’ll figure it out.”

“Wait, wait. Before that,” I interrupted. “Shouldn’t we discuss objectives and resources?”

“Usually, the objective of a scenario becomes clear as it progresses.” Meltlake set her cane down, her voice shifting back into teaching mode. “The criteria for success are not always immediately apparent, but some conflict will occur that must be resolved, or a goal will be presented.”

“We’ve already been presented one — presents!” Patrick laughed at his own wordplay and got some mild chuckles from the rest of us. “What are we going to get the birthday girl?”

“It’s more than a birthday,” Sera noted. “It’s her high society debut. That means she’s likely turning seventeen. She’ll already have her attunement, given her age and connection to an archduke’s family, so gifts related to a Judgment would not be applicable. As an archduke’s descendant, she’ll expect something costly, but the butler did hint that a personalized gift might be appropriate as well.”

“How do we know what she’d like?” Mara asked. “Noble gifts aren’t really my specialty.”

“Simple as anything, Mara.” Sera gave Mara a conspiratorial look. “We’re going to ask her directly.”

I blinked. “Is that…acceptable? We probably aren’t supposed to meet her until after the debut, at which point the gifts will have to be prepared.”

“Please, Corin. If she’s anything like most teenage noblewomen, she’s probably absolutely terrified right now. I’m sure she’d appreciate a couple of her peers coming to check on her, make sure she’s properly dressed and made up, and that sort of thing.”

Mara quirked a brow. “And you want me to help with that. Wouldn’t she have maidservants?”

“She probably does, but I can do better. And I want you to accompany me in case the walls try to eat me while I’m looking for her. This is, in spite of appearances, still a spire.”

“That I can do.” Mara nodded. “What are the boys going to be up to, then?”

Sera waved a hand dismissively. “I’m sure they can find something interesting to read while we solve the test. Maybe even something relevant to this particular event, or the house’s history.”

I rolled my eyes. “If you want someone to do research, we do have a Researcher.”

“Summoning an elemental in the middle of a party without permission would not be a good social move, dear brother.”

“Could you even do that while she’s still summoned outside the spire?”

“Oh, sure. It would just transport her here, much like how I teleported her to the train.”

I nodded. I had a number of questions on the subject, but I needed to focus for once in my life. I folded my arms. “Given how useful she’d be, maybe get permission?”

“Fine, fine. I’ll ask at some point if the opportunity arises. But don’t wait for that.” She tipped her head. “I’ll see you in…say, an hour or two, back here?”

“Do we know how much time we have?” I asked.

“I overhead someone mentioning it at the door,” Patrick replied. “It’s just past two bells. The debut is at six. We have a little under four hours.”

I exhaled a breath. I didn’t like the idea of being around that many people for four hours…but I supposed the library wouldn’t be too awful.

If I actually stuck to Sera’s plan. Which I wouldn’t. The library had benefits, but I had other ways of getting information in a place like this, and I wasn’t going to sit around and wait for Sera to try to solve everything on her own.

“Mara, Patrick. Based on your previous climb, do you have any insights on what else we may need to do here?” I asked them.

“Not really, wasn’t anything quite this elaborate for our floors.” Mara shrugged. “We did several scenario floors, but they were more…action oriented? One was defending a fortress under siege, another was a heist…nothing like this.”

“Yeah, that heist was really fun though.” Patrick laughed. “We’ll have to do one again sometime!”

“Let’s maybe keep our voices down when the word ‘heist’ is involved, Patrick,” Sera chided him. “Anyway, let’s break for now. Corin, Patrick, hit the books. Professor, care to join us ladies to try to get in to talk to Lady Verena? Your name might assist us in making introductions before the debut more easily.”

By name, I presumed Sera meant Professor Meltlake’s original house name — Hartigan — which was already famous in this time period. Hartigan was a descendant of an archduke herself, and thus, she had considerably more social standing than any of the rest of us. She was the type of person that should be at this sort of event, whereas we…well, if this was just after the Six Years War and somewhere in Edria…

I might have said the name “Cadence” a little too loudly.

“No, that’s all right. I think I’ll go speak to the archduke. I have some questions for him.” Meltlake gazed toward the door to the next room, looking focused.

“Is there something we should know?” I asked.

“Yes,” Meltlake acknowledged, “but you’ll want to figure it out on your own.”

I rolled my eyes at our professor’s cryptic comment, then waved goodbye to Sera, Mara, and Meltlake as they disappeared into other rooms.

“Well,” Patrick said gleefully. “It’s just us! Time to hit the books?”

“Seems so.” I nodded. “You check the left side and I’ll take the right?”

“Sure!”

We headed to the shelves. I scanned through the first set, hoping it might give me a clue about the library’s organization style — genre, alphabetization, that sort of thing.

Let’s see…Memoirs of the Blackstone Assassin…Symphony’s Silence…The Death of Destiny…

Hm. All fiction here. Not alphabetized by title or by author, so far as I can tell.

I frowned, checking the next row.

Arcane Assassins: Volume 1. Stab: A Stabbing Story. Stab 2: The Stabbening.

Those…can’t be real books, are they?

I picked up Stab 2 and flipped it open. Remarkably, there were no mechanical or magical traps involved; it was simply a book. One with pages and, strangely enough, words on those pages.

I read a passage.

Steel rushed down the hallway, encountering another set of guards. He shouted the name of his special technique, “Instant Death Skill: Ultimate Stabbening!” and flashed by in a blur of motion, stabbing each of them. Each guard exploded into fine red mist. They had been stabbed. They had been stabbed to death.

I set the book back down.

How…how was this even published? I feel like someone is making fun of me just by having it here.

I set the book down with a sigh.

What else do we have? More Blackstone Assassin books? Thief of Hearts: The Loves and Lies of Wrynn Jaden?

I opened that latter one as well, then shut it immediately, my face reddening. Oh. It’s that kind of book.

I headed to the next shelf. Surely, there had to be some historical reference material in here somewhere, or at least a clue or two.

I’ll save you my own frustration and sum things up: I didn’t find any. I scanned each shelf carefully, but everything there seemed like fiction — and not even my type of fiction.

Maybe I’m looking at this the wrong way. Could there be secret passages? Maybe if I move the right book, one that looks out of place…

I cast Detect Aura and scanned the shelves, trying to find any books that glowed, but I didn’t see any. I did see some glowing from some of the people in the room as well as many of the people beyond. Nothing unusual — just low-level attunement auras and a few assorted magical items.

I tried a more mechanical search, looking for any books that appeared obviously out of place. The wrong color, the wrong size, that sort of thing. I found nothing of the sort.

If there were any secret passages, they weren’t something I could find with a cursory search.

I checked in with Patrick next, finding him reading a copy of Secrets of the Sacred Swords: Volume 2 — The Two Edges of Twilight.

“I can’t believe they have this one! It’s been out of print for decades!” He glanced from side-to-side, then whispered. “Jaden Box?”

I considered that, then shook my head. “I don’t think it’s a good idea. But if we can get Researcher in here later, she might be able to copy it for you.”

“Ooh. Okay, let’s see if we can do that.” He set the book down.

“Anything relevant in there, or in general?” I asked.

“No, sorry, got kind of distracted. I checked most of it, but nothing seemed like history books.”

“Huh. A library of…just fiction? That has to be meaningful. Or maybe there’s a second library elsewhere in the house?”

“I’ll go ask the librarian.” Patrick turned to go do the super obvious thing I hadn’t even considered. I stared after him, wondering if I should go along, too. The answer was “yes”, but I chose not to, anyway. Talking to people was the worst. I waited for Patrick to return.

“Librarian says that these books are historical and looked at me kind of funny when I asked. He also said that he recommends Stab 2: The Stabbening, which is Lady Verena’s favorite book.”

I let out an exasperated sigh. It was highly plausible that there was some kind of secret tucked into the pages of that novel, something that might be a key to a shortcut through this scenario.

…But I couldn’t make myself read that book. Not even knowing what was at stake.

“Let’s get out of here.” I waved toward the door. Hopefully, if we could get Researcher summoned, she could parse through that novel — and others — to find any available clues.

Next, we headed through the dining hall. I caught sight of Meltlake talking to someone near the back — a tall, regal-looking blond-haired man with an obvious Citrine-level aura. He wore an actual honest-to-goodness crown and wore a long cavalry saber on his left hip. His outfit was military formal in the dark crimson colors of Edria, but accentuated by a long black cape with a symbol of a bird in flight embroidered on the back. Archduke Verena, if I had to guess.

I gave Meltlake a nod, which she returned. If she wanted me to approach, I trusted she would have gestured as such. Instead, I walked past them and toward the next area — the crafting hall.

The “crafting hall” actually referred to a whole section of the building with several different rooms, each dedicated to a different purpose. One looked like it was made for weaving, another for brewing potions, one for making weapons and armor…

I was seriously tempted to go loot the whole place, but I restrained my instincts. Barely. I didn’t even know if the items here were real; it was likely that some of the things would be, but others might be illusions or constructs designed for the test itself that would simply vanish. And rampant looting was encouraged in some spires, but not this one. The Tiger Spire required a higher degree of calculation when looting was concerned, and I didn’t want to get kicked out or face some sort of fate worse than death for pocketing an extra healing potion or two.

I found some other people working in the rooms already, all of which were attuned. Presumably, these were other spire climbers, but I supposed they could have been more constructs for the scenario. I ignored them for the most part, instead focusing on anything I could glean from the rooms in terms of clues.

I wasn’t big on clothing, but I noted the weaving room had some unusual garb hung up in one of the corners — long black coats, cloaks, and masks. Blackstone Bandit garb, or something approximating it.

Are some of the Blackstone Bandits here in the spire, hanging up their outfits or making duplicates as gifts? Or is this another extension of the strange theme of the books in the library?

I frowned, moving on to the alchemy lab. I scanned over the available supplies.

Willow’s Wail…Redbane…Crimson Thorn.

These are poison. Literally all of them are poison.

I rubbed my forehead. What have I gotten into here?

The weapons and armor room had a full forge — which seemed a little dangerous, honestly, given the lack of ventilation. There were some runes on the wall that might have served for air circulation, but I didn’t recognize them. I wrote them down to check later, then took a look at the existing weapons on the walls.

Daggers. Knives. Stilettos. Almost all short-ranged stabbing and slashing implements. There were a few other things, like a hand-held crossbow and some suits of black leather armor.

I was beginning to sense a strong theme and I didn’t like it.

“We going to make anything?” Patrick asked.

“No, not yet. I think I’d like to focus on getting information before we make any gifts. It’s probably been close to an hour — let’s swing by the library again and see if the others are back.”

We checked. They weren’t.

“Back to reading the books, then? Maybe we missed something,” Patrick offered.

“No,” I shook my head. “I have something far less pleasant in mind.”

“Such as?”

“My least favorite thing.” I shuddered, only half-exaggerating the motion. “Meeting new people.”

***

In spite of loathing social gatherings, I wasn’t entirely foreign to them. I’d attended a number of fancy parties when I was young, mostly with my mother. I’d even seen a few of these high society debut style events. Admittedly, none of them had been in a fake spire-created Edria, but I had some idea of what I was doing.

My first order of business was figuring out a few key things about the people present. Who was important? Who was a potential threat? Who was a potential ally? Who was missing?

In order to gather that information, I needed to get in there, act like I belonged, and ask some questions — or, in some cases, prompt people for information without directly asking.

I headed straight to the room with the music playing. As I’d guessed, it was a ballroom, with a number of people dancing and others simply standing off on the side of the dance floor. Some were watching and listening to the band, which was playing some Tyrenian instruments I didn’t think I’d ever seen, including what looked like the world’s largest harp but turned sideways. Others were seated in groups, chatting while eating some sort of appetizers. There was a bar with alcohol in the back, as well some serving staff handing out small plates of food to the seated guests.

Immediately, I scanned the room for anyone of interest.

Again, I caught the eyes of that blond-haired military officer. I noticed his hand drift toward his rapier for a moment as his eyes darkened, but he was quickly dragged away by one of his companions.

Well, I found enemy number one, at least.

The reason for his animosity was clear enough — he must have heard my family name. House Cadence was famous for our role in the Six Years War…which, during this time period, must have been a relatively recent event. I wasn’t sure exactly how recent, but that military uniform meant he might have fought a Cadence personally, or perhaps his family had. Or maybe he was just bitter about our role in ending the war.

I didn’t have enough information to say what his specific grievance was yet, but it seemed like a good idea to find out at some point — or, at a minimum, watch my back.

There were several other groups and individuals that caught my attention.

Near the band, I saw a pair of red-haired people in their twenties that were animatedly discussing something. Their particular shade of red was rare enough in itself, but even more notable was that their eyes were a matching color. Aside from that, they looked human, but I couldn’t recall seeing any ordinary humans with eyes like that. They still had visible sclera, but barely. I wondered if they might be related to those “rethri” that Keras was talking about from his homeland, or possibly some kind of elementals or half-elementals.

I saw only a single other group of people that looked Valian, although it was possible that some others were of Valian descent and simply didn’t stand out to the same degree. The Valian group were mostly wearing the traditional whites and blues of our nation, making an obvious (and possibly dangerous) statement about their national allegiance.

The only exception was a blonde-haired woman who sat at the head of the table, wearing a dress of bright crimson. That was an Edrian color, so I might have mistaken her for an Edrian herself if not for the brilliant and eye-catching harp-shaped amulet around her neck. Between that and her perfectly braided blonde hair, she was an absolutely iconic representative of House Haven.

House Haven was one of the handful of Valian archduchies, with their line stretching back before the nation’s founding. House Haven owned Haven Securities, the largest banking organization on the entire continent. They funded numerous projects, including the train we took from Valia to Caelford and the famous expedition in the Unclaimed Lands that Keras and Lars had taken part in.

Of course, many stories claimed their line could be traced back to Aayara Haven, better known as the legendary thief Symphony. Obviously, that had to be an exaggeration.

The Valians were sharing a table with a group from Caelford and talking excitedly about something in the center — a glowing device I could barely see from a distance. I overheard a snippet that sounded like, “electric, not magic” and thought I caught the gist of it. These people were delighted by what I could only assume was, based on the time period this scenario depicted, an early demonstration of an electric lightbulb.

There were a few other groups from Caelford present, including a couple of kids playing with what looked like a toy golem controlled by a hand-held cane. I was half-tempted to go take a look at how that worked, but I had higher priorities.

Beyond those few potential allies, I noted the vast majority of people present were Edrian, which wasn’t surprising given the apparent locale of the event. I was still scanning through the crowd when I froze, processing a face that shouldn’t have been possible. His dark skin, his almond eyes, even the wry grin on his face…

Jin?

No. As he turned, apparently noting my stare, I noted small differences. His hair was cut shorter, his chin was a little more square-shaped, and his left cheek had a distinctive curved scar. His arms were more obviously muscled, and I’d never seen Jin wearing anything like this man’s bright crimson tunic and trousers.

Perhaps even more notable, however, was the two-handed sword on the man’s back. It was nearly as tall as he was, worn in a back scabbard that couldn’t have possibly been practical to draw from, with a scarlet hilt shaped to evoke the image of a flame and a brightly burning scarlet crystal in the place of a pommel.

I recognized it almost instantly, and Patrick must have as well. His eyes widened and he whispered a word too quiet to hear, but I knew what he was saying.

Which was why I stood a little taller and headed straight in the Jin-lookalike’s direction. Patrick followed right behind me, seemingly awestruck.

I wasn’t quite as affected by the sight as he was, but I knew this was someone we absolutely needed to talk to. There was no chance someone like this would appear in a scenario without being significant.

The Jin-lookalike saw us approaching. His eyes flicked between us, then he made a little startled jolt when he saw Patrick’s hip. Then he excused himself from his group, bowed deeply to them, and turned to approach us at a rapid pace.

When we came closer, I opened my mouth to speak, but he was faster…and he ignored me entirely, bowing deeply to Patrick.

“My forgiveness for not sensing your presence sooner, Wielder of the Sword of Dawn’s Bright Light. That you would come to this place is a keen demonstration of the bravery that earns you the right to carry your blade.”

“I…uh…” Patrick paled. “I am so sorry to say this, but it’s not the real Dawnbringer.”

The Jin-lookalike’s expression contorted in confusion. Then he stood up straighter and his eyes shut briefly. When he reopened them, he had a briefly perplexed look, then he bowed to Patrick again.

“My forgiveness for not sensing your presence sooner, Wielder of the Sword of Dawn’s Bright Light. That you would come to this place is a keen demonstration of the bravery that earns you the right to carry your blade.”

The same line. The same tone. The exact same…well, cadence.

Patrick looked briefly at a loss, then I whispered. “Scenario. You’re the wielder. Act like it.”

To his credit, something clicked in Patrick’s face immediately, then he returned the bow. “You needn’t ask my forgiveness for anything, Wielder of the Sword of Burning Life. The humility and charity in your demeanor reflect well on your own qualifications. I have only just arrived, and unannounced. I am Patrick Wayland-Cadence, retainer of House Cadence. I am greatly honored to meet my brother wielder.”

“The honor is mine, Patrick Wayland-Cadence.” The Jin-lookalike turned his eyes to meet Patrick’s directly. “It is good that you have come. I am Dalen Mitsurugi, of the House of the Unbroken Queen. These are difficult times and…if I may be forthcoming, I am pleased to see there may be another I can trust in this den of hydras.”

My heart skipped a beat when I heard his name. He was using the traditional Artinian naming order, meaning “Dalen” was his surname, not his personal name. Perhaps that was a point of pride; at this earlier time period, East Edria — which would have still been Kelridge in living memory — would have been less thoroughly incorporated into Edrian culture. And, of course, some Edrian people used that naming convention as well; Edrians usually just adopted Valian-style naming simply to avoid confusion at school.

The most important part of that wasn’t the naming order, though, it was what his name signified. I was currently staring at the entirely too attractive face of one of Jin’s ancestors. Or, at a minimum, a member of a branch of his house — he’d mentioned that various retainers used the house name.

Given their similar looks, I found the former more likely. This was probably his…weirdly hot grandfather or something. I was more than a little conflicted by that line of thinking.

“Two, if I may be so bold.” Patrick gestured to me. “This is my liege lord, Corin of the House of Cadence.”

“Cadence.” His eyes shifted to me. “A relative of Alaric Cadence?”

I nodded in confirmation. “I am. It is a pleasure to meet the Wielder of the Sword of Burning Life.”

“It pleases me that you use the proper name for my weapon. As for your house…” He frowned. “I cannot say I am pleased by it.”

“I appreciate your honesty, but why?” I scanned the room briefly. We were definitely getting attention from other nearby groups with this discussion, but I didn’t really care. “We were allies. We helped end the war.”

Dalen Mitsurugi gave me a strained smile. “No. You did not. You ended Valia’s involvement. For some of us,” he glanced around at the room, “the war never ended.”

“I…forgive me for my presumption. My house only sought to save as many lives as possible.”

“Valian lives.” Mitsurugi shook his head. “Such has always been the way of your people. But understand that I mean no disrespect when I say this. I would do anything for the lives of my own people, and though we were abandoned, it is not your house — or your nation — that I hold to blame. You are not the ones who brought knives to the throat of my home.”

I was beginning to think this conversation was going in an extremely unwise direction, but Mitsurugi paid no attention to the reactions of the crowd around us.

In fact, I suspect he was inviting them.

Is he here to pick a fight? Oh, no. What have I gotten into this time?

I cleared my throat. “Perhaps we can discuss these matters somewhere more private?”

Mitsurugi’s expression darkened. “I see you lack the courage that your retainer has, but I suppose I cannot fault a noble for lacking the strength of a warrior.”

I bristled at his response. “You mistake me, sir. I am a duelist first, a Cadence second, and a noble third. I speak only of strategy and polite conduct. Does such a simple concept evade you?”

He gave me an appraising look, then nodded. “Well-rebuked. You are more than I first gave you credit for. I decline your offer for privacy, however. If you would speak to me at all, it will be in the center of things. Patience is a virtue of his sword,” he nodded to Patrick, “not mine.”

I usually heard the three virtues of Dawnbringer described as including insight, not patience, but I supposed that there were some translation or interpretation issues with those as well as the different names used for the swords themselves. Regardless, his point was clear enough. I took a breath as I heard someone else approaching, and I knew who it was going to be before I even turned my head.

Apparently, even a fake House Dalen was sufficient to instantly get me into a near insurmountable level of trouble.

“House Cadence. I thought I heard the woman at the door speak the name, but I told myself ‘no, no one from that house could be so foolish and arrogant as to come to this place’. It would be such an obvious and unbearable insult.” The speaker was the blond-haired man with the moustache and the military uniform.

I turned to him. “We mean no insult. We simply came to pay our respects for the archduke and his daughter.”

“Of course. You came to pay your respects.” The man laughed. “The war is over, after all. Your family made quite certain of that. And now, we can simply dine and dance and pretend nothing ever happened!”

I frowned. This was delicate, and I wasn’t good at delicate, but Sera was nowhere nearby. “We cannot undo the past. We can simply move forward and be grateful that no further lives are being lost.”

He sneered at me again. Big on sneering, this guy. “No further lives. Yes, I suppose from the perspective of a Cadence, my father’s life was quite sufficient, wasn’t it?”

I blinked, then gawked in horror. “Wait, then you’re—”

“Ah, yes. Allow me to properly introduce myself.” He stood up straighter, eschewing a bow and instead putting a hand over his heart in what looked like some sort of military salute. “Captain Jerome Schmidt, son of the General Kaspar Schmidt.”

My blood ran cold.

I knew both names. Kaspar Schmidt was one of the most famous men in military history — an Edrian commander who had led their forces to success after success in the Six Years War.

And, more importantly, he had been killed by my great grandfather, Alaric Cadence, in a war-ending duel. The blood of Kaspar Schmidt had given birth to my family’s noble title and reputation.

His son, Jerome, had been orphaned at a young age by this act. He became a professional duelist, killed numerous rivals, attempted to drum up support to resume the war. He ultimately disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

 This scenario would be many years before Jerome disappeared, but likely during the height of his dueling career.

And so, I had a feeling I knew exactly what was coming.

That didn’t mean I had to play along. Offering condolences for his father’s death would simply infuriate him, so I tried to take a simpler approach. I returned his salute. “I understand your grievance with my family, then, but I have no personal quarrel with you. I would hope that we can attend this evening’s festivities without doing anything to disrupt the party.”

“Oh, on the contrary! I believe everyone here could do with some entertainment, and I’m confident that the archduke would be most pleased to see the prowess of a young scion of the famous Cadence dueling family. And I just heard you mention being a duelist yourself, did I not?”

I internally groaned at my previous words. “You did indeed, sir, but this seems an untimely event for such a demonstration. This is a celebration of life, not of death.”

“It’s funny that you should speak of death, Master Cadence,” Jerome looked me in the eyes, “when Alaric Cadence killed my father in a non-lethal duel.”

I blinked. “What?”

“You didn’t know?” He clapped his hands together. “Oh, how delightful. You must have only been but a child. Perhaps your family never told you of the terms? But I have a few years on you, I think. I was there. I saw the duel end.”

I was sincerely curious now, as well as a bit disturbed. “And what did you see?”

“I saw the terms.” He spoke now not only to me, but spun about and projected his voice to the audience. “A match to three strikes to the torso, or to surrender. There was no need for a life to be taken. And my dear father, rest him well in Selys’ heart, fought well to abide by these rules. He struck only with minimal force, scoring two points in an instant. Alaric Cadence,” he half-spat the name, “scored not a single point. As my father aimed to strike the final point, he was grabbed from behind by a hidden construct — one that seized his throat and crushed it.” Jerome clenched his fist to gesture. “While my father choked, Alaric simply watched and waited. He could have struck for his points at any time. But he did not. My father choked, unable to even wheeze out a surrender — until at last, he breathed no more.”

He stomped his foot. “Alaric Cadence dishonored the field of dueling that day. He took a life when taking one was not needed, and for that, I lost a father.”

“I…” I exhaled a breath. “I’m going to be direct with you, even though I don’t think you’ll listen. I’d never heard that story. If that’s true, it’s a terrible thing, and I cannot condone that sort of action. When I return home, I will seek to investigate the matter and ensure that if there was dishonorable conduct in the duel, it will be properly punished.”

He looked momentarily taken aback. For a moment, I thought I’d succeeded with my approach, then he shook his head. “No. You seem a man of honor to make that offer, and it is better than I expected. But blood can only be paid in blood.”

I let out a sigh. “And you want to fight someone who was a child at the time? That’s how you’ll earn back your own family’s honor?”

“No,” he shook his head, “But when I beat you, perhaps Alaric Cadence will notice the insult. Perhaps he would deign to fight me next. And if I kill him? That would be a start.”

Well, so much for that approach.

I quickly evaluated the people around us, trying to judge what the general sentiment was about the current exchange. We were, predictably, generating a lot of attention. Only a small group had gathered, but people at all sorts of nearby tables had turned to watch us, and I could see some strained expressions on the faces of Valian delegation.

Dalen Mitsurugi watched with obvious interest, his lips upturned in a balanced smile that would have been strangely foreign on his descendant’s face. If he had any intention of stepping in, he didn’t show any sign.

Patrick looked exceedingly nervous, but he hid it well.

I don’t think I’m getting out of this one. In fact, I’m not sure I should.

I focused on Jerome again, abandoning my usual caution in favor of an expedient resolution. “Fine. If you’re insistent on doing this, let’s get the preamble out of the way, shall we?”

“Better. Now you at least sound like a fighter.” He nodded. “Very well. Corin Cadence, I challenge you to a duel. To the death.”

“No.” I shook my head. “I refuse.”

He looked taken aback. “What?”

“You know people can refuse a duel, right? I don’t have to accept.” I gave him a wave. “Have a nice day.” I turned to walk away.

“Very well, then, coward. I suppose I’ll have to challenge your retainer instead. Then, when he’s dead…”

Resh it. I wish he hadn’t done that.

I exhaled a breath, slowly turning back around to face Jerome, my jaw tight. Patrick was, in this scenario, supposed to be the Wielder of Dawnbringer. For me, refusing a duel against an older opponent with a combat attunement might seem somewhat cowardly, but not exceptionally so.

Patrick was wielding a sword that signified bravery. He also had an obvious combat attunement. If he refused a duel, it might ruin his entire place in the scenario.

And if he accepted? Well, I wasn’t going to say he didn’t have a chance, but in my approximation, I had a much better one. This was less about Patrick’s skills relative to my own and more because of certain specific factors I’ll get into later. “Fine. I’ll duel you, but not to the death. To submission, either by surrender or obvious incapacitation. A neutral third party from outside of Edria and Valia will adjudicate. Winner can claim a reasonable concession from the loser, with service and lives disallowed as concessions.”

Jerome sniffed, apparently considering. “Very well. I don’t need to kill an Enchanter child. Perhaps breaking you will be sufficient to earn your house’s enmity. And a concession is an added bonus. Perhaps your house glove, to mount on my wall.”

I rolled my eyes. “Do you even hear yourself? Bragging about beating a child before you’ve even started fighting? You know what? I was hesitant at first, but I think I’m going to enjoy this.”

“As the challenged, you must choose the—”

“Yes, yes, I know. All weapons and attunements legal, Patrick is my second, and right now.”

There was a murmur from the crowd.

Patrick winced and leaned over to whisper to me. “Uh, Corin? Is this…wise? I’ll happily be your second, but…”

I whispered in return. “It’ll be fine. I considered asking Meltlake to be my champion, which would have been hilarious, but it won’t be necessary.”

“You sure?”

I laughed. “Very certain. I have, in a very real sense, been practicing for this battle for my entire life.”

***

We headed outside.

Once there, Jerome made a show of designating his second: Maria Wolff, one of the daughters of Archduke Wolff. She was one of the highest-ranking political figures at the party, and roughly his own age — somewhere in the early twenties. She wore a fancy dress with her house colors rather than a military uniform, but that didn’t stop her from carrying a pair of hatchets on her belt. Both of her hands were gloved, and I thought I could see a hint of power beneath them, but something was blocking my detect aura spell from seeing beneath them.

I had bigger things to worry about, though, like Jerome himself.

I sized him up, even though I already had a good idea of what I was dealing with. Jerome was an Executioner, an offense-focused Edrian attunement with a specialization in shroud shaping. Based on his aura, he was currently only a Carnelian, but I suspected he was suppressing his shroud. He looked to be about twenty, so I was reasonably confident he was Sunstone-level, most likely in the Sunstone-B range.

You may be thinking, “Corin, you are a crazy person. Why are you dueling a Sunstone on your own for a small portion of a test?”

It wasn’t about protecting my family’s honor. Honestly, I had trouble paying attention to that even under the best circumstances.

There were a few reasons I decided to go through with it. One, this floor was constructed in a weirdly specific way that made my family history relevant. That could have been a coincidence, but it was very plausible that someone like Tristan was manipulating events and putting me in a situation where pursuing something like this would be relevant to our success in the spire.

Two, even if this scenario wasn’t constructed with me in mind, beating someone in a public duel was a way to make a huge impact. It would get me immediate attention and information.

Three, the duel terms would allow me to demand something from Jerome if I won — which could be integral to our overall success in the scenario.

Fourth, and most importantly…I knew I could win.

I’d studied Edrian dueling techniques since practically the moment I could walk, and the house that Alaric Cadence had crushed was a particular focus. My education in most regards had been spotty at best, but I’d never neglected studying duels.

I’d read about Jerome extensively. I’d read about his victories — and they were frequent. I’d also read about his losses, though, and I knew the elements that contributed to them. I’d read about his fighting style and specific abilities he demonstrated at different points in his life. I knew he wasn’t Citrine-level yet: he didn’t hit that until his thirties, and based on his appearance and the nature of the party, I was confident he wasn’t even close to thirty yet.

My father had even engaged in mock fights with me where he “played” at being people like Jerome. He'd beaten me bloody each time, of course, but I’d trained against an approximation of Jerome’s dueling style nonetheless.

And beyond that?

He was wearing practically nothing for equipment. He had a standard military uniform and that black-hilted rapier at his hip. The runes I’d seen near the crystal at the bottom of the rapier meant that the weapon was clearly enchanted, but I didn’t sense magic on any of his other gear. Not even a shield sigil. He was here for a party, not a battle.

The crystal is a power source, I processed. It was an older style of enchantment, common for equipment found inside some of the spires and elemental temples. It was still possible for Enchanters to craft items with crystals to power them directly, but they’d fallen out of favor due to the broader availability of other materials. Crystals like the one in the pommel were still obtainable and extremely useful, but expensive.

Jerome was expecting me to have gear, but nothing else. He probably thought I’d know a thing or two about dueling from my family, but that as a young man with an Enchanter attunement, I’d be underwhelming in a fight. He probably planned to embarrass me, maybe break a few limbs to make me head home in shame.

I cracked my neck, feeling the usual ache that followed.

That was the full extent of any discomfort I expected to suffer in the process of this duel.

When we stepped outside the manor doors, I half expected to be teleported out of the spire, but the scenario apparently included an “outside” area.

We stepped into the middle of a large, grassy circle, facing off while someone ran to fetch the archduke and ask for his permission.

In the meantime, a Priest of Katashi approached, explained to me that she had agreed to adjudicate the duel, and asked to ensure I had not accepted the duel under duress. I was surprised by the question, but said that I was fine with the duel. I might not have at first, but now? This guy was looking pretty punchable, and I was beginning to get excited.

“Corin!” Sera yelled at me as she stomped out of the house. Apparently, Patrick had sent someone to get her while I was distracted. “What have you done?”

“Oh, hey. Got into a bit of a duel. Won’t be long.”

She glowered at me. “What is it that I told you about making life-altering decisions without asking me? Oh, right. Don’t. That’s what you agreed to.”

I rolled my eyes. “That was about things in relationship to your love life. So, unless you’re about to marry into Jerome’s house…”

“And about anything that affects House Cadence? Which this does?”

I shrugged and leaned closer. “If it was real, sure.”

“Killing you would be real, Corin. And impact House Cadence.”

“Bah. Look at him.” I waved at the other man, who was currently bragging to a group of his peers. “I’ve got this.”

“Corin. You must know this is a terrible idea.”

“Is it, really?” I shook my head. “This seems like a pretty important part of a scenario. This is almost tailored to our family. Suspiciously so.”

“Oh, yes. It’s tailored perfectly for you to duel your way through the entire country of Edria. That sounds like a great plan, Corin. I leave you alone for five minutes, and suddenly you’re about ready to restart the Six Years War.”

“That’s a bit hyperbolic, don’t you think?”

“Yes, Corin. I do think. That seems to be something you’ve forgotten to do. You should bow out. Apologize.”

“Nope. Not happening.” I shook my head. “But hey, look on the bright side. If he does maim me, you’ll be a much better candidate to take over the house! I mean, both in this fictional scenario and the real world.”

“Ugh.” She threw up her hands. “You are impossible sometimes.”

“Impossible for him to beat in a duel, yes.”

She frowned at me. “What’s gotten into you? You’re never like this.”

“What? Confident? Assertive?” I shook my head. “You’re forgetting when I challenged Teft. I might be a little overly cautious from time to time, Sera. I might even be annoyingly cautious. But this? I can do this, Sera.” I straightened up a bit. “Let me show you why I’m worthy to bear the name Cadence.”

She gave me a sad look and shook her head. “I never doubted your worth of any name, you know. I’d just rather have a living brother than a dead one.”

“You worry too much. Trust me. Under control. Enjoy the show.”

She sighed and walked off. I assumed she was going to see if she could find Meltlake and get some assurances that the professor would step in if it looked like I was going to die.

I appreciated the effort, but it wasn’t necessary.

A few minutes later, the archduke came down himself to approve the duel. Archduke Verena was not, in fact, the same person I’d seen Meltlake talking to earlier. He was a huge man with a barrel-chest and a beard two sizes too big for his face. He wore a short, weird-looking cape that was probably enchanted, and otherwise some ostentatious-looking light red and purple garb. He grinned brightly as he came over to me, slapped a hand on my shoulder and said, “I’m looking forward to watching you die!”

He said it in what was possibly the friendliest tone I’d ever heard, and somehow it actually felt friendly, in spite of his words.

I shuddered briefly at his touch as he walked away. He gave some words of actual encouragement to Jerome, then declared proudly, “I approve this duel!”

With that, he walked to near the house entrance, smacked his hands together, and licked his lips.

Well, that was disturbing.

I spoke to Patrick briefly, then the Priest of Katashi called my opponent and me to the center of the field.

“You will fight to submission. Either fighter can yield at any time, either verbally or by thrusting a hand into the air with two fingers extended. I will call the duel early if I feel one combatant is too injured to continue. If I call the duel over, you must cease fighting immediately. Do you both understand the rules?”

“Yes.” I acknowledged.

“Of course.” Jerome scoffed. Then he turned to me, a cruel grin stretching across his face.

“Bow to each other,” the priest instructed.

We bowed. The priest walked away, leaving us to take positions about ten feet apart.

Then the priest spoke one final, life-changing word. “Begin.”

***

Three.

That’s the number I was up to in my mental count when the start of the match was called. It was a little early, but I moved immediately regardless.

Detect Aura. Jump.

I surged forward in an instant, slamming my transference-charged fist into Jerome’s gut. The force of the blow bent him over my hand, but didn’t hurl him backward like I’d hoped. My transference-infused punch hadn’t been fully charged, and as an Executioner, he must have reinforced his body with enhancement mana — the exact opposite type — which nullified much of the force.

Still, knocking the wind out of my opponent right away was pretty satisfying. I heard gasps from the crowd as well as a scream, the latter of which seemed needlessly extreme for a mere punch.

I managed a swing that clipped his chin with my other fist before he recovered, but that barely did any damage. His shroud and whatever body-enhancement effect was on him served to soak up a considerable amount of my force.

His hand moved quickly, but not to draw his sword.

Haste.

I jumped backward, brushing my hand across the crystal pommel of his weapon as I moved. I barely got out of range before a warbling blade of near-invisible essence sliced through the air in front of my throat. If I hadn’t been familiar with the technique and dodged quickly, it might have spelled a terrifying end to my life-defining banter.

With a snarl — obviously his favorite way to show emotion — he followed the initial swing with several more, his aura blade making a zing as it sliced through the air. He kept aiming for my face, which was frankly a little annoying, both because of the distraction and because of his obvious intent to give me an embarrassing sort of maiming.

Fortunately, he never got close.

He was faster than the average fighter — enhancement mana was good for that.

But I’d spent the last year sparring against Derek Hartigan and Keras Selyrian.

This man was no Derek Hartigan. He wasn’t even close to a Keras Selyrian.

He wasn’t even a Magnus Cadence.

When his next furious swing missed, I hurled a blast of transference mana at his face. It smashed him backward, sending him sliding satisfyingly toward the edge of the grass.

“How?” He hissed. “How do you know how to fight against an Executioner’s blade? No Valian uses them!”

I gave him a smug smile. “What, like this?”

I extended a hand, reshaping my shroud into a blade shape and funneling transference mana into it. I’d never been as good at this technique as Keras or even Mara, but I’d picked up the basics. And I wasn’t actually intending to fight with it: this was showmanship, plain and simple.

It had more than the intended effect. He let out a roar, charging straight toward me. I parried his swing with my own aura blade, dodged to his side, and left a hairline cut along his right leg. When he spun, I used my off-hand to hurl another blast of transference mana at him. He sliced through it, but that left his aura blade in a downward position, and I already knew his speed.

I was faster.

In a moment, I had an aura blade beneath his chin. “Yield.”

“Never.” He spat, swinging upward with utter disregard for the position he was in. He was gambling that I wouldn’t take the opening and slit his throat.

He was right, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t cut something.

I pulled my blade downward, slicing open his uniform shirt and parrying at the same time. I left a long trail of crimson across his chest, but that wasn’t the real damage. I’d sliced his badge of rank in half in the process.

As we both recoiled from the aura blades colliding, he looked downward in disbelief. I could have taken that opening, but I didn’t. Instead, I raised my own aura blade and spoke again. “Again, I offer you the chance to yield.”

“You have my answer!” He swung his aura blade, but it wasn’t close enough to hit me. I knew what was coming next. He probably thought his shockwave technique was original. I thought mine was, too, before I’d seen literally every high-level sword fighter I’d met using it.

The only difficulty was that being a ranged attack, it had more than one possible target. I could have dodged easily…and if I did, it would have gone straight into the crowd. Even splitting it in half with my own swing would have potentially allowed for collateral damage. If someone without an attunement got hit, they were going to have a very bad day.

Accelerated Computation.

The spell wasn’t designed for combat, but I’d known from the start it might have combat applications. I’d practiced using it to help use Haste more effectively, but this was my first time trying it in a real fight.

Frankly speaking, using it in this way was a gamble, but it was one I liked better than taking the swing head-on.

As his shockwave approached, my mind raced.

Projectile width: One point two meters.

Rate of movement: two hundred and eighteen hundred meters per second.

Angle…

My mind flashed with numbers. My hand moved. My blade widened and cut.

His shockwave vanished as my own blade passed through it at the exact angle and size necessary to neutralize it harmlessly.

Release Accelerated Computation.

I staggered backward, thrown off by the unexpected use of the technique.

“Who…are you?” He stared at me with wide-eyed wonder, but his expression didn’t last. “No matter. You cannot match me sword-for-sword.”

He drew his weapon while I continued to wobble in place. My vision blurred, and I barely managed to hold back from vomiting. The amount of data that I’d burned into my brain in those few moments had been staggering.

Release Haste.

I steadied a bit after removing my Haste spell, but that was a mixed blessing. Without it, keeping up with Jerome would be significantly harder.

He ripped his sword free from his scabbard. As I watched, black energy ignited along the sword’s edge, rippling across the surface in waves. With twelve different runes, it was a stronger weapon than I’d originally expected. Sunstone-level, at least, and the black aura implied it was designed for countering magic.

It looked like the sort of fancy weapon that would have a special name, like “Spellshear” or “Magic’s End” or “Mr. Stabbington”. From Jerome’s expression, just having it drawn was adding to his confidence. He was probably thinking “this sword will cut right through shrouds and other magical defenses”. If so, he was right, but not quite in the way that he was hoping.

He assumed a stance I’d been expecting from the start — his right hand holding Mr. Stabbington, his left hand extended with an aura blade that shifted and crackled in the air. His aura flashed from crimson to orange, indicating he’d stopped suppressing his shroud to demonstrate his full strength. He’d be better defended now and have more power to fuel his shroud-forged blade.

Normally, that might have been worrying, but I actually felt a bit relieved that he was only a Sunstone. If he’d been a Citrine, I might have run into more difficulty…

…But probably not, given how easily I’d been able to predict his moves. I could already see his next step, and my heart beat faster as I readied myself for my own move.

Jerome was planning to come at me with both weapons at the same time, then adjust the length and width of his aura blade to cut me when I didn’t expect it. It was a reasonable enough dueling strategy, ordinarily difficult to counter even for someone who was familiar with the style.

It was, however, heavily reliant on excellent weapon control — and Mr. Stabbington wasn’t feeling very cooperative.

It happened remarkably fast. Jerome lunged, apparently forgetting that impaling someone on a blazing death sword wasn’t “non-lethal”. I side-stepped that, parried a swipe from his off-hand that came after an absolutely unnecessary spin, and then kicked at his leg. He jumped backward, avoiding the kick, and raised Mr. Stabbington over his head.

He struck an impressive image, holding that black-blazing sword, for just an instant before the detonation happened.

“Ablahblah!” That’s my best impression of what his screaming sounded like when black flames exploded from the sword’s pommel, engulfing his hands, arms, and hair. It’s not a great impression, but use your imagination.

Anyway, a moment later, he was on the ground and rolling around. Mr. Stabbington, his betrayal of his wielder complete, fell free from his grip. The sword was damaged, but I was pleased to see that I’d chosen my approach properly; the sword wasn’t entirely destroyed, and the explosion itself had been small enough that it hadn’t even engulfed Jerome’s entire body.

I extended an aura blade to his rolling body, waiting and watching.

Hm, maybe that was a little much. Should I freeze the fire off him, or would that make it worse? I’ll give it a second.

I waited.

He continued burning and screaming. I heard a horrified gasp from the priest before she managed to yell, “The match is over! Someone put him out!”

Someone quickly conjured some water on him, which didn’t do anything. It was Sera that actually managed to put him out, calling a hail of ice that dispelled the black flames.

I let my aura blade collapse back into my shroud. I would have sheathed my sword at that point, too, but I’d never drawn it in the first place.

The priest turned to me with an expression that showed a mixture of horror and awe. “The winner of the duel is…Corin of House Cadence.”

***

A group of other Edrians took Jerome away in the aftermath of the duel. Some of them gave me hard looks, and I suspect a couple of them nearly challenged me to a follow-up duel on the spot — a consequence I’d failed to consider before.

Judging social ramifications has never been my strength.

Still, not all of them gave me dirty looks. One of them even offered me a quick salute when none of the others were looking, which I hastily returned.

I’d hoped to leverage my winning the duel to extract more information out of Jerome directly, but it was looking like that wouldn’t be possible. It turns out that detonating even one part of a sword someone is holding is generally pretty bad for their health, especially when said weapon carries powerful shroud-piercing enchantments. Recovering was going to take him a while, possibly longer than the evening.

So, I’d need to exploit my victory in other ways. I’d look for anyone I’d seemingly impressed…and then there was the matter of a reasonable demand by the winner.

With the loser incapacitated, I went to speak to his second, Maria Wolff. I was a little surprised that she hadn’t left with the group that was taking care of the injured man, but it made things convenient.

“Well-fought, Lord Cadence,” she said as I approached, tipping her head. “You performed above my expectations.”

“Thank you, Lady Wolff.” I returned the gesture. “I hope that this incident will not cause any enmity between us.”

She raised a hand to her mouth and laughed. “Oh, hardly. That was likely the highlight of my evening. The man was insufferable!”

I gave her a strange look. “If…you disliked him, why would you serve as his second?”

Maria gave me a scoff. “What, as if you’ve never made a decision because of politics? Please. House Schmidt serves House Wolff. It was an honor to serve as a second for one of our loyal and righteous vassals.” She rolled her eyes. “Believe me, if it were plausible, I would have fought on your behalf instead.”

“Then…frankly speaking, why would he choose you? He seemed to have a loyal entourage.”

Maria sighed. “Yes, yes, of course he does. Men like him always have their boot-scrapers. I believe he hoped to impress me with his performance. Perhaps he was hoping I would…” She shuddered. “You can guess.”

“Ah. Right.” I shook my head. “It’s been a while since I’ve been to one of these events. I’d forgotten the amount of…marriage jockeying?”

“Marriage jockeying! What a hilarious and perfect term for it.” She laughed again, then glanced toward someone else nearby. “This has been a pleasure, but I can only be social with the enemy for so long. At least in public.” She coughed politely, her implication clear. “I’m sure you understand.”

“I do, thank you. For the moment, I believe there’s just the business of any disputes you may have about the match?”

“I have none. You acquitted yourself well and with honor. I don’t know quite how you made his sword explode, but it was perhaps one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a duel. And no, I won’t be demanding satisfaction if you sabotaged it in advance. That would be a feat of ingenuity worthy of a duelist in itself.”

I grinned. “I didn’t, but I appreciate that nonetheless.”

“There is one more thing,” she noted. “You may demand something of the loser. And given that he is incapacitated, it falls to me to adjudicate what is ‘reasonable’.”

I’d been considering that for a while, but I’d planned to ask when the man recovered. This was easier. Given that she didn’t like him, I suspected she’d be happy to take the chance to tweak his nose in a way that he couldn’t complain about.

Asking Maria for a political favor was within reason, but given the temporary nature of this event, I took a more pragmatic approach. And so, after a few more words were exchanged, I claimed my prize.

One slightly damaged magic sword — the distinguished Mr. Stabbington — went straight into the Jaden Box.

Maria and I parted ways — although I noted her throwing a look back in my direction as she headed into the building — and I returned to my own second.

“That was amazing!” Patrick cheered. “How’d you make his sword explode?”

Patrick was, it seemed, still not quite as subtle of a second as Maria.

I lifted a finger to my lips. “Ssh. I’d rather keep my role in that a little vaguer. Equipment sabotage isn’t illegal, exactly, but it could be considered dishonorable.”

“Oh, oh. Sorry.” He leaned over and whispered far too loudly in a conspiratorial tone. “So, how’d you do it?”

“Right after I punched him, I touched his sword when I was retreating. When I did that, I attached mana threads. Most of them broke during the fight, but the others were stable enough that I was able to make a connection to the pommel crystal. From there, I had some options. I could have overloaded the crystal and made it explode, but I wanted to keep it mostly intact. So, I just pulled some of the power out — and rather than move it into another object, I just released it into the air. His sword had a lot of runes, but none of them were anti-tampering.”

“That’s…pretty incredible, Corin. I would have never even considered doing something like that.”

“He’s right, you know.” Sera walked up behind me. “I have to admit, you didn’t disappoint me in the slightest this time.”

“That may be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“Don’t expect me to make it a habit.” Sera smirked. “And Corin? Please do ask me before risking yourself again. That was spectacular, but there could be consequences, even for a victory.”

Based on the expressions of some of the Edrian onlookers, I suspected she was right. “You’re right, sorry. I got a little ahead of myself. I think it’ll work out, though.”

“I think so, too. This time. Let’s get back into the party and see if we can make the most out of it.”

I nodded. “Right. Let’s go.”

We exchanged words with a few more people, then headed back inside. As we walked, I saw a number of eyes following me with newfound interest and respect.

I had to admit, it felt pretty good.

***

As we walked back into the house, I found Dalen Mitsurugi waiting for me at the door. I had, admittedly, almost forgotten about his handsome face during the duel itself — but not because he had an attunement like his descendant’s. He wasn’t blending in at all, I simply had been that focused on the fight.

“You performed wonderfully out there.” Mitsurugi made a near-silent clapping gesture as I walked closer. “I should like to see you fight again at some point. Perhaps you or your retainer would be kind enough to give me a sparring match later this evening?”

“I would be delighted to do so once I am sufficiently refreshed.” I nodded in spite of my own hesitation. Sera had been right; one duel was never the end. “Patrick can, of course, speak for himself.”

“Of course.” Mitsurugi nodded in approval, then turned to Patrick. “Shall we?”

“I,  uh…right now?” He asked.

“I see no reason why not. Unless your lord has an immediate need of you?”

I shrugged at Patrick. “If you want to go spar with him, you’re welcome to. I’ll be fine. I need a chance to chat with Sera, anyway. I’ll catch up with you afterward.”

“Oh…okay.” Patrick nodded to me, then turned back to Mitsurugi and waved toward the doorway. “After you, then.”

“Excellent.” Mitsurugi stepped outside of the house, with Patrick following.

Sera waved ahead toward the library and resumed walking. I followed behind her until we found a quiet spot to chat. Along the way, I received congratulations from many of the house staff, as well as a few other nobles.

Notably, I did not get any from the other Valians, who seemed to be watching me cautiously from a distance. That was interesting and perhaps a bit worrying.

When we arrived back in the library and found a quiet spot, Sera glanced around suspiciously before saying anything.

“You think we’re being watched?” I asked.

“After that? You can be sure of it. You don’t happen to have one of those nifty silence enchantments like Cecily’s umbrella handy?”

I shook my head. “No, and I don’t have the right crystals to make one. The standard one uses perception mana, which neither of us has. I know some variants with sound mana, but we don’t have that, either.”

Sera groaned. “Okay. We’ll do it the old-fashioned way.”

“Which is…?”

“Whispering, Corin. I mean whispering.”

“Oh.” I didn’t think that would be a particularly effective measure, but it was better than nothing. I leaned in closer. “I’ve discovered a terrible secret.”

Sera raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Yes, Sera. The secret is…Edria doesn’t like us very much.”

Sera snorted. “Be serious, Corin. We actually have limited time here.”

“Sorry, sorry. Teasing calms my nerves. Okay. What’ve you got?”

She rubbed her forehead in apparent frustration. “Well, as ludicrous as your ‘secret’ was, it’s actually somewhat relevant. Your little duel was a microcosm of the atmosphere of this place. It’s not just us — everyone here has enemies.”

“More so than a usual archduchy-level political gathering?”

“Yes, absolutely. It’s almost as if someone deliberately curated the guest list to cause conflict. We’re not even the worst of it.”

I frowned. “I have a difficult time picturing how that would be possible.”

“I realize you have difficulty imagining how actual people feel about things, dear brother, but try to be creative.”

“Right. Well, my assessment as an emotionless automaton is that you could try to be more direct. Trying to turn everything into a jab at me is inefficient.”

“Fair point.” She nodded in a surprisingly agreeable fashion. “Okay. So, direct. Mara and I went to try to talk to the young Mistress Verena.”

“And that failed because…” I made a “continue” gesture.

“Now who is making pointless jabs? Anyway, it didn’t. The household staff seemed relieved — almost too relieved — that someone was willing to talk to her.”

“Why?” I frowned. “Is she like, notoriously obnoxious or something?”

“No, she’s not like you.” Sera managed a completely deadpan tone. “Or, rather, they aren’t anything like you.”

“They? Oh, they take after Wydd?”

“No, I meant ‘they’ in the plural sense. There are two daughters.”

I blinked. “Two? But they only mentioned one debut. And a debut is usually on a birthday. And they can’t both have the…” My eyes widened. “No. You’re joking.”

“Afraid not.” Sera shook her head. “We have a cursed pair on our hands.”

I think my face might have paled. Cursed pairs — that is, siblings that are born at the same time — are forbidden by the sacred scriptures in the most absolute possible terms. We’re not even supposed to use the more common word for them while we’re inside a spire, lest we draw the goddess ire.

I’m not superstitious, but I’m still going to avoid saying anything else, since I know it makes people uncomfortable.

Anyway, given the severity of the scriptural prohibitions on the concept, I was more than a little surprised when Sera explained the situation. “What? No. An archduke kept a cursed pair? You think we would have heard about something like that, even if it’s historical.”

“Actually…I think I did hear about this in class. There was a big uproar when they were born. Apparently, the archduke was called into court and asked to pick one, but he refused. He was censured, I think, and threatened. I don’t recall all the details. Even I didn’t put that much effort into remembering ancient Edrian politics.”

I exhaled a breath. “Okay. So, the archduke is planning to…what, debut them both, and make a statement? That could cause absolute chaos.”

“Precisely. I believe he hopes to make allies with other nations here — because he might not be an Edrian archduke much longer.”

I exhaled a breath. “That’s…wow. Okay. There’s a lot to unpack there. There’s a Priest of Katashi here. What’s he thinking?”

“He’s probably hoping that the temple will support the fact that technically, cursed pairs do not have to be executed. There’s precedent for it.”

I snorted. “Not a good strategy, unless this particular priest is…”

“Famously liberal? I already checked into that. Akane Saito. She’s a reformer, at least later in life. Also, notably, an ancestor of Haruka Saito, who Keras encountered in that tournament in Edria. The archduke very likely contacted Akane with hopes that she’d make a public ruling of support. A direct and public statement that the cursed pair is ‘approved’ by Katashi might help prevent the emperor from, say, taking his title away due to heresy.”

I frowned, thinking back. “Wasn’t Akane Saito executed for heresy when she tried to make some kind of schism in the priesthood?”

“Not yet she wasn’t. But I suspect she’s already famous at this point. It’s possible that her eventual end was tied to this event.”

I exhaled a deep breath. “Okay. Does she currently have the authority to make a statement to authorize a cursed pair to…well, exist?”

Sera shook her head. “I don’t know yet. I didn’t catch her rank. She’s not the hierophant, certainly, so she could be overruled.”

I exhaled a breath. “Okay. So we should brace for both political and religious conflicts over all this. Lovely. Wait, so did you actually meet the daughters?”

Sera nodded. “Of course. While you freeze hearts, I warm them.”

“And what’s their own disposition?”

“An excellent question. Emma Verena is the very model of a modern seventeen-year-old. She’s excited about the party and her biggest worries were picking exactly the perfect dress and figuring out who to dance with. The answer is me, by the way. I will be dancing with her tonight.”

“You move quickly.” I gave her an appreciative nod.

“A noblewoman has to have aspirations, doesn’t she? And I would make an excellent archduchess.”

I rolled my eyes. “Unless you plan to add Chronomancer to your attunement list, I don’t think you’ll be making that title last very long. More importantly, there are no other siblings, then?”

“No. Just the two daughters. And the mother is dead, so don’t ask.”

“…And you think they’re going to let you marry Emma? What about keeping the house going?”

Sera snorted. “We can always adopt. Or have other spouses. Or maybe get ourselves a harem? I saw a couple of guys from Caelford that—”

“Question retracted.” I exhaled a breath. “What can you tell me about the other sister?”

“Ah.” Sera glanced from side-to-side, strangely nervous, before looking back to me. “She’s the more difficult of the two. Emery is the sickly one and undoubtedly the cursed of the pair.”

“Their parents named a cursed pair Emma and Emery? What kind of sadists are they?”

Sera snorted. “Don’t worry, they’ll be perfectly easy to tell apart. Emma is tanned and athletic, with frankly enviable musculature. Emery looks like she’s never seen a day in the sun.”

“You said Emery is sickly? How bad?”

“She has difficulty even walking on her own for significant distances. Fortunately, when she stumbled upstairs, Mara was there to catch her. She now appears to have acquired her own personal hero.”

I smiled at the thought. “Good. Is that why Mara missed the duel?”

“It is. When last I checked, Mara was regaling Emery with tales of high adventure.”

“That’s good…because I’ve noted some concerning patterns with this place, and I think my initial impressions on the scenario goal might have been off.”

“Oh?” Sera raised an eyebrow. “I was assuming we were supposed to make a good impression with the locals. The first trap would have been preparing only one gift, rather than two, if we assumed there was only one daughter. And beyond that, avoid being killed in the various intrigues in place.”

I hadn’t even considered the idea of multiple gifts yet — I’d been too distracted by something I thought was more pressing. “That all might be a part of it, but based on the books and the crafting rooms…I think we might have gotten the genre of this party wrong.”

“The genre? What do you mean?”

Now I was the one glancing to the side nervously. “The titles of the books and the materials in the crafting rooms have a common element: thieves and assassins. I don’t think we’re here to have fun banter and get you an archduchess title, Sera.”

She shrugged. “That’d be an added benefit, but please, continue with your dramatic reveal.”

“This,” I spun to make an encompassing gesture toward the party at a whole, “isn’t a political fantasy, a romance, or even a thriller. We’ve walked straight into the middle of a murder mystery.”

“But Corin, is it really a murder mystery if there hasn’t been a murder yet?” Just as she finished saying that, every light in the building died at once, plunging us into utter darkness. “Oh.” After a pause, Sera added, “So much for my archduchy.”

Chapter XIV – True or False

Distant screams interrupted my undoubtedly witty reply. I couldn’t tell where they originated from, but it wasn’t nearby. I also couldn’t tell if they were “ack, I’m being stabbed” screams or merely “the lights went out suddenly” screams. Those are surprisingly difficult to discern without seeing the source.

My sword sang out of my scabbard as I took a defensive stance. The aura along Selys-Lyann’s blade wasn’t much of a light source, but it was better than nothing.

Sera had a much better approach. “Vanniv, I summon you.”

