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Inner Sanctum First Floor | 10:26 AM | Third Day
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It was only about 30% serious. "Then when you say ''the land of the dead'', what do you mean?"
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only in this version, along with the tools of the Ironworkers to which it is an extension."
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Only one Su but two ApSus, an intrusive thought offered unhelpfully.
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see," I said, my eyes wandering awkwardly. "I can''t even fathom how complicated it would''ve been to set all this up."
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begin to accomplish such a thing.
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do all this?" I asked.
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was no explanation," she clarified. "That was centuries ago. Things have advanced considerably since then."
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did it feel so easy to talk to her like this? Maybe it was because she sort of reminded me of Ran, in this state. The bluntness and lack of intonation in most of her words. The lack of height.
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not," she said. "Though ''research'' may be overextending the term. For example, the mimicry inherent in the sanctuary''s design was largely his suggestion - based, like many things, in his over-sentimentality that bordered on mental illness, and the pseudo-scientific concepts that sprung from it." She shook her head. "Even now, his ideas are still rooted too deep to be pulled out."
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Long term isolation. That didn''t sound like what Sacnicte has described in brief - occasional meetings broken up by long periods of disuse.
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his ideas... Then what did he want this place to be a shelter from?" I asked, feeling like I was closing in on something and deciding this was a good time to bring things around to Ran''s theory. "That''s what this place is, isn''t it? A shelter for your organization. It explains both the defenses and the emphasis on long-term comfort-- And even why it''s called a sanctuary in the first place."
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completely. We''ve always been wary of threats to our work from ideological and political enemies. But in this instance, you have the situation backwards."
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What was she saying? Something was ''cared for'' here?
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Wow. Okay.
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most cases professional... Relationship with him deteriorated over a death of a thousand cuts," she explained. "However, the ultimate inciting incident was when we wished to narrow our priorities following the revolution and focus on life extension principally once again, aborting his current overambitious venture to pursue a tangible goal. To say the least, he objected."
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If what Zeno had told me about hadn''t concerned what we''d seen after all, then...
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More complicated. "It''s a bit of a reach, but... Do you think it might have any connection to what''s happening now?"
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Uli. I hadn''t heard the name before, so it didn''t feel like much of a clue, but I tried to take it in regardless.
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really didn''t want to have a lengthy conversation with her.
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Oh, I see what''s happening. "You''re putting together the list Linos was talking about?" I asked, furrowing my brow.
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obviously," he said. "It''s been put off for long enough since that debacle with Lilith''s mother."
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Entropy-Denying Arcana, the Entropy-Accelerating Arcana, the Negenthropic-Interfacing Arcana, the Life-Slaying Arcana, the Flesh-Animating Arcana, and the three beguilements."
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Negenthropic-Resuscitating Arcana intended for my presentation. As an arcanist became more skilled, they could engrave increasingly broad incantations upon their scepter, and merely append them for more specific uses. I''d already mastered this in some cases - for example, I could use the Life-Slaying Arcana perform most incantations which involved killing something specific, like cancer cells.
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Negenthropic-Interfacing Arcana, however, it was more of a set of training wheels for developing a new incantation which did nothing by itself. If I was more skilled, I probably could''ve engraved the Entropy-Reversing Arcana and based it on that, but that was an incredibly difficult technique to begin with.
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Well, then. What next?