The karvensi appeared immediately, scanning the area. “Sera! You lovely creature. Why is it so dark and quiet?”

“Party. Possible murder. Need fire,” she instructed him.

“Ah, one of those parties.” He lifted a hand, conjuring a ball of fire, then taking a closer look at the area. “Did…you just have me conjure fire in a library?”

“Priorities, Vanniv. Now, stay quiet a moment and guard us.”

With the light that Vanniv provided, I got a better look at the library itself. We weren’t the only ones present, and I saw a few other people pressing themselves into corners and taking defensive positions. Others looked less bothered, simply continuing to quietly chat. One white-haired guy just kept reading a book. He looked weirdly familiar, but not in a way I could place.

I didn’t see the librarian, but in honesty, I didn’t know what the librarian looked like. I’d kind of ignored Patrick’s whole exchange with them.

The most important part was that I didn’t see any immediate threats. “I think we should move. Do you know where the sisters are?”

“I know where they were before the duels. Upstairs.” Sera bit her lip, seeming to deliberate. “Follow me. Vanniv, prepare to intercept any attacks coming in my direction.”

“Of course, of course.” He grinned, waving amiably at some of the cowering partygoers with his free hand, then followed as Sera began to lead the way out of the library.

The party was, predictably, an absolute mess. More screams had followed the first, but I got the distinct impression at least some of them were just people jumping at movements. There couldn’t be that many assassins in one party.

…Could there?

I heard some shouted orders in Edrian, but I couldn’t understand them. My Edrian was rusty at best, and the voice itself was distant.

I cautiously scanned from left to right as Sera led us through the building. We past several groups that were clustered together in defensive positions, often with weapons drawn. House guards had blocked the front door, and I could see some pushing through the house, but no one attempted to stop us.

Sera moved at a rapid pace, not quite running, but walking fast. She took us up a stairway, which made me nervous — she didn’t have Ceris drawn (presumably because it was too conspicuous), and if someone attacked, an unarmed fighter being in the front of the group was bad.

A pair of guards ran toward us down the stairs, but mercifully, they simply rushed past as we stepped out of their path.

I tensed, moving rapidly to catch up to her. “Sera, maybe I should—”

“We’re almost there, keep moving.” We reached a landing at the second floor and she stepped off the stairwell. There were three directions to go on this floor — the landing had paths to the left and right and there was a large set of double doors straight ahead. Sera moved to the left, moving with certainty toward a smaller door at the end of a hallway. The doorway was open wide — and by that, I mean that the door itself had been ripped out of the frame entirely, then tossed aside with casual ease.

Sera rushed toward the door.

“You’re gonna want to stop right there.”

The inside of the room was tough to see from my angle and in the relative dark, but the basic features were clear enough. It was a noblewoman’s bedroom, but in utter disarray. Objects were strewn over the floor, and toward the back, I could barely make out the forms of two figures. A frail young woman had her back pressed against the far wall, cowering.

“S’okay, Emery. Doesn’t matter how many of them there are. I’ll protect you.” Standing in front of the cowering woman in a defensive stance was a warrior with a bloodied lip and bleeding marks all across her arms. A blade of pure mana extended from her right hand as Sera continued to approach, then vanished the moment Vanniv got close enough to bring the fire and illuminate us.

“Sera. Vanniv.” Mara lowered her bleeding arms immediately. “And Corin, too. That’s better.”

The woman behind her let out an ‘eep’ and shrank back further as we continued walking toward them.

“Hey, hey. It’s okay.” Mara turned toward the woman behind her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “You remember Sera, right? That’s just her summon and her brother.”

Emery Verena gave Mara an uncertain look. “I’m…if you’re sure.”

“It’s fine. I practically work for these two, but you can stay behind me if you’d like.”

Emery nodded rapidly.

Mara turned back toward us, resuming a more casual defensive posture in front of the terrified noble. “Sera, status?”

“Party is a mess. Lights out everywhere. Assassins came for her?”

“Yep. Two of them. Don’t think they expected me to be here. Had a bit of a scuffle. One vanished, the other jump belled out.”

I took a moment to process that. “Vanished? Like invisibility?”

She shook her head. “Don’t think so. I hit him real hard, then he poofed out. Think he was a shadow construct, simulacra, or something like it. Heard screams from other rooms, don’t think Emery was the only target.”

“My sister.” Emery’s eyes widened. “We have to…”

“I’ll go for her,” Sera offered. “Corin, can you get Mara healed?”

I winced. “I’ll throw a regen spell on her, but my manual healing skills are awful.”

“I’ll take whatever you’ve got.” Mara extended her arms. “Sigil is working, but it still hurts, you know?”

I walked closer, putting a hand on Mara’s. “Lesser Regeneration.” My hand flashed with green mana. “Emery, you hurt?”

She shook her head silently.

I turned to find Sera and Vanniv on their way out of the room. “We’re going. Corin, stay with Mara in case reinforcements show up. And in case she’s poisoned.”

I blinked. I hadn’t considered poison, and if I’m being honest, my regeneration spell probably made poison worse. “Uh, I don’t really have any way to good way to detect or treat poison.”

“Figure it out. I’m going now.” Sera left the room, Vanniv trailing behind her and carrying our only source of light.

I groaned. “Okay. Mara, do you feel poisoned?”

“Little lightheaded, but leaning ‘no’. Think you could guard the door a sec while I wrap my arms?”

“Yep.” I headed to stand near the doorway, Selys-Lyann in hand. While Mara worked on wrapping her injuries, I mentally searched through my options for poison diagnosis and treatment. There weren’t really any good generalized antidotes that handled all forms of poison, so I didn’t have any. Water magic was generally the most effective for that sort of thing, followed by light magic. I couldn’t use either, and neither could Mara.

Light magic is available at Citrine-level for my Arbiter attunement. I could…no. That’s too much of a gamble, even for me. I don’t understand it well enough yet.

I did have other useful things I could do, though.

With my other hand, I reached into my bag, flipped open the Jaden Box, and whispered. “Retrieve lantern.”

A lantern appeared. I set it down, then retrieved flint and steel from my pack to light it.

I took a few steps away from the doorway, setting Selys-Lyann down, then lit the lantern. I left the lantern in the center of the room, picked my sword up, and then walked back to the doorway to resume guarding. “Don’t think I have any good poison treatment options.”

“I’ll help.” Emery put her hands on Mara’s injured arms. A blue glow washed over the room, brighter than the lantern light. A moment later, Mara stepped forward to catch Emery as the frail woman slumped toward the floor.

“Emery! You didn’t have to do that. We don’t even know if I’m poisoned!”

“Need to…help you…somehow.” Emery’s voice was barely audible. “You…saved me.”

Then Emery fainted.

Mara grunted, lifting Emery and setting her on a nearby bed. Normally, carrying the frail woman wouldn’t have bothered Mara in the slightest, but Mara was still dealing with open arm wounds.

“She okay?” I asked, mentally calculating mana costs. A basic poison-curing water spell shouldn’t have been nearly expensive enough to cause someone to faint. Presumably, Emery had just cast something that was above her safe mana threshold…and probably from a heart mark, given that she’d fainted. That was bad.

Mara winced, lowering her head to Emery’s chest. “Heart is beating. She didn’t have to…ugh.”

“Switch places real quick. I’ll give her some mana, might help stabilize her.”

Mara moved to the doorway, then I moved to the bedside. A quick Detect Aura showed a heart mark, as I’d suspected. It was harder to recharge someone’s mana without direct contact, but given the location, I settled for putting a hand on her forehead and concentrating. A brief activation of my Arbiter attunement later, I’d transferred about ten mana into Emery.

Briefly, I missed my mana watch. If we had it, I could have tested her mana level, then better adjudicated how much mana to safely give her.

Maybe I should make another one. It wouldn’t be difficult, but…

Mara waved me over to the door. I took up my defensive position, then Mara swapped back to sitting by the bed.

“Foolish girl. Don’t you die on me.” She squeezed Emery’s hand.

Then, together, we waited in the lantern light.

***

I don’t know the technical term for a group of dozens of guards. I’m going to go with “swarm”, because that’s what it felt like when they arrived at the bedroom door a few tense minutes later. They escorted the absolute mammoth of a man that I’d earlier identified as Archduke Verena, his bright yellow aura flaring violently around him.

I stood calmly in the doorway as he shot forward. “Cadence. Stand down, now.”

After a tense moment while I debated if he could be an imposter, I lowered my sword. He raised a hand, and—

“It’s okay, Father. He’s protecting me.” Emery’s voice was quiet, but audible. I hadn’t even realized she’d woken up.

His hand came down.

Was he about to take a cheap shot at me?

My eyes narrowed. He gave no confirmation of his prior intent, he simply gave me a nod and brushed past me. His expression noticeably softened when he saw his daughter unharmed.

“Your sister?” He asked.

“I don’t know. Cadence’s sister went to check. Please don’t attack her.”

The archduke spun toward his guards, snapping his fingers and making a waving gesture. A group of the guard broke off immediately, only a pair of them remaining behind with the archduke.

Archduke Verena spun toward me. “You will tell me what you know. Right now.”

“Someone attacked her,” I jerked a thumb at the archduke’s daughter, “but my friend fought the assailant off. My sister went to check on her sister after I arrived at your daughter’s request.”

“Is this true?” The archduke asked his daughter.

“Y—yes, father. Mara was very brave.” Emery cast another quick glance in Mara’s direction.

The archduke nodded. “You have my gratitude, young miss.”

Mara blushed brightly. “Just doin’ what’s right, m’lord archduke.”

That wasn’t quite the right form of address, but the archduke didn’t seem to mind. He was more focused on immediate matters. “You know nothing of the attackers?”

It was a pointed question, backed by a sudden and unnecessary flare of the archduke’s aura for effect.

Mara hesitated, so I answered. Fortunately, my answer was an honest one. “No. Not the slightest idea.”

“We shall see. You two, wait here and assist young Master Cadence and Miss…Mara, was it…with guarding the room. I will see to the rest of the household.” The archduke spun with a dramatic flourish of his cape and exited the room.

Then we waited. The guards were tense, but not strictly unfriendly. Emery kept quiet, remaining in her bed, looking understandably terrified.

After another couple minutes, the lights came back on. We didn’t relax. When Archduke Verena swept back into the room, trailing an Emery-lookalike close behind him, Emery showed uncharacteristic energy when she shot to her feet and rushed toward the girl that was undoubtedly her sister.

“You’re okay!”

The stronger sister tensed at Emery’s embrace, then sighed and pulled her close. “I’m not the vulnerable one.”

“I know…I was just…” Emery lowered her gaze.

“It’s okay. I’m here. You’re safe now.” Emma Verena pulled her sister close.

Archduke Verena turned toward his daughters, giving Mara a scrutinizing look. “That remains to be seen. Laurence, Tenor, see to locking down the building. Cordray, take the remainder of the guard and see that our guests are escorted into individual guest rooms. Use any necessary means.”

It was only at that point that Sera, Vanniv, and Patrick slipped through the remainder of the guards and into the room.

“And us?” Sera asked.

“You will remain here for the moment. We must speak privately.”

As the remainder of the guards finished filing out of the room, the archduke shut the door, then turned to us. “You have my gratitude for protecting Emery. There is nothing in the world more valuable than my family. You must understand, however, that this does not mean I trust you.”

Sera quickly nodded. “Of course. Appearing to defend someone could simply be a tactic to hide our true motives. With due respect, however, if we wished your daughters harm, there were multiple chances while they were alone with members of our group.”

“Agreed. Killing them is clearly not your goal.” He balled his hands into fists. “The same cannot be said for anyone else. To this end, I must charge you with assisting me in this investigation. If you truly are not tied with the assassins, this will give you a chance to be helpful. If you are…you should know that I am now prepared, and I will be protecting my daughters personally. There will be no further oversights.”

His statement was backed by another flash of his aura, and with it, a feeling of pressure in the air. I understood the effect, having faced something similar and much more potent from Katashi. We all staggered just a bit, but not enough to fall.

“We…understand.” Sera managed. The pressure eased after her reply, and I found myself breathing normally again.

After a few tense moments, I managed to ask another question.  “Will you permit us to speak to the woman that accompanied us?”

“Your teacher? Yes, yes, go ahead.” He waved a hand. “Go. Find what you can and return to me. I will be employing others to assist in the search, but if you are the one who provides answers, you will be rewarded.”

“F…father.” Emery walked over to pull on her father’s sleeve. “I want her to stay.” She gestured toward Mara.

Her father raised an eyebrow. “Truly?” He shook his head dismissively, then sighed. “Young lady, if it would not trouble you excessively, my daughter has made a request.”

“Of course, m’lord. Pleased to stay. Assumin’ my own liege will allow it?” She gave Sera a questioning look.

That’s interesting. Did she swear a retainership to Sera, or is she just playing a role?

“Please feel free, I can’t possibly get in the way of such a request.” Sera and Mara seemed to exchange something meaningful in their looks, but I didn’t quite catch it.

I turned to the archduke. “Quick question. Can we use magic to try to get the truth from people? Including the invasive sort?”

The archduke raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by…never mind. Just do it. It’s better if you don’t tell me in advance.”

I nodded in understanding. “Okay. That leads to another question — how will anyone know we have the authority to do anything?”

The archduke snapped his fingers. “Anthony.”

There was a burst of smoke and the dapper gentleman who had greeted us at the door appeared at the archduke’s side.

I blinked. “Was that…is he…?”

“The head manservant.” Anthony gave a broad smile, bowing at the waist. “How may I serve you, Archduke?”

“This man is going to be interrogating some partygoers who attempted to kill my daughters. You will act with my authority and assume that this process goes smoothly. We will find who was responsible.”

“Understood.” Anthony bowed again to the archduke, then walked over to me. “Shall we?”

“Thank you, Archduke.” I turned to Mara. “And take care, Mara.”

“You got it.” She grinned at me. “Go get ‘em. And whenever you find the culprit, give them an extra punch or two for me.”

***

“Well, this is an unexpected event.” Anthony walked ahead of me, hands folded behind his back. “A Valian of House Cadence serving as chief interrogator for an Edrian Archduke. Perhaps tomorrow the world will cease to spin and the sun and moon will decide to take a vacation. Either would be a more likely event.”

“About as likely as an archduke holding a debut party for two daughters of the same age, wouldn’t you say?”

“Ah, just so. It seems you have the measure of events. Good. Your understanding will be required if we are to ascertain the true culprit. And then, perhaps, other skills.” He adjusted each of his pristine white gloves, one at a time.

I raised an eyebrow at the overly loquacious butler.

The way he’d appeared…is he a summoned monster? Or was the archduke’s finger snap just the activation of a magic item that sent Anthony a message?

I wasn’t sure which would be more dangerous. An archduke-level summon could be vicious, but if he’d simply appeared after a message, that implied both an impressive reaction time and some sort of teleportation. Invisibility wasn’t out of the question — maybe Anthony had been there the whole time, and I simply hadn’t detected him — but I hadn’t heard anything or detected anything when I’d looked at auras. Even if it was just invisibility, it was good invisibility.

This was not the sort of person I could underestimate. Certainly not when his method of appearance was remarkably similar to what Mara had described as the method of disappearance of one of the assassins.

What are the odds that I’ve just arranged to work with the assassin to find the assassin? I asked myself. High, I concluded. But there was more than one. And it’s not out of the question that he could still assist in the search for the other, or perhaps that he simply has a different skill set.

Wish I could let the others know what I suspect. I really need to get some better messaging items, get them to everyone, and then find some way to make them allow communication without speech. Maybe something telepathic, like Keras and Dawn? Hm.

Once we were downstairs, we quickly found Meltlake standing amidst a practical sea of guards. She had her arms folded and an impatient look on her face.

“Anthony, can you have them release her?” I asked.

“Of course.” The butler nodded. He stepped forward, whispered something to the apparent leader of the guards. They nodded, then quickly dispersed.

“Not bad,” Sera muttered. “I could get used to having this kind of authority. Speaking of which…”

She turned and whispered something to Vanniv.

Vanniv grinned brightly, then bowed to the group and walked off somewhere.

What are they up to?

I didn’t have much time to think about it. Meltlake approached us a moment later. “You’re working fast.”

“More of a coincidence of timing, really, and a particular bit of heroism on Mara’s part. Shall we find somewhere to chat?”

Meltlake nodded. “Back to the library.”

We headed back to our corner of the library. The room had been completely emptied out, so we had relative privacy. I still was a bit worried about scrying, but there was nothing easy to do about it.

“Anthony, give us a moment to talk privately?” I asked him.

The butler nodded. “Very well, Master Cadence. Simply say my name and I shall return.”

Then he vanished into the shadows.

…Creepy.

I wasn’t convinced that he was actually gone, but it was about as good as we were going to get.

“So,” Sera gave Meltlake a knowing grin, “how much have you been hiding from us?”

Meltlake shrugged a single shoulder. “Maybe a little.”

“You knew this was going to happen.”

“Of course. My studies were never focused on Edrian history, but I do recall some basics about this party. It’s not every day an archduchy is wiped off the map.”

Well, that confirms a few things. I groaned. I didn’t like where this was going.

“Can we get a quick history lesson now, professor?” Sera asked.

“To give you a brief summary: Both daughters were lost. The archduke survived the evening, but not much longer. We are witnessing the fall of the House of Verena.”

I folded my arms. “So, who’s the puppet master?”

“Ah.” Meltlake smiled. “That’s be beauty of it. The assassin’s true identity was never discovered.”

My expression sank. “Seriously?”

“The assassins vanished. The assassinations nearly caused the Six Years War to resume. Ultimately, since they were the clearest suspects, the entire Valian delegation that attended the party were executed by their own government to prevent a war.”

“A…ah. That’s…”

“Worrisome,” Sera finished for me. “So, that means we have a vested interest in actually solving this, rather than simply trying to survive the scenario or assist it in following history’s course.”

“Agreed.” Meltlake nodded. “You seem to already be making some progress in that regard. Are the daughters both intact?”

“Yep,” Patrick replied. “Mara is up there with them.”

“Excellent. We may want to allocate more defenses to that effort at some point. These assassins will have come prepared to handle the archduke himself. They will not be easy to find, nor to fight if they are discovered.”

“Do you think they’ll try to brute force their way in?” Patrick asked.

“No. Likely some kind of combination of invisibility, teleportation, that sort of thing.”

We quickly explained what Mara had seen and caught Meltlake up on the other details of what we’d learned.

Patrick frowned at Meltlake. “You went to talk to the ‘archduke’ earlier, but we saw you talking to someone else. Was that a different archduke?”

“Well-noted, Patrick. That was Archduke Wolff. I was attempting to feel him out as a suspect before the events occurred, since he is one of the highest-ranking figures here, as well as one of the few physical powerhouses that could cause me any difficulty.”

Maria’s father. Hm.

I nodded. “I suppose any archduke always has a motivation to remove any other archduke, in order to gain more personal power.”

“Yes, to some degree. In this case, however, our conversation left me thinking he was unlikely to be involved. He was eager to discuss financial dealings with my family — unless he’s a tremendous actor, he’s not interested in restarting the war. When I spoke about my promising nephew, he wanted to arrange a meeting with his daughter, with obvious implications.”

Sera snorted. “Maybe when we get out of here, we can help set Derek up with an eighty-year-old woman. He could use some discipline.”

Meltlake laughed. “I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime, I think we can safely put Wolff toward the bottom of the list. I wouldn’t call him an ally, but I doubt he will be working against Verena directly here.”

“Other suspects, then?” Patrick asked.

“The other Valians, obviously.” Sera sighed. “It’s likely they were simply innocents that were executed to stop a war historically, but they still are suspects. Valia has always had warmongers that want to resume the conflict, and beyond that, removing an archduchy could destabilize power in the region.”

“True.” I nodded. “What about people on the Edrian side that want to provoke a war? Jerome and his ilk?”

“Jerome himself doesn’t have the resources, but yes, people of his ilk with greater sway exist.” Meltlake nodded in acknowledgement. “Duchess Sheng and Duke Jing are both present at the party. Both are traditionalists that may feel that Edria could benefit from stretching further east.”

“…and aren’t those both archduchies in the future?” Sera asked.

“They are.” Meltlake nodded. “Verena’s lands are split between them.”

I exhaled a sigh. Politics like these always gave me a headache. “Okay. Beyond them…I think we should look into Dalen.”

Patrick shot me a surprised look. “Dalen? Why? Mitsurugi is the wielder of Soulbrand! He wouldn’t…”

Meltlake had a strange expression that implied she knew something, but I didn’t press her. Instead, I simply shook my head at Patrick. “He’s from East Edria…or, rather, Kelridge. At this point in the timeline, opposing Edrian rule would absolutely make sense.”

I didn’t mention that I was thinking about Jin and his own efforts to protect his nation. If Mitsurugi was anything like his descendant, well, assassinating an archduke was absolutely not out of the question.

“Okay. We’re going to need to start questioning groups,” Meltlake noted. “Shall we begin?”

***

The partygoers had been separated into “guest” rooms based on what group they arrived with, if any. Some powerful guests were taken to be housed separately. Given the sheer number of guests, that meant a lot of rooms, but the archduke’s home was huge. We’d only seen a small fraction of it when we entered, and beyond the main house, there were also several other buildings on the manor grounds.

We quickly summoned Anthony back — he appeared at the sound of his name, just as he’d claimed he would — and then got to discussing our first interrogation target.

“Who are we starting with?” Patrick asked.

“Start with the top suspects?” I aimed the tone toward Sera and she got my meaning.

“I concur. We need to act before they have a chance to make another move. Given that we don’t want to be seen as playing favorites, as well as the general odds, I suggest we begin with our fellow Valians.”

Anthony looked momentarily startled. “You suspect your own countrymen?”

“Not really. Too obvious, honestly. Making an attack here draws so much attention that any Valian would know that they would be investigated immediately, with little chance to escape unscathed.” Sera shook her head. “But Valians have such an obvious political motive that they can’t be discounted. It’s important to maintain objectivity in these things — and in the aftermath of this, the appearance of objectivity will also be important. We cannot allow this to lead to another war. The cost would be too high.”

“You show great wisdom for your age.” Anthony lowered his head in acknowledgement. “I can see why the archduke chose you.”

Sera stood a little straighter after that remark. “Can you lead us to where the other Valians are located?”

“Yes, of course. I have a list of all the guest accommodations. Please, this way.” Anthony headed toward the main ballroom, then through it into a hallway beyond.

As we followed, I dropped toward the back of the group where Professor Meltlake was walking. She seemed to be scanning the area with a concerned expression, but I couldn’t see what she was looking for. “Insights, professor?”

“I do have some of those, yes.” She both looked and sounded distracted.

“Would you care to offer me some?”

“Perhaps later.” She tapped her cane on the ground a little harder than normal. I got the picture, shot her one last concerned look, then headed back toward the front of the group. We arrived outside the Valian guest room a moment later. Two guards had been posted at the door. Anthony leaned in and explained the situation, causing the guards to stand aside.

Sera knocked politely, then opened the door herself and led our group inside.

Six Valians sat around a table, looking mildly disgruntled. They all turned toward us as we entered.

“Figures they’d bring in the trash eventually,” one of them, a brown-haired man in his early twenties, mumbled just loud enough for us to hear.

A man to his right kicked him lightly. “Manners,” he hissed. The second man put on a false smile, then turned back toward us. “We are, of course, pleased to see our countrymen. Even those of inferior rank.”

Meltlake snorted. “Right.”

“Is something funny to you?” The brown-haired man stood up, ignoring a look of protest from the man who had kicked him earlier and a distressed expression from a woman with similar hair to his side. “Please, by all means, share the joke with the rest of us.”

Professor Meltlake moved to the front of our group, her eyes narrowing. “The only thing inferior here is your behavior. You will behave yourself or you will be silent.”

“How dare you! I am Constant Beaufort, next in line to the earldom of—”

Meltlake sighed, her hand moving just slightly, and no further sound escaped from the man’s mouth. He looked briefly startled, then clutched at his throat uncertainly.

Two others at the table stood up immediately, reaching for weapons. I reached for my own.

“Oh, thank the goddess, I thought he’d never shut up.” A blonde-haired woman toward the back of the group let out a laugh with a strangely musical trill at the end. She was the one I’d noted earlier with the harp-shaped necklace. “At ease, everyone. Constant is fine, she’s simply manipulating the air so that his voice won’t escape. He’s not choking, although she could accomplish that easily, couldn’t she?”

Meltlake nodded. “Trivially.”

“Fascinating. I’ve rarely seen such sophisticated control of air magic. Perhaps you can teach me the trick sometime?”

“I’d be pleased to, Lady Nora Haven.”

A wide, menacing grin stretched across Haven’s face. “My, I knew I was advertising my family with the necklace, but you’ve already managed to find my personal name? It’s rare someone manages to have the advantage of my identity before I have their own. You are, of course, a Hartigan — but I cannot say I recall the archduchess having any children of your age. Given your Citrine aura, which is quite impressive for your age, I can only assume that you are a carefully-kept secret.”

The implication behind that assertion was that Meltlake was an illegitimate child — a supposition that practically demanded that Meltlake defend her own honor by identifying herself. Not a bad strategy, but…

“Something like that. Anyway, we’re here on business.” Meltlake deflected the remark effortlessly. “There’s been an assassination attempt. We’re all suspects, of course. Lady Cadence, if you would?”

By dropping “Lady Cadence” in there, she’d acknowledged Sera as being a fellow noble, and one that was acknowledged by the Hartigan family — an archduchy on a level comparable to the Havens themselves. Insulting our family further would, then, be potentially insulting the Hartigan family as well: something Meltlake had just demonstrated to be unwise.

“Thank you.” Sera chose not to use a title for Meltlake, which was also deliberate: she didn’t know what Meltlake was calling herself, so she chose to go with nothing. “We’ve all been interrogated already. The house staff is currently prioritizing the safety of the guests and residents, and thus, since we’ve been cleared and possess…certain skills, we’ve been asked to provide assistance with clearing other guests.”

“My, my.” Haven gave Sera an appraising look. “You’ve managed quite an opportunistic move there, haven’t you? I can already see you have quite a future ahead of you. We should speak privately later.”

Sera continued without missing a beat. “My brother possesses a ring that forces whoever wears it to obey his verbal commands. Each of you will put on the ring in turn. He will then demand that you answer our questions honestly. This should be a painless process, provided that everyone cooperates.”

I hadn’t told Sera my plan to use the Ring of Derek Controlling for the interrogation. She’d picked it up purely from context.

I had to admit, I was a little impressed.

Haven clapped her hands. “What fun! Normally I don’t let younger men command me outside of very special contexts,” she shot me a look that sent a shiver down my spine, “but I suppose we’ll make an exception. Please, get Lys first. I’d love to watch.”

A younger woman to her left shot her a glare, then turned toward us and bowed her head. “If it is the mistress’ will, I will, of course, subject myself to this test.”

“Of course you will, dear. Now, hands out. And if Lady Hartigan wouldn’t mind, can you allow my dear Earl-to-Be to have his voice back?”

Meltlake nodded. “If you’ll keep him reigned in.”

“Yes, naturally. Constant apologizes profusely for his earlier rudeness, don’t you, my dear?”

The earl glared at Meltlake for another moment, then turned his head to Lady Haven and nodded once, grudgingly.

“Perfect. Go ahead.”

Meltlake flicked a finger. Nothing visible happened, but Constant had a startled expression, then started to speak again. “I should say that—“”

“Sssh, dear. You’ve said quite enough. Wait for your turn.” Lady Haven turned to me. “What are you waiting for? That young woman is waiting for you to put a ring on her hand.”

I rolled my eyes and moved forward. Lys had her hands extended. I carefully slipped the ring around her left pointer finger to avoid any unnecessary symbolism. “Answer any questions from my group, including me, honestly and to the best of your ability.”

The ring flashed.

“Ooh! Have her obey me, too!” Lady Haven leaned closer to me. “Pretty please? I want to play.”

I shot her a hard look. “You’ll play when we get to your turn.”

She gave me a little pout. “I don’t like bossy men.” She folded her arms. “You’re losing points rapidly.”

I had far more important things to worry about than Lady Haven’s impressions of me…probably. “Let us ask our questions first. You can ask one at the end, and if I like it, maybe we’ll give you more.”

She gave me an appraising look, then nodded. “Better. While I dislike needing to prove my usefulness, I admit that’s a valid strategy.” She waved a hand. “Proceed.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, turning back to Lys. “State your name for us.”

“Caelyssa Ves.”

“And your affiliation?” I asked.

“I am a sworn retainer to House Haven.”

I gave Lady Haven a look. This was how she treated a retainer? She smiled brightly back at me, then made some kind of gesture…buttoning her own lips shut, I think?

Oh, maybe they haven’t invented zippers yet. I’m wonder if…wait, getting distracted again.

I turned back to Lys. “Do you know anything about the attacks that just occurred?”

“Yes.”

“You need to be a bit more specific than that, brother. Just knowing attacks happened would be a ‘yes’.” Sera stepped up next to me. “Did you participate in the attacks in any capacity?”

“No.” Lys shook her head.

“Do you know anyone who was involved in the attacks?”

“No, I do not.”

“Do you have any idea who the targets were?”

Lys frowned. “I can surmise based on the response that it was the owners of the home, but I can’t say for certain.”

“Did you come here with any intention to do harm to any Edrian citizen?”

Lys blinked. “No. I mean, not unless we were attacked first?”

“Did you develop a reason to attack any Edrian citizen after coming here?”

“N—,” she stopped herself, forcing her mouth shut. Then after shuddering, “I thought about hurting the man who challenged your brother.”

Sera and I both blinked. “Why?” I asked.

“An insult to one of us is an insult to us all.” She glared at Constant, then looked back to me. “You defended our national honor in that duel, but I think you should have crippled him.”

I sighed. “I didn’t think that was necessary. Anyway, did you take any action to harm him after the duel?”

“No, I was forbidden from doing so.”

“By your lady?” Sera asked.

She turned her head to Lady Haven, who smiled beatifically, then turned back to us. “Yes, by my lady.”

  “Thank you,” I noted to Lady Haven. “You may have helped us avoid an incident.”

“You’re most welcome! Can I ask one now?”

I sighed, then turned to Sera.

Sera shrugged. “The basics are out of the way. Sure, let’s see what she’s got.”

“Please honestly answer the next question from Lady Haven related to this specific investigation.”

Lady Haven raised a hand to her heart as if wounded. “My dear Lord Cadence, did you think I was going to use this rare opportunity to ask my retainer something completely unrelated while she was forced to give an honest answer?”

I tilted my head downward. “Yes, definitely.”

“Right you are! Wonderful. You’re a much better sparring partner than I initially expected. Very well, I’ll stay on topic for now. Lys, answer me this — presuming that none of the Valians in this room is involved, who do you believe would be the most likely person to have the necessary means, positioning, and motivation to make an attempt on the lives of the young daughters of this house?”

Something dangerous passed over Anthony’s face. I presumed it was because Haven had spoken of “daughters”, rather than a single daughter, indicating she already had known that there were a cursed pair involved. No official announcement had yet been made, and thus, that implied Lady Haven had either come to the party with prior knowledge or had somehow deduced that information during the party.

“Well, I suppose, if they have to meet all the criteria…the bearer of Soulbrand, perhaps? He is said to be a powerful fighter, and given that he is from House Dalen, he would have sufficient motive to want retribution for what happened to Kelridge.”

“East Edria,” Anthony said a little louder than necessary.

“Yes, of course.” Lady Haven laughed. “Clearly, that’s what Lys meant. Forgive us.”

Anthony glared at her, but said nothing further.

“Am…I done now?” Lys asked in a half-begging tone.

“I think we can move on.” I reached forward. Lys hastily stuck her hand out, allowing me to take the ring off her hand.

“Excellent!” Lady Haven clapped her hands. “Who’s next?”

***

We went through questioning the rest of the Valians quickly and easily without anyone giving any hint of involvement with the assassination attempts. Lady Haven continued to attempt to be “helpful”, asking questions related to try to find any loopholes in our questions. Things like, “Did you participate in anything that may have been interpreted as an attack, but was actually a form of misdirection toward your real objective?” or that sort of thing.

I wasn’t surprised when she, after being questioned herself, offered to “help” us interrogate the other guests at the party. I flatly turned her down. Her questions were potentially insightful, but she was clearly enjoying herself so much that I could see that there was a high probability she’d find some way to subvert our efforts.

With that room concluded, we moved on to the next — the gathering from Caelford. They proved much more straightforward to deal with, answering our questions simply and directly without complaint. No one revealed any involvement in the attack.

“We’re getting nowhere,” Patrick frowned.

“This isn’t going to be a quick process. We have a lot of people to go through. We may need to take multiple passes, too, as we come up with better questions to refine our search.”

“I’m not sure the ring is going to be able to handle multiple passes. It has a lot of mana, but…” I frowned. “We may need to find someone who can recharge it more effectively than I can if we don’t find the culprit on the first pass.”

“We’ll deal with that issue when the time comes.” Sera tapped her foot, seemingly contemplating something. “For now, I think it’s long past time we have a talk with Master Dalen.”

My heart sank. I wasn’t sure I could deal with a second Dalen-related betrayal.

Patrick spoke before I could. “Mitsurugi is here alone, and I was with him outside right around when the attacks happened. It can’t be him.”

“If I was involved, I wouldn’t make it obvious who else I was working with. Staying outside with you while his allies make the attack is an excellent form of deflection.” Sera put a hand on his shoulder. “Sorry, Patrick. We have to do this.”

“…It’s okay. Fine. Let’s just make it quick. And try not to question his honor too much.”

***

Two minutes later…

“You are questioning my honor?” Mitsurugi glared at me. “I thought better of you, Cadence. I have done nothing to warrant this insult.”

I may have phrased my opening poorly. I raised my hands in placating fashion. “No, no. We’re simply asking everyone. We’ve already gone through multiple rooms of other people.”

Mitsurugi’s eyes remained narrowed, but his stance shifted to something more neutral. “Very well, I understand. I am still disappointed that you chose this approach, rather than simply asking me, but I will subject myself to this treatment as a sign of respect for my fellow wielder.”

He extended his hands toward me. Nervously, I slipped a ring on his right ring finger.

Wait, that finger was…

I winced at my own accidental implication, but said nothing. If Mitsurugi had noticed my slip, he said nothing.

“Ask your questions.”

“I, uh…”

“Tell him to answer honestly first, Corin,” Sera reminded me.

“Uh, right. Mitsurugi, answer all questions from my group and me honestly.”

There was a flash as the ring activated, then Mitsurugi grunted. “I will. Ask.”

Patrick surprised me by speaking first. “Were you involved in any attempt to assassinate a member of House Verena?”

He turned to Patrick with a look of…acknowledgement, maybe? “No. I intended nothing of the sort.”

Patrick continued. “Did you come here with the intent to harm any member of House Verena, or their retainers, in any way?”

“No.”

“Have you attacked anyone at this party?”

“Not aside from sparring.”

“Did anyone who accompanied you here attack anyone at this party?’

“Not that I am aware of.”

I noted that was phrased differently, but I let Patrick keep going. He was clearly up to something with his own line of questioning.

“Do you have any indication of who might be responsible for the attack?”

“Yes.”

I blinked. “Really?”

He rolled his eyes. “Yes.”

Realizing that my question was a little vague, I rephrased. “Please, elaborate.”

“This place is a cesspit of immorality. Several people have motivations to attack the residents of this home.”

Anthony bristled. “You would be wise to watch your words.”

“I cannot.” He raised his hand and flashed the ring. “I can only be honest.”

The butler gave Mitsurugi a glare, but Patrick asked another question before things could escalate.

“Who do you believe would be most likely responsible for the attacks?”

“Other Edrians seeking power,” Mitsurugi explained. “This archduchy will die an ignoble death for their audacity if they do not take immediate measures to secure their place. Vultures circle, but one pack of wolves has already chosen to strike.”

“…But you are not sure who the wolves are in this analogy?” I asked.

“Correct.” Mitsurugi nodded. “But I can tell you that it’s very likely to be one of the other archduchies or duchies at work. They have the most to gain.”

“One last thing,” Patrick spoke again. “Were you serious about your earlier offer?”

“Of course.” He nodded his head.

“I think we’re done here.” Patrick turned to me, a pleading look on his face.

“I think we are as well.” Sera clapped her hands. “Master Dalen, please forgive us for this intrusion. We appreciate your cooperation.”

“You are not forgiven.” He tore the ring off his finger and tossed it toward me. I caught it and, unsettled, left the room.

***

Anthony shot a frustrated look back at the room as we left, but said nothing.

I glanced at Patrick. He whispered “later”.

“Well, if it’s not Dalen, and Dalen thinks it’s someone from Edria…”

“I would advise you not to take the words of a dissident too seriously,” Anthony noted. “He is unfairly biased toward his betters.”

Patrick’s face flickered to a brief and uncharacteristic expression of anger. “He has no betters here.”

Anthony looked like he was about to argue, but Sera quickly stepped between them. “Gentlemen, we have limited time. We should be focusing on our investigation.”

“Yes, of course,” Anthony bowed his head in acknowledgement. He reached into his pocket, checking a pocket watch, then frowned. “We may truly have limited time. The archduke intends to bring his daughters out in less than a bell to perform the debut.”

“Wait, what? Even if we haven’t identified the culprit?” I asked.

“A brief delay may be tolerable, but too much would imply a sign of weakness. And given the level of stature of some of those present, some will not be patient. I could, perhaps, convince him to give us another half bell, but…”

“Get us to the next room, then go do that,” Sera instructed him. “We need as much time as possible.”

“Very well. Who is next?”

“Let’s speak to the man who challenged my brother. He was clearly willing to attack someone during the party.”

I raised an eyebrow at Sera, questioning her strategy. Jerome was violent, sure, but he had a particular motive to go after someone from House Cadence. He also appeared to be a staunch Edrian patriot. Attacking an archduke’s family sounded out-of-character for him, although perhaps not for his compatriots.

…Still, given her expression, I was confident she was up to something.

“An excellent idea. This way.”

Anthony led us to another room, spoke to the guards, then bowed. “I will speak to the archduke and see if I can garner a small delay. I shall be back forthwith.”

As Anthony departed, Sera leaned to Meltlake and whispered something. Meltlake nodded, then headed off down a different hallway.

“Shall we go talk to our old friends?” Sera asked.

I rolled my eyes and followed her into the room.

***

The guards accompanied us into the room this time, explaining in Anthony’s absence that we had the authority to perform the interrogation. In spite of some initial animosity for obvious reasons, Jerome and his compatriots cooperated, revealing no involvement in the assassination attempt and no knowledge of who had caused it.

When asked who the most likely suspects were, Jerome said, “You, obviously.” Helpful, that one.

Duchess Sheng and Duke Jing were in the same room and had similarly safe answers. They represented the majority of the remaining Edrian political power at the party, with one clear exception.

When we left the room, Anthony had already returned, and he was waiting right outside. “I’ve managed to secure the delay as you requested. Where to next?”

He didn’t ask about the results of the interrogation.

“We’ll be going to see Archduke Wolff next,” Sera explained.

I watched Anthony stiffen just slightly at that. “The archduke will not be pleased to be interrogated in this manner. I advise you that this course of action may be unwise.”

“I’ll take responsibility for any shaken scales.” Sera smiled. “Please, lead the way.”

Archduke Wolff sat in a huge, well-appointed room, surrounded by over a dozen retainers. A quick flash of Detect Aura showed me that not only was Archduke Wolff a Citrine, he had multiple Sunstones among his retinue.

We have zero chance if this goes badly. Not without Meltlake.

I frowned at her absence, but forced myself to focus.

“Please, forgive us for this intrusion, Archduke Wolff.” Anthony bowed. “I believe you’ve already been appraised of the situation?”

“Yes, yes. This is more than a bit ridiculous, but let’s get it over with. You may question my retainers.”

“…And you?” I asked.

“You’ve got some stones if you want to question me, boy.” He scowled. “But yes, of course, I will happily cooperate for the sake of my dear fellow archduke.”

I cycled through his retainers quickly, asking only the most basic of questions. As I expected, none of them gave any hint of involvement.

Then we reached the archduke. I questioned him a bit harder, but he answered the questions easily and without any sign of guilt.

Could he be resistant to the ring? As a Citrine who was aware of the function in advance, maybe he could have prepared a defense.

Before I could inquire on that subject, however, Sera chose to make her own play.

“Archduke Wolff,” Sera smiled sweetly, “Where is your daughter?”

“Maria?” He blinked, seemingly startled. “I have no idea.”

I turned toward Anthony to ask him which room Maria had been assigned to, but when I spun to ask I found something utterly predictable—

He was already gone.

I smiled brightly at the archduke. “Thank you for your cooperation, Archduke Wolff. That concludes our questioning.”

I bowed, retrieved my ring from him, and left him perplexed as I retreated from the room.

…Then, once outside, Patrick, Sera, and I broke into a run.

***

We rushed toward the building entrance. Sera shouted, “Clearance Four,” to the guards as we approached and they stepped out of the way. I had no idea what that meant, but I didn’t have time to ask.

When we got outside, Sera whispered a few words into the air, then spun and headed around the side of the building. Patrick and I followed her at first, then I rushed ahead the moment I saw the flash of distant lightning flicker from the sky.

By the time I’d reached the site of the battle, it was over.

Vanniv was pinning Anthony to the ground with his full weight, laughing uproariously.

And Maria Wolff was floating in mid-air, held in place by both a cage of wind and chains seemingly formed from solid lightning. Meltlake hovered nearby, her cane outstretched in Wolff’s direction. Meltlake turned as we approached, gave Sera a wordless nod, then turned back to face Wolff and continue to hold her in place.

I halted not far from Meltlake, processing the scene, then waited for Sera and Patrick to catch up.

“You can drop her, professor. We’ll take it from here,” Sera began.

Meltlake shook her head. “No, I think she’ll escape too easily. Patrick, get the archduke.”

“Yes, Professor.” Patrick spun and rushed off without delay.

I turned to Sera as Patrick moved back toward the house. “You knew they’d try to escape.”

“Obviously. As soon as we got downstairs, I sent Vanniv outside to watch the area from the skies. When I realized who was likely involved, I asked Meltlake to go outside to help.”

“I could have handled this one,” Vanniv laughed, “But that archduke’s daughter was quite impressive. I appreciate the assistance.”

“You are quite welcome,” Meltlake smiled. “Excellent deductive work, Sera.”

“We are not done here,” Anthony hissed. “We will have our—”

Vanniv flicked him, sending an electrical jolt through Anthony’s body. The butler twitched, spasmed, then went silent. Not dead, mind you, he just quieted down.

“Was…that necessary?” I asked.

“Probably not, but I don’t like it when people sound overconfident.”

I stared at Vanniv. If he caught me judging his blatant hypocrisy, he gave no sign. He just turned to Sera, tilting his head to the side. “So, after this, can we get something to eat? All this justice is making me hungry.”

***

Patrick returned a few minutes later with the archduke and a small entourage. Mara remained missing, presumably continuing to protect the archduke’s daughters.

“Anthony.” The archduke stomped closer, the stone below him cracking with each step. “Is it true?”

“Hmpf. If you mean to ask me if I assisted Miss Wolff, yes, absolutely. I have no regrets. Your tolerance of those abominations has always disgusted—”

A flash of movement, almost too fast for me to follow. Then Vanniv scrambled backward from the body he’d been pinning down in shock and disgust.

Maria Wolff screamed.

The archduke waved his bloodstained saber in the air, dispersing only a fraction of Anthony’s blood that now marred the blade. Then he strode over to Maria, while she still floated, incapacitated.

“Cadence. The ring,” the archduke instructed.

“You can’t do this.” Maria insisted. “I am an archduke’s daughter.”

“So are Emery and Emma.” He reached up, his shroud flashing as his arm passed straight through the cage of wind around her. His hand wrapped around her neck and he yanked downward, tearing Maria straight through the cage and slamming her into the ground. “The ring, Cadence.”

I carefully tossed him the ring. I wasn’t getting in sword reach of an angry man who could move that fast. Maybe with Haste I could have kept up, but I couldn’t guarantee it.

He forced the ring onto Maria’s hand as she screamed again, tears flowing through her eyes. “Cadence, begin.”

“You will answer all questions from the archduke and my group honestly. You will not attempt to escape. You will not attempt to contact any of your allies.”

“My only ally is dead,” Maria spat. “You just killed him.”

“A good start,” the archduke responded, his jaw tightening. “Why? Was it about power? Did you think that killing my daughters would allow your house to take our place when I pass?”

“Hardly,” Maria glowered a him. “We were simply doing what you were too weak to manage. The goddess has no room in her world for freaks. You dishonored our glorious nation by allowing them to live, and by acknowledging them, you would have shamed Edria in the presence of the entire world.”

The archduke tore the ring back off her hand, tossed it to me, and then grabbed Maria by the hair. She screamed again.

“No, no!” She screamed and screamed as the archduke dragged her back toward the house. “Please! The goddess will punish us all if we fail here!”

Patrick looked a bit distraught, but Sera simply put a hand on his shoulder.

Sera’s single word reply was a whisper, but loud enough to bring silence to Maria’s screams. “No.”

***

After the archduke dragged Maria into the doors of his manor, we swiftly went to meet with Mara and the archduke’s daughters.

It was close to an hour before the archduke returned, opening his arms wide. His daughters rushed forward and hugged him tightly. He closed his eyes for a moment.

We gave them all some silence and room.

When their embrace was over, the archduke turned to us. “The ceremony will proceed as planned. You have done me a tremendous service by helping to protect my daughters.”

Emma leaned upward and whispered something to her father.

“An excellent idea.” The archduke nodded. “Sera Cadence. Marissa Callahan. My daughters would be honored if you would accompany them this evening for their debut.”

Sera and Mara exchanged glances. Mara blushed bright crimson. Sera grinned brightly. “We would be delighted.”

***

It took some time to gather the remainder of the party goers back into ballroom. There, the archduke himself made apologies for the interruption, thanked everyone for coming, and asked for the party goers to be seated.

Patrick, Vanniv, and I were seated at the head table in positions of honor, not far from the archduke himself. So, we were in a great position to watch when the double doors to the ballroom opened.

Professor Meltlake stepped through, clapping her hands with a sound of thunder that silenced the entire room. In the aftermath of the shock, she spoke. “I now have the great honor to introduce the young ladies of House Verena — Emery and Emma Verena — and their escorts for the evening, Sera Cadence and Marissa Callahan.”

All eyes turned toward the doors as the four young ladies entered the room. Sera and Emma came through first, holding hands and laughing as they waved to the now-cheering crowd.

Emery and Mara came next, arm-in-arm. Emery leaned heavily on Mara’s arm, and Mara walked slowly forward, carefully helping to bear the frail woman’s weight.

While Emma’s eyes eagerly took in the crowd that stood to greet her, Emery only had eyes for the Guardian on her arm.

The ladies made their way to the table, and then with another clap of thunder, Meltlake spoke. “Let the festivities begin!”

***

The rest of the evening passed in a blur. I wasn’t much for balls or social events, but nevertheless I found myself relaxing as the night progressed. With no obvious further threats, I found myself enjoying just listening to Vanniv joking with the archduke and the musicians playing in a distant corner of the room.

“I can’t believe it was the butler,” Sera whispered to me later in the evening. “Who would have suspected the butler, of all people?”

I laughed. “I suspected him, but…good work.”

She grinned. “You, too. This would have been infinitely harder without the ring.”

“Thanks. Think we need to do anything else?”

Sera shook her head. “Talked to Meltlake. Thinks we’ll be done as soon as the party ends. Might as well enjoy ourselves.”

“Sounds good. Any suggestions?”

She laughed. “Well, the ladies are accounted for the evening, but I’ve noticed a certain Dalen that won’t stop looking at you.”

“Sera…”

“What?” She grinned. “He looks just like a certain someone, and he seems like the type of guy that might own a unicorn.”

I glanced at Dalen Mitsurugi, caught the danger in his eyes for an intense moment, then glanced back to Sera.

“Hard pass.”

Chapter XV – Iron Jaws

As the party wrapped up, we were led to a set of three adjacent guest rooms for the evening. Most of us spent the night in those rooms.

…I didn’t see Mara again until breakfast the next morning.

The archduke himself came down to bid us goodbye, both of his daughters accompanying him. Emery’s eyes were bright red. She clutched her sister’s hand tightly as we made our way toward the door.

Mara’s might have been a bit reddened, too.

As the house guards opened the doors to offer us passage back outside, I took one last look at the people of House Verena.

They’re not real, I reminded myself. Just simulacra, created for the spire’s test.

But as Mara froze at the doorway, turning back toward Emery Verena to whisper something into the air, I felt doubt cut deeply into my heart.

When we walked through those doors, would those people of House Verena cease to exist? If so, what did that mean?

“Come on, Corin.” Sera urged me forward. “No gawking.”

I frowned, shook my head, and followed Sera through the open door.

When Mara finally followed us several moments later, I could tell that she’d left something precious behind.

***

The moment we passed through the doors, we found ourselves elsewhere. I was grateful for the smooth transition out of the scenario. If we had to walk further beyond the manor grounds, I think I might have had some tears of my own.

We found ourselves in a long stone hallway without ornamentation. There was no visible light source, but nevertheless the area was as bright as day. A moment of inspection after I oriented myself showed no obvious traps in the floors or walls — there was just a straight walk to a pair of double doors.

The fifth floor. This is it. Just have to survive this one.

I have to do this. Can’t let Tristan down.

I took a deep breath, steadying myself.

“Mara, you up for leading the way?” Sera asked.

“I…yeah, ‘course I am.” Mara gave one last glance toward the blank wall behind us, as if willing it to contain something it couldn’t, then turned toward the hall and strode down it without any further hesitation. No traps triggered in her wake. She reached the doors, punched one in a demonstration of Keras’ signature trap finding method, and found no sign of danger.

We caught up to her a moment later. “Ready?” Mara asked.

“Ready,” we confirmed.

Mara pushed the doors wide, revealing a small circular chamber that was easy enough to recognize. There were double doors on the opposite side and in the center stood a fountain containing pure blue fluid.

A mana fountain. This floor, it seemed, would be straightforward.

In spite of the simple design, we still proceeded cautiously. Mana fountain rooms were always safe, as far as I knew, but fake mana fountains did exist.

A quick check showed the room to be safe and the mana water to be real. We didn’t really need our mana restored — we’d just rested for the evening — but I removed a half-dozen empty flasks from the Jaden Box and filled them with mana water for later. Mana water didn’t restore mana instantly like one of the hyper-expensive mana potions that high level climbers sometimes used, but if we got into a pinch, it would be better than nothing.

“So, this is it, everyone.” Sera waved us over and we gathered in a half-circle near the fountain to listen to her. “Last floor we’re doing. Last fight. Stay cautious and focused. We can handle this.”

It wasn’t much of a speech, but it didn’t really need to be. “Everyone ready?” I asked.

I got a round of confirmations. Then Sera turned to Meltlake. “I think you should come inside for this one, just in case things go badly.”

The professor nodded. “I concur. In spite of your considerable skills for your age, a spire guardian at this level may be too much for you. I am very proud of you for reaching this point on your own, however, and you should not think poorly of yourselves if I need to intercede.”

“Don’t think it’ll come up.” Mara rolled up her sleeves. “In fact, if you’re willin’ to let me, I think I’ve got this one.”

The group blinked at her.

“Mara, that’s…” Sera winced. “I know Patrick handled one solo on the first floor, but this will be much more challenging. The first floor is built for Carnelians. We’re getting into Sunstone-level territory, and that’s for groups of Sunstones. Even with all of us, this would be a serious risk without Meltlake.”

“I know. Been up here before, remember?”

“Be that as it may, Miss Callahan, I will be accompanying you inside.” Professor Meltlake’s tone brooked no argument.

“Sure, s’long as you don’t step in unless I need it.”

“We’ll all come in,” Sera noted, “But we’ll wait near the door.”

“Wait.” I stepped closer to Mara. “You sure you’ve got this?”

“Can never be sure, Corin. But that’s what makes it fun, yeah?” She grinned, then walked to the spire guardian room doors. “Wish me luck.”

With that, she shoved the doors wide.

The chamber ahead of us was a huge rectangle, hundreds of feet across. The floor was the most obviously trapped space I’d ever seen, a grid of color-coded squares with gleaming runes on the center of each.

On the opposite side of the chamber was a titanic tiger made of solid steel.

Aside from being about fifteen feet tall and made of metal, it looked pretty much like an ordinary tiger, if a tiger also had huge sword-like spikes protruding from its back. Oh, the eyes flickering with electrical current were probably a pretty strong distinction, too. And the smoke that it exhaled from its nose and mouth.

So, pretty different from a normal tiger, in retrospect.

Beyond the tiger was another set of double doors, but they were shut. Presumably, we’d have to defeat the tiger to proceed further into the spire.

The tiger turned its head to the side, letting out a low growl, but waited in place on the opposite side of the room.

Patrick turned to Mara. “Hey, do you want me to levitate you across those—”

Mara shot forward, jumping across the first set of tiles, hitting one, and then jumping again as a field of spikes erupted beneath her.

“Aaand she’s gone.” Patrick finished with a sigh. “Float.” He waved at himself, lifting off the ground. “The rest of you?”

Meltlake had already levitated herself inside. Sera and I waited for Patrick to cast the spell on us, then together, we floated in.

By the time I’d gotten inside, Mara had crossed half the room. She was moving fast, even by her usual standards. Either she’d picked up a new technique without telling us, or maybe she just really needed an outlet for some tension.

Each time she landed on one of the tiles, a trap triggered beneath her, but she was long gone before they had time to connect. Vines of shadow shot from the ground when she hit black tiles. Red tiles caused flashes of fire. Whatever happened when she hit a white tile was so subtle I couldn’t even notice it, perhaps nothing happened at all.

There was always the same delay between Mara landing and the trap triggering: just under half a second. Someone without speed like Mara’s might have struggled to make it to the next tile safely, but her lightning-quick movements took her across the room without the slightest bit of harm.

The door slammed shut behind us when Mara got about fifty feet from the tiger. At the same time, the tiger turned toward her, voltaic eyes flickering as it fixed its gaze on her.

I began to slowly float forward, just in case, but Sera put an arm in front of me. “Don’t. She needs this.”

“She needs to not die.” I replied, floating around her outstretched arm.

“Your lack of confidence could get her hurt, too. And don’t worry.” Sera jerked a thumb toward the professor. “She’s got this.”

I turned to find Meltlake watching Mara intently with narrowed eyes. I knew she could handle the fight easily if she needed to, but how quickly could she cross the distance? She couldn’t teleport, could she?

I frowned, but remained in place for the moment.

Mara on a white tile only twenty feet or so from the gigantic beast, raised her fists with a gleam around them, and said, without a hint of humor, “Here, kitty kitty.”

The gigantic tiger was eager to oblige. With a leap that made my heart pound in my chest, it crossed the entire distance between the two of them in a single leap. If it was truly made of solid metal as it appeared, landing on top of Mara would have crushed her into paste, even with her considerable strength.

She wasn’t there when it landed, of course. She made a leap of her own, but not as far as her typical ones, hopping just far enough to land at the tiger’s right side. She pulled her glowing fist back and slammed it into the creature’s side with a quick “hah!”, then stumbled backward with a wince.

The tiger wasn’t damaged in the slightest. When it swung a paw in her direction, Mara was already leaping backward, avoiding the gout of flame that erupted from the tile she was currently standing on. That put her on a yellow tile, which fired a blast of lighting from the nearby wall.

She punched the lightning with her good hand, sending the flickering bolt straight into the tiger.

That had an effect, at least — but probably not the type she’d hoped for. The tiger shuddered as the electrical current struck it, then lowered its head and inhaled.

“That’s…uh…” Patrick mumbled. We all recognized it, including Mara, from the panicked expression on her face.

She reacted quickly, but it wasn’t enough. When she leaped upward, the tiger simply turned its own head to face her — and then exhaled. A colossal line of blue-white lightning crackled from the tiger’s jaws.

Mara crossed her arms over her body just before impact, her aura briefly hardening. Then the lightning smashed into her, burning through her shield sigil’s barrier in an instant and sending her flying backward to land in a shuddering heap on the floor.

I shot forward before Sera could protest. Meltlake still hadn’t moved, and I wasn’t convinced she’d do so in time.

Mara’s entire body was smoking when she pushed herself off the ground, kicking a spike that shot out of the ground beneath her and snapping it in twain. She spat blood, and I couldn’t tell if it was just from her split lip or something worse.

“Mara!” I shouted as I flew closer. “Let us help!”

“No.” She shook herself off as the tiger slowly turned toward her, growling and preparing to leap again. “I’ve got this, Corin.” Her fists tightened. “I have to.”

“At least let me boost you to Sunstone!”

“No need.” Then, as the tiger leapt toward her again, Mara cracked her neck and stretched out her hands to her sides.

“I hit Sunstone two days ago.”

The world seemed to freeze in place as Mara’s aura flashed brilliant orange. Then, as my vision cleared, I saw her shooting upward with a blade of pure mana stretched out from her right arm.

The tiger’s lunge missed her entirely. Mara landed atop its back, narrowly avoiding the mass of spikes, and thrust her mana blade into the tiger’s neck.

The tiger roared, then bucked, hurling Mara free. When she landed, she was already moving again, sliding under a paw and swinging upward, slicing through the bottom half of the tiger’s throat and scattering metal fragments everywhere.

That still didn’t cause the tiger to fall. It slammed a paw down toward her, only for Mara to roll beneath the arm, slashing upward at the elbow and tearing another gash.

When it spun toward her, Mara slashed across the tiger’s face, then jumped backward again. “Gotcha.” She grinned and hopped back another step.

The traps she’d triggered with all that sliding and rolling went off. She was long gone, but the tiger wasn’t.

Flames burst from the ground beneath it, melting sheets of metal. Spikes shot upward, failing to pierce the creature’s hide, but staggering it regardless. Vines of pure darkness wrapped around its rear legs.

When the tiger tried to stagger backward, instead, it simply fell to the ground with a crash.

“Good night, poor kitty.” Mara’s next jump put her on top of the center of the creature’s head. Then, with both arms raised upward, she formed a two-handed mana blade and slammed it straight into the tiger’s skull.

A moment later, the creature crashed to the ground. This time, it did not rise.

“Holy goddess,” Patrick murmured, floating up beside me. “Did you see that?”

I wasn’t listening. I shot forward, floating down next to her. “You okay?”

Mara snorted. “I’m fine, Corin! You don’t have to be such a worrier.” She dismissed her mana blades, then brushed her hair out of her eyes.

“You want some healing?” I asked.

“Quick regen spell wouldn’t go amiss.” She reached out a hand toward me.

I took it. “Lesser Regeneration.” My hand flashed green as the energy flowed between us, then I hastily withdrew my hand.

“Thanks.” She grinned. “I feel better already.”

Sera floated down nearby. “Did you do that just to show off hitting Sunstone?”

“Maybe.” She smiled. “Couldn’t resist the urge to make it a bit of a surprise, you know? And aura suppression was good practice. Might need to do it all the time once I hit Emerald.”

“How’d you get there so fast?” Sera asked. “I know you were in the spire for a week, but even with the accelerated growth from the increased mana density in here, you shouldn’t be much higher than three hundred.”

Mara gave her a guilty look. “Enhancement elixirs. Before we went into the spire, Keras went to a bank and withdrew some things from storage. He gave me a set of six Emerald-level elixirs. They…he said he’d been saving them for someone important. I think he…might have given up on something to give them to me.” She looked away for a moment, then closed her eyes and continued. “Couldn’t say no, though. I burned through one each day, got a bit stronger with each. Then, when I cleared the fifth floor with him and Patrick, I asked for another, weaker elixir as my prize for beating the spire guardian. The prize was just a Sunstone-level one, but that put me just over what I needed.”

“That’s an awful lot of elixirs to go through in a short time period. What about elixir toxicity?” I asked. “Isn’t that dangerous?”

Mara shrugged. “Less so with my attunement than most, given how much Guardian reinforces my body. And these were high-end, expensive elixirs. He’d been saving them for years. But yeah, it was a gamble. I took it. You can see the results.”

Close to a hundred mana in six days was…absurd. I’d known elixirs could boost growth rates, but if Keras had given her elixirs that had boosted her mana to that extent…

Maybe I needed to get back into researching elixirs a little more seriously. I wasn’t going to get Emerald-level ones like Keras had given Mara, of course. I didn’t even know how he could have gotten those…a tournament prize, maybe?

I was curious who he had been originally intending to give them to, but that wasn’t the important thing right now.

I shot Meltlake a look as the professor floated closer. “You knew she was Sunstone, didn’t you?”

“I suspected.” Meltlake shrugged. “But more than that, I trusted that Miss Callahan could handle the encounter regardless of her attunement level. You’re still holding back a thing or two, aren’t you?”

“Might be that I am.” She flexed her hands. “But you know, right now, some of that mana water wouldn’t go amiss.”

The door to the previous room had reopened with the end of the conflict, and Mara went back there with the others. The floor was inert now, so Patrick dismissed the levitation spells to conserve mana.

While the others retreated with Mara, I stayed with Meltlake near the tiger and got to work. “Any idea where the core is located?” I asked her.

“Not for this style of construct, no.” She shook her head. “But I’ll help you dig.” Meltlake raised her cane and a thin line of white flame extended from it. With that flame, she cut through slices of the tiger in an instant.

It only took a few minutes before we located the creature’s mana core, which I stowed in the Jaden Box. As an afterthought, I asked Meltlake to cut a few smaller chunks of the tiger and stored those in the box, too.

“You’re quite a collector, aren’t you?” Meltlake noted.

“Comes with the attunement, I think.”

“Perhaps, but your case seems more extreme than most. Don’t worry, however. I mean that as a compliment.”

“Thanks, Professor.”

She nodded. For a time, we were both silent.

Then, she said quietly, “I’ve been thinking about what you said before.” And after a moment, she added, “I don’t think you need my help. You are doing just fine on your own.”

I blinked, turning to face her more completely. For a moment, Meltlake looked much older than her actual age.

I was never good at inspirational speeches, and I certainly didn’t know how to give proper encouragement to someone in her position. Meltlake was a hero. She’d been famous since…well, around when I’d been born, really, when she’d first been heralded as a prodigy of the Hartigan family.

What did you say to someone like that?

I wasn’t sure, so I said the first thing that came to my mind. “…Isn’t that a good thing?”

She seemed taken aback by that. “Well, it speaks well for your abilities, of course, but…”

I raised both hands. “No, no. Not just that, professor. It speaks well for how well you taught us.”

Meltlake gave me a skeptical look. “You’ve had many teachers.”

“Sure, sure. But you’re more than that — you’re an inspiration to all of us. You’re an icon. Just having you at the school is a symbol of Valian potential. Do you remember what happened with our mid-terms?”

“Certainly. Your team made it all the way to the end.”

“…And we were absolutely demolished by your simulacrum. I still don’t know how you managed to make one like that, but it was a good lesson. As strong as we might have gotten for our age, we still have a long way to go. We worked harder after that day. All of us. And beyond that? You’ve taken the time to give personal training to Patrick. He idolizes you, you know.”

“I’m not certain that’s wise.”

“Who would be a better model? You’re the most powerful Elementalist in recent history, Professor. Maybe the most powerful of all time. And how many powerful Elementalists would even bother to pass on their teachings to a commoner?”

She gave me a harder look. “Patrick has tremendous potential. His position of birth is absolutely irrelevant.”

“Right.” I nodded. “And how many other powerful Elementalists do you think would have felt that same way and offered to personally mentor him?”

“I…” She hesitated. “…Is that really enough?”

I shrugged. “I think it is. But it’s not up to me — and if it’s not enough for you, fine. You’ve still got choices. Maybe you can’t achieve Sapphire. Maybe that was a big goal, and you’ll never reach it: that’s tough, but that happens to a lot of people, you know. I was crushed when I didn’t get the Shaper attunement. But I’m still here, still working…and, in truth, I’m probably a whole lot stronger than if I’d just gotten the thing I’d wanted.”

Meltlake seemed to consider that. “Perhaps. I know there are other routes to power, they just seem…insufficient.”

“Well, then keep looking. Or make a new one. It may sound arrogant, but if you need help, I’m glad to offer it.”

“…Thank you, Corin. I…think you’re right. If one route proves impossible…I simply need to choose another.”

Maybe it was just my imagination, but when she turned away from me and toward the next room, I think she stood a little straighter. More like the Professor Meltlake I’d first encountered.

It wasn’t long before the others returned. After only a brief bit of discussion, we headed to the doors to the next room.

I knew what awaited us. It was a simple circular room with a stairway in the middle. In front of the stairway was a hovering phantasmal figure that resembled nothing more than an empty robe.

“Congratulations,” the spectral speaker spoke. “You have completed the fifth floor of the spire. Before you proceed, you may each choose a single reward.”

With a wave of the speaker’s hand the air filled with glittering prizes. Swords, daggers, bags of coins, potions, pieces of armor…they manifested without warning, then floated in midair.

In spite of knowing what was coming, I still gazed in awe. Then, immediately, I activated Detect Aura.

Most of the items were enchanted. Uniformly, those items bearing enchantments were Sunstone-level.

An idea crossed my mind. “…How much time do we have to choose?”

“There is no strict time limit,” the spectral figure explained.

“Perfect.” I grinned. “You guys up for waiting a few hours?”

***

While the others discussed their prizes, I made notes. I sketched out every single rune on every single item present.

I didn’t think there would be any truly unknown runes in the set, but there were a few I wasn’t currently familiar with.

After that, the next task was somewhat more exhausting. I went back to any of the items I couldn’t identify at a glance, touched one of the runes, and got to work.

Identify.

The process wasn’t foolproof, but I recorded what I could, then reported that information back to the group.

“Okay. So, I’ve sorted the items here into categories.”

Sera rubbed at her temples. “Of course you have.”

I ignored her. “The items over here,” I gestured to a pile in the right corner, “are easily replicable with my current enchantment skill level. Some of them are useful, but we should still avoid them, because if we want it, I can just make it later.”

“This section,” I pointed again, “has items that require mana types that aren’t available to me right now, but still could be reproduced if we get access to someone with that mana type. I’d consider those low priority, but I’m not going to be grumpy if someone decides to take one.”

“And the rest are items you can’t reproduce?” Sera queried.

“Mm. Sort of. Two more sections. One is items I know I won’t be able to make for a while, either due to magical or material requirements. The last pile is stuff that doesn’t fall into any of those other categories. It includes items I can’t identify, things that aren’t magical items at all, that sort of thing. I’d recommend you all take something from one of those last two stacks.”

“What about you?” Mara asked. “Stickin’ with what you came for?”

“Yep.” I’d already picked up a single silvery disc and confirmed with the phantasmal figure that was watching us that it was a Petitioner’s Token. Sadly, said phantasmal figure wouldn’t help me identify the few remaining magical items I hadn’t cracked. “Some of this other stuff is tempting, though, so if any of you want to get me something…”

Sera rolled her eyes. “We’re still a long way from your name day, but we’ll see. Come on, show us around.”

I headed to the pile of items I couldn’t replicate.

First, a pair of pure-white gloves. “Magician’s Gloves. They make whatever you’re holding not only invisible, but also inaudible and intangible to everyone other than yourself. I could handle the first couple parts of something like this, but the third part is sprit magic.”

“Might be for someone a little sneakier than we are,” Patrick noted.

Inadvertently, I thought of Jin. “Maybe, but there are other applications. Depending on the area, you might be able to, say, make a locked treasure box incorporeal.”

“Would it work on people?” Sera asked.

I blinked. “Uh…maybe very small people? I don’t know, actually. I’m not familiar enough with spirit runes to know the total area it covers, or how applicable it would be to the living.”

“Hm.” Sera seemed to ponder that, but didn’t make any moves to take the gloves.

I moved on to the next item, a bright yellow crystal sphere. I tapped a finger against the surface. Immediately, holes opened in the sides of the sphere and began to glow. “Off,” I said. The holes closed. I grinned. “I like this one. Automated proximity defense sphere. When you tap it, it detects you as the owner, then activates and attacks anyone else that is nearby. You can give it a few more specific commands, but I haven’t sorted through all of them again. I’m pretty sure you can mark friendlies somehow, but, uh, not sure.”

“What kind of attacks are we talking about?” Patrick asked.

“It shoots beams of light mana. I don’t think they’re very strong, but it might be a good emergency defense for, say, if you have to sleep in the middle of dangerous territory. Could deploy it around corners or that sort of thing, too.”

“Seems a little unwieldy,” Sera noted. She was right: the sphere was larger than a fist, meaning that carrying it in a simple belt pouch would be tricky.

“Yeah. Might have to have a special bag for it, or a backpack…or maybe build some kind of compacting function into it?” I frowned, then shook my head. “No, that’s too likely to damage it. Probably. I’ll think on it.”

“What’s next?” Sera asked.

“Oh, right.” I pointed at a floating potion vial. “Simplest thing here.”

“Enhancement elixir.” Mara filled in for me. “Same type as the reward I got from the last climb. You were workin’ on learning to make those though, yeah?”

“Working on the theory behind it, sure, but I didn’t take the potions class like Cecily. It’s probably going to be quite a while before I can do something like that, especially since it’s a Sunstone-level potion. Also, the materials are expensive. Mass producing those is a long-term plan, but for now, something like that isn’t a bad pick. It’s probably a couple points of mana at most, but that’s a permanent benefit. Most magical items are temporary.”

“Temporary?” Patrick blinked. “Aren’t these self-recharging?”

“Oh, yeah, sure.” I waved a hand dismissively. “Not what I mean. I mean they’re low-level items, and I’m eventually going to be able to make Emerald ones, so they have limited long-term use.”

Meltlake broke her silence to laugh. “Oh, Corin. You don’t think small, do you?”

“Never.” I gave her a side-eyed look. “Did you?”

“Fair point.” She grinned. “I certainly can’t complain if my students are as ambitious as I was.”

“As much as you may have a point about the eventual replicability of low-level items, we do have to survive to that point,” Sera pointed out, “also, we can sell any low-level stuff when we’re done.”

“True.” I gave her a nod of acknowledgment. “Just was advocating for the utility of long-term investments like the elixir. There are other valid choices. In fact, there are a few I like a great deal.”

“Well, don’t leave us in suspense,” Mara grinned. “Let us at ‘em.”

“Right.” I walked to the next item, jerking a thumb at it. It was a large brown sack. “Dimensional bag.”

Everyone knew what that was, of course. They’d seen me use the Jaden Box a million times.

“Limitations?” Sera asked.

“The extra dimensional space linked to it is a ten-meter cube. There’s no automatic recall function: when you reach in, it’s just like reaching into the top of that cube of space. You can also physically go in, I suppose, but you’d suffocate pretty fast if you don’t leave the top of the bag open. It’s less like the box and more like you’re just…carrying around a closet.”

“That’s still pretty useful.” Patrick rubbed at the scruff growing on his chin. Now that I’d mostly broken that habit, apparently he’d been picking it up. “I mean, not all of us have a box like yours, and you’re not going to be able to keep it permanently.”

“No,” Meltlake gave me a hard look, “certainly not.”

I cleared my throat. “Right. Uh, so, dimensional bag, really great prize, someone should take it. Moving on.”

I poked at a dagger. “This guy? Flying dagger. He’d be floating even without the spell that’s levitating everything for showmanship.”

“It’s not showmanship, it’s enhanced visibility,” the spectral figure pouted quietly toward the back of the room. I’d…kind of forgotten they were there.

And I forgot promptly again as I resumed my explanation. “Anyway, levitating a dagger is generally easy enough, but this one has a pursuit function. You point it at a target and it fires a beam of light from the tip. Whatever that light strikes is marked as a target, then when you say the command word, it follows the mark. Another word can recall it to your hand.”

Sera raised an eyebrow. “Meaning it’s basically a homing throwing dagger? That sounds kind of weak.”

“It’s not really that it’s powerful, so much as technically complex. Marking and tracking a target is actually a very advanced set of functions that…”

“Aren’t really all that useful to the rest of us,” Sera pointed out. “And you’ve already written them down.”

“Fair.” My shoulders slumped a little. I liked that dagger. I wasn’t a sword aficionado like Keras, but I appreciated fine art, and that dagger’s enchantments were art. “Okay, let’s try something a little different, then.” I waved at what looked like a long, silken sheet.

“Let me guess. Flying carpet?” Patrick asked.

“Actually, no. I mean, it is right now, but no. Ordinarily, this is a security blanket. You put it on the ground, unfold it, and activate it. It puts up a dome-shaped barrier for ten hours, blocking anything from entering the dome, aside from air. It also has temperature regulation, sound suppression, and even visibility concealment functions.”

“…Oh, I getcha.” Mara walked up and patted the side of it. “It’s for sleepin’ outdoors.”

I snapped my fingers. “Right. You could use it sleep, say, in the Unclaimed Lands, in a dangerous spot. Or in snow. Or if you’re in a spire and need to sleep, but can’t get to a safe room.”

“…Not very big, is it?” Sera noted.

“Eh, I’d bet we could fit two or three of us, if we scrunch.” Mara tugged on the fabric, trying to stretch it further.

For some reason, Patrick blushed a little.

“Anyway, I think something like this would be a good investment in the long run.” I moved on to the next item, a red iron helmet. “Real simple one: it’s built for blocking mental intrusions. And given what happened last year…”

“Corin.” Sera’s tone was far more forceful than I expected. “We all remember that. There’s no need to bring it up.”

I didn’t understand why until I saw Meltlake’s expression. She turned away, but…

Oh.

“I, uh. Sorry. Anyway, useful item. Not foolproof, but better than anything I can make. Moving on.”

I must have gone through the descriptions of ten more items after that, but I’d covered some of the best ones early on.

In the end, Mara walked out with the security blanket, Patrick picked the dimensional bag, and Sera took the enhancement elixir. I was pretty sure Mara wanted the elixir, too, but I think she read Sera’s intent and simply let Sera take it.

We all knew how important it was to Sera to make up for lost time.

Meltlake surprised me by taking the sphere. I didn’t think it would be useful to her, given her own offensive abilities, but I figured she might have picked it as a gift for someone who might need it. Maybe Patrick? I didn’t ask, since that would have ruined the surprise if she did plan to give it to someone in our group in the future.

With all our prizes in hand, we were finally ready to leave the tower.

I’d succeeded.

I had my route to reach inside Arbiter’s Gate.

With our new items in hand, we formed a circle. Meltlake rang a return bell.

And with that, our trip to the Tiger Spire was at an end.

Chapter XVI – New Old Friends

Appearing outside of the tower was almost as surreal as stepping inside had been. It took me a moment just to steady myself and process our new locale — the anchor room for the nearby Soaring Wings facility. Immediately, one of their staff checked us over for injuries. Mara was a little beaten up from her fight with the tiger and got some brief medical attention, but we were largely in excellent shape.

Soon, we were on our way out and back into the world.

We formed a small circle to discuss things outside the building.

“I believe this is where we part ways.” Professor Meltlake still leaned on her cane as she talked to us, but perhaps a little less heavily than before we’d entered. Her expression seemed calmer, too.

More like the Meltlake of old.

“Are you…sure, Professor?” Patrick turned to her, his tone pleading. “You could come with us through the Arbiter’s Gate, too. I mean, assuming Corin is okay with it?”

“Sure, I’d be glad to have her along…assuming any of you can come with me. I’m not actually sure how that works.” I frowned, thinking back to my talk with Farren, but it seemed frustratingly vague.

“It should, but you’ll basically be in a waiting room until someone comes to address you,” Meltlake explained, “And I believe I’ve waited quite long enough for what I need to do.”

Patrick frowned. “You’re still going to do a second Judgment, then?”

Meltlake gave him a firm nod. “Yes. If anything, this experience has made that clearer. But worry not.” She lifted her cane and pointed it at him. “You still have far too much to learn for me to leave you behind.”

Patrick laughed. “Yeah, you still haven’t taught me that Mete—”

Meltlake raised her other finger to her lips. “Ssh. Let’s save that one for a surprise.”

“Of course!” He laughed again. Then, after a moment of pause, he stepped forward and hugged her. Meltlake froze for a moment, then pulled him in closer.

“You stay safe, Patrick.” She let out a sigh.

“You too, Professor.”

With that, our group exchanged a few more goodbyes with our professor, then parted ways with her.

Good luck, I wished her in my mind as she approached the Gates of Judgment. But I don’t think you’ll need it. Not anymore.

A fire burned within her heart once again.

***

Before our circle broke apart, Sera turned to glance around the area, making sure we weren’t observed. Then, she spun toward me. “Before we do anything else, I need your help.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Sure…? What’s this about?”

She closed her eyes tightly for a moment, opening and closing her hands in the air, then took a steadying breath. “Your Arbiter power boost. I need it. Now. As much as you can give me.”

I blinked. “Are you sure? You still haven’t hit your old mana level, and I thought that threshold was—”

“Time sensitive matter. Need to do this now. Wanted to do it immediately, but couldn’t risk Meltlake taking action.”

I wasn’t sure what to say to that. “Okay? Uh, if you’re sure. Turn around, it’s easier with direct contact.”

She turned around, pulling up her shirt slightly so I could see the mark on her back. Patrick turned away, looking mildly embarrassed.

I put my hand on Sera’s Invoker mark. “Last chance to—”

“Do it.” She hissed. “Before I have a chance to change my mind.”

I frowned, trying and failing to understand what could be so urgent. Then, with great care, I began to transfer mana from my hand into her Attunement.

“More. Quickly. As much as you can give me.”

“Sera, what’s this—”

“You’ll see in a moment.”

I poured mana into her, draining most of my right hand’s power. “I’m going to estimate that you’re at twice your safe level now. I shouldn’t go over that.”

Sera pulled away. “It’ll be enough. It’ll have to be.” She adjusted her shirt, then activated her bracers, the first item I’d made her. They flooded the air with additional mana to be used for summoning, but…what was she doing with it?

Seiryu? Summoning her would take tremendous mana, but she can’t do that outside of the spire, can she?

The answer came a moment later. Sera took another breath, then spoke a simple phrase that created as many questions as it answered.

“True Summoning — Emery Verena, I summon you.”

There was a flash in the air around Sera, then the sound of something cracking. She staggered…and then a young woman was standing next to her, looking disoriented.

I stepped forward out of instinct, grabbing Sera before she could fall over.

At the same time, Mara gasped and moved. “Emery!” She threw herself at the sickly woman, pulling her tightly into a hug. “Emery, you’re here!”

“I…” Emery Verena melted into Mara’s hug. “Oh.”

“Sera,” Patrick’s voice was filled with concern and…perhaps a bit of uncharacteristic disapproval, “…What have you done?”

Sera steadied herself, giving me a grateful nod as she pulled away to stand on her own. “Exactly what it sounded like.” She raised a hand in a “hold on” gesture, then broke into a wracking cough.

“Sera…are you okay?”

Sera winced, rubbing at her neck. “I…will be. Give me a minute.” Her voice was ragged, the worst I’d heard it in months.

Mara finally separated from Emery, giving Sera a grateful look. “Thank you.”

Emery turned as well, giving Sera a curtsy. “You have my gratitude as well, of course, Miss Cadence.” She frowned, turning to examine her surroundings. “It’s true, then. I didn’t believe you when you first offered the contract, but this…this…that’s the Tiger Spire, isn’t it? That’s where we were?”

Something about Emery’s expression was heartbreaking, but not as much as the thought of what Sera might have just done. Without the mana watch, I couldn’t check to see if she’d just torn her attunement back apart, but from the scratchiness in her voice and the coughing…

…Well, that couldn’t be good. I hoped that whatever damage she might have caused wouldn’t be permanent. Perhaps she’d just reopened an old wound that would heal on its own.

“It is,” Mara smiled softly. “Wait. You…remember Sera? And do you…?”

“I remember you.” Emery smiled, lifting a hand to Mara’s cheek. “As if I could forget.”

“How is that possible?” Mara asked. “Aren’t you, you know…”

“A construct. A fake version of a woman long dead.” Emery Verena nodded. “Miss Cadence explained the situation to me the morning before you left. She said that with a contract, she could potentially summon me — the same version of me that you met — out of the spire…but only if she was fast enough to get to me before our area in the spire ‘reset’. If that happened, neither of us were sure what would occur.”

“Then…you…”

“She’s not a copy of the version you met, Mara,” Sera managed. “It was a True Summoning — I didn’t make another copy. I physically moved her. She’s the same one we all met in the tower.”

“Sera…” Patrick gave my sister a concerned look. “There could be consequences for this.”

“Don’t I know it.” Sera laughed, rubbing at her neck, and then broke into another cough.

Patrick winced. “Those…aren’t the sort of consequences that I meant. Taking an original creature out of a spire…that’s…”

“Not generally permitted without special circumstances,” I finished for him. “Because you’re depleting the spire’s resources.”

“Summons that don’t even know they’re summons are something of a gray area.” Sera winced. “Normally, most summons are taught the conditions under which they’re allowed to be True Summoned, which go in the contract. But since Emery didn’t even know her true nature…we just sort of did our own thing.”

“And you could get in trouble for it.” Patrick shook his head.

“We’ll deal with that. For the moment,” I glanced around at the area, “we may want to head somewhere we won’t attract further attention.”

I got a series of nods in reply.

Given the situation, our next trip wasn’t to the Arbiter’s Gate, but to a hotel. After booking a couple rooms, we discussed our plans.

“Can you summon and unsummon Emery safely?” I asked Sera.

She nodded. “Yes, but it’s…a little more complicated for a True Summon. More like how Derek’s Soulblade summons work.”

I nodded in understanding. “Okay. Let’s take a few hours to rest here, then we can figure out what to do next.”

We took a few hours to bathe, change our clothes, and get some food. Sera’s voice had cleared up a bit by the end of that, but she was still clearly worse than before we’d entered the spire.

“Are you up for going with us to the Arbiter’s Gate?” I asked her.

“Absolutely.” Sera nodded. “I can feel my mana coming back. It’s…not like before.”

I exhaled a sigh of relief. “You took a tremendous risk there.”

She nodded. “Can’t let you be the only one making the crazy decisions. I… remember what Keras told us about the Spirit Gateway Crystal making copies of his friends? The spires are the same. They’re…basically making people, then killing them immediately when they’re done being used.”

“Why do something about Emery in specific? Isn’t the same thing true for everyone in that party, and the people on the Iron Redoubt, and…”

“Yes.” Sera nodded. “But I’m only one person, and not a particularly strong one. Not yet. Even one True Summoning was beyond what I could have done on my own, which is why I needed your help. Even then, it almost…” She winced, rubbing at her neck again. “My choices were simple enough. I could do nothing, or I could do something that might help in a small way. And given those choices, well, there isn’t really any choice at all, is there?”

“…No.” My shoulders slumped. “But you’ve reminded me about a much bigger problem, and now I feel…”

“Like you need to fix everything right now?” Sera gave me a pained look. “Look, Corin. You can’t always save everyone, and certainly not immediately. It’s not your responsibility to fix every perceived inequity in the world.”

“I know, I know, I just…” I shut my eyes. “I didn’t even think about saving Emery. Or anyone at that party. I was so wrapped up in the moment, I…”

“That’s normal. Those spires are dangerous. I just happened to have an opportunity to do something good, and I took it. You could maybe, I don’t know, feel proud of me instead of feeling bad about yourself?”

I winced. “I…am proud of you.”

She nodded. “Good. You should, because I’m amazing. Now, you need to forgive yourself for not doing the same thing, or doing more — because you can’t always be looking out for yourself, your peer group, and literally everyone else in the world at the same time.”

“It’s…gah. I know that, intellectually, but it’s hard.” I winced. “And it’s harder when I forget, and then remember. Because it’s so easy, Sera. It’s so easy to just…play along. To get caught up in the tides of what we’ve been taught and never question anything, never seek change. What happens if I just…lose track of things, and never address any of this?”

“Well, then. I suppose you’ll have to let everyone else in the world take a tiny bit of responsibility.”

I didn’t know what to say to that, so I just…kind of got quiet for a while.

Finally, Sera spoke again. “Even if you can’t trust everyone in the world, can you at least trust me a little?”

“I do, I just…I don’t think we always have the same priorities.”

“We don’t.” She nodded. “But as far as monster stuff like this goes? I’m not going to forget about it.”

“…Thanks. That helps a bit.” I nodded. “Sorry for making this about me.”

“Don’t worry, Corin. I’m very used to that by now.” She smiled. “But if you’d help to make it up to me and do something positive, be a good brother and make me some tea? My voice is killing me.”

“You got it.”

I made Sera some tea (poorly) and gave her some space. We took a few more hours to rest.

After that, Sera went and had a discussion with Mara and Emery without me, and then returned with Mara alone.

“She’s unsummoned,” Mara explained. “We’ll…have time to do things later. For now, the priority is going with you to the Arbiter’s Gate, and it wouldn’t be safe to take her in there or leave her alone here.”

I nodded in understanding. “You could stay here with her, you know.”

Mara shook her head. “Too much at stake. Emery and I will have time later.”

“Shall we get going, then?” Sera asked.

Throughout it all, I should have noticed that Patrick was uncharacteristically silent.

***

We headed to the gate as a group. The Arbiter’s Gate was ostensibly completely safe, but given the insanity we’d run into in the spire so far, no one was willing to assume that was reliable.

Beyond that, we didn’t know how long it was going to take to arrange a meeting. If it took more than a day or so, having multiple people to sleep in shifts inside would be a good idea.

We found the gate easily enough with some directions from the Soaring Wings. We got a couple funny looks for asking, but that wasn’t much of a surprise, given the scarcity of Arbiter attunements.

The entrance was much smaller than typical tower entrances: it was a single, strangely mundane-looking metal door.

Next to the door was a waist-height stone pedestal capped with a metal segment covered in runes. The center of that metal segment had an obvious slot on the top. There were no instructions anywhere, but it was clear enough that this was where I was supposed to put the disc.

Before doing anything else, I retrieved a notebook and wrote the runes down. Some of them appeared typical — detection runes designed to note the passage of an object into a slot in the top of the metal pillar, reinforcement runes to keep the item intact, that sort of thing. Something related to teleportation. Beyond that, I noted a few in a completely different style.

Divine runes, perhaps, like those used to craft the spire. Or maybe foreign ones, from another country?

The incongruity bothered me a little, but I couldn’t worry about it too much. I wrote those extra runes down, too.

“Are you planning to draw pictures of the spire, too?” Sera asked. “Should I get you an easel?”

“Sorry, sorry.” I tucked my parchment away in the Jaden Box. “Okay, let’s do this.”

Finally, it’s time to get some answers.

I slipped the disc out of my bag. Next, I closed my eyes and concentrated, sending a hint of mana into the object. A single rune — identical to the Arbiter attunement on my hand — appeared in the center of the disc. Finally, with the disc activated, I reached forward to insert it into the slot.

There was a brief musical chime, then I heard a voice in my mind.

[We’re sorry, the visage Ferras is currently unavailable. Please try again.]

I blinked.

Then, I heard the sound of something shifting in the pedestal in front of me. A slot opened, and a disc rolled out, near-identical to the one I’d just used.

“Um.” I caught the disc as it fell out of the slot, turning it over in my hands. “Did everyone else just hear that?”

“Hear what?” Sera asked.

I explained to the group, then turned the disc over in my hands. It was a Petitioner’s Coin, but not the same one I had used — this one was older, scoured and worn. In spite of the coin’s age, the Arbiter symbol still glowed on its surface.

“So,” Sera’s shoulders slumped, “No Ferras.”

“No Ferras right at this moment.” I wasn’t great at body language, but even I could tell that she was upset. Meeting Ferras was her best chance of getting herself fully healed, after all. “We can come back later, maybe.”

“Do you think whatever happened will be resolved by the end of our trip? It seems unlikely to me.”

I shrugged. “Depends. Could be something huge, like what’s happening to Tenjin. Could mean she’s just super drunk.”

“Corin!” Patrick gave me a hard look.

“What? You know her reputation.” I shook my head. “Anyway…I’m sorry, Sera. I know this isn’t what you wanted, but it might not be as bad as it seems.”

“How so?” She asked.

“When one door is closed…” I turned the coin. “Another sometimes opens.”

Her eyes refocused on the coin. “Wait, you mean…”

“This coin belonged to a previous Arbiter. One who charged it with their own mana…and thus, left a trace of their spirit behind. It might be too old, but…let’s see if this works, shall we?” I held up the coin. “Spirit Tracking Analytical Arrow.”

Then, without fanfare, a gleaming arrow appeared in my sight.

I let out a hoot, slipped the coin in my bag, and pointed. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have a trail.”

***

Following the arrow wasn’t difficult — it moved when I moved, and the destination wasn’t far. It led us to a house about a half a mile to the north. I had to wonder if Constantine had been living in close proximity to the spire this whole time, much like Derek had, in order to have easy access to the gate and the spire’s mana supply.

It was, of course, possible that a different Arbiter had used this coin…but the odds were in Constantine’s favor. He had worked in this area for years, whereas few of the other Arbiters that I’d heard about had spent any significant time in this area.

I’d find out soon enough…if I could get over the jitters I was feeling as I paused near the door.

“Whatcha waiting for?” Mara asked.

“I’m…figuring out what to say,” I said. That was almost true. I’d played this conversation in my head a hundred times. It wasn’t quite as bad as showing up at someone’s door to say something like “I’m your secret child”, but it wasn’t going to be easy, either. “I’m another Arbiter and I’ve been stalking you for weeks” wasn’t exactly a good conversation starter, but I wasn’t good at deciding what would be.

“I’ll handle any fumbles,” Sera offered, her voice still rough, but slightly better than earlier.

“Thanks.” I shook my head, then marched forward, knocking on the door.

A barrier flickered into place the moment my hand touched the surface. The barrier flickered just slightly, then I heard a chime from inside.

I took a step back, wondering if I should knock again, but a moment later, I heard the sound of tumblers shifting and locks clicking open.

Then, finally, the house’s door opened.

A woman stood in the doorway wearing a curious expression and a sword sheathed at her hip. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, with her crimson hair held up in a single neat bun. She wore practical traveling garb and thick glasses. As she stepped forward, I saw leaves rustling in the air around her. “Corin Cadence, I presume? I’ve been looking forward to making your acquaintance for some time now.”

I blinked. “Yes. That’s me. Uh…is this Warren Constantine’s residence?”

“Not precisely, but you’ve come to the right place.” She reached up and adjusted her glasses, then gave me a bright smile. “My name is Lydia. I believe we have a great deal to discuss.”

Chapter XVII – Making Haste

Sera stepped in, giving the woman a quizzical look. “Lydia Hastings, I presume?”

The woman gave us a formal bow. “You’re correct. Lydia Hastings it is. Or Scryer, if you prefer.”

Mara’s eyes widened at that. “Lydia? You’re the Lydia?”

Lydia gave her a smile. “I don’t know about that, Miss Callahan. But I am a Lydia, certainly.” She turned back to Sera, giving her a nod. “I see you’ve heard of me. Unusual, but within expectations for an Invoker.”

Sera gave Lydia a curious look. “How do you know about that?”

Lydia clasped her hands together in front of her. “I make it my business to know about the people I’m planning to deal with, the people that they’re connected to, and the people that they are connected to. I regret that I did not study you further, Miss Cadence. Your attunement is a fascinating subject, and your possession of a certain sword intriguing.”

“You can study me later, if you’d like. But for the moment, why are you here?”

“At my home?” Lydia raised an eyebrow. “What an unusual question.”

“You’re aware of what I mean.” Sera shook her head. “You’re not a native to this continent, and Ker—”

Lydia raised a hand. “Let’s not discuss him right now, or anything in regards to my homeland. Not enough security, I’m afraid. Too close to the spire.”

“Your house is heavily enchanted,” I waved at it. “Can we just come inside?”

“Forgive me for my lack of decorum. Please, come inside.” She stepped back, gestured to the doorway, and led us inside. She closed the door behind us, relocked it, and whispered something as she traced a symbol on the wall. “I’m afraid I will still have to avoid certain subjects, even here. My protections are significant, but not sufficient. Especially in the presence of an Arbiter.”

“If you’re aware of my attunement, then you should know why I’m here.” I noted.

“Yes, quite. You’ve come to the right place, and I’ll be more than happy to assist with a meeting.”

That was better than I’d expected. “So…what’s the catch?”

Lydia smiled. “There is always a catch with these things, isn’t there?” She put her hands on the table. “I’m afraid the man you’re seeking is far from here, and I can’t transport all of you.”

Ah, there it goes.

“Could you just tell us where he’s located?” I asked.

Lydia shook her head. “I’m afraid not. Tea?”

“Yes, please.”

She poured us tea. Sera, probably assuming everything was poison, didn’t drink any.

The tea was good. It probably wasn’t poisoned.

“What’s the complication?” Sera asked. “Or is this just you maintaining your leverage?”

Lydia sipped her own tea. “A bit of both, Miss Cadence, but mostly the former. The man you’re seeking is in hiding. There’s a high probability we are being observed, even now. I cannot openly state his location, and my means of getting us there cannot bring more than one person.”

“With respect, that’s entirely too little for us to go on.” Sera shook her head. “You’re going to have to give us more.”

Lydia paused. “What sort of information would assist in making your decision?”

I considered. “Well, earlier, you said you were ‘a Lydia’. To start with, which Lydia are you? The original or a copy?” I asked.

She reached up, adjusting her glasses. “Ah, now that is a fascinating question. If I was her…well, there would be philosophical questions regardless of which Lydia you were speaking to. But based on your phrasing, I’ll presume that a certain masked swordsman is your information source. Is that correct?”

“Yes.” I nodded. “He told me about the Spirit Gateway—”

“Not here.” She shook her head. “I believe I understand now, and I can adequately answer your question. I am that Lydia. If it assists you in distinguishing between our versions, you may refer to me as ‘Len’.”

“Len?”

“It’s short for ‘Lydia emulation’. I found it appropriate.” She gave a little smile, like she was appreciating a personal joke.

“Then you…wait, how are you out here?” Patrick asked.

“A question for another place and another time, I’m afraid.” Len responded. “It’s a bit of a tale.”

Sera frowned at me. “As nice as it is to know which Lydia we’re talking to, I don’t think it clarifies matters much, Corin.”

I raised a hand. “No, it does. Well, maybe. Is this matter related to the crystals out in the Unclaimed Lands?”

Len smiled broadly. “It is, at least in part.”

My mind swam with possibilities. I knew that the crystals in the Unclaimed Lands were primordial sources of power, far predating the goddess coming to Kaldwyn. The temples that the Prime Crystals resided within were the templates used for the creation of the spires themselves.

If this was a chance to learn more about them, it wasn’t an opportunity I wanted to miss…but it also wasn’t exactly an ideal time to leave. I still had a specific task to accomplish within the Arbiter’s Gate. “Does this need to be immediate?”

“Not strictly, but there would be significant benefits to going immediately. As it happens, I’m currently here to look for assistance with a task on behalf of the man you’re seeking. If you choose to be the one to help, there would be advantages. Naturally, I cannot tell you all the details here due to security risks.”

“Naturally,” Sera spat with a hint of venom. “Can’t anyone just be direct with us?”

“I’m afraid that directness is a luxury scarcely available to those of us with resourceful enemies, Miss Cadence. For what it’s worth, however, you have my sympathies. Your frustrations echo those I have experienced on numerous occasions myself.”

“Could we just go a more secure location to talk?” Patrick suggested. “Somewhere further away from the spire?”

“I’m afraid that the security measures any of us would be capable of implementing anywhere in Caelford would be woefully insufficient. This is, in part, why I wish to travel immediately: I can take Master Cadence to a place where we might speak without prying eyes and ears.”

Sera’s expression darkened. “What assurances can you give us that Corin would be safe if he agrees to go with you?”

“Very few, I’m afraid, beyond my word. I hope that your awareness of my identity and nature will be sufficient.” Len seemed to shrink a bit.

“When you say ‘take Corin’, you mean teleportation?” Sera asked.

“That’s correct, Miss Cadence.”

Sera frowned. “Teleportation can be tracked. How is that more secure?”

“An excellent question.” Len nodded. “Two things. One, tracking a teleportation spell generally requires physically going to the location of origin. This house is better shielded against physical intrusion than it is against scrying, making that more difficult for anyone who wishes to follow us. Second, our destination is considerably more secure. Once we reach that point, tracking us will be tremendously difficult, and we will take precautions to baffle tracking along the way.”

Sera seemed to consider that, then replied simply, “Acceptable answer.”

“Thank you.” Len tipped her head.

Sera turned to me. “That said, this seems like a terrible idea, Corin.”

“Thank you retracted,” Len noted.

“I think you should refuse,” Sera concluded. “There are too many unknown elements.”

I turned back to Len. “What else can you tell me?”

“I can offer you my personal assurance that this visit will take you to the person you’re seeking and give you an opportunity to get in his good graces. You will likely be safe.” She frowned. “Unless you aggravate him, which I find unlikely, but regrettably plausible.”

“Why is that?”

“The man you’re looking for has certain…difficulties in communication at times. It would be unkind to say much more than that. Rest assured that I will do my best to smooth over any difficulties you encounter, however.”

“That’s woefully insufficient.” I shook my head. “I can’t even verify that you are who you say you are.”

“Maybe we could go back in the spire and message Keras?” Mara suggested. “He could verify her identity, yeah?”

Len winced at the sound of Keras’ name. “I’d truly prefer not to inconvenience…that man… while he is in the midst of his climb. I already owe him a great deal, and…he doesn’t know I’m here. I’m concerned that if he knew, he would be distracted at best, if not leave the spire entirely.”

“Why?” I asked.

“He feels a degree of responsibility toward me, given the reasons for my existence. If you’re familiar with who I am, I believe that explanation may be sufficient?”

I nodded slowly. Most of you already know this, but I suppose I should provide a brief bit of context for those that don’t.

Lydia Hastings was Keras’ commanding officer back in his homeland, as well as one of his closest personal friends. When he first came to Kaldwyn, he went through one of the shrines in the Unclaimed Lands. In that shrine, he faced several challenges. One of them involved fighting a copy of Lydia.

Keras being Keras, he found a way to not only defeat her, but keep the copy alive — apparently indefinitely. When he’d first told the story, I’d imagined she’d be stuck inside the shrine where she’d been created, much like a spire-created summoned monster. If what Len was saying was accurate, she’d somehow gotten out.

That had some wider implications about what was possible for creatures like her in general, but it wasn’t quite the right time for me to sit around and ponder them. Apparently, Sera had already considered them in greater detail than I had, considering what she’d managed with Emery. Their situations were extremely similar.

“C’mon, guys. It’s Lydia.” Mara jerked a thumb in the strange woman’s direction. “You heard Keras talk about her. We know she’s not the enemy here.”

I gave Mara a raised eyebrow. “She tried to kill Keras virtually immediately after they met.”

Len paled and blushed, raising both hands in a defensive gesture. “In my defense, I was under the impression he had killed everyone I cared about. That was the structure of the test he was given: it was meant to be one of his nightmares.”

“Fair. But it’s an example of something that could be a problem — you’re mentally compromised.”

Len nodded slowly. “An interesting way of putting things. It’s really more that the starting conditions of my creation provided me with invalid information, which I’ve taken years to attempt to rectify as fully as possible. That being said, you’re not entirely wrong — everyone who exists is mentally compromised. We all accumulate false information over time, internalize it, and are influenced by it, consciously or otherwise. We are, in part, a product of these biases, as well as all other information we gather in our lifetimes.”

“While this is a fascinating philosophical discussion,” Sera cut in, “the more urgent issue is that you’re trying to abscond with my brother alone, for reasons you’ve been extraordinarily unclear about. You’re going to have to give us something more than platitudes and pedantry if you want there to be any chance for us to drop what we’re doing and help you.”

Len made some sort of gesture with two fingers that I assumed was some kind of Mythralian salute or something. “Very well, I acknowledge your point. Sadly, there is no simple way for you to verify my claims. While you could return to the spire and speak to our mutual acquaintance about my nature and trustworthiness, I would prefer not to inconvenience him any further. As you are no doubt aware, I already inconvenienced him significantly simply by existing.”

“That’s…not a very healthy way to look at your own existence.” Sera frowned.

“Healthy or not, it’s my perspective.” Len gave Sera a smile that looked…resigned. Exhausted. “If he had not chosen to spare me, he could have taken something of far greater value from that shrine. For his sacrifice, I already owe him two life debts — for myself, and for my brother. I cannot hope to repay such a thing, but I can tell you this much: I am aware that you are under his protection. Taking any action against you would be a breach of his trust and that…that would be unthinkable to me. Assisting you in this endeavor, however, may be some small way of beginning to help repay him.”

So far as I could tell, Len sounded genuine with that statement, and I felt a pang of sympathy for her.

What would it be like to live knowing that your continued existence was owed so fully to someone else?

Simply saving someone’s life in battle was significant enough, but what Keras had done was an order of magnitude beyond that: he’d given something valuable up in order to help her with no expectation of reward.

Even seeing Len standing in front of me, I wasn’t sure if I could have made that same choice…or if it was the right one.

“You seem sincere enough,” Sera noted, “but words are cheap. Bind.”

There was a flash as Sera’s spell manifested, then a flickering barrier manifested in place around Len, vanishing a moment later.

Len’s lips twitched upward in amusement. “Can’t say someone has tried that on me before. An interesting tactic, but unfortunately, not a viable one. While I would have consented to lower my Comprehensive Barrier for you to cast the spell on me, it still would have not worked. I am not of Selys’ creation, nor have I been altered by her. Your summoning contracts and bindings cannot work on me. Not without being adapted for that purpose, at any rate.”

That was an interesting statement, if true.

Sera shrugged. “Prove it.”

Len shrugged a shoulder. “Very well. Dismiss Comprehensive Barrier.”

“Bind.”

There was a flash of light, then…

Sera winced. “She’s right. It didn’t take. Didn’t work the way it would like if I tried it on a human, either, though.”

Len snapped her fingers and a barrier reappeared around her. “If that’s all…”

“It’s not.” Sera shook her head. “Researcher, I summon you.”

Researcher appeared at her side. “Greetings, Summoner. How may I assist…oh!” Her eyes widened at the sight of Len. “Oh, hello!” She reached out with a hand immediately. “Can I touch you?”

Len laughed and stretched out a hand. “A knowledge elemental? Curious. Go ahead.”

Researcher gave a gleeful laugh and grabbed Len’s hand. “Oh! Oh! A corporealized crystal spirit! You’re so rare! What are you even doing out here?”

Len raised her other hand to her lips in a quieting gesture. “Sssh. Can’t discuss everything right here.”

“Of course, of course.” Researcher seemed to process everyone staring at her. She took a step back, cleared her throat, and turned toward Sera. “Ahem, sorry. Summoner…did you, uh, require assistance?”

“You’ve already done a portion of it.” Sera gestured toward Len. “I needed you to verify her nature. Can you discern her magic types?”

“Absolutely. If you’ll allow me?”

Len nodded. “Go ahead.”

Researcher grabbed Len’s hand again. “Let’s see…uh, spirit. Life, mental, transference, light...clarity? That’s an odd one. Travel…”

“Good.” Sera nodded. “Can you verify some of her statements for us?”

Researcher shook her head. “In what way?”

“If you mean a truth detection spell, those don’t really work,” Len shook her head. “I’ve faked a number of them, believe me.”

“Not really giving us a great deal of confidence when you say that,” Sera retorted.

Len shrugged. “Better to be up front about this sort of thing. Elemental, I trust you concur?”

“Hm?” Researcher blinked distractedly. “Oh, uh, yes. Can’t discern truth from lies. Not exactly. I can read physical tells with a high degree of accuracy, but a highly sophisticated spirit like…”

“Len,” Len interjected helpfully.

“Len,” Researcher tried, seeming to feel the name out as she spoke, “could easily have misleading or entirely missing physical tells.”

Sera groaned. “Okay. If she was to transport Corin somewhere, would you be able to track the spell’s destination?”

“Potentially. It depends on the range.”

“Somewhere in the Unclaimed Lands?” Sera speculated aloud.

Len tipped her head in acknowledgement of Sera’s supposition.

Researcher shook her head vehemently. “No, no. I could…go with, though? Please?”

“I wish I could take you.” Len brushed Researcher’s cheek with a hand. “You’re quite a fascinating creature.”

“Likewise.” Researcher whispered.

“Sadly, my mana supply is too limited to transport more than just Corin and myself to the destination in a timely fashion.”

“What about taking an extra day to take multiple of us?” I asked.

“Theoretically possible, but it would require camping in the middle of the Unclaimed Lands on the way. There aren’t really any safe spots to do that.”

I nodded slowly. “What if I recharged your mana part-way with my own?”

Len seemed to ponder that. “How much do you have available?”

My mind immediately shot to my mana watch. I needed it to give her an accurate number. But…I could still estimate, at least. “Close to three hundred on my own.”

“Quite impressive for your age, but unfortunately…”

I raised a hand. “Not done. I also have several items I can drain for more mana. Hold on.” I stuck my hand in my bag.

“Retrieve: Gray mana battery.”

“Retrieve…” Len’s eyes widened. “You have Wrynn’s box?”

“Uh…” I froze. “…Maybe?”

“Hold on, give it here.” She stepped away from a disappointed Researcher to wave at me frantically.

“…No?” I replied uneasily.

Len gestured wildly at my bag and the box within it. “Do you know what that thing is capable of? We could summon Wrynn!”

I winced. “It isn’t charged.”

“…Oh.” Her shoulders slumped. “Apologies, I got excited. But wait, why haven’t you just recharged it? You’re an Arbiter.”

“Different type of runes. They’re not from around here, so I didn’t want to risk breaking them.”

Len blinked. “Oh. Oh. You don’t know how to interact with Artinian or Mythralian items. Of course.” She clapped her hands together. “Easily solved. Agree to come with me, and I’ll teach you how to recharge the box.”

I hesitated.

That was sorely tempting, but recharging the box and summoning Wrynn actually meant that I’d probably lose access to the item sooner. I didn’t want to admit that, though. “I’ll…take that into consideration.”

She must have noted my hesitation. “I’d be willing to teach you a bit about the how the runes work in general. Not enough to duplicate it — you’d need Artinian spirit arts to copy it completely — but useful theory.”

That was almost worth losing the box earlier, but it still didn’t resolve the core problem. “I’ll take you up on that if I decide to go. Now, I have some items here that I could drain in order to potentially give you back more mana. A few hundred more, at least.”

“Of what variety?”

“Mostly gray, some transference.”

“Hm.” She paused, seemingly doing some mental calculations. “How quickly do the items recharge?”

“An hour, under ideal conditions, but in the Unclaimed Lands…”

“Oh, they’re ambient recharge based? Interesting. Not good for our situation, but a good approach for spires. Hm.” She nodded. “Okay. There’s a way we might be able to bring one more person, but it takes some small risks.”

“Define small risks.” Sera folded her arms.

“I teleport us part way through the Unclaimed Lands to one of the sword shrines. Corin uses his mana and the batteries to recharge me. We wait for a few hours, and Corin recharges me as many times as necessary to give me twenty-four hundred additional mana. With that, I would be able to take two people with me for the rest of the journey. Corin and one other.”

“And the risk is that the shrine may be dangerous?” Sera asked.

“It’s more that the area outside the shrine may be dangerous,” Len replied. “A number of factions have set up camps outside some of the shrines. I know some that were unoccupied outside last time I visited, but it’s been months. If, for example, the Tails of Orochi decided to make camp outside the shrine…”

“Yeah, that’d be bad.” I frowned. “Could you teleport us away quickly if we ran into anyone?”

“I could save enough mana for an emergency, or you could refresh my mana as much as possible before the last teleport jump to the shrine. That might be enough to get away in an emergency, it might not. I’m willing to take the risk of encountering them if you are insistent upon bringing someone else along. Just be aware that this does introduce an extra layer of risk in exchange for the security of bringing a companion.”

“Can we have a moment to discuss it?” I asked.

“Of course.” Len nodded.

“In private?”

“Ah. Yes, forgive me.” Len bowed her head. “I’ll give you a bit of space.”

Len wandered off a short distance. Researcher glanced from-side-to-side, then surreptitiously followed Len a few moments later.

The rest of us formed a circle to talk. “Unless anyone has a compelling reason to refuse, I think I’m going.” I noted.

“Obviously.” Sera jerked a thumb at Len. “She hooked you perfectly. Too perfectly. Let’s get this out of the way — one of us is going with you. It’s just a question of which.”

I frowned. “Not sure I agree. Len seems like she’s probably who she says she is, and if she is, stopping at the shrine may add more danger than an extra body would remove.”

“How powerful do you think she is?” Sera asked me.

I activated Detect Aura and glanced aura. It showed precisely nothing. I turned back to Sera. “Detect Aura doesn’t get anything. She’s either suppressing heavily or just not an attuned. Probably the latter: presuming her story has any truth to it, she’d be classified as a non-spire monster, and we know those don’t generally have shrouds. That makes it hard to evaluate her threat level.”

Sera nodded. “About what I expected. Let’s think of it this way, then. Threat level wise, she was dangerous to Keras when he first arrived on the continent. He estimated himself as somewhere in the Citrine range. Even assuming she hasn’t improved at all over the last however many years it’s been — which I find unlikely — she’s probably around Citrine. On the off chance she means to do something you wouldn’t like, you can’t handle her alone. Two against one against a Citrine would be tremendously dangerous for us, but not impossible.”

“Depends on the Citrine, but fair.”

“Beyond that, she’s taking you to meet with someone else, and that someone might be hostile even if she isn’t. And even if neither of them means you harm, there’s still all the threats of the Unclaimed Lands…and, moreover, politics. If you’re being sent to do diplomatic work on your own, well, that’s its own risk.”

I rolled my eyes. “Thanks, Sera. Always appreciate your love and trust.”

“Hey, just being honest. We all know you don’t like dealing with politics.”

“Got a point there,” Patrick chimed in. “For an Arbiter, you’re not really much for, well, arbiting.”

“Think the word yer lookin’ for is arbitration,” Mara corrected.

“Right, that.”

I sighed. “Okay. So, fine. Presuming I agree to bring one of you, any volunteers?”

“I’m your retainer. It’s my responsibility to accompany you into danger.” Patrick smiled. “And I wouldn’t mind seeing one of those sword shrines…maybe if we’ve got the time, I could even try the tests?”

“Possible, but we’re probably too weak for that.” I paused. “Except for Mara. At Sunstone, she’s probably got a decent shot.”

“Talked to Keras ‘bout that a bit. I think it depends on the shrine. Not all of ‘em are even all that dangerous. More puzzles, less fighting. Wouldn’t mind a jaunt out there, and I’d be glad to back you up if you need it.”

“That just leaves me, then.” Sera nodded. “I will, of course, go with you if that’s your preference. Combat wise, I’m frankly still the weakest option of us for the moment, especially after what I just did. I probably shouldn’t use mana for another day or so. But if there’s a sensitive political matter to handle, I believe I’d be the best equipped to handle it.”

I nodded slowly, considering.

We talked about the options for a little longer, weighing each option carefully.

Then finally, I made my choice, dramatically pointing my finger. “Sera, I choose you.”

“Good.”

I turned to the others. “I value you both, but honestly, I need the diplomatic help more than I need assistance in a fight right now.”

“Makes sense!” Patrick grinned. “Don’t worry, we’ll be fine here. Maybe we’ll even take another jaunt into the tower?”

“Think I’m due a break.” Mara grimaced. “Those elixirs might not have hit me as hard as most, but I think they’re catchin’ up on me a bit.”

“Fair. Winter Festival, then?”

“Winter Festival it is.” Mara grinned.

With that, Patrick turned back to me. “Just, uh, make sure Len can get you back here in time for us to take the train home?”

…I hadn’t considered that.

With the decisions made, I went back to Len. “Sera and I will both go with you.”

“Excellent choice.” Len clapped her hands together, then turned to Researcher. “Perhaps you can rejoin us once we reach our destination, then?”

“Oh, I would be delighted!” Researcher chimed. “Summoner, if you wouldn’t mind calling me once you get there?”

“We’ll have to see what this Mysterious Unclaimed Lands Entity out there wants first, but probably.” Sera gave Researcher a smile. “Just stick with these two until I call you, then.”

“Of course!” Researcher bowed her head gratefully.

“Quick check — can you get us back here after you’re done?” I asked Len.

“Yes, I can provide transportation back, although we would still need to stop mid-way to rest at a mana-rich locale. I could also potentially teleport you to a train station without needing to stop — the area we’re going to is closer to a railway than it is to Caelford.”

I nodded. “We can make that decision later. Patrick, Mara, please feel free to take the train that we’re scheduled for if you don’t hear from us. If we don’t meet you here, we’ll plan to meet you in Valia instead.”

“Understood.” Patrick nodded.

We spent a few more minutes to discuss logistics, then we got started.

“You’ll need to hold my hands for the teleportation process,” Len explained. “It’s going to take several ‘jumps’. I have significant range, but nowhere near enough to get us all the way to our destination at once. After each jump, if the area looks clear, we’ll take a brief break to help recover from teleportation sickness. Are you ready?”

“Ready,” we confirmed.

We reached out and each took one of Len’s hands. It was easier for me to make contact when I initiated it, and I knew it was just for the purposes of a spell.

“Superior Teleportation,” Len spoke aloud.

Then Caelford faded away in a blur, and I found myself elsewhere.

***

I’d pictured the Unclaimed Lands as being sort of a barren, desert region. Sparse brush, dry air, maybe some cacti or something.

To my credit, there were areas of the Unclaimed Lands like that — notably the blackened sands near the Fire Temple. But the area where we appeared was very, very different.

We found ourselves in the midst of a forest glade. The trees around us formed a perfect circle. We’d appeared on top of some kind of stone platform etched with foreign runes. A small crystal hovered in mid-air above the platform.

With the forest line being hundreds of feet away from us, I had a clear view of a perfectly clear blue sky above us. The air wasn’t dry in the slightest: it was, perhaps, the cleanest and purest air I’d ever breathed.

I might have appreciated the beauty of it more if I wasn’t immediately sick to my stomach. I’d been teleported on many occasions before, but never anywhere close to this distance.

With great effort, I kept myself from vomiting on the teleportation platform. As it was, I barely managed to wobble for a moment, then force myself into a sitting position. Sera hastily did the same.

“Apologies for the effects. It seems we’re clear here, so we can take a brief break.” Len sat down as well, apparently completely unbothered. She fished a flask of something out of her pack and offered it to us.

We both accepted. If we were taking the risk of having her teleport us somewhere, accepting a drink was relatively minor by comparison. I then took a swig, and passed it to Sera. “What is that…peppermint?”

“Helps with the stomach, I find.”

She was right: it did help, at least a little. “What is this place?” I asked.

“An ancient continental gate.” Len smiled, patting the stone beneath us. “Don’t get too excited. It’s long inactive. Ruined in a war thousands of years ago. It still functions as an anchor point for teleportation spells, however, especially when it has an active power source. Using places like this is both safer and more efficient than just teleporting to random spots.”

“But more likely for us to encounter others,” Sera noted.

“Yes.” Len acknowledged. “The Tails do know about a few of them, but not this far out. When we get further east, we’ll have to be more cautious.”

“What about the crystal?” I asked.

“One of my own mana crystals, currently functioning as that temporary power source I mentioned. I put one up every few months, replacing them as they run out of mana.”

“…I don’t suppose you’d be willing to make me something like that?”

“I’d consider it, but one on this scale is days of work. It would be a discussion for a future time.”

I nodded. “Could you use something like that crystal to get the gate itself operational, even temporarily?”

“I’ve been working on that for some time, but there’s simply too much damage right now. Many of the runes aren’t simply unpowered — they were obliterated, and I don’t have the knowledge necessary to reconstruct them. Yet.” She smiled. “Maybe someday, we’ll have a functional portal network across the entire continent. It’s a long-term project of mine, but keep it quiet. The major nations would be…displeased to know about the existence of such a portal network, and I’m not ready to have these sites defended, either physically or politically.”

We spent a bit longer discussing the politics behind such a gateway network while we had some water and food. I also wrote down the runes that were still visible on the gateway.

Then, we grudgingly stood back up, took Len’s hands again, and teleported to the next spot.

The next three teleports were to similar inactive gates, but in different areas. One was atop a mountainside, the next a pitch-black forest, and the final one a small island in the middle of a lake.

“We’ll need to stop for you to recharge my mana here,” Len explained. “The next jump will take us to one of the sword shrines, and we’ll need to be prepared to run immediately.”

I nodded. I used my Arbiter attunement to recharge her mana using both my own and the mana from each of my batteries. I kept a fraction of my mana for emergencies, but still managed to give her the amount she needed. Then, I pulled a flask of mana water out of the Jaden Box and drank it, hoping to accelerate my mana recovery.

We took about a half hour break, but by that point it was getting dark. Nightfall in the Unclaimed Lands had greater risks, so we chose to go ahead with the next teleportation without waiting for my mana to completely recharge. It made me mildly uncomfortable, but we’d be relying on Len’s mana to get us out regardless of my mana pool, so it didn’t matter all that much.

My hand trembled just a bit as we prepared for the jump to the shrine, and not from the overuse of mana.

“Superior Teleport.”

My mind lurched as we moved…

And found ourselves completely alone outside of a titanic stone building.

A sword shrine. I’d love to get a better look at these someday. It’s a shame we have a specific task to deal with.

I scanned the area with Detect Aura just in case, but I found nothing. My shoulders slumped in relief.

“I’ll scout the region a bit, just to make sure no one is nearby. Stay here and keep resting,” Len instructed us.

We rested. Sera summoned Vanniv for airborne surveillance, but he found no one anywhere close to nearby.

When Len returned, she rested with us, satisfied that the area was unoccupied.

During that time, I got a better look at the sword shrine. Or, at least, the entrance.

The sword shrine was a single-story stone structure built on the shores of a lake. The entire exterior was flat, uniform gray stone, unmarred by any signs of age. It looked like the entire thing had been carved out of a single gigantic block of stone, implying the structure had been formed with magic.

The only thing disturbing the stone was the presence of twin doors made of solid, silvery metal. Each of the doors was etched with runes (which I wrote down, of course). Unlike the shrine Keras described, this one didn’t have any statues out front. It did, however, have a symbol of an upward-raised sword etched into the metal of each door.

The top of the building was slanted downward, toward the water’s edge, and I strongly suspected that implied the existence of more of the structure underground.

I processed that, then in a moment of shock, I realized something that may have been obvious. “Wait. Sword shrine. Lake. Is this one of Flowbreaker’s sword shrines?”

“It was, once.” Len gave me a sad smile. “Of course, the shrines themselves predate the sacred swords — but yes, this is a shrine one might have visited to earn Flowbreaker’s amulets, back when Flowbreaker was intact.”

I was suddenly much more interested. “What are the odds the amulet is still in there?”

“None.” Len shook her head. “They’re all out in the world now.”

“Does that imply you know their locations?” Sera asked.

“Indeed, it does. Ah, your interest is due to Selys-Lyann, yes?” Len gestured at the sword at my hip. “I’ve heard speculation that the swords are the same, or otherwise related. Have you learned anything of interest on the subject?”

“Nothing conclusive.” I didn’t want to immediately tell her what Keras had told me. Given how long it had taken him to admit to any connection at all, I suspected that information was valuable. That might have just implied personal value to Keras, rather than any broader significance, but I still didn’t feel like giving it away for free. “But I’m interested in exploring it further. Would the crystals in the shrines know more?”

“Absolutely. Asking about the connection may be a worthwhile use of a boon if you complete a shrine. For the moment, however, I’ll have to ask you to refrain from taking the risk of entering this place. I need you intact for your meeting.”

“Now that we’re out here, care to share some more details about what is going on?” Sera asked.

Len paused, considering, then raised a finger. “Hold on a moment. Detect Scrying.”

She closed her eyes, concentrated, then shook her head. “No, we’re still in an observable region. It’ll have to wait until we get into the proximity of our destination.”

I groaned a bit at that, but I couldn’t begrudge her for being cautious. We rested a bit longer, chatting a bit here and there, and then resumed the teleportation process.

It was past nightfall when we finally reached our destination, but fortunately, we didn’t encounter any dangers along the way.

When our final teleportation spell ended, my eyes were immediately drawn upward toward the colossal sight ahead of me.

A tower. A gigantic, formidable tower, wrought from the same strange gray stone as the sword shrine had been. I gawked as my head turned upward further, seeking the top of the cylindrical structure, but failing to find it. The building disappeared into the clouds.

“…Is that…?” I asked.

“The Seventh Spire?” Len released my hand, then stepped forward. “No. I’m afraid that’s further to the south. This is, in my humble opinion, something far more fascinating. A structure built not by the goddess, not by the makers…but by mortal hands.”

She turned, smiled, and waved to the tower’s entrance. “Welcome to the Sorcerer’s Spire. Home of the Ascendant Arbiter.”

As if on cue, the massive wooden doors of the tower opened of their own accord.

Len cracked a grin. “I believe he’s been expecting you.”

Chapter XVIII – Arbiters

As soon as the tower’s doors opened, we were greeted by monsters.

A line of golems marched out first. A dozen squat constructs of stone, followed by six made of solid metal. Behind those were another squad of six wrought from what looked like living wood.

They moved efficiently in straight lines, allowing for more and more creatures to follow them out of the spire.

A pair of gargoyles descended from the upper reaches of the spire, landing to perch atop the shoulders of two of the lead stone golems.

After that, a sequence of mismatched humanoid beings with little resemblance to one another. An orange-skinned man with hair made of pure fire. A woman with pale skin and a tornado making up the lower half of her body. A hairless and androgynous entity with purple skin and wearing a matching purple suit with twin curved swords on their hips.

Elementals, most likely, but significantly less human-looking ones that Researcher and the others I was generally familiar with. I wasn’t sure if that indicated anything about their level of power or if they were simply different categories of creatures. I knew elementals came in staggering varieties, and I knew many of those types, but I couldn’t reliably identify them all at a glance.

Finally, a pair of silvery-white haired people that looked near identical to each other, wearing pure-white robes and each having a straight sword sheathed on their hips. Aside from their strange hair, at a glance they looked more human than the rest of the creatures that had emerged.

That didn’t mean much. Mizuchi had looked mostly human at a first glance, save for her own strange hair, too.

My jaw tightened at the sight. It reminded me of nothing more than the incidents with the monsters spewing forth from the Serpent Spire back at the academy — signs of Katashi’s displeasure that caused terrible chaos and destruction. The recollection of Mizuchi only helped solidify that image.

Where those demonstrations of righteous anger had taken lives, this one had a different feel: the monsters all stopped in what must have been pre-specified positions, then turned toward the tower entrance…and fell to their knees.

That’s…a little intimidating.

I took a deep breath at the sight, trying to steady myself.

Don’t panic. Don’t screw this up. Tristan needs your help. Failure is not an option.

Then, alone, he finally appeared.

The figure that walked out of the tower doors last was nothing like the monsters that had come before. He looked to be about forty-years old, with a brown beard and hair showing healthy amounts of gray. He walked with a heavy staff in hand with a peculiar white sphere on the top, very likely some sort of magical crystal.

He was draped from head-to-toe with jewelry. A heavy, heart-shaped amulet sat over his chest. He had jewel-encrusted rings on every single finger, all of which glowed with inner light. A broad golden circlet sat on his head in a position that looked like it was probably upside down, but I couldn’t say for certain.

His heavy robes were covered in the widest variety of runes I’d ever seen on a single magical item. There must have been hundreds of symbols on them. This ordinarily would have been extremely intimidating, except I was an Enchanter, and I could tell at a glance that the overwhelming majority of those runes had no function whatsoever aside from generating a mild glow effect.

My initial impression was intense confusion.

This man was, it seemed, an extremely powerful individual that was trying very hard to look like a charlatan.

Detect Aura.

A flash of colors overwhelmed my vision. Most of the creatures ahead of me registered as Citrine, with the exception to those nearest the tower door. The white-haired people had brilliant green auras, and finally, the strange man near the door had no visible aura at all.

The older man walked down the steps of his tower and toward us, straight through the crowd of kneeling monsters. Then he turned to Len and waved wildly toward Sera and me. “Who are they? Why’d you bring them here? Are others coming? Are they coming? Is it happening?”

Len raised a hand in a placating gesture. “Easy there, Master Constantine. This is Corin Cadence, the one I spoke to you about before, and his sister, Sera Cadence. You had said you wanted to talk to Corin.”

“Did I?” He frowned, then looked at me. There was a flash across his deep-brown eyes and for just an instant, they turned completely black.

No, not completely. For a heartbeat, I could see glimmering flecks of white in them, like tiny stars.

Then his eyes fluttered shut and returned to their normal brown when he reopened them. “Ah. It’s him. The Cadence boy. Why didn’t you say so?”

Len, of course, had said so, but neither of us spoke to correct him. Instead, I simply chose to introduce myself properly. “That’s right, I’m Corin Cadence. I’m a fellow Arbiter. Len mentioned you had a problem I could help with?”

“A problem?” He shot her a look. “A problem? How much did you say? Where did you say it? How secure—”

“It’s okay, Warren. I was extremely vague with him. We knew not to speak outside of your tower. Can we go inside so we can speak more freely? I’m sure our young friend has many questions.”

“Dangerous things, questions,” Warren Constantine mused to no one in particular. “Almost as dangerous as answers.”

He spun on his heels and walked toward the tower entrance. “Come. Quickly. Before they hear us.”

It was only at that point that I saw that beneath his gilded robes, Warren Constantine was wearing a floppy pair of worn sandals.

…What.

I shook my head at the incongruity of the image, then cautiously followed Warren Constantine into his strange, terrifying tower.

***

There was a flash of light as we walked through the doors, then I was in a different environment. You’d think that I might have expected that, given my prior experience with spires, but this was not a spire. Not a true one anyway.

Still, somehow, it approximated the same effect.

I found myself standing in a circular chamber with a carpeted floor, a central staircase, and a table in the center with four chairs. The walls were lined with bookcases.

And, worryingly, there were no obvious entrances or exits.

Warren shifted his staff into his arms and capped his hands as soon as we materialized inside. “Tea!”

A glowing ball of light manifested in the center of the room, holding a teapot. It began to tilt the pot over…

…and spilled the liquid directly onto the table.

“No, no!” Warren shouted, running to the table. “Into cups! Cups!”

I blinked at the sight.

Warren grimaced, whistled, and then dropped his staff onto the floor. “You!” He pointed at the glowing ball. “Get the others, clean up this mess!”

The sound of something like a “huff” came from the glowing light ball, then it vanished.

Warren turned toward me, his expression shifting in an instant from perturbed to suspicious. “And you. You. Why are you here?”

I stared at him, then pointed at Len. “She brought me?”

Len nodded. “And you asked me to bring him as soon as possible, remember?”

Warren scratched at his head. “Did…did I? I think I should remember such a thing. Perhaps I should….”

Len’s eyes widened in alarm. “Warren, don’t!”

He smiled and tapped his forehead. “Restore Memory.”

For a moment, his eyes shut, then he staggered backward. Len shot forward and caught him before he could fall over backward.

When he reopened his eyes, he shuddered. “Oh…oh. That…that was a mistake, wasn’t it?”

Len winced. “Warren, you need to be more careful. That type of sorcery will…”

“I know, I know. The erosion. It’s getting worse, isn’t it?” He sighed, and Len helped him stand back up more completely. “But I remember now. For the moment, at least.” He turned and shook his head like a wet dog trying to clear off water, then turned to me with a groan. “Master Cadence. Miss Cadence. Forgive me for the poor greeting and the poorer company. If we had met a mere few years earlier, perhaps I could have offered you the proper hospitality you deserve.”

His tone sounded entirely different. Less suspicious, more lucid and collected. That might have been comforting if not for the hint of overwhelming sadness in his words. “Think nothing of it. I’m pleased to meet you.”

“Likewise.” Sera gave a little bow, then glanced around the room, presumably scanning for any threats. The golems and other monsters hadn’t appeared behind us: perhaps if they’d returned, they’d been transported directly to different places in the tower.

“You may think differently soon enough.” He grunted, then hobbled his way down to a chair and sat heavily in it with a groan. “Please, sit. I…think there will be proper tea soon.”

I nodded and sat down on the opposite side of the table. Sera sat down next to me. Len moved to sit next to Warren, giving him a look of concern.

“Now,” Warren began, “thank you for coming here. I recognize it required a high degree of trust. Len, have you checked them both?”

“I have. They’ve been to the lab, but they’re still unmarked.”

I quirked an eyebrow at that. “Care to explain what you mean?”

“No artificial attunements or sigils of employ for Farren Labs,” Len explained. “If you had those, Master Constantine would not have permitted your entry.”

“They’re compromised in some way?” Sera asked.

“Precisely, young miss.” Warren nodded to her. “Tracking and scrying functions. Perhaps worse, depending on just how far that horrible creature has gone in recent years.”

We’d speculated about that possibility, but I still was pained to hear it. Not that I was going to take Warren at face value, of course. I knew he’d had a falling out with Farren and could be unfairly biased. He was also clearly suffering from some kind of cognitive issue…

…a type that, unfortunately, seemed entirely too familiar.

I didn’t ask if he’d been overusing his mental mana, but I didn’t have to. Either he was suffering from the same illness I’d feared every time I’d used my own attunement mark or something remarkably similar to it.

Strangely, I didn’t see an attunement mark on his forehead. Hidden, then? Or was he simply drawing from his mind without having an attunement in that spot?

I had many, many questions, but Sera got to one first.

“What is this place? Some sort of…artificial spire?”

Warren smiled at Sera. “All spires are artificial in a certain sense, Miss Cadence. All attunements are, as well. They’re all manufactured products, simply made with different hands.”

“May I ask the purpose of this place, then?” Sera tilted her head to the side in curiosity. “Are you intending to provide an alternate source of attunements, without the requirement to go through the goddess trials?”

“My, my. You’re a quick one. That was, at one point, my principal goal.” Warren smiled sadly. “For the moment, however, this place has other purposes. More on that in time, perhaps, but I have precious few minutes to speak to you before…I will be less able to do so.”

Sera frowned, but simply said, “Of course.”

“Let’s get to business, then, shall we?” Warren gave me a sad smile. “Another Arbiter. It’s been years since I’ve seen one…and an Enchanter as well. Were I capable, I would offer to make you my apprentice. In better times, I believe I could have taught you a great deal.”

My heart sank. “You can’t teach me, then?”

“Not much, I’m afraid. I…have difficulty focusing these days. I could perhaps teach you a smattering of things. Useful things, that might help you avoid the same fate that…” He sighed. “Sorry, I’m sorry. I need to focus.”

Len rested a hand on his arm. “It’s okay, Warren. Tell them what you need.”

“Safe,” he murmured. “I need to be safe. We need to be safe. Can…can you start?”

“Of course.” Len patted his arm, then turned to me. “This place has significant magical defenses in place. They are failing.”

“Failing?” I asked.

Warren turned to Len, then back to me. “You…you are familiar with the temples and shrines in the Unclaimed Lands, yes?”

I nodded. “Sure. We stopped at one of the sword shrines on the way here.”

Warren’s nose twitched in disdain. “Ah, ‘sword shrines’. Another instance of Selys’ propaganda. Those shrines long predate her coming to these lands, you know.”

“I’m aware, but it seems the most notable thing they’re used for at present.”

His shoulders slumped. “For those fool sword-seekers, certainly. For some of us, those shrines are…more.”

“The crystals?”

“Yes, yes. The crystals. Those…beautiful crystals.” He sighed deeply, seeming to lose his focus.

Len picked up the conversation for him. “There are dozens of crystal shrines in the Unclaimed Lands. The elemental temples are the greatest of them, but each of these shrines holds tremendous value. Every single crystal has vast abilities at their command. And, until recently, one of them was Warren’s primary power source.”

“His primary power source? He was using a crystal to, what, give himself access to different types of magic?” I raised an eyebrow at that.

“In a manner of speaking.” Warren responded, not looking in my direction. “I wasn’t the only one using it, of course, but it was a valuable resource to me — until some adventurers,” he spat that word, “decided to take an interest in the region.”

I had a feeling I knew some of those adventurers — Lars and Keras may very well have been among the members of the expedition that had ruined whatever Warren’s plans were. I certainly wasn’t going to say anything about that, though. “And you want me to…what, convince the crystal to work with you again?”

His face drifted upward, toward the floors above us. “Oh, it’s far too late for that. And more complicated. That crystal is no longer useful. For the moment, what I need is an alternate power source for a powerful artifact in my possession.”

I frowned. “And you want me to secure a crystal for that purpose?”

“I…no. Well, yes, but…no.” He winced, shaking his head as if wet.

Len chimed in again. “Moving one of the shrine’s crystals or subverting its power to another locale would be a colossal task, even for Warren. This is much simpler. A temporary measure. We know of the locations of several of the crystal shrines. There is one that would be capable of making a Class 5 mental mana crystal that we could use as a temporary replacement power source. It would not be perfect…more like an extension on an important deadline. With it, Warren would be able to put certain plans back into motion.”

“Class 5?” I blinked. “That’s…absurdly potent.”

Len nodded. “And only a fraction of what we truly need. It will be used to supplement the artifact, as well as another Class 5 crystal of a different type already in my possession.”

I turned to Warren. “Is there something we could do to get you a more permanent means of solving whatever problem you’re dealing with?”

“I…no. Not now. I need help right now. This is how I need you to help me right now.”

“We could potentially discuss permanent solutions and additional rewards later,” Len offered, “but Warren is right. We’ve already identified a good solution for the immediate future, let’s focus on that.”

“Speaking of rewards, if we were to assist you,” Sera began, “what would we be getting in return?”

Warren gave Len a helpless look. “I don’t think I…”

Len turned to Sera. “We’ll provide you with some information on how to use both of your attunements more effectively. Arbiter-specific and Invoker-specific information that you won’t be able to get easily elsewhere. Perhaps we could include you in some future matters of political interest, but I make no specific promises in that regard.”

“With due respect, the primary reason I wanted to speak to you, Master Constantine, was more about a political issue. Have you heard of the various factions of Whispers that are—”

He winced and shuddered. “No, no. Can’t. Not right now.”

I frowned, giving Len a look. “Is he…”

“He’ll be fine. Better, if you help us. The lack of a crystal has put strain on Warren. He’s been powering many of the tower’s considerable defenses with his own mana, and that has been…challenging.”

My mind swam with the images of the tower’s scale and the sheer number of minions that had marched outside. The mana it would take to try to maintain that many constructs, summons, and defenses on his own…

That was absolutely mind-boggling. Not even an Emerald could hope to do something on that scale. Which, of course, was probably the problem.

“Let’s table that discussion for now, then. You will owe us each a significant favor if we do this. Is that agreeable?”

Len gave Sera a hard look. “He’s not exactly in a fair position to agree to an open-ended favor.”

Warren waved his hand. “Fine. It’s fine. Get me what I need, I’ll do whatever I can. Nothing absurd.”

Sera shrugged. “Good enough for me. What exactly is it that we need to do?”

“It will only require one of you,” Len noted. “Assuming you succeed. There’s a particular shrine I can transport one of you to that will offer the crystal as a possible reward if you successfully complete the challenges there. Either one of you could take the challenge, then take the crystal as your reward. Or you could both try it, but you will be alone once you step inside, and we only need one crystal.”

“But we would both get rewards from the shrine itself if we succeed, correct? And there are options beyond just the crystal?”

“That’s correct.” Len noted.

Sera and I exchanged looks. “We’ll both go do it. Probably one at a time, so we can feed each other information after one person attempts it.”

“Excellent.” Len nodded. “Let’s rest here, then head out in the morning?”

“I’m fine with that.” Sera noted. “Do you have accommodations available for us here?”

“Yes, of course.” Len noted. “Warren, can I take them up to rooms?”

Warren nodded weakly, then waved. “Yes, fine. Th…thank you. All of you.”

“Come on, then.” Len stood up. “I’ll see you both to your rooms.”

“We’ll stick together for tonight, if you have a big enough chamber for us both.” Sera noted. “Security.”

“I understand completely.” Len noted, and even Warren gave a grunt and a look of acknowledgement. “This way.”

Len led us up the stairway to a second floor, then a third. Finally, she led us off to a titanic set of doors, spoke a few words, ran a finger in a pattern across the wood, and opened it.

The chamber ahead was the largest bedroom I’d ever seen. There were two titanic beds in opposite corners, bookcases lining the walls, and a pair of large wooden desks with comfortable looking chairs. On the left and right sides were doors to other rooms, which a quick check showed to be washrooms.

“Not bad,” Sera murmured.

“Do you two require anything else before I head out?” Len asked.

I considered asking for food, but recalling Warren’s condition, I felt it was best to let Len get back to him as quickly as possible. “We’ll be fine. Thanks for the room.”

Len nodded, bowed, then departed the chamber.

“So,” Sera smiled, “we raiding the bookshelves for rare and powerful magics?”

“Obviously.”

We got to work.

***

We chose to sleep in shifts that night. I took the first watch, since I was far too jittery to go to bed right away. After that, Sera would wake me and take her shift. She summoned Vanniv to keep me company for my own shift and double up on defenses, but we didn’t chat, we just sat and read books.

Constantine had some fascinating tomes in his collection: histories, fiction, and most importantly books on magic. Many were familiar to me, but he had a number of books I’d never even heard of. Older books, most likely from the continent of Mythralis, and earlier generations of Enchanting books that were no longer in the university curriculum.

I devoured what I could in the first few hours before I heard a knock on the room’s door. Sera stirred at the sound, but fortunately, she didn’t wake.

Vanniv stood up, frowned, and made a gesture for me to get ready. I stood and put a hand on the hilt of Selys-Lyann while Vanniv walked to the door and opened it.

We found a somewhat disheveled Warren Constantine wearing a nightgown and carrying a candlestick behind the door. He glanced upward at Vanniv, blinked, and said, “Oh. Hello.”

“Constantine, I take it?” Vanniv asked.

The older man nodded, looking tired. “May I speak with Master Cadence in private for a moment? I believe I owe him an apology and a bit of an explanation.”

Vanniv looked askance at me. I shifted my hand away from my sword, then nodded and stood. “Sure.”

“Come, then.” Warren gestured toward the stairway outside of the chamber.

I still felt a little nervous about going out by myself, but at least Vanniv knew where I was going.

“If you aren’t back in an hour, I’m waking Sera,” Vanniv said in a tone that allowed for no argument.

“Understood.” I nodded, exited the room, and closed the door behind me.

“Thank you.” Warren nodded, sighed, and began to walk up the stairs.

He led me upward. And upward. And upward.

Finally, we reached the top of the stairway. It terminated at a softly glowing platform.

“A teleporter?” I asked. “Where does this go?”

“Several places within the tower, but we’re heading to the roof. I find it easier to think up there.” He stepped onto the platform, tapped his staff against the floor, and said, “rooftop.”

Then he vanished.

I hesitated for a moment, then followed. In a blur of now-familiar movement, I found myself elsewhere.

And, for the first time, I stood above the clouds.

I stood on a circular platform high above the world. Gleaming pillars stood on each side of the circle, bathing the platform in soft light. Each pillar held a single, glimmering crystal of a different color. Each was inscribed with strange and unfamiliar runes.

A frigid breeze danced across my skin, but I barely noticed.

I only had eyes for the stars.

There were thousands of them glimmering above us — tens of thousands. Uncountable legions. I’d never seen anything like it. The moon shimmered brightly and full, but even its glory could not distract me from the light of those distant motes of incandescent light.

“It’s…”

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Warren sighed deeply, gazing upward. “It…reminds me of something we lost along ago.”

“Lost?” I asked. “…Do you mean older magic?”

He nodded without looking toward me. “Once, we were each bound to those beautiful motes. They filled us with potential beyond imagining. And I…once, I had a deeper tie to them. That may be a story for another time.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I knew stars were related to dominion sorcery, but I understand that had some disadvantages.”

“You know more than most, then. Many of our people have forgotten the old magic entirely. It is by their design. We have been thoroughly deceived.”

“Their design…? You mean the visages?”

Warren nodded slowly. “Indeed. And their vaunted goddess herself.”

“Do…you know why? Is it simply a matter of controlling who has magic to their advantage?”

Warren shook his head. “No. I think that, at first, attunements were made for good reasons. Improved control. Improved efficiency. Fewer costs to the body. Fixing problems of birth. Broader distribution. The severance of the stars, however…that was, perhaps, more out of fear. Even now, there is much I do not know, and I care not to speculate on it with you at this moment. My lucidity already fades.” He gazed down. “There is so much I wish I could have taught you. So much that I wish I could share with the world as a whole.”

“What’s happening to you? Mental mana overuse?”

He flinched. “That, yes, but it only exacerbates a personal problem. Like my mother before me, I was born with a destiny bound to those brilliant flares in the sky above us. And like my mother, I was severed from it by the goddess’ power, and at great personal cost.” His hands tightened. “That is no matter for you to concern yourself with. It is a personal affair.”

I was intensely curious what he was talking about, but I decided not to push. “What did you want to talk to me about, then?”

“The future.” He looked downward, turning to face me directly for the first time. “I do not know you, Corin Cadence, but I have heard of your deeds. I know that you stand at a focal point of events that have come before us and those that are yet to come. I see you there,” he pointed sharply upward, toward the star-lit sky, “but I cannot yet see with any certainty the path you may take. And, to ensure the preservation of that which is dear to me, I must hope to help guide your path.”

“That’s…please don’t say you’re talking about some sort of prophecy.”

“Oh, goddess within us, no.” He laughed. “Prophecies are generally utter nonsense. What I mean is that I have a method of divination magic that draws upon the constellations. It is vague at best, and I lack my mother’s talent for it, but I can glean a smattering of valuable information from it. You would lack the specific dominion to learn it, or else I would teach it to you.”

“Oh.” That made a bit more sense, at least. “And this sees me…being important?”

“Important to my own personal interests, if not necessarily on the grander scale of things. You are the newest among the Arbiters, and this is no small thing. Should you survive, you will have the ability to influence the visages themselves — and with that, the turning of the world. Already, I see that your path has brushed against two of the brightest stars, and it will come to more yet if you live.”

“And what is it exactly that you expect me to do?”

“Expect?” He nodded. “I expect you to pursue the path your brother has chosen for you. That is not, however, the only road before you.”

I frowned. “What do you know about my brother?”

“He is a fool.” Warren grimaced. “But perhaps that is better than a coward, like myself. His goals are worthy, but he has already tipped his hand too far. His chances of victory are slight, and any success will come at great cost.”

I grimaced. “All the more reason I should help him. And if you know that, presumably you know that I came to ask you for your help as well.”

“I suspected as much.” His shoulders slumped. “Once again, too much is expected of me. I cannot be the man your brother seeks.”

“And because of that, you won’t try to help at all?”

Warren looked away. “My own path begins and ends with failure. It would be best not to merge it with your own.”

“That’s kind of vague and unhelpful, you know.”

Warren continued to look away. “I am sorry. I have hidden for so long that I have little talent for openness. I will say this much, however: I will help you, personally, Corin, if you succeed at your task tomorrow. I will not commit to doing anything for your brother, but at the least, I can try to pass on a bit of what I know.”

“What’s the significance of this power source? Why is it so important?”

“…As I said, I am a coward. The crystal I seek will allow me to continue to hide.”

I processed that. “From the visages? Is that what this is about? Your tower…it prevents them from watching you?”

“The visages, yes. And others. I must continue remain hidden while I continue my one last, greatest work.”

“Which is…?”

He turned back toward me, then tapped the tower beneath him. “This.”

I paused, considering. “Your artificial spire. What’s the end goal with that? You indicated it wasn’t just for distributing your own attunements.”

“It is not, though that may be a worthy goal. Perhaps if I had the spark of youth, I would still plan to use it for that purpose. As it is, however, I have a different cause.” He paused, looking upward. “I want to see her. To talk to her. To understand why.”

“You…” I froze, ideas swirling in my head. “The tops of the spires are used to reach the goddess. You think that if you build a tower high enough, you can reach the divine lands themselves?”

“I do not think. I know. I have seen them. I have seen the kingdoms of the sky — and they rejected me, once. Or, rather, the visages did. If those shadows of her divine majesty will not allow me in her presence, then, well…” His hands clenched into fists. “I will find my own way into the heavens above and find my way to her side myself.”

“Will…that even accomplish anything? What if she isn’t even there?”

Warren smiled. “A good question, and one I have pondered myself many times. What if Selys is dead? What if she never existed? What if she is shackled under the control of the visages, or the tyrant himself? Perhaps in those cases, I would be wasting my life, save for one thing — if I reach her kingdom, I would know. I would know why the goddess has been silent for so very, very long.”

“Is that truly the important thing, when there is so much work to be done here?” I walked to the side of the tower, shivering briefly against the cold as I waved my hand out above the Unclaimed Lands. Even in the night, I could see hundreds of miles from our high vantage point, maybe thousands.

There was so much out there — such a wide and beautiful world. I saw the shores of Lake Selden to the north, the wide forests to the south, and…was that a small settlement? I could see tiny buildings in the distance, perhaps the much-vaunted expedition that Keras and Lars had spoken of. I was pretty sure Derek had been there, too, during his visit to the Seventh Spire.

“You are correct, of course. There are more relevant ways I could be using my knowledge and abilities. I am, alas, not capable of them. Not with the questions burning in my ever-fading mind.”

I turned toward him, feeling a sudden sense of loss. “You…is there no treatment for what you’re going through? If it’s not just about the overuse of mana, then…”

“There is no solution I know of that would allow me to remain myself. I have, of course, explored many options. Perhaps I will find one in time. Perhaps the goddess herself will offer my salvation.” He paused, then shook his head. “But I am not hopeful. I can only wish that enough of me remains to demand the answers I seek if I reach my goal.”

“…And if I help you hide, that will slow your decline?”

“Yes.” He nodded firmly. “It will both enable me to have more time to pursue the goddess. And, perhaps more to your interests, it will allow me to host an event of political import. That will, perhaps, be my last great gesture of significance.”

“An event?” I asked.

“The Emerald Council. A meeting of minds between the most powerful of humanity. If my tower is properly secured against the gazes of outsiders, I will summon the council here next year. There, we will discuss the affairs of the world. This, I believe, may be of interest to you.”

I nodded fervently. “Is this something that has occurred before?”

“Yes, but infrequently, and not since my crystal was taken. Should you help me, I will ensure you are given an invitation to attend the event, in spite of your attunement level. You will be given leave to speak to the council and plead your brother’s case — or your own.”

“You make it sound as if you think there’s something distinct from Tristan’s vision I should be pursuing.”

Warren shrugged. “Perhaps. Perhaps not. I can see so little. Less, now, than before. But I know this much, if you will permit me to speak brazenly. You must learn to live outside of your brother’s shadow. Only then will you find the fullness of your power.”

“Still super vague, but I’ll take it into consideration. Thank you.”

“I…tire now. I believe we should both get some rest.” Warren put a hand over his eyes. “I am glad you came here, Corin Cadence. I am pleased to have met you, regardless of what happens.”

“I…feel the same way. Thank you, Master Constantine.”

The older man nodded, then wearily walked back to the center of the rooftop and tapped his staff against the floor again. “Inside.”

The floor flashed. We reappeared inside the building.

And as I walked back to the room to find Vanniv waiting, I felt a chill greater than the wind from the rooftop within me. The deep, unabating cold of experiencing loss.

***

The rest of my night went quickly. Vanniv ensured I was safe, then we went back to reading, but I found little ability to concentrate.

I still had so many questions for Constantine…and I knew that it was very likely I would never get satisfactory answers.

Perhaps that was why I could understand him so very well.

His quest to seek the land beyond the sky was what most would call a fool’s errand — arrogant and brimming with hubris. But, on a visceral level, I absolutely understood it.

And I wanted to help. Help more than I possibly could hope to with the little magic at my disposal.

I woke Sera at the designated time, then crawled into my own bed. It was comfortable, but it took me ages to sleep.

My mind was still swimming with ideas and sorrow.

I woke the next morning still keenly feeling a sense of disappointment, but I still dragged myself out of bed and prepared for my trip to the shrine. Sera was already up, and together, we left the room to head downstairs. We weren’t given any instructions, but that seemed the simplest way to get the tower owner’s attention.

Warren was nowhere to be found. Instead, we found Len waiting, with a table set for breakfast. We discussed the maters of the day over food.

“This shrine should be one of the safest ones, provided that you are cautious,” Len explained.

“Why doesn’t he just go there himself, then?”

“He already did, quite some time ago, when he was…in a better frame of mind. But after completing any specific shrine, you need to wait several years before you can take the trials and earn another boon. Excepting the elemental temples, of course. Those work differently than standard crystal shrines.”

That made sense. Keras had said something similar about the Spirit Gateway Crystal test’s limitations.

…I should ask Len if she can take me there to do those trials at some point. If she was created there, teleporting back there should be comparatively easy, unless she requires some sort of anchor…

“You look distracted. Are you nervous?” Len asked.

“No. I mean, yes, but that’s not the issue. My mind just…has a tendency to wander at times, sorry.”

I was still thinking about the last evening and the implications of Warren’s statements. What could I do? How could I help?

Why did I want so badly to help someone I had just met?

“I understand all too well.” Len smiled warmly at me. “Now, I can transport you to the shrine, but I won’t be able to accompany you inside. This is a solo test, and beyond that, the crystals won’t let me take their challenges.”

“Because you’re not human?”

She shook her head. “Not precisely. More because of the precise circumstances of my birth. I’m effectively considered part of the crystal shrine’s…staff, we could call it? In human terms, taking the tests would be something of a conflict of interest.”

“Ah. Understood.” I nodded. “Couldn’t Constantine get a more experienced adventurer to do this for him?”

“Yes, of course. But he’s not presently willing to leave the spire, which means he’ll take whoever I offer him.”

“Why not just ask Keras?”

Len winced. “It’s…there are several reasons. Not the least of which is that he’s been through this shrine before, and thus the time limitation is in place. More importantly…I am in no position to ask him for a favor. Owing that man two life debts is more than sufficient.”

“Two?” I blinked.

“My brother’s life, as well as my own.”

“Dyson, right?” Sera asked her.

Len smiled. “He’s a wonderful brother. As someone with a sibling yourself, I’m sure you understand how important that is.”

“Two siblings,” I corrected instinctively, surprising myself in the aftermath. Apparently, I’d internalized Sera being my actual sister at some point without even realizing it.

“I have two as well.” Len replied fondly. “Or, rather, the true Lydia did — but I suppose I only have one analogous to myself, if that makes sense.” She laughed. “Families are complicated, aren’t they?”

“I know what you mean.” I grinned.

“What precisely do you get out of all this?” Sera gave Len a suspicious look. “Introducing us, facilitating us taking this challenge, all that?”

“I have a long-term interest in ensuring that both of you have a good rapport with Warren and as much personal knowledge and power as possible.”

“…Why?” I asked.

“I believe there will be a point in the near future in which your abilities will prove necessary on a wide scale.”

“That’s a bit evasive,” Sera noted.

“It’s what I’m prepared to tell you for the time being. Worry not, my plans are reminiscent of your brother’s, and I do not anticipate any conflict. If I felt that it would be useful, I would consider joining him directly, but currently the tether of such an alliance would be a disadvantage to us both.”

I narrowed my eyes. “How much of my brother’s plans are you aware of, exactly?”

Len smiled brightly. “Shrine first, then we can discuss all that if time and circumstances permit it.”

“I don’t do well with secrets like these. Warren may have an excuse, but you are rapidly running out of them,” Sera pointed out.

“Tell you what, Miss Cadence. While Corin takes his test in the shrine, I’ll explain things to you. Then when he finishes, you can head inside if you choose to. Would that be acceptable?”

“Not really?” Sera shook her head. “Those seem like divide and conquer tactics. You can just tell us both now, can’t you?”

Len reached up and adjusted her glasses. “I’ll say a bit now. Warren is running short on time. It is in my best interest to get you inside that shrine to resolve his problems as quickly as physically possible. As for your brother, I’m aware of all of the Whisper factions in play, as well as their general goals. I’m also aware that you are likely here to recruit Warren to join that so-called ‘Ascension’ faction. It probably will not work, because Warren lacks the lucidity and trust to have that sort of association right now. Does that sufficiently answer your questions for the time being?”

That seemed pretty consistent with what Warren himself had said, albeit in a much more direct fashion.

“It’s a start.” Sera folded her arms. “But if Warren won’t join us, we may very well be wasting our time.”

“A favor from Warren will still be quite significant, either to you or to your brother’s cause. Moreover, even if Warren does not choose to join your faction, I believe that in a less stressful state he would be able to teach Corin to do some of what your brother needs from Warren.”

I raised an eyebrow at that. “Meaning how to make artificial attunements?”

“I sincerely doubt he could teach you everything necessary to create them in the few days you have remaining if you intend to return to school, but some relevant bits, yes. Perhaps more urgently, he can teach you more about attunement and brand modification.”

Brand modification. The expression hit me like a speeding train. “Wait. Meaning…enough to disable a brand by one of the visages?”

“Perhaps.” Len tilted her head toward me. “I admit, I am not an expert in such matters, but it is not strictly impossible. And I believe it would be a subject that would be of personal interest, would it not?”

I narrowed my eyes. “It would be.”

“Good, good. Now, shall we head to the shrine?”

I glanced at Sera, then back to Len. “Very well. Let’s do this.”

***

After a few more moments of talk, we confirmed that I would do my challenge first, then report what I’d learned to Sera and we could decide after that if she wanted to take the challenges of the shrine herself.

With that decided, Sera decided to stay behind in the tower and continue studying. Len agreed to come back in a bit to introduce her to some of the tower’s summons and fill her in on a bit more of her own political leanings. I knew, of course, that Sera would try to make a few new contracts while I was gone.

After dropping me off, Len would check back at the shrine area every hour or so, then teleport me back to the tower when needed.

Neither Sera nor I were entirely convinced that splitting up was a good idea, but the temptations of going through a sword shrine — as well as the potential rewards for completing one — seemed worth the risks.

It only took a few minutes for Len to gather up a pair of large crystals, close her eyes, then focus on one to cast her teleportation spell. The abrupt change of scenery was something I was unsure if I’d ever get used to, but I didn’t mind being deposited back out in the open air.

The sun blazed brightly in a cloudless sky over the Unclaimed Lands. I stood in the midst of a circular grove of trees with strange purple grass. In the center of the clearing was a titanic stone doorway, seemingly attached to nothing.

Len walked over to the door, knocked once, and whispered something to the stone. The door slowly opened, displaying a featureless white void. She waved both hands toward the open doorway. “All yours. Ordinarily, I’d offer to put a protection spell on you beforehand, but the entry will strip active spell effects.”

“Appreciate the thought regardless.” I had multiple shield sigils to protect me, anyway, and I wasn’t sure a barrier spell would work properly with them in place. I took a deep breath, shifted my left hand to hold Selys-Lyann’s scabbard in place, then stepped through the doorway.

Chapter XIX – Dungeon Design

I blinked as my vision cleared and I processed my new surroundings.

I stood near the sole door of an all-white cube, roughly twenty feet in any given direction. The strange, bleach-white color of the material gave it a sterile feeling, like I was inside some kind of medical facility. Maybe that feeling was less from the color and more from the aura in the air itself; I could sense mental mana and life mana around me, permeating everything.

The source of the overwhelming supply of mana was obvious enough. The only other occupant of the otherwise empty room was a tremendous white crystal, taller than I was and floating in mid-air.

I stared blankly at the sight. I’d walked into this place knowing that there would probably be a gigantic crystal, similar to the one that Keras had described in one of his first adventures on Kaldwyn. Seeing it in person was different for a number of reasons.

First, in spite of my exposure to mana crystals, I’d never seen anything like this. The crystal was so overwhelmingly radiant that I shouldn’t have been able to look at it directly, but when I did, I wasn’t blinded — I felt like I could see perfectly. Better than perfectly, in fact. A strange musical hum in the air felt loud enough that it should have been deafening, but I could hear perfectly.

Everything felt clearer in the crystal’s presence. Better. Even me.

Simply being in the presence of the crystal was momentarily overwhelming, and I felt the urge to fall to my knees and…think?

Maybe contemplate is a better word.

…It was a strange feeling. Not peaceful, not tranquil, but an overwhelming urge to consider new ideas.

Beyond the sight and feeling, there was something obviously amiss: the crystal was supposed to be at the end of the temple. Hadn’t I just entered?

Maybe my memories of the place were erased, like after a Judgment. If that’s the case, did I already succeed?

Or could this be a fake crystal, as a part of the test?

Or maybe it’s a real crystal, but there’s something wrong with the temple?

Or maybe the challenges in this place are simply different from standard temples? I’ve presumed a great deal based on what Keras experienced with the Spirit Gateway Crystal, but they’re not all necessarily structured the same way. Maybe I need to go in a loop, both starting and ending at the crystal? Or maybe I start at the crystal and end elsewhere?

Or…

[Excellent speculation. Ordinarily, I would not interrupt such a fascinating thought process, but I feel obligated to provide you with relevant data that you are lacking.]

The voice was loud, like an explosion of thunder, but the feeling of a melodic chime. It felt almost like listening to music, but with the instrument right next to my ear, blaring at such volume that it was impossible to properly appreciate. It was also directly inside my mind, rather than an audible voice. I stumbled backward, instinctively flooding my mind with mental mana in response to the obvious mental intrusion.

The voice spoke again, but it was quieter this time. Less overwhelming.

[Ordinarily, visitors either need a lengthy acclimation period or instructions to raise their mental defenses. You did so without prompting. A rarity.]

“Let’s just say I’ve had some bad experiences with people forcing themselves into my mind before.” My head was clearing, both in terms of tolerance for the voice and for my surroundings in general. My mind still felt sharper than before, but as I converted more mana into mental mana, I regained control. “You’re the crystal, aren’t you?”

[That is correct.]

“And I take it that even though I just flooded my mind with mental mana, you’re still reading my thoughts, and speaking aloud is unnecessary?”

[That is also correct.]

My hand slipped into my bag, feeling for the Jaden Box. I didn’t retrieve anything immediately, but if things got worse, I could retrieve the Ring of Derek Controlling and slip it on my finger, attempting to counter the mental effects of the crystal with mind control of my own.

[Fascinating. You would use a mind-control object on yourself to deliberately counter an external compulsion technique? I have rarely seen such strategies, and more rarely from one so young. I am eager to see how you handle the tests.]

“Tests?” I spoke out loud out of instinct, even knowing the crystal could hear me thinking. “So, this is the entrance to the temple?”

[The term ‘temple’ is something of a misnomer in this case, and calling this the entrance would also be somewhat reductive. It would be more accurate to say that you are presently in the starting position for one who intends to undergo the current iteration of my trials. Your memories have not been altered and you have not begun your testing yet.]

“Not yet been altered?” I glowered at the crystal. “Meaning they will be later? I’m not pleased about that.”

[I understand your reticence. Any memory alterations that occur would simply be to preserve the nature of the trials for future test-goers. Depending on your performance and my assessment of your motives, I may be able to permit you to opt out of that process.]

“I’d…definitely prefer that, thanks.” I exhaled a breath. “Okay. I take it that this test design is not a typical ‘progress through challenges to reach the crystal’, then, given that I’m already near you? Assuming that is your true body, of course.”

[You are correct. You already stand within my home. I find there is a minimal benefit in sending a human challenger through the same sorts of test they can no doubt face throughout numerous sword shrines, elemental temples, crystal homes, and other similar locales. While at times I run more ‘ordinary’ tests to challenge myself, I tend to find tests of a completely dissimilar style more stimulating.]

“Then…this is an intellectual test, rather than a traditional physical one?”

[Intellect will be a component, although your physical abilities may be relevant if you choose to make use of them. Your challenge is thus: when your test is initiated, you will design new challenges for my home. Periodically, creatures will enter from a front entrance and attempt to reach my crystal chamber. You must stop them.]

The idea was both simple and revolutionary. “You mean…I’m defending this place, rather than attacking it?”

[Yes, that is an accurate summation. I will provide you with a small fraction of my power to be used to construct defenses. Once the timer begins, I will respond to your requests to construct specific things. We will begin with only this room: anything else will require a cost in my mana to construct.]

My mind raced. “Would walls be on that list? Could I just…make a bunch of walls to stop anyone from getting through the door?”

[You may not completely obstruct the pathway into this chamber. In addition, you have multiple goals in this test. You must not allow anyone to reach me, however, you must also construct the area in a way that improves visitors and encourages them to return — or to send others.”

I blinked. “Why…? And wait, which crystal are you, exactly?”

[Both excellent questions, and the former is surprisingly rarely asked. The latter will likely illuminate the former. I am the local Transcendence Gateway Crystal. And my role…”

“Is to improve things?”

[Reductive, but accurate. In specific, my purpose is largely dedicated to improving the efficiency, lifespan, and health of living entities. I may also improve non-living objects for the purposes of assisting the living.]

I gaped briefly at the ramifications of that. “…So, following that, I would ideally need to design this place to be challenging enough to prevent the entrants from reaching you, but…where do you stand on the philosophy of allowing challenges to be fatal to some members of a population in order to provide encouragement to others?”

It was a loaded question, but given my thoughts on spires, I had to ask.

[I am aware of the strategy you speak of. I will state this unequivocally: such methodology is unacceptable. Such wanton waste of life is anathema to my purpose.]

I breathed an immediate sigh of relief. “Then the tests should not involve combat, I suppose.”

[That is not accurate. Combat tests can still be excellent teachers, provided they do not cause permanent harm or death.]

I pondered that for a moment. “Okay, I can work with that. Can you tell me all the things you can build, as well as our available resource pool?”

[Yes, but once I progress to that portion of the explanation, I will initiate the first timer. Do you have further questions before we move to that stage of the trial?]

“Hundreds.”

I thought I felt something like laughter inside my mind.

[That is wonderful. I am hopeful that you succeed. However, given the way your mind is drifting to unrelated subjects of inquiry, I believe it is time to begin. I will be pleased to speak to you about these unrelated issues at a later time if you succeed.]

“And if I fail?”

[Then you will not be worthy of my time.]

I let out a deep breath. “Okay. Let’s do this.”

[Excellent.]

[The test begins.]

***

There was no dramatic flash of light or musical tone to signal the start of the test. Frankly, it was a little disappointing.

“Okay, so…what are the rules? What are my resources?”

[The first incursion will occur in fifteen minutes. During that time, you may use my mana to build additional rooms that the entrants must progress through. You will earn mana each time an entrant exits the area safely. The amount of mana you earn will be based on the progress the entrant makes, as well as my own evaluation of how much the entrant was improved by their visit.]

I pondered that.

Hm. Okay, so the incentive structure is for me to create challenges that are appropriate for the challengers. Easier stuff near the front, then something near the end that gets them to leave. Interesting. 

I frowned. “How much mana do we have to work with?”

[I will provide you with 1000 mana to work with for your initial construction.]

“Is that in the same standardized units we use in Valia?”

[Yes, however, I have artificially augmented my mana costs for the purposes of this test to simplify the allocation of resources.]

“Is it all gray mana?”

[I have access to what you would consider to be several different mana types. You would refer to them as gray, life, mental, light, transference, spirit, density, and transcendence. I am allowing you to use up to a total 1000 mana of any of those types.]

I whistled in appreciation. That was a large number of mana options. “With no conversion cost?”

[Correct.]

I nodded. “Okay. So, what can you do with the mana?”

[A brief overview: I can create rooms, walls, traps, puzzle pieces, monsters, and items. I can also upgrade any of these things. You may also ‘unlock’ more powerful things for each category, such as higher-level monsters by meeting prerequisites, such as using a certain number of things of that type, or certain challenges being completed.]

“That’s…complicated. How long does this test last?”

[Up to thirty hours.]

I felt my shoulders tense. “That’s…wow. Okay. I can see why there’s a lot of options, then. Is there a way that I can get a message to my friend outside that I’m safe and that I may be in here for a while?”

[You may spend 50 mana to send a message outside. Would you like to do so?]

“Let’s wait a bit, we need to get rolling on this first challenge. Okay. Tell me the mana costs for the things you currently can build for me.”

[I will begin with structures. One wall: 50 mana. One entire square room: 200 mana. One door: 50 mana. One window: 50 mana. One item of furniture: variable.]

“How large are the walls and rooms? What are they made of?”

[Walls are up to twenty feet by twenty feet and one foot thick. Rooms are twenty-foot cubes. By default, they will have entrance and exit doors on opposite sides. They are made of stone.]

“And these rooms – do they come with a floor and ceiling?”

[Yes.]

I frowned. “That means that a room is more mana-efficient than building walls.”

[That is correct and intentional.]

I nodded. “Okay. Traps?”

[I currently can create the following traps: Pit trap: 25 mana. Arrow trap: 50 mana. Snare trap: 50 mana. Collapsing ceiling trap: 50 mana. Flood trap: 100 mana.]

“Hm. And I can get better ones by using them. Like, using enough arrow traps would get me, what, poison arrow traps?”

[Your concept of how things work is correct, but you must discover what is unlocked and how to unlock it on your own.]

I paused. “...Why?”

[It is to simulate research and development. Also, it is more fun for me that way.]

I snorted. “Fair. Okay. Puzzle pieces?”

[Small stone block: 25 mana. Wall switch: 25 mana. Floor panel switch: 25 mana. Lever: 25 mana. Gear-based switch: 25 mana. Torch: 25 mana. Rod: 25 mana. Lock: 25 mana. Key: 25 mana. Large stone block: 50 mana. Musical chime trigger: 50 mana. Rotating Platform: 50 mana. Crowns board: 100 mana.]

“How do I designate what happens when a specific action is taken with a puzzle piece? Say someone steps on a floor switch. How do I make that do something elsewhere? Do I need to build some kind of connector part?”

[Connector parts are generally unnecessary. You may instruct me on the intent of your puzzle and I will construct it to function in a specific way. If you do not have the pieces available, I may construct certain other basic puzzle pieces based on the general guidelines above.]

“Like a sphere rather than a block?”

[Yes, that’s possible.]

I took a moment to breathe. This was a lot to take in, and I already had several different ideas running through my head, but I needed to get started soon. “Monsters?”

[Goblin: 50 mana. Dire wolf: 50 mana. Lesser wood golem: 50 mana. Lesser skeleton: 50 mana. Lesser fire elemental: 100 mana. Dire spider: 100 mana.]

Lots of options there to think about. And a large number of categories, too.

Thinking about it, I could see logical lines of progression for each of them. Presumably, making enough lesser wood golems would let me get wood golems, then stone golems, iron golems, all that stuff. It seemed fairly intuitive.

“Okay. Items?”

[Healing potion: 25 mana. Treasure box: 50 mana. Bag of Crystals: 50 mana. Bag of Coins: 100 mana. Weapon: 100 mana. Leather armor: 100 mana.]

“Hm. Okay. Could you create a sign? Or, better yet, can I make something and put it out there myself to save mana?”

[Yes and yes.]

My eyes widened. If I could physically interact with things out there… “Can I actually go out there while there are intruders and talk to them or fight them or whatever?”

[Yes, you are allowed to interact with the challenge, at your own risk. Typically, in the past, many challengers such as yourself have taken on a ‘crystal guardian’ role to stand right in front of my door. Be advised that this is dangerous and potentially fatal.]

I exhaled a breath at that. “Okay. Good to know.”

I took a moment to think. “If I’m allowed to interact with things…does that include you?”

The crystal went silent for a moment. [Within certain limits. What did you have in mind?]

A grin crossed my face. This was going to be much, much more fun than I’d originally expected.

***

[This is highly unusual.]

“Yep.” I pulled away a solid silvery disc, now gleaming with two new Sunstone-level runes. Remember that one last disc I was saving for a rainy day? I’d used it for something special, just like I’d hoped. “Believe me, I’m just getting started.”

[After expending 720 mana to charge those unusual runes, I have 280 mana remaining to spend. Is your intent to construct a single chamber, then guard it yourself until the runes on that…what did you call it again?]

“Recharging spirit mana battery.” I opened my bag, pulling out the Jaden Box. “Batteries are a type of object that stores energy. I’ve built several recharging batteries of other types, but until now, I haven’t had access to anyone that was willing to give me spirit mana to charge the runes to build a spirit version.”

Keras could have done it, of course, but he’d already been clear he wasn’t willing to leave random traces of his spirit lying around. This crystal, however, had no such reservations. “Retrieve gray mana battery.”

A similar disc appeared in my hand. “For my next trick, I’ll need to touch you. Would that be okay?”

[Yes, provided you do not mean any harm. Ah. I understand your intention now. Intriguing. We will have to see if it works.]

I put my Arbiter-attuned hand on the crystal, then concentrated on the battery.

Transfer.

It was an easy process. I felt no resistance. Gray mana flowed from the battery into me and then into the gigantic crystal. When the battery was drained, I stuck it back in my bag to recharge. In an hour, I could use it again.

[Your mana recharging effort was successful. I now can offer you 450 mana to work with.]

I grinned. “Perfect. Let’s do some more.”

That first battery had been our initial project: a gray mana battery with a capacity of 180 mana. My ability to transfer mana wasn’t 100% efficient, so apparently about 10 mana had been lost in the transfer process. That was fine. I had more batteries. I had better batteries.

After building that first battery, Cecily and I had used it in addition to our own mana to power a second. That one held a maximum of 360 gray mana.

Then from there, Cecily and I had done the same thing for transference mana: 180 in the first, 360 in the second. And fortunately, this particular crystal was capable of using both gray and transference mana.

So, long story short, I drained all my remaining batteries into the crystal. I had to hurry the process a bit, since I was running out of time, and I lost a little more efficiency that way.

[You now have 1200 mana to work with.]

I grinned. It wasn’t a lot more mana than what I’d started with, and I’d spent nearly all my time on it, but the important part wasn’t my current available mana. Every battery, including the newly-made spirit mana battery, was recharging. In an hour, I could use them again. And then in the next hour. Then the next.

Presuming, of course, I lasted that long.

Just to be safe, I transferred 50 of my own mana into the crystal, bringing my total available up to 1250. I didn’t want to spend too much of that when I might need it for unexpected combat, but 50 was something I could spare.

…What a strange thought.

At the start of the year, 50 mana was far more than my attunement total. I’ve gotten much stronger, haven’t I?

I shook my head, dismissing the errant thought.

My Cadence-brand prep work was done. It was time to build a dungeon.

***

“Okay. Let’s start with a simple room right outside this one.”

[That will be 200 mana. Would you like to proceed?]

“Yep. Go ahead.” There was a brief pause. “Whenever you’re ready.”

[The room is already completed. You have 1050 mana remaining.]

I blinked. “Wait. Really? That fast?” I walked over to the sole chamber door. “Is it just through here?”

[Yes.]

I opened the door. As described, it led into a single cube-shaped stone chamber about the same size as the crystal’s room. “Huh.” Notably, there was a door on the opposite side of the room already — one I didn’t think I’d paid for. I pointed at it. “Is that door where people will enter the dungeon now?”

[Yes. If you continue building rooms in a straight line, the most recently constructed room will always have the entrance.]

I nodded. “What would I see if I walked over there and opened it? Would it take me outside?”

[No. You would see a vast and terrifying featureless void.]

“…Oh. Okay.” I was both glad and sorry that I’d asked. “How can I leave this place when I’m done?”

[I will transport you outside if you are alive when your business here has concluded.]

“Okay. Got it. Sorry, getting side-tracked again. Back to work. Let’s build a second room right after this one. Just another generic one.”

[Give me a moment…completed.]

“That’s…incredibly fast. Are these rooms real?”

[That depends on your definition of real.]

I pondered that. “I’m guessing we’re in some kind of space between the planes, and that you are constructing the rooms from some kind of combination of…what, spirit and density mana?”

[That is remarkably close to correct.]

“Are all the things made out of…right. Limited time. Questions later. Okay. If I walk into the far room, will you be able to hear me and put things where I ask you to?”

[Yes.]

“Will monsters that I ask you to create attack me?”

[No, they will see you as the lord and master of this place and serve you willingly.]

“That’s…a little bit creepy, but practical, I guess. Okay.” I walked to the far room. “Let’s build some things. We have 850 mana left, right?”

[Correct.]

“Okay. What can you tell me about the first competitors that will be coming through?” It’s probably something I should have asked much earlier, but if I’m being honest, I tend to get sidetracked by magic stuff. Yes, yes, I know you’ve already noticed.

[Some entrants will be simulated monsters; however, the majority of the competitors are based on previous entrants to this dungeon.]

“Based on…they’re simulacra?”

[Similar in concept, yes.]

My mind flashed to the copies of Keras’ friends he’d run into during one of his own challenges. “Wait. Will they know they’re copies?”

[No. They will be under the impression they are here for treasure or to seek the crystal.]

“…Are you going to make a copy of me when this is done?”

[Only if you grant your permission. I was…convinced by a previous person that it is unethical to copy people without their consent.]

I snorted. Right. Obviously Keras had already been through here and argued simulacra ethics with the crystal. I wasn’t quite as worried about that sort of thing as he was, but I did feel a little better knowing there wouldn’t be unauthorized Cadences running around.

At least not here. I still wasn’t sure about the spires.

Focus, Corin. I exhaled a breath. “How do you determine which copies of people to use in what order?”

[That is a complex process, and I would advise you to focus on construction. You have five minutes remaining.]

“Right, right. Okay. Can you give me any hints on the number of people coming through at a time, or how powerful they’ll be?”

[We will begin with one competitor at a low level. As the test progresses, there will be larger groups and higher-level competitors.]

“Okay. Designing tests for just one person to start with should be easier, but I need a long-term plan as well. Make me one more room right in front of this one, we need some variety. Most adventurers aren’t going to turn around after clearing a single room and butting their heads against a second.”

[Done. You have 650 mana remaining.]

I walked to the entrance room. “Okay. Fundamentals. They’re not going to believe they’re dungeon crawling without any threats.”

I quickly ran through my plan, revising slightly based on the knowledge that it would only be a single person.

“Okay. How large are the pit traps?”

[A five-foot square or five-foot diameter circle.]

“Okay. Let’s start with this. Please place torches in the corners back here,” I pointed to the wall on the left side of the door to the next room, “and here.” I pointed to the opposite side. Torches appeared, already burning.

[You have 600 mana remaining.]

“Uh. Hm. Can you have them start unlit?”

The torches went out.

“Nice. Okay. So, those are going to unlock the door when they’re lit. Which means we also need a lock.”

[Shall I create that now?]

“Yep.”

A comically large padlock appeared on the door. I grinned. “Great. Now, make pit traps surrounding each of them. Can you do…like, a line across the floor in front of each, rather than a full five-foot square?”

[No, that would not be large enough to make a functional pit. To surround the torches, you need two pits for each.]

I exhaled a breath. “Okay. Fine. Place those.”

Nothing visibly changed. I had to tap on one to realize that the floor was hollow. “…What happens if someone actually falls in one of these? Endless void?”

[No. There is a newly-constructed ten-foot-deep pit below each.]

“Oh.” I was…almost disappointed. I didn’t actually want any of these conjured spirit simulacra things to have to fall through an endless void, but that would have been way more dramatic. “Okay. Great. Does the floor just…fall away as soon as they step on it?”

[Correct.]

“And they can climb back out?”

[Yes.]

I nodded. “Okay, good. Let’s continue.”

[You now have 525 mana remaining. You have two minutes remaining.]

I let out a curse. I’d taken far too long on prep. “Okay. Quick. Lesser fire elemental in the middle of the room.”

[Done. You now have 425 mana remaining.]

A blazing sphere of fire manifested in the center of the chamber. After a moment, two burning arms poked out from the sides of the sphere, and something resembling a single gleaming eye appeared right in the center. It made some kind of strange, cooing noise when it rotated in place when it saw me.

It was…kind of cute, honestly.

“Uh…hi there, buddy. You’re going to have to fight some adventurers soon, okay?”

The elemental rotated in a circle in mid-air, which I took as a nod.

“Don’t kill anyone. Just…throw some fireballs at them. And if they run over here,” I gestured toward the torches, “they’re trying to get you to throw fireballs at the torches to light them. Go ahead and do that if they try to get you to. You’re part of a puzzle.”

The sphere rotated again, then let out some kind of musical sound.

[It says ‘yes,  great and wondrous master’.]

“…Really?”

[No, but it did confirm your orders. You have one minute.]

This room is good enough.  I need to get out of here.

I rushed back toward the room’s exit door. Then I remembered it was locked. “Can you…”

The door lock clicked off. I passed into the next room, then closed the door behind me. “Relock?”

I heard a click.

[You have thirty seconds.]

“Can I keep working while the adventurer deals with the first room?”

[Yes. You may also return to my room if you wish to observe the adventurer’s progress through a projection.]

“Wonderful. Now, should I keep working…?”

[I will be interested to see if the first adventurer uses the fire elemental to light the torches. It is an unusual style of puzzle.]

“Thanks. Gonna be honest, I think they will probably just use their own fire source, but I like the idea of providing one within the room itself.”

[That is generally wise. Dungeons are often disappointing when they are not fully self-contained. The first adventurer is entering now.]

I briefly hesitated, then said, “Drop two more lesser fire elementals toward the center of this room to guard. I need to buy some time so I can watch what they’re going to do.”

Two more adorable flaming spheres appeared.

[You have 225 mana left.]

I turned to the elementals. “Guard this room. If anyone enters, attack them, but do not kill them.”

The spheres rotated in what I presumed to be confirmation.

“Thank you.” I turned and ran back to the crystal room as fast as I could. I was way behind my intended building schedule, but I wanted to see what the first adventurer did before I made too many more choices.

I’ve only spent 50 of my personal mana. If I burned through more of it, I could recharge the crystal a bit more…or I could guard the final room myself.

I froze when I was nearing the crystal room’s door. Rewards. I forgot rewards.

In a surge of panic, I rushed back to the room with two fire elementals. “Treasure box. Lock. Bag of crystals inside.”

A treasure box appeared as requested, presumably with the bag in there.

[You have spent 50 mana on the treasure box, 50 mana on the bag, and 25 mana on the lock. You have 100 mana remaining.]

“Hello? Is someone in the next room?” Came a voice. “Ack! Fire! Hot!”

I winced. I hadn’t realized the door was thin enough for someone to hear me talking.

…I decided to cut my losses and just quiet down. “Make a key corresponding to this lock. Hide it in one of the pit traps for the previous room.”

[Amusing. Done. You have 75 mana remaining.]

Good enough.

With that, I rushed back to the crystal room and shut the door behind me.

Things are…not going as planned. But it’s okay. It’s fine. Everything’s fine. I can always stand in the last room and scare the adventurer off if I need to.

When I got back to the crystal chamber, I saw what it had been talking about: the entire back wall had been replaced by an image showing the entrance room, along with the adventure inside it. I briefly gawked at the scale of the projection, and my jaw nearly dropped when I heard sound coming from the image.

“Hello? Someone else here?”

I winced. Social contact was not something I wanted to deal with here.

Should I talk to him? Maybe I should get a better look first.

The image showed the adventurer swiftly dodging a blast of fire from the elemental, then warily watching it and raising his sword. He was a tall guy with short brown hair and a thin, well-styled beard. Aside from his weapon, an arming sword, he carried a kite shield and wore heavy chain armor.

Chain armor was generally pretty antiquated, but I couldn’t exactly throw stones. My own armor was scale, which was generally considered similarly antiquated. I wouldn’t have been wearing it if not for the Citrine-level enchantments on it.

In his case, though…

The adventurer side-stepped another fireball, then charged the elemental and swung his sword clean through it.

The sword’s blade immediately turned red with heat, but not quite to the point of melting. The adventurer yelped, dropped his sword, and jumped backward. He barely managed to raise his shield in time to block another half-hearted fireball from the tiny creature, but then the shield lit on fire. Like most old-fashioned shields, it was made of wood.

He hurled the shield off his arm then backed away. “Um…if anyone is in there…help, maybe?”

I blinked. “Why isn’t he using magic?”

[This adventurer is not attuned.]

I frowned at the image of the adventurer dodging around the elemental, then rolling and picking his sword back up, tossing it between hands as the heat gradually dispersed. He was wearing heavy gloves, otherwise he probably would have burned himself badly.

“Why would he come in here without an attunement?”

[This shrine predates the existence of attunements. I have chosen an adventurer from an earlier point in history to test the earliest phase of your dungeon. Thus far, your dungeon appears to be successful at repelling non-magical combatants.]

“Uh, no kidding. Is he going to be—”

The adventurer took a fireball to the chest, screaming as the heat spread across him. It wasn’t a particularly powerful spell, but chain armor wasn’t going to do much against a sphere of heat, and if he didn’t have a shroud…

I bolted out the door of the crystal’s home, through the remaining rooms, and then into the entrance. I found the adventurer rolling on the floor, trying desperately to put the fire out.

I drew Selys-Lyann.

Can you command the fire elemental to play dead? I thought, knowing the crystal was reading my mind.

[I can.]

I swung my icy sword at the elemental and deliberately missed. The elemental did a dramatic twirl in mid-air and then landed on the ground.

I rushed to the downed adventurer, then used transference mana to push a smidgen of the ice from Selys-Lyann onto him, extinguishing the flames on his chest.

He coughed and shuddered, clutching at his skin. “Th…thanks…ahha..”

I reached into my pouch, whispered “retrieve water” and pulled out a flask. “Here, drink.” I shoved it at him. “Sorry I took so long.”

“It’s fine.” He accepted the flask, lifting it to drink, then winced again. “I’m Roy. You?”

“Corin. Looks like you took a serious hit there. You okay?”

He grunted. “Think so. That thing got me pretty bad, but I think you put it out fast enough to prevent any serious damage. Thank you again. Is it dead?”

“It’s down, at least.” I sheathed my sword. “Magic weapon. You probably shouldn’t come in here without one.”

Roy grimaced. “Getting some magic is the whole reason I came in the first place. Wasn’t expecting to get stopped right at the front door.”

“Yeah, I hear you. These things are dangerous. You might want to head back out and get your chest looked at.”

“I don’t know if I could go home empty-handed. Mother would…” Roy shuddered, and not from his injury. “It might not be worth going back.”

“Wait there.” I headed into the next room, closing the door behind me. Then, I reached into my bag and whispered. “Retrieve transference sword.”

My old transference sword appeared. It was one of the first magical items I’d ever made, and it had proved incredibly necessary on a number of occasions.

It was, however, largely obsolete now.

I could easily make something better, by myself or with others. I also was getting better at using Selys-Lyann, which was far superior, and I had the sword I’d taken from Jerome, too. I still had to do some research to figure out how that one worked, but…

Long story short, I had an extra sword I didn’t really need.

I walked back to the entrance. Hopefully, he’d assume that I’d found the sword in the shrine somewhere.

He was back on his feet by the time I got there, but leaning against the back wall heavily. I approached, then offered the still-sheathed transference sword to him.

Roy blinked. “What is…?”

“Draw it.”

He drew the sword slowly, reverently, and gasped when he saw the humming energy around the blade. “You…what do I owe you for this?”

“Nothing.”

Roy stared at me strangely. “You’re…just giving this to me? Why?”

“I think you’ll need it more than I will. But there is something small you can do, if you really want to repay me.”

Roy’s look turned serious, then he nodded firmly. “Name it.”

I smiled softly. “When you’re a hero with a more legendary sword to use, pass that sword on to someone else who needs it more than you.”

“I will.” He clutched the sword tightly to his chest. “I swear it. And if you ever need anything at all…you’ll find me at Ravenslake, not far south from here.”

“Maybe I’ll come visit sometime.”

He reached out and offered a hand covered with a still-singed glove. I accepted it, trying to ignore my distaste for touch. He shook my hand in an old-fashioned style, but not quite like Keras. Foreign in a different way.

“I won’t forget you, Corin. Not ever.” He nodded to me one last time, then turned, opened the door, and stepped into the endless void.

…And with that, he ceased to exist.

[Your defenses have successfully defeated your first attacker. The next round begins in 30 minutes.]

[Mana earned from defense: 100.]

[Mana earned from the attacker learning a valuable lesson: 200.]

[Mana earned from the attacker successfully gaining a reward: 300.]

[Total mana available: 675.]

I felt strangely numb as I walked back to the crystal chamber to contemplate my next move.

***

“Are they all going to be like that?”

[Please be more specific.]

I sat down on the floor. “…Vulnerable?”

[Mortals generally are.]

I winced. “How…do you deal with it? Seeing them hurt? I know they’re not real, exactly…or, well, they’re temporary, at least. But it still doesn’t feel right to see them suffer.”

[Harm can cause behavioral changes that can increase future security. As long as they are improved by the process of coming here, suffering temporary harm is acceptable.]

I grimaced. “…And what of the scars that sort of ‘teaching’ leaves? What about the lasting consequences, mental and physical?”

[If those consequences are lesser than the benefits gained, it is a net improvement, and thus the trials are beneficial.]

My hands tightened as I recalled someone who had used a similar line of logic while he “trained” me. “How can you accurately measure the benefits and detriments against each other? How can you know where the training crosses the line into harmful?”

[That is, at present, your responsibility to determine.]

I winced. “Every individual person is going to have different strengths, weaknesses, tolerances…how can a shrine with traps and monsters account for that? Maybe a fire elemental will give valuable ideas to one person, kill another, and prove pointless against a skilled warrior who can defeat it in an instant. That whole style of design seems inherently flawed.”

[And yet it is exactly the sort of structure that you defaulted to, without any prompting on my part.]

I looked down, trembling. The Transcendence Gateway Crystal was right.

I had, instinctively, set up the shrine to mirror a structure near-identical to a Judgment. It was what I was familiar with, so it was natural to assume that was the right way to do things.

…And, in a small way, I’d seen the failures of that approach right away. I’d presumed a specific type of participant, and I’d been wrong. If I hadn’t intervened, that first entrant — Roy — might have been killed in the very first room. Not only would that have likely failed the shrine’s challenge, the idea of killing someone like Roy, even if he was simply a copy of a previous shrine entrant, didn’t sit well with me.

I had no way of knowing how complete his memories were, or how real his experiences were. What I did know was that he was virtually the same category of entity that Len was — a spiritual being that was capable of living, breathing, and thinking.

I couldn’t simply let beings like that die meaninglessly for some sort of test.

“Roy…did you destroy him when he walked out that door?”

[No, all of the entrants you will be facing are placed in stasis when not in use. Their memories are recalibrated for the next person taking the test.]

That disturbed me in entirely different ways, but at least I didn’t have to worry about surviving challengers being killed outright as a reward for their success.

I exhaled a deep breath. “I’ve been going about this all wrong, haven’t I?”

[Explain.]

I sat down on the floor. “I set this place up with the same principles as the spires. Those aren’t my principles. They never have been. Why am I emulating them?”

[Your task is to encourage growth. Thus far, I judge that your response has been successful. This does not indicate any failure on your part.]

I shook my head. “Maybe, but if Roy was actually going back to his family, would he feel like he’d succeeded?”

[That would largely depend on whether or not he retained his memories of the experience. Given that you rewarded him with a valuable item, a version of Roy that survived with an injury and a new magical weapon without any recollection of the events that led to that point would likely expect that he performed well and return home with a feeling of success.]

And suddenly the idea behind wiping memories after a Judgment had an entire layer that I hadn’t really considered. I’d always considered that memory wiping to be a form of security measure to preserve the integrity of the tests, allowing future Judgments to retain a higher degree of challenge. After all, if everyone remembered their tests and recorded them, Judgments would grow progressively easier as they were studied.

But what if Selys — or whoever had first implemented that memory wiping mechanism — had another motivation? A kinder one? A mechanism for erasing any inadequacy that might have come from failing specific challenges, and leaving the successful applicant with nothing more than an attunement and the knowledge that they had succeeded at the Judgment as a whole?

[I cannot comment on the motivations of the goddess you are thinking about, but I can confirm that the concept you have just considered is consistent with one of the reasons why I offer to perform my own memory alterations for test-takers.]

“I’m…going to need to think about that for a while.” I pushed myself back to my feet. “But later. For the moment, I have some redesigning to do.”

[What sort of redesigning?]

“I’m going to see if I can find a different way to help people. One that doesn’t require fighting monsters and risking death.”

[Then let us begin.]

***

Minutes passed as I went through a flurry of instructions on modifying the existing rooms. After my thirty minutes were elapsed, it was time to see how my redesign fared.

I watched from the wall of the crystal’s room as the next entrant walked into the dungeon: a young woman in long black robes carrying a staff. Given the stereotypical wizard’s outfit, I judged that she might have fared better against the fire elemental from my original entrance, but that wasn’t what she faced.

Instead, she glanced from side-to-side after entering, then approached the most prominent feature of the new entrance: a sign a few steps ahead of the doorway.

She tapped the floor with her staff as she approached, presumably testing for traps, then read the sign aloud. “In order to better serve your needs, please state your name, home, and magical abilities, then wait here for…what the resh?”

She glanced around, searching. “Is this some kind of prank? Someone else there?”

She removed one hand from her staff, snapping her fingers. Light washed over the room. “Hm. No illusions?”

She grimaced, then looked back to the sign. “Ugh. Fine. I’m Elina Maryn, and I’m from Valia. Purifier, first-class.”

I blinked. First-class? That’s an older designation, before the color system for identifying attunements. She must have visited here hundreds of years ago.

And that isn’t a Valian attunement…or, at least, it isn’t now. Maybe it was back then?

Either way, she’d met the first requirement on the sign, so I spoke aloud to the crystal. “Left room.”

The new entrance chamber had three exit doors: left, right, and center. All of them were locked. The center path led to the original entrance, complete with all the same challenges as before.

The left and right paths were new.

When I said “left room”, the lock on the door clicked open at my command. Or, really, at the crystal’s command. The crystal knew to open the doors based on my mental instructions.

Elina noted the audible click of the door lock opening. “Is that it…? Can I go to the next room?”

She took another minute to circle around the room, tapping floors and walls and inspecting the other doors.

During that time, I conversed with the crystal. “Mana check.”

[You had 675 mana after the last test. You recharged me from your batteries, including the new spirit battery, for an additional 525 mana, for 1150 total. After that, you constructed three additional rooms for 600 mana, three doors with locks for 225 mana. The contents of your new rooms cost 350 mana. You have 25 mana remaining.]

I nodded nervously. Keeping track of the numbers wasn’t exactly difficult for me, but it was good to have someone else check my math. My mind did have a tendency to wander.

Elina finished checking the entrance room, grumbled a little, then moved to the left room that had been unlocked. She prodded it with her staff, then after a moment of hesitation, turned the knob and entered.

She blinked at the sight of the interior of the room. I didn’t blame her — it wasn’t exactly a conventional challenge.

Instead, the room simply housed a table with chairs on both sides. There were also pens and a couple pieces of parchment.

Cautiously, Elina approached the table, then took a look at the piece of paper nearest her. “Please have a seat and wait for your interviewer to arrive…? What the resh is this?”

“Guess that’s my cue.” I mumbled, then left the crystal’s chamber. I headed through each of the rooms, unlocking and relocking them behind me, until I reached the entrance. Then, I headed through the same door that Elina had.

I walked in to find Elina sitting at the table. She shot to her feet as soon as I walked in and raised her staff. “Don’t move.”

I raised empty hands. “Easy, there. No need for that. I’m just here for your interview.”

“Interview.” She spoke the word slowly, turning it over in her mouth experimentally. “What do you mean by ‘interview’?”

“I’ll be asking you a series of questions. You’ll provide me with answers, and from those, I’ll evaluate—”

“I know what an interview is!” She huffed. “Why is there an interview? There are supposed to be traps and monsters and all that!”

“That’s a very interesting perspective, I’ll have to take a note of that.” I nodded seriously, then walked a long way around her to sit down at the opposite side of the table, picked up a pen, and wrote a note.

“What are you doing?”

“Notes, like I said.” I lifted the paper to show her the words “expected monsters and traps” written on it. “Now, Miss Maryn, please have a seat so we can get this started.”

She glowered at me, then hesitantly slid back into her chair.

Please shut the door, I said mentally.

The door closed behind us and locked.

That was a good effect, it seemed to rattle Elina a bit. I forced myself not to smile, instead focusing on the interviewer persona I was playing. “Thank you. Now, Miss Maryn, can I ask why you’re here?”

She turned toward me, looking awkward. “I’m here to explore the shrine? Obviously?”

I scribbled something on the page. “Mmhmm. But why are you here to do that? What is your goal?”

“I…I’m here to ask the crystal for a boon. That’s something that happens here, right?” She glanced from side-to-side.

I nodded. “If you successfully complete your application here, we’ll review it and evaluate your potential for a meeting with the crystal. I can’t make any promises about whether or not the crystal will give you anything, I don’t have that kind of authority. I’m sure you understand.”

“I…uh…right. This isn’t what I expected.”

“Care to elaborate on that?” I made a “go on” gesture.

“Well, like I said, I thought there would be more…um, fighting things? Danger, you know?”

I nodded sagely. “Yes, I’ve heard that before. Why did you have that expectation?”

“Well…really, I guess it seemed like this was sort of like a Judgment, but older fashioned?”

“Ah, yes. A number of people — especially Valians — come in here with the expectation that this will basically be another Judgment for them. There are some similarities, of course, given that Selys based her tests on the elemental temples, but this isn’t quite one of those. You’ll find that while we do have strict requirements for meeting with the crystal, no violence or danger is necessary here.”

“That’s…not what I’d heard.” Elina looked at me suspiciously. “Is this some sort of trick? Are you just playing with me here, buying time for something?”

I shook my head. “I assure you that I’m not. Of course, you’re free to leave at any time if you feel threatened.”

Unlock the door.

There was a click as the door behind us unlocked. I gestured magnanimously toward it.

“I…no, that’s okay. You’re really just going to ask me questions? That’s it?’

I nodded. “Sometimes there are other forms of tests, but we’re evaluating a new minimalist testing routine right now. I don’t believe anything beyond the interview will be necessary in this case.”

“…Really?” Elina looked understandably nervous.

I nodded. “Yes. How does that make you feel?”

She frowned. “…A little conflicted, if I’m being honest. Like, even if I succeed, I wouldn’t have earned it properly?”

I nodded, making a note. “And that’s in contrast to the Judgment you took, which felt more significant?”

“I mean, yeah, obviously. Those things are dangerous!”

“Right.” I scribbled another note. “What exactly did your Judgment entail?”

Elina scowled. “I don’t remember that, obviously. No one does.”

“Then how do you know it was dangerous?”

…There was a moment of silence.

To her credit, Elina formulated a response faster than some would have. “Some people don’t come back.”

“Hypothetically, couldn’t they simply stay behind in the tower?”

“Well, yeah, but that’s not…” She wrinkled her nose. “Is this some sort of test of faith? Are you trying to get me to sell out my goddess?”

“Goodness, no. Please recall that these shrines pre-date Selys. We have nothing to do with her, and these questions are not religious in nature. I’m merely trying to dig into your expectations of what you feel might be a reasonable form of testing in order to ask for a boon. Your ideas seem to have been filtered through the lens of your Judgment and the risks involved in that process. Would you say that is accurate?”

“Sure, I guess?” She blinked. “Who even are you, by the way?”

I waved a hand dismissively. “That’s not important. I’m just here to interview you.”

“How do I know you’re actually a part of this shrine, and not just…I don’t know, some other adventurer playing a prank?”

She had a good point.

I raised a finger, then said, “Shrine, lock the door.”

The door clicked behind us again. “Shrine, unlock the door.”

It unlocked.

I smiled at her. “Is that sufficient for you?”

“I mean…you clearly have some influence over a door, but that doesn’t mean you run the place.”

“An excellent point, allow me to take a note. One moment.” Scribble, scribble. “What sort of demonstration would you require for me to prove my connection with the shrine?”

“I…don’t know. You could, uh, show me the crystal?”

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible until we’ve had a chance to determine if you’ve met our qualifications. However…”

You can communicate with me telepathically and read my mind. You can also give orders to the elementals. Presumably, that means you can communicate with her as well, correct?

[That is correct.]

At no mana cost?

[Correct.]

Okay, please send her a message that says, “This is the Transcendence Gateway Crystal. Please continue your interview process.”

[Very amusing. One moment.]

Elina shot to her feet. “What was that?”

I tapped my pen on the page. “The crystal sent you a message, did they not?”

“I…uh, well, someone claiming to the crystal did, but it could be…”

“Continued skepticism.” I wrote another note. “Understood. Now, can you please give me an idea of what sort of boon you were looking for here?”

Elina scanned the room again, then slowly sat back down, looking even more nervous. “I...uh, heard there are things that are similar to attunements here, but older?”

I wrote another note. “Yes, that’s correct. Not everyone who comes through here qualifies for one, but spirit bonds are indeed technically possible here. Are you familiar with the concept?”

“Spirit bond. Is that like one of those old-fashioned dominion bonds from back at home?”

I nodded, mentally noting that she must have been from a time period where dominion sorcery was still relatively commonly known about. “More like a complex dominion mark, if you’re familiar with those.”

“Oh, sure, I’ve heard of them. I thought only the gods were supposed to…” She paused, blinked, and then continued, “Wait. Are attunements the same thing as dominion marks?”

“I’m sorry, that’s not something I can answer for you at this time. If you reach the crystal, however, asking a question is a possible use of a boon.”

“Huh.” Elina nodded, pondering. “Okay. Uh, what else did you need to know?”

“Let’s go over a bit about your personal history and magical capabilities.”

“…Sure.”

***

I went through a series of more interview questions with her, taking up another fifteen or twenty minutes. That level of social contact was exhausting, but I think I played the role well enough.

There were a couple advantages to the exhaustive process.

One, in spite of what I’d told her, I was buying time. Not for anything nefarious, though: I was waiting for my mana batteries to recharge further. Every minute I kept her busy was another minute of time for me to get more mana that would be useable for the next round.

If the time between rounds wasn’t affected by the time I spent during a round, I benefitted from dragging out each step as much as possible. Of course, there was a possibility that my time during the round was going to affect subsequent rounds, but I couldn’t know without trying it.

Even if the timing of future rounds didn’t change, there were potential downsides to dragging things out. For example, if I hit the maximum of thirty hours without going though every possible dungeon entrant, maybe that would be a failure of some kind. It was also possible there were other time limits, or that the crystal would get bored and send in a second person early, but the crystal refused to answer any of my questions on the subject.

Without any definitive knowledge on how things would work later on, I thought the advantages of playing it safe and stalling outweighed the potential downsides.

Beyond that, the interview was giving me valuable information. I learned a bit more about what ancient attuned believed about the shrines, and even a few bits about older attunements. Elina was apparently from just over a hundred years after the Exodus, and she had a very different perspective on things than modern attuned do.

Finally, I was able to teach her some things about magic and attunements, simply through the interview process. And by doing that, I was meeting the requirements of my own test.

When I concluded the interview, I stood up, said, “Thank you, please wait here for a moment,” and headed out of the room.

Breathing heavily, I headed back to the main crystal chamber, trembled a little bit as I recovered from the extended social experience, and then prepared for the next part.

“Okay. Please open the door to the path on the right. Tell her she’s been cleared to leave the room and cross the hall.”

[I will do so right now.]

From the crystal’s chamber, I was able to see Elina startle from the sudden telepathy, stand, and then head out of the interview room. From there, she headed across the entrance to the door on the right side, which opened for her.

Inside, she stared at a beautiful sight: a tremendous crystal in the center of the chamber.

A tremendous crystal that was, of course, completely fake.

I was fortunate that the Transcendence Gateway Crystal had been willing to consider “a fake version of you” to be a valid form of “furniture”, albeit an expensive one. The two chairs had cost a total of fifty mana. The table had been another fifty mana. The fake crystal had cost me two hundred, but the sight of it was absolutely worth the cost.

“Okay, now, I’d like you to telepathically tell her that she’s completed her test and can ask for a boon.”

[I will do so now.]

Elina stepped into the chamber, presumably following instructions, and gawked silently for a moment, then she said, “…Could you give me one of those blessing marks? The one that’s like an attunement?”

I nodded, having expected that. “Tell her to please wait a moment while you consider her request.”

[Done. What is the plan?]

“Okay. I assume you’re actually capable of giving something like that to people, correct?”

[Yes.]

“How much mana would it cost for you to give her one?”

[Twelve thousand.]

I whistled. That was even more than I’d expected, but I had known it probably wouldn’t work, and I had other ideas. “What would the bond do if you gave it to her?”

[The bond would create a permanent connection between us, giving her access to a fraction of my mana. You may consider it analogous to a Summoner contract.]

“Would that bond grow stronger with use, like an attunement?”

[It can grow stronger, but not in the same fashion as an attunement.]

“Is that twelve-thousand mana cost static, or does it vary based on the person you’d be marking?”

[Static.]

I pondered that. “…Okay. I presume that the cost is related to specific effects the mark grants?”

[That is correct.]

I grinned. “Perfect. How much would it cost for you to give her a mark on her body that kind of glows a bit, but doesn’t do anything else?”

[Hm. That’s a bit devious. She would feel cheated when she leaves.]

“And that would be a valuable lesson, wouldn’t it?”

I heard something like laughter from the crystal. [A bit of a stretch, there.]

“Her ability to tell people she has an extra mark from a crystal is still a tangible benefit, albeit a smaller one. She could learn to use it to her advantage.”

[Perhaps. It is not a significant benefit compared to what she requests…but yes, it counts for something. One thousand mana to do as you ask.]

I drained all my batteries back into the crystal, but it hadn’t even been a half hour, so there wasn’t nearly enough. I drank some mana water, too, and gave the crystal some more of my own mana, but that only got us back to five hundred available.

It did, however, give me time to think.

I still had a little bit of attunement primer. I had a fair bit of knowledge about how artificial attunements worked.

…Did I know enough of fabricate one? This would probably be the lowest risk situation possible for me to try experimenting with making an artificial attunement on my own, at least for the immediate future.

…Nope. Still way too risky. Not going to blow up my hands again.

Instead, I took a different, slightly smaller risk, and drained all the mana out of my shield sigils and circlet into the crystal. Both of them primarily contained mana types the crystal could handle, so it worked out okay…it just meant that I was at a much, much higher risk of dying if I got into an actual fight.

I’d have to be extremely cautious while I waited for them to recharge.

The transfer still wasn’t perfectly efficient, but my shield sigil and circlet both had substantial mana supplies. Draining them got me more than enough.

[You now have 1180 mana available.]

“Go ahead and give her the glowy mark.”

There was a bright flash of light in the fake crystal room, then a glowing symbol appeared on her forehead. She reached up absently, feeling at it, then removed a pocket mirror from her bag and examined it. “Th…thank you, great crystal.”

More words may have been exchanged, but I didn’t hear them. After a couple more minutes, Elina turned, then exited the shrine.

After a moment of quiet, I heard a voice.

[Mana earned from defense: 100.]

[Mana earned from the attacker learning a valuable lesson: 200.]

[Mana earned from the attacker successfully gaining a reward: 300.]

[Mana earned from amusing me: 500.]

[Total mana available: 1280.]

[You have one minute to prepare for the next stage.]

…Wait, what?

It seemed like stalling for time may have had some downsides after all.

Chapter XX – Dungeon Defense

I panicked, of course.

That panic took the form of a loud exclamation and a dead sprint back to the crystal chamber. I very nearly fell in one of my own (still-existent) pits along the way.

By the time I got to the crystal room, there wasn’t much time left. I hoped it would just be another friendly adventurer entering, willing to sit through my ludicrous interview and happily accept their fictitious reward.

Obviously, my good friend the Transference Gateway Crystal had other plans. No adventurers appeared after the minute was up: instead, the entrance was graced by the coming of an eight-legged feline creature the size of a horse. It was black furred, so I might have called it a panther if it had, you know, fewer legs and less glowy eyes.

[Warning: The shrine has been invaded by one of the Buried. Learning protocols suspended. Updated objective: Remove the threat by any means necessary.]

I blinked. “The Buried…? Aren’t those some kind of ancient monsters?”

I’d heard a tiny bit about the Buried from Keras, but I wasn’t anything like an expert on the subject, and more information could be critical.

[That is an oversimplification, but yes. The Buried were created by the makers of the world as soldiers in a divine war that nearly obliterated the planet. In the aftermath of the war, the survivors were sealed beneath the surface of the world by the surviving gods, who feared them.]

“Oh, good. Monsters that gods were afraid of. Fun.”

[I sense that you are being facetious.]

“Yep.” I exhaled a breath. “How does that have anything to do with the rest of this test?”

[While teaching the living is of the utmost importance, actual Buried attacks have threatened the homes of the crystals on numerous occasions. Designing proper defenses for a Buried incursion is an integral part of proper crystal sanctuary design, regardless of the shrine’s primary purposes.]

“Okay, great.” I groaned. “If teaching isn’t the goal here, replace the doors with walls.”

While we talked, the panther-like Buried advanced, stopping briefly in front of the sign. I couldn’t tell if they were reading it or not.

...I suppose if they can talk, I could interview—

The panther casually swept a claw through the air. A heartbeat later, the sign fell into six separate pieces.

…Or not.

I heard the crystal’s response to my request a moment later. [Unfortunately, a clear line to the entrance is a required part of the sanctuary’s design. Removing the doors, even temporarily, is prohibited.]

“Why? That doesn’t make any…”

The panther leapt forward, crashing through the door straight ahead of and landing in a pile of splintered wood. It had been locked, but that didn’t accomplish much.

The panther now stood in my original entrance room, the one with a fire elemental and the torch lighting puzzle.

I couldn’t keep complaining. Combat had begun.

As I watched, the tiny fire elemental hurled a bolt of flame at the panther. The panther leapt to the side, avoiding the lick of flame, then swiped a claw in mid-air. There was a flash, then the fire-elemental fell backward, large gashes appearing across the flame’s surface. The elemental wasn’t killed outright in one strike, but from the way it listed toward the ground, it didn’t look like it could take much more punishment.

“Telepathically tell the panther to stop fighting, and that I will be there to talk shortly.”

[Done. Also, they are called a rashan.]

The rashan paused for just a moment, turning their head upward. Then, with a growl, they leapt at the injured fire elemental.

I cursed and broke into a run.

Well, I tried.

Mentally, I assessed my chances in a fight against the rashan. From the speed they were moving and the damage they could deal at a distance, I didn’t like my odds. I didn’t know much about the Buried, but Keras had told me that they were created to fight against ancient deities. A conjured copy for a test was unlikely to have the same level of power as a real Buried, but it would still be dangerous.

The safe thing to do would have been to hole up and burn through more mana on reinforcing the chamber right in front of the crystal. But, in spite of my typical habits, I wasn’t going to play this one safe.

If I didn’t do something soon, that little fire elemental was going to get mauled to pieces.

Haste.

I ran faster, bursting through the first room in moments. Fortunately, the crystal must have anticipated my intent without clear instructions, since the door unlocked right in front of me.

I planned in the few moments while I ran.

My shield sigil was still barely functional, having only recovered a fraction of its power.  I sent a pulse of my own mana into it as I ran, but I doubted it would do much. In a fair fight, this thing was going to tear me to pieces.

But I had no intention of fighting fair.

I rushed through the next room, two fire elementals still spinning in the air to guard it.

Move the fire elemental out of the rashan room.

[I cannot move entities while they are engaged in combat.]

I cursed and ran faster. Wall them off, then.

I heard a loud crunch followed by a feline roar.

[The fire elemental has been surrounded by walls. You have 880 mana remaining.]

Good. Get the fire elementals out of this room and put them right in front of the crystal chamber.

The fire elementals near me vanished.

I reached the door to the next room a few moments later, swinging the door open to find the rashan standing right in front of it. I saw the creature’s legs shift just slightly, preparing to leap.

“…Down, kitty?”

The rashan jumped.

I did, too, but with cheating.

Jump.

My ring of jumping, so underutilized of late, blasted me out of the rashan’s path. I landed near the treasure box, which still sat in the center of the room. I drew my sword and held it in a defensive stance. “Stop. There’s no need for us to fight.”

Detect Aura.

The rashan had no visible shroud, which was unsurprising. They weren’t a creature of Selys’ creation: The Buried were older. But the spell had other uses.

The rashan lowered their head and growled, then replied in a guttural tone, “I disagree.”

A casual swipe of their paw sent a near-invisible wave of force across the room, but I was ready for it. I’d seen how they had clawed through the sign and hit the elemental without touching them. I didn’t jump again: I didn’t need to. With Detect Aura and Haste active, I could see the gleam of phantasmal claws passing through the air and simply side-stepped the attack.

I wasn’t surprised the rashan could understand me: there was probably some sort of translation spell running throughout the whole place, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to understand Roy, either. He predated the coming of Valia to this continent, and thus, he would have been speaking an unfamiliar language.

I was a little more surprised the rashan could reply in a form I could understand, but not overly so. There wasn’t exactly a lot of time to chat. They were already preparing for another leap before I could get in a word.

Need to buy time.

When the rashan leapt, I swung Selys-Lyann upward in an arc, sending a glittering crescent of frost through the air.

The rashan twisted in mid-air, avoiding the attack and smashing into the ground where I would have been standing if I hadn’t already been dancing backward, swinging again.

The rashan leapt again. A flick of my wrist sent a burst of near-invisible transference mana to slam them right out of the air. When they landed, I sent another mental instruction.

Walls around the rashan, now.

[I cannot create walls around enemy entities.]

I cursed as the rashan surged forward at blinding speed. I tried to move out of the way, but even with Haste active, this thing was fast. They slammed right into me, sending me crashing into the back wall of the chamber. My fractionally charged shield sigil prevented the rashan’s impact from doing me any harm, but I felt the shield shatter the moment I hit the wall. My vision swam and I found myself on the floor, blearily processing the rashan, already in mid-air as they jumped toward me.

I rolled, barely managing to get out of the way before the rashan landed with a colossal thump.

I wasn’t in a good position to swing, and I didn’t even know if the rashan would give me a chance to get back to my feet. I did have a faster way of responding, though. One that didn’t require any movement.

Pit under it, now.

The floor beneath the rashan dropped away in an instant. The rashan tumbled downward, claws scouring the walls to slow their descent. Apparently, gigantic monster cats weren’t quite as immune to the trauma of falling as small ones.

The fall didn’t last long, but I was sending more commands with the speed of thought.

An instant later, a few tons of furniture dropped on top of the pit, sealing the top shut.

I heard a loud growl as the rashan leapt up the walls and slammed into one of the couches I’d commanded the crystal to drop in place, but the furniture barely budged.

I groaned, pushing myself to my feet. Then I walked to the side of the pit, careful to stay far enough back to avoid being suddenly eviscerated if the rashan had some way to get out, like an incorporeal form or teleportation. “Ready to talk now?”

I heard another growl, then a rip as claws ripped through one of the pieces of my furniture stack.

[Your pit cost 25 mana. Your “pile of couches” cost 300 mana. You have 555 mana remaining.]

“Tell you what, I’m going to go ahead and start flooding the pit with water. After that, I’ll freeze it solid. I’m pretty confident I can do that before you can dislodge all this. If you—”

Another crash as the rashan hit the furniture pile, but it still didn’t budge. The rashan was tremendously strong, but they weren’t in a great position to try to shift the stuff.

“You are bluffing.”

I shrugged a shoulder, which was probably unnecessary, since presumably the rashan couldn’t see me. “Add and activate a flood trap near the pit.”

I spoke out loud deliberately, intending to demonstrate my control over the terrain. The “flood trap” turned out to be a little different from what I pictured: a spout appeared on the ceiling above the trap, then began to rapidly spray water into the room. The spout was huge — a few feet in diameter, not just a tiny leak like I was expecting.

The torrent of water was significant enough that I had to stand back to avoid getting splashed. The furniture was blocking the hole enough to prevent the rashan from escaping, but it wasn’t by any means water tight. The hole began rapidly flooding, like I’d claimed.

Uh…huh. Okay.

I went through a moment of panic. I had, in fact, been bluffing. The trap was much more effective than I expected.

Fortunately, the rashan was panicking even more than I was. I heard them slam into the walls faster. Moments passed, then came another growl, and finally, “You cannot hold me here, human. I will escape. I will always escape.”

It occurred to me a little late that imprisoning something in a pit that had presumably been imprisoned underground for millennia was a little bit more, uh, thematic than I had intended. Still, I wasn’t dealing with anger at my audacity. That formidable monster inside the pit was afraid. And while I wasn’t big on exploiting negative emotions, they had been very definitely planning to kill me, so I had fewer reservations than I usually did.

Now that the Buried was in a vulnerable position, there was a significant chance I could have simply found a way to turn that trap deadlier. Selys-Lyann might have frozen the water in a way that would prove fatal, or perhaps I could have simply layered further monsters and traps in ways that could finish the fight without any further intervention on my behalf. I’d been permitted to simply “remove” the monster here, after all.

But I’d decided I wasn’t going to handle this scenario like a traditional dungeon-crafting being, and I certainly wasn’t going to give up after the first small dent in that plan.

“You want to escape, and I want to help you do that. We can make a deal.”

I heard another slam from below. “I do not deal with the enemies of Aetor.”

I had precisely zero idea who Aetor was, but I could still play along. “Even if that deal would work to Aetor’s benefit?” There was a pause, so I added, “And it’s not like you’re any use to Aetor dead.”

“I will not die here!” Another loud slam. The furniture pile actually moved that time, enough that I was startled.

So, mentally, I dropped another sofa on the pile. There was a loud crash as it manifested place, then an alarming groan from the bottom of the pile. Not from the monster, but from the bottom-most sofa, which was seriously damaged. “Uh…You’re going to want to stop being stubborn, because that stuff is about to collapse on top of you, and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to dig you out if that happens.”

Another pause, then… “Speak quickly, human.”

“Simple. I presume you’re here to seek the crystal?”

A growl. “Of course. The power of the crystal will assist me in my revenge.”

“I’ll help you. I’ll get you out of the pit and escort you to the crystal without any further complications. All I need is…” A plausible plan, one the Buried might agree to. “Your assistance against a mutual enemy.”

“A mutual enemy?” There was a derisive snort. “Your entire species is my enemy. So, unless you speak of one of your petty kings…”

“No.” A plan clicked into place in my mind. “The Sun Eater.” I said, definitively. “I want you and your people to join us against the Sun Eater.”

“…The Sun Eater? You speak nonsense. The Sun Eater is long defeated.”

I heard a hiss as the water continued to climb higher. “Not as defeated as we hoped. As much as you might hate humanity, I’m sure you can agree that the destruction of the planet would be bad for us both. We live here, after all. Now, I’d like to let you out before you drown down there. Will you agree to a truce?”

“If you speak true, then…” A loud growl. “Fine, fine! Just get me out of here!”

A grin slid across my face.

Shut off the flood trap.

The trap stopped immediately. I felt a surge of relief. I wasn’t sure if that would work: I hadn’t asked earlier if I could deactivate the traps.

Now, the harder part: I couldn’t move several tons of furniture by myself, either. Not easily, anyway.

Can you move the furniture?

[No. The furniture is presently being used and cannot be moved.]

I groaned. Okay, fine. Create two lesser wood golems and have them lug the furniture out of the way.

Two human-sized wooden statues appeared next to me, then immediately got to work, starting from the top of the pile.

[You spent 50 mana on the additional couch, then 100 on the golems. You have 405 mana remaining.]

The golems weren’t as strong as I hoped, but gradually, they managed to move the colossal pile of furniture enough that the rashan was able to burst through the bottom couch and emerge from the pit.

The rashan glared at me with narrowed eyes, then shook themself off, splattering water across the room. “Lead me to the crystal, human. Before I change my mind.”

“Of course.” I nodded. Then, of course, I led the way straight to the fake crystal room near the entrance.

The rashan approached the fake crystal, sniffing the air. For a moment, I thought they might have sensed my deception. They lowered their head, and for a moment, I expected them to leap toward it.

It was only belatedly that I realized that this was not a gesture of aggression, but of reverence.

“Great watcher, power of old, grant me a fraction of your strength.”

That was promising. Except, of course, that I didn’t have enough mana remaining to grant the rashan a mark.

Can you, uh, tell the rashan that it needs to spend a half hour in ritual silence while it awaits your mark?

[Amusing. Very well.]

The rashan turned their head to me. “Leave us, human. I must undergo the ritual to receive the mark. When I am marked, I will consider our pact sealed.”

I nodded, then left the room.

Then, of course, I rushed to the real crystal room to wait. I rested for about twenty-five minutes, then used most of the remaining time to drain the portion of my mana batteries that had recharged.

[I now have 925 mana available. 1000 mana is required to mark the rashan.]

I sighed, then drained some of the recharged mana from my shield sigil and circlet into the crystal as well.

[I now have 1200 mana available. Shall I perform the mark?]

“Go ahead.”

There was a flash as a glowing mark appeared on the rashan’s front paw. They let out a surprisingly wolf-like howl into the air, then pushed out of the room.

I met the rashan near the entrance. “I have delivered on my side of the bargain. Will you honor yours?”

“Your people are the ones without honor. My pact was spoken, it will be fulfilled. Tell me of the return of the Sun Eater.”

I’d had a bit of time to think about how to spin this. “One of the generals of the Sun Eater, Akadi, has been sighted in the human lands to the south.”

“I know of this one. A stealer of bodies and harbinger of the Sun Eater’s coming.”

I nodded. “If Akadi is here, there may be others. To fulfill our bargain, you may either destroy Akadi or discover another general and relay the general’s name and location to me. I will remain here and await your return.”

“We have an accord.” The rashan lowered their head, then spun and rushed straight out the shrine’s door.

I stared after the monster, my heart still pounding in my chest. For several moments, I braced myself for the creature to come back and rend me to bits. Slowly, I backed away from the entrance, lowering my sword only with great hesitation.

[Congratulations. It has been years since someone has succeeded at this portion of the test.]

I turned my head toward the crystal room. “Most people can’t defeat the rashan, then?”

[No. Most people kill the rashan and fail the test.]

“…What? You told me to eliminate the rashan by any means necessary!”

[That is correct. I did not, however, state that you would pass the test if you chose a lethal approach.]

I sighed and headed back to the crystal room, sheathing my sword along the way. “I feel like you were being a little deceptive, then.”

[Yes, of course. Exposure to dishonesty is one way to learn about the nuances of communication, after all.]

I rubbed my forehead. “Was that the end of this, then? Am I done?”

[Not by any stretch of the imagination. You do, however, have a full hour before the next test.]

“Care to give me a bit more warning about what the next phase will entail?”

[Not particularly.]

I sighed, sat down on the floor of the crystal’s room, and got to work.

***

The next hour was fairly simple. I had the golems shift the furniture into a makeshift maze, slowing the path through that particular room, with the pit trap in the center of the path and still filled with water. It wasn’t much of a threat to anyone, but it would serve to slow down any other monsters that tried to simply charge through the place.

I earned a thousand mana from finishing the round with the rashan. I knew I would be able to get close to another thousand out of the batteries, too. More if I was willing to drain my shield sigil and circlet again, but I wasn’t. I didn’t want to risk getting into another fight without my defenses in place. I didn’t know how deadly that rashan would have been if I hadn’t trapped it, and I didn’t want to go up against something similar or stronger without proper preparations.

With over two thousand mana to spend, I could have done a lot of experimenting.

It was tempting to create extra defenses. The challenges would probably get harder, after all, and I knew that I would “unlock” additional types of potential creation if I made enough of any one specific type of creature or trap. I didn’t know the thresholds for that, but with two thousand mana, I suspected it was likely I had enough that I could probably get better elementals, wood golems, or pit traps if I focused on them.

But none of those traps and monsters were my main methods of resolving the recent entrants. I had, in spite of my best intentions, been handling a great deal of the work myself.

And while that did have significant downsides, it did have one principal advantage: I was conserving mana. That mana was primarily intended to be used as a tool for resolving future challenges, but that didn’t mean it was the only way the mana could be used.

With an hour to burn, I sat down with the crystal to talk. “Tell me about how exactly you’ve been putting those glowing marks on people.”

[Why do you ask?]

“Because I want to learn how to do it myself.”

There was a pause. [Acceptable. Let our lessons begin.]

***

At the end of the hour, I still had over 2000 mana — 2050, to be specific, since I didn’t quite wait the full hour to drain the batteries. The only action I’d taken in regards to the dungeon structure was to move the fire elemental that I’d walled off out of the walls. I’d asked if the crystal could heal the elemental, or if I could, but the crystal explained that it would automatically recover to full strength between rounds.

While I hadn’t done much with the dungeon, that hour had been extremely productive. Why?

Because one hour of that crystal’s time was more than enough for me to understand the crystal’s process for making a glowing, otherwise functionless mark.

The foundation was remarkably simple: it required creating a six-part enchantment inside another entity’s body, all within the bounds of a single glyph.

This contained the same basic structures as a standard enchantment: the enchantment’s function (meaning glowing), recharge, and capacity components. The other parts were also mostly straightforward: a function to prevent the mana from escaping into other parts of the body and a function to avoid the body rejecting the foreign mana. Interestingly, there was no purification function involved: this was because the crystal’s mana was already purified and safe for humans, like my own.

The sixth and most important function was a connection to the crystal itself. This connection was apparently a prerequisite for the mark’s ability to recharge, which drew from some kind of external source connected to the crystal, rather than the environment. When I asked the crystal if this external source was a dominion, they told me that was “valuable information” that would require a boon to discuss further.

That was fascinating.

The most important part, however, was how this process was performed. There was no attunement primer involved, no applicator. The crystal simply had a single, self-contained function that could apply these marks to people.

And if I could figure out how to replicate that…

My mind swam with the possibilities. But I couldn’t get too excited: the crystal wouldn’t explain how it was embedding that many functions into a single enchantment, or even how the enchantment was structured. It wasn’t quite the same as an attunement, with sub-glyphs and all that.

If I wanted to know more, I’d have to spend a boon. A boon that was, unfortunately, already reserved for a completely different purpose.

That’s not to say the information was without value.

With that knowledge, I understood the actions the crystal had been taking, and I had room to discuss adjustments. “When you’re applying a mark, do you need to include all those component parts?”

[Not technically, but it will not be fully functional without them.]

“…Okay. What if you made one without the connection to you, or the ability to recharge?” I considered asking the crystal to remove the capacity and anti-leaking functions as well, but that seemed a bit extreme.

[That would reduce the cost from 1000 mana to 700 mana, but the mark would cease to function after about an hour.]

“Would that reduce the value of the reward in terms of my own rewards at the end of a round?”

I felt something that sounded like the telepathic equivalent of a sigh. […Technically, no, as long as they leave the dungeon within that hour.]

I grinned. “Perfect.”

With that, it was almost time for the next round, and my plans were firmly in place.

***

The next five hours passed in a blur. Every entrant was a single, ordinary human. Every single one of them subjected themselves to my strange, baffling interview process.

And every single one them was rewarded with a gift from the fake crystal.

In four cases, this was a mark. The fifth just wanted the crystal to answer some kind of esoteric question, which didn’t cost me anything, but I was a little disappointed that they had the conversation telepathically and the crystal wouldn’t tell me what it was about.

Either way, I cleared each round, and each had a one hour wait afterward.

From clearing each round, I earned a total of four thousand mana. That was heavily offset somewhat by the cost of four fake marks, for twenty-eight hundred mana, netting twelve hundred.

But those five hours were an additional five hours of recharge time for my batteries, too. That amounted to a total of another 6100 mana.

All told, I had 9350 mana at that point.

Almost enough. If I have over twenty hours to go, I should get what I need long before that. Then I can experiment with some other ideas. I’ll start by upgrading treasure…maybe I can get to the point where the crystal will make magical items I can take out of here.

[I regret to inform you that you do not, in fact, have over twenty hours remaining.]

I blinked. I hadn’t heard the crystal responding directly to my stream of thought in a while. “Oh? How much longer do I have?”

[One round.]

“What? That’s…why? Isn’t this supposed to take up to thirty hours?”

[Up to, yes. But I have already neared the completion of my evaluation.]

“…Could I…uh, request a little more time?”

[You could, but I would not grant it.]

I sighed. “Right. Okay. One more round. Can I still use any mana I’ve saved up after the round is completed?”

[I would permit that, but I would not advise it. I have decided you require a greater challenge.]

I processed that. “…Thanks?”

[Your final challenger will now enter the sanctuary.]

I looked at the display next to the crystal, feeling a foreboding sensation as I watched an almost-familiar figure step through the door.

The black-haired swordsman was wearing a strange tunic that seemed to drink in the chamber’s light. Over that, he wore a long, black coat. While his outfit was eye-catching, it was ultimately far less important than the two swords he wore on his hip. On his left side, he wore a long-bladed weapon with a silvery hilt in a scabbard that nearly dragged against the floor. On his right hip, the unmistakable brightness of gold that I had seen only in replica form.

That sword was Dawnbringer, the Sacred Sword of Light.

And my intruder was, of course, a copy of a younger Keras Selyrian.

And I was reshing doomed.

Chapter XXI – Dungeon Destruction

Keras walked toward the sign, glancing it over. I’d replaced the sign after the rashan had destroyed it, and it said the same thing as before.

In order to better serve your needs, please state your name, home, and magical abilities, then wait here for further instructions.

“Sounds fake.” Keras muttered. “Super fake.”

Then he kicked it over and walked to the door straight ahead of him.

No, no, no.

I watched in horror as Keras tapped on the door with a finger, causing it to fall off the hinges.

I turned to the crystal. “Seriously? You expect me to stop him?”

[No, Corin Cadence. I expect you to try.]

I took a moment to panic.

Keras had told me he’d gone through shrines like this one — he’d even described his adventure through a similar one, while he’d been searching for Dawnbringer’s medallions. While Len had mentioned that Keras had visited this shrine, I somehow hadn’t managed to consider the fact that the crystal might use him as one of the challengers for the test. An obvious oversight, in retrospect, as a result of a faulty assumption: I’d assumed that this test would be fair.

I had absolutely no chance in a straight fight against Keras. None. A simulacrum of Meltlake had easily demolished my entire team in the final exams, and Keras was, in my estimation, even more dangerous than Meltlake was. And, of course, Meltlake knew she was running an exam and had obviously held back.

If I fought a copy of Keras here, there was a real chance he could kill me. This was a younger Keras, one that presumably hadn’t even been to Valia. He wouldn’t recognize me. And, based on his own explanation of how he’d first encountered Len, there was a good chance that this copy of Keras didn’t think like Keras — he could be compelled to fight whatever he came across, for example.

I considered just sitting in the crystal room and letting Keras walk through the dungeon. That might have been the sanest course of action. Maybe drop some traps to slow him down, then cash out on my mana stockpile before I failed the test. Assuming I asked the crystal to convert all the mana I’d saved into a mental mana crystal, I had already saved enough to make a Class 5 and accomplish my objective, even without finishing the test. I didn’t know if the crystal would agree to do that, but it was an option.

I wasn’t going to take that option, of course. I wasn’t quite as stubborn as Keras himself, but I didn’t intend to give up without trying.

That left me with a couple options. The safest would be to use the dungeon as designed and try to fill it with traps and monsters to stop him. Knowing what I knew about Keras, I sincerely doubted that would work. If I was able to get some of those higher-level monsters by producing enough small ones, maybe I could slow him down, but I couldn’t even count on that.

And that approach wasted my hard-won mana. I still intended to use that and, well, I’ve always had a problem with sunk costs.

That left the worst possible approach, which was the one I obviously was going to take. “How powerful is this Keras compared to the real one?”

[This copy is considerably weaker than the original Keras who took the test.]

“What does considerably weaker mean?”

[Due to the unusual nature of the individual, I am unable to accurately quantify his power. His abilities are significantly restricted; however, you should be advised that this copy’s powers still vastly exceed your own personal abilities.]

Yeah, no kidding. I wrung my hands in the air as I watched Keras advance into the next room.

My fire elemental hurled a ball of flame at Keras as he stepped inside. Keras raised a hand and the fireball froze in mid-air. Then he wagged a finger at the fire elemental and gave it a disappointed look. “No. Bad.”

The fire elemental seemed to shrink a little, then lowered itself toward the ground.

Keras shook his head and walked in further, examining the room. The cube of stone that I’d sealed the fire elemental inside for its own protection was still near the center, but I couldn’t move the elemental in there now that it was “in combat”. I kind of wished I’d kept it inside.

Keras didn’t attack, though. When he scanned the room, he noted the torches. He blinked. “Oh.” Then, with a flick of his wrist, he sent the hovering fireball straight into one.

Then, with another gesture, he hurled a flame of his own and ignited the other.

There was a click as the door on the opposite side of the room opened.

I gawked.

Keras, of all people, had actually solved my puzzle.

I felt a little proud for a moment, almost enough to overcome the feeling of existential horror that came with the knowledge that Keras Selyrian was coming in my direction and it was my responsibility to stop him.

“Were you just trying to help me, little guy?” Keras walked closer and patted the fire elemental on the…well, it didn’t have a head, but on the top of it. “Sorry that I yelled at you earlier. I’m having a bit of a day.”

He shook his head, pulled away from the elemental, and headed toward the next room.

I did not like the idea of fighting Keras Selyrian at all. I definitely did not like the idea of fighting him when he was having a bad day.

…Well, at least my circlet is recharged. As long as he doesn’t fatally injure me, I can probably escape.

I turned to the crystal.

“Clear the monsters out of the other rooms. Put them in the interview room.”

[Done.]

I stepped out into the now-empty room just in front of the crystal chamber and prepared myself. I wasn’t waiting long. Keras walked in less than a minute later, after knocking that door off the hinges like he had at the entrance.

He stared across the room toward me. Fortunately, his swords were still sheathed at his side. Then, he said something unexpected. “I wasn’t expecting another wielder here.”

I blinked, processing. “I’m not…oh. You mean Selys-Lyann?” I gestured at the sword at my waist.

Keras walked forward, causing me to tense. If he noted my discomfort, he gave no sign. “Is that what you’re calling it? I can sense a sacred sword from there. Or…a piece of one, anyway. Ah. It’s got a fragment of Flowbreaker in it, I think.”

Mentally, I chastised the actual Keras for not immediately volunteering that same information when we’d met. I don’t know if it would have actually been useful, but it would have been really nice to know a little sooner. “That’s what I’ve heard, but I haven’t seen any other pieces, so I don’t know if it’s true. Similar properties, though. Can you stop walking closer?”

He froze in place, looking mildly surprised, then lifted his open hands. “Ah, sure. Sorry, don’t mean you any harm. Assuming you don’t plan to stop me?”

“I, uh, can’t let you through here. But if you’re looking for the crystal, there’s one over near the entrance…?”

Keras shook his head. “No, the one I’m looking for is in the room behind you.”

“I…” I paused, debating saying something about non-linear rooms and teleporters, but I discarded it. “I can’t let you go through, sorry.”

“Why?” He raised an eyebrow. “My understanding is that more than one person can claim the rewards, and if you’ve already been back there…”

“My test is to stop other people from reaching the crystal.” It was a gamble, but if this Keras was like the real Keras, then…

Keras laughed. “Oh, that’s perfect. Explains a lot, actually. Okay. How are we doing this?”

“Doing…?” My shoulders sank. “You want me to fight you?”

“Obviously. What were you expecting?”

I winced. “Could I perhaps interest you in a nice game of Crowns? Or maybe we could decide things over a children’s card game?”

“Amusing, but no. This is a little too important for me to gamble it on things like that. Maybe if you knew the stakes, you’d be willing to just step aside?”

I shook my head. “It…doesn’t actually matter. You’re not getting the reward you’re looking for even if you beat me.”

“Oh? Some other sort of trap or trick? I can beat it, I assure you.”

I felt a pang of sadness when I heard his determination. “There are some battles that can’t be won, regardless of how strong you are.”

Keras gave me a smirk. “Winning impossible battles is kind of what I do. I’m Keras Selyrian.”

I winced. “Actually…about that. No, you’re not.”

He stared at me for a moment. “Okay, that’s the weirdest thing someone has told me in a while. Gonna need you to back up and explain that one.”

“You’re not the real Keras. You’re a copy made by the crystal as a part of my challenge. You can’t win because you’re not competing. If it’s any consolation, I think the real Keras already finished this test.”

He was silent for a long while.

Then, he lifted his hand, staring at it. “Resh. This isn’t the right kind of aura. It’s similar enough that I didn’t notice immediately, but…”

I knew what he was talking about. “…And I’m guessing Dawn has been very quiet?”

“She’s probably sleeping, or…” He frowned, glancing down. “…Or, no. Not real. She’s not real. I’m not real.”

Something changed in his expression, then. As his head turned back upward, his jaw clenched, and he stared past me.

Then his hand slowly drifted down to the hilt at his left side, and he said, “Get out of my way.”

My heart pounded in my chest as I saw the expression in his eyes, and I felt pressure building in the air. “I can’t do that. I—”

Keras flickered forward.

I reacted as fast as I could, dancing backward, but he wasn’t going for me. He’d reached the other side of the room in an eyeblink, and he was reaching for the door.

“No!” I hurled a blast of transference mana at him from behind. It crashed into him cleanly, but the impact didn’t phase him in the slightest. He did, however, turn back toward me.

“Oh, so we’re doing this after all?” He cracked his knuckles. “Fine with me, kid. But let’s make this quick. I’ve got a stone to break.”

My feeling of panic rapidly escalated. “Keras…I mean, please wait. I know the real Keras. I’m one of his students. I’m his friend.”

His expression didn’t change. “Then you should know my feelings about being copied.”

I…didn’t know a lot about that, to be honest, but I could understand the feeling. “You mean like the copy of Lydia you saved?”

He furrowed his brow. “You know about her?”

I nodded hastily. “She’s still around. Calls herself Len now. She’s the one who brought me here to take this test.”

Slowly, he took a breath, continuing to stare me down. Then, after a moment, he asked simply, “Why?”

“I’m here to get a crystal for Warren Constantine. Something about making defenses for his tower? I think he—”

Keras waved a hand dismissively. “No, not that. Why is she helping you?”

“Admittedly, her motives are pretty inscrutable to me. I’m kind of in the middle of being manipulated by a bunch of powerful beings and what you’d probably call ‘old sages with insufferable riddles’.”

“Not sure I’d use quite that verbiage, but yeah, that does sound about right.” He nodded. He jerked a thumb at the door. “Look, if there’s anything left over after I destroy the crystal that copied me, you can take it.”

“That’s…no. The crystal here is sapient. You don’t kill sapient entities.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Keras generally doesn’t kill sapient creatures, true. But as you very accurately pointed out earlier, I’m not the real Keras. And even Keras makes exceptions. Slavers are on that list. Crystals that make copies of people without their consent, then recycle them for death games? That’s just a very creative kind of slavery.”

“I…I’m not actually going to argue that, but I’m pretty sure that this particular crystal has already been convinced. Very likely by you, or originally you, in fact.”

He folded his arms. “Then how am I here?”

“You probably consented.”

Keras snorted. “Not likely.”

“Well, I saw you examining yourself earlier — you know you don’t have your real annihilation aura. I presume that would be one of your main objections to being copied?”

“It would, but the bigger objection comes from not wanting people to mess with my soul.”

I raised a hand in a gesture of acknowledgement. “Fair, fair. Could I maybe have the crystal talk to you and explain the conditions under which you agreed to be copied?”

“Allowing the crystal to access my mind for telepathy could let it influence my decisions. I’m already compromised, but it would be an added risk.”

And I thought I was paranoid. I could have pushed that angle further and stressed that he was already potentially being compelled to be aggressive, but that seemed like a losing argument. “What can I do to convince you that you’re here of your own accord? Or, uh, the accord of the original Keras?”

“Nothing. In fact, you don’t even actually know that definitely, do you?”

I winced. He had a point. “…No?”

“Do you know where the real Keras is?”

“Mm. Sort of. Last I saw he was in the Tiger Spire in Caelford, but I don’t know if he’s still there.”

“Ah.” Keras shook his head. “Inaccessible, then. I’m not going to wait days or weeks to talk this out.”

I didn’t have that kind of time even if he was willing. “Then…all I can do is appeal to your instinct to not kill things, I suppose.”

He looked bemused. “I don’t know how much the other Keras has told you, but even I have limits. And my patience is about to hit one of them.”

I raised both hands. “I could ask the crystal to tell me how you ended up here, and I could relate that to you? No chance of extra mind control that way, you’d just have to trust me.”

His eyes narrowed. “You said you’re one of my students?”

Something about how his eyes burned told me I was not going to like where this was going, but I replied regardless. “Yes…?”

“For what subject?”

I exhaled a breath. “Mostly swordplay.”

“Good.” Suddenly, Dawnbringer was in his right hand. “Show me.”

And then he vanished, in that particular way that Keras does when he’s moving too fast for me to see.

Resh. Haste!

I stumbled backward, pulling Selys-Lyann just in time to parry his first swing. Even with Haste on, I barely got my sword up in time, and when our blades made contact I felt my arm jerk out of position with such force that my shoulder nearly dislocated.

I gave an agonized grunt and barely maintained my grip, the regeneration function of my shield sigil dulling the pain in my arm to an extent that I was able to hold on.

And, in spite of the seemingly successful parry, Keras’ sword was already at my neck.

Then, after a tense moment, he stepped back. “Not a bad effort. Get yourself in a proper stance.”

I trembled for a moment, then took another step back, and lifted Selys-Lyann. I shifted to a side-profile stance, similar to a fencer, and extended my right arm toward him, keeping it almost completely straight. It wasn’t my ideal stance for a saber — it was an exhausting and aggressive way to stand, but there was a particular point to it.

I narrowed my eyes and said, with all the sharpness I could manage, “Selyrian Cutting Style, First Form: Overwhelming Advance.”

Keras blinked. “Really?”

I lunged.

Keras batted my first swing to the side immediately, but I’d expected that. I threw my left palm forward, already charged with transference mana. He side-stepped the blast, which was completely unnecessary, but I’d known he’d dodge an unknown projectile attack. He always stepped to his left when dodging an attack in that range, so I was ready for that, too.

Jump.

I shot to his side in a blur, jabbing downward toward his left leg and shoving a burst of transference mana through my hand and into Selys-Lyann. A shockwave of ice ripped from the blade, hitting the ground as Keras danced backward, leaving a patch of frost.

I’d intended to follow up on that by trying to encircle him in ice, but he slammed a boot into the ground. I jumped back just in time to avoid a wall of stone that rose from the ground in front of me, then side-stepped to avoid the crescent wave of light that carved cleanly through the wall.

I took a couple steps backward to make more room and evaluate. That was a mistake.

Keras burst through his own wall a moment later, swinging horizontally the moment he emerged. He was moving too fast for me to dodge, even with Haste.

Jump. I flashed to the side, avoiding another crescent wave of brilliant light and sending a wave of frost in his direction. He smashed that with a side-swipe, his sword covered in fire, and then hurled a blast of flame with his other hand.

Blade. I swept my left hand upward, my shroud wrapped around it in the form of a blade of pure mana, and tore the flame in half.

When his expression momentarily flickered in recognition at the sight of the hand-blade, I shot forward in another burst of speed from my ring, swinging down with Selys-Lyann.

He caught my sword in-between two fingers, giving the sword a quizzical look.

“…Please don’t break my artifact?” I pleaded.

He seemed to consider that. “Request granted.”

Then his other hand blurred and something slammed into my forehead.

My vision went black.

When it cleared, I was on the floor. I blinked rapidly, seeing stars.

Distantly, I was aware that I’d had my shield sigil fully charged when he’d hit me. Now, it was completely drained, and he’d still hit me hard enough that I’d nearly lost consciousness.

I’d just upgraded that thing, and he’d punched through it with a single casual strike.

Something was burning my left eye. It was probably blood, but I couldn’t reach up to wipe it: Keras was standing above me with my own sword resting on the center of my chest.

And ice was beginning to flow up his hand. He glanced downward at it, seemingly unconcerned. The ice stopped spreading, but remained in place. “Unusual. You’re not bonded to this sword yet, but they’re still protecting you.”

The ice melted away entirely, then he flipped the sword over holding it blade-first again. Then he angled it toward my hand. It took me a moment of still-concussed thought to realize he was offering it back to me.

“…If I take that, are you going to hit me again immediately?”

“I’ll let you stand up first.”

I groaned, took the sword’s hilt, and pushed myself into a seated position. “Could…I maybe get a five-minute breather?”

“Sure, I’ll come back when I’m done with breaking the crystal.” He turned and headed toward the door.

I was back on my feet a moment later. “Wait, wait.”

Keras spun around, a grin stretched across his face again. “Thought so. Now, is that all I taught you?”

“You taught me a fair bit, but your forms were built for you. You’re used to using weapons that are unusually light for your level of strength, and you can extend your reach with your aura, using it as a form of area denial and intimidation. I can’t really do the same thing — I don’t have the same capabilities you do. Most of the forms of your style aren’t a good match for me, and that one is honestly one of the worst.”

“Why’d you use it, then?”

I laughed. “Thought seeing it would throw you off.”

“It did,” Keras admitted, “but only for a second. Not enough to close the gap.”

“…Admittedly, Mara is a better close combat student. I’m an Enchanter, you know.”

He blinked. “I have more than one student?”

“You do. Mara is great. You’d like her. I mean, you do like her, obviously, or you wouldn’t be teaching her.”

Keras nodded. “How’d I get into teaching you?”

“Mostly a side effect of blackmail from a visage.”

“Ah.” He nodded affably. “Yeah, that checks out.” Then, he lifted Dawnbringer again. “You ready?”

“Not really?”

“That’s unfortunate.”

Then he was swinging again, his brilliant blade tracing an arc in the air too fast for me to follow.

…But I didn’t need to.

I’d fought Keras Selyrian hundreds of times. The real Keras Selyrian.

And I’d long ago adapted to fighting a stronger and faster Keras.

I can do this.

When his crescent shot forward, I didn’t bother using the ring to jump. Instead, I punched the crescent with a burst of transference mana. I knew his crescents from Dawn were primarily light mana, but they contained enough transference to make a traditional reaction:

The crescent hit my fist and flashed, then shot right back toward Keras.

He looked only momentarily startled before catching the gleaming crescent in his own free hand and holding it like a solid object.

My eyes widened briefly. That, at least, was new.

“Not bad, kid.”

Then he snapped the crescent between his fingers and flickered forward.

Fortunately, I was already moving before he did. His swing passed through the air in front of me, and I countered with the best move I knew to take him off-guard.

Accelerated Computation.

I ripped the circlet off my head. As he stepped backward in confusion, my mind swam.

Distance: 1.8 meters.

Mana thread attached.

Angle and force required…

I hurled my circlet at him. He raised his sword to parry, but with a thought, I jerked downward on the mana threads attached and ripped the circlet out of the way of his movement. There was only a split second of contact with Keras’ sleeve as the circlet moved downward, but with my mind racing, it was enough.

“Return.”

The circlet flashed as the teleportation effect activated…

…And the circlet clattered harmlessly to the ground.

Keras glanced down at the fallen item, then looked up to me with a quizzical look. “Offensive teleportation?”

“…Yeah.”

“So, I haven’t told you about my boots, then?”

“…No?”

He nodded. “Shame.”

Then he punched me in the face, too fast for me to process. I stumbled, but didn’t hit the ground this time. Instead, I simply staggered and reached up to wipe the blood away from my nose, then spat from bleeding gums.

Keras lifted Dawnbringer, resting it against his shoulder. For a moment, he simply watched me as I stepped back and took a defensive stance.

I knew that I couldn’t match him in a straight fight, even with the advantage of knowing his style and anticipating his movements. Not with my current power. I needed something, anything, that I could use to even the odds.

There was a heartbeat of silence as we both waited for the other to make the next move.

Then, I egregiously cheated.

Pit trap.

The floor dropped out from beneath Keras as the crystal read my intent.

I’d decided against using any of my remaining mana before I started the fight. I had plans for that mana, after all, and I’d been saving it for an important purpose.

Sometimes, the wisest thing someone can do is change their mind.

Couch pile.

A pile of furniture fell on top of the pit, just like it had with the rashan. Unlike with the rashan, however, Keras wasn’t going to have any difficulty escaping.

I’d bought myself seconds at best, and I was going to make every moment count.

And I did that, by doing what I do best — something incredibly, catastrophically foolish.

I closed my eyes and focused on my right hand.

Analyze Attunement Composition.

An image flashed through my mind: stacks of paper sorted into neat piles on a table sitting in perfect darkness.

I already had Accelerated Computation active, so parsing through the pages would be easy. And, given that the organization structure was my own mind, I found what I needed immediately.

I lifted a page in my mind, concentrated on a sub-glyph, and made a single pen-stroke in my mind.

I heard a crack.

My eyes opened.

Then, as Keras burst free from the pit, shredding furniture with wild abandon, I sent a pulse of mana into my right hand.

And with a flare of power, my spell was complete:

My aura burned bright orange.

I’d overwritten the safety setting on my mana.

Keras glowered at me as he advanced. “I’m not a fan of pits.”

“You’ll be even less fond of what happens next.” I re-formed the mana blade around my left hand, but it was broader now. Brighter.

Sunstone-level boosted my ability to shape my shroud, and I intended to make use of that immediately. I rushed forward, swinging my mana blade before I truly came into reach.

Extend.

The blade lengthened mid-swing, forcing Keras to step backward toward the battered furniture pile. While he avoided stumbling over the broken pieces, I swung Selys-Lyann, sending a shockwave of ice at his feet.

Keras jumped. I’d known he would.

I swung both blades together while he was in mid-air, producing an x-shaped wave of ripping power. He swung downward with Dawnbringer, intending to cleave through the shockwave.

Impact in 0.1 seconds.

With a flick of a finger, I split the shockwave apart the instant before his sword reached it.

The two shockwaves were too close for him to adjust his swing when they split apart. Instead, I saw something flicker across his face, but it wasn’t doubt.

He’d activated a technique.

His aura flashed silver. My attacks vanished into nothing.

When he landed, the stone beneath him shattered, leaving wide cracks across the entire room.

His aura returned to normal in the next instant. Even if his destruction aura wasn’t real, I knew he wouldn’t be willing to overuse it. I swung both blades again, but I knew he’d expect the same trick.

He slammed the ground to raise a wall of stone to block, and I used that moment to prepare my next move.

My right hand trembled on the hilt of my sword.

Deactivating the safety measures on my attunement hadn’t come without cost. I was rapidly burning through my internal mana reserves by using Sunstone-level powers without actually having access to a Sunstone-level mana pool, and my body wouldn’t be able to handle it much longer.

Worse, I still had both Haste and Accelerated Computation active. I was used to using Haste for significant periods of time now, but Accelerated Computation wasn’t meant for extended use.

I need to end this fast.

If I wanted to win, I’d have to end things within the next few moves. And if I knew Keras, he wasn’t going to make that easy.

I exhaled a breath, then concentrated, dispersing my mana blade. Instead, I began to form mana threads around my free hand.

All or nothing.

Transference began to flow into my right hand.

One.

Two.

Keras burst through the stone wall before I had a chance to finish my technique, blurring toward me. With my accelerated thoughts, I traced the exact angle and speed of his strike, then gently shifted Selys-Lyann upward to make contact with Dawnbringer.

Then, in the instant of contact, I released the transference mana stored in my hand into my sword.

There was a cacophonous blast as transference mana met with Dawnbringer’s aura, blasting Keras’ arm out of position.

In that instant, I moved.

Jump.

I shot forward, my hand brushing across the hilt of the Sae’kes as I shot past Keras, then I snapped my fingers.

Mana surged through threads toward the blue crystal in the Sae’kes pommel. My heart slammed in my chest.

There was flash of silver.

Then, slowly, the severed remains of my mana threads drifted to the ground. The pulse of mana I’d sent through them dispersed harmlessly into the open air.

He’d cut them so quickly I hadn’t even seen his hand move.

And in the heartbeat that followed, I knew that I had failed.

Accelerated Computation was, at times, extraordinarily useful. Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to even attempt my last technique, nor the bit of offensive teleportation with the circlet.

It was, however, extremely disturbing when my racing mind told me that there were two swords approaching me at a speed and trajectory that I could not possibly hope to properly counter.

Dawnbringer smashed into Selys-Lyann hard enough that my fingers instantly went numb, losing their grip. The sword tumbled to the ground, and with it, my best chance to fight.

As my mind raced, I activated my ring, blasting myself backward. Keras followed a heartbeat later, his second sword arcing upward toward my chin.

My arm shot downward. Not to grab his sword — that would have been suicidal. I didn’t have the finesse or strength to grab a sword in between two fingers.

I did, however, have something else. Not a weapon, but one last hope.

When Keras’ sword came up for that finishing blow, I tore the Jaden Box out of my bag. “Stop!”

Keras shifted mid-swing, his sword’s blade flashing past the side of my head, a fraction of an inch from my ear. Then he jumped back a step, flicking his blade back upward in an instant. He leveled the tip toward my chest, his grip tightening around the hilt of his weapon. “You have Wrynn’s box.”

“I do. And if you don’t step back and lower your sword, I’ll detonate it.”

Keras’ eyes narrowed. “You’re bluffing.”

“Maybe. You saw what I just tried to do with your sword, didn’t you? Mana threads. I can detonate items. You of all people should understand—”

Keras stepped back, lowering his sword. “Fine.” He exhaled a sharp breath. “What do you want?”

“Concede the match. Agree that you won’t attack me or the crystal. Then, I’ll tell you how I have the box.”

Keras stared at me for a long moment. My hand trembled. My vision swam.

And then, after what felt like an age, he spoke again. Quietly, this time, as if a bit of him was breaking when he uttered the word.

“Fine.”

And after a pause, with a sadder tone, he said, “I concede.”

I exhaled hard.

Release Haste. Release Accelerated Computation.

My vision went blank for a moment as my mind snapped out of the effects of the latter spell. In the next moment, the floor was rushing up toward me, but my motion was forcefully arrested before I hit the ground.

When I managed to gather my thoughts, I realized that Keras had caught me. He helped me into a sitting position, then sat in front of me. His sword was sheathed again. “Looks like you pushed yourself too hard.”

“No kidding. Give me a second.” I closed my eyes again.

Analyze Attunement Composition.

The papers appeared in my mind again, more slowly this time. Parsing through the sub-glyphs was harder without Accelerated Computation, but it was still easy enough to find the one location that I’d made a change: it was effectively highlighted in my mind.

I changed it back.

I shivered as my aura shifted, my body settling back into Carnelian-level. My eyes fluttered back open.

“What was that about?” Keras asked.

“I temporarily gave myself a higher attunement level to fight you. I just changed it back to avoid causing myself too much permanent damage.”

Keras laughed. “Nice trick. Wish I could do something like that.”

“Don’t you have those body techniques?”

He shrugged. “Those have pretty serious downsides…but I can see what you’re getting at.”

I frowned. “…Why didn’t you use them against me?”

He blinked, as if surprised by the question. “Did you think that I needed them?”

“…Oh.”

Keras laughed. “Relax, kid. You did great. How old are you, anyway?”

“Seventeen.”

“Seventeen…” Keras shook his head, briefly looking wistful. “Gods, I wasn’t anywhere close to your level at seventeen. You’re going to be one of the best when you’re older.”

“…You think so?”

“Take it from an expert. You’ve got real skill there. Just…maybe don’t do too many things to permanently damage yourself, yeah? That can get you into trouble.”

I sighed. “I’ll take that under advisement.”

He reached into a bag at his side, producing what appeared to be an ordinary flask of water. He took a drink, then offered the flask to me. “It’s real, I think.”

I grinned. “I’ve got my own water. In the box, actually.”

“In the box.” Keras gave the Jaden Box a wistful look, then turned toward me. “This a good time to explain?”

“…Sure.” I took a breath. “How much time do you have?”

***

I sat with the copy of Keras for close to a half hour, telling him stories. How I’d gotten the Jaden Box, how I’d met him, how he’d told me about bits of his own adventures…

And that he still, apparently, was looking for Wrynn.

“How long has it been, do you think? Between when this,” he pointed at himself, “was created, and the present?”

“Somewhere around a decade, probably. Do you know what year it was on the Valian calendar when you showed up here?”

He shook his head. “Haven’t been to Valia yet or learned their calendar system. 746 on the Edrian Calendar, though?”

“Don’t know that one, sorry.” I shook my head. “I’m…not a very good student.”

“On the contrary, I saw your sword forms. You used several of my techniques — blade shaping, splitting the crescents, even one of my stances. I’d say you’re an excellent student.”

“…Thanks.” I didn’t know what else to say.

“So. You think the original Keras is going to use that box to summon Wrynn?” Keras asked.

I nodded. “Yeah. And if I finish this whole thing with Constantine, Len might be able to teach me how to recharge the box faster. So, in a sense, succeeding here might help you…or, other you, see Wrynn sooner.”

“I suppose that makes things a little more worth it, then.” Keras turned his head upward. “I want you to ask that crystal that question for me.”

I nodded. “I think I know the one.”

Why did Keras consent to have a copy of him made?

[Because I offered to let him fight himself whenever he wants.]

I burst out laughing.

Keras gave me a quizzical look. “Is that bad?”

“No…it’s just…very you.”

I paused, took a breath, and then explained.

Keras closed his eyes, then gave a long-suffering sigh. “…I really do have a one-track mind, don’t I?”

“It could be worse.” I told him.

“I suppose it could.” He nodded, more to himself then to me. “Hey, kid. What’s your name?”

“It’s Corin. Corin Cadence.”

Keras nodded slowly. “Corin Cadence. That’s a good name. One last thing. What happens to me after I walk out that door?”

“Your memories will be wiped, but you won’t be destroyed.”

“Memories wiped, eh?” He shook his head. “That’s a shame.”

I frowned. “Why is that?”

“Because,” Keras turned and walked toward the shrine’s entrance, reaching over his head to give me a casual wave, “You might be my student, but you still taught me a thing or two.”

Chapter XXII – Crystal Core

After Keras walked out the door, I went back to the crystal chamber. For a moment, the crystal seemed to glow a bit brighter.

[Congratulations. You have concluded your test.]

I sat down immediately. My head was still swimming from overusing Accelerated Computation and abusing my attunement modifications. If I had my mana watch, I might have checked my mana and learned that I’d dropped into negative values. It was probably better that I didn’t have the ability to do so. “Thanks,” I managed to reply after a moment. Then, after a pause, “…There’s something that doesn’t make sense to me about all this.”

[Please continue.]

“If this is all about learning and improvement, why do you wipe the memories of the copies after each time they’re used?”

[Copies that become aware of their nature tend to become…distressed, as the copy of Keras did. There are exceptions, but typically, such copies are less useful as challenges.]

“Wouldn’t a copy that knows from the outset of entering be able to just…I don’t know, play along?”

[In some cases, yes, but they would be more likely to go easy on the true challenger in those cases. Consider your last challenge: a Keras that was aware that he was simply there to test you from the outset would have posed a minimal threat. While this may have still provided you with a teaching experience, his doubts and anger about his nature significantly increased his threat level. This was what allowed the test to be a sufficient challenge.]

I couldn’t argue with the increased challenge — I was sure a copy of Keras that knew he’d consented to the process and why would have treated the whole experience more like a sparring match. “But doesn’t wiping their memories sort of undermine your entire objective?”

[I understand your line of reasoning. There is a factor you are unaware of: the memory alterations to these constructs are temporary. After a significant period of time, their memories will be returned in bulk, and they will be released.]

I blinked. “Released? Meaning…into the outside world?”

[Yes.]

“So…there are just going to be copies of all these people running around eventually?”

[Yes.]

I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Len seemed nice enough, but… “Does that mean there’s going to be a copy of me in the same situation?”

[Only if you consent to the process.]

I nodded. “I…I’ll have to think about that. In the meantime, I have another question.”

[Go ahead.]

“How much mana do we have available?”

[You spent twenty-five on the pit trap and three hundred on the pile of couches. You have nine thousand and twenty-five mana remaining.]

Just barely over nine-thousand. That was good, but not enough. “No reward for finishing the last round?”

[Normally, the mana is only intended to be used for the test itself, and thus, the last round does not have a reward. It is a concession to allow you to use the unspent mana at all.]

I nodded, considering. “Okay, let’s see what I can manage.”

I spent the next several minutes transferring mana into the crystal. My batteries didn’t have much in them — it hadn’t been long enough for them to recharge much — and my shield sigil had basically nothing, since Keras had punched through the shield. My circlet, which I retrieved from the other room, was similarly almost dry.

Draining those conventional mana sources got me to 9500. It was a bit of progress, but still nowhere near enough. “How long are you willing to let me wait and recharge here?”

[I will permit you one hour to recharge items and find means to obtain the mana you need.]

I did some mental math. The batteries, sigil, and circlet would get me close after an hour…but not close enough.

My armor was the wrong mana type, so it wouldn’t be compatible. That left me with a few unusual options.

The ring of jumping used transference mana, but it was a foreign item, and I wasn’t confident I could take mana out of it without damaging it. The Jaden Box had the same problem.

The sword I’d gotten from Jerome was still in my box, but it didn’t have the right mana types. In fact, it seemed to use void, which may have been actively harmful to the crystal. That one was out of the question.

I did have one more source of mana that the crystal could theoretically use, but it was dangerous enough that I hadn’t wanted to risk it. Dangerous and, well, possibly heretical.

Selys-Lyann had a rune for spirit magic. A powerful enough one that, if I was willing to drain it, I could easily exceed the level of mana I needed.

It was, however, a more complex rune than I was used to working with. All of Selys-Lyann’s runes were compound: they contained capacity, recharge, and function components within a single apparent rune. I had a much better idea of how that worked now that I’d studied attunements, but I still hadn’t done much work with compound runes.

I didn’t know if draining mana out of a compound rune would ruin the whole thing. Obviously, it had to be able to use mana for its functions without destroying itself, so there was a way for it to expend mana safely…but simply applying transference to that compound rune to push mana out wasn’t the same thing.

I debated, then realized I had a potential solution.

Analyze Attunement Composition was primarily used for looking at how attunements worked, but theoretically, a compound rune was similar in nature. Maybe — just maybe — the same spell would let me look at the interior composition of a compound rune. And maybe, if I was lucky enough, it would have a similar sub-glyph structure for me to comprehend it. If it did, I could try to figure out a safe mana transference method.

If it didn’t work…well, it was more likely to just fail outright than break my brain. The chance of the latter was admittedly absolutely terrifying, but I was trying very hard to push my fears of that sort of thing aside and make the right decisions for any given moment.

I told the crystal my plan, which seemed wise, given that the crystal was also potentially at risk if things went wrong.

[I do not believe that will work the way you anticipate, but I also do not believe it will be harmful.]

That was good enough for me.

I put my hand on the spirit rune of Selys-Lyann, made sure I was seated with my back against the wall, and cast a spell.

Analyze Attunement Composition.

Then the world went white.

***

I stood in a room of shimmering ice, but I was not alone.

Four bodies were at my feet, already as cold as the chamber’s walls. A fifth man lived still, though only just. He was on the ground, his numb fingers failing to grasp the handle of that axe of his, the one he’d always called by that absurd woman’s name. He’d always insisted that “she” would protect him, see him through any battle.

Mizuchi, it seemed, was an exception.

The serpent stood before me, wearing her hybrid form: a woman with strangely colored hair and iridescent scales covering virtually all of her exposed skin. Her horns and tail were wet with the blood of my fallen friends.

We’d believed we could beat her. Two Emeralds and four others that were near-enough, bearing second attunements and crystal bonds.

We had been fools. She’d never even shown us her true form.

And I’d chosen the wrong sword.

I lifted my saber again, frost glittering along the edges, and swept it upward. A wave of ice cascaded across the room, tall as a high tide and stretching from wall-to-wall.

Mizuchi brushed it aside like a stray hair. Then, with a flick of her finger, I was flying backward, my armor of frost cracking on impact.

She flickered forward, appearing in front of me in a heartbeat. Weakly, I swept my sword upward.

She caught it in her right hand. “Mm. It doesn’t feel very sacred, does it?” Mizuchi frowned as I struggled, absolutely ignoring it when I punched her with my other frost-encrusted fist. “Feels…fragile, in fact.”

She squeezed.

Snap.

A legend died in her grasp.

“Oops.” She gave a look of mock dismay as the blade crumbled between her fingers. “Well, that’s not good. Mother would be quite disappointed if she knew I’d broken something so important…so I suppose I can’t let you leave after all.”

She pulled back her other hand.

In one sudden, final moment, I burned every bit of power left, channeling it into speed.

With that speed, I ripped something from my belt and hurled it. Not toward Mizuchi, but past her.

Mizuchi’s hand shot through my chest, piercing through ice and ribs alike. She tore through my heart.

I would be dead in moments.

The last thing I heard was the ringing of the bell that I’d hurled at my fallen friend.

Live, I prayed for him.

And in the next instant, I died.

***

My eyes snapped open.

Wha…what was that?

I clutched at my chest, feeling the echo of a vision of my own demise. It was only at that moment that I noted that my arm was entirely cocooned by ice.

But that wasn’t what made me panic. I mean, it probably would have either way, but there was something more alarming:

I wasn’t cold.

That was worthy of double panic, at least. That implied either I’d gotten so frozen that I was numb to it, or…

The moment I began to think about the wrongness of the ice, it began to subside, gradually creeping back toward the blade of the sword.

I blinked, then flexed my hand experimentally. No pain. No numbness.

I was fine, barring of course the mental scarring of just experiencing my own death — or more likely a previous wielder’s death — at the hands of someone who had already very nearly killed me twice.

Mizuchi. It had to be her, didn’t it?

I groaned, sitting up and thinking back.

This was similar to what had happened when Selys-Lyann had frozen me in an apparent attempt to defend me against the flames in my first exam, but unlike that time, I seemingly hadn’t harmed myself in the process.

I concentrated for a moment on Selys-Lyann’s blade.

Ice armor.

Ice flowed from the blade onto my arm. Once again, I didn’t feel even a hint of cold.

Okay, okay, that’s enough.

The ice melted away.

Huh. Well, that’s disturbing. I mean, potentially extremely useful, but disturbing.

[It would appear that you have partially connected with the sword’s spirit.]

I turned my head toward the crystal. “You could tell what was happening?”

[To some degree. I can only read your surface thoughts. I am aware that you were seeing images of some kind from the sword, but not what they were. I can also conclude that you were not able to determine the functions of the sword’s spirit rune.]

“Uh, yeah. Let’s…maybe not try to play with that any further.” I groaned. “Can you give me any insight on how to bond this sword properly or learn to control it better?”

[Certainly, if you wish to use your boon on that subject matter.]

I sighed. “I should have expected that. Okay. Let’s get back to figuring out how to charge you.”

[I await your solution to this problem.]

I dug through the contents of the Jaden Box, trying to find anything else that might be helpful. The only item I had with perfectly compatible mana was an old shield sigil, which I drained into the crystal immediately.

Almost, but not quite enough.

[You have five minutes remaining.]

I drained the batteries again. “How much are we up to?”

[You have 11480 mana to spend.]

So close.

I transferred every bit of mana from my body that I felt I could do safely. I wasn’t able to go through quite my full mana supply safely, but I pushed it as close as I could.

[You have 11770 mana to spend. Two minutes remaining.]

In a panic, I started pulling everything I could think of out of the box.

Mana crystals. I’ve still got a few.

I burned through every gray mana crystal and transference crystal I had.

[You have 11970 mana to send. Thirty seconds remaining.]

With a curse, I pulled out my last resort: my Class 2 universal mana crystal.

I’d been saving it for a rainy day. This counted.

I shifted the mana inside it to transference, then pushed the mana into the crystal.

[You have 12006 mana to spend. Ten seconds remaining.]

“Mana bond on my left hand.”

[Instructions received. Please wait while I initiate the bonding process.]

I felt a sharp pain in my hand as a burst of light filled the room. I tightened my hand into a fist and clenched my jaw.

The pain lasted longer than I’d hoped. Much longer. Minutes passed, until finally, the sharpness in my fingers gave way to numbness, and then vanished entirely.

I flexed my hand experimentally.

[Bonding process complete.]

I exhaled a deep breath.

I’d taken a number of risks to try to save up the 12000 mana necessary to make a bond with the crystal, but as soon as I’d known the crystal could do that with one of the spirit entities, I’d planned to do it to myself.

I’d also known that bonding to the crystal had some level of risk, but given that the crystal’s mana types were nearly identical to my own, that risk was about as low as it could get.

“Thank you. Now, uh…how does this thing work?”

[Would you like to spend your boon on instructions for how to use your new Transcendence Crystal Bond?]

I groaned.

“…How amiable are you to the concept of trade?”

***

It was nightfall when I appeared outside of the shrine. I’d refused the offer to have my memories wiped. While I understood the intent, I wasn’t particularly traumatized by the experience, nor did I value the sanctity of the test.

I’d also refused the offer to have myself copied as an opponent for future tests. In part because it creeped me out, but mostly because I didn’t want a copy of myself being interrogated by any future political enemies I happened to amass. I couldn’t afford to let my knowledge be used against people like Tristan.

I found Len waiting nearby, sitting on a large rock. She turned her head upward as I appeared, closing her book.

I waved a hand. “Hey, Len. Thanks for waiting.”

“Of course.” She tucked her book away in a pouch at her side. “Are you injured?”

I shook my head. “Not in any significant way, at least.”

“Can I trust that means you were successful, then?”

“Yep.” I patted the bag at my side.

“Excellent. You have performed to my expectations.” She stood up. “Can I see the crystal?”

“Not until we get back, if you don’t mind. I don’t see any reason why you’d take it and just leave me here, but I’d rather not take any risks.”

“Reasonable. Shall we go back to the tower, then?”

I exhaled a breath. “Let’s.”

Chapter XXIII – Greatest Fears

In spite of my fear of betrayal, we arrived back at the tower without any complications. When the doors opened, there was no massive stream of monsters this time — apparently, one performance was enough.

We stepped through the doorway, appearing inside the same entrance chamber as before. I found Sera, Vanniv, and Warren Constantine eating dinner at the table in the center.

“Corin!” Sera shot to her feet, drawing a momentary look of panic from Warren. Fortunately, the older man didn’t seem to take it as aggressive. “You’re okay?” Sera asked.

I nodded hastily. “Yeah. Everything okay on your end?”

“Yeah, we were just eating. Come get some food and fill us in on what happened.”

“Wait, wait. Crystal first. Then food,” Warren insisted.

I glanced around the room, checking for auras. Nothing seemed amiss. Sera was probably real. With only a bit of paranoia, I reached into my bag. “Retrieve Class 5 Mental Mana Crystal.”

The glittering purple crystal was nearly the size of my fist. When I extended my hand to display it, Warren stood up immediately and rushed over to snatch it out of my hand.

“I will return shortly.” Warren took the crystal and rushed up the stairs.

As I watched him flee, Len gestured to the table. “He’s just getting that set up. Please. Sit and eat. We can discuss your payment afterward.”

I took a seat by the table, had some dinner, and waited for Warren’s return.

When he came back, I told the story of my time in the shrine. I’d insisted on not having my memories wiped, and the crystal had agreed to my terms.

I omitted just one small detail — the mark now glowing softly beneath the glove on my left hand.

Both Warren and Len had the ability to detect magic. There was a high chance they’d figure it out on their own, but for the moment, I thought it would be best to keep at least one small secret to myself.

There was still plenty of time left to be betrayed.

***

After dinner, Sera and I stayed up in our guest room to talk a bit. I was a bit conflicted about if it was secure to tell her about my new crystal mark, since our room was almost certainly being observed. Ultimately, I decided that in the absence of materials for noise-blocking crystals, I would use a more mundane method: whispering.

“I got a bond with the crystal.”

Sera blinked. “Seriously? And you didn’t mention that earlier?”

“Security. Anyway, keep it down. Just wanted you to know it was doable for your own efforts.”

“How’s it work?”

“Gives me transcendence magic. Will give details later.”

Sera nodded and we pulled apart to more comfortable sitting distance. It was highly likely someone had noted our exchange, but I hoped that the volume level was low enough that they wouldn’t pick up the details. And if they did? Eh. I wasn’t that concerned about Len or Warren figuring out what I’d earned. Having a secret card to play was nice, but I didn’t think it was strictly necessary with those two.

With that done, it was time to get to another important subject. “So,” I asked. “What’s Len’s angle?”

“Well, it’s actually remarkably simple. If, by simple, I mean completely insane.”

Now that got me curious. “She must be truly special. Normally, you only respond to my plans with that level of vitriol.”

“Now, now, Corin. This is totally different. Your plans might be insane, but I would never dare to accuse them of being simple.”

I snorted. “Good, good. I wouldn’t want to worry about you finding a replacement.”

“Actually…replacements are perhaps a good way to segue into the actual topic.”

I gave her a quizzical look. “Because…what, she’s a copy?”

“Mm, related, but actually her personal situation is remarkably less relevant than other matters. I suppose it’s probably why she took such an interest, but…”

I made a “get on with it” gesture.

“Right, right. She wants to make a kingdom of monsters.”

I stared at her. “She…wait, what now?”

“You heard me correctly. And I’ll reiterate my earlier analysis: simple, yet insane.”

I whistled appreciatively. “Wow. You weren’t kidding. That’s…hm. I suppose it makes sense, in a certain light.  I mean, classically, ‘monsters’ as a term has applied to a broad variety of beings, including sapient entities like…”

Sera raised both hands. “Let me stop you right there. If we were just talking about a kingdom of entities like, say, Researcher and Vanniv, I’d buy it. I think that’s plausible. There’s even precedent for it, on smaller scales. There are clans of species like tengu and kitsune, for example, that largely keep to themselves in specific territories on the Unclaimed Lands.”

“So, what’s the objection, then? She wants to allow things that are dangerous?”

Sera rolled her eyes. “All creatures with intellect are dangerous. Humans, perhaps most of all.”

“Then what’s the conflict?”

“The conflict, dear brother, is that she wants to allow all monsters. Including spire monsters.”

I frowned. “Not seeing the distinction. You mentioned Vanniv and Researcher earlier — they’re spire monsters.”

“Ah, let me step back. Usually I’m better about jumping steps in a conversation than this.” Sera shook her head. “When I spoke about Researcher and Vanniv before, I was talking about the ones that you know — my iterations of them. Summoned copies. The distinction is that Len wants to extend an invitation to original spire monsters. Researcher Prime and Vanniv Prime, if you would.”

“Sure, I get that difference, but…oh. I suppose the objection is a political one, then? You’re concerned about what the visages are going to do when Len begins this process.”

“No, Corin. I’m worried about what they’re already planning to do, since Len started doing this years ago.”

“Wait. Hold on. All those monsters we saw when the tower first opened…”

“Not summons. At least, most of them aren’t. They’re original monsters. Removed from the spires, and thus, removed from being useful to Selys.”

“Is that really such a concern? Can’t the visages just…make more monsters? Is there some sort of supply limit?”

“I’m not aware of any limitation on supplies, but there are a couple problems with spire monsters just…being off on their own.”

She raised a finger. “One, secrets. Spire monsters often learn things about the inner workings of spires that they’re not supposed to share. Given time, some of those secrets will leak.

Another finger. “Two. Resentment. While spire monsters generally don’t display anything other than frankly zealous feelings of gratitude toward their creators, there are exceptions. And when put in close proximity to one another, feelings of resentment are more likely to spread as the monsters are exposed to the realities of life outside the spire. Now, three…”

“Slow down on that. Why are spire monsters generally so loyal to Selys and the visages? Even Mizuchi seemed like she was doing everything at the winter ball out of some sort of desire to be of service to Selys. Is there…some kind of magic that compels them to love Selys, even though they know copies of them are being slaughtered repeatedly for human growth?”

“Very likely. Even summons have magical alterations to their state of mind — you’ve heard Vanniv talk about his suppressed self-preservation instincts, for example. I don’t know how any of that works: it’s not exactly first-year student material. There are whole studies on the ethics of summoning, but I haven’t gotten into that stuff in too much depth yet. Suffice to say that magic is probably a part, and another part is that these monsters are effectively raised in captivity and subjected to life-long propaganda.”

I…didn’t really know what to say to that. “So, what you’re saying is basically that the whole system of spire monster society is hideously corrupt, and Len is trying to do something about it?”

“Yes. She’s a very silly girl.” Sera rubbed her forehead. “She has to know it won’t work. The forces arrayed against her are ludicrous.”

“Sort of like the forces arrayed against Tristan?”

“Yes, yes. Before you get too deep into plotting an alliance of mutual benefit, however, keep in mind that the overwhelming majority of Tristan’s allies — and very likely Tristan himself — would be opposed to any sort of monster kingdom idea. As much as I sympathize with the problem that Len is trying to solve here, I’m not sure we should be helping.”

I folded my arms. “And why is that? You’re a Summoner…or, well, an Invoker. You deal with monsters all the time.”

“Yes, Corin. And because of that, I must constantly remind myself that some monsters eat people, Corin. For every Vanniv and Researcher, there are a thousand others that want nothing more than to devour our delicious flesh.”

“I am pretty delicious.” I gave her an appraising look. “They might be on to something.”

“Corin, I’m being serious here.”

“Maybe don’t use delicious as a descriptor, then?”

“Ugh. Fine.” She threw up her hands. “My point, Corin, is that we can never forget about Mizuchi. We can never forget about the Tails of Orochi — who not only eat people, but other monsters.”

“There are human cannibals. We have rules in society to prevent things like that. Presumably, any monster kingdom would have similar rules.”

“Would it, though? We’re dealing with entities that do not have the same sense of morality that humans do.”

I gave a little laugh. “Ah, yes. Much-vaunted human morality. That’s doing real well for us, what with the child-death towers and the monster farms within them.”

“That’s…yes, we have our problems. But there are creatures that wouldn’t bat an eye at the idea of human extinction. United, they might actively push for humanity to be eradicated.”

I shrugged. “It’s not like we’re any better. A human nation hears ‘monster kingdom’ and the first thing they’re going to think is, ‘we need to wipe that off the map’. Talk probably wouldn’t even be a…oh. That’s your point, isn’t it?”

Sera gave me a strained smile. “Well, it took you a while, but you got there. The minute a major nation finds out…that’s war. And it would be a costly war, Corin, on both sides. Imagine if they somehow convinced one of the god beasts to join this kingdom.”

My shoulder slumped. “But…there has to be a way to make it work. There’s already this tower out here. They’re…”

“Hiding. That’s the whole point of this. It’s not just because of Warren’s research, although I’m sure he has considerable secrets of his own. They’re gradually bringing monsters to live here to start building the foundations of a new society.”

I was silent for a time.

“…The visages have to know about this already. Warren is too high profile.”

“At least a few of the visages know Warren is out here with a tower, but they don’t think the visages know about how many monsters they’ve gathered. A few dozen missing monsters isn’t all that notable in the grand scheme of things, especially with Tenjin himself being missing. But if they continue with their plans, they’ll expand beyond the tower eventually. I think they’re waiting for something.”

“…For Warren to finish the tower itself, maybe?” I thought back to what Constantine had told me. “Maybe he plans to ask Selys herself for help.”

Sera sighed. “I think we both know the odds of that working.”

I hadn’t quite told her everything about what Warren had told me…but even with a little more context, I didn’t disagree with her.

Warren’s own plan to reach the skies seemed…farfetched, at best. And I wasn’t even certain if this whole monster kingdom plan was directly related. Admittedly, Selys saying, “monsters can have a kingdom, don’t attack it” was pretty close to the only way I could see a monster kingdom working out without a war, though, so it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that it was part of the plan.

“…What about going to another continent? Aren’t there some of them that are, uh, more accepting?”

Sera shrugged. “Not really my area of expertise, but my impression from my studies about Artinia is that only specific monster sub-types that allied with humanity against the Buried are considered socially acceptable. And presumably, they still face significant discrimination. There’s talk in some of my books about a continent that many monsters species originated from, but frankly, I have no idea if that place is real or if they’d even accept monsters that were born here. ‘Monsters’ is a catch-all category that humans use. From the perspective of other species, many of them are as different from each other as dogs are from cats, or humans are from human-like species.”

“…Fair. Okay. What about…”

“You’re not going to solve this problem, Corin. This is like what we talked about after I summoned Emery. We can do small-scale stuff, but trying to solve it all at once is too big for us. At least, for right now, when we’re already trying to deal with one problem outside of the scope of our abilities.”

“But if I know a problem exists, is it really okay for me to just ignore it?”

“No one person can solve every problem in the world at once, Corin. You have to prioritize. And even if I think Len is being absurd, she’s infinitely more qualified to be dealing with this than you are. As a copy of a human, she stands at a unique place in the worlds between humans and monsters. I’m sure she’s put a lot more thought into this than we have in one night: and I’m equally certain there are significant elements of her plans she hasn’t told me.”

“But if she told you about it, I assumed she wanted you to be involved?”

“Sure. But I can’t help her in the way she wants right now. I’m not going rogue from my nation and smuggling monsters to this tower. There are ways I can help…but going against Valia? That’s not the sort of thing I’m ready for. I can’t impose that burden on the rest of us, either.”

“What about Emery, then?”

“Bringing one monster out of a spire isn’t the same as trying to start a kingdom.” She folded her arms. “No one is burning kingdoms to the ground over one missing monster, Corin. Or even two, if we count the unusual case of Researcher. The issue is greater at higher scales. Even the scale of this tower probably isn’t all that threatening, except for the precedent it sets. When fifty grows to a hundred, and a hundred goes to a thousand…that’s when legions are going to march.”

“And you just want to let that happen?”

Sera shook her head. “Not in the slightest. But you’ve already helped them hide.”

“And is that really enough?”

Sera raised a finger. “Obviously not. I said that Len’s plan was insane, and that you weren’t qualified to out-plan her. I didn’t say I wasn’t qualified, nor that I wasn’t working on my own plan. Try to keep up.”

I rolled my eyes.

In spite of Sera’s apparent arrogance, I could guess why she was leading the conversation this way.

She knew my tendency to hyper-focus on trying to fix things I considered broken. If I got it into my head that the inequities of how spire monsters were treated needed to be my personal mission, I would start working to pursue that immediately…and promptly lose my focus on other things in the process.

It was the same thing that both she and Patrick had accused me of before: I was always looking for someone or something to save.

And Sera, in turn, was trying to save me from myself.

This was her way of saying: I’ve got this one. In the most haughty and sisterly way possible.

So, with that in mind, just that once…I decided to let her. “Okay, let’s hear it, then. What’s your solution?”

“I didn’t say my plan was finished, either. It’s…a work in progress.”

I resisted my urge to groan. I was pretty sure that meant she didn’t actually have a plan, but I didn’t interrupt.

Sera continued. “The important thing is that you’ve already done your part: you’ve provided this place with extended security. Security that should last until a key event: The Emerald Council. And that, Corin, is what we need to be ready for.”

“You think that’s when Len is going to make her move?”

Sera nodded. “She didn’t say it explicitly, but if it’s supposed to be here, and they’re bringing in a bunch of powerful Emeralds…the Emeralds are going to notice the swarm of monsters. And some of them are going to notice that the monsters aren’t summons. Elora certainly will.”

“Do you know if Elora is on the invite list?”

“Obviously. There are certainly more Emeralds than we know about, but I still doubt there are more than perhaps one or two hundred on the continent, and that’s an exceptionally generous estimate. Speaking only of humans, of course. Elora is both an Emerald and on the Valian council. She’ll be there. I expect Derek will be as well. And…”

“Mom.” I winced. “She’s going to be there, isn’t she?”

“I would certainly expect her to be. Now, you’ve already earned your invitation to that meeting. I’m going to earn one as well. If we want to have some sort of influence over the fate of all these monsters…well, that’s going to be the best time and the place for us to play our hand. We won’t be Emerald in a year, even with your absolutely absurd tricks. But we have a disproportionate level of influence with four of Valia’s elite: the three we’ve already mentioned and Meltlake. If you’re feeling sympathetic to these monsters, that’s what we leverage. They’ll have the power that we do not.”

I groaned. “You know I hate politics.”

“Says the man in the middle of nowhere paying favors to a crazed old wizard in exchange for a potential alliance with his deicidal brother.”

“Hey, I don’t think Tristan has actually killed any deities yet.” I winced. “…I certainly hope he hasn’t.”

“Regardless, dear brother, you’re going to be neck-deep in politics for the foreseeable future. This is, unfortunately, just a twenty-point play on a hundred-point board.”

“Really? A Crowns metaphor?”

“Of course, Corin.” Sera smiled at me. “It’s how you should know that I’m going to win.”

***

The rest of the evening came and went without incident. When I went and visited Warren, he gifted me a set of his books to begin reading immediately, claiming that he wasn’t coherent enough to begin any lessons that night. That seemed reasonable enough.

The next morning, it was time for Sera to take her own shot at the shrine. I loaned her a few items: my circlet, my armored shirt, and the Jaden Box. None of them would conflict with what she was wearing, so there was no reason not to be extra prepared.

With all those items in-hand, Sera wished me goodbye and left with Len. I hoped that my advice would help. We both knew that it was likely the crystal would give her slightly different challenges, and she couldn’t transfer mana like I could, so she’d have to use a different strategy. I hoped it would work.

That left me alone at the tower with Warren Constantine, the man that I’d been hoping to meet since the start of my vacation.

He was looking much better in the morning. His beard was freshly trimmed, his hair combed, and he was wearing what looked like a brand-new tunic and pants rather than traditional wizard robes. He still looked a little eccentric, but his gaze was a little more focused, and his voice a little less fevered.

We sat down to eat breakfast together, talking during the meal. “I need to thank you for helping me,” Warren began. “The crystal will not last forever, but it earns me valuable time.”

“I’m glad to help.” I took a bite of some kind of strange orange vegetable, frowning at the slightly bitter taste. It was probably something local to this part of the Unclaimed Lands. “Are you feeling up for teaching me a bit today?”

“I’ll give it an earnest effort. There’s a great deal you need to know, however, and the remaining days of your vacation will not be anywhere near sufficient. You are invited to return at any time, so I can give you proper lessons.”

“Thanks. I’m almost definitely going to take you up on that.” It would probably have to wait until after graduation, but I couldn’t possibly turn down an offer like that. Constantine was eccentric, but I knew he had tremendous knowledge that would be applicable to the things I wanted to study.

“Start by giving me an idea of what you already know, then we’ll take things from there.”

For the next several minutes, I filled Warren in on what I knew about attunements, including artificial ones. He nodded, generally seeming to make an effort to listen, although his mind seemed to wander on occasion and that forced me to repeat a few parts.

Finally, he held up a hand. “I think I have a good enough picture now. You have some solid fundamentals, but there are significant gaps.”

“Such as?”

“Do you understand why your attunement is so valuable?”

“…I have some idea? I mean, it’s politically significant. Beyond that, it purifies mana and allows me to interact with attunements directly. That last part feels the most important to me, personally.”

“That’s all true, but there’s another element to it that you may not have noted — replicability. Or, rather, the lack thereof.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Farren Labs has numerous artificial attuned, but there aren’t any artificial Arbiters. Not yet. And, if you’re wise, you’ll ensure it stays that way.”

I nodded. “I know they wanted to get a look at my sub-glyphs, presumably to figure out how to do exactly that. But it seems like they’ve been able to make plenty of progress without Arbiters. Sure, having more would be efficient, but is there more to it than that?”

“Yes. Presumably, you’ve noted that there are parts of your attunement that you can’t access?”

“Sure. I assume that’s for things people aren’t supposed to know about — the inner workings of core attunement functions, maybe.”

“You’re on the right track. Attunements have a number of hidden functions that even the people of Farren Labs have limited knowledge of. Conventional attunements have no ability to access them…but Arbiters do. At Citrine-level, when you gain access to your third mana type, you will also gain access to restricted attunement functions. It is this property of your attunement that Farren covets above all else.”

Immediately my mind jumped. “Wait. Couldn’t I just turn my attunement to Citrine for a minute and access that stuff immediately?”

Warren laughed. “That would be a terrible idea, but perhaps it would work. The more important thing is that Farren has significant enough knowledge of attunements that if she had access to the sub-glyphs for an Arbiter, she could rebuild that function in another attunement immediately. With it, she could see the deepest functions of attunement design that have been hidden from her: and that is not something we can allow.”

I furrowed my brow. “Why?”

“Your Arbiter attunement began as a brand, yes?”

I nodded slowly. “Sure. It…oh. Oh no.”

Warren gave me a grim nod. “You seem to have pieced it together, but I will state it outright. Every brand is just an attunement that has certain functions disabled and others enabled. And every attunement still has the ability to perform the same functions as a brand. Meaning…”

“Meaning that with the full knowledge of every restricted section of an attunement’s functions, Anabelle Farren could…turn on brand functions for any attunement she makes. Like, for example, the ability to detonate an attunement on command.”

“Ah, but you are thinking too small.” He shook his head. “This is not just about artificial attunements. With sufficient knowledge, Farren could learn to access the brand functions in any attunement. Perhaps, for example, learning to access them remotely, with no interaction required at all.”

I went silent.

I’d been afraid of a similar possibility: Farren building tracking enchantments into attunements, for example, or scrying enchantments.

But this…this was on an entirely different scale.

“But…but…wait. If that’s possible, then…” I took a sharp breath. “Couldn’t you already be doing that?”

Warren gave me a soft, heart-tearing smile. “No. Not anymore.”

I blinked. Once again, I activated Detect Aura. Once again, I saw nothing around him at all. “You’re…”

“I am no longer an Arbiter, Corin.” He winced as he pulled the glove off his right hand. His skin was burned almost beyond recognition. “I am, in fact, no longer an attuned at all.”

“Wait. You…what happened? Did she destroy your attunements somehow? Is that why you and Farren…”

Warren shook his head. “No. I destroyed my own attunements. Better to do that than be subject to their weaknesses.”

“…But…couldn’t you have just removed the brand functions, or altered them somehow?”

“I tried, of course. But restricted functions — that’s what I call those hidden ones that you can only see at Citrine and above — have greater protections against certain forms of alteration. I was able to identify that certain functions were designed to kill anyone who interfered with them. And, of course, those functions had nested protections as well.”

He lowered his head, suddenly looking very old. “For years, I researched. I experimented. But ultimately, I came to the conclusion that no attuned wishes to reach: this was beyond my abilities. I strove against the machinations of the visages themselves, and I failed. My attunements could not be rendered safe. They could only be purged.”

I shuddered as he uttered the last word. “But…was that truly necessary? Weren’t there safety measures you could have…”

“It was the hardest decision I ever made.” He tugged his glove back on, then experimentally flexed his injured hand. “If I was purely weighing the power of my attunements against the chances the visages would betray me, then perhaps I would have kept the attunements. A short life of strength would have been be preferable, I think, to the weakness that resulted from my choice. But no. While I did not trust the visages, there were two others I trusted even less: Annabelle Farren…and myself.”

His shoulders slumped. “If Farren had not seen my attunements destroyed, she may have found a way to capture me and take their secrets through force. Perhaps she could have found a way to remove my hand and transfer the attunement to someone else. It is not impossible. And even if she did not take such measures, I…I could not be trusted with that power, either. I am not certain anyone should be.”

“Was there something that happened with Farren that caused you to—”

He lifted a hand for me to pause. “There were many things. Small things and larger ones. The picture it painted was of a person who would go to any lengths to reach her goals…and I was not so different, once. I could understand her well enough to fear her.” He shook his head. “Sometimes I see shadows when nothing is there. Perhaps I feared her unfairly. But even if she herself did not abuse the knowledge locked within my attunement, who is to say another would not? Once this secret is learned, it cannot be unlearned. There will be no turning back.”

“Then…I…”

“You have a grave responsibility.” He leaned closer, looking like he might put a hand on my shoulder. Perhaps he saw my body language, however, and he pulled back before doing it. “You are young yet, and you have been entrusted with the knowledge that you possess a great potential for harm. With that potential also comes the potential for tremendous positive change, if you make wise choices and have sufficient luck. One day, if you survive long enough, you will be faced with a choice: will you do as I did, and cut out the source of both weal and woe? Or will you choose to embrace it, and take the risk that your hubris may destroy everything you cherish?”

“…So, no pressure, or anything.” I gave a weak laugh.

“I cannot say I envy you. I was much older when I learned of the Arbiter attunement’s true potential. But perhaps by knowing this at such an early point, you will be able to face it better. Find a solution I did not, before it is too late.”

“…Meaning before I hit Citrine-level, I suppose.”

Warren nodded. “Until then, you have a degree of security…at least in terms of your own potential for directly making harmful changes. The risk still exists that Farren could steal the secrets of your attunement, however.”

“Would the spells to simply view my sub-glyphs be enough for that?”

Warren shook his head. “No, they would have to go further. Cut off your hand, perhaps, as I once feared, and then graft the Arbiter attunement to another person with a higher safe mana threshold. Or perhaps kidnap you and force your mana level high enough to expose the Arbiter’s functions. There are ways this could be done…but I do not know if Farren would risk them. She will be gentle, at first. Even she would not idly risk your patron’s wrath. I believe that is why she has not yet done this to the other Arbiters: she has not been willing to risk a visage’s intervention. Not yet…but perhaps soon.”

I thought about the god beast attunement project and the assault on Tenjin. Perhaps those were mere pieces of Farren’s plot to gain access to every attunement on the planet…or perhaps that was simply the fear of an old man who had, by his own admission, lost his ability to be objective.

We were both silent for a time, poking at our remaining food.

“This has all been a bit grim, hasn’t it?” Warren frowned. “I’m sorry for that. I’ve given you a great burden. The least I can do is offer something to help lift a bit of that weight.”

“…Meaning?”

“If you must know the dangers of your attunement, I will teach you some of its strengths as well. Finish eating. Then, when you are ready, we will begin your lessons.”

“What sort of lessons?”

“Let’s talk a bit about the Peridot attunement level.”

I blinked. “…Peridot? There isn’t a Peridot level.”

“No.” Warren’s smile returned. “Not yet.”

Chapter XXIV – A Reflection of The Future

I spent the rest of the day studying with Warren, learning every bit I could about attunement functionality and design. The nature of specific functions that had eluded me gradually became clearer, and though I still didn’t understand the language of sub-glyphs well enough to do anything like create my own functions, I had a much better idea of the scope of work that would be required.

He helped me understand the specific attunement functions that changed an attunement into a brand, or vice versa, but those were in the set that I couldn’t access yet. Thus, it wasn’t something I was ready to experiment with.

That was probably for the best. As eager as I was to learn countermeasures for brands, this was one of the subjects where I was very likely to get my hand blown off if I started tinkering too soon.

I’ll figure you out eventually. Then, maybe, I can build in some security features of my own to prevent external tampering.

…And learn how to remove the brand functions entirely, someday.

It was late in the evening when Sera finally returned. I was relieved enough that I almost hugged her.

Almost.

“How’d it go?” I asked instead.

“See for yourself.” Sera reached into a pouch, and then tossed me a crystal.

“Is this…” I frowned, turning it over in my hands.

“A memory crystal. Yep.” She looked…tired. Uncharacteristically tired. “I’m going to eat. We can chat about it when you’re done viewing.”

“Wait. How’d you even get this? Something special from inside the test?”

“Corin. I have a Researcher summon, remember?”

“Oh. Right.” I shook my head. “I suppose it does make sense she could do that. Okay.”

“Come on. Go watch the thing. I’m dying to hear what you think.”

I nodded, then headed up to the bedroom. I gave Sera one last look as I reached the next part of the stairway — something about her was off — but she didn’t physically look injured.

She’d tell me if she wanted me to know, wouldn’t she?

…Or maybe this is her way of saying something, I suppose.

I turned the crystal over in my hands.

Hm.

I resumed walking, making my way into the bedroom and sat down on my bed. Turning the crystal over in my hands, I braced myself, then said, “View.”

Then, all at once, my senses were no longer my own.

***

It was always disorienting seeing through different eyes, but stranger still when looking at familiar sights through them.

I knew the Transcendence Gateway Crystal’s chamber, but looking at it from a shorter height felt…off. Disorienting. Similarly, looking at Vanniv’s admittedly impressive chest was a lot weirder when my head was barely above chest-level on him.

Fortunately, I — or rather Sera — didn’t stare at him for too long. My gaze shifted to the crystal. “This is the second-to-last round, then?” And then after a moment she continued, “Excellent, thank you.”

That brought two major things to my attention.

First, this crystal apparently only covered the last two rounds, which was good, because I hadn’t been wise enough to ask Sera how long I’d be stuck inside her memories. It would have been supremely awkward to have to sit through six or more hours of trials, so I was fortunate that this was toward the end.

Second, Sera was presumably communicating with the crystal via telepathy like I had…but I couldn’t hear that through the memory crystal. It made sense, given that telepathic communication was essentially thoughts, and thoughts weren’t recorded…but it was going to be hugely inconvenient in terms of understanding what was happening, especially if she was sending mental commands like I had from time to time.

“Shall I go and provide a show?” Vanniv asked.

Sera glanced at a wall of the room, which showed an illusory projection of her own front chamber. It was structured quite differently from my own: rather than being virtually empty, the room had two stone statues — most likely golems — and a treasure box standing between them. The statues were positioned to have their hands outstretched toward the treasure box, as if offering it.

There was only a single obvious exit, which was located on the north side of the chamber and seemingly unlocked. The right wall of the room was very obviously cracked, however, in a pattern designed to attract attention. Presumably, it led to a “secret” path that would be obvious to anyone who took the barest glance at it. Accessing it would be trickier, although I expected that most high-level attuned who noted it would have some way of blasting through it.

There were no obvious challengers yet. Much to my chagrin, Sera was only looking at the part of the wall displaying the entrance chamber, and thus, I couldn’t get a good idea of the layout of the rest of her constructed dungeon yet.

“Give it a moment…”

A pair of intruders walked in the front door.

The first was a tall man wearing a long coat and two pistols holstered on his belt. No, not Jin in his Blackstone Bandit garb, although admittedly there were some similarities in the outfits. This man was much larger in build and wore a fashionable suit beneath his coat. He wore a hat as well, but flatter than the style of Jin’s. I thought it complimented his beard very well.

My heart jumped when the second entrant came in the door.

That can’t be…

He was shorter than the first entrant, but the unrolled sleeves of his white shirt showed heavy muscle. He had no visible attunement marks. He wore a hat, too, but one that came to a narrow point. Two shortswords sat on his hips, as well as a crossbow, a coil of rope, and several pouches. He rested a bone-white hatchet against his shoulder, scanning the room as soon as he came in and giving an appreciative whistle. “Not bad. Think they’re mobile?”

The taller man gave the statues an appraising look. “Hard to tell from here.” Then he raised a hand in the other man’s way and said. “Wait, wait. Hold on. Mechanics check.”

“Fine, fine. Could be timed, too. Make it quick, Kester.”

The larger man groaned in something that must have been agreement, then reached down to his belt and removed a thin cylinder. He pressed a button on the side, then made a whipping motion, causing the cylinder to expand into a long pole. With the pole, he began to methodically tap sections of the floor of the room.

The shorter man waited just a moment, then noted aloud, “Fantastic articulation. They look like…what, granite? Do you think they’re hollow?”

“Working, Lars,” the other man — presumably Kester — groaned.

And there it was. Confirmation.

That younger, hatchet-wielding adventurer was a much younger Lars Mantrake, owner of the Climber’s Court.

Seeing Keras in the shrine had been a bit of a shock, but most of the panic had come from my knowledge that I was absolutely doomed if he possessed a fraction of his actual combat ability.

This was a very different sort of surprise.

Like…holy goddess, Lars actually had an adventuring career? He hadn’t made it all up?

I mean, I knew Keras had said he’d met Lars out in the Unclaimed Lands at one point…but he’d said Lars was a quartermaster. This wasn’t exactly quartermaster work…except maybe it was, given the way Lars was eyeing those statues.

When Kester said, “clear” and Lars walked up to the statue with measuring tape, things rapidly clicked in my mind.

Maybe this wasn’t so far off, after all.

Sera mumbled, “He wouldn’t.”

“Likelihood of a trigger occurring?” Lars asked.

Kester raised some kind of lens over his right eye, groaned, and then clicked another button on his pole. He tapped it against the floor again in a few different sections, then hesitantly collapsed it, picked up another tool, and pressed it to the back of the left statue’s neck.

For a moment, I expected him to get smashed to bits when the statue came to life, but no such thing happened. “Mechanism is tied to the box and the door. Need to inspect the box first.”

“Mimic?”

“Unlikely, but…” There was a blur as Kester’s hand went down to his hip, blurred, and then a loud crack resounded in the air. The front of the box splintered in an instant. “Nope.”

Lars kicked the top off the box.

It was empty, save for a piece of paper. I couldn’t quite read it from my vantage point, but fortunately, Lars read it aloud. “Lay thee down thy iron if thy true heart wishes steel.” He turned to Kester, dropping the page back inside. “Magic?”

“Don’t see any.” Kester leaned down, knocking around the frame of the box with a gloved hand. “Mechanical trap on the bottom. Probably triggers if something of sufficient weight is left inside.”

“Opens the door?” Lars asked.

“Probably, or activates the statues. I’m leaning toward opens the door.”

“Perfect, perfect.” Lars shifted his shoulders, then said, “Get the bag.”

Then, with no further hesitation, he chopped off the left statue’s arm.

“Oh, come on!” Sera half-shouted from the safety of the crystal chamber. She was apparently distant enough that the invaders didn’t hear her, since they didn’t react. I didn’t get a good idea of how large the dungeon was.

Nearby, Vanniv laughed deeply. “Shall I go and intervene before those ruffians disassemble too much of your puzzle?”

“No,” Sera groaned. “It’s fine. I probably just won’t make a profit on this one. You can go do the boss room thing.”

“Splendid!” Vanniv clapped his hands, almost in time with Lars’ next chop slicing another piece off the statue. “I shall depart forthwith.” He bowed, then moved, presumably out of the room. Sera didn’t watch him.

She just watched those poor, innocent statues get chopped to bits, while Lars tossed the pieces in a pile.

While Lars chopped, Kester lifted each piece, briefly appraised it, then tossed it into some kind of large sack.

I desperately wished I could laugh. They were looting the puzzle.

Truly, this was the work of adventurers.

Lars, I’m sorry I ever doubted you.

When they eventually finished picking up all the statue bits, including cores that confirmed that these were golems, Lars lazily tossed an arm into the box. There was a click, but the door didn’t open.

Kester walked to the door, knocked on it, lifted some sort of tool to listen at it, then said, “It’s unlocked.”

“Huh.” Lars lifted his hatchet. “Neat. Say, how much do you think we could get for that wall over there?”

Kester turned his eyes toward the cracked wall, appraising, and then said, “Can’t know until we find out.”

At that point, they began stealing the dungeon wall.

***

Minutes passed as Kester and Lars systemically disassembled that wall, the traps in the room beyond that wall, the treasure box within those traps, and finally, the treasure box that had been in the entrance.

Then, finally, having earned a bag of gemstones and a considerable amount of rubble and wood, they set up near the sole door in the entrance room and stole that as well.

“You’re punishing me, aren’t you?” Sera asked the crystal. “This is punishment for my tactics. For my hubris.”

If there was any reply from the crystal, it made no visible sign.

While Sera was complaining, Kester and Lars stole the huge lock that had once been on the door. Then, finally, they stepped through the doorway into the next chamber.

The next room involved a series of pit traps with a gigantic four-bladed trap whirling in the center. It looked kind of like a circular fan, just a whole lot sharper. The fan-like trap’s spinning death blades managed to cover nearly the entire room, so stepping inside much further would have been a significant risk.

Rather than attempt the timing necessary to evade the whirling blades as designed, Kester jammed the blades by throwing a pot of some kind of adhesive into the mechanism at the center of them. Once it had significantly slowed, Lars hurled his axe into the ceiling above the trap. From there, Kester removed a device from his belt that fired a grappling hook, which caught on the axe, and used that to pull himself above the blades.

Then, slowly, Kester lowered himself to the top of the still-slowly-spinning device, stood on top of it, and began to jam small rods into the adhesive until it stopped entirely.

Once that was done, he removed the most mundane of all tools: a screwdriver. “You’re on bag duty,” Kester said.

Lars hopped over, crossing twenty feet in a single bound, pulled out a giant sack of his own and held it out.

Then, slowly, Kester unscrewed the four blades of the trap and tossed them into the bag.

“I am quickly beginning to understand why Selys has some adventurers murdered,” Sera mumbled.

I could see her perspective, given that they were slowly disassembling and stealing her entire dungeon.

Personally?

I found the entire thing absolutely hilarious, and I suddenly felt as if I had a new idea of what I wanted to do when I grew up.

The next room involved a handful of snake-like humanoids with scales on their upper body and entire snake-like tails instead of legs. Nagas or something, maybe? I could never remember the difference between nagas and lamias.

Anyway, rather than fighting them, Kester immediately began speaking in some kind of strange hissing language. The four might-be-naga things stood up straighter on their tails, hissing once, then one of them slithered forward and responded in seemingly harsh tones.

“Weapons down,” Kester said in Valian. “Don’t show your teeth.”

Lars lowered his axe, which he’d retrieved from the ceiling of the previous room. “They selling?”

“We’ll see.”

The next few minutes involved a series of unintelligible discussions between Kester and the snake-like creatures, involving considerable gesticulation and occasionally sticking out their tongues at strange angles.

This concluded with Kester pouring half a broken golem out of a bag and trading it for a two large, curved swords and a handful of scales from each of the snake creatures.

Then, each side seeming satisfied with the trade, they parted ways with some kind of amicable gesture of butting their heads against one another.

I had no idea what to say to that.

In the next room, they found Vanniv.

“Hello!” Vanniv waved cheerfully as he hovered above a pit of lava. Small fire elementals crawled in the lava below. The room had no floor.

“Greetings, karvensi friend!” Kester waved. “Any chance you could let us across?”

“Absolutely, yes! I would be quite happy to. Please, come in so we can talk.”

Kester and Lars exchanged glances.

“You know, we would,” Lars said, “But we couldn’t help but notice that your floor is missing. Now, no need to be embarrassed about that: I have some very high-quality flooring material that I just purchased, and I’d be more than happy to sell it at a reasonable price.”

Lars was very clearly attempting to sell Vanniv the walls from earlier in the dungeon. This was, perhaps, the most enterprising financial move I had ever witnessed, and I admit to being somewhat awestruck.

“Ahah!” Vanniv seemed less so, although still amused. “A wonderful suggestion. I was just noticing how terribly difficult this place would be to traverse for walking-type folks, you know? But alas, I’m not much of a builder. If you wanted to, say, construct a floor for the room, on the other hand…”

“That sounds like a perfectly excellent idea.” Lars smiled. “What are you offering?”

Kester groaned, leaning closer to Lars. “I might remind you that lava kills us, Lars.”

Lars shrugged. “Eh, if he’s offering enough we’ll sort that out.”

Sera whispered something into the air.

Vanniv’s smile brightened. “If you’re willing to go get a crew and begin the renovations immediately, I can offer you safe passage to the crystal chamber and one boon for every participant. This is, however, a limited time offer. Maximum of six people, and you’ll need to complete the floor within two hours.”

Kester and Lars exchanged glances. “Unlikely.” Kester mumbled.

“But plausible,” Lars countered, wheels clearly turning in his expression. “Worst case, we simply show back up with four more people, and what, start over?”

Kester shook his head. “Worst case, coming back with four more people ends up convincing the crystal that humans cannot be trusted. It then triggers a catastrophic magical event that obliterates all of humanity.”

“Hm. That would be bad. I’d lose a considerable number of my customers.”

“You’re…never mind.” Kester sighed, rubbing his forehead. “Actual risk factors are largely limited to failure. We persist in this course and succeed, two boons maximum. If he’s telling the truth, we up it to six and avoid additional challenge rooms, which could be substantial.”

Lars groaned, took one more look at Vanniv’s brightly grinning face, then looked back to Kester. “Three times return is worth the risk.”

“Right. Go time.”

Kester pulled something out of his pouch — a bell — and rang it once.

Then they were gone.

Sera breathed a sigh of relief. A moment later, Vanniv flapped his way back into the crystal chamber.

It took longer than I expected: apparently Vanniv wasn’t in the last room, but one toward the middle.

“Thank you, Vanniv.”

“Of course! I think your suggested reward was perfect in scope. Just enough to make it sound worth the gamble.” He gave her an appreciative nod. “We make an excellent team, yes?”

“We certainly do. Thank you again.” She turned to the crystal. “So. Last round, then?”

With a groan, she added. “It’s him, isn’t it?”

Then she sighed. “Very well, then. How much would it cost to retrieve the things they took out of the dungeon?”

There was a pause, then Sera took on a contemplative expression. “Hm. Cheaper than a full replacement, even with the rebuilding costs. Do that, then…wait. Can you retrieve something that was taken out of the dungeon by someone earlier? Like, say, a bag of gems prize, or…”

More silence as the crystal replied. From Sera’s grin, apparently it was an affirmative. “Excellent.” She clapped her hands. “I know how we’re going to play this. Let’s get to work.”

Minutes passed as Sera oversaw the repairs of the dungeon.

And then, as expected, Keras Selyrian appeared at the entrance.

Well, I considered, at least I already know Sera doesn’t die.

***

Keras stepped into the first room of the chamber, inspecting the newly-repaired statues and the treasure box.

With a growl, he approached the box immediately. There was a blur as he sliced the top off so quickly I didn’t even process his movement.

“Hm. Not a mimic.”

…I was beginning to wonder if all adventurers eventually had some sort of mimic-related trauma. If so, apparently I had something to look forward to.

Keras knelt down, cautiously inspecting the note and entirely ignoring the gigantic stone statues. “Huh. Iron to steel, eh? What do you think of that, Dawn?”

Silence.

“…Dawn? Did you fall asleep again?”

It was almost heartbreaking to watch him reach down to the golden-hilted sword at his side and pat it, an expression of concern on his face. “…Must have overworked her. Or…” He shook his head. “Nah. Can’t be. Okay. Iron. Could be saying I’m supposed to disarm into the box — zero chance of that — or just saying that if I leave something here, I get something superior later.”

He paused, seemed to contemplate for a moment, then pressed something on his belt and whispered a word. There was a flash, then an unfamiliar gold-hilted dagger appeared hovering in mid-air.

I blinked. That was a new trick. I’d seen him with daggers worn on his back during the fight with Katashi, but that belt thing was new. Did he have some kind of extra dimensional item that he hadn’t shown off?

I tried to get a closer look at the belt, but I couldn’t. My viewpoint was fixed, and Sera wasn’t looking at it.

Keras dropped the dagger in the box. Nothing seemed to happen. With a shrug, he said, “Guess I’ll check back later,” and walked to the cracked wall.

He punched the wall. It exploded.

Once again, I shuddered. If Keras…even this copy of Keras…had hit me with any intent to cause serious harm, I’d look a lot like the splintered bits of gravel on the sanctuary’s floor, except, you know, bloodier.

Keras whistled to himself as he inspected that room, catching an arrow out of the air and then hurling it to jam another trap that shot up from the floor. With a hop, he crossed over a pit and reached a treasure chest in the center, cut that in half, and then grabbed the bag of gems out of it.

Without a backward glance, he froze a fire trap in mid-air with a gesture, then hopped back to the entrance room.

With a single touch, he knocked the newly-replaced door off the frame.

The next couple rooms went alarmingly fast.

He caught the spinning blade trap with one hand, then snapped it in half and jumped across the pits.

Then, when the snake people attacked, he effortlessly disarmed them, threw them into a corner, and shapeshifted the stone to trap them in place. “Stay,” he instructed.

He got only hisses in return, but they sounded resigned.

When he busted off the door to the next room, there was no Vanniv this time. Vanniv was still waiting with Sera in the crystal chamber.

Keras took one look at the lava floor and fire elementals, then shook his head, reached down, and touched the stone floor of the room he was still standing in.

The floor rippled like liquid and shifted, forming a bridge across the lava. He walked across, casually swatting fireballs from the elementals out of the air with a bare hand.

The next door went down, showing me a room the other two hadn’t reached.

Inside was…a fake crystal. She’d taken my idea.

I didn’t begrudge her for it…much. But it hadn’t tricked Keras, at least when I’d done it. He’d sensed the location of the real crystal. Had she made some upgrades to hers?

Either way, Keras paused in front of it.

“Crystal, you know what to do.” There was no obvious confirmation, but then there was a flash as Keras reached out toward the fake crystal. “Looks like that’s my cue,” Sera shook her head. “Sorry, Vanniv. I’m going to need all my mana for this.”

“Understood, it’s no problem. You’ll show me later, yes?”

“Absolutely.” Sera grinned. “Vanniv, I dismiss you.”

Vanniv vanished.

Then Sera said the strangest words I’d heard in a while, “Spooky murder ghost, I invoke you.”

There was no obvious change at first…then Sera grinned as she began to slowly float just a few inches off the ground.

Then, as she looked at her arm, it began to fade into translucence. “Perfect.”

I’d seen Sera use her invoking powers so rarely that it caught me off-guard, but I quickly processed what she was up to. Invoking gave her access to mana directly from her summons, as well as the ability to use some of their inherent abilities more easily than a traditional Summoner would.

When she’d Invoked Vanniv against Mizuchi, she’d formed stone armor and wings for herself, emulating his own body.

When invoking a ghost, then…could she have managed to make herself incorporeal?

That was impressive, if it was true. It also sounded hideously dangerous to do without extensive testing. A mistake with a spell like that could end up with someone getting stuck inside a wall, or a partially incorporeal body that couldn’t breathe, or…

I shut those concerns out of my mind. Sera was grinning cheerfully, and she looked fine. I mean, she looked like a ghost, but fine by ghost standards.

She dropped her backpack and most of her gear in the crystal room, picking up only a single item. A sword.

And I groaned when I put together her plan as she floated out of the true crystal chamber, through a trap-filled room and a monster filled one, and then straight through a false wall and into the false crystal room.

Yep, incorporeal. We’re going to have to talk about that later.

At least that lowers the risk that Keras will be able to…no, never mind. He can punch ghosts just fine. What’s her angle with all this?

Nearly entirely transparent now, Sera floated down in front of Keras, then knelt at his feet and stretched out her arms, presenting a sword of blue crystal. “Great hero, Wielder of Dawnbringer, you have come in a time of dire need. The Sun Eater rouses in his prison, his foul minions scouring our world and preparing for his conquest. You have proven your worthiness, gifting this shrine with a blade: and so I offer you one in turn.”

“Keras Selyrian, I offer this as your boon: Ceris, the Song of Harmony.”

I would have covered my face with my hands in abject dismay if I could have.

Really, Sera? Really?

Of course, Keras couldn’t see my reaction. He looked down at Sera’s spectral form, a look of surprising sadness on his face and whispered, more to himself than to her, “Oh…oh, no. Please…not another one.”

“The burdens of a hero are heavy, but…you are the only one who can save us.” Sera looked up with wide, pleading eyes. “Please, hero. I know I ask too much of you, but so many of us have already fallen. Do not let our deaths be in vain. Please…take this sword. The last legacy of a forgotten world.”

Keras hesitated, but…

She’d nailed it.

His hand reached out, grasping the offered hilt, and he said. “Rest easy, spirit. I will not fail you.”

And then, with the utmost reverence, he lifted the sword high, making some kind of salute.

Then Sera, bless her callousness, whispered, “…Thank you…now, to rest I can finally return…”

And vanished from sight.

…Having activated my circlet with the activation word “return”, which she’d managed to more-or-less seamlessly work into the end of her spooky ghost dialogue. She reappeared in the crystal room, next to where she’d set the circlet’s anchor.

Breathing heavily, she turned to the wall…and watched as Keras gave one final bow of his head to the departed “ghost”, saluted the crystal, and turned to leave.

When Keras stepped out the front door, he vanished.

Sera burst into laughter. “I cannot believe that worked. Oh, Keras…why are you so…archetypical?” She snorted, clapped as she continued laughing, and then turned to the crystal. “Okay, now I’ll pay the mana to bring Ceris back here. I think we’re finally done.”

***

Ceris reappeared next to Sera a moment later, then gleefully she picked it up, sheathed it, and laughed again. “Okay. So, crystal. I think I’m due for a boon.”

Silence. I still couldn’t hear the crystal’s response.

“Excellent. Now, let me give you some important context. I’ve got this mana scarring because of a potion-related incident…”

***

Sera was already upstairs by the time I finished the crystal. When I sat up from the bed, she turned toward me. “Good work, right?”

She wore a smile plastered over her face like a mask. Her voice was just as ragged as before she’d entered the shrine. No, maybe worse.

That means…

I returned her smile as best I could and tossed the crystal back to her. She caught it deftly.

She’ll talk about it when she’s ready.

I gave her an appraising look. “So, I didn’t see the start, but the box at the entrance…”

“People kept leaving things there, thinking I would give them upgraded versions later in the dungeon. It fits the transcendence theme, so they thought it was a plausible idea.”

“How many?”

“About half, meaning five people left something there, including Keras.”

“And those items…”

She lifted the Jaden Box. “Stored inside. They’re real, and the crystal let me keep them.”

“By real, do you mean that they actually function outside of the shrine?”

She shrugged a shoulder. “Haven’t done any extensive testing yet. I’m presuming they’re like…”

“That item Keras got from the simulacrum of his other friend when he went through the spirit shrine. That makes sense. Good idea. I liked the trickery with Ceris, too. I don’t know if I would have risked it, but…”

She waved a hand. “You’re so risk averse! I mean, except about dying. For some reason, you’re perfectly willing to risk death to finish a simple shrine.”

“Hey, now. I’ll have you know I’m not only okay with risking death. I also risk maiming on a regular basis.”

Sera snorted. “Point conceded. Very well. Any other questions or commentary?”

“Well, I do think using Keras’ heroing background against him like that was a little mean, and when that version of him gets his memories back he’s going to be very embarrassed…but I suppose that’s a good learning experience. Honestly? No stones to throw. Good work, Sera.”

Sera beamed. “My, you’re full of compliments today.”

“I’m in a good mood. You’re back here and whole. Isn’t that all I could ask for?”

Sera briefly froze, and I realized I’d just made a mistake. “…Whole.”

I winced. “I…I’m sorry, Sera. I didn’t mean.”

“No,” she turned away. “It’s fine. I…knew it was a long shot. And I did get a good boon, if not the one I wanted.”

“What’d you end up getting?”

“Something like what you did, but...” She gestured to the room around us. I got her meaning.

A bond to the crystal, then, and she doesn’t want to discuss it while we’re still here. Might be the same type of bond as mine, might not be.

“That’s a solid choice. And you got some loot out of the visit, too. Excellent work. We can talk about it more on the way home.”

She made a mock clapping gesture. “Congratulations. You’re getting better at remembering to be subtle.”

“And a compliment for me as well? What is this? Are we still illusions in the shrine? This seems fake.”

Sera laughed, but the laughter seemed…cracked. And not just because of the damage to her throat. I’d definitely messed up. I…wanted to fix it, but I had a habit of making things worse when I tried.

I tried anyway. “The deal with Farren. Did you decide if you’re…”

“I’m not.” Sera turned her head down, gazing at the floor. “As funny as it was to fake giving up Ceris, I absolutely wouldn’t do it in reality. Not even if she’d give me five attunements for it. And, knowing what we know about Farren now…”

“Artificial attunements would just give her more control over you. Yeah.” I nodded. “I agree. Is it back to pursuing Ferras herself, then? I still have the token. I could try to ask…”

“Thanks, Corin, but…we’re out of time. Vacation is over. I’m just going to…” Sera went quiet.

“We could stay in Caelford a bit longer. Find a way back that’s faster than the train. Maybe Len could get us to Caelford, let us go in the tower, then carry us—”

“No.” Sera covered her eyes. “It’s…okay, Corin. I’m done.”

There was a pause, then…

“I’m done.”

After that, she fell silent, and I didn’t know what else to say.

Instead, I moved to her bed, sat down next to her, and patted the spot next to me.

And without a word, she laid her head against my shoulder and cried.

***

Late that night, after Sera had fallen asleep, I heard a knock on the door. Once again, Vanniv checked it with me. It wasn’t Constantine this time, though.

I found Len waiting outside. “I understand that you’re leaving tomorrow?”

I nodded. “That’s the plan.”

“Well, then, I have lessons that I owe you. Is this a good time?”

I glanced back at Vanniv.

“I can handle things here. Go on, shoo.” He waved at me.

I turned back to Len. “Lead the way.”

Len turned without another word and headed up the stairway, stopping at an unfamiliar room. She opened it, taking me into a small study, and took a seat at the solitary table. I closed the door behind us, then sat down.

“I won’t have enough time to teach you quite as much as I’d like, but there’s one particular thing that I promised you in specific, and I honor my debts.”

“The Jaden Box. You can teach me how to recharge it?” I asked.

“Yes, I can teach you the method, although I can’t promise that you’ll be able to use it with any degree of efficiency. Your magic is fundamentally different and adapting it to this purpose may prove to be a challenge to you.”

I nodded. That was within expectations. “Should I get it out?”

“Please.” She gestured.

I removed the box and sat it on the table in front of us. There was still a paranoid part of me that worried she might try to steal it, but if my suspicions about her level of power were correct, keeping the box in my pouch wouldn’t have made it any more secure than it was on the table. “So, what do I need to do?”

“First, we need to lay some foundations. You’re familiar with Valian runes, of course, but I presume you’re not familiar with Mythralian-style dominion marks?”

I waved a hand in a “sort of” gesture. “I’ve heard of them, but I haven’t actually worked with them.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter overmuch. These runes,” she pointed at the symbols on the box, “aren’t dominion marks, either. They’re more similar, so I was going to use that as a starting point, but we can just discuss them separately. The Jaden Box is Artinian in origin. It was crafted using one of their local forms of magic, called ‘Spirit Arts’. Are you familiar with those at all?”

“Barely.” I shook my head. “I’ve read a smattering on the subject, and Keras mentioned a few things, but nothing of substance.”

“Understood. I won’t go into Spirit Arts in much detail, either — I’m no expert at them — but the relevant thing that you need to know is that these runes are in the Artinian glyph language. Thus, if you need to look up the functions of any of the runes on the box based on their appearance, that’s what you’d need to reference.”

I nodded. “Okay. How do these differ from Valian runes in functionality?”

“Artinian glyphs are more like what you’d call compound runes here — each individual symbol often contains more than one component part. There’s also a different overall philosophy to their magic storage. See this?”

She pointed at one specific rune, which looked sort of like a “V” shape. There were a few similar ones on the box. “Sure, what’s that?” I asked.

“You know how Kaldwyn-style items tend to store magic inside an entire object, and have capacity runes to prevent the item from bursting? Artinian-style items function differently, at least in most cases. This is a storage rune.”

“Oh! So, it stores mana inside the rune itself, rather than the whole object?” I asked.

“Exactly. This makes it less likely for there to be conflicts if you put distinct types of mana in the same item, and it also prevents that bursting problem. The storage rune effectively has a built-in maximum capacity, and the box’s recharge functions simply stop when the storage rune itself is full.”

I nodded in understanding. “Some more advanced items made by our local Enchanters have things sort of like that, too. It’s necessary for any item that mixes a high amount of antithetical mana, like putting enhancement and transference in the same item.”

“Excellent, that makes this simpler, then. So, if you want to recharge the box, you need to locate each of the storage runes, determine their maximum capacity, and determine the specific composition of mana they’re intended to carry. After that is the most challenging part: you’ll need to actually construct the right mana composition to push into the runes. And virtually all forms of Artinian enchantments contain some portion of what you’d call spirit mana. Given that Enchanters do not have access to that mana type, I’m not certain you will be able to readily make use of this information.”

I grinned, thinking about the spirit mana battery safely hidden inside the box. “Oh, I don’t think that’ll be an unsolvable problem. But as for the previous parts…do standard Kaldwyn-style capacity detection spells work for this?”

“No, but I can teach you a spell for determining an Artinian spirit rune’s capacity. It’s only a slight variation of your existing capacity detection spells, so it shouldn’t be hard to learn, especially if you’ve learned any spirit detection spells.”

“I have.”

“Impressive.” She nodded. “I can teach you that spell tonight, then, as well as the one for detecting the necessary mana composition within the rune.”

“Could you help me try to recharge one of the runes tonight as well? I’d like to have some oversight before I try it myself.”

“Certainly. I’d be pleased to do anything that might accelerate bringing Wrynn here.”

I…wasn’t quite as thrilled about that, actually, but I tried not to let it show. At least our group had access to a dimensional bag now, but that felt so inferior to the box that I wasn’t ever going to be satisfied with it. “Could you teach me more about the other runes on the box as well?”

“We’ll have to see if we have time. Would you like to start learning the necessary spells?”

I nodded. “Let’s get to it.”

***

We worked throughout most of the night. In the end, I didn’t have enough time to learn about more of the runes — or glyphs, as she called them — but I did figure out the most important parts. I learned two new spells: Identify Spirit Glyph Capacity and Identify Spirit Glyph Composition, and I proved capable of casting them both. Both spells only required mental mana to use, not spirit mana.

After that, Len formed a few small crystals of spirit mana — her mana manipulation skills were impressive — and she let me practice attempting to mix those with my own mana types to get the right compositions to recharge some of the runes on the box.

This was mostly successful; I was able to complete the process on a glyph that required a mixture of spirit mana and transference mana by mixing them in the right quantities. I was not, however, able to recharge all of the necessary runes for the box to function: I needed air and travel mana for that. I didn’t have either of them.

I knew how to get access to both — Sera had them. If I wanted to recharge the box faster, I could probably do it with her help…provided I made a container for her to fill with mana, or she learned how to make mana crystals on her own.

Given that hurtle, the recharging the process wouldn’t be quick, but I could say that I’d made serious progress on that path.

Maybe I’ll see if Sera and I can make a travel battery at some point. Might be a good investment toward some teleportation items, too.

I was too tired to put that one on my physical list, but I hoped I’d remember it later. I went to sleep feeling fulfilled.

***

In the morning, we packed up to leave. Sera was doing a little better, but she wanted a little time to wake up alone, so I took the opportunity to go down and meet Warren for one last meal and some last-minute questions.

I found Warren sitting downstairs, looking at least somewhat coherent. I sat down across him, accepted a cup of tea, and got to the query process. “Aside from visages, how does someone get restricted attunements?”

“They weren’t always restricted. That’s just the name for attunements that come out of the Spider Spire.”

“…So, that’s real, then. It exists.”

Warren nodded amiably. “Yes. I’ve met people who have been there. No, I haven’t been there myself, nor do I know where it is. Neither do the people who visited — their memories were wiped clean.”

“I don’t suppose you could introduce me to these people?”

“No. We’re not on good terms. Ask your sword-obsessed friend sometime.”

I grunted. More things Keras had apparently been keeping secret. “Does that mean these restricted Arbiter functions were much more broadly available at some point? That seems…off.”

“You may be right. I don’t know. Remember that attunements have generational changes, however, and it’s possible that some of the functions that make the Arbiter unique these days didn’t exist back at that point. Even shrouds didn’t always exist. I wish I had a set of notes for what each attunement generation provided, but sadly…” He held his hands up in a gesture of surrender.

“Got it. Maybe if I ever meet Ferras, I’ll ask if she has a list.”

Warren laughed. “Good luck with that.”

I sighed. “Okay. What about ascended attunements?”

“The seventh spire.” He gestured at one of the walls of his tower, presumably pointing in a direction. “That is where they come from, I think. I have been trying to find a way inside for many years, but it has eluded me.”

“Keras mentioned something about uniting the Six Sacred Swords…?”

Warren laughed. “The scriptures have a vague line that could be read that way. Good luck with that. Given that one is broken and some of the others are worse, that’s a lost cause if I’ve ever heard one.”

“But Sera ascended without going to the spire, so clearly there’s a way to do it. Is that one of those hidden functions I’ll be able to see at Citrine-level?”

“No.” Warren shook his head. “At least, it wasn’t twenty years ago. Attunement design has changed. Perhaps there’s a latent ascension function in every current-generation attunement. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ferras made significant alterations within the last few generations. Something happened a few decades back that…spooked them, I think. I still don’t know what it was, but their behavior changed for a time.”

“You worked directly for Ferras, right? She didn’t tell you anything?”

“I had about as much contact with Ferras as you’ve had with Katashi. A bit more, perhaps, but not enough to have significant insight into her character. I had more exposure to Wydd…and that was more than enough to make it clear that the visages do not have the best interests of humanity at heart.”

“Care to elaborate on that?”

He shook his head. “It’s…too much. I don’t think I can get into that today. I’m sorry. My mind is…”

“I understand. You’ve already taught me a great deal. Thank you.”

“I know all too well how frustrating it is to have questions that no one is willing to answer. Perhaps if you return sometime, after I’ve had a few months to recover…?”

I smiled. “I’d like that.”

***

After we finished our meal and talk, it was time to go home. Or, more specifically, time to get back to Caelford, catch a train, and then ride for two weeks to get home.

I felt a pang of loss when Len took us away from that majestic spire. Warren Constantine was…I don’t want to say he was the friendliest person, or the most informative, but…

He was, I think, someone like me.

I think it was important to both of us to meet each other. To see something like a reflection of the past, or the future.

Seeing what Warren had accomplished brought me great pride…

…And seeing what he became brought me the worst of fear.

Was it my fate to destroy my own power and hide myself from the eyes of the world in a wasteland?

Would I destroy my mind by invoking mental powers I could not afford to in order to assuage my paranoia?

Would I be wise enough to give up my own power if I reached a point where it became a greater risk than an asset?

Would I even survive long enough to make that choice?

…I had a great deal to think about in the days to come, but for the moment, I had only one thing to worry about: going home.

***

Len transported us back to Caelford as promised. No backstabbing, no running into the Tails of Orochi along the way. It was refreshing to not be dropped straight into a life-or-death situation for a day or two.

I didn’t have time to visit Annabelle Farren again before leaving Caelford, but honestly, that was probably for the best. We managed to catch the others before they got on the train, just barely.

Patrick and Mara were in great spirits, throwing hugs at Sera as soon as they saw her and politely greeting me from a safe distance.

Cecily looked absolutely exhausted, but otherwise mostly intact. I was half-surprised to see her coming back to Valia with us rather than staying to continue working at Farren Labs permanently, but I was happy to see her. We had a lot to discuss on the ride home.

Keras was uncharacteristically quiet as we boarded. He didn’t look injured, but something was clearly wrong. I didn’t ask immediately. Neither did anyone else, at least not in my sight.

We boarded, stowed our things in the various cars, and then consolidated into one car to talk.

“So,” Sera began, “We’ve been apart for a while. I’m sure we’ve all got stories to tell. Who wants to go first?”

Epilogue – Home Sweet Home

The train ride home was, for the most part, much less exciting than the way there.

That’s not to say that I was idle. Not by any stretch of the imagination. I got to work almost immediately, since Keras wanted a day to himself before he got started on the third part of telling us his story. I asked Sera if she wanted to tell us the story about her Judgment back in Valia, since she’d mentioned it on the train ride to Caelford, but she wasn’t quite ready yet.

I still had a ton of things on my “to do” list for the voyage back home, enough that I knew I’d have to prioritize. After some small talk with everyone, I got to work on the first of my tasks.

***

Once we were settled in, I asked Sera to give me some space to chat with Cecily for a bit. Sera waggled her eyebrows at me suggestively. I ignored her.

Once we were alone, Cecily and I sat down on the floor of the train car and silently began to set down our tools and materials. We could talk while we worked, and frankly, that made both elements of things easier.

“Any complications with Farren?”

“Nothing beyond what we expected. She has a long game for both of us. It’s clear she expects us to return: very likely next year, if not sooner.”

That wasn’t surprising. “Materials?”

She silently set down a handful of silver discs. “They should be identical to the others.”

“Excellent. Let’s get started.”

Over the rest of that day, we chatted while we worked on more mana batteries. We were getting started on a set for her, since I’d taken all the ones we’d made on our trip there. Once we finished those, we had enough materials to make one more for each of us by the time we got back to Valia.

The new one for my set would require help from Sera and Patrick: we were making an air mana battery, with the expectation that it would be usable to assist Sera in powering her spells, as well as useful for powering eventual future air items.

I’d seen enough flying combatants dominating the battlefield to know that flight was a ludicrous advantage. We’d also run into numerous cases of floor-based traps: pits, spikes, acid, pits of spiky acid, that sort of thing. Patrick and Sera had shown that the majority of those could be bypassed with simple levitation.

During the work on the batteries, Cecily filled me in on her week at Farren Labs. Her education had been more focused on items with composite runes: apparently, her newly-specialized attunement was ideal for comprehending how they were structured and properly creating them. She ran over some of the basics with me, but we didn’t have time for extensive lessons.

I filled her in on what Warren had told me about Farren, as well as Arbiter attunements as a whole. The information was too important to wait for a discussion with the entire group. I needed her to know the risks if she was going to go back to work with Farren in the future.

Aside from that, we talked about making enhancement elixirs. After seeing the results from Mara taking a bunch of them in rapid succession, I was more excited about the idea of brewing some of our own…but we didn’t have the materials, and we couldn’t really afford them.

Not yet.

When I got back to Valia, making some money to fund enhancement elixirs was one of the highest items on my agenda, and I had a few ideas on how to handle that.

Or schemes, one might say.

***

After the first day of relative calm, Keras got started on his story again. He seemed…sadder, this time. Atypically subdued. Some of that was probably because of the subject he was talking about: he’d left off on a somber note.

But I think something happened in the Tiger Spire, too. Something he wasn’t quite ready to talk about.

And if he wasn’t going to volunteer that information, I certainly wasn’t going to ask.

Later that evening, I pulled him aside briefly for something else. “Hey. I wanted to tell you that I met Len. Or, if you’re not familiar with that name—”

Keras blinked, seeming more startled than I expected. “Len? Spirit Gateway Len?”

“Yeah…?”

“How? Where was she?”

I spent some time to fill him in on her situation.

Keras rubbed his temples, looking exasperated. “Working with Constantine. Wonderful.”

That last word was heavy on the sarcasm, so I felt the need to clarify. “What’s your problem with Constantine?”

Keras grunted. “Haven’t seen him in a while, but when we met, he was trying to gain magical power through means I considered unethical. Also, raising a monster army. Nothing good ever comes of that sort of thing.”

“…That’s…he probably had a good reason.”

Keras raised an eyebrow. “I’m not so sure about that. Maybe I…” He shook his head. “Another time. I’m too tired to get into all that.”

I probably should have asked if he was okay, but I didn’t realize that was something a person should generally do until days later, and by that point it would have been weird. Instead, I simply said, “Okay. Well, anyway, I just thought you should know that she’s around, and she seems okay.”

“Thanks.” He gave me a nod, but his characteristic smile was missing. He didn’t even try to force one. “Maybe I’ll look for her sometime.”

I got the distinct impression that he wouldn’t. At least, not any time soon.

Maybe I should have asked why, but it didn’t seem like my place to ask.

***

The day went relatively smoothly. Keras continued his story in the morning, still seeming somber and cutting off much earlier than usual.

After that, Sera finally decided to tell us a bit of a story of her own: some of the details of her own Judgment. That was an enlightening experience. That story only took a few hours, but it was fascinating, and it gave me some new things to think about.

During the afternoon, I worked with Cecily on the mana batteries.

At night, I had a very different form of practice.

“Selyrian Cutting Style: Sixth Form, Reflective Guard.” I stood atop the train, my long school coat whipping in the wind. My knees were bent for stability and my sword arm was raised in a defensive line, a thin layer of transference mana flowing continuously from my hand to encircle the blade.

My left arm was folded behind my back, making it a harder target and helping to conceal what was within my hand.

On the opposite side of the car, Mara cracked a grin. With a flick of her wrist, a blade constructed from flickering mana extended from her hand. “Selyrian Cutting Style: Fourth Form, Cutting Edge.”

“Ready?” I asked.

Mara snorted. “On guard.”

Then she shot forward in a blur of motion, faster than I’d ever seen her move.

Haste. Accelerated Computation.

When her blade-shrouded hand shot toward the center of my chest, I flicked Selys-Lyann directly into her blade’s path.

My rapid computation processed a minute shift in her right shoulder just before impact. She was going to try to snake around the blade, avoiding contact between her enhancement mana and my transference.

I shifted, too.

Her eyes widened a sliver. She tried to pivot, but she’d already been making a last-minute move. When the blades collided, the force of the impact between opposing types blasted both of our arms apart. I slid backward from the force, turning the movement into a spin — usually the least useful movement in a fight, but situationally, my rapid computation showed that her follow-up punch would miss me entirely if I twirled and sliced at her neck.

As I whirled and avoided the punch as I’d predicted, my sword came around. She ducked the swipe, then slammed the ground. Alarms blazed in my mind and I jumped backward and silently opened my left hand, preparing for Keras’ Stone-Wall Slam technique.

…Just as she’d expected me to.

There was no wall. Instead, the slam had simply managed to get me to jump backward on instinct, and thrown off my balance for her next move: a burst of enhancement mana that shot her forward in a kick.

She flipped head-over-heels in mid-air, sending a shockwave of force from her feet. I sliced upward, neutralizing the attack with an identical wave of transference mana, then shot myself to the side with a burst from my ring of jumping as she descended in a classic Star Descends from Sky.

I started to bring Selys-Lyann up for a counter when Mara flicked her wrist, sending a tiny shimmering projectile out of her sleeve. Casually, I processed the trajectory and flicked Selys-Lyann to deflect it.

There was a crack as the projectile impacted my blade.

Oh, no, my mind helpfully managed to process as the glass vial exploded in a burst of concussive force, hurling me right off the side of the train.

…Or, it would have, if Mara hadn’t surged forward to grab me by the shirt before I managed to fall off the side. She smirked, hauling me with one hand to set me down on the relatively steady floor beneath us. “Round one to me.”

I groaned, releasing my active spells and sheathing Selys-Lyann at my side. “Using items is cheating.”

“Says the Enchanter with the legendary magic sword and the jumping ring?”

“Okay, fair.” I grinned. “Poof.”

Upon saying my activation word, I vanished, reappearing behind Mara. Then, as she spun around, I flicked my sword to rest under her chin. “Round two to me.”

She blinked at the sword at her throat, then glanced down at our feet to find the silvery disc on the ground. “When’d you drop your anchor?”

“When I thought you were putting up the wall. I still don’t know why I thought you could put up a wall, but yeah. Was planning to drop it right next to the wall, then teleport around it. This worked just fine, though.”

Mara groaned. “Wish I had his metal sense. Wish I had your magic sense, too.”

“Gotta admit, it’s useful. Maybe not as useful as potions in the middle of a sparring match, but useful.”

Mara laughed. “C’mon, reset. Won’t use potions this time. But you should have seen your face.”

“I’m sure it won’t be as lovely as your expression, staring face-down at the surface of the train when the next round is over.”

“Ooh, feisty.” Mara raised her fists. “I like it. Let’s go.”

I cracked my neck.

It was going to be a fun night.

***

The next several days came and went in similar fashion. It took me close to a week to think to check in on something important with Patrick.

“…Did you ever hear anything from Meltlake after she went into her second Judgment?”

He was her apprentice. If anyone knew the results…

But Patrick just shook his head sadly. “Not a word. I…she’ll be okay, won’t she?”

“She’s a legend, Patrick. She has better odds than anyone. It’s probably just taking them some time to find any reasonable challenges for someone as powerful as she is.” I sounded more confident than I actually was, offering the world’s fakest smile along with it.

“Yeah. That’s…probably it.”

We were quiet for a while after that.

“Hey, Corin?” Patrick started.

“Yeah?” I braced myself for whatever was coming next. Some horrible revelation, or criticism, or—

“I’m glad we’re friends again.”

I blinked. “…Oh.” I took a breath. “Yeah.” My smile was a little more genuine after that. “Me, too.”

***

A little later in the week, Sera and I sat down together to talk about something we hadn’t wanted to discuss at Constantine’s tower — our new marks.

“So,” I removed my glove, showing off the symbol of transcendence on my left hand. “You got one, but different?”

“Yep.” She slipped off her own glove, showing me her own distinct symbol. “Figured that if you’ve got the transcendence mana type accessible to you already, I’d ask the crystal for a different one. And I can still get transcendence mana from it, anyway.”

“Why’s that?”

Sera grinned. “Do you want to know why Keras took my fake crystal a little more seriously than yours?”

“I’d wondered if you’d put more mana into it, or maybe…” I froze. “Wait, did you summon a copy of the crystal?”

Sera laughed. “You got it. I have a crystal contract. And that’s on top of my shiny new mark.”

“Wait, wait. Hold on. That crystal predates Selys. I thought pre-Selys monsters usually weren’t compatible with Summoner contracts?”

“That’s generally true, but there are workarounds, and I’ve been looking into them for a while. There’s one particular contract I’d been trying to sort out for months, so I studied that a bit during my time at Farren Labs. Between what I’d recently learned and what the crystal already knew, we were able to cobble together a functional contract spell. It’s not dissimilar from how the bonds on our hands work, after all: they both involve forging a two-way mana and spirit connection. Summoner contracts are just designed to connect directly to an attunement, and thus, enable specific functions that something like a standard crystal bond doesn’t.”

“Interesting. Does that mean you’d be able to contract other monsters that aren’t normally eligible for contracts?”

She grinned. “That’s the goal, but it’s sort of a case-by-case thing. In this case, the crystal was able to facilitate a lot of that on their end, but I learned a lot. I think I’ll be able to crack doing it on my own eventually…and then, I’ll have some very powerful new options to pursue.”

I probably should have asked what she was talking about, but I got distracted easily, and my mind shifted places. “What about null contracts? Have you figured out if you could make one?”

She shook her head. “Sorry, haven’t figured that out yet. I know you wanted to try to sort that out in order to work on some kind of exercise enchantments, and I think it’s a good idea, but I haven’t gotten to it yet. Maybe we can work on it sometime after we get back?”

“Good plan.” I nodded. “I could try to look at your sub-glyphs and figure some of it out from there, too.”

“Sure. I’d still like you to try to compare them to a normal Summoner’s glyphs at some point if we can find one who would agree.”

“Definitely. Being able to figure out what makes an ascended attunement different from a normal one will be extremely valuable.” I couldn’t think of any other Summoners I felt comfortable asking about that sort of thing — asking Elora would be overkill, and have consequences — but I was okay with asking someone Sera trusted. That was a problem for another time. “Okay. Jumping back. Why even bother getting the mark on your hand if you’ve already gotten access to the crystal through a contract?”

“Using the crystal’s magic through my contract still uses my attunement’s mana, but this crystal mark is a whole separate mana source. I can use it without having to worry about my attunement’s mana supply…I just have to deal with the other costs. And beyond that, I didn’t get this particular mana type through my crystal contract. When I make a contract with a monster, I have to negotiate for every type of magic they give me access to: I don’t get all of them. That’s why you always see me using things like ice mana from Seiryu, but not wood. My contract with Seiryu doesn’t cover wood magic. Not yet, at least. I intend to renegotiate later.”

I nodded in understanding. “Okay. So, what mana type does your crystal mark give you?”

She smirked. “Density.”

I whistled in appreciation. “That’s the primary mana type for Shapers. Do you plan to simulate a Shaper attunement?”

“I won’t be able to go quite that far with just the mana type itself — much of a Shaper’s power is from unique functions, as I’m sure you know — but it’s undeniable that density magic is effective. It also synergizes with summoning extremely well. I can summon Vanniv and then make him equipment using density magic, for example.”

“And it’s a good all-around defensive magic type, too.”

“Absolutely. With enough work, maybe I can even make raw materials you can enchant.”

I pondered that. “Maybe. Standard Shaper-conjured materials have an abysmal mana capacity, but there’s that weird green crystal that Keras mentioned a few times…I think that’s made with density magic, and it can clearly hold enchantments. We can try to figure out how to make that.”

“That’s the plan.” She nodded. “So, density is an easy one, but transcendence magic…have you figured out what that even does? I hadn’t heard much about it prior to meeting the crystal.”

“I picked up a book on it from Warren’s library, and he let me keep it. I haven’t read it all yet, but basically, transcendence magic is all about pushing something beyond standard limits. There are spells for things like turning off your body’s ability to feel pain and exhaustion, for example, which can effectively boost your strength. There are other spells for things like focusing your mental resources on a specific task — which frankly horrifies me even more than my Accelerated Computation spell — and spells that overload other spells.”

“Hm. Sounds kind of awful, actually. Lots of risk factors in using anything like that.”

“I wouldn’t call it…awful, exactly.”

“Aren’t you the one who’s always looking to avoid any risks, Corin?”

“I can’t do that all the time.” I shook my head. “Can’t afford to. I just prefer for my risks to be calculated as closely as possible, and this is going to add some new options to my repertoire. If nothing else, things like pain removal spells could be helpful if any of us get injured and I need to treat them.”

“Let’s hope that doesn’t come up any time soon…but yes. I suppose we both know that our troubles are far from over.”

“They’re just getting started. But if this vacation is any indication…our powers are still just getting started, too.”

Sera grinned. “I like the sound of that.”

***

The trip home wouldn’t have been complete without at least one mid-journey twist.

We were just over a week into the trip when I was sitting alone in my sleeping car, right up until the point when I wasn’t.

“Hello, Corin.”

I managed a “gah!” and shot to my feet, with my hand blazing to the hilt at my hip as a figure appeared on the opposite side of the room. He was wearing a long black coat, but this time, he wasn’t accompanied by a hood or mask. That made it easier to process his all-too-familiar wicked grin.

I glared at him, deliberately keeping my hand near my sword. “Oh, my, if it isn’t one of the infamous Blackstone Bandits. Should I be clutching my jewels protectively?”

Jin snorted. “It isn’t like that.”

I sat back down, shaking my head. “Oh? No robbery, today? To what do I owe this honor, then?”

Jin leaned back against the opposite wall. “Well, for one thing, I figured I’d let you know I’d be joining you on the trip back to Valia.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What, like…legitimately?”

He nodded. “Got a train ticket and everything.” He flicked a wrist, producing a ticket to display in unnecessarily stylish fashion.

“Jin, no one keeps their train tickets in their sleeves like that.”

He shrugged. “They’re missing out.”

I sighed. “…Why are you here, Jin?”

“I told you, I thought I’d let you know that I was going to be on the train. Figured it’d be less awkward this way than just, you know, running into me in a hall.”

I gave him a nod. “Okay, sure, I suppose. Was there anything else?”

“Couple more things, actually.” He smiled. “First, I missed you.”

“You…” My heart skipped a beat. “Um.”

Jin laughed spectacularly. “Perfect. Just what I was hoping for. Now, one last small thing.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Another magic trick?”

“Oh, no. Although, I suppose I could…” He gave me that wonderful, crooked smile. He lifted his open hands. “You see now, that my hands are completely empty, but…”

I groaned. “Ah, yes. The illusionist’s hands are empty. Go on.”

“But now, with a mere snap of my fingers, I produce…” He snapped.

And in the next moment, he reached out toward me with a single flower purest blue.

I laughed in spite of myself. “Flowers, Jin? Really? We’re not dating.”

“Oh, no.” He flourished the flower. “It’s not for you. It’s for your sister.”

“Wait, what—” My eyes widened as I took in the flower more carefully.

Pure blue. Petals that looked almost like frozen tear drops.

My jaw went slack.

“And this concludes my trick.” He flipped the flower around, offering it to me by the stem.

“Is that…”

“Goddess’ Tears. Fresh from Vanreach Peak.” He winked. “And by fresh, I mean extremely fresh. It won’t stay that way for long. You’re going to need to…”

I snatched the flower out of his hands, reached into my pouch, and pulled out the Jaden Box. “Store: Goddess’ Tears.”

The flower vanished into the extradimensional space. Within it, the flower would be preserved, theoretically indefinitely.

“Perfect.” Jin took a step back. “I trust you know how to use it?”

“I’ll get an expert to make the potion, I’m not going to risk messing this up.” I turned my head upward toward Jin. I was conflicted, but… “Jin. Thank you.”

He gave me a curt nod. “You’re welcome. But I didn’t do it for you. Not entirely, at least. You’re not the only one that I owed a debt.”

“Then…”

“Give my best to Sera.” Jin gave me a brief salute. Then, a moment later, he vanished.

I politely declined to comment on the fact that I could still see his aura as he invisibly made his dramatic exit from the room.

***

“Jin gave you what?”

I didn’t get to see Sera startled very often. It was, admittedly, a refreshing sight. “Goddess’ Tears. I looked it up again, the pictures match. I’m pretty sure it’s real.”

“Then…”

“Then when we get home, we’ll get an expert to make a potion with it, and you’ll get your voice back. At least in theory.”

Sera closed her eyes, shuddering for a moment. “…Thanks, Corin.”

I frowned. “I didn’t do anything.”

“You’re the one who figured out the flower as a possible solution last year. And even if Jin figured that out independently, as opposed to, I don’t know, finding out while he was stalking you—”

“He’s not stalking me.”

Sera snorted. “Sure. Anyway, even if he figured that out on his own, you’re the one with the Jaden Box. Without a means of preserving the flower until the elixir is made, it’s worthless.”

I frowned. “But if it’s fresh, how did he get it here? We’re nowhere near Vanreach. If he was out there, wouldn’t it have been faster to just take it to Valia?”

“Mm, no. He’s probably been in the Unclaimed Lands this entire vacation. He helped with the train robbery in exchange for some kind of favor from the Blackstone Bandit. A mysterious man with the kind of resources to rob a train owned by Haven Securities, even when it’s in the middle of a route.”

“…So, you think Jin did that whole train robbery thing in exchange for the flower?”

Sera shook her head. “No, no. I do think that’s what he got out of the deal…but I don’t think that was a robbery at all. He told you that in the first place, didn’t he?”

“He did. He implied it was some sort of rescue operation, to…” My eyes widened as I remembered what he’d talked about.

Repaying debts. Who else did he need to repay for his transgressions?

Who might be on a train between Caelford and Valia, not as a passenger, but as a prisoner?

“…Vera? Was Vera on this train?”

Sera shrugged. “Can’t say for sure. I didn’t check with her brother or Echion, either. Maybe if we’d gone to visit them, we’d have found her at home. More likely, she’s out somewhere in the Unclaimed Lands herself, staying far from the eyes of the visages along with the expedition.”

“Meaning that the Blackstone Bandit is involved with that expedition in some way?” I frowned.

“It’s probable, but not strictly necessary. He could have just dropped her off there…or not. It’s speculation.”

“But why would the Blackstone Bandit even agree to rescue Vera?”

Sera shrugged. “She was deeply connected to the artificial attunement project. He might want information, or he might know her himself. Maybe we can ask him sometime.” Sera smirked. “I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of the Blackstone Bandit.”

***

The rest of the trip was free from any further complications. I saw Jin a couple more times, but I didn’t speak to him for more than a few moments.

Going out of his way to get a flower to help Sera’s condition went a long way toward improving my disposition toward him. Rescuing Vera from what would have likely been a fate worse than death in Caelford was a fairly serious plus, too, if he’d actually done that.

I considered asking, but I wasn’t quite ready to talk to him again. Not yet.

Cecily and I finished the last of the batteries right before we arrived at home in Valia. I wished I had more time to work on additional enchantments, but even with more time, I lacked the materials. That was something I’d have to work on quickly after arriving.

Before we arrived at home, Cecily did one final round of mana checks for each of us with the mana watch. I was a little nervous about getting my mana values again, given my prior obsession, but it was still good to see a measurement of our progress.

Patrick’s mana was up to 140, which was a huge jump from the last time I’d seen it. Two trips into the spire had clearly given him a major benefit.

Sera’s mana growth was even more impressive: she was up to 118, just inches from her original maximum. She looked noticeably more confident now that her mana was getting back into a higher range, and we both hoped her mana would get a huge surge once we used the elixir and continued the healing process for her throat and lungs.

Mara, of course, absolutely stole the show: she was at 370, having continued improving even after she’d gotten the ludicrous boost from Keras’ elixir set that took her up to Sunstone. When we got back to school, I expected she’d be one of the top ten students in the entire academy in terms of mana capacity.

And me? I wasn’t far off.

I was up to 137 in my Enchanter attunement. I’d made a little less mana growth than Patrick, which made sense, since he’d done two tower climbs and I’d only done one. But my Arbiter attunement, which I’d used very heavily, had gotten a solid increase — all the way to 182. I suspected that a large part of that boost came from the time I’d taken the safety off my mana level to fight the copy of Keras. Between the two of them, I was well over three hundred mana now. Combined, I was almost a Sunstone. My Arbiter attunement was over half-way there by itself.

Soon.

I was feeling pretty good about how much growth I’d gotten on the trip, but I found myself eager to get back home. Caelford and the Unclaimed Lands had both been interesting experiences, but I found that I missed my own city streets, my own school, and my own shielded sky. And, of course, my mind turned to the people back at home from time to time, too.

I wonder how Lars is doing.

Thinking about the shopkeeper brought a smile to my face. He was one of the first people I wanted to visit.

I should check in and see how Vellum’s recovery is going, too. And maybe see how Derek’s doing. Maybe he has a new place we can stay at for the next semester, rather than the dorms?

I probably should do something nice for him, given how long he housed us. Maybe buy him a nice new door.

It was a little startling to realize that there were people I wanted to see back in Valia.

I have…friends now, don’t I? And mentors, and…

I stepped off the train, thinking about the people I wanted to see, and unprepared for the one that I didn’t.

Magnus Cadence stood waiting on the train station platform, resplendent in his long dueling coat.

I walked toward him, my heart racing. “Hello, Father.”

“Hello, Corin,” he said without inflection. He lowered his hands to his side, then brushed aside his coat to expose the belt that held his dueling cane.

“Draw your sword.”

THE END

Appendix I – Recap on Kaldwyn’s Culture and Magic

From A Lost Letter Attributed to Keras Selyrian

I underestimated the complexities of teleporting over to another continent for a seemingly simple mission. I’ve never been great with politics or religion, but they’re omnipresent here.

The defining factor is Selys — a single central goddess figure worshipped by all the major nations. She created six towers on various parts of the continent. Each tower, called a “Soaring Spire”, has tests for people who go inside. If someone succeeds at those tests, they can earn magic powers in the form of a mark called an attunement. It’s basically like what we’d call a dominion bond back at home, but more complicated than any dominion bond I’ve seen.

Anyway, since each tower gives access to different attunements, you can imagine that there are some politics surrounding access to them. At one point, one of the powerhouse nations — Edria — conquered another in order to get access to their spire.

Aside from granting magical powers, the spires also have tests to reach the top. Supposedly, getting all the way up top means you get to choose a boon from the goddess. It’s been done, apparently, but not in recent history. That’s probably what I’m going to need to do eventually, since finding my friends has proven challenging.

Unfortunately, none of the nations here are particularly accepting of outsiders, and I’ve already run into quite a bit of trouble when talking about the outside world. Oops.

Kaldwyn has four major nations, which are referred to as the “Four Powers”, and a couple minor ones like Sytennia and Erawen.

It’s a bit of an oversimplification, but I tend to think of the powers as covering the four cardinal directions of the continent.

Edria is the entire south, and they’re a military powerhouse. Everyone seems to be bracing for Edria to try to conquer the rest of the continent, but it’s been about sixty or so years since the last time an actual war has occurred. It’s split into Edria proper (the original nation) and East Edria (a territory they won from Dalenos that used to be called Kelridge). There’s some tension between the two halves.

Dalenos is the north, governed directly by one of the visages — those are basically the local equivalent of gods, but they’re really more like aspects of a single deity, depending on who you ask. It’s also famous for being a nation of artists and creative-types of all varieties, especially musicians.

Valia is the eastern nation, and they’re best defined by magic. Every nation on Kaldwyn has magic, but Valia has Enchanters — a type of magic-user capable of creating magic items with enviable speed. Enchanters have allowed for large-scale magical infrastructure on a scale I’ve never seen anywhere else: wealthy nobles have magic showers, magic toilets, magic…well, virtually everything. It’s pretty impressive.

Notably, Valia’s populace appears to be largely descended from immigrants (exiles?) from my home continent of Mythralis. I suspect the name Valia itself comes from the same derivation as our nations of Velthryn and Valeria — the worldmaker Velryn. (Valeria used to be called Velrya, but the name shifted over time. Linguistic drift and all that.) I’ve seen some notable family names that are connected to home: things like House Theas and House Hartigan, for example. They’ve even got a place with the name Hastings on it, so maybe some of Lydia’s family moved to Valia? Hard to say.

Caelford is the western-most nation. While Valia focuses on magical innovation, Caelford is more about general engineering. They have advanced firearms, self-moving carts called “automobiles”, and all sorts of other gadgets. They’re also on the forefront of researching artificial attunements, although I get the sense that Valia is involved in those, too.

Given that I’ve managed to alienate virtually every other nation, I suppose I’ll have to go to Caelford eventually. The Tiger Spire is supposed to be a little more structured than the other local spires, so maybe it’ll be easier to make it to the top this time.

I’m not holding my breath.

Appendix II – Recap on Attunements

From A Lost Letter Attributed to Keras Selyrian

Okay, so, attunements. They’re probably the single most important thing about this continent, so I should probably go into a bit more detail about them.

Attunements are marks that grant sorcerous powers that are obtained in the Soaring Spires during successful Judgments. They can also sometimes be obtained directly from a visage, but this is relatively rare.

Each Attunement involves a physical mark that appears on the body of the attuned.

Attunements grow stronger as the user's mana increases, changing in appearance and gaining new abilities. For example, most attunements begin to generate a shroud — a form of barrier of mana — around the attuned when the attunement reaches Carnelian level.

Each attunement comes with an iconic function. These are generally called "unique" abilities, but in truth, they can sometimes be accomplished through other attunements or combinations of attunements. For example, the "unique" function of the Elementalist attunement is access to lightning magic...but a Summoner can still get access to lightning magic if they make a contract with a monster that can use lightning. Thus, the term "unique" is something of a misnomer, and it's more accurate to say that they're simply the function that the attunement is best known for.

Every attunement gives access to two or more types of magic when it is first obtained, and generally gives access to a third at a higher level.

It's commonly theorized that attunements are much more advanced forms of enchanting runes that incorporate several functions into a single rune, or perhaps collections of several runes that visually appear to be one rune.

Artificial attunements have been made in Caelford, meaning that they can be reproduced with some degree of success, but the procedures for how they're made are not commonly known.

 Diviner Attunement

Diviner Level

Rune

Quartz

Carnelian

Sunstone

Guardian Attunement

Guardian Level

Rune

Quartz

Carnelian

Sunstone

Elementalist Attunement

Elementalist Level

Rune

Quartz

Carnelian

Sunstone

Enchanter Attunement

Enchanter Level

Rune

Quartz

Carnelian

Sunstone

Mender Attunement

Mender Level

Rune

Quartz

Carnelian

Sunstone

Shadow Attunement

Shadow Level

Rune

Quartz

Carnelian

Sunstone

Shaper Attunement

Shaper Level

Rune

Quartz

Carnelian

Sunstone

Summoner Attunement

Summoner Level

Rune

Quartz

Carnelian

Sunstone

Appendix III – Recap on Enchanting

From an Unknown Foreigner’s Notes

Enchantments are how people with an Enchanter attunement imbue items with magical power.

The procedure for enchanting an object involves making runes: physical marks that are powered by mana, which is the local term for sorcerous essence.

In order to make a rune, you must carve it into the proper shape and then put in the right amount of mana of the right type. There are a few main categories of runes that are used in the enchanting process.

Function Runes determine what the item can do. For example, a fireball wand would have a fire function rune.

Example: Standard Life Rune.

Activation Runes determine how the item is activated. For example, if the wand is activated by using some of your own mana, it would have a mana activation rune.

Example: Motion Activation Rune.

Recharge Runes are used to cause an item to automatically fill up with mana over time by drawing mana either from the environment or another source. These are not strictly necessary, but they are used in most so-called "permanent" items so that they do not have to be manually recharged.

Example: Life Mana Recharge.

Capacity Runes are used to govern how much mana the item can store. Without them, any item with a Recharge Rune will just keep filling up with mana over time until the object has more mana than it can hold and explodes. That would be considered bad item design.

Example: Life Mana Capacity.

Complex items may involve many different runes.

For example, an item for creating a barrier may require mental mana runes for detecting incoming attacks, then runes to create a barrier when an incoming attack is detected.

Similarly, an item designed to heal the user when they're hurt may require mental mana runes to detect when the wearer is injured. An even more complex healing item might have functions for searching for which wounds are the most severe and prioritizing which order they're healed in, or ignoring certain types of injuries that the item might not be able to heal properly.

Since Enchanters do not have access to every type of mana, they often use items called mana crystals or rely on help from others.

Mana crystals are exactly what they sound like — crystallized magical energy. An Enchanter can draw the mana out of these crystals and use them to power runes. Most mana crystals are found from the remains of monsters inside of the spires, but it's possible for people with sufficient mana shaping skill to make their own crystals from the types of mana they can use. Veteran Enchanters often learn how to make mana crystals so they can make more complex items.

In order to cooperate with someone else to make a rune, an Enchanter must first make a shell that is used to hold the other person's mana inside the rune. This container prevents the mana from simply dispersing into the air while the enchanting process is performed.

Making a shell is a mana shaping exercise that is similar to making a mana crystal, and thus not all Enchanters are proficient at it, especially early in their careers. Mana shells also have a capacity, meaning that a low-level Enchanter can't make a shell that can hold enough mana for something like an Emerald level enchantment.

Well-trained Enchanters can also move mana from one rune to another rune. Completely removing all of the mana from a rune to power another is called “disenchanting”, since the existing enchantment typically ceases to function. This can be a dangerous process for low-level Enchanters because moving mana generally involves passing it through your body to prevent it from dispersing in the air. If you pass mana from another attuned through your body, this can cause mana poisoning.

As such, only Enchanters who have sufficient shaping ability to move mana outside of their bodies or purify the mana inside their bodies generally are capable of safely moving mana between two different objects. (There are some exceptions where this is safer, such as being able to safely move mana between two items you created yourself, or moving mana that has already been purified by someone else.)

Appendix IV – Attunements of Caelford

From Corin’s Notes

I didn’t actually spend all that much time studying the local attunements. Most of my efforts were spent on the artificial ones — which, I suppose, count as local — but I didn’t get much exposure to the ones that come out of the Tiger Spire.

That said, I did get a basic list and some descriptions of each.

Analyst: Analysts are experts at discerning detailed information about how something works, such as the mechanics behind spells, items, and traps.

Mana Types: Mental (Primary), Umbral (Secondary), Transference (Tertiary)

Architect: The Architect attunement is capable of imbuing items with temporary magical properties. These tend to be stronger than permanent enchantments, but only last a matter of days.

Mana Types: Perception (Primary), Umbral (Secondary), Enhancement (Tertiary)

Biomancer: Biomancers are one of few attunements capable of safely influencing the inner workings of another person’s mana. They specialize in altering the target’s mana flow, potentially improving both mana capacity and increasing mana regeneration.

Mana Types: Life (Primary), Mental (Secondary), Light (Tertiary)

Controller: Controllers are specialists in mental compulsion, capable of forcing others to do their bidding.

Mana Types: Perception (Primary), Enhancement (Secondary), Umbral (Tertiary)

Forgemaster: Forgemasters have superior control over metal, allowing them to move quickly even in full armor by subtly altering the armor’s structure while they move. They also can strengthen or alter the properties of metallic objects.

Mana Types: Earth (Primary), Fire (Secondary), Enhancement (Tertiary)

Illuminator: The Illuminator serves as a beacon of light and peace to all those around them, shielding allies against negative effects like fear and paralysis.

Mana Types: Light (Primary), Water (Secondary), Air (Tertiary)

Sentinel: The Sentinel attunement emphasizes mental fortitude, providing superior resistance against mental spells.

Mana Types: Earth (Primary), Mental (Secondary), Enhancement (Tertiary)

Transmuter: The Transmuter focuses on transforming materials into other types of materials, making it immensely potent at construction, as well as destruction.

Mana Types: Earth (Primary), Water (Secondary), Air (Tertiary)

Appendix V – Characters and Terms

From Corin’s notes

House Cadence:

Magnus Cadence — Head of House Cadence, father of Tristan and Corin Cadence. Presumably also the father of Sera Cadence.

Laura Lyran — Head of House Lyran, mother of Tristan and Corin Cadence. Emerald-level attuned with the Swordmaster and Elementalist attunements. Member of Valia’s Council of Lords.

Tristan Cadence — Elder son of Magnus Cadence and Laura Lyran. Disappeared into the Serpent Tower during his Judgment. Presumed deceased.

Corin Cadence — Younger son of Magnus Cadence and Laura Lyran. Presumptive heir to both houses after Tristan’s disappearance. Earned an Enchanter attunement in the spire. Was given a mysterious new attunement by Katashi, the Visage of Valor.

Sera Cadence — Previously known as Sera Shard, Sera Cadence was legitimized by Magnus Cadence after passing her Attunement exam. She is presumed to be a bastard child of Magnus Cadence. After being legitimized, she is now a potential heir to the house. She’s my age and has a Summoner attunement.

University Staff:

Chancellor Wallace — She was in charge of all university activities. Deceased after the battle with Mizuchi at the winter ball.

Lieutenant Commander Jack Bennet — Vice Chancellor, former military commander.

Professors:

Professor Edlyn — Assisted with new student orientation. Teaches Enchanting class.

Professor Ceridan — In charge of Tiger Class. Teaches Elementalists.

Professor Lyras Orden — In charge of Serpent Division and member of the Whispers, an organization that secretly serves the visages. Orden was involved with a conspiracy to kidnap the visage Tenjin, and she betrayed me during a spire expedition in the middle of the first year.

Professor Vellum — Teaches classes on permanent enchantments. Served as my mentor for most enchanting-related studies during the first year. She severely hurt herself rescuing me and other students from Mizuchi during the winter ball.

Professor Conway — Teaches Attunements class. Died fighting Mizuchi at the winter ball.

Lord Jonathan Teft — In charge of Hydra Class. Teaches dueling.

Doctor Tordrin — In charge of Phoenix Class.

Professor Meltlake — General Magic Theory class. Legendary Elementalist and Patrick’s personal mentor. A former member of House Hartigan, she is Derek Hartigan’s aunt. “Meltlake” is a title that replaced her last name after a famous duel where she supposedly set a lake on fire. Has a persistent leg injury and walks with a cane.

Professor Vanway — Teacher for an unknown class. Not one of my professors.

Sir Tanath — A member of the Soaring Wings, and a Summoner. One of Marissa’s teachers.

Professor Vestan — Corin’s Introductory Runes teacher.

Students:

Patrick Wayland — One of my childhood friends, now my first retainer. An Elementalist and magical weapon enthusiast.

Jin Dalen — A mysterious foreign student from East Edria with a Sunstone-level Mesmer attunement. His family is sworn to House Dalen, the former ruling house of East Edria from the days before it was under Edrian rule. He was badly injured after fighting against me in the Serpent Spire, but escaped using my return bell. We ran into each other again after that, but things have been strained.

Marissa Callahan — One of my classmates. Usually called “Mara” by her friends, but I’m still getting used to the nickname. She’s a Guardian and something of a prodigy for our year. In the second half of the school year, she began training with Keras Selyrian to learn his combat techniques.

Roland Royce — One of Sera’s friends and a former friend of Tristan’s. Diviner. I think Sera may be trying to get him as a retainer.

Cecily Lambert — The younger sister of Yunika Lambert. One of my closest childhood companions. Things between us are a little awkward, since Tristan was engaged to Yunika before he disappeared, and there was an implication that Cecily and I might eventually get married, too. And then there was the training with father…anyway, things are strained, but we’re talking again.

Curtis Maddock — Dorm chief for my dorm. I, uh, probably should have talked to him more. He has two attunements on the same arm.

Lisa Stone — Former classmate from my childhood.

Jordan Jaldin — A second-year student that supervises one of the teams for the final exams.

Katherine Winters — A second-year student that supervised my team for the final exams. Goes by Kathy.

Other People:

Lars Mantrake — Shopkeeper for the Climber’s Court, a magic item shop. As a former climber, he has many stories of the spires, almost half of which are probably true. He told me a bit about Selys-Lyann, my sword, and I think he may have seen it in the past.

Keras Selyrian — Mysterious foreign swordsman that I first encountered during my Judgment. Currently serving as my bodyguard in order to get into the good graces of Katashi, the Visage of Valor. He’s taught me a bit of his fighting style, but he uses weird foreign magic, so I haven’t been able to learn all of it. He rescued me from Saffron, a child of the Tyrant in Gold, during the second half of the school year.

Echion — He’s a kid with an experimental artificial attunement that I rescued during my Judgment. His strange attunement seems to be based on god beasts, rather than conventional attunements. I plan to study that style of thing eventually.

Vera Corrington — Tower explorer that I first encountered during my Judgment. I broke her out of a cell, then she stabbed me in the back. Eventually, I found her and escorted her back to the tower, where she turned herself in to Katashi to help prevent collateral damage from some of her actions related to ambushing Tenjin, one of the visages.

Aloras Corrington — Automotive engineer. Vera’s brother.

Derek Hartigan — Heir to House Hartigan, an ancient noble house. Has an Emerald-level Soulblade attunement. We spent the second half of the school year living at his place.

Tavare — Derek’s Summoned blade elemental. Refers to themselves as “Radiance”, which is kind of weird.

Delsys — Derek’s Summoned flame/wind elemental.

Elora Theas — Heir to House Theas, an ancient noble house. She’s an Emerald-level Summoner, Derek’s former (current?) paramour, and has a contact with the God Phoenix. She’s also heavily involved with the same conspiracy that my brother is, but I don’t know what her real goals are.

Sheridan Theas — Elora Theas’ sibling, and a follower of Wydd. Wields the restricted “Necromancer” attunement, but specializes in healing. Derek usually refers to them by the nickname “Deni”. May or may not be flirting with me. Aaaaaah.

Vanniv — A summoned karvensi. Both Elora and Sera have contracts with Vanniv. Somehow fashionable, even when shirtless.

Researcher — A knowledge elemental that resides in the restricted section of the Divinatory.

Yunika Lambert — Cecily Lambert’s older sister, and Tristan’s former fiancée. Still not sure on her angle on all the politics going on.

Meredith Hawkins — A historical figure who supposedly escaped one of the spires after several years of being trapped inside. Commonly believed to be a con artist.

Johannes Edington — An academic who attempted to enter a Judgment and stay inside as long as possible in order to preserve memories of what the rooms looked like. Emerged a few months later and published a paper on his findings.

Annabelle Farren — The owner of Farren Labs, the center for artificial attunement research.

Nakht — A worker for Anabelle Farren at Farren Labs with a strange, shifting aura.

Kahi Zephyr — A guide for Farren Labs.

Ashon — A researcher for Farren Labs with a bit too much interest in my Arbiter attunement.

Archduke Verena — The leader of an Edrian noble house many years in the past. He is seen, along with other members of his family, in a constructed scenario inside the Tiger Spire.

Dalen Mitsurugi — An ancestor of Jin Dalen in a constructed scenario inside the Tiger Spire. He was a wielder of Soulbrand, the Sacred Sword of Fire. Note that he uses the Dalenos naming style, meaning “Dalen” is his surname, not his personal name. I wonder if Jin prefers that and simply used our naming style while visiting Valia?

Jerome Schmidt — An Edrian noble and son of Kaspar Schmidt, who fought my great grandfather in the Six Years War. I studied his fighting style in my childhood.

Emma Verena — One of Archduke Verena’s daughters in a part of the fourth-floor test in the Tiger Spire.

Emery Verena — One of Archduke Verena’s daughters in a part of the fourth-floor test in the Tiger Spire.

Anthony — A manservant for House Verena in a part of the fourth-floor test in the Tiger Spire.

Lady Nora Haven — A member of House Haven in a part of the fourth-floor test in the Tiger Spire.

Caelyssa Ves — Goes by “Lys”. A retainer of House Haven in a part of the fourth-floor test in the Tiger Spire.

Constant Beaufort — A member of House Beaufort in a part of the fourth-floor test in the Tiger Spire.

Len — Short for “Lydia Emulation”. A spiritual copy of Lydia Hastings, a commanding officer of the knightly order that Keras belonged to in his homeland.

Spirit Gateway Crystal — A sentient crystal in the Unclaimed Lands that created challenges for Keras when he entered a shrine.

Transcendence Gateway Crystal — A sentient crystal in the Unclaimed Lands that offers challenges for those that enter the crystal’s home.

Roy — An entrant who once faced the Transcendence Gateway crystal’s challenges.

Elina Maryn — An entrant who once faced the Transcendence Gateway crystal’s challenges.

Kester Boyd — An entrant who once faced the Transcendence Gateway crystal’s challenges. Apparently worked with Lars Mantrake.

Visages:

Katashi — Visage of Valor, patron Visage of Dalenos, where he is a central figure in their government.

Melkyr — Visage of Resilience, patron Visage of Edria.

Ferras — Visage of Creation, patron Visage of Caelford.

Tenjin — Visage of Inspiration, patron Visage of Valia. Currently missing.

Kerivas — Visage of Law, second patron Visage of Edria.

Wydd — Visage of Forbidden Knowledge. Location unknown. Often depicted as a trickster or shapeshifter.

God Beasts:

Genbu, the God Tortoise — God Beast of Dalenos.

Seiryu, the God Serpent — God Beast of Valia.

Orochi, the God Hydra — God Beast of Edria.

Byakko, the God Tiger — God Beast of Caelford.

Suzaku, the God Phoenix — God Beast of East Edria.

Arachne, the God Spider — God Beast of (????)

God Beast Children:

Mizuchi — Deadly serpent, called “Hero’s End”. Child of Seiryu. Believed to be virtually invulnerable.

Other Powers:

The Tyrant in Gold — A divine being that is antithetical to Selys, and believed to be comparable to her in power. The scriptures teach that he is in control of the entire world outside of Kaldwyn.

Saffron — A child of the Tyrant in Gold. Tremendously powerful, most likely on a similar level to Mizuchi.

Major Nations:

Valia — Nation on the eastern coast of the continent of Kaldwyn. Home to the Serpent Tower and the Lorian Heights Academy.

Edria — Imperialistic southern nation. Conquered Kelridge during the Six Years War and nearly conquered Valia as well.

Caelford — Technologically advanced nation on the western coast of the continent. Allied with Valia.

Dalenos — Theocracy; covers most of the northern side of the continent.

Kelridge — A territory that was a part of Dalenos prior to the Six Years War. Conquered by Edria and now known as East Edria.

Days of the Week:

Tashday

Kyrsday

Fersday

Tensday

Vasday

Wyddsday

Appendix VI – Corin’s To-Do List

A Definitely Incomplete List by Corin Cadence

To do list:

Research: Arbiter

Also other restricted attunements

Chronomancer? Is this a thing?

Do not break time

Research: Foreign attunements

Research: Ascended attunements

Research: Artificial attunements

God beast attunements are terrifying

Do I want one? Several?

Research: Crystal marks

Research: Servants of the Tyrant in Gold

Also the tyrant himself

Also relationship between him and Selys?

Research: Sapphire-level attunements

Higher than Sapphire?

Amethyst?

Mauve?

Mauve not a gemstone and possibly not even a real color

Research: Other sources of mana

How does this magic work on Artinia? Tyrenia?

How can I get these as quickly and easily as possible?

Enhancement elixirs

Do these work cumulatively with my attunement? Probably?

Better mana food

How did Katashi upgrade Mara’s attunement? Can I do this?

Mana batteries

Eventually need all mana types

Use mana batteries to make bigger batteries?

Why didn’t all the monsters in the spire drop crystals?

Mental spell to improve haste

Do not break brain

Improve mana threads

Determine odds Keras will eventually decide to kill me

Practice moving different mana types

Should this really be on a checklist?

How do I recharge the Jaden Box?

I should probably replace the Jaden Box. =(

Investigate Selys-Lyann’s runes

Is it really cursed?

How cursed?

Like, really super cursed?

Can I exploit this curse?

Bond with Selys-Lyann?

Do not break soul

Unique attunement functions

Definitely not actually unique

How can I fake them?

How to make contracts with monsters without a Summoner attunement

Can I modify my attunement?

Can I make my own attunements?

Do not break socio-political system of continent

Or maybe do

Actually yeah definitely do that

Can those unclaimed lands crystals contact Selys directly?

Who is the Blackstone Bandit?

Why is Jin

I’m just going to leave that last one open

Acknowledgements

First off, thanks to some of the people who helped make this book possible.

My literary agent, Paul Lucas, has been a huge champion for the series and helped encourage me to keep working at it. Thanks for all the help, Paul.

Ethan Ishikawa helps run the Discord community for my books, and also helped me work on higher quality versions of the attunement runes than I had for the previous book. Thanks, Ethan!

Similarly, Rob McDiarmid made higher quality versions of the runes for individual dominions and magic types. Thanks, Rob!

Devin McCarthy helped transform my (terrible) MSPaint and Excel maps for dungeon interiors into presentable artwork. Thanks for the help, Devin!

I’d also like to thank the Climber’s Court Discord and Reddit communities as a whole for being amazing and encouraging. Please feel free to join the other readers on Discord and Reddit if you haven’t already!

Corin Cadence owes his existence to the “Cobalt Nightmares” role-playing game campaign by Bernard Hansel, Justin Green, Danielle Collins, and numerous other game masters and staff. While the Corin in this novel differs significantly from the character in that game world, playing “Corin Page” is what gave me the first hints of inspiration for this book.

Similarly, Sera Shard/Sera Cadence was inspired by her analogue in Cobalt Nightmares, played by Jess Richards.

As always, my beta readers were essential in improving the quality of this manuscript. My beta readers included Sean Anderson, John Bierce, Ariane Brandt, Luke Chmilenko, Heather Crosthwaite, Yvonne Etzkorn, Ira Ham, Gereon Hinz, Ethan Ishikawa, Jonah L.L., Rob McDiarmid, Ro Noel, Jess Richards, Bruce Rowe, Christine Rowe, Olivia Szachta, Liam Wales, Will Wight, and Brandon Yee.

Much of my inspiration for this work came from web serials such as Mother of Learning by nobody103, Worm by Wildbow, and Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality by Eliezer Yudkowsky.

Another layer of my inspiration came from JRPGs such as Final Fantasy, Tower of Druaga, Azure Dreams, Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals, Ys, and Bravely Default. In specific, the massive towers owe much of their existence to the earlier JRPGs on the list, and the idea of building a magic system around character classes was largely inspired by Bravely Default. While many earlier JRPGs had “job class” systems, Bravely Default worked character classes into their story — and that’s something I wanted to expand on further.

I’d like to thank the many readers over on my blog for their encouragements and suggestions, especially during the period of time I was debating many title options.

Finally, thanks to the community over on Reddit’s /r/fantasy, for providing constant encouragement throughout the writing process.

Similar Works

I’m often asked for recommendations for books similar to Sufficiently Advanced Magic.

If you’re looking for another magical school story with a protagonist that does a lot of research into how magic works, I would recommend the web serial Mother of Learning.

If you’re looking for another book with a lot of anime-flavored combat scenes, I’d recommend the Cradle series by Will Wight and the web serial Forge of Destiny.

If you’re looking for more books with strong RPG inspiration, there are a couple up-and-coming genre labels to look for.

“LitRPGs” tend to literally take place in a video game, or in a world that has overt RPG mechanics, such as character classes and levels. Some classic examples include the .Hack series and Dream Park by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes. If you’re looking for one of these, I’d recommend Ascend Online by Luke Chmilenko and the web serial Delve.

There are a number of places to find great LitRPG recommendations. For example, there’s a large LitRPG Facebook group that can be found here. There is also a LitRPG subreddit, which can be found here.

“GameLit” is a slightly broader genre that includes game inspired fiction in general. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline would be a good example of this.

If you’re looking for an online community for more GameLit recommendations, you may want to look at GameLit Society group. There’s also a more general GameLit group. There’s also a GameLit subreddit, which can be found here.

Finally, we’ve recently come up with a term to describe books like my own — “progression fantasy”. You can find more discussion of this subgenre on /r/progressionfantasy on reddit.

Closing Notes From the Author

Thanks to everyone who completed this book. I realize it’s been a long wait for some of you, and I hope that you’ve enjoyed the read.

This one was a bit of a departure from the usual style, since it was covering a winter vacation, rather than a large portion of the school year like the previous books. That made it a significant challenge, and I hope the book turned out in a way that my readers find enjoyable.

There are plenty of books still coming in the series. I expect that Book 4 will be more similar to the first two, since Corin will be going back to Lorian Heights for his second year — at least initially.

When I originally started this series, I estimated the scope at six to seven books. This may still hold true, but I suspect it may drift even longer. The important part is that you should know that there’s still plenty more of Corin and the others to come.

If you’re looking for more books in the same universe to read in the meantime, there are two other series to look at with books that are already available.

The War of Broken Mirrors is on Keras’ home continent and earlier in the timeline. This is a completed trilogy with three books. (There may be more books with the surviving characters from this series later, but they’ll probably be considered a new series.)

The Weapons & Wielders books begin with the story Keras is telling the others during the train ride. That story focuses on Keras first encountering Dawnbringer and the other Six Sacred Swords.

Finally, there’s a preview chapter of a brand-new story in the same universe just ahead. It’s from the perspective of a character you’ve heard a lot about, but haven’t seen as a narrator yet. If you’re interested, keep reading: I don’t want to spoil the surprise of figuring out the narrator’s identity.

Preview Chapter – Carefully Worded Wishes

Stealing from the grave of a god isn’t something I’d recommend to others. It was pretty fun, though, and more or less a victimless crime.

The Authority had been born and died many times, and I couldn’t see any given one of them being that important to him. He couldn’t possibly need all of the sacred treasures contained within them, could he? Maybe a handful of graves worth, at most.

The rest of us, being poorer in sacred treasures, needed them far more. This was doubly true for Rai and myself, who up to that point, had no treasures at all.

Or none of the conventional variety, at least. A loving family is a treasure worth more than any sacred treasure. I understood that even then, as I risked my life alongside the one who meant the most to me.

Together, we stood at the base of the mountainside below the tomb.

We shared identical glances and nods, then turned our hands toward the rock.

I closed my eyes, assisting me in envisioning my spirit. Using such a vulgar strategy for focusing would have been fatal in battle, but I was just a kid.

My spiritual energy flowed smoothly within my body. I didn’t have a dedication yet, and thus, the structure of my soul was a smoothly flowing river. Not a wide or fast-flowing river, not yet. But enough to assist in a simple task such as this one.

I focused on that flow, concentrated, and shifted it to collect into upper arms and hands. Immediately, I felt my strength improve in those locations.

And with that, I began to climb. Rai followed just behind me, as usual.

Up. Up.

I shifted my spirit as I moved, manipulating it to my legs when I needed a foothold rather than a handhold. The mountainside was steep, but with my spirit reinforcing my body, I wasn’t scared. Even if I fell, I trusted I could spread my spirit enough to absorb much of the impact.

I wasn’t afraid of much back then in general. Such is the strength and the flaw of an unburdened youth.

Reaching the top took nearly an hour. I remember the sweat dripping from my forehead into my eyes, and that my efforts to reach up and wipe it away only made the burning that much worse.

My muscles burned, too, but not nearly so much as they might have unassisted. My spirit was strong for my age and carried much of my weight.

Rai moved behind me on the mountainside, slowly but with great certainty, as she always did.

I pulled myself over the top of the mountain and looked down at her.

I didn’t have to worry. My twin would catch up to me. She always did.

I didn’t reach down to offer her a hand as she approached my height. I wouldn’t dishonor her with the presumption that she needed help with such a trivial task.

Perhaps I should have. For all our shared traits, I often failed to understand her. I didn’t understand the foreign expression of hurt in her eyes when she approached and pulled herself, alone, atop the mountain.

Instead, I simply grinned. “Ready to get in trouble?”

She offered me a nod. “I will do this for you, sister.”

“Not for me,” I corrected. “Never for me. This is for our parents, remember?”

Rai’s expression showed only the slightest hint of a frown. “Of course.”

“C’mon!” I waved eagerly and turned to rush toward the building.

The Seventy-Seventh Authority’s Grave was marked by a single stone door set into the top of the ground. More a hatch than a door, really. Like a wine cellar, but for god corpses.

Maybe just one god corpse? I wasn’t sure.

The door was covered in sacred glyphs. Some were mere text: Your usual “Keep out, dead god in here, heavily riddled with deadly traps, thanks.”

The rest were glowing glyphs invested with spiritual power. The type that would ordinarily keep unscrupulous children from robbing and otherwise mildly desecrating such an important place.

I could not have hoped to break down such a door with my own meager spiritual power. It was likely wrought of the power of Masters or beyond. My strength was a raindrop; the runes were an ocean.

But enough rain can wear down even the mightiest mountain in time.

I mean that in the most literal possible sense.

The door was perfectly intact. Years of rainfall and a recent flood, however, had eroded some of the nearby rock. Perhaps some of the increasingly-frequent earthquakes had contributed, too.

And so, while the door stood unmarred by the rigors of age, the large crack in the ground nearby provided an entrance.

It was a thin one. Too thick, perhaps, for most adults to slip through. A child, especially one on the thin and admittedly scrawny side like Rai or myself, had a much better chance.

I had improved this chance by widening the hole gradually over the course of the last three months. I was not foolish enough to try to squeeze into such a place and get stuck, especially considering the types of traps and sacred beasts that were likely to take advantage if I was in such a vulnerable state.

Each time I worked, I covered my progress by moving nearby brush to cover the hole. Few traveled to this obscure location. There were many other graves of the Authority that were closer to major cities or otherwise more easily accessible for pilgrimages. My heart had nearly leapt out of my chest the one time I had seen another person — a wandering monk making a tour of all of the graves — but he simply bowed his head, gave me a gap-toothed grin, and left a bowl of softly glowing rice as an offering at the entrance of the tomb.

The rice was delicious. Enough that I brought half home to share with Rai. She didn’t ask where they came from. Even then, she knew better.

Don’t look at me like that. Why would anyone let good rice go to waste? If the Authority was dead, he wouldn’t care. If he was currently alive, I judged that he was very unlikely to come by just in time to eat some rice left on the top of one of his graves.

Really, I was doing everyone a favor by eating it.

Anyway, the delicious glowy rice was likely a source of some of my early spiritual power, but I had little idea of that at the time. I did, however, know that I needed more power. Far more.

I’ll get to why later.

My hands moved swiftly at the fissure near the tomb, displacing the branches and rocks I’d used to conceal the entrance.

I turned toward Rai. She was already handing me the lantern, affixed to a rope.

Yes, we had rope, and we didn’t use it to help climb. Stop judging me like that. We didn’t need it.

I tied the rope around the metal ring at the top of the lantern and lowered it into the hole.

Inside, I could see a structure very different from the outside. It was perfectly cut grey-white stone. I don’t know what type, sorry. The rocky kind? Never been an expert at that sort of thing.

I’m not a murderer of rocks like you are.

I swung the lantern from side-to-side just a bit, hoping to find any obvious traps. I didn’t see any.

Then I let the lantern touch the floor.

I heard an immediate “click”.

Spears shot out of holes in the nearby walls. Fortunately, Rai and I were still up top, and the lantern itself was so low to the ground that it didn’t get hit.

The rope was nicked by one of the spears, but not destroyed.

“Ooh!” I grinned. “Spears! Nice. I bet we could use some of those.”

Rai sighed.

The spears withdrew back into the walls they’d come from. Now that I’d seen them come out, I could see the small holes in the wall they’d emerged from.

As I lowered myself into the pit, I realized that the holes had been covered with something — a thin layer of stone-colored paper.

“Wow. Rude.” I didn’t let myself touch the floor immediately. Instead, I pulled myself back up and reached up with a single hand.

Rai wordlessly placed a rock in my hand.

I dropped the rock, swinging my legs upward as the spear trap triggered again.

Six spears shot out of the holes, then began to slowly withdraw back into the wall.

I let go of the rope before the spears had fully withdrawn, grabbing the end of the closest one. Then, as I landed, I shifted my spirit into my arms and yanked downward hard.

As I’d hoped, the force of my fall and the pull snapped the spear’s shaft. I tossed that up to Rai, who caught it, then began to snap the next one.

The trap triggered again, faster than I’d expected.

I barely managed to throw myself to the side quickly enough to avoid the four remaining spears.

I let out a giggle.

“Are you unhurt, sister?” Rai asked.

“Fine, fine. Don’t worry.” I snapped another spear, then the next.

By the time the trap triggered again, there was only one spear left, and I was able to snap it easily.

“Tossing most of these up.” I tossed her three more broken spears. Rai stacked them at the top of the cavern. If we found nothing else, we’d at least have a few spears to sell.

Unfortunately, they seemed purely ordinary, so I didn’t think they’d be worth much. I’d have to go deeper and hope there would be a worthy reward.

Rai descended shortly after. We each picked up one of the two remaining spears. Rai held the lantern in her off-hand, which would make using a spear more difficult in a fight, but that wasn’t what either of us planned to use them for. In such close quarters, we couldn’t maneuver a spear much, anyway.

Instead, we began to use the spears to prod the floor ahead of us. If there had been one pressure plate trap already, we could expect to see more.

The first place we checked was toward the entrance door. Our plan was to try to open the entrance doorway from the inside, allowing us to escape more rapidly if necessary.

We also left the rope in place. That would be our escape route if the doors proved stubborn.

We triggered one more trap as we prodded the floors in the entrance hall; a hail of arrows. Leading the way, I deftly deflected the majority of the arrows with my spear. Rai simply side-stepped the few that slipped past me.

At that point, we’d reached the entrance. We stood just below the door.

There were two unlit braziers on the walls nearby. We lit them. Nothing in particular happened, but it did allow us to more clearly see an inscription on the stone nearby.

The Seventy-Seventh Incarnation of the Authority Lies Here

Woe be to Those who Would Desecrate this Sacred Place

For They Will be Forever Cursed

Blah Blah Blah, Etc. Etc.

It was all boring stuff like that, so I stopped reading and shoved my spear at the bottom side door.

Sparks flew from where the metal tip of the spear contacted the door, then the spear lit on fire.

“Aww.” I tossed the spear aside. “I liked that spear.”

I probably should have climbed back up and gotten another one, but I was feeling impatient, and also lazy.

Rai passed me her spear. “We should not disrupt the door further, sister.”

“I concur.” I slapped her on the shoulder. “Ready for the really dangerous stuff?”

She lowered her head slightly. “If we must.”

“We must! Onward!” Now that we’d reached the entrance, we only had one way to go; back the way we’d come from and down the hallway beyond.

We headed forward. I began to tapping the floor to a jaunty, musical rhythm.

“Trap, trap, trap. Trap, trap, trap. Need to find a trap, need to find a trap. Trap, trap, trap. Trap, trap, trap. Gonna hit a trap, gonna hit a trap.”

I heard a sigh behind me. Clearly, Rai did not share my expert talent and taste for music. Such was but one of her many regrettable flaws, but I loved her regardless.

Admittedly, the song had flaws. I’d gotten so into it after a few minutes that I didn’t immediately notice when I actually hit a trap.

In fairness to me, the smoke was almost invisible.

Rai grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back as gas began to spread down the hall.

“Huh?” I startled.

“Down!”

She tackled me to the floor.

Her talents for music weren’t great, but she had a strong instinct for some things. In this case, she had quickly discerned that the smoke began to spray from two holes in the walls was drifting up, rather than down. We didn’t understand the reason for that at the time, but as I observed what she’d intuited, I remained on the ground.

We lay there for a while, breathing cautiously, as the smoke drifted upward.

Time passed. I fidgeted.

“Wait a bit,” Rai pleased.

Time passed. I jittered.

“Wait,” Rai insisted.

Time passed. I shifted and began to push myself up.

“Give it a bit more. Please, sister,” she begged.

I sighed. “Fine.”

We waited until the air seemed clear, and then beyond that.

“I do not believe the floor was the trigger for the gas trap,” Rai explained as we pushed ourselves to our feet.

I blinked. “What, then?”

“There.” She pointed into the distance. “Use your eyes.”

I frowned, narrowing my eyes. I could see something glowing faintly, but...

I focused my spirit into my eyes.

Such a basic reinforcement technique was not very potent, but it was enough. My vision cleared, and the darkness within the tomb seemed just slightly less oppressive.

Just about a dozen feet ahead, I could see something glimmering on the wall. A glyph, shaped like an eye.

“Oooh, you sneaky sneak!” I pulled my arm back and aimed the spear.

“Wait!”

I didn’t wait. I threw the spear.

I missed.

The spear clanked harmlessly to the stone.

Rai sighed. “I was going to suggest that we could, perhaps, simply use a stone, sister. In such a way, we could have held onto the spear in case there were more floor traps between here and there.”

“Uh...oops?” I scratched the back of my head sheepishly. “So, rocks...”

She reached into a pouch at her hip, retrieving a rock. She her time aiming, then hurled the stone.

She hit the glyph dead-on. It sparked on contact, flickered, and died.

“Nice!” I smiled and nudged her. “You’ve got a good arm there.”

“Same as yours, sister. I simply chose something better to throw.”

I snorted. “Fine, fine. C’mon. We’ll take it slow.”

“Could we not return from whence we came and get another spear first?”

I frowned. “I don’t want to.”

“An injury would cost us more time than going back a short way.”

I sighed. “Fine, fine.”

We went back. I climbed up, grabbed two more spears, and tossed them down.

Then we headed back to where we were and cautiously prodded the floor as we moved on.

We reached the area where I’d thrown my spear without incident.

“See? Didn’t need to waste the time on these.” I shook my head.

“We did not know that beforehand. The caution was warranted. And now we have two spears to carry again, rather than one.”

“Fair. Alright, let’s move on.”

Rai frowned. “Should we not, perhaps, use this as a chance to return home and tell Mother about our progress? I believe she would—”

I put a hand on her lips. “No. She wouldn’t.”

Rai frowned. Then nodded.

I pulled my finger back. “This is our only chance. One chance. Let’s not waste it.”

“For you, sister.” Rai shook her head. “For you.”

We walked on.

The next trap didn’t require prodding. It was, in fact, entirely visible.

There was a section of the floor that was entirely missing.

Unlike the fissure that had led us into this place, his hole was natural. The gap was only a few feet across, easy enough to jump.

When we looked down, we could see some sort of bubbling and churning pit of liquid below.

“Soup!” I pointed.

“That is acid, sister.”

“It looks delicious!”

Rai stared at me.

I poked the opposite side of the pit.

Rin and I side-stepped the weighed net trap that fired from a distant wall, which had presumably been designed to knock whoever just jumped straight across into the pit.

“Ooh!” I headed to where the net had fallen and picked it up.

Then, after that, I prodded the opposite side of the pit again.

Another net shot out. We dodged it.

“Ooh!” I repeated. I now had two nets.

I repeated this process fifteen times, until I had a pile of nets — I couldn’t carry that many — and I had appearently exhausted the trap’s supply.

“Remind me to empty out the arrow trap later, too,” I told Rin.

“We have no place to put so many arrows.”

“We have nets!”

“The logistics of that seem...never mind, sister. Let us move on.”

I nodded agreeably.

Rai insisted on setting one of the net traps across the pit and weighing it down with rocks before we moved on. I didn’t know if it would actually hold our weight, but I agreed because it was a reasonable precaution.

We jumped across the pit and weighed it down some more on the other side.

We actually managed to avoid the next trap entirely with our constant poking and prodding. Two jets of flame shot out from sides of the hallway, enveloping the spot above the trap we’d triggered, but we were completely out of range.

My poor spear, however, was dust.

I headed back and grabbed the one I’d thrown earlier. We marked the spot where we’d triggered the flame jets with a line of chalk before moving on, since unlike the other traps, we didn’t have a good way of disabling this one permanently.

We took a little bit of time testing the bounds of the trap to be safe, triggering it a few times and pulling our spears back to avoid them from getting charred.

Then we prodded the floor just in front of the trap to make sure that part was safe. Back-to-back traps were always possible.

We didn’t find another trap. With that, we jumped over the one we’d marked, chalked the other side of it just to be safe, and then moved on.

“Perhaps we could go back and get a plank of wood to put over this? Secure it to the walls, and then step on that if need be?” Rai suggested.

I shrugged. “You’re worrying too much. We’ll just jump over it on the way out.”

“As you say.” But she sounded uncertain.

I moved on.

Tap tap. Prod prod.

I didn’t find any more traps before the end of the hall, where we found a colossal door, similar to the one at the entrance.

The door wasn’t alone. It was guarded by a single stone statue, one that looked something like a cross between a lion and a dog.

“Nice statue,” I remarked, stepping closer.

“That will come to life and eat us if we try to proceed further, sister.”

“Yeah, obviously.” I pet the top of the stone statue’s head. “You’re a good man-eating guardian dog, aren’t you boy? Yes you are!”

Rai stared at me.

“Okay, boy. Here’s what you need to do.”

Rai’s eyes narrowed. “Rin, don’t.”

I smiled at her. “You can back down the hall. I’ll be quick.”

“Rin. That thing is probably designed to fight people of Adept-level. You have no chance.”

I snorted. “Obviously.”

Rai narrowed her eyes, nodded, then raised her spear. “I will fight with you, then.”

“Fight? Oh, no, no.” I shook my head. “We’re not going to fight this thing.”

I waved toward the hall.

Rai withdrew cautiously, heading back to the fire trap.

I wrapped my weighted net around the dog.

Then I went back down the hall, retrieved ten more nets, and draped those over it as well.

Finally, I jammed my spear into the wall.

Sparks flew, and once again, my spear was on fire.

The stone dog’s eyes shifted from stone to gold, and it began to move.

“Okay, boy.” I smiled. “Now fetch!”

I hurled my blazing spear down the hall.

The dog ignored the spear entirely, completely ruining my joke.

Instead, it turned toward me and howled.

I bolted.

I’d already pushed my spirit into my legs.

“Rin!” Rai yelled.

“Get ready!”

I rushed toward her.

The stone dog chased me rapidly. Fortunately, it was still sluggish from presumably centuries of slumber, and it was still entangled in a total of eleven weighted nets.

It also wasn’t a “true” guardian hound — just a statue that resembled one. If it had been, I’d have been eaten alive in moments.

And my destination wasn’t far.

I jumped over the chalk line.

The dog didn’t.

Flames blasted out of the walls, enveloping the stone dog. And, in spite of its great spiritual power, the dog began to melt.

Began, but didn’t finish. It was through the trap in a moment.

Rai smashed her spear into its face.

The spear broke without effect.

We ran on.

We weren’t quite fast enough.

I heard Rai yelp behind me. I spun.

The dog had taken a bite out of her right side. Blood flowed freely from the wound.

“Get off her!”

A surge of spirit flowed into my arm, and I threw a punch.

I very nearly broke my fist. I was not strong enough then to break ordinary stone with a punch, and this guardian was hardly ordinary.

I did, however, get its attention.

The creature released my sister, turning its gold-eyed gaze toward me.

And it leaped.

Rai was there in a moment, shoving into it. Where my punch failed, the force of her movement was enough to shift it, just slightly. It crashed heavily into the wall.

We ran on.

The guardian dog followed.

We saw something familiar on the ground and leapt.

The guardian dog did not.

And while the net we’d left on the floor might have been enough to hold our weight, it was certainly not enough to hold the weight of a stone statue.

We had, in the end, accidentally laid a trap of our own.

As the net tore beneath it, the guardian dog fell howling into the bubbling liquid below.

“Huh,” I said, as statue splashed into the liquid below and began to dissolve. “You were right. Definitely not soup.”

Rai gave me a soft smile, then collapsed, still bleeding badly, to the ground.

***

We were no fools. We’d brought bandages.

Okay, maybe we were fools. But we were mildly prepared fools, at least.

I dressed and wrapped Rai’s wound. The statue’s teeth had torn a great gouge in her skin and muscle, but they hadn’t hit anything vital.

Then, I gently shook her awake.

“Hm?” She blinked. Her hand drifted down. “Oh.”

“Rai. Are you okay? You still with me?”

She nodded. “I am well, sister. Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me.” My hand tightened into a fist. “I’m sorry. This was a terrible idea. I’m so sorry.”

I didn’t tell her that I’d been crying, but it was obvious enough from the stains across my face. I didn’t know if she could see them in the dark, though.

Rai shook her head. “Do not worry, sister. I am well. Help me stand?”

I nodded and gave her my hand, then helped her to her feet.

“The guardian?” She asked.

“Dissolved.” I pointed at the hole. “We have nothing to fear from it. Do you think you can walk? I can carry you.”

“No.”

“Okay, I can lift you—”

Rai shook her head. “No, I mean we should not leave so soon. I have studied places like this. That guardian may have marked the end of the dangers to this place.”

I frowned. “You...certain?” It was uncharacteristic for Rai to be the one pushing for danger. I wondered if the loss of blood might have impacted her judgment.

Rai touched her wound again, winced, then nodded to me. “It is a superficial injury. I will be fine. We should complete our task.”

I drew in a deep breath, inspecting my sister. “I don’t think...”

“Remember your goal.”

My jaw tightened. “Okay.” I paused. “But you wait here and rest. Drink water. I’ll be back.”

Rai frowned, then she nodded and sat back down. “That is an acceptable compromise.”

“Good.” I kissed her on the top of the head. “Be back soon.”

“Authority be with you.”

“In a place like this?” I laughed. “Probably better off if he doesn’t catch us.”

I headed back to the door, planning along the way.

Can I get some of that acid to burn through the area around the door somehow? Maybe take it off the hinges?

It didn’t matter.

The door was wide open.

And beyond it was...virtually nothing.

There were no grand piles of treasure like I pictured, no stacks of preserved elixirs and glittering magical spears.

There was simply a large stone container in the center of the room.

A coffin. In a tomb! Who knew?

The coffin was the fancy kind. The top of it had been carved into a likeness of the Authority in that particular incarnation, which turned out to be a man of indeterminate age that was, let’s say, a little on the heavy side.

Not what I’d been picturing, but hey, I guess reincarnations of gods have to enjoy some of their lives somehow.

I debated leaving. But I was stubborn, and I hadn’t found any delicious loot yet.

So I prodded the top of the box.

Nothing happened. No sparks.

I took that as a sign, grabbed the side of the lid, and shoved.

Surprisingly enough, it budged.

There was no body inside the tomb. I’d researched this particular incarnation of the Authority, and he’d been obliterated by the flames of one of the Origin Beasts.

Not a particularly fun end, that one.

The tomb was not entirely symbolic, however. Inside, I found something — presumably an item he’d considered important at some point in his life.

A small, rune-covered box.

“A box inside a box. Someone had a sense of humor.” I grinned.

Then I took the box and opened it.

No, there wasn’t another box inside.

Instead, there was something far more valuable — a vial of brilliant golden liquid.

“Gotcha.”

I smiled and headed back to Rai.

“Mission complete.” I waved the box at her. “Let’s head home.”

About the Author

Andrew Rowe was once a professional game designer for awesome companies like Blizzard Entertainment, Cryptic Studios, and Obsidian Entertainment. Nowadays, he’s writing full time.

When he’s not crunching numbers for game balance, he runs live-action role-playing games set in the same universe as his books. In addition, he writes for pen and paper role-playing games.

Aside from game design and writing, Andrew watches a lot of anime, reads a metric ton of fantasy books, and plays every role-playing game he can get his hands on.

Interested in following Andrew’s books releases, or discussing them with other people? You can find more info, update, and discussions in a few places online:

Andrew’s Blog: https://andrewkrowe.wordpress.com/

Mailing List: https://andrewkrowe.wordpress.com/mailing-list/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Arcane-Ascension-378362729189084/

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ClimbersCourt/

Other Books by Andrew Rowe

The War of Broken Mirrors Series

Forging Divinity

Stealing Sorcery

Defying Destiny

Arcane Ascension Series

Sufficiently Advanced Magic

On the Shoulders of Titans

The Torch that Ignites the Stars

Weapons and Wielders Series

Six Sacred Swords

Diamantine

Soulbrand (Coming Soon)

Other Books

How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